Last Sunday was the first booked car show for me at Kersey Mill a short trip fifteen miles away about thirty minutes away. This year the plan was to go the back route for a relaxing scenic drive with no pressure of the main roads. Before I had even got out of my little village or off choke at eight thirty on a Sunday morning, some idiot nearly took me out being on my side of the road coming round a corner. If I had of been doing thirty miles an hour it would have been a head on crash, best of it was he had a young kid in the front seat as well. I think I may have woken a few people up as my window was down as I expressed my displeasure in a raised tone, nothing from the driver he just carried on.
The rest of the drive was serene and enjoyable, many of the little villages that I passed through had speed limits in place so the car was just running on tick over through them, hence the longer time to get there. The marshal on the gate asked me if I was with a club which I wasn’t and directed me to field four. The trouble was I missed the entrance to the area and carried on round the corner. The marshal here was the opposite, a little bit of power had gone to his head and wouldn’t allow me to go back to the other field, about five seconds round the corner, even though nothing was coming up the path. Instead he ‘told’ me to park next to a red Alpha under a row of trees, err no! In my defiance I parked in the middle of the hard standing to keep away from tree sap and potential bird deposits. He didn’t look to impressed, I didn’t care to be honest, within a minute or so I was being surrounded with other cars with the same thoughts as me. I was next to cherry blossom tree which smelt amazing.
This is a great show with lots of different cars on display, from steam driven oldies to the less attractive couple of year old Tesco car park specials, I don’t bother taking photos of those, even with that in mind, I still ended up taking over two hundred pics.
I started taking photos in the hard standing area which was near the near the food, the smell of bacon rolls added to the lovely morning fresh air. Speaking of air this Chevy Bel Air (see what I did there) was pristine.
Walking through the end of the hard standing there was another field with lots more cars and a couple of car clubs, mainly Mini and Lotus.
My runner up car of the show is this glorious Model A, a rust patina special. This is about as original as it will ever get. Credit to the guy who drove it in.
This Mustang is modified with a wide body kit and Lambo doors, you either like the doors or you don’t. For me I can appreciate the work involved, but it’s not my thing I’m afraid.
Moving back to towards the mill itself there were some great oldies parked in prime positions at the front.
Around the side of the house were some super cars where I caught up with my Mate Craig, who has shared some of his photos with me for this post.
Either side of the main path into the mill itself there are display areas either side.
I used to play a game ‘Need for Speed Underground’ and my son used to customise this car to the max, the legendary Toyota Supra. Not seen one of these spec cars for a while.
This 1966 Plymouth Barracuda fastback was amazing, the rear glass section on this car is a work of art, I wouldn’t want to try and source one of them if it broke!
Mart’s Car of the Show
I haven’t seen an original untouched BMW M3 E30 (the proper M3) for such a long time, then this beauty parked up just behind me. A modern classic that dominated touring car racing late 80’s and early 90’s. He didn’t stay that long, but I’m glad I caught some pics of it.
Early afternoon a few cars started to leave, Craig and Lee decided to bring their cars into the show and parked up next to me and we had our own mini car show. After some lunch and a chat they went of for more car spotting and photos while I desperately tried to keep myself from falling asleep due to the early start, busy pretending to keep an eye on the cars.
Thanks to Lee, for this artistic pic. You can find him on Instagram @s2kathome
A little while later I decided to leave around three to miss the traffic as the show closed at four. Craig stood in a strategic place and caught some cars leaving.
He even managed to grab a couple of me leaving too. Thanks Craig for the pics.
I absolutely love this picture.
The drive home was just as leisurely as the drive there. What is better than a scenic route home, window open and a V8 rumble in your ears? A great day out with mates and looking forward to more. Hopefully I will catch up with Craig and Lee at more shows this year with our cars together.
After the quick detail to remove the road dust and put the car away, I plonked myself on the sofa and feel asleep for an hour (or so) cuddled up with my little dog. What a great way to end the day.
There is often a myth that keeping a car covered up with a dedicated fitted breathable cover in the garage will look exactly as it did when you get it out as when you put it away. Visually that may be true, apart from dust and visible debris on the dust cover. But what about the rest of the car? Providing the environment is ideal, like humidity, temperature, sunlight and wind all should be as it was and prevention is the better path than rectification. My dehumidifier which is always on, is set to the optimum range of 55% to 60%. In addition to that I have a dedicated radiator controlled by a thermostat valve in the garage which is set at a minimum low temp to keep damp and cold away in the winter. Some call it excessive or a waste of money, but it will help protect the car. It took me while to convince the wife, but she did see the point, in the end. The garage walls are insulated along with the roller door witch has a good rubber seal to the floor to stop drafts. Even insulating the concreate with dedicated garage floor tiles on the standing area can make a big difference to that prevent cold and damp rising up from the floor causing unseen damage under your car.
