The second half of the show had a general mixture of the almost new cars, that cost a lot when new, but not worth so much now as they common in any car park. However, there was some amazing looking cars there and I will start with a couple of my favourites again, the Audi Coupes, why o why did I sell mine?
The Morgan had a full on picnic setup going with a candelabra.
There was a club of ‘Fast Fords’ as they become known a decade or so later, in a circle display and few nearby. Among them was a couple of Mustangs in the middle, the blue scissor door Mustang has been around a few shows but is either a love it or hate it mod, it’s not for me to judge.
I enjoyed this camper van with the “Adventure before Dementia” slogan, love it.
This Renault ‘Williams’ is a bit of a rare find now days.
I was back to my car and the rest of the car club, the entertainment was going strong throughout the day, either these ladies singing to the backing tracks or a DJ playing some classic tunes from the 50’s and 60’s. There was many more car related stalls at this smaller show than the much bigger show such as Helmingham Hall, which is surprising. I spent a good while looking around the various automotive gems for sale, although I didn’t buy anything.
My car of the show was this huge Cadillac Eldorado, a monster of a land barge, beautifully turned out and I watched it drive in and it was whisper quiet even for the (i believe it to be an) 8.2ltr engine.
It was a good day, lovely weather and I spoke to a number of friends there too. A good show with lots of diverse cars to be seen. Busy day with lots of people all in good spirits, not the alcohol version.
I left about an hour before the end of the show. The drive home was serene and relaxing, if not a bit warm. I got home in good time and wiped the car over from the accumulated road and showground dust before I my my pride and joy under its soft cotton cover until the next show.
As I was editing these photos cropping out unwanted areas, I realised that I only took a few pictures of my car which was a little unlike me. The one above was early on before the car show got going.
A more general purpose classic car show was hosted at Stonham Barns on 18th August 2024. I wasn’t going to be expecting to much from this show, but I was wrong. It turned out to be much better supported than i expected and took a little over three hundred photos. As with big events and lots of photos I have split it over two posts to save the repetitive strain injury from scrolling down the page.
The day’s forecast was going to be nice weather, so I packed the factor fifty and plenty of cold drinks in the cool bag. I needed fuel and stopped off Shell for a fill up of some V-Power. I wasn’t hungry until the smell of freshly baked food greeted me when I walked in to pay. My will power failed me as I asked for a nice warm sausage roll, my treat to me just because I got up early, that was my excuse. The walk back to the car by the pump was slow while I devoured breakfast, I made sure to not get any grease on my fingers by holding the roll in the bag and the serviette. There was only one other car filling up, so it wasn’t as though they were busy. I binned the rubbish, got in the car and buckled up for the journey.
The journey to the event was fine, but the usual wedge of a traffic jam to get in was a bit longer than normal. While sitting in the car burning the recently purchased fuel, I happened to look around and spotted a convex mirror on a telegraph pole. I could almost see my car in it. As the line moved forward I got the camera out and took a couple of pics for something different, I think they came out well. The cars in front moved more than I expected, but I stopped where i wanted anyway. The impatient Audi driver wasn’t impressed and was waving his hands as if to move me up the road, all for the sake of a couple of car lengths. Not only that, he sat right up filler cap going round the twisty roads. Bovered? Nope! I won’t let anybody ruin my Mustang car trips.
I eventually got to the event and asked where the Bury Retro Car Club was to be parked. I was told follow the road round and they will park you up. I followed the road round and the dude hadn’t got a clue. So I just pulled to the side of the main arena and said I will wait here out the way. I parked my car up and waited for him to return, which he didn’t. I rang the club organiser to ask where he was and said that he was also stuck in traffic. I told him where I was parked and to let me know where I should be parked.
I wandered over to the main entrance to watch the cars come in and look out for the rest of the club to arrive. They arrived some quarter of an hour later and were directed to the a dark corner of the field with only three spaces. The drove round to where I was so we made out own stand!
I started at the far end of the field and worked my way back to where I was parked.
Cars were still coming in after the ‘start’ time but they got to park at the field near the end of the entrance road.
While I was waiting at the main gate I spotted a car like mine drive in, I found it at the far end of the field. This car was almost the same colour but had the standard interior and the rear quarter trims. I waited around for a while as I wanted to have a chat with the owner.
Around the same area there was a few Mustangs so I grouped them together.
I’m not sure what is going on with this Citroen 2CV, is the bloke having a laugh or has he got issues?
