Winterising Your Car

Now we are at the end of the car show season it’s time to put my pride and joy away and tuck her up for the winter. This is more important than the hotter climates like the USA or Europe. The point is that when you pull the car back out again the car has been as protected as it possibly could have been. I have been asked a few times what my process is over the winter.

One of the most important things I do is to make sure the car is running on fumes. This is due to the fact that the ethanol fuels will ‘go off’ after a few months as it absorbs the moisture from the air. My car tends to run like a bag of nails when the car starts if it has fuel that has been standing. It seems that my carb settings and timings are sensitive to bad fuel, as a result I only use Shell V-Power premium fuel. It’s more expensive but the car does run so much better for it. I do have a five gallon jerry can that I fill up with fresh fuel when I need to move the car again for the first time in the new year.

The classic Mustangs have a lot of chrome and unless protected that chrome could start to pit, usually down to moisture and humidity. I have in my garage a dehumidifier and a radiator with an independent thermostat which keeps the chill away from the garage. The theory is that the car never goes below freezing. I have written an article about humidity and car storage here.

The thing to consider is the environment where the car is to be stored. A decent amount of dry air circulation around the car, and in an ideal situation not standing on a cold concrete floor as this will cause damp issues rising up to the car. I have laid some heavy plastic tiles which insulates the cold floor and the car which I also wrote about here.

First and most obvious is to wash the car, but make sure it’s thoroughly dry, especially if you don’t have a dehumidifier before you put the car away. Use a dedicated car blower if you can rather than a drying towel.

I then wax the car with a longevity wax rather than a show car wax. This will form a micro barrier to the elements, not that it should be needed in a climate controlled environment. It doesn’t matter what wax you use just something to protect it. I used Chemical Guys Quick Detailer P40 this year as the car had a wax a couple of weeks ago. So this was a top up more than anything as this product has a level of carnauba wax as well.

The big piece of work is the wheels. These wheels are chrome and need proper protection. I always clean them and apply a wheel wax during the car show season. But over the winter there is a little process I follow. I clean the tyres and the chrome as normal then I apply a squirt of Gibbs directly into the join of the wheel at the top and allow it run down to the bottom where it will puddle. WD40 or similar will do the same thing. You want enough to penetrate into the gap all the way round but not wate it so it runs out. Don’t wipe it away, just soak up the excess as it pools at the bottom. You won’t be able to get the wax right where you want it, so a penetrating product will get where you cant.

With the excess spray wiped away it was time to protect the chrome. I use Angel Wax Bilberry, it smells wonderful and gives great results. This wax is much softer than normal paint wax and is just like spreading a room temperature butter.

Ideally you will allow the product to cure and then buff it away. I apply it liberally but I don’t buff it completely away. This will leave a thicker barrier than you really need, but I just like a thick layer. This will make the chrome dull, but just make sure the wheel is fully coated.

The rubber tyres can be susceptible to cracking and I over apply an amount of Meguiar’s Endurance tyre gel. This product protects the tyres and keeps the rubber nourished. Applying this much will usually give rise sling as the car rotates. But as the car is now stationary it won’t be a problem. While you are at the wheels check the tyre pressure to make sure they are correct so they don’t deform.

If you have metal dust caps like I do, before putting them back on, squirt a tiny amount of WD40 or similar product that will make sure the cap doesn’t corrode metal to metal.

Glass is given a good clean, to make sure nothing is stuck and will be difficult to remove after a time of being laid up.

Where the rain or water car wash water can get into the car I make sure there is some water repellent applied. This is especially at the end of the rain drip rails that goes into the rear quarters. I squirted an amount onto the drip rails so it follows the same path as the water.

As the doors will be shut you don’t want the weather seal to stick and possibly tear when you go to open the door again. I use a Chemical Guys Tyre + Trim Gel which is dry to the touch almost straight away. I could have used this on the tyres obviously, but I prefer the Endurance.

It’s applied around the door frame and also to the rubbers under the door. Around the screen glass both front and rear there is a layer of black mastic, not how they came from the factory, but it seals the windows properly. The top right photo below shows an arrow where the before and after on the sealant.

