Celebrity TC

[Robert Brennan]

Just back from a 2 week trip to CA for my son's wedding in Berkeley and took the PCH back to his home in LA. Wonderful trip but the coldest summer and craziest drivers I've ever experienced! And I'm from Maine and suffer cold temps and MA drivers constantly!
Anyway, a month ago the Mrs. and me enjoyed a fabulous Brian Wilson concert in Portland, ME, so I was completely unprepared when my son discovered the Beach Boys "Endless Harmony" CD at Amoeba Records next to the Arclight Theater in Hollywood. On the front of the CD is a yellow TC, presumably Mike Love's.
http://www.motortrend.com/news/mike-lov ... ity-drive/
Anyone know anything about this TC?

Bob Brennan
S. Freeport, ME
TC7794 EXU

[Steve Simmons]

I hope you took advantage of some of the best driving roads in the west, in the hills above Malibu! We just led a tour for the TC Motoring Guild along Mulholland Highway last weekend.

I've seen the photo of the TC before but don't think anyone has ever identified it.

[Robert Brennan]

Steve, my intro to San Francisco was a 2 1/2 hour drive from LAX to our Air BnB in Oakland. Freeway lane use was "creative" with no known rules except watch out for that motorcyclist speeding like a bat out of hell between lanes. Really, I've driven in Manhattan and Rome and never seen anything as suicidal.
Knowing of the strong TC groups in San Francisco and Los Angeles, I wondered how you could possibly organize road trips for non-supercharged, non-alfinned TC's that might need a tune up!
And no, I wouldn't dream of driving anything but a rental in CA.
And speaking of rentals, I am very happy that I took out a $100,000 policy for $29 with insuremyrentalcar.com before I left.
Really crazy out there.
Would love to know more about Love's TC. Somebody knows.
Bob

[Steve Simmons]

There's your first problem, you drove on the freeways! That's what angry commuters and people in a hurry use.

Every city has its own crazy style of driving that seems incredible to out-of-towners. Once you get used to it and learn what to expect, you can relax a lot more. I drive into the city almost every day, about 80 miles round trip in my '67 MGB GT. I rarely, however, take the freeway. Here's what my commute looks like, and what it should look like when you pick the best driving routes around the city...

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Too bad you couldn't join us last weekend. We had the roads practically all to ourselves in a line of TCs! This is what a traffic jam looks like when you take a "real" road in or out of LA... (this is just a few miles from the city)

back-roads.jpg (229 KiB) Viewed 4626 times

A quick Google search reveals that Mike's TC was Sequoia Cream with green interior, and possibly a 1948. He lived in Santa Monica, near where I took that first photo. He bought it in the 60's and still owned it in 2008 (and probably still does).

Here is a color photo of the car, along with all the other band members' cars. Hard to tell where it was taken but looks like Pacific Coast Highway north of Malibu, between LA and Oxnard. Somehow I doubt that Mike had a Craig sound system installed in his TC!

[Robert Brennan]

I erred in my airport designation. I meant to use SFO. So 2 1/2 hours to cross the bridge to Oakland wouldn't even challenge a snail! Gridlock at 2 PM.
Yes, we were on the PCH going back to LA. Beautiful, like your pics show. It must be a gas being part of a TC parade!
Bob

[Robert Brennan]

Looks too yellow to be Sequoia Cream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joXimsJ ... JEGRs#t=33

Bob

[Steve Simmons]

I wonder if the album cover is accurate in color. The sky is obviously painted in / over-saturated. Nice find though!