I would like to wish all my readers, followers and casual browsers a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. I look forward to bringing you more reviews, memorabilia, walkthroughs and of course lots of car show photos in the coming year.
My little ol’ blog has been evolving into a ‘blogsite’ over the last couple of years with my stats telling me that I’m approaching a truly amazing 1,550,000 views, which I never believed would be possible. I fund this blogsite all by myself with a small contribution from the WordPress adds (sorry) now and then which contributes to the hosting fees, registration and everything else (but doesn’t cover it all) that goes with an online presence. I can only say a huge and sincere “Thank You” to everyone for keeping me encouraged to continue and making this all worth while.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, see you all in 2026.
There are only a handful of cars that carry the same recognition and emotional pull as the Ford Mustang. Since its debut 17th April 1964 at the New York World Trade Fair, the Mustang has remained one of the most iconic cars on American roads. Its mix of performance, style and heritage has helped the brand survive changing automotive trends within a competitive market. Even today, collectors, enthusiasts, and casual drivers find reasons to admire and own these classic cars. For some, searching for a wrecked Mustang for sale or browsing junk cars for sale is a way to restore a piece of history and connect with the legend. Dry states in America as we refer to them here in the UK, still contain a treasure trove of cars that are worth restoring or even buying them just for those hard to find original parts.
A Strong Legacy
The Mustang was introduced in 1964 it quickly gained a loyal following, the demand far outweighed the supply and Ford couldn’t make them fast enough. The Mustang sales had set records that still haven’t been matched to this day. The Mustang represented freedom and individuality during a period of cultural changes taking place in America. With its long hood, endless options of engines and gearbox, short rear deck and the sporty stance, it established a design that influenced decades of vehicles or ‘Pony’ cars. Generations of drivers grew up with the Mustang, making it more than just a car, it became a cultural touchstone tied to movies, music, and motorsports.
Timeless Design
One of the key reasons for the Mustang’s enduring appeal is its design. While the car has evolved over the years, each version retains that unmistakable Mustang character. The bold grille, aggressive body lines, and muscular stance are instantly recognizable. Owners and fans often mention that the later modern Mustangs capture the essence of the originals, we won’t mention a couple of designs during the oil crisis, where styling went slightly off the rails. The blend of nostalgia, performance and modern engineering makes the car attractive to both young buyers and long-time collectors.
Performance Options
Performance has always been at the heart of the Mustang. From affordable base models to high-powered GTs, the much sought after Shelby variations and even tuners like Saleen, the Mustang offers a wide spectrum of driving experiences. V8 engines, roaring exhaust notes, track ready with the thrilling acceleration keep enthusiasts coming back for more. Even with recent moves toward more efficient engines like the Eco Boost or the controversial ‘Mustang’ Mach-E, Ford ensures that the Mustang still delivers an exciting ride while keeping the soul of the Pony car alive. This fine line balancing act between tradition and innovation strengthens its ongoing popularity for each generation of car and the generations of owners to come.
An Affordable Entry Point
Unlike some sports cars that remain out of reach for most drivers, the Mustang has always provided a good performance for your buck. Even today, buyers can get into a Mustang without the steep price tag of European competitors. Saying you own a Mustang has element of coolness to it. The affordability for base models makes it appealing to first-time sports car buyers, young drivers, and collectors alike. Many enthusiasts also find older models to restore or customize, often through salvage markets and the vast aftermarket parts available. I know of a couple of owners who have new Mustangs and maintain or are restoring a classic Mustang as well.
Strong Enthusiast Community
The Mustang community is one of the largest and most active car groups worldwide. Car clubs, forums, and events bring together owners and fans to share their passion. Annual Mustang meets and local shows showcase restored classics, modified builds, and brand-new models. This sense of belonging and shared enthusiasm helps keep the Mustang relevant across generations. Even belonging to a Mustang Owners club of some sort can get you cheaper insurance.