The two images above is the trunk area where the before and after can be clearly seen as it’s applied. For the chrome trim and the wipers these are given a a layer of wax, again not buffed to a shine. Before shutting the car up, open the windows a little so that the car doesn’t sweat and go mouldy. Allowing a change of air will help prevent this as well. Having an open ventilation into the garage can have a minor advantage for fresh air, but it doesn’t allow for the dehumidifier to control the moisture in the garage environment.

The battery trickle charger CTEK MXs 5.0 is connected as I always do when the car is in the garage.

I removed the screen washer bottle and rinsed it out and hung it up to allow it to dry. Previously I have left water in the bag and it had gone bad and stank with things trying to grow in it. I had a bit of a job to get it clean again, I won’t be making that mistake again.

Inside the car is a quick vacuum out. I tend to keep a couple of old air fresheners for the winter, give them a quick spritz them with Mitchell & King Leather scent. I hang the air fresheners back in the car being sure to make sure they are free hanging and not touching anything. Inside the car I tend not to pull the parking brake on as this may seize in place. If you’re worried about the theft you could use a T Park Handle lock here for a bit more peace of mind.

Finally the car cover goes on and the humidity gauge goes on top of the car in the middle to get the average reading of the garage. the sweet spot is 50%, with a couple of percent either side.

Last thing is to turn the dehumidifier on which I have already got set up from the previous years which sits around the fifty percent mark all year round now. On the back of the unit there is a filter which is removed, cleaned and replaced. It doesn’t hurt to squirt a little air freshener towards the back of the unit in order to give it a little freshen up.

I do have a little tip regarding the dehumidifier, hang an air freshener near the unit, this will fill the garage with your scent of choice. The downside is that the freshener tends to get dried out fairly quickly due to the functionality of the dehumidifier.

With the car now laid up for the winter I still tend to open the garage up in the nicer weather once or twice a month to let some fresh air in and make sure there are no leaks and that the dehumidifier and the the battery trickle charger are still working ok.

When the new season starts I have to remove all the waxes, and the over application of trim on the paint. this isn’t much of an issue as I give the car a service, grease, check the brakes, full valet and good once over before the first show anyway.

I hope that helps a little and gives you some tips to store the car short term.

Share my Content

Hennessey Performance Cars & Coffee 2023

I thought that the Stonham Barns (parts one to three) was going to be the last car show of the year for me. For all intense and purpose it was as the second show at Stonham Barns on the trot would be rained on and I wouldn’t go anyway. That was until I was checking on my Facebook page very early this morning after one of the dogs decided to stand on my face as he wanted to go out. I was laying there trying to get back to sleep while the dogs settled back down, I stumbled across a post that said coffee and cars at a little place about ten miles away from me. I checked the weather and it was going to rain early afternoon. This ‘gathering’ was a simple turn up, have a social coffee or bacon sandwich and look at some cars that may turn up.

Hennessey Performance based in Suffolk are a Performance Parts Stockist, specialising in Prestige & Performance vehicles, they sell things like alloy wheels, heat management wrap, oils, merchandise etc. Not to be confused with the Hennessey tuners in the USA.

I made the decision to go, a couple of hours in the morning and then back home again would be ideal. I got the car out and remembered that I needed fuel from sitting in the last stupid traffic jam from the last show at Stonham. The event was only a few miles away, I thought that driving conservatively there and back again I wouldn’t need to top up. Over the winter I always run the fuel down as it goes off in the tank and causes running issues next time I start it up in the summer.

I have driven past this place a few times, but didn’t realise it was there. There was no traffic jam this time and I just pulled straight into the yard and was directed where to park up in a really nice position.

I got out and had a quick look around looking at the cars still coming in. Some were directed onto the grass field to the right adjacent to the yard on the left as you drove in, others were directed onto the yard for parking.

Directly opposite me on the edge of the field was a line of black cars that looked pretty cool. Just to the other side of where I parked was the coffee and food barn with three super cars parked out the front of it.