I hope it was tongue in check as it looked like the badge was just slapped on! This car got my runner up car of the show, I’m not a fan of these cars at all, but it made me smile. Part two’s post will have the rest of the show and my actual favourite car of the day.
After lots of walking around the club stand field and watching the exhibition runs, we wandered over to the privateer field. There was a Ford main dealer showing some cars and some food stalls. We decided to go back to my car for a regroup and something to eat and drink as the smell of the food had made me hungry. There was a brass band hiding under a tree near the main dealers who were playing movie themes and other popular tunes while the audience were eating hotdogs and their burgers. There was no order to these photo’s, except for the rows were arranged by decades. We just wandered up and down the rows taking photo’s of the cars we liked. There was lot of modern cars there which looked just like a Tesco car park, so we sort of ignored those. A four of five year old Jaguar or Toyota doesn’t make a classic car show for me. But, there was some fantastic cars parked up, including some regular cars that I recognised from other shows.
A couple of my all time favourites, The Audi Coupe for the daily and the Aston Vantage for the weekend.
We were working our way back to our car’s location and ready for another quick refreshment before the next and final walk around.
This old Ford even had candles for a light.
My car of the show was this quite rare Porsche Carrera GT.
WE got back to the car and sat around for a while just chatting and people watching. Then we felt it, a few drop of rain and the sky looking a little greyer than earlier. We had a great day wandering around and decided to go before the rain started. A few others had the same idea as us and we got out without any hold ups.
Craig took this photo as we wandered back to the car.
I took this just before we left.
We left and the rain wasn’t quite enough to warrant the wipers, and the steady drive home on the main roads made the rain evaporate quickly enough and the roads were fairly dry. I wiped the car over quickly during a dry spell and managed to get the car in the dry with the dehumidifier on to dry out any damp bits on the car.
Thanks to Craig for his photos and the good company as ever. I hope I didn’t bore you with so many photos over the last two posts.
One of the biggest car shows that I attend is this show, Helmingham Hall. The show was on the 4th August 2024, once again I had the pleasure of my good friend Craig (another total petrol head) to join me. The day was an early rise for Craig who had to travel from the next county to my house which was around forty minutes including his fuel stop. He assures me that he was within the speed limits all the way. We uncovered my car in the garage and packed our cool bags into the trunk along with his camera and chair. I set up the SatNav and backed the car out. We set off for the show and enjoyed a peaceful steady trip to the show, until we got to the usual traffic snarl up at the entrance. We wasn’t on the show stand like previous years so we had to park with the other private entrants in a field on the other side of the main driveway which goes up to the hall. We had a pretty good spot to be honest and parked up. The weather was looking good and the app promised to hold that way for the rest of the day.
As this is such a big show the event will have to be covered in two parts with a lot of photos on each. I took well into six hundred photos on the day. Some were unusable as I had managed to put my grubby fingers on the lenses on the back of my phone. Soft focus filter wasn’t what I was after.
We got the chairs out for little refreshment and a sit down before we summoned the energy to start the walk around this huge show. We decided to start on the stalls before they got busy. We needn’t have bothered as most of them were not car related. I was little gutted about that as I wanted to buy some 20W – 50 engine oil. But, I could buy some pot plants, hats or some home made jewellery and fudge! There was only one car related stall there which was for a alloy wheel refurb company, that was it.
We got to the main area at the front of the hall where you can pay the extra to park and get some afternoon tea in the cost of the entrance. These were the cars from that area.
As we were about to move onto the club stand field, a Countach could be heard arriving to join the area.
These are Craig’s photos of the same cars which are so much better than mine.
The Clubs stands didn’t seem to have the wow factor for some reason this year. There was some nice cars there, ironically on the stand that we normally park on.
Simply Mustangs stand was mainly the more modern iterations of the Mustang, with plenty of orange.
More of Craig’s photos of the club stands.
It was a busy day with cars parking up in the public car park throughout the day, and lots of people.
The display cars are split in to two halves either side of a main driveway up to the hall itself. Clubs stands to the left and the private entrants to the right. At the end of the club stands the the main drive way has an exhibition of cars that drive up and down. We stopped to watch the first showing which usually take around half hour or so.
Craig was taking a number of photo’s and messing around with photography settings, I’m not sure what it all meant to be honest, even though his explanation authoritative, it was toned down to his audience, me. He was trying to get the wheels moving while stopping the cars. It was nice to see the cars rolling and not driving at the same time. I could enjoy them, some where brutal sounding like the American muscle and the Aston Martin, the others were just poodling along enjoying the scenery .