Pop Culture Presence
From the Mustang’s role in Bullitt, Gone in 60 Seconds (both films) to appearances in modern film and television, the Mustang has long been tied to American pop culture. Its on-screen presence reinforces the car’s image as powerful, stylish, and dare we say rebellious brand. The car’s constant visibility helps introduce the Mustang to new audiences who may not have even considered one otherwise.
Conclusion
The Ford Mustang remains popular because it is more than just a vehicle. It represents history, identity, and performance at a price that appeals to a wide range of buyers. With its strong heritage, ongoing legacy, timeless design coupled with a vibrant community, the Mustang continues to inspire. For enthusiasts, owners and daily drivers, even a potential project car from salvage lot (scrap yard this side of the pond), the car still holds a value, proving that the Mustang’s appeal will not fade anytime soon as the legacy is already in the history books and still going strong.
When I get asked at car shows (which I frequently do), why do I like the Mustang or why did I chose a Mustang? Those are just a few good reasons I can think of!
Continuing on from my last post this is the rest of the Classics at Glemham Car Show. The show had food and drink but like most of the shows now days the costs were expensive. I doubt this is greed of the vendor, from what I have heard the organisers of the events charge silly amounts for the pitch. The vendors are forced to cover their costs. The organisers are now starting to charge significant amounts of money for the owners of these cars to attend the shows. It’s getting to the point where I’m starting to choose quite carefully what shows I attend. However the money goes to a charity then I don’t have a problem. But, just to make money from the car owners and let the public in for free is not on. Perhaps we need to vote with our wheels and not attend the rip off events. Let me know your thoughts if this all round the country (UK) or other countries too.
Back to the cars, after the rows of cars arranged by years of manufacture, there were super cars and general club stands.
This Lincoln was amazing and a huge car.
We eventually got back to the car for a well earned rest and quick bite to eat where we watched the world go by.
Mart’s Car Of The Show: is this wonderful Plymouth, the fins still get me every time!
A couple of the other cars started to move out early afternoon so we decided to follow suit. As we rode over the uneven fields to the dirt track for the exit we stopped of for a quick photo opportunity. I took many photos as did Craig and these are just some from the session. Many are similar but they are all different. I think we started a trend, I have seen a few Instagram posts of similar photo’s being posted similar to ours.
Craig’s photos first.
Then there are these which I took.
That completes all of my cars shows for 2025 sadly. I will find things to post about; reviews, books, memorabilia and maybe some upgrades on my little ol’ pride and joy. Thanks for staying with me during some of these recent large posts of the car shows.
Last Sunday was the final car show of the year for me that had booked into. The show was around one hour away at Glemham Hall in Suffolk. I had arranged for my fellow petrol head Craig to join me for the final show, we were ready to set of at eight thirty after packing the car. We had a choice to travel the main roads with a fair few extra miles, or go across country scenic route. We decided on the scenic route where Craig was in charge of the navigation.
We rolled up to the event and showed the printed ticket and was directed to the ’60s section. We parked up and took a couple of quick pictures before the general public and the rest of the cars pulled in. Due to the size of the show and the number of photos I have taken I have split the show into two parts.
I have mentioned in a few posts now I use Craig’s pics, they are so much better than mine and you can just tell which are his due to their superior quality, here’s the first couple. This is one of the few occasions where I wound all the windows down.
This is a busy show so we decided to take a wander around the show before the public were allowed in. We were parked up around two thirds of the way down the field so we started at the end and worked our way towards the main entrance. There was some regular attendees which I skipped over to avoid duplication of other posts.
Firs up is the general view of the show.
Mart’s Car of the show will be revealed in the next post, but this Saab was my runner up.
When we left the show we stopped in a field to take a few pictures. Here is a quick taster for the end of the next post.
More in the next post of the amazing cars and the little ad hoc photo shoot as we left the venue.