I decided to go for a wander and pick Marts Car of the Show, what I picked even surprised myself. This was going to be difficult as there were super cars there worth hundreds of thousands of pounds each. It would have been so easy to pick any one of the McLarens, Ferrari’s, Aston Martin, Nissan GTRs or the odd Lambo. There were so many Porsches there I didn’t take many pics of those, also there was plenty of the out of the showroom Ford Focus STs or a couple of year old BMWs and so on, I didn’t want this post to look like a Tesco’s parking lot filled with expensive cars you can see just about anywhere. It was obvious that this gathering was going to have a distinctly modern feel about it.

As this was a ‘performance’ gathering there was some great cars of yester year that were now becoming classics in their own right.

As I got to the end of the row opposite me I wandered down the row of cars on the field to see what was there.

I wandered back to the main area a rather nice Ferrari pulled in. I have a very big soft spot for these 308s anyway, and for me was the runner up for Marts Car of the Show as it was a really nice example in an unusual colour for a Ferrari, which suited it.

Back to the main area again and the cars will still coming in.

The three cars parked out the front of the refreshments;

I wandered back to my car and was asked if I could lift the hood, for once I hadn’t done it as not many other cars had it.

Just behind where I had parked up there were some units that were opened up, one was the Hennessey unit to flog their stuff.

The other had a track car in bits doing something to it to make it go faster I guess.

Marts car of the ‘gathering’ rather than ‘show’ was this little Suzuki Cappuccino. It has a 0.6ltr engine which is the size of a piece of A4 paper. The owner hadn’t had it long and he uses it as his daily driver. This isn’t a UK spec as it had been imported from Japan a few months ago.

Outside the merchandise unit there were some stools which had now become free, so I decided to assume the position and take some different photo angles of my car and watch the world go by for a while.

I left just after mid day as a number of other cars were starting to leave. It was a another gentle drive home and the fuel was almost on the empty line. That was fine with me as I was going to prep the car for the winter storage.

It was a good gathering and spoke to a few nice people, not as many as I normally do at a proper car show. The conversations I was listening to was about the amount of boost and what type of horsepower they were running. Me, no boost just a v8 with plenty of torque that will drive along in top gear gear at 25mph. I do believe I was the oldest car there apart from the ‘hot rod’ and the Pontiac station wagon that wasn’t a runner. I would make a point to go to this one again that’s for sure. A good way to end my run of car shows for the year.

Share my Content

Stonham Barns Classic Car Show 2023 (part 3)

The start of this post was the walk back towards my car which will take in the centre arena which only had a dozen or so cars in it. I was now at the far end of the field and there was a few military vehicles on show.

The cars in the centre ring were ‘movie cars’ and a couple of other random things. Not many cars look good in pink, but I expect a big Caddy to be pink!

This is a replica Bullitt car with the resident keeping a watching brief on the big bad Charger. These pair get around together and I have seen them at the Enfield Pageant. The Bullitt car was a 390ci big block, unfortunately this replica is only a 302ci.

This replica GT40 is a CAV GTR made in 2009 is an awesome looking lady that’s for sure. The trumpet intakes just scream classic car and I’m a bit partial to that look, I would like to think that the 390ci under this hood sounds as good as it looks.

This 6.2lt Rally Fighter looked a lot of fun.

Eleanor was there, but it wasn’t the best replica I have seen to be honest.

There was few traders and auto jumble there, but nothing that exciting, it was more of a car boot sale and my money stayed firmly in my wallet.

Marts Car of the Show

My favourite there was this Lamborghini Espada Series 3 from 1975. A rare car with a total of 1217 Espadas made between 1968 – 1978. The styling of this car still holds up today, yes it’s a super car and really liked the Peerless, it’s the first Lambo Espada I have seen and I wanted to go home in it. After I had taken my Mustang home of course.

I eventually got back to my car as the lunch time sunshine was beating down. I took a couple more picks of the club cars, a couple didn’t make it as they broke down sitting in the stupid traffic jam.

