British Invasion, Cape Cod British Car Club lands in Marion

Aug 8, 2022

MARION — The Cape Cod British Car Club only has one rule: All you have to do is like cars. 

Members of the club showed off their vintage wheels in front of the Robert Broomhead Bandstand in Marion on Friday, Aug. 5. 

The club has more than 190 members, but only four were in attendance that day.

Cameron Ferguson, club president, arrived in his red 1962 Triumph TR4. Born and raised in Scotland, Ferguson has always been around classic British cars, he said. 

He bought his Triumph in 2014 while living in Illinois, and he's “been trying to keep it going ever since,” he said.

The car bears the name Rusak, which means “broken” in Indonesian. Three badges are affixed to the front grill. 

One badge is for the Cape Cod British Car Club, one is for the Touring Club Suisse, a car club in Switzerland and one is for the Automobile Association, a club similar to the American AAA founded in the United Kingdom in 1905. 

The AA badge holds sentimental value for Ferguson. It was owned by Ferguson’s father, who first joined the AA in 1956. 

“That one is really special,” he said. 

Pulled up next to Ferguson was Tony Caputo, vice-president of the club, with his red 1976 MG Midget. 

“I found that car in a junkyard in Connecticut,” said Caputo. “The body was in tough shape. The interior was missing.” 

Caputo initially kept the car hidden from his wife, spending over a year in his office garage working on it without her knowledge, he said. Then, knowing he had to break the news to her eventually, he took her out for ice cream in his newly restored MG. 

“She flipped out when she saw this thing,” said Caputo. “I said, ‘Get in, sweetheart, let’s go.’ This is her ice cream car now. She loves it.”

The youngest member of the club, Eddie Gonet, 18, is a graduate of Old Rochester Regional High School and is attending Harvard University in the fall. He drove up in his convertible 1991 Jaguar XJS.

He said he always wanted this model to be his first car, but his parents had other ideas. 

“They said that it can’t be a Jaguar, and it can’t be a convertible,” said Gonet. “Basically, my dad found it for a good price, and he surprised me with it. We worked on it together as a bonding project.”

Gonet explained that he loves everything about owning a classic car, and that his favorite part is getting to know a vintage car. 

“The car’s like a person. There’s always little quirks with them,” he said.

But the members of the Cape Cod British Car Club do more than show off their flashy rides. They also fundraise for charity. 

This year, the club raised almost $3,000 for Independence House, a Cape Cod non-profit that supports people impacted by domestic or sexual violence, said past club president Mike Dallaire.

Dallaire, who described himself as a “man about town and all-around snappy dresser,” drove his red 1994 Jaguar XJS.  

The Cape Cod British Car Club is planning another fundraiser soon to support families of military personnel, said Dallaire.