Last weekend was a car show with a difference all courtesy of “Grace & Gears” on Instagram. The show was in fact a private car show aimed at content creators to be able to take photos of a few cars at a really nice venue. It wasn’t quite a secret as it was made out to be, secret enough to avoid general public. Matthew and Henry vetted who would attend the event for both the content creators and who would be invited to bring their cars along to provide a varied selection, classic pre war Bentley to modern day supercars. All but a couple of the cars turned up as expected so there was about twenty cars (a couple arrived and went) parked in strategic positions within the grounds to enable some really nice photos. The venue itself was Haughly Park in Suffolk, a mere fifteen minutes away from me. The venue is primarily aimed at weddings and public events so the grounds are immaculate and very picturesque. The content creators were set to arrive between nine thirty to ten, the cars were to turn up ten to ten thirty. I rolled up about ten fifteen and was one of the last cars to be positioned. I followed in a newer Mustang Mach1 and we were directed around a gravel track to be parked outside the front of the main house.
The event advertising post.
There are so many people I need to acknowledge it would miss some, so I have borrowed Grace & Gears posts where credits are given. Left are the content creators, on the right are the car owners.
I have missed anybody, please let me know and I will add you to the credits. When I see posts of the event and it shows my car I will downloaded them for my own blog.
This first batch of photos are from the venue itself showing the grounds. As we were sorting ourselves out there was a departing wedding party so a couple of cars had to be temporarily moved to allow them to depart. I think a few of them had a look at the cars before they left too.
For the cars sequence of photos, I have uploaded the high resolution photos of my car, they may look the same, but they are very slightly different. For the other cars only a slightly lower resolution. Each car has its own little sequence of photos. As most of these photo’s are high resolution each one can be up to thirty megs in size, so give please give them time to load, especially if you have a slow connection.
I tried to get photos of the cars without lots of photographers in the way, then at the end some with them all buzzing around the cars, a behind the scenes if you like. As I parked up I took a few of mine before the content creators were let lose.
The other three cars out the front of the house:
Combined house photos of the four cars
There was a main driveway which had a some supercars parked on it.
Off to the sides near the catering caravan there was a couple of parking spaces.
Along the main drive towards the house were a number of cars parked up in a line.
Some combined shots of the driveway
A custom made Harley Davidson joined us later on in the show.
Walking back to my car I wanted to take some more artistic shots where i could just about see my car through the gap between the hedges on the main drive.
Arriving back to the car for a quick drink there wasn’t many photographers around so I played a little more.
I had a little play around with some black and white versions of the photos.
Let me know what you think of the Black & White photos, or should I just leave the colour ones alone?
Behind the scenes photos of the meet.
It was a great day out for a little over fours hours at the meeting and less than fifteen minutes to get home. there were people taking photos as we left the area and I’m yet to see any of those pictures. Once I find them I will share them with you. I’m really pleased with the photos that I have taken, I would love to see what the professionals came up with.
As I was leaving Matthew gave me and all the other drivers a polaroid taken a little earlier, a memento of the day.
A big thanks to Grace & Gears for the day out and invite. Click here to visit their pages or cut and paste the link: Grace & Gears (@grace_and_gears) • Instagram photos and videos. The guys are looking for more events to host in the future too. Events like these are rare so I’m grateful to have been a part of their first fully organised show. Well done to Grace and Gears; Matthew and Henry.
I finally have gotten round to writing up the car show I attended a couple of weeks ago. This is perhaps my most local of show venues but does host a variety of shows, not just car shows. The weather promised to be overcast but no rain. The car needed fuel so I would stop of at my local Shell petrol station for a fill up of V-Power. It’s an expensive premium mix compared to the other options, but my car likes it, any other fuel my car runs erratically and just doesn’t run well. I may do a post on different types of fuel mixtures if there is interest for a post, let me know if you think it would be worthwhile post. As I was filling up I had a guy comer up to me wanting to know about the car and I showed him around it. A nice chat and we were lucky as there wasn’t anybody else wanting to get a fill up.