The best part of the afternoon? The big white tent was still empty apart from a few bales of hay. So I got my chair out and put it in the tent where I could still see my car. I sat down with a well earned drink as it was getting warm, no need for the sun creme. About an hour or so after I sat down the rest of the club returned and we all sat in the tent for chat. So the selfish traders were standing in the beating sun while we were nice and cool in the shade.

The corruption I eluded to in the first post was something I have come to expect from this show, and all the shows held at this venue come to that. The prizes were announced at just past 3pm. The compare said and I quote; “The car of the show goes to my ol’ mate…”. Yeah yeah, yeah – what ever! I didn’t need to hear anymore and switched off at that point. Some might say it’s jealousy or sour grapes. Nope, I have mentioned this happens before from this show, so I was expecting it. In fact I didn’t even give my car a wipe over as I usually do when I get to a show as I knew it wouldn’t matter. There were some beautiful cars that deserved to win and I feel sorry for those guys. I had a great day talking to the guys in the tent.

At around three fifteen I started to see a few cars leaving before the 4pm closing time. I said my goodbyes and packed up to come home making sure I missed the rush to get out. The organisation of the show this year was bad, traffic jams to get in, spaces not marked out correctly, and cars parked in weird lines. It wasn’t all bad like I say, I spoke to few people and enjoyed my day, the sun was out mostly and I sat in a cool tent. I was spotted by Matthew Filby and Emily Silkstone who kindly took the ‘Culford Car Show Pro Shoot’ photos a couple of posts back. Great to see you guys again. 🙂

I got home and made sure I cleaned the car this time and covered her up in the garage. That show could be the last one of the year for me, depending on weather there might be another. I was thinking about posting what I do when I lay my car up for the winter, would anybody be interested?

I have come across a some documentation for fasteners used by Ford between 1955 and 1973. Not the most riveting of reading for most people, but all those little symbols mean something on the top of the fasters – bolts and screws etc. I will do a little post on that soon. If your into concours car shows, have a classic Ford, then this document could be the difference of winning and losing!

Share my Content

Stonham Barns Classic Car Show 2023 (part 2)

Carrying on from my post part one of the show, I moved down the line of cars and came across a true iconic cars ever made, the classic Model T tourer. The only thing I didn’t like was the ‘slow vehicle’ slapped across the back of it, but I could see why they did it. This little gem almost got my vote!

Another poster of cars I had on wall was of the white Lotus Esprit from the James Bond movie, The spy who loved me. So this one is in black, but who cares? It’s still a stunning looking car to this day.

This car is a Jaguar kit car and was a popular vehicle, I did like the hood ornament as it was rather unique!

A little group of Mustangs, the blue ’65 coupe here has gone all out for chrome. I know I clean my car to death, but all that chrome must be a nightmare.

It was here in the field that I eventually made my mind up for the runner up spot for ‘Mart’s Car of the Show’. I came back to this car a couple of times. This Peerless Grand Tourismo. It’s the first time I had seen one which isn’t surprising as only 325 examples were produced from 1957-1960, beautiful car and also now a very rare car.

The next post will be the third and final post of this car show. Hopefully I have shown some different cars rather than the usual ones you tend to see. Next post will feature my car of the show which is another rare car and still a head turner even by todays standards.

Share my Content

Culford Car Show – Pro Shoot

Going back a few weeks I was at the Culford Car Show which is one of the biggest in the area which I always enjoy. I took plenty of pictures and spread them across two posts. My photo’s come out pretty much OK on my trusty Samsung S23 Ultra, but they are not perfect like a proper digital camera and quality lenses.

At the show I got talking to a couple of photographers; Matthew Filby and Emily Silkstone who stopped by my car. They showed an interest in my car we had a really nice chat and they took a number of photos and offered to send them to me. True to their word they have done just that and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. I have only just gotten round to making this post of great their work. In return for their kindness and photos, I said I would be more than happy to give them a shout out to their social medias.

