This classic car rally took place over the weekend of September 16 and 17 on the backroads of Northern California. The entry consisted of about 50 pre 1970 cars. The difference between the Melee and its more illustrious brother, the Californian Mille Miglia, is that the cars which run in the Melee have more of, let's say, a patina. The entry consisted of a large number of MG's, four cylinder Porsches, Sprites and a lone Bristol 409. Piloted by Shawn Thomas and with myself acting as occasional navigator and commentator, the 409 arrived at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco on Saturday morning. The 409 was given the number 406, not because the organizers suffered from dyslexia but because the 406 was the intended transport. The Melee prides itself by accepting and running the roughest, most abused daily drivers along the beautiful (and somewhat untended) backroads of Napa and Mendicino. One of the popular myths is that all of the roads in California are well paved. This is not true, in fact, a far higher percentage of roads in California are unpaved compared to the United Kingdom. There are, however, many great driving roads.

The 406, fresh from the Palo Alto British Car Show and also with a new set of tyres, seemed to be fated not to compete in this event, perhaps because it was too shiny. The alternator (upgraded to a Motorola for reliability, ironically) failed and a replacement was impossible to locate on Friday night. As it happened, the event was less than punctual in taking off and a replacement might have been sourced. Shawn opted to run his 409 despite its transmission fluid overheating problem.

The other notable cars at the event were a Monteverdi 375L, Aston Martin DB6, Alfa Romeo Montreal, an unidentified Bentley, E-type roadster and a DAF variomatic. Most of the contestants were regular participants in the event and there was a good spirit. Free pastries and coffees was provided. The starting line was enlivened by the organizers' brain wave - each car was given a sign which read "funeral" to avoid the traffic over the Golden Gate Bridge - a notorious bottleneck. While the funeral entourage moved quickly over the bridge it did not seem to impress local law enforcement officials, they eyed the smokey Sprites from a distance. Most entrants got underway although a few, feeling the after effect of the previous night's chug-a-lug, caught up a bit later. One participant was having trouble with his Abarths suspension clearance and another waited around for a replacement alternator for his BMW 2002. We waited near the back of the line to avoid overheating the 409 in city traffic.

On the way to Napa, the 409 began to have its feared overheating problems. A plume of white smoke, caused by the transmission fluid spewing over onto the exhaust pipes, choked up the pleasant couple traveling immediately behind us in their spanking new 911 Cabriolet. 318 cubic inches can produce enough smoke to match the leakiest straight six. Shawn pulled the car aside and waited for it to cool down. This repeated itself about three times (one occasion we were joined by an E-Type with a blown out alternator, another with a Montreal with a dodgy battery). We decided to take a stop at Napa and visit the local auto store and fit a transmission oil cooler. While Shawn fiddled with some cabling I visited the In-and-Out Burger and lunched. In-and-Out makes a nice burger, not perhaps on a par with the oddities that come from Whitecastle (I call them steam broiled liqui-burgers). I was pleased that it took far less time to park, walk in, buy a burger and walk out than it did to crawl around the building and bark into a microphone manned by the hearing impaired. However, we did partake of the In-and-Out experience by dutifully eating the burgers while seated in a car. A 409 has no cup holders.

On our way and within a half an hour, the cooler had brought down the oil and water temperature by a remarkable degree. Haines I think was the brand, designed for an RV towing a family of 10, it proudly claimed on the packaging. Well, two Bristol owners in need of slimming was trial enough for now. We were ready to take the hills and catch up. The area we made up time on was a very rough back road near Berryessa Lake. This road is crossed at a dozen points by streams. The streams were dry, however, there was a dangerous dip each time a crossing was attempted - the kindly locals did not wish to spoil the environment by warning the driver of the fact. Going along at a fair old clip, we bottomed the car a number of times and managed to dislodge some bolts from the exhaust manifold. Aside from crashing over the bumps and dips, we managed to get the 409 into some decent power slides on the warm asphalt, the squealing tires biting before it ran out of road. Manually selecting kickdown gave the 409 more urge up the hills and all the MG's and Lotuses lagged behind eating dust like whipped dogs, yeah.

The 409 is a heavy car which has a bias towards understeer and needs all of its braking power to hold it trim going into the corners. Blip the throttle on the way out and it surges off. Confident now that cooling system was in shape, we took the liberty to stop and feed the car fuel from the spare tanks we carried in the boot. The 409 has a huge thirst for fuel and we managed to pass a red Giulietta about three times and then be re-passed while we stood at the road side filling the Bristol back up! Shawn's 409 has a minor fuel supply problem which reduces the effective capacity of the tank to a mere 7 gallons. This is good for, what, 70 or 80 miles? During this toing and froing we noticed that the Giulietta was badged Volvo. Some kind of Facellia type butchery? We later learned that it was the owner¹s approximation of Veloce - spelling was not his strength.