After the exhibition runs we wandered into the privateer field where I had parked up, which we will cover in Part 2. There were much nicer cars on that side and plenty to look at.
I have been asked a few times how do I tune my carb up. The simple answer is try not to. It’s a dark art that I have mentioned many times before in past posts. Over the course of last weekend I was looking for something that I have lost, last seen in the garage. It’s highly unusual for me to loose anything in the garage I must say. Through my rummaging and looking around I found a printed copy of the Holley ‘Classic’ series carb manual. This print out originally came from a PDF file that I had downloaded years ago and forgot all about when i got my Holley 600CFM carb. My first thought was this would make a good page for some official help with these carbs. Although I didn’t find what I was looking for, I did find something I wasn’t looking for. When I got back inside I scanned all my back up files on my PC and it wasn’t there. I delved deeper into archived drives and searched the back ups of my old mobile phones before they were wiped and traded in. There it was sitting in a download folder from about four devices ago with some other random stuff. I copied the file back to the blog storage and decided to convert the PDF into a page to be viewed on my blog here, or copy and paste this link below into your browser:
The page article is quite long with lots of pictures and a step by step process to follow. It covers the initial installation, removal, adjustments, fine tuning and repairs should you need it. Here are a few screen dumps of the page itself. The original is about sixteen pages of PDF and these few small clips gives you an insight.
There are diagrams and how to install the ‘Classic’ series 600CFM on different makes of cars and setup. There is a wealth of information within the manual regardless of make and model. The Holley 600CFM carb is not proprietary to Mustangs, it can be fitted many makes and models and the variations are covered within the manual itself.
There are clear and easy to use diagrams which help with trouble shooting as well.
To make things easier I have also uploaded the the original PDF file that have re-found and downloaded at the time I got my carb. This can also be downloaded from the button below.
Not all carbs are the same as they have different adjustments, chambers fittings and mountings. However the principle is the same, the fuel and air need to be mixed at idle, normal driving and heavy load or acceleration. The Holley manual gives a good overview of how they work. For basic carbs there are single, two barrel or twin valves and perform the mixing of the fuel and air for for the engine to work. Mostly this style of carbs either two or four barrels are common in standard older road cars, before the introduction of fuel injection processes that are considered to be more economical. What is the difference between the two and four barrels and do we really need another two barrels?
The primary differences between a Holley two barrel and a four barrel carburettor is their design, functionality and application, which will affect the air-fuel mixture delivery to the engine making it more efficient and delivering more fuel and air mix, in turn more power and or torque.
Holley Two Barrel Carburettor
Number of Barrels: As the name suggests, a two barrel carburettor has two venturi or barrels through which air and fuel are mixed and delivered to the engine.
Air-Fuel Flow: It has a simpler design with fewer moving parts and typically provides a lower volume of air and fuel mixture. This makes it suitable for engines that do not require high levels of fuel flow, like those in everyday street vehicles.
Fuel Efficiency: Generally, two barrel carburettors are more fuel-efficient, as they deliver a steady and controlled amount of fuel suitable for normal driving conditions without excessive fuel consumption.
Performance: They offer adequate performance for smaller or less powerful engines and are not designed for high-performance applications. They are often found in standard passenger vehicles, where fuel efficiency and drivability are prioritized.
Holley Four Barrel Carburettor
Number of Barrels: A four barrel carburettor has four venturi, essentially doubling the potential air and fuel flow compared to a two barrel carburettor. This configuration includes two primary and two secondary barrels.
Air-Fuel Flow: This type of carburettor can provide significantly more air and fuel to the engine, which is beneficial for high-performance applications where more power is required, such as in racing or muscle cars.
Fuel Efficiency and Performance: While they can deliver more fuel, four barrel carburettors can also be more fuel-efficient under normal driving conditions because the secondary barrels only open when additional power is needed. This allows the engine to run on the primary barrels during light load conditions, conserving fuel.
Application: Four barrel carburettors are designed for performance-oriented vehicles that require greater fuel flow to achieve higher power outputs. They are more complex, with additional components to manage the secondary barrels’ opening.
In summary, a single or two barrel carburettor is typically used in standard vehicles for everyday use, offering simplicity and fuel efficiency. In contrast, a four barrel carburettor is used in high-performance applications, providing the capability for greater power output and higher fuel flow when needed.