Matthew Filby: His Instagram account can be found here, @matthewfilby

Emily Silkstone: Her Instagram account can be found here, @stoneandlightmedia

Her Facebook account can be found here, @stoneandlightmedia

Please pop over and see some more of their great work and give them a like and follow.

Thanks to Matthew for allowing me to use the these photos he had taken below.

Thanks also go out to Emily for allowing me to use the photos she had taken below.

Again a really big ‘Thank You‘ to Matthew and Emily who have both taken some great shots of my car which I don’t post up that often. I really do appreciate you sending them over.

Share my Content

Kersey Mill Car Show 2023

I attended this show last year when it was held in May not in July as this year. The weather was predicted to be breezy but no rain, so I decided to go for it and turn up. This is a free show held in some nice surroundings just few miles outside of Ipswich.

As ever the alarm woke me to some nice sunshine which was drying the roads from the previous Saturday night’s rainfall. I opened the garage went through the process of getting the car ready to go out, that consists of unplugging the battery trickle charger and uncovering the passenger side of the car first. Then I walk round to the other side and fold up the cover, then I spotted a puddle on the garage floor. My heart missed a beat and then started to pound as I put the cover on top of the toolbox. I got on the floor to see what was going on and felt the puddle, it wasn’t sticky or smell of anything, that usually happens from a coolant leak. I looked around and couldn’t see anything immediately wet or dripping in the engine bay.

Behind me was my dehumidifier which looked to have water around it too. On looking the safety had cut out and wasn’t working, I usually hear a gentle hum and just thought that I hadn’t turned it on from when I was last in the garage. I turned it around and noticed the water collection draw was full, this was an overfill from the pipework that I had plumbed in to avoid constant emptying of the draw. What had happened was the drain pipe from the back now had a high hump point and the water wasn’t able to run away into the condensation pipe primarily used by the heating boiler. The angle of the pipe is fine when the unit is in a certain position, obviously I had moved the unit without realising, thus creating a slow back flow, the pipe would have backfilled into the collection draw and eventually overflowed which is when the safety would have cut in. The unit would have cut off, but the extra water in the pipe was just enough to overfill the draw. I grabbed a few old microfibre cloths and mopped the water up which looked a lot worse than it was, maybe a cup or so. Relieved I readjusted the pipe to the correct angle, and started the unit again to dry the garage while I would be out.

The drive was enjoyable, with sun and cloud taking it in turns to dominate the sky, but the grey clouds were the majority of the sky the closer I got to Kersey. I arrived some thirty on minutes later and asked where to park. I was directed to be on the right of the driveway on the grass near the entrance. I parked up on my own like some sort of Billy-no-mates!

I waited for an hour or so and went for a walk round. It looked obvious that there wasn’t going to be a big turn out due to the weather. There was a couple of lines of cars in place so I started there.

There was a car there that was getting some attention, but I couldn’t put my finger on it why. The car just didn’t look right. I will get to the reason why a little later. when i then became evident why it raised my suspicions. The front bumper just didn’t seem to sit right to me.

Walking over the little bridge to the area where there was some ‘street food’ stalls cooking some amazing smelling food. Near them was a few more cars. I stopped to talk to Paul for a while who owned the Capri, the same model and body kit a friend of mine had when I was an apprentice.

The Rolls Royce was real nice car and a candidate for my favourite car of the show.

Just past the food stalls was a few more cars outside what looked like the owner of the mill house.

Another candidate for my favourite car was this Ford Cortina, the simple reason being was that my Grandfather owned a blue one. Right next to it was a Ford Anglia, another car that my Grandfather owned.

Towards the back of the house there was little walkway with a sign for the cars to display and parking for the public parking. Unfortunately they never got used.

Mart’s Car of the Show

The little courtyard had a couple of cars there which was where I saw this nice Sunbeam Alpine.

That was pretty much it round that side of the venue, so I wandered back to where I was parked up. On the other side of the driveway some more cars had turned up thankfully.

The weather was very changeable with a couple of very light spitting of rain episodes, not enough to bead on the car though. But when the sun came back out along with the slight breeze it soon evaporated away, just like last week.

