Spartanburg, SC: Classic cars draw crowds to BMW Zentrum

From GO UPstate.com: Classic cars draw crowds to BMW Zentrum
By JOEY MILLWOOD

Terry Jones loves his car.

The Moore resident beamed every time someone asked him a question. There's a reason he loves his car. He spent five years, working only on Saturdays, to restore his 1976 Triumph TR6.

The car sat in a friend's car lot in Cincinnati, covered in rust and weather wear before Jones finally got his chance to buy it.

That was 21 years ago. On Saturday, his car sat out front of the BMW Zentrum, and Jones was a proud owner as thousands poured into the Euro Auto Festival on the grounds of the BMW manufacturing plant to gaze upon hundreds of European cars, including his.

The lawn was filled with Audis, BMWs, Porsches, Ferraris, Mercedes, Volkswagens, Triumphs and all sorts of cars. Surrounding the cars were festival-goers with cameras and inquiring eyes, throwing out questions to car owners who sat in camping chairs, beneath tents or hovering around their prized possessions.

Jones, whose car is a 40th Anniversary Corvette Red, was just one of hundreds, but his Triumph won first place the first seven years of the festival. It is now in its 16th year, and the proceeds support the American Red Cross.

Ben Rogers, an Inman resident, was attending for the first time this year.

“I wanted to see some of the motorsport stuff,” he said.

But Rogers was there for the same reason that thousands of people were.

“I like everything as far as cars are concerned,” he said. “I knew there was going to be a lot of nice cars here.”

One of those cars belonged to Marilyn McNamara, another Inman resident. Her 1971 Triumph Spitfire MK IV was bought in 1985 by her son Tim. The McNamaras were living in New Jersey at the time, and Tim was going to college at Rutgers University. He drove the car for two years, “replacing lots of starters,” he said.

“They inherited it from me,” Tim said. “It sat in their garage until they moved down here and it came with them.”

The McNamaras moved to Inman in 1991. Marilyn and her husband, Ray, became members of the Southeast British Motorcar Club in Spartanburg and began doing the festival in 1996. Their Triumph won top prize in their category in 2000 and again in 2005.

Festival-goers could also do other things besides look at cars Saturday. There were art galleries with car pictures, barbecue for sale, tours of the BMW museum and all sorts of vendors.

But the cars were the main attraction, and it wasn't easy to pick a favorite.

Arlene Hoffman came to the festival from Ninety-Six. She attended with her grandson Austin Papp. When asked what his favorite car was, Papp pointed to Jones' Triumph.

His grandmother smiled and was quick to note, “The last car you see is always your favorite car.”