Drag racing cars use high CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) carbs by default as they deliver more power due to the higher amounts of fuel that can be produced and mixed with more air. Various configurations of carbs on spacers or types of opening in the manifold will produce more low down torque or higher top speed. Drag racing crews often state that carbs use less fuel than EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection). During drag racing the carb valves are held wide open to give the maximum intake of fuel and air for combustion to give power and torque, the racing crews are not particularly worried about idle or general driving. The carb can also be paired with super chargers to compress even more fuel air mix into the engine giving even more power. That is whole nother story for another day.
Carb manufacturers often use similar terminology such as these:
Primary Valves
Function: The primary valves are the main components for regular engine operation, handling most of the air-fuel mixture delivery during idle, cruising, and light acceleration.
Components: They include throttle plates (butterflies) that open as the driver presses the accelerator, allowing more air to enter the engine. The fuel is mixed with this air in the venturi, a narrow section that increases the velocity of the air and helps atomize the fuel.
Operation: These valves open gradually in response to the throttle position, providing a smooth and controlled fuel delivery for efficient engine performance.
When a carb fitted car starts up they are usually running a ‘choke’ to give even more fuel (rich) mixture while the car warms up. This process is normally a mechanical or electrical plate that closes or partially closes the air intake on the primary valves
Secondary Valves
Function: Secondary valves provide additional air-fuel mixture during heavy acceleration or when extra power is needed, such as during rapid acceleration or high-speed driving.
Components: Like the primary side, the secondary side also has throttle plates, but these are typically larger to allow a greater volume of air and fuel mixture when open. Some carburettors use mechanical linkage, while others use a vacuum mechanism to control the opening of the secondary valves.
Operation: The secondary valves open either mechanically (linked to the primary throttle plates via a cam) or via a vacuum system that senses engine load and demand for additional air and fuel. They remain closed during normal driving to conserve fuel.
Secondary cams can be custom adjusted to come on earlier or later as required for the type of power delivery required.
Differences of primary and secondary valves
Size and Flow: Secondary valves are usually larger than primary valves, allowing for increased air and fuel flow during high-demand situations.
Control Mechanism: The primary valves are directly controlled by the accelerator pedal, while the secondary valves may use a mechanical linkage or vacuum actuation to open. This setup allows for a more progressive and efficient increase in power.
Fuel Delivery: The primary circuit handles most of the fuel delivery, ensuring efficient operation under normal conditions, while the secondary circuit kicks in for performance situations, providing an extra boost of power.
Under snap or sharp acceleration there are additional jets that squirt the primary and secondary valves to boost the initial fuel mixture. If this wasn’t the case when the valves open, the initial suck in of air would run to lean and not give enough power to the cylinders.
Manufacturers of Carbs
Holley and Edelbrock are two of the most popular brands of carburettors, especially in the aftermarket performance market. While both companies produce high-quality carburettors, there are distinct differences in their design, tuning, and performance characteristics. I will concentrate on these two manufacturers for now. There are many other specialist manufacturers of carbs for specific types of applications out there as well, but they tend to be much more specialised.
Holley Carburettors
Design and Features:
Modular Design: Holley carburettors are known for their modular design, which allows for extensive customization. They typically feature replaceable jets, power valves, and accelerator pumps, making them highly tunable.
Mechanical or Vacuum Secondaries: Holley offers models with both mechanical secondaries, which are linked directly to the throttle, and vacuum secondaries, which open based on engine demand.
Double Pumper Options: Holley’s double pumper models use dual accelerator pumps, providing an extra fuel shot for aggressive throttle applications.
Pros:
Customization: Highly customizable due to the wide range of interchangeable parts, making them suitable for fine-tuning specific performance needs.
Performance Focused: Holley carburettors are often favoured in racing and high-performance applications due to their tunability and ability to support significant horsepower.
Availability of Parts: Extensive availability of aftermarket parts and tuning accessories.
Cons:
Complexity: The high level of tunability can make them more complex to set up and adjust, which can be daunting for beginners.
Maintenance: Requires more frequent maintenance and tuning to keep them running optimally, especially in high-performance environments.
Edelbrock Carburettors
Design and Features:
Simple Design: Edelbrock carburettors feature a simpler design with fewer parts compared to Holley, which can be advantageous for ease of use and reliability.
Mechanical Secondaries: Typically, Edelbrock carburettors use mechanical secondaries that are linked to the throttle position, providing a more straightforward operation.
Electric Choke: Many Edelbrock models come with an electric choke, which simplifies cold starts and improves drivability in various conditions.