Back towards where I was parked a few more had parked up, a couple of which I had seen before with their v8 swap outs.

Back to the Lamborghini Countach I mentioned earlier, the owner had opened it up then I realised straight away what was wrong. The car was a kit car and the engine was a Land Rover v8 lump.

For a kit car it was done very well I might add. But, when you start to look around properly you could see the build quality wasn’t quite there. The car left an hour or so later, when it started up it made a nice rumble granted, but it should have been a very shouty howling V12. I had posters of this car on my walls when I was at school, the super car I always wanted, and still do.

Did you know:

That iconic rear wing was purely cosmetic. The Countach actually suffers front axle lift at high speed, and bolting a park bench on the back only exacerbates the issue. But customers loved the look, so engineers zeroed out the wing’s angle, rendering it non-functional. It was designed as a one-off for F1 impresario Walter Wolf, the spoiler wasn’t an official option either. Once the look caught on around 1976, Lamborghini couldn’t afford to re-homologate the car with a new aero wing. As a workaround, completed cars were taken off the assembly line driven to the factory parking lot, where employees installed the rear wing using an electric hand drill while awaiting dealer transport. Apparently the installation of the wing only took about 10 minutes.

After a four or so hours at the show I decided it was a bit slow for me too and left to go home. A shame because it could have been a nice show.

I was emailed a couple of photos yesterday; Thank You Scott. One as I was talking to somebody and the other as I was leaving.

Having a proper camera instead of a cell phone camera makes a difference. That’s all I’m gonna say on the comparison.

Share my Content

Culford Car Show 2023 (part 2)

The sky had started to turn a nasty shade of dark grey in the distance and the air felt cooler, although the sun was trying to stay out. But as yet still no rain, but it didn’t look good. I started off on my wander round again, picking up where I left off just after the Ferraris corner taking the rest of the photos. As this was a ‘Classic’ car show, I didn’t bother to take photos of cars that were only five or ten years old, all of which can be seen in any super market car park doing a weekly shop. I have one question; why? I can understand an exotic car sports car, but your dad’s taxi just doesn’t do it for me.

With the wind still blowing around I was glad I wasn’t under the trees this time. I could see the sap on the paint on some of these lovely cars.

It was a busy as the day even as the day wore on, although the grey sky looming ominously closer might have put people of, it didn’t.

This F350 nearly got my vote of the day, I think it was the biggest vehicle there.

My blog wouldn’t be complete without a grouping of Mustangs, old and new.

Marts Car Of The Show:

This stunning 1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT.

I eventually got back to my car for a sit down and a well deserved rest after all the walking. I spoke to really nice people throughout the day. Including a couple who had their own photography business who I hope will get in contact with me. After a few minutes it happened, a few spots of rain. The reaction was quite funny to see, the car owners rush to wind windows up and shut soft top roofs, me included. The few spots only lasted for a couple of minutes then the sun came out. The rain drops had disappeared within a few minutes as the still warm cars along with the welcome return of the sun and the continuing light breeze helped the process of evaporation.

As I was talking to my friends back at the car, a ‘Health & Safety’ marshal came round and told us that the way out would be the way we came in, but not to move before three thirty, which was around two hours away. It got to three pm and few cars fired up, the marshals tried to stop them, but they carried on. A few minutes later there was a number of cars firing up ready to go, me included as I didn’t want to get caught in the queue of traffic to get out, maybe it might rain again. I think a lot of people had the same idea.

I pulled up home and gave the car a quick wipe over before I put her away in the garage and covered her up. All this rushing around and it didn’t rain anymore for the day. I was happy as it was a great show, chatting to wonderful people and catching up with great friends again. Looking forward to next year already for another really well run car show.

Share my Content

Culford Car show 2023 (part 1)

One of the bigger car shows in the area is held at Culford School which is independent school with boarding options. The school will take all ages as long as you have the money and its not cheap with prices in the tens of thousands – per year. The grounds are impressive with lots of space to hold a car show, although the cars were not allowed to be parked at the front of the school this year. The entry to the event requires cars arrive before eight thirty in the morning, with the show ending at three thirty in the afternoon. So an early start was on the cards, but not to early as the venue was only about twenty minutes away for me. The only trouble was on the way there I realised that I had left my wallet at home, my plan for for a bacon roll went out the window. My excuse was that it was to early to think straight.

