28 M_Cover.qxp:COVER - Mitchells | Richards

wheels
BEAUTIFUL CARS ARE NOT JUST TRANSPORTATION,
BUT ROLLING WORKS OF ART.
CAUTION: MAY INSPIRE SERIOUS GARAGE ENVY BY DAVID ROSE
VINTAGE ROAD SHOW
It all started early
one Saturday, when my
best friend showed up at my
house driving his uncle’s 1959
Austin Healy Sprite. He parked it
outside my bedroom window and
blasted its air horn, prompting
me to vault three feet out of bed.
We spent the day driving around
Boston in the coolest car I had
ever been in, and I promised
myself right then that when I
was old enough to drive, I would
buy a British sports car. The day
came shortly after my sixteenth
birthday, and nothing was the
same again for me. I now have a
humble collection of these wonderful
cars and drive them as
often as possible.
There are many extraordinary
automobile museums around the
world, but also numerous private
collectors whose magnificent cars
are worth fortunes. Perhaps they
also had friends who introduced
them to the world of classic cars.
Or it may have simply been the
majesty of the machines that
inspired them to covet and collect
these amazing vehicles.
One such man is Richard Myers,
a former math teacher turned
European car dealer who is now
retired and lives in New Jersey
and Rhode Island. A collector of
vintage cars for over 40 years, his
38 classics include some very rare
110
machines. Like me, his first was an
MGA that he bought while in college.
Back then British sports cars
were relatively new to the area
where he lived, so he soon learned
how to do mechanical repairs on
his own. He has always considered
these beautiful cars not just transportation,
but rolling works of art.
After college, he bought and
restored a Jaguar, followed by
Rolls Royces and Bentleys, which
he fixed up and sold for profit.
After a while he realized that he no
longer wanted to sell the cars he
restored, and his classic car collection
was born. It was the 1970s, and
classic car values were nothing
like they are today: he was able to
The 1953
Allard J2X