Daily Archives: April 11, 2023

CBCF - Champagne British Car Festival, Drives, Special Events

Celebrate British Car Week with the IFLBCC!

“Drive ‘Em, Don’t Hide ‘Em” is the mantra of the British Car Week organization (https://www.britishcarweek.org/) British Car Week is an annual awareness week intended for owners of Classic British Cars to get their cars out of the garage and drive them.

Want to drive your car and need some ideas for places to go?  Plan on joining the IFLBCC for our CBCF Pontiac, IL Rally/Cruise-in on June 3rd. Drives, pop-up car show, car collections and more!   It doesn’t matter whether your car is in better than new condition, or perhaps it’s a less than perfect unrestored gem, we love them all! As long as it can be safely driven down the road, this is a great opportunity to show off your favorite car and take advantage of what British car motoring is all about. We’re calling all owners of classic British cars to get together with other car owners in the central Illinois area and [gently] kick tires, share stories, answer questions, and have a good time.

Did you know the British Car Week culminates with the IFLBCC sponsored Champagne British Car Festival’s car show on June 4, 2023? (CBCF-Bloomington.com)   We’ll be hosting John Twist’s Rolling Tech Sessions during the Sunday car show and best of all, you’ll have the chance to show your car off to the general public who rarely, or in many cases never, have the opportunity to get a real-life, close-up glimpse of these exquisite, entertaining British automobiles of days gone by. 

For Sale - Cars & Parts, Special Events

Flatlander’s Attend the Chicagoland’s 26th Annual All Sports Car Swap Meet and Autojumble

Nigel Keen and John Twist at the 2023 Chicagoland Autojumble in Wheaton, IL

The Chicagoland MG Club again sponsored their popular swap meet and autojumble at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL.   The Illinois Flat Land British Car Club (IFLBCC) members have made the pilgrimage north for many years, searching for those rare and parts and accessories to complete their project cars and to promote the club.  This year, members departed the central Illinois area around 6:00 am insuring that we would arrive when the doors opened to the public around 8:00.   Many notable celebrities in the British car community, like John Twist, author Burt Levy and MGA Guru, Barney Gaylord were present.  As a club, our goal was to promote the June 4th, Champagne British Car Festival’s Car Show and weekend activities to all of the Chicagoland car clubs and attract possible vendors.  We were able to reconnect with several members of the Austin Healey Club and subsequently agreed to create a co-promotion of their British Car Union car show and our CBCF weekend.  

Nigel Keen and David Fitch loaded down with Autojumble bargains!

This year the entire show was packed into a single building which made navigating the stacks, tables and boxes a little challenging but always worth the effort!  So many of the vendors are experts in their marque so even if you don’t find what you’re looking for, you’ll certainly learn a few things along the way.  Each of the Flatlander’s were looking for a few specific items so as a team we were able to spread out and “bird-dog” for each other.  Need a TR3 gauge, a shop manual, some British wiring?   If it’s there . . . we’ll find it!  After a half-dozen trips up and down the aisles and loaded down with bargains, we packed up the car to head home but not before a stop for some natter and noggin at The Seven Dwarfs.