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The Village Voice, in conjunction with the Greenwich Village Motor Sports Chub, held its second annual "Sports and Foreign Car Rallye Sunday on Washington Square East. A "Concours d'Elegance" contest followed the rallye.
Although the day started out an uncompromising gray, the rain clouds did not develop until the final event was almost over and the bulk of the cars and spectators had taken off for Art D'Lugoff's Village Gate to hear the results.
The festivities at Washington Square were headed by Jean Shepherd, firmly ensconsed on the hood of a Hillman station wagon and backed up by a public-address system.
Registration of cars was completed by noon, and they were then dispatched at one-minute intervals by Wynn Kramarsky and Bruce Johnston, the rallyemasters. Jean Shepherd accompanied each departure with comments about the car - its vintage and country of origin - for the benefit of the large crowd gathered to witness the proceedings.
Practically every current popular make and marque showed up at Washington Square, but not all of them entered the rallye. Some of the drivers just came to watch the affair, One Triumph contestant drove in from St. Louis for the event. Among the entrants were such exotica as a 1929 Franklin air-cooled tourer, a pre-war Bentley, and many vintage MG's.
Aside from the inevitable attractive ladies who arrive to express their boredom and furnish ornamentation to the proceedings, entrants, officials, and watchers had a pleasant afternoon which boded well for the repetition of such events in the near future.
The rallye, as planned by Kramarsky of GVMSC, consisted of a sheet of 11 famous and infamous buildings - historic spots and sports-car buffs' hangouts around Manhattan. Every driver was required to stop at each of them and obtain a signature over the suitable photograph from a checker stationed there, and then return to the starting point when the sheet was completed.
Stragglers and Limpers
Naturally there were stragglers and limpers. Three teen-agers in a 1931 Model A Ford sedan from Plainfield, New Jersey, returned sans bumper, and one or two souls vanished entirely.
When they were all back at the Square the rallye cars were lined up by the three "Concours d'Elegance" judges and examined for excellence of upkeep. Points were awarded for exterior appearance, interior upkeep, and engine-space maintenance. Final results were quite close, although several machines had eczema of the paintwork.
RALLYE WINNERS
1st prize:
Spike Landsman TCMG (1947)
Tie for 2nd prize:
Gil Barkus - Austin Healey (1955)
A. Hallocks - Volkswagen Ghia (1957)
Howard Zwiren — Plymouth Fury (1957)
R. Driscoll—Jaguar XK150MC
Judges: Dave Goell, Bob Plume, and Dan List - all of the GVMSC
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THE PURPLE PEOPLE
Unofficial honorable mention went to two sets of mauve-colored Villagers. The PurpIe People, as they called themselves, were voted the most hueful of all the rallyers. They were Claire and Theodore V. Hermann of Washington Place and Jack Holtzberg and his navigator, Kathy Fuller.
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