I took around three hundred photos on the day so my phone ran out of battery, probably because I didn’t put it on charge the night before. My excuse was it was to late in the night when I went to bed and I wasn’t thinking straight. But, I did already pack my portable power bank the night before in the cool bag pocket, perhaps I should of done that with my wallet. Some of the photos were taken in the morning, then after some lunch with an hour or so charge on the phone got me some power so I could take the rest of the photos. I had about two hundred and sixty of photos that didn’t have people walking in front of the cars or looking directly at the camera with stupid looks on their faces. To save a huge scrolling post, I thought I would split across two posts.

For something a little different for my car show posts in the future, I had an idea to pick my favourite car of the show. There’s no criteria, no pre conceptions, no categories and no prizes, just bragging rights that the car that caught my eye was the best there in my opinion, apart from my own of course.

I arrived at eight twenty(ish) with virtually no queue to get in, but it was little stop start in the grounds as the cars were being directed to the locations.

I asked where the Bury Retro Car Club was and was directed to the stand and parked up. The club had booked plenty of spaces and had two rows. I parked up trunk to trunk with a friend of mine who has a number of cars, this time he bought his ’65 Coupe. I got out had a quick chat and started to wipe over the car and remove the road dust. The weather was a bit windy and stayed blustery all day, although the wind was supposed to have died the night before, with no rain forecast.

I will start with the car club cars, as that was where I was standing.

I wandered up the lines and and back down each side.

There was a nice selection of UK ‘Fast Fords’ on show, most of these cars ended up in a ditch, wrapped around a tree or they just couldn’t be given away. Now they are commanding some pretty strong money.

There was an area of super cars including this 1,400bhp GT-R with a parachute.

There was a couple of Fiat Dino there. Contrary to popular belief they are not Ferraris by brand, although designed by Pininfarina and built by Ferrari. The brand Dino was Ferrari’s lower cost sports car that had the mid engined V6. The V12 engines were reserved for the prestige Ferraris’s of the time. this was Enzo Ferrari not wanting to diminish the Ferraris brand. Enzo didn’t want to produce the car but he relented to fight with the Lamborghini Miura at the time. These cars are now accepted as Ferrari although they are not badged as such.

There was a good turn out of proper Ferraris in one corner of the field.

It was about this time that the phone needed a recharge so I headed back to my car for some refreshments. I will post up the second part in few days with ‘Mart’s Car Of The Show’ to be revealed.

Share my Content

Feltwell Anglo American Car Show (part 2)

Carrying on from last weeks post where I only got halfway round the Feltwell Anglo American Car Show, I will continue with some more great cars. The weather was super sunny with a few clouds coming over later in the afternoon, and made it tricky to take some photos of the cars especially with the polished chrome and glossy paint jobs.

I’m not sure if the Anglo American theme extends to some Japanese fast cars or some German campers that had infiltrated the ranks! However, it was good to see them as they are getting rarer to find.

This Lada was getting some looks, it’s not the best of cars when it was unleashed on the public, but this was different as it was on air ride. He kindly let some kid in the car to bounce the car’s suspension, after a minute or so of some frantic movements there was a large bang and the car slammed down on the rear suspension. It turned out a pipe had broken and was haemorrhaging hydraulic fluid badly. The owner just said “Oh well, Looks like I’m in for bumpy ride home”.

Moving on to the rest of the rows of cars;

These are the longest cars I think I have seen apart from the stretched limos and hearses.

I don’t much about these Rocket 88’s, but it was an amazing car and I would have been happy to drive around in a pink one. Happy to be educated if anybody knows.

Then we come back to the Normal sized cars.

This MG ZT had a Mustang engine in it, but I think the owner was confused if it was an MG or Mustang, it looked a little odd to be honest with the classic Mustang emblems on it.

