My Dad and I have been going on these Vintage Rallies put on by Rich and Jean Taylor since 1998. One of the frequent participants has been Dean and Wendy Edmonds of Naples, Florida. Dean has brought along some really nice cars over the years, so it was a nice touch to be able to view his collection up close and personal. It is housed in an immaculate aircraft hangar. We put on our jackets and ties, and were shuttled over for wine, cheese and some really nice cars.
The collection was not driven by any particular theme, beyond what its owner likes. The cars I recall were:
After we all arrived and had a chance to enjoy some wine and a little conversation, Dean Edmonds politely offered to show us any of the cars and provide any information we desired about them. The first on everybody's list of course was the Bugatti Type 55. A group of us walked over and heard the story of how he acquired it, and something of the history, engineering, and specifics of this car. I listened intently and took some photographs.
After he was done with the Bugatti he asked if there were any other cars anyone wanted to know about... of course I spoke up and asked about the Jaguar E-type! It is an 1967 model... known to us E-Type folks as a "Series 1.5"... as it was at the end of the Series 1 run, but major changes were being made to the car. Just about every Series 1.5 car is unique, as the changes were not all done at once, but in piecemeal through that model year. Series 2 of course had some rather radical changes, such as changed bumpers, a larger "mouth" and a shift from 3 SU carburettors to 2 Zenith-Stromberg carbs. You can identify a S1.5 car by the "open" headlights but with the usual S1 taillights and turn signals *above* the bumpers.
Dean Edmonds' E-type is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a series 1.5. It has under 6000 original miles and has been very well maintained... I'd even go so far as to call it "pampered!" My E-type by comparison has almost 100,000 hard miles and has been restored twice... most recently less than 3 years ago. It looks nice, but nowhere as good as this one, especially when you look at it from a "concours" point of view, as mine is not very original.
Dean told me a bit about his E-type's history, and showed me under the bonnet. I performed my archival duties for the xkedata website, and recorded all the numbers from the dataplate.
After that I wandered around, admiring cars, and taking photos, until it was time to go. Most of the group was already gone, and we were waiting for our shuttle, so I assisted Mr. Edmonds a bit... helping roll his twin-engined aircraft back into the hangar, and covering the cars.
It was a wonderful little event, and I must thank Dean and Wendy Edmonds for sharing their time and collection with us.
On to the Collier Museum.