Pros:
Ease of Use: Generally easier to install and tune, making them more user-friendly, especially for less experienced users.
Consistency: Known for their reliability and consistency in performance, with less frequent tuning needed.
Fuel Efficiency: Often more fuel-efficient than Holley carburettors, making them a good choice for street-driven vehicles.
Cons:
Limited Customization: Less tunable than Holley carburettors, which might limit their performance potential in highly customized or extreme performance applications.
Parts Availability: While parts are available, there is a less extensive aftermarket for tuning components compared to Holley.
Summary
Holley carburettors are ideal for those seeking maximum performance and customization. They are well-suited for racing and high-performance applications but require more knowledge and maintenance.
Edelbrock carburettors are user-friendly and reliable, making them a good choice for enthusiasts looking for a straightforward installation and consistent performance, especially in daily drivers and lightly modified vehicles.
There is are parameters to the carb sizing. A to big a CFM will cause ‘bore wash’ where fuel is unburnt in the cylinders and washes the oil lubrications for the cylinders walls. This will also be wasteful of fuel as it’s just being unburnt. This could also cause the engine to flood and some very poor running.
If the carb is to small not enough fuel air mix is provided and will cause poor running even running hot.
I have found some videos of a carb working under loads. These videos show, start up, revving, initial fuel shot under revving, and full throttle. The second video has a whining sound in the background, this is probably due to a super charger. Regardless of the make, the principles of how they work are exactly the same.
Sound On!
Carb Calculations
To fit a carb you can replace the like for like of course, but to get more power you don’t just slap the biggest carb on the engine you can. To big a carb will cause very poor running and give you the exact opposite you wanted and make the car worse. To small a carb will starve the engine of the full power potential. There are various online calculators to work out the optimal CFM carb size you need for a particular engine size, speed and efficiency.
That formula can seem complicated for calculating the correct CFM for carb on a particular engine. Broken down with an example looks like this:
CFM (optimal) = Cubic Inches x RPM x Volumetric Efficiency ÷ 3456.
Any ordinary stock engine will have a volumetric efficiency of about 80%. Most rebuilt street engines with the usual average bolt-ons have a volumetric efficiency of about 85%, while race engines can range from 95% up to 110% efficiency.
Example: Using a 355 CID engine x 5,500 max rpm = 1,952,500
Take 1,952,500 x .85 = 1,659,625
Then 1,659,625 ÷ 3456 = 480 CFM
Even with about a 10% cushion, a 500 CFM carburettor will handle this engine great. If you try this formula yourself, be honest with how much rpm the engine will see. You’d be better off with a carb smaller than needed rather than something oversized that can lead to poor drivability and performance.
Higher Tuning
There are various ways to improve, or fine tune a carb to the exact requirements. This will be changing of ‘jets’ or ‘cams’ as required.
Pilot Jet: Located in the float bowl, the pilot jet provides fuel for starting, idling, and the initial 20% of throttle range. It draws fuel through small holes as air flows through the carburetor.
Main Jet: Larger and usually screwed into the needle jet, the main jet controls the air/fuel mixture from around 75% throttle to full open throttle (100%).
Needle Jet: This critical component controls fuel flow between 20% and 75% throttle. It consists of the hollow needle jet and the jet needle, which adjusts fuel flow as you open or close the throttle.
Air Screw: A small brass adjustment screw near the carburettor inlet, the air screw works with the pilot jet for starting, idling, and initial power delivery (up to 20%). It allows slight adjustments based on atmospheric conditions.
Cams: are a mechanical parts that will determine when (usually) the secondary valves open and close. The cams can be made to bring on the deployment of valves earlier, later, wider or smaller openings.
Float bowls: will determine when the idle reserves of fuel or secondary valves reserves of fuel, again critical for smooth running.
Tip:
More often than not, when playing with carb settings do little bits at a time to see what happens. Ask your self why do i need to adjust the carb, is it running poorly because of poor fuel? Then adjusting the carb to sort it out will all need undoing again when you put good fuel back in.
Don’t change everything in one go as you will be in for a whole heap of hurt chasing your tail finding out what is wrong. Adjusting mixtures can have a similar effect of changing jets. Different cams or adding spacers and altering timings, you won’t know if one item has had a negative effect or a combination of things if the car runs badly.
I have gone into the depths of carbs and how they work, pro’s and cons of spacers, four hole or open hole, EFI controlled versions all in this page here, or copy and paste the link to your browser below.