However, we did manage to pass about 10 cars (they were strangely lined up at the roadside as we passed by and then we realized they were lined for the construction team to flag them past, we had, of course, just jumped to the front of the queue!) The rest of the group were at lunch when we reached Lakeport. Having taken a breather when the oil cooler was installed, we took off a bit earlier and had a pleasant drive up the coast to Fort Bragg and arrived a first to the motel for the night. At this time, the exhaust leak had become quite loud and it sounded like we were running with some serious power as we rumbled up the main street. I think a 440 with a 6 pack and race headers makes a similar noise. The other cars arrived in dribs and drabs and when all were assembled, an Alfa Giulia with its trunk full of booze pulled up. Although the cars may have needed it, little in the way of running repairs were completed that evening.

The second day started somewhat late as the previous night's revelers awoke to the shattering sound of a Plymouth GTX with a serious exhaust leak being revved vigorously. Shawn helped a battered Austin Healey Sprite Mk.I back to health, it was suffering from a fuel line blockage. An MG Midget was also the worse for wear. The enormously ugly Snyder Special lead the way out and the second day kicked off. The Snyder is worth pausing for, it was powered by a Ford 289 and looks like a giant Lotus 7. It was a labour of love assembled by Snyder in the Fifties from a book of instructions - How to Build a Sportscar on a Budget. We only know one thing about Mr.Snyder, he either constructed the Special in complete darkness and it was as much of a surprise for him, as it was for us, to view the Special, or, that he had a sense of humour.

The second day seemed that it would be easier, being a shorter route and following the cooler coastal section. We had been forewarned that the day would be one of the warmest yet, running over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The road lead us back to Booneville and then up through a grueling backroad to Stewart's Point. The road had about 50 yards of straight and the rest was hairpin bends which were either on a steep incline or decline. The road went from sea level to 3,000 feet and back down on three occasions. The route was littered with old classics with overheating engines, we observed a Lotus Europa, VW Karmann Ghia, Austin Healey Sprite, MG Midget, Triumph TR4 and Monteverdi 375L stricken by the heat. The Monteverdi was suffered what it seems might be a Chrysler weakness - its transmission fluid was boiling over and burning on the exhaust pipe.

The 409 made it up the hill, we became worried as we began to smell evaporating coolant in the air but luckily reached the crest before it became worse. The fast trip down the hill tested Shawn's nerve as he swung the car on its skinny cross-plies from corner to corner, hauling at the tiller. The Dunlop tires made a pleasant gripping noise, unlike the harsh squeal the Firestones I have fitted to my 409. The fast downhill run began to take its toll as (1) Shawn began to detect a loss of brake fluid and (2) we were beginning to run out of fuel. Shawn (he has a developed sense of smell) thought he could smell brake pad. We concluded that it must be the Alfa Romeo, stopping was not in their nature - rather like the Italian race driver who removed his rear view mirror because ³what is behind you is not important². We decided to pull in and allow the car to cool down. We had been warned to fill up before we left as there was no fuel for a good distance. Equipped with 11 gallons of spare fuel, we were prepared. I observed the front brakes smoke as the tank was being refilled. It was quite amazing that the 409 was still stopping well with such cooked brakes. Shawn expressed his displeasure at the smell of baked brake pad, not at all like the smell of burning oil, which he confided, he had an affinity with. We pressed on and made it to the next fuel stop only to discover that the town, Occidental, no longer had a gas station. It had much of very little. While we were safe, we later learned the several cars had close misses and had cruised into the next town "on fumes".

The final leg of the journey was the picturesque Highway One road in Marin County. Despite a detour, the greatest excitement was following behind several R.V's and S.U.V's on the winding cliff road. Passing was out of the question as traffic was decently heavy, so we took in easy. In any event, we had seen off most of the other cars. Some had taken a rest near Stimson Beach, others had abandoned the mapped route as the terrain became more challenging.

As usual, the traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge was moving at a crawl and we were passed by a crafty Alfa Giulia which chose the quicker lane. We made it to the finish at Kelly's Mission Rock where a number of cars had already arrived. However, the only cars which seemed to have arrived before us were a Chevrolet Chevelle, Porsche 911 and the Alfa Romeo Giulia. The Ford Edsel, Karmann Ghia, Aston Martin DB6, DAF and Sprite all admitted to have taken short cuts on the highway. We were quite proud of the fact that the 409, as a backup car, had suffered no reliability problems and had managed to outperform far smaller and nimbler cars on a route not really designed for grand touring cars. And the transmission oil cooler worked so well that Shawn decided to keep it on the car - swearing he had always meant to do it but never had the chance before.

The organizers were delighted to have something as unusual and rare as a Bristol compete, so perhaps next year we might bring another. The race, of course, was not without cost. The Thomas 409 needed new front tyres, new front brake pads, an oil change, exhaust manifold gaskets and some welding work to the front left suspension support. We subsequently discovered after all of the stories had been gathered together and the truths sorted from the mistruths, that the 409 had actually officially (if there was such a thing) finished second to the Alfa Romeo. And we had let him pass us anyway so it was the same as finishing first really. Then again, only three cars finished officially. The Monteverdi limped in six hours late and some did not make it at all . . .

Shawn plans to restore his 405 to full rally competition spec, roll cage and all. We will be ready to outdrag those Sprites next year.

Shane de Burca