About a mile outside the event I hit the traffic jam, it took me a total of thirty five minutes to get to the gate. The problem is that the there is a car boot sale every Sunday at the venue. The entrance directs the public who are only interested in the car boot sale and parking for that side of the field. The classic cars also have to use the same entrance, in reality for such duel events they should open another entrance to avoid the queues. Let’s face it, most of these old cars don’t like sitting in heavy traffic, mine included. Once I got into the event I was directed to the Bury Retro Car Club allocated spaces which was right in the corner of the field, the furthest point from anywhere.
The club stand.
WE parked up and had a chat then decided that I should take a walk round the field in a clockwise direction which was becoming a very busy field that was pretty much near to capacity.
This car caught my eye and almost got ‘Mart’s Car of the show’, 1930 Nash Ambassador 8.
There was a trio singing various classic songs to a backing track which was quite nice.
There was some auto jumble for sale but nothing especially brilliant.
The group of other Mustangs at the show:
Mart’s Car Of The Show.
The classic 1974/76 Ford Torino, I was besotted with Starsky & Hutch as a kid and loved the car.
I found online from a few places a little history of the legendary car.
Starsky and Hutch, the fictional undercover cops portrayed in the 1970s TV series of the same name, catapulted the lead actors Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul into the limelight. But it was their on screen ride a bright red Ford Gran Torino with a distinctive white stripe that stole the show, the high-speed, tire-screeching car chases that punctuated every storyline made the car as famous as the show and the actors themselves. This eye-catching two-door hardtop, with its five-slot mags and pumped-up rear suspension, quickly became a pop culture icon, with vehicles from the show highly sought after today.
The success of the show, which ran for 93 episodes from 1975 to 1979, inspired a string of similarly themed buddy-cop TV shows. “ChiPs” motorcycle officers Baker and Ponch, and “Miami Vice” detectives Crockett and Tubbs, quickly followed in its tire tracks along. Perhaps the other car with such notoriety was with the those Duke boys Bo and Luke jumping, cop evading “The Dukes of Hazzard” in their iconic 1969 Dodge Challenger, the “General Lee”.
When the first series of “Starsky and Hutch” hit the airwaves on America’s ABC, the phone lines of Beverly Hills producers Spelling-Goldberg ran hot, with viewers eager to know where they could purchase such a car. Sensing an opportunity to make money, the clever marketing gurus at Ford rushed to release a limited edition run of just over 1300 lookalikes for the 1976 model year. The existence of these factory replicas along with a fleet of home-built tribute cars that makes it difficult to authenticate any Gran Torino purportedly used in the series.
A red ‘Starsky and Hutch’ style Ford Torino on display at a show.
Ford supplied half a dozen or so 1974-76 Torinos for the TV series, but only three are known to have survived. Stunt cars got V8s of either 400 or 460 ci, and for better acceleration in the signature chase scenes, a few of these were modified with lower ratio gears which had a “Do Not Exceed 50 mph” label on the dash to prevent extreme redline and damaging the engines..
During documentary in 2003 called: “Starsky and Hutch: Making Of Behind The Badge,” the TV series creator William Blinn revealed he originally envisioned the duo driving a green Chevy Camaro convertible, but the producers already had a deal with Ford to supply cars. “My heart broke,” Blinn recalls, “until the guy showed up in the red and white Torino.” The transportation crew had dressed it up like the hottest thing on wheels, he says, when it could hardly get up a steep hill. “Why that car became such a trademark for the show, I truly don’t know,” Blinn muses.
Paul Michael Glaser, who plays the brooding detective Starsky in the series, disliked the car on sight, disparagingly dubbing it “the Striped Tomato.” “I vowed to destroy that car,” Glaser said in the documentary. “Whenever there was an opportunity to hit something, I’d try to hit it.” Despite his heroic efforts to wreck the car, Glaser never managed to do so with the string of replacements ready. Paul continued his disdain for the ‘Striped Tomato’ which failed to diminish its enduring desirability, with one of the show’s on set Torinos fetching a respectable $40,000 at auction in 2014.