There is just so much you can talk about and to be honest, and it’s a bit of a dying art to tune these carbs up, screwdrivers, spanners, vacuum gauges, experience, feel of the response in the car and probably most importantly – by ear. Take a look at the page above to see the intricacies of a carburettor.
The weekend of 24th July 2024 at Stonham barns was the Carrot Town Car show. This is usually aimed at the American classic and is usually a pretty good show. The night before the weather app(s) were consulted with no rain forecast but with one hundred percent cloud coverage. I don’t mind cloud as it makes it easier to take photo’s and you don’t sit in an open field with no shade. The journey there would require a fuel stop which was on the way with the Shell V-Power being my primary fuel. After the open wallet surgery was performed from an almost empty tank to full I restarted the journey to the event. The Stonham events always clashes with the car boot sale every Sunday in the field to the left of the show ground. The entrance is always a pain to get into, but this time I sailed straight in and paid my £5 to get in. I was directed to park up near a couple of other Mustangs which were by the main entrance, but in order to get there you have to drive down a gravel track to the other end of the field and then back to almost where I had came from. I parked up and within a space of about twenty minutes there was a whole line of Mustangs. The cars kept coming and a second line was created for those, a total of twenty four ponies in one area, it was almost like being back at the Mustang Owners Club Nationals a few weeks ago. I took over two hundred and fifty photos, but condensed it down to just under two hundred on this post.
I was pleased as a couple of friends parked up on the other side of the fence in the main arena and we had a good catchup. With the cars I decided to group them, Mustangs, Corvettes, trucks, bikes and the rest.
There was a one of kind wide body kitted out ‘Ghost’ as it was called. Not to every bodies taste, but it was certainly unique.
There was a Corvette owners club
Plenty of trucks and vans.
There was a section of movie and TV cars. The Knight rider car had the sweeping red light at the front with the sound it made. The interior was pretty cool as well.
Motorbikes scare the living daylights out of me but there was this ‘Boss’ bike which had a 430CiD V8 with 430BHP and 440 torque all put down on the road with the biggest rear tyre I had seen.
Then there is the rest of some stunning cars.
This stunning Charger RT with a rebuilt 528 Hemi won car of the show.
There were some trade stands around the show ground, and the first time I have seen some Bull horns for sale. I bought myself a replacement Chemical Guys P40 quick detailer as I had almost run out. It worked out cheaper than Amazon and eBay even with their ‘free’ postage.
Throughout the day there was a band that was playing some pretty good sounds it has to be said. The singer of the band also did a solo set.
I got back to the car ready for a sit down and a some refreshments.
A good day and I spent most of my time talking to lots of people. What I didn’t realise was that when the sun came out it was stronger than I expected. I hadn’t put my baseball cap on as well as not apply the factor fifty. I’m the sort of guy that burns easily and much to the wife’s amusement once I got home; ‘you like as red as a Budweiser label’. With that I went to fridge and twisted the cap off a cool beer and sat at my PC to write this post. I couldn’t admit it, but she was right, the top of my head does look the colour of a Budweiser beer label!
My wanderings around the show was about halfway round now. It was now around lunch time and the public was still coming into the show. I did spot that some of the cars arriving were also classics which were being parking up in the public areas, and getting their own attention amidst the see of Euro wind tunnel designed boxes. This car show is always fully booked and you need to get in early, or at least be a member of a car club.
My car of the show is this beautifully stored Willys Jeep, not for the paint job or rarity. The owners attention to detail was evident throughout. I wanted to drive it home and that is what matters to me for picking my car of the show.
The rest of the show needed to be explored, but first the collection of Mustangs:
There was a Lotus restorers there with some amazing cars.
I eventually got back to my car and the urge for food was greater than ever due to the many other food stalls now fired up. There was the more generic ‘craft’ style stalls there as well.
The show was due to finish at three thirty in the afternoon with show cars being allowed to move at three.
With my issue of having not a lot of fuel I was watching where the public were leaving, and where I could cut into the queue as near the exit as possible. Again this was round the back of the school on a single track so the wait was around ten minutes to get out. I made the point of leaving just after three in order to miss the traffic jam. Eventually I got to the roads and headed back home. I did arrive home with the fuel gauge showing empty. I suspect there was more in the tank, but you can’t be sure in these old cars. I didn’t want to be held up just in case. I do carry a spare fuel can in the trunk. However, it’s not full as the hot weather can make the fuel expand and the fuel has a shelf life anyway. I will need to get some fuel before the show, so that will be via a Jerry can, enough to get me to the petrol station and fill up properly.
