Ragtop was the goal of a planned drive by
SFCJ on july 28th, a sunny saturday morning, with just a few rainshowers here and there.
Ragtops of Palm beach is very unique place. Part classic car showroom, part museum, part time machine, it's also a diner, a place for catered meetings and parties, a gift shop and soon an antique store.
That's a lot for one place, even as spatious as they've become, yet everything is done if a very tasteful manner. The cars are nicely displayed with plenty of memorabilia, yet it's not crowded or overly commercial. Sure, selling classic cars is their business and all cars have a window sticker but it's also a great place to browse. No Rick-the-sharky-salesmen jumping on you there, their attitude is that if you like one of the car it is for sale but they wont shadow you into buying something. Refreshing !
Ragtop was the goal of a planned drive by
SFCJ on july 28th, a sunny saturday morning, with just a few rainshowers here and there.
We met in the Gumbo Limbo park, just south of Boca Raton where muffins, donuts and juice was available. (left : Susanne Veder, Barry Moss, Cindy and John Gommel and Ben Mahr).
Our event coordinator, Susanne Veder did a nice of
organizing the outing, with the muffins elegantly served on a table cloth in the boot of
Cindy and John Gommel's E-type. With a flower vase for that elegant touch...
After talking and admiring the cars, as Jaguar owners and enthusiasts we never get tired of doing this, we left the park in a caravan heading north on A1A.
A1A is very scenic road that follows the beach, providing a relaxed drive with very little traffic or congestion. After a picture stop, a few raindrops forced to stop so that the only convertible of the group could button up. As usual, by the time they were done, the rain had stopped...
Approaching Lake Worth, we stopped to meet with Russel Glace who was waiting for us with his 1952 XK120. More talking and more pictures by the beach. Interestingly, with the addition of the XK120, our group now included a perfect sampling : half a century of Jaguar sportscar with an XK 120, E-type, XJS and XKR. How often do you see all four on the road together.
Barry Moss beautiful 1989 XJS V12 Coupe
After further driving north, we crossed the
intracoastal just south of Palm Beach and stopped for another photoshoot session along the
causeway.
Pulling over in a parking lot before the bridge, a police officer ambushed across the street left his patrol car and walked over to admire the cars... I wonder how much speedtrap income we spoiled for the city of Palm Beach !
More pictures taking, the space was a bit cramped so it was hard to fit many cars together but the sight of these four sports cars together was just awesome, obviously totally differents but spanning 50 years of Jaguar history !
A few more miles across the causeway and along West Palm Beach palm tree lined waterfront boulevard where we run into a sable E-type convertible driving in the opposite direction, met with mutual friendly waving of course.
A few minutes later, we arrive at Ragtop and
park in their large customer parking lot. As mentioned at the beginning of this article,
it is a very unusual place, worth the detour... and a detour it is as major
construction is underway on South Dixie highway, but they have a large off street parking
lot. Founded in 1981 by Cherri and Ty Houck, Ragtops Motorcars has grown over the years
and now include a 3 story building ( with car elevator no less ), an outdoor lot and
another large building / showroom across the street. They have also brought in an original
50s diner from New Jersey which is located across South Dixie and will be open soon. A
very nice lunch destination for any car enthusiast !
Ragtops has a nice selection of cars, from typical
American iron for the 40s and 50s to more unique British Cars such as an Austin Atlantic
or a 1961 flat floor outside bonnet latch white E-type convertible. Very tempting....
Interestingly the majority of the cars are affordable, some in the ten to twenty thousand price range and all appeared to be solide nice drivers. They also have a repeat customer trade in policy where you can trade in the car you purchased for an almost guarateed value and buy another one. As trade-ins are sales tax exempt in the state of Florida it is an attractive idea.
Cherri and Ty gave us a tour of there facility including the car elevator ride to the 3rd floor reception room and the 2nd floor drive in movie theater. Very well done, dozens of great cars displayed with memorabilia !
After that, we crossed the street for lunch at a nearby restaurant before all headed home.
Check out Ragtops Motorcars site for additional information on their offerings
Car elevator... all aboard !
on the beach display, with an orignial Amphicar and Fiat Jolly
1961 flat floor, outside bonnet latch E-type in the drive in theater
Susanne Veder playing at the beach...
More pictures taken along the way :
Below : a trio of Jaguar sports cars:
Pascal Gademer's 2000 XKR Coupe
Barry Moss's 89 XJS Coupe
John and Cindy Gommel's 74 E-type OTS
a pair of XJ6 : Susanne Veder's series 3 and Ben Mahr's series 1
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