American cars – One Man And His Mustang

Following on from the last post which was about the Fast & Loud show on the Saturday this is a post about the Sunday; Stonham Barns Spring Break. After cleaning the car from the stop home on Saturday I sat in the arm-chair slightly deflated and checked the weather app, OK I checked all three of my weather apps and one of which I even paid for. All of them said that the Sunday was going to be a better day with overcast conditions, only a thirty percent chance of rain at midday from just one app. I decided to take a chance for a second day, after all the odds were in my favour right?

So I got up next morning and the sky was clear, but a little breezy that’s all. I fired up the freshly cleaned beast and took a what is usually an enjoyable ride out to the show just a short half hour away. I jumped on the dual carriageway and started to relax and enjoy the drive. Then there it was, the first drop of rain. The air turned the colour of my car, the rain fell heavier and soon it was pouring, again. I had the choice to turn around in a few minutes at the next junction and go home or carry on hoping it would pass. I continued with my now somewhat ruined drive. The further I drove the less the rain fell, decision time. I continued on towards the clearer skies with a little hope. Some twenty minutes later I made the turn of to the show and I followed on behind the conga of classic cars waiting to get into the show. We can’t all be wrong can we? It was going to be OK. We were ushered in efficiently and I parked up, got out and the sun was starting to make a show itself.

A few tiny very fine spots of rain filled the air just a little damp, nothing to worry about. I dried the car and spoke to few familiar faces and we discussed the weather for a little while. Within the space of half an hour that thirty percent turned into one hundred percent rain. Within minutes the car was wet again and now so was I.

I was so miserable I even took a video of the rain sitting on my freshly waxed car! 🌧

Yet more of the same ol’ choices for the weekend to date, do I go home or stay and see if the shower passes. I decided to look around at the other cars as they all seemed to be staying too. I recognised a lot of the cars from yesterday at this show, many sitting inside them with a flask of coffee and steaming up windows.

There was a few Mustangs there too, including this distressed Mad Max look-alike, which has fake side up exhausts that were just plastic plumbing pipes just behind the real ones, even spotted a sweet wrapper a the bottom of one of them. But lots of time and effort spend on the car and fair play to them.

There was a strong showing of American classics at this show as there always seems to be.

There were some traders that had covered their tables with ground sheets to protect their stock, but the trouble is that you couldn’t see anything to buy. I didn’t even buy anything to cheer myself up.

After three hours of relentless rain I decided to go home. Which would involve a more thorough clean as the car was no going to stand until the next show. I used cloths to wipe inside the wheel arches to remove dirt and debris from the inner side bend of the wheel arch on each corner of the car. What a terrible start to the show season, it can only get better I guess.

Here’s the thing, I don’t need apps or Google as my wife said to me as I walked out the door; ‘you do know it’s going to rain?’ She was right, AGAIN!

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After the last car show shambles it was time for my local Car Show as it were, Cars On the Green at Bury St. Edmunds. This is usually a well run event with a bursting to capacity show. This year they had to restrict the number of entries via pre-booking as exit time last year cause complete gridlock in the town itself. The local plod (police) were not amused and decided to clamp down for the 2017’s show. However, the best part last year was that people were lining the roads to watch the cars leaving – in effect they got to see the cars and hear them too just like a cruise, that’s a bonus I would have said. This year ironically there was no plod to be seen to direct “the traffic” and everything was a smooth departure. I did find them lurking in the same places as last year, sitting on the main roads (eating doughnuts I expect) waiting to catch somebody as an easy target.

Anyway, I arrived in what I thought was good time in the morning, a little before nine when the show was due to start at ten, to find myself sitting in a queue to get in, but at least it was moving. Being as the weather was already scorching hot, the cars were just ticking over there were a couple of cars that had over heating problems and had pulled over to cool down. The queue died down quickly enough when a few more people were brought out to direct the cars in. From what I could see the minor problem was entrants and visitors were using the same queue at the main gate. But, it all sorted itself out and I got in within ten minutes at the most. The show was already busy with visitors looking as the cars were parking and setting up. I even had somebody video me reversing into my parking spot. This show was indeed well organised throughout the whole day, just so much better than the two and a half hours carnage at Duxford! The sun was out and it was getting hotter by the hour, then I (stupidly) started to clean my car. I needed to cool down quickly and sat in the shade for a while and downed a litre bottle of cold water I took with me.

I even decided to put my show board up, I had two people during the day asking if I wanted to sell my pride and joy, the answer was obviously “no”, in fact one bloke looked decidedly annoyed when I said no! Then on the other side of the coin, there was a lovely family who spent ages looking at my car in lots of detail and reading my show board. I went over to say “Hi” to them, the dad explained that his son (I would take a guess his age to be around seven or eight years old), was “Mustang Mad”. Apparently his bedroom was plastered with the Classic Mustangs posters, pictures and models etc. So I did what I don’t normally do; I asked him if he wanted to sit in my car? He little chap turned straight to his dad looking for approval, whose face was now also a picture. The little guy gently climbed in and sat in the seat and held the wheel, the smile he gave to his dad made my day in fact, you can’t buy those sorts of smiles. The dad was taking lots of pictures as the little guy pretended to drive the car, leaning from side to side as if to go around corners. He would have stayed there all day I think unless his dad said it was time to go and “let the man have his car back.” The dad was so grateful and made a huge thank you with the best hand shake of the day. What a fantastic moment that will stay with me for a long, long time. I think it was the nasty “hay fever” that bought a lump to my throat. I just wished I had something to give him to remember it by.

There was a diverse array of cars, but not as many American cars as thought there would be like last year. In fact I only spotted one other Classic Mustang also in a dark blue.

There were some nice old UK Fords on show from the sixties up to the eighties.

Some great looking trucks.

There was lots of cars that were three or four years old on display, Which I didn’t quite understand to be honest. If I wanted to see those sorts of cars I could wait a set of traffic lights to see them go by!