Humidity and temperature swings are two of the most underestimated threats to a classic car. Even when a vehicle is stored indoors like a garage or workshop, the air around it is constantly expanding, contracting, and carrying moisture. That moisture could settle on cold metal surfaces, creating condensation, the perfect starting point for rust. Brake lines, fuel tanks, exhaust systems, and even internal engine components can begin to corrode long before you see any visible signs. High humidity will accelerate the deterioration of rubber components, causing hoses, belts, and seals to soften, swell, or crack. Over time, this could lead to leaks, poor running from split vacuum hoses, or brake servos not working correctly, failures that seem to appear out of nowhere. The longer a car sits in these type of environments the more exposure to problems. Carburettors and fuel systems suffer as moisture mixes with old petrol, forming varnish and sludge clogging jets and making cold starts a nightmare. Electrical connectors oxidise, creating intermittent faults that are notoriously difficult to trace. Even interior components aren’t safe — dashboards can crack from heat and direct sunlight, vinyl can warp or split and adhesives can fail when exposed to repeated hot‑cold cycles. If there is no air movement in the car then you are inviting mould and damp to cause havoc. I always leave my windows a little open to allow the air to move. My dehumidifier not only keeps the humidity where it should be, but it also circulates the air and gives of a certain amount of heat from the motor, so my garages never gets cold as such. The main point is to avoid the extremes in your storage location what ever that may be. At weekends I open the garage door to either potter around or clean the cars, this will give a change of air and keep things fresh.
Classic cars have a charm that modern vehicles simply can’t replicate, the raw driving feel, the analogue simplicity, the unmistakable character ageless looks and even the smell. But beneath that nostalgia lies a truth that every classic owner eventually learns: these machines need attention. Not just the occasional polish or Sunday run, but real, regular mechanical care. Ignoring the mechanical side of a classic car is one of the quickest ways to turn a cherished vehicle into a costly headache. Just because you don’t use it, doesn’t mean things don’t go wrong. For reasons explained above being just some of them.
Even if a classic looks immaculate on the inside and out, its mechanical components could still decades old. Rubber hardens and cracks, seals dry out, and metal corrodes quietly out of sight. A very dear friend of mine, who has a one of the very first 64 1/2 Mustangs once said to me “Even with all this prevention in the garage, I can hear my car rusting in the house”. These problems are especially true with some modern and cheaper after market parts. A brake hose that looks fine at a glance can balloon under pressure and fail without warning sending you straight to the scene of an accident. Fuel lines can become brittle and leak, turning a simple start‑up into a fire risk. Gearbox seals could leak meaning no drive leaving you stranded. Suspension bushes degrade slowly, transforming a once‑tight ride into something vague and unpredictable. These aren’t dramatic failures, they’re the natural result of time, temperature changes, and materials that were never designed to last half a century.
It’s easy to assume that a classic car kept tucked away in a garage is safe from harm, tyres can develop flat spots, batteries sulphate and lose capacity, and clutches can seize to flywheels, brakes can get stuck to drums or discs. Even exhaust systems rust from the inside out as condensation collects and never burns off, the rubber hangers can perish and the next bump or pothole could dislodge the hanger and your exhaust is ripped from the car in the best case, in the worse case it cause huge damage under the car. The phrase “it ran perfectly when I parked it” is often the start of a long list of repairs.
After all those horror points above, the good news is that most of these issues are preventable with regular checks and a bit of mechanical sympathy. Running the car up to temperature, exercising the brakes, and keeping fluids fresh all go a long way. Replacing ageing rubber components, before they fail is far cheaper than dealing with the damage they can cause. Above all, driving the car — even just a short, gentle run — keeps everything moving, lubricated, and healthy.
Classic cars reward the owners who look after them. A little attention now keeps the big problems at bay, preserves the car’s value (which was the main winning point to the wife for the radiator), and ensures it’s always ready for that next drive making you smile and not grimace.
Why do I mention this again? Because a scenario happened to me. I always inspect my car, when cleaning it, especially before a new car show season and take my car down to Mustang Maniac for a full on once over and MOT. I a nice day was forecast during the week and the car was taken for the first drive this year. On the first drive out, it’s always careful and steady to make sure all is well before I start the sixty mile journey to Mustang Maniac. Over the winter I always run my fuel very low so it doesn’t go off or hold moisture. To get to the Mustang Maniac yard I would need a fill up at Shell V-Power which cost me £85 to fill up. Have I mentioned that our robbing government applies 53% ‘fuel duty’ onto every litre of fuel and then add another 20% VAT (Value Added Tax) onto that initial cost after the fuel duty as well, that’s tax on a tax!
The drive down was fine, a little clunk now and again on some parts of the road, every so often a little vague on the steering. A I pulled into the yard the car was lifted straight up into the air for the underside pre MOT checks.
The car was now filthy underneath on arrival, Adam and Mark checked things over as I freaked out trying to clean around where they weren’t checking. Mark did make a comment, not that I can repeat his comment on a family blog, but it was along the lines of; please can you get out the way 😂 He was right though, I was getting in the way, dirt was upsetting my OCD and I had to clean the white bits and the more difficult bits to get to when the car is on the floor. A large bag of new car cleaning white towels were taken with me just for this purpose along with some degreaser and detailing products.
Meanwhile inspections moved from the back to the front of the car where Adam found some play in the lower control arm ball joint on the passenger side. It was a very short discussion to replace it. Adam returned a couple of minutes later with a new boxed one. Since being restored eleven years ago now, the car has only done 7,000 miles since then. Why this particular ball joint failed we don’t know, it has always greased and there was no reason for it to have failed, but it had. This goes a long way to prove a point that I made at the beginning, you can’t take it for granted that if it looks new and not used, the car is actually road worthy!
The lower arm separated easily and wasn’t too much of a job, this part doesn’t need a geometry reset as it can only go back in one place. The offending arm unceremoniously hanging in the wind here as the cross member had to be partially loosened to get the main bolt out.
