Morgan Hill Today 2014 09 Fall | Page 50

Bill Hiland ’ s

Classic British Sports Cars … A Flash from the Past

By J0-Anne Daniels

Bill Hiland , owner of On the Road Again , a Morgan Hill business that provides top quality , full service , restoration and painting of classic British automobiles is also the organizer of three British Fall Classic Automobile shows in Morgan Hill . The most recent show was held in Morgan Hill in September .

Bill has been a sports car enthusiast since high school in the early 1960s and he attributes his love of British classic cars from a combination of his English , Scottish and Irish heritage and his love of sports cars . In his youth , he enjoyed racing sports cars and zipping along the mountains in his sporty MG . Although his friends were partial to hot rods , Bill loved his sports cars . His childhood hero is Sir Sterling Moss who Bill had the opportunity to meet at the Pebble Beach Concours , which he and other car enthusiasts believe is the top automotive event of its kind . In the showroom at his business , Bill proudly displays a photo of himself and his hero taken at Pebble Beach Concours . According to Bill , Moss was the greatest British car driver there ever was . Although Moss is now 86 , he still attends the Pebble Beach Concours . The reason Bill reveres Moss is because he raced before cars were built to withstand a crash in which the driver can walk away . He said when Moss raced , “ you were tempting fate .”
As a teenager , Bill loved sailing and racing which he started at the age of seven when he sailed the Calero Reservoir near Almaden . He said with a twinkle in his eye that he learned an important lesson then , “ If you go sailing with friends , when you get to the dock ,
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