The weather? It was mostly cloudy with the odd breakthrough of sun. Not enough for the factor fifty, but at least there was no rain.
A great show as always, well organised but they do need to sort out the entry and access delays.
This year the Rotary Classic Car Show at Culford was held on 14th July 2024 and is one of the biggest in the East Anglia area with over six hundred cars on show. I really enjoy this show and is always booked up well in advance for both entrants as well as stall holders. The setting is located in a private school grounds and only takes about thirty minutes for me to get there. In fact it took longer to drive down the access road than it did to arrive at the venue. There were delays getting to the display area as there a speed bumps and some low riders were having trouble getting over them. As I didn’t see many at the show for a few cars that had issues they could have driven over the grass at the sides of the path. In fact my car’s long headers do hang pretty low, so I too have to be careful and always take speed humps slowly. The ground was dry and wouldn’t have damaged the grounds. The drive to the main display field is always a pleasant experience.
Eventually I was pointed to the Bury Retro Car Club stand where I parked up and got out to chat to few friends who were there before me. After the exchange of banter I got back to the car to give it a little wipe over before I started my wanderings round the show.
First things first the car club was parked near some food stands and I thought I would treat myself to a nice sausage roll. That would have been fine if I had remembered to bring my wallet. This was a problem in itself as I also needed to get some fuel on the way home as the fuel gauge was now lower than it’s usually allowed to get. As there wasn’t going to be a fuel stop now the drive home was going to be a steady gentle drive home. The weather was promising to be dry all day although the cloud cover was coming over with patches of sun.
The plan was to start on one side and work across the field, I started with the club stand itself:
The only thing I will group in part 2 will be the Mustangs that were at the show. In order to save huge amounts of photos, I tried to take a more multi car shots without loosing the details of the cars.
At the end of the first row there was a Ferrari stand with some beautiful examples on show.
A modern an increasingly rare car that I still have a very, very big soft spot for them.
The public was getting very busy and I managed to grab these couple of shots before the general public came in as the event opened at ten o’clock.
There is much more to come from this show in part 2.
Last weekend was going to be a new show for me that I had seen on a few fliers at a previous show. The weather apps all said there would be no rain but there would be one hundred percent cloud coverage. I had no reason to doubt the apps as they had been correct for the last few shows. The show was due to start at nine thirty and finish at one in the afternoon.
I walked out the house and the air was damp, but not raining. I waited a while whilst I uncovered the car and put the cool bag in the trunk. I backed the car out and started my thirty minute journey to the show. As I got onto the main road the air thickened and a few misty drops of rain hit the care. Do I turn round or go back home? I had a couple of miles to travel before I reached a round about to make the decision. The dampness stopped and I decided to carry on.
Just before the village I came round a corner, there it was; PC plod with a camera at a quarter to nine on Sunday morning. The car was hidden down the side out of the way and he was standing by a tree. Honestly there are murderers, terrorists, muggers and weirdos out there which get away scot-free, but a motorist is easy pickings to raise money easily, every time. Nothing better to do than stand in a sleepy village looking for somebody doing the terrible crime of 31mph in a 30mph. It just annoys me, when you get yobs speeding around the towns and doing donuts causing a disturbance, they do nothing. Anyway, ten minutes later I arrived at a village hall and was directed onto a field.
The field itself was a couple of football pitches side by side, yet they parked as on the very left hand side and right at the back of the field. I couldn’t see any reason to park us around the edges to be honest. It would have been better to have us lined up nearer the village hall to save walking across a desolate field.
I parked up and got out spoke to the guys next to me and we had a good chat about the rain forecast, there wasn’t going to be any according to our apps. Yeah right, almost on que the dampness turned into a very light misty light dampness more so than rain. Instead of breaking out the factor fifty, I got the fleece from the trunk. Throughout the next few hours it was the same, the misty rain and then a dry spell. I found a couple of friends and we caught up for a chat. I told them I needed counselling as I was stressing over the rain or potential rain about to come. The sky showed some brighter clouds were moving our way. I decided to stay as the dry spells were warm and the light breeze was drying the rain of the car. The down side was that the rain was leaving little spots on the chrome. The Woolly Mammoth was out and used for drying a couple of times.
There was about fifty or so cars that turned up and left over the morning’s few hours. There were some nice cars and a few three of four year old Jaguars or Mercedes as well, I ignored those as they can be seen at every supermarket car park.