Known on the set as Torino #1 and Torino #2, the “Starsky and Hutch” daily drivers had 351 Windsor blocks and auto transmissions. Sadly the gorgeous sounds of the sporty engine and manual gear shifts were added into the show post production. The two cars are distinguishable by their front seats, with car #2 receiving the upgrade from bench to buckets. These “hero cars” were given a hard time during the extensive filming schedules by being jumped on, raced, driven hard, burning through endless amounts of tyres and Paul Glaser driving into trash cans and anything else he could find at the time of shooting. After filming had finished the show’s Torinos were auctioned off by Ford.
Those Torinos have passed through the hands of fans and collectors alike, with each eventually being lovingly restored to its prime-time condition. Some twenty-five years later, the continued success of the 70’s TV series inspired a big screen remake, with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in the lead roles Starsky and Hutch. At the British premiere, Torino #2 rolled out on the red carpet alongside original actors Paul Michael Glaser, David Soul, and Antonio Fargas — who played their streetwise confidante, Huggy Bear.
Actors David Soul (Hutch), Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky), and Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear) from the TV series ‘Starsky & Hutch’ pose on the bonnet of a Ford Torino at the premiere of the 2004 movie remake.
Torino #1 was displayed at The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles as recently as 2023, with parts of the car autographed by stars and crew from the series. Another car from the 1970s TV series can be seen at The Auto Collections in Las Vegas. Not many cars have made me ‘star struck’, but this car did from the age of nine when I was allowed top stay up and watch the program it if I was good, which always worked. Even today this car still has a menacing road presence and still looks amazing.
The entrance to the show ground was now to be come the exit, with a single lane dirt track out. The car boot show had all but wrapped up so there wouldn’t be the delays getting out. With that all taken into consideration I still left an hour early to make sure I missed any leaving antics. The trip home was relaxed, but the clouds were starting to look very dark and grey, I needn’t have worried as it didn’t come to anything.
A good selection of cars again, but they really do need to sort out the entrance to these events.
This car show is held at the oldest event that I attend. The castle itself is located in Essex and was built in the year 1140 by Aubrey II. There are many event types hosted here such as jousting, weddings, holidays, outdoor cinema, concerts etc. the one I’m most interested in is the annual car show. This year the sun was out and due to stay out all day. The event is held approx. thirty miles away from me and would take forty seven minutes to get there, mainly due to the minor roads and a town to navigate through. The gates open to the public at eleven, so all participants had to arrive by ten fifteen and be parked up by ten forty five. IT was a car show day and I was going to get a lay-in on a Sunday, win win for me! A really relaxing for two thirds of the drive until I got to Sudbury where a complete idiot, (which wasn’t what I called him), decided that he wanted to turn right after being in the left hand only lane. He chopped across the front of me so hard I had to brake hard and swerve out of the way. Obviously he knew I would back out the way as I wouldn’t want to damage my car. So if you are the driver of the red Mazda CX-5 who chopped in front of me with a car full of kids who might be reading this, may I suggest you take a couple of refresher driving lessons, or please come and find me at a car show where I might accept your apology and discuss your total disregard for other road users. I just seem to attract these morons for some reason. Anyway, the last part of the journey was around some winding country roads with some amazing views. I even had a classic Jaguar behind me, who left plenty of space between us and seemed to be enjoying his drive too.
I pulled into the venue and was told where my parking allocation would be at the ‘lake’ area.
The field was filling up and lots of cars were already in their lines. I gave the car the mandatory wipe over and started my walk up and down the field.
Some beautiful Corvettes were parked in the line I was in.
Where I was parked us were two Mustangs right behind me.
