ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 3, 1993                   TAG: 9308030136
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: Kathleen Wilson
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


THEIRS ARE TRIUMPHS OF THE HEART AND ROAD

A graduate student in architecture at Virginia Tech, Rachel Rosenblum was driving an Acura and saving money for a computer.

When the monthly car payments got to be more than she could handle, she did what any sensible person would have done.

She sold the Acura.

Then she emptied her savings account of the computer money. And bought herself a sports car.

A broken-down, oil-leaking, barely working 1974 Triumph.

"I would have sold my soul for that car," Rachel says today with a smile.

The Triumph made the trip from Lynchburg to Blacksburg. Barely. The car broke down just inside Blacksburg city limits.

Luckily for Rachel, Dale Osterndorf spotted her as he sped past in his MG.

He stopped to give her a hand. And they've been dating ever since.

"I've met more guys since I bought this car," admitted Rachel.

But, fellas, if you see Rachel and her Triumph on the side of the road, know this: This is a lady who knows her stuff.

At the British Automobile Owners Road Rally a couple of weeks ago, Rachel won the contest to see how many parts of an engine you could name. She left the other drivers in her dust, naming 14 out of 16 parts.

How's she do that?

"Well, when I bought the Triumph, it came with a box filled with parts," she explained. "I had to figure out what to do with them all."

Rachel was just one of a bunch of sports-car fanatics I met on the road rally.

We were quite a sight as we met in the parking lot of North Roanoke Baptist Church. Jaguars, Triumphs, Morgans, Austin Healeys . . .

"It's neat to see them all here," said Dee Ujlaki, a mechanic at the Sports Car Clinic. "I usually only get to see them when they're broke!"

Because non-British cars were outlawed, the group made arrangements for me to run the rally in - get this! - a JAGUAR!

Yes, I looked good in that Jag convertible, piloted by Charlene Hutcheson. Even though it was raining, we left the top down as we sped all over Catawba, north Roanoke and Botetourt counties, following the road rally directions we were given.

We only got lost once.

We were supposed to turn left before the bridge, then make a left at a stop sign. But as we meandered around the grounds of the Catawba State Mental Hospital, we knew we'd goofed.

'Cause if we turned left at the first stop sign we'd found, we would have been sailing right down one of the hospital wards.

Along the way, Charlene pointed out places that looked like more exotic places she'd been. In Catawba, she pointed as a rocky hill and said, "Look! That looks just like Wales!"

Not to be outdone, when we passed the Roanoke Cement Co., I pointed and said, "Look! That looks just like Pittsburgh!"

We all wound up at Wade Pollard's house in North Roanoke for the post-rally picnic. There, Wade showed off his Jaguar, which he said was a gift from his wife, Teresa, for his 40th birthday.

"It was my birthday present," he told me. "I make the payments, but she's lettin' me."

While everyone ate hamburgers and hot dogs and Rice Krispy treats made by Wade's daughter, Kara, I got a better look at everyone else's cars.

Becky and Mark Hancock - he looks sorta like John Tesh - skipped the road rally, but turned up for the picnic. They drive a Morgan.

Danny and Jeri Lineberry drive a Morgan, too, and Jeri took me for a ride.

This car is made entirely of wood, and the rear view mirror is no bigger than the mirror inside a woman's compact.

"It's the only car termites can destroy," Jeri told me, somewhat proudly.

We got to talking at the Pollards' about brushes with fame. Troy Smith's date for the rally was Miki Leftwich, a girl who is the absolute spitting image of actress Molly Ringwald.

Had she heard that from anybody else?

"I've heard that from EVERYBODY else," she said, rolling her eyes. In fact, once when Miki was on a cruise in the height of the Brat Pack's popularity, she was mobbed by people wanting her autograph.

"No matter what I told them, they wouldn't believe I wasn't her," said Miki.

Thanks to a part-time job at Tweeds, Miki has actually spoken to Molly on the phone.

"She orders a lot of clothes from Tweeds, and once I got to take her order."



 by CNB