While everything was being bolted back into place at the front, I started to work on the rear brakes. The drums came off where the shoes and drums were checked over for any unusual wear or damage. Things still looked great after a little brake cleaner and a compressed air blow through.
The rear shoes were backed off, the drums and wheels put back on. The car was be lowered to the ground onto it’s own weight so that all the wheels could be torqued up correctly before being lifted back up in the air to adjust the rear brakes properly.
After everything was adjusted I took the car for a little road test and back to the yard as the guys wanted to know all was good before they let me take a longer drive. Adam called the MOT guys to say I was on the way, a little later than expect due to the suspension fix. The MOT centre was a quick drive some fifteen miles away. I arrived and was directed straight into the garage where I handed the keys over to the MOT guys to do their thing.
The car passed the test with flying colours and I’m all set for another year of safe motoring. The car needs a proper good ol’ clean now and a service of oil and checking of fluids once again. After the MOT I called back into Mustang Maniac as I have to basically drive past it. Adam gave me an old box to put my failed control arm in as I wanted to take it apart when I get a moment which was today.
I cleaned the arm up noting there was plenty of grease about which you can see and around the top of the ball joint. The rubber was in perfect condition and not perished.
I cut the rubber off the ball joint which was still substantial and needed a few cuts all the way round to get it off.
I cleaned all the grease away to expose the top of the ball joint, nothing out of the ordinary struck me, apart from the fact it was extremely notchy and stiff.
The grease nipple was removed and I checked the grease depth with a thin screwdriver which was full of grease and fresh grease at that.
I tried to take a couple of photos to show inside where the grease can just about be seen.
I turned back to the rubber and spotted one small point, a section inside the gator was dry, no grease there at all, but there was full grease elsewhere. Very odd, you can see the dry part where I just happened to make the vertical and slanted cuts.
Reverting back to the control arm I had another up close inspection, There top of the ball joint was scared marked with the arrows on the stud at the base (left side of the pic below). To the right there are a couple of arrows that are pointing to a sharp lip which looks to have broken.
The tolerances on that side of the collar (below left) are bigger than the tolerances on the opposite side (below right).
All I can think is that perhaps I have jammed my car down a pot hole, which I don’t remember as I always drive around them. Or I have caused damage driving over a crappy field or two to park up for a show, that I do remember, frequently. I did squirt some Gibbs Brand Lubricant into the grease nipple hole and around the top of the ball joint. Letting Gibbs penetrate for a while I could start working it around which did eventually free up and was movable by hand again, but it did still feel very grindy.
The only thing I can think of is that a piece has lodge somewhere and cause a seizure that I can’t see causing the wear and the eventual failure. The movement was notchy and what felt does feel like a score mark somewhere. But I can’t really see any thing glaringly wrong with the part in the first place.
Tips for greasing the control arms.
Locate the grease fittings on the control arms, bushings and ball joints. Wipe each fitting clean before attaching the grease gun; forcing grease through a dirty fitting can push grit into the joint. Pump slowly until you see the old, dirty grease begin to purge out of the boot. That’s your signal that the cavity is full and fresh lubricant has displaced the old material. While you’re under there, look for cracked rubber boots, torn bushings, or joints that won’t take grease at all, those are signs the component may be worn or damaged.
Never over‑pressurise the joint; if you keep pumping after the boot is full, you can rupture the rubber and shorten the life of the part. Never use the wrong grease for suspension components which typically need a high‑quality chassis grease, not general‑purpose or lithium‑complex greases meant for other systems. Never grease a joint that’s clearly damaged in hopes of “quieting it down” as lubrication won’t fix a worn ball joint or bushing. It goes without saying that driving on a failing suspension component can be dangerous, potentially lethal.
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Taking you back to the beginning of this post, older cars like to be driven. If these classic cars and not just American muscle, any classic car is standing for a length of time especially outside, don’t take it for granted everything is fine next time you get back in it. Always give the car a full check over before a new season starts, typically when many classic cars come out to play, or when you get the car out from any sort of storage. The annual oil change is an ideal time to climb around under the car, check the rubber bushing and grease everything. Check for oil leaks, or fluid leaks. Always check the brake fluid, transmission and radiator fluids, washer bottles etc. Take mechanical care to maintain your car and not just for the looks of it. Even with all that said, I still had a failure for no logical reason at all, as all initial inspections looked fine. Would driving my car help in this control arm failure instance? I very much doubt it, but something failed and a serious mechanical part at that. What I mentioned at he beginning is still very relevant and you really should pay attention to it and make it a best practice every year. After all that?
Everybody likes a customised wallpaper either on their home desktop PC, Laptop or mobile phone. With that in mind I have selected a few I use and decided to share them with you. I have and added to a new Menu option called “Downloads”, click on the link and you will be taken to a page where I intend to add more as I go along. Let me know what I should add or you would like to see on there.
Once you found what you like, from the Desktop options three so far, or the mobile device options (six so far) click on the ‘Download’ button. They are all free and I haven’t added any watermarks. Lets face it, even if I did, you could remove them with various tools available.
The desktop options are these at the moment, a manor house with a Mustang. Two AI generated scenes, sunset and evening with the cars lights on.
The mobile device options are varied, all high quality photos. They are a large sized images which should allow you to move them around and zoom in and out depending on you device. You could use them as your main screen or maybe just a lock screen.
This a photo of my phone using the first image which is zoomed in to fill the width of the device (Samsung S26 Ultra).
There’s plenty of space at the top to add your favourite apps.
Next month my pride and joy will be backed out the garage for a pre season clean and service. That’s tends to be a full weekend process. Oil change, air filter clean, fluids and tyres and brakes checked. Once all the dirty stuff has been done, I then remove the old wax, apply base sealer, coloured base wax (blue), first layer with a top quality wax which is allowed to cure for twenty four hours. The final top wax allowed to cure for a further two hours then buffed to a shine. Glass polished, seats, carpets and not forgetting the headliner all given an interior detail. The trunk are is emptied out, as more often than not the odd bit of grass creeps in when putting my chair away. Chrome is polished all over the car. After the service, the engine bay is cleaned out and the engine given a degrease and wipe down. While the car is draining the oil and the filter changed, it’s an ideal time to clean the oil pan, gearbox pan which is chrome, and the suspension a clean. I exhausts me just thinking about it, but it’s worth the effort.
With the current state of affairs around the world fuel has gone up stupid amounts here in the UK. So it will be painful to fill up with the premium fuel, my car only seems to like Shell V-Power, anything else and the car runs rough.
But, it’s all about the smiles per gallon, not the miles!
I would like to wish all my readers, followers and casual browsers a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. I look forward to bringing you more reviews, memorabilia, walkthroughs and of course lots of car show photos in the coming year.
My little ol’ blog has been evolving into a ‘blogsite’ over the last couple of years with my stats telling me that I’m approaching a truly amazing 1,550,000 views, which I never believed would be possible. I fund this blogsite all by myself with a small contribution from the WordPress adds (sorry) now and then which contributes to the hosting fees, registration and everything else (but doesn’t cover it all) that goes with an online presence. I can only say a huge and sincere “Thank You” to everyone for keeping me encouraged to continue and making this all worth while.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, see you all in 2026.
After some twelve plus years I now have an issue with my most trusted TomTom Go 600, the battery has died. You may be asking why am I bothered as Google Maps is available phones, updated regularly and works, some consider it better than many dedicated SatNavs, TomTom or Garmin to name just a couple. Even my daily driver has an up-to-date SatNav which I use, a lot. This TomTom Go 600 is used in my Mustang and sits on the centre console in a weighted mount setup. I need guidance to virtually any location where I can’t see my own house. I honestly get lost anywhere, even somewhere that I’ve been before, often a standing joke with friends and family. I prefer to use the TomTom instead of the phone with google maps and the smart watch on my wrist for turn by turn notifications which is great, but the phones battery gets drained before I even get to the location. At car shows most of the phones battery is used up with the camera usage and then a little bit of reading while sitting in my chair. I often take a backup charger with me just in case I need to charge the phone, but it’s a pain. It’s often easier to plonk the SatNav on the console, plug it in so there is no battery worry on the phone. Besides, the screen is bigger on the TomTom and the sound is louder for directions.
On this device the battery lasts about one hour when not plugged in, or I can’t be bothered to plug into the cigarette lighter for the shorter trips. The battery no longer holds a charge of any sort, often to the point that even with power from the cigarette lighter, it can’t hold the power so the unit has shut off on me a few of times. Without external power, the device hardly has enough power to show the empty battery symbol and just dies, not even a proper shut down.
After a quick bit of research I found video on YouTube as a tutorial on how to change the battery, it was worth a go. Why go to the bother, just get an up-to-date model? I certainly could upgrade, however this model has free map updates for life! After twelve years, every few months I get a map update. This device owes me nothing, so a replacement battery and some cheap tools from Amazon £20 all in, would be worth a go. The battery arrived the next day along with the tools needed to take these sort of devices apart. I also needed a pen knife, a blunt one which is sometimes used to open packages etc.
Disclaimer: If you attempt this repair, it’s of your own choice and I won’t be held responsible for any damage or loss.
My experience of the practical wasn’t so easy as the video suggested, so I thought I would document what I did to fix it. I don’t know if the models are designed differently after a while, but my internals were a little different to the YouTube video even though it was the same model designation.
The first step was to separate the two halves of the device, this is where the plastic tools came in, well to start with anyway.
The two parts we so well together I had to get the penknife to get between the two halves and lever them apart. As I worked my way round I used triangular picks in various place to stop the device snapping back together again. There are no screws that hold the two halves together. As the device separated I heard a couple of little snaps where the plastic catches has snapped below right. I was not brutal in fact rather careful, perhaps the plastic is getting brittle with age. The face has a little piece of tape which holds the screen ribbon in place just before the connector itself to the main motherboard.
With the screen out of the way the plastic flat ribbon needs to be eased out of the connector by moving the white clamp towards the ribbon which will release the pressure on the clamp and allow the cable to be pulled out.
The two halves are now fully separated, put the screen to one side out of harms way. The below image shows one of the additional sprung connections at the tip of the screw driver. These are delicate and transfer the touch inputs of the screen to the main board. Hence the flat metal plate that is on the back of the screen.
Next we need to disconnect the speaker and the battery connections, using the plastic tools separate the two plugs.
Get yourself a nice set of screw drivers to remove the five flat cross head screws holding the circuit board to the back case.
With the screws removed lift the top of the board, the opposite to the connections at the bottom. With the board elevated you can then slide the bottom half of the board out of the case. With the board also put out of harms way the battery is exposed at the bottom. The battery will need to be prized away from the case as it’s stuck in place with double sided tape. As with all Li-ion batteries be very very careful.
The old battery and the new one side by side. The new battery on the left has a slightly higher capacity which should retain a little longer life. the original battery is on the right.
In the box supplied with my battery was fresh double sided tape, which needs to stuck on the back to hold the battery in place. The new battery is slightly smaller but still sits neatly in the area. Make sure that the wires are near the speaker and not the opposite end or they wont be long enough to connect.
Take the circuit board and align the bottom of the board to openings. Gently lay the fish the two sets of wires through the hole in the circuit board and then lower the board down into place. Align the screw holes and lightly screw into place. This will allow you to pick the device up and make sure the connections are fully located correctly. Once you are happy with the alignment fully tighten the five screws, do not over tighten. Next re-insert the battery and the speaker cables to the back of the board.
Hold the screen near the main circuit board that will allow the flat cable to fall above the ribbon connection. I couldn’t take pictures at this point as I needed both hands. While holding the screen still gently guide the flat ribbon into the opening evenly. Do not force the ribbon or it will kink, the ribbon should just slot into place. Once the ribbon is fully inserted in place, slide the white clamp away from the ribbon to clamp the ribbon in place. Both the screen and the ribbon should now be connected. Very lightly pull the screen to make sure the ribbon does not pull out.
Lay the screen onto the case to align the two halves again. Make sure that the sprung connectors are not damaged be fully lowering the screen down. Starting at the bottom snap into place and work up the sides to the top. As you snap the case together make sure the connections at the bottom are stay correctly aligned. The broken clips were at opposite ends of the device so it didn’t prevent re-assembly of the unit.
Now turn the device on.
Now check that the screen is still touch responsive once the unit has fully started.
Once everything was working I was able to give everything a clean and full charge. The difficult part was separating the two halves without damage. The YouTube video showed it almost falling apart which wasn’t the case. The plastic tools weren’t quite man enough to separate the halves, hence the use of the pen knife for a little more robust leverage. Once apart it was pretty simple to remove the board, replace the battery and re-assemble.
Total time taken: 40 mins
Difficulty Level: 4 out 10
Conclusion: the only real difficulty was taking apart without damage and re-aligning the motherboard ports to the bottom of the case.
Continuing on from my last post this is the rest of the Classics at Glemham Car Show. The show had food and drink but like most of the shows now days the costs were expensive. I doubt this is greed of the vendor, from what I have heard the organisers of the events charge silly amounts for the pitch. The vendors are forced to cover their costs. The organisers are now starting to charge significant amounts of money for the owners of these cars to attend the shows. It’s getting to the point where I’m starting to choose quite carefully what shows I attend. However the money goes to a charity then I don’t have a problem. But, just to make money from the car owners and let the public in for free is not on. Perhaps we need to vote with our wheels and not attend the rip off events. Let me know your thoughts if this all round the country (UK) or other countries too.
Back to the cars, after the rows of cars arranged by years of manufacture, there were super cars and general club stands.
This Lincoln was amazing and a huge car.
We eventually got back to the car for a well earned rest and quick bite to eat where we watched the world go by.
Mart’s Car Of The Show: is this wonderful Plymouth, the fins still get me every time!
A couple of the other cars started to move out early afternoon so we decided to follow suit. As we rode over the uneven fields to the dirt track for the exit we stopped of for a quick photo opportunity. I took many photos as did Craig and these are just some from the session. Many are similar but they are all different. I think we started a trend, I have seen a few Instagram posts of similar photo’s being posted similar to ours.
Craig’s photos first.
Then there are these which I took.
That completes all of my cars shows for 2025 sadly. I will find things to post about; reviews, books, memorabilia and maybe some upgrades on my little ol’ pride and joy. Thanks for staying with me during some of these recent large posts of the car shows.
I finally have gotten round to writing up the car show I attended a couple of weeks ago. This is perhaps my most local of show venues but does host a variety of shows, not just car shows. The weather promised to be overcast but no rain. The car needed fuel so I would stop of at my local Shell petrol station for a fill up of V-Power. It’s an expensive premium mix compared to the other options, but my car likes it, any other fuel my car runs erratically and just doesn’t run well. I may do a post on different types of fuel mixtures if there is interest for a post, let me know if you think it would be worthwhile post. As I was filling up I had a guy comer up to me wanting to know about the car and I showed him around it. A nice chat and we were lucky as there wasn’t anybody else wanting to get a fill up.
About a mile outside the event I hit the traffic jam, it took me a total of thirty five minutes to get to the gate. The problem is that the there is a car boot sale every Sunday at the venue. The entrance directs the public who are only interested in the car boot sale and parking for that side of the field. The classic cars also have to use the same entrance, in reality for such duel events they should open another entrance to avoid the queues. Let’s face it, most of these old cars don’t like sitting in heavy traffic, mine included. Once I got into the event I was directed to the Bury Retro Car Club allocated spaces which was right in the corner of the field, the furthest point from anywhere.
The club stand.
WE parked up and had a chat then decided that I should take a walk round the field in a clockwise direction which was becoming a very busy field that was pretty much near to capacity.
This car caught my eye and almost got ‘Mart’s Car of the show’, 1930 Nash Ambassador 8.
There was a trio singing various classic songs to a backing track which was quite nice.
There was some auto jumble for sale but nothing especially brilliant.