A real soft spot of mine is the beautiful Thunderbird, which was for sale.
I still crave these Audi Quattro, my modern day classic choice.
The Lotus stand was well represented.
I had now completed the field and started to walk up the slight hill towards the castle and the next display of cars.
At the top was the little bridge to get to the castle and the field. There was the usual food and drink stalls along with a three piece band to add a little light entertainment.
This field was mainly club stands with newish cars from MG which I didn’t take that many photo’s of. But the other privateers were worth the time to look around.
I walked back to the car for a well earned sit down in the chair and slap on some factor fifty sunscreen. My mate Craig had caught up with me and joined me for a sit down and chat. I was so hot sitting by the back of my car, we moved to the line of trees for some shade and discussed cars from the show.
My car of the show was this rather nice 1959 El Camino, I think its the rear fins that did it for me.
The show was due to close at four, about half an hour before that the cars started to leave. I decided that as it was hot I would join them for the journey home. The journey was amazing and there was hardly anybody on the roads near me which means I could just meander my way home unstressed.
A great day out again and a welcome return back to Hedingham Castle.
This is the final instalment (part 3) of the Helmingham Hall car show for this year. I have covered some of the T110 area, the privateer cars and a relaxing (very British) tea and cake early in the afternoon. The last field to go which is on the right hand side as you walk out the Hall was reserved for the club stands. A little later I will reveal my car of the show and along with some action photos of my car that Craig took.
We worked our way towards the far end of the field and would work our way back to the rest of the T110 cars where I had parked.
One of the Best looking Ferrari made, the 308. They look amazing in red, but this example in blue with tan interior totally rocks the combination. Crowd fund me (again) anybody?
The Subaru cars often have the nick-name Scoobies after the Scooby Do cartoon, I think somebody took it to the next level though.
Lotus stand had a nice mixture of cars
The Simply Mustang stand had the usual later models of cars with not a classic to be seen which was a shame. I mentioned about the Bullitt anniversary limited edition cars, on this stand there was another couple parked in a line, so that’s a total of three in one show.
Directly behind the the Mustangs was the Corvette club stand.
Taking up a large chunk of the field was the larger stands for Jaguar, BMW both of which looked very samey with mostly more modern cars that could be found in any carpark, so I didn’t take too many pictures of these stands.
The Jenson and Aston Martin stands were a different story though.
Honda NSX in yellow, works for me.
We were now back to the top of the field just in time to get to the main driveway where cars are driven up and down to show the crowds after being interviewed by the compare for the day about their cars.
We made our way back to the T110 area and look at the rest of the cars parked on the other side of the drive to me. Then it happened; it started to rain, it was a very light sprinkling not a proper down poor. The owners of the open top cars were diving around trying to make their cars waterproof and sitting in their cars. It was something like an old school Le Mans racing start people running to their cars.
It would be nice to see a Delorean car without the ‘Back to the Future’ movie car props bolted into it.
Back at the car we got our chairs out ready for a a couple of hours people watching before we were allowed to leave the show at four thirty. We sat in the very fine drizzle which cooled the air down and I only had some minor beading on the car which wasn’t enough to run of the car. The fine misty rain lasted for a around twenty minutes after which the sun made more short appearances. The light breeze soon helped to dry the car off, no need to book a therapy session because my car got wet.
Mart’s Car of the Show.
According to the registration plate this is a Dunsmore MKIII from 1967, with a 3.4ltr engine. This is actually a kit car based on the rather average at the time Hillman Imp donor vehicle of the era below.
I don’t know why I choose this over the more obvious ‘bought not built’ cars. Perhaps it was the green leather stitched up the back of the car or the (suspected) Jaguar engine under the hood which I sadly didn’t get to see. But, I appreciated the huge amount of work that has gone into this car from what it was, to what it is now. It was just different and caught my eye.
As the time moved slowly towards leaving time the sky was getting darