Decisions! Decisions! Labour Day weekend forced me to choose between Vancouver's 2008 Steamworks Concours and the annual Victoria Wooden Boat Show. In past years I'd journeyed to the mainland by ferry and stayed in a downtown hotel at considerable expense to this non-profit site. This year I decided to stay home. The Wooden Boat Show takes place in Victoria's picturesque harbor and is dominated by rich men's power yachts from the 20's and 30's but I did manage to find a pair of elegant wooden speedboats plus some vintage steam-powered launches. (It was steam on the Atlantic that opened up America to European emigrants.)

Fortunately our ClassicalDrives correspondent Nigel Matthews was in Gastown (where the Vancouver Steamworks Concours takes place), fulfilling his usual role as judge, yet somehow finding time to photograph three fascinating vintage British sports cars. I'll feature all three in the next few days, beginning with this 1947 HRG 1500 with Singer engine. One of many small British specialist manufacturers, HRG won the 1.5 litre class at Le Mans for the second time in 1949. Fifty-nine years later a three-car team won the 2006 Vintage Sports Car Club 2-hour team relay race at Donington Park. Out of 241 cars manufactured, it is estimated that 225 survive and many are still in use.

[Photo: Nigel Matthews]