The group of other Mustangs at the show:
Mart’s Car Of The Show.
The classic 1974/76 Ford Torino, I was besotted with Starsky & Hutch as a kid and loved the car.
I found online from a few places a little history of the legendary car.
Starsky and Hutch, the fictional undercover cops portrayed in the 1970s TV series of the same name, catapulted the lead actors Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul into the limelight. But it was their on screen ride a bright red Ford Gran Torino with a distinctive white stripe that stole the show, the high-speed, tire-screeching car chases that punctuated every storyline made the car as famous as the show and the actors themselves. This eye-catching two-door hardtop, with its five-slot mags and pumped-up rear suspension, quickly became a pop culture icon, with vehicles from the show highly sought after today.
The success of the show, which ran for 93 episodes from 1975 to 1979, inspired a string of similarly themed buddy-cop TV shows. “ChiPs” motorcycle officers Baker and Ponch, and “Miami Vice” detectives Crockett and Tubbs, quickly followed in its tire tracks along. Perhaps the other car with such notoriety was with the those Duke boys Bo and Luke jumping, cop evading “The Dukes of Hazzard” in their iconic 1969 Dodge Challenger, the “General Lee”.
When the first series of “Starsky and Hutch” hit the airwaves on America’s ABC, the phone lines of Beverly Hills producers Spelling-Goldberg ran hot, with viewers eager to know where they could purchase such a car. Sensing an opportunity to make money, the clever marketing gurus at Ford rushed to release a limited edition run of just over 1300 lookalikes for the 1976 model year. The existence of these factory replicas along with a fleet of home-built tribute cars that makes it difficult to authenticate any Gran Torino purportedly used in the series.
A red ‘Starsky and Hutch’ style Ford Torino on display at a show.
Ford supplied half a dozen or so 1974-76 Torinos for the TV series, but only three are known to have survived. Stunt cars got V8s of either 400 or 460 ci, and for better acceleration in the signature chase scenes, a few of these were modified with lower ratio gears which had a “Do Not Exceed 50 mph” label on the dash to prevent extreme redline and damaging the engines..
During documentary in 2003 called: “Starsky and Hutch: Making Of Behind The Badge,” the TV series creator William Blinn revealed he originally envisioned the duo driving a green Chevy Camaro convertible, but the producers already had a deal with Ford to supply cars. “My heart broke,” Blinn recalls, “until the guy showed up in the red and white Torino.” The transportation crew had dressed it up like the hottest thing on wheels, he says, when it could hardly get up a steep hill. “Why that car became such a trademark for the show, I truly don’t know,” Blinn muses.
Paul Michael Glaser, who plays the brooding detective Starsky in the series, disliked the car on sight, disparagingly dubbing it “the Striped Tomato.” “I vowed to destroy that car,” Glaser said in the documentary. “Whenever there was an opportunity to hit something, I’d try to hit it.” Despite his heroic efforts to wreck the car, Glaser never managed to do so with the string of replacements ready. Paul continued his disdain for the ‘Striped Tomato’ which failed to diminish its enduring desirability, with one of the show’s on set Torinos fetching a respectable $40,000 at auction in 2014.
Known on the set as Torino #1 and Torino #2, the “Starsky and Hutch” daily drivers had 351 Windsor blocks and auto transmissions. Sadly the gorgeous sounds of the sporty engine and manual gear shifts were added into the show post production. The two cars are distinguishable by their front seats, with car #2 receiving the upgrade from bench to buckets. These “hero cars” were given a hard time during the extensive filming schedules by being jumped on, raced, driven hard, burning through endless amounts of tyres and Paul Glaser driving into trash cans and anything else he could find at the time of shooting. After filming had finished the show’s Torinos were auctioned off by Ford.
Those Torinos have passed through the hands of fans and collectors alike, with each eventually being lovingly restored to its prime-time condition. Some twenty-five years later, the continued success of the 70’s TV series inspired a big screen remake, with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in the lead roles Starsky and Hutch. At the British premiere, Torino #2 rolled out on the red carpet alongside original actors Paul Michael Glaser, David Soul, and Antonio Fargas — who played their streetwise confidante, Huggy Bear.
Actors David Soul (Hutch), Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky), and Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear) from the TV series ‘Starsky & Hutch’ pose on the bonnet of a Ford Torino at the premiere of the 2004 movie remake.
Torino #1 was displayed at The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles as recently as 2023, with parts of the car autographed by stars and crew from the series. Another car from the 1970s TV series can be seen at The Auto Collections in Las Vegas. Not many cars have made me ‘star struck’, but this car did from the age of nine when I was allowed top stay up and watch the program it if I was good, which always worked. Even today this car still has a menacing road presence and still looks amazing.
The entrance to the show ground was now to be come the exit, with a single lane dirt track out. The car boot show had all but wrapped up so there wouldn’t be the delays getting out. With that all taken into consideration I still left an hour early to make sure I missed any leaving antics. The trip home was relaxed, but the clouds were starting to look very dark and grey, I needn’t have worried as it didn’t come to anything.
A good selection of cars again, but they really do need to sort out the entrance to these events.
This is the final instalment (part 3) of the Helmingham Hall car show for this year. I have covered some of the T110 area, the privateer cars and a relaxing (very British) tea and cake early in the afternoon. The last field to go which is on the right hand side as you walk out the Hall was reserved for the club stands. A little later I will reveal my car of the show and along with some action photos of my car that Craig took.