There was an old Gypsy caravan this was the first time I had seen inside one. I don’t know if it was original or not, but it was quite cool.
There was a nice Trans Am in gold, which wasn’t the common black and ‘Smokey & The Bandit’ livery. This for me was my favourite car of the day.
After a wander around I sat down at the rear of the car and got to speaking with a number of nice people.
There was a young guy who’s twelfth birthday was on the show day. His family asked him what he wanted to do for the day and he chose to go to the car show. As a treat I let him sit in the car for a few pictures. A couple of stalls on the field and a few inside the village hall were aimed at the general public and not car people of petrol heads. The turn out would have been better I’m sure with a better weather for sure. I had to finish up with this picture of an adoring dog waiting for its owner to move on and explore more of the hedgerows.
I left the show just before twelve thirty as the rain had stopped, which gave me a window to drive home in the dry. Once I got back to the house the quick detailer was out and I removed the rain spots from the car before I put her away in the garage. The dehumidifier was checked and on to remove any hidden moisture on the car.
Potential for a good show, and I would attend again next year, as long as it don’t rain.
A few miles away from my village is small tourist attraction called Pakenham Water Mill which is the oldest surviving flour mill in Suffolk, where once there were many. The Pakenham watermill has been around for almost a thousand years, and for all that time millers on this site have been using the simple technology of water power to produce stone-ground wholemeal flour for local people. The mill is currently owned today by HistoricSuffolk, a team of around fifty dedicated volunteers continues to look after the mill, machinery and grounds for this long tradition. There is a tea room and a little shop too.
The grounds on the day were populated with a tent full of home made cake stalls, a mini bar, and a BBQ area. I was hoping to by some local made bread from the mill, unfortunately they didn’t have any on the day.
The event was billed as starting at eleven, but I wasn’t sure if that was the public entry or arrival time for the cars. I took the time as being the public entry thus allowing us exhibitors to get ourselves organised. I woke up early before the alarm, the the dogs decided that sticking one of their little paws in my mouth would be a good way to let me know that they wanted to go out. I packed the cool bag for the day as well as the factor fifty as it was going to be a hot one with the sun being out for the whole day. I had a gentle cruise to the event just a mere twenty minutes away and pulled into the entrance. Nobody was about, but a minute or so later the rumble of my exhaust must have alerted a marshal to come over and he advised me that I was very early. The event was due to start at eleven, for both the public and the exhibitors. I was shown to a slightly elevated area for the show cars.
I was parked next to an MGB V8 which was owned by one of the volunteers. As he walked away I decided to move my car to another more scenic part of the field to take some pictures before the field got busy, which wouldn’t be for another half hour or so yet.
After my impromptu photo session i moved back to where I was initially told to park. The main hard standing parking area that I parked on last year was this time reserved for the pre war vehicles, the rest of the classic cars were going to be up where I was located. Many of the exhibitors like myself turned up around ten and were swiftly parked up in rows near to me. This is a small local show with only around fifty cars or so, more of a social meet of a local car owners.
The pre war section was well supported, more than I expected to be there.
Throughout the day there were exhibitors coming and going.
There was the steam model guys riding up and down, one of the engines had his lunch packed in the front boiler part, a few jacket potatoes filling the air with an amazing smell which made me hungry.
The sun was brutal, I had the factor fifty slapped on all over the place, but there was no shade. I wasn’t going to complain, far from it. I eventually sat down and had some lunch and a long cool drink watching the world walk buy.
I was greeted by a couple of friends I have known from the car shows in the past and a couple of members from the Bury Retro Car Club. I was taken back to a good few years to my first car show at the Birmingham NEC when I was on the Mustang Owners Club stand. A gentleman approached me and reminded me that he spoken to me way back then at that show. I even let his girlfriend sit in my car on the day he informed me, I had forgotten that little detail. The guy still follows my little ol’ blog and I was very humbled by the fact that he took time out to come and meet me again, we spoke for a little while and that conversation alone made my day. I’m terrible with names, I will admit it. I apologise to anybody in advance if I have forgotten your name when you come to speak to me, I put it down to my old age.
As I was editing (crop and resizing) this batch of photos, I decided to play around a little with the colours; the original, a straight forward black and white, sepia, and a hand tinted cream version. Let me know if these photos are improvement or not. I kinda like the bottom cream tinted one.
Another good day, even if I did unnecessarily sacrifice a Sunday lay in. A pretty well organised day and knowing that the £5 entrance fee has gone to the upkeep of the water mill and not in somebody’s greedy pocket.