A nice selection of trikes all parked up with an accompanying Meatloaf sound track, so I stayed there for a couple of great songs.

I loved this Thunderbird, but in this light blue colour it looked like giant Hot Wheels car, or is it my imagination. Cracking car though.

The replica AC Cobra had the hood up and couldn’t wait to see under the hood. I was disappointed as it wasn’t a Ford block. In fact I would liken it opening a copy of Play Boy expecting to see some artistic photos of lovely ladies, only to find pictures of a building site. The disappointment was real, but It did sound nice.

The biggest engine of the day:

After I had looked all around I wandered back to my car for some lunch and get the hood up and assume the position in my chair.

I had a fantastic time and around three o’clock I decided to leave before before the queues started to form. To help with the traffic flow I was direct out a different way to the way I came in, the SatNav complained a bit, but I followed her directions. I’m glad I did because I drove right past the gates where My car would have driven through a few times over the years that she was stationed here with her owner.

The journey wasn’t as scenic as the journey to get to the show, but I will take an open road anytime! The fence on the right is part of the Lakenheath airbase itself.

I arrived home and spent fair amount of time getting the stubborn pollen of the car that had settled on the car while in the field. My hay fever was playing me big time as a result, but it was all worth it for such a good day. I will absolutely make sure I attend this show again. Well run show, great cars and the first show of the season. Will the other shows come close to this one? I hope so.

Share my Content

Feltwell Anglo American Car Show (part 1)

After last week’s cancelled show I finally got a to one Saturday at Feltwell, which is about eleven miles from the wonderful Thetford Forest which I travelled through to get there. This is the third year for the show of its type, due to the popularity last couple of years, it has been moved to a larger field for a bit more space. I got up to bright sunshine and checked the website and Facebook and nothing anywhere to say it was cancelled. I had a choice of two shows, Fast & Loud which was an afternoon show in centre of Bury St. Edmunds or this Feltwell show about forty miles away. I decided against the Fast & Loud show as the last one I visited was full of two or three year old Ford Focus’ that have had eBay spending spree for go faster parts. Invariably the obligatory sound system with a sub the size of dustbin lid and an exhaust made out of the dustbin itself. All fitted to make them sound the ‘part’ with popping and banging to se who can BBQ their balls standing at the back of the cars! Not my scene all that, so it was a no brainer to take the drive through the beautiful Thetford Forest. On the other hand, if there was nothing else on and it was a nice day – I would have gone as it was only for three hours.

I loaded the car up and and travelled out the bottom of our village to join onto the A14 for the first part of the journey. I joined the dual carriageway just in front of a light blue ’67 Fastback. We travelled in convoy for a number of miles where I turned of to go the scenic route to the show, and because my SatNav told me to turn off.

After around twenty minutes I got to the edges of Thetford and rescued some images from the dash cam. Nothing in front of me, nothing behind me and I just cruised along at a gentle 50mph with the window down. so far this has been one of my favourite drives to any car show yet. Stunning.

Just short of an hour I arrived at the show, marshals efficiently directing the show cars onto the field, and visitor cars into the parking area.

I ended up parking near a Corvette and then a group of newer Mustangs pulled up next to me all in a line.

The thing with this show was I had to drive past Lakenheath air base. This is where the owner of my car bought if over from the states in the first place. When he finished his tours he left it here for somebody to buy, neglect it until I bought it.

My car had come home to its old stomping grounds!

This area has many airbases nearby and lots of USA spec cars owned by service men and women, turned up for the show. I got the cleaning stuff out and gave the car a quick wipe over to get the road dust of the car. By the time I had finished the car that were going to turn were here as we had to be in place by quarter to ten. I ended up taking the best part of two hundred and fifty photos on the day so I decided to split the post into two. The photos started at the front run and I worked my way towards the back of the field.

There are some more amazing cars to come in part 2’s post. The best part of this show? apart from there being lots of Mustangs, there were so many cars that I hadn’t seen before so I managed to spend lots of time looking around them.

Look out for next weeks post.