We worked our way towards the far end of the field and would work our way back to the rest of the T110 cars where I had parked.
One of the Best looking Ferrari made, the 308. They look amazing in red, but this example in blue with tan interior totally rocks the combination. Crowd fund me (again) anybody?
The Subaru cars often have the nick-name Scoobies after the Scooby Do cartoon, I think somebody took it to the next level though.
Lotus stand had a nice mixture of cars
The Simply Mustang stand had the usual later models of cars with not a classic to be seen which was a shame. I mentioned about the Bullitt anniversary limited edition cars, on this stand there was another couple parked in a line, so that’s a total of three in one show.
Directly behind the the Mustangs was the Corvette club stand.
Taking up a large chunk of the field was the larger stands for Jaguar, BMW both of which looked very samey with mostly more modern cars that could be found in any carpark, so I didn’t take too many pictures of these stands.
The Jenson and Aston Martin stands were a different story though.
Honda NSX in yellow, works for me.
We were now back to the top of the field just in time to get to the main driveway where cars are driven up and down to show the crowds after being interviewed by the compare for the day about their cars.
We made our way back to the T110 area and look at the rest of the cars parked on the other side of the drive to me. Then it happened; it started to rain, it was a very light sprinkling not a proper down poor. The owners of the open top cars were diving around trying to make their cars waterproof and sitting in their cars. It was something like an old school Le Mans racing start people running to their cars.
It would be nice to see a Delorean car without the ‘Back to the Future’ movie car props bolted into it.
Back at the car we got our chairs out ready for a a couple of hours people watching before we were allowed to leave the show at four thirty. We sat in the very fine drizzle which cooled the air down and I only had some minor beading on the car which wasn’t enough to run of the car. The fine misty rain lasted for a around twenty minutes after which the sun made more short appearances. The light breeze soon helped to dry the car off, no need to book a therapy session because my car got wet.
Mart’s Car of the Show.
According to the registration plate this is a Dunsmore MKIII from 1967, with a 3.4ltr engine. This is actually a kit car based on the rather average at the time Hillman Imp donor vehicle of the era below.
I don’t know why I choose this over the more obvious ‘bought not built’ cars. Perhaps it was the green leather stitched up the back of the car or the (suspected) Jaguar engine under the hood which I sadly didn’t get to see. But, I appreciated the huge amount of work that has gone into this car from what it was, to what it is now. It was just different and caught my eye.
As the time moved slowly towards leaving time the sky was getting darker and more menacing. We decided to leave sooner than later in case the drizzle came to a lot more than that. As we were packing up Craig had an idea; as we were allowed to drive down the full length of the drive he would run ahead get a good position to take a couple of action shots. I wouldn’t be to popular to hold people up so we could get some good photo’s, but so be it. As I was one of the first to leave it wasn’t to busy to be fair. The guy in the Aston Martin behind me realised what was going on, he thoughtfully sat back from me to allow it to happen. Here are those photos which look pretty cool.
After these action photos I stopped the car and Craig jumped in to start our trek home. As a reward for his picture taking efforts, I found a quiet place to pull over, we swapped seats and Craig drove the last dozen or so miles home. We pulled onto the drive as a few spots of more sinister sized drops of rain intermittently started to land on the car. I ran around the car as quickly as possible to get the road film off knowing what was about to come down. Immediately the cleaning had finished, I jumped straight into the car as the rain started to literally fall out the sky as I moved the car forward, within seconds there were pools of water in the road and on the drive, everything was soaked, it was if somebody had turned a shower on. I got the car in the garage with only a few spots of rain on the top of the car. The drying towels came out to wipe the car over yet again, before covering the car over.
A delay by another minute or so and the car would have been drenched and the therapy session would have to have been booked! The rain wasn’t letting up, Craig took out his camera’s SD Card as we ran into the house. I downloaded his photo’s onto my PC ready to edit them a bit later for this series of posts. Once the rain eased up an hour or so later Craig left for home with my thanks.
It was a great day at my favourite show of the year, fantastic cars, lots of nice people that I spoke to and mate with me for the day, which was nice change from being on my own. Thanks to Craig for the photos and putting up with me dragging him around the fields, although the tea and cake helped I’m sure.
I have only four more potential shows that I’m booked in for. Hopefully I will find some more where I can just turn up.
Early February this year I decided to try something different to attend my favourite car show, Helmingham Hall. Normally the entrance fee is £12 per car (driver and one passenger) for this show. There is an alternative which what they call ‘The Tollemache 110’ option. This is for a limited number of cars. One hundred and ten cars max are allowed to park at the front of the Hall, but it comes at cost, quite a lot of cost actually. The plus side is that that you get a tea or coffee, slice of cake for the driver and one passenger plus a commemorative plaque of the day. To pay three times as much entry fee is a gamble, especially when the weather is unknown. Back then I paid the money and hoped the sunshine on the day. My rule is still based on if it rains or I know that it will rain, the car doesn’t come out the garage. So it’s a lot of money to pay and not turn up.
This a show where my good friend Craig joins me for the day, one it’s nice to have company at a car show, secondly he has a great camera and takes much better photos than me. We were swapping messages all week before the show debating the weather, it was going to rain! I have a total of five weather apps I use just for car shows. Four of the five said that there would be light rain at mid afternoon around three for an hour or so, the other one said all rain all afternoon. I decided on this occasion that as it was only light rain while I was there, and not driving there or home, this would be would be acceptable. Craig Turned up at twenty to eight in the morning on a Sunday which felt like the middle of the night. We had chairs, food, coats and camera equipment all neatly packed into the trunk. Craig filmed the car backing out the garage, which I was quite pleased with.
The sun was out and we had a journey of two halves, first to the petrol station where we met up with Craigs other friend who was also going in in Mazda MX5. He followed us to the event which was only around twenty minutes later. It would have been quicker if it wasn’t for the driver in an Austin Healy in front of us thinking he was driving a Sherman tank down a cycle lane. We dived of to some back roads to avoid him and save my sanity. It was longer by a couple of minutes, but it did mean that we had a clear road driving at our own pace. We pulled into the event where we were directed down the main driveway to park out the front of the Hall. We was directed to a great slot next to the path which leads to the main entrance for the Hall. The only down side was that the ground wasn’t level where I parked as it was on a little slope, a small price to pay for a good location.
Once you have parked up, you can collect your show plaque and place it by your car, just a little A-frame with a A4 printed history of your car. The boards can be seen lined up in the above pic, Craig found our board and placed it at the front of the car. He decided to take some photos before the world and his mate were allowed into the show at ten. Even so, it was still busy.
Due to the sheer number of photos, I took over six hundred pics of the one thousand two hundred cars that turned up. For that reason, I will split this show over three posts. Hopefully it will avoid readers getting cramp in their hands scrolling through the all the pics in one go. Like I said Craig’s pics are so much better than mine so here a few to start with. The rest of his pics will also be spread out over the next couple of posts.
In the main archway there there was a table looked after by a woman who took your preferred afternoon spot for tea and cake. We decided at around one in the afternoon would be good. More on this a little later.
We started in the T110 area to the left of the house as you walked out, by now the general public were being let in and it got busy very quickly.
The real thing in White and a replica in red, the ever beautiful Countach.
Then the timeless Ferrari Dino, with a fury passenger.
We the main field was split into years, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 2000s. Due to sheer number of cars the lines did get a little mixed up. But we started just behind the vendor stalls where the oldest cars were and then worked out way to the far side of the field to the more modern stuff. Well that was the theory, but it didn’t work out practically though.
At the bottom of the field is a large pond getting on for a lake.
Working but up the next rows.
Nearer the top was an area for Hotrods.
After this was the second half of the field and John Grose of Ipswich stand who had a mixture of cars, including a rare Mustang.
One of the biggest car shows in the area is this one held in the private school grounds of Culford boarding school, to give it its full name Rotary Classic Car Show at Culford. It’s located only fifteen miles or so away from me. It’s a nice straight road for most of it with only a couple of miles of back roads. With that in mind, the past it has always been a bit of nightmare to get in with the queues so they have moved the entry times to a very early 6:30 to 8:45, after that you won’t be allowed into the exhibition field, but you will be directed to the public car park. The public were then allowed in from 10am onwards to 15:30 when the show closed. I must be mad, up at 6 on a Sunday morning? Due to the number of cars I have split the show report into two posts sharing just under the four hundred photos I took during the day.
Usually the night before I put on my Galaxy smart watch so I don’t forget it, as a novelty it records the sleep etc. I got into bed late Sunday morning and the dogs were restless with the heat and kept mooching around eventually settling. The alarm did wake me up into a dazed and confused state, I was tired. I got myself ready loaded the cool bag with some niceties for a chocolate rush once I got there. I wouldn’t check my watch for the sleep details until I had taken photos of most of the cars. Here is the picture of the amount of sleep I rustled up from the night before, just a little under three hours, of which two half were light sleep.
As I arrived at the venue I was asked where I was going to be parking I showed them booking form for the Bury Retro Car Club who had a reserved plot of field for us. The bloke didn’t have a clue and sent me on my way with, “go and see that bloke with the high vis down there”. I drove to him and asked for the car club, he responded with, ” he should know as he has the parking list mate”, promptly followed by “drive to that bloke with the high vis down there”. So I drive to the third bloke who says, “all the club stands are over there, I don’t know why they sent you to me”. Where was he pointing to? Right by the first bloke I spoke too. Now I had to drive back across the field looking like a complete ass to get roughly where I wanted to be. I found the stand and parked up with the rest of the guys already there, the time is now roughly 7:45 and it was warming up. I had a chat with the guys and gave my car a quick wipe over to get rid of the dust from the dry roads in the school grounds.
The big advantage being in so early was that I could wander around to look at the cars without the distraction of the visiting public getting in the way. Having said that, I think many people had the same idea and it was still fairly busy for nine in the morning, especially near the coffee and burger stalls.
I started by taking some pics of the club stand.
Then a nice gentle wander up and down the lines of cars working left to right across the field.
I cam across this 1974 Ford Escort Mk 2 which had under side paint shown via a mirror just as good as the top. A trailer queen, but it didn’t get my vehicle of the show, I will reveal that in part two of this show.
The posh club stands Porsche and Ferrari were well stocked and I will start with those in part two. This was about half way round the field and i took a bit of a break under a line of trees. I did detect a waft and unmistakable smell of some special hand rolled cigarettes made for sharing which would come from Central Asian origin I dare say. I just hope they weren’t the ones driving home! It was hot but just starting to cloud over a bit which made it a bit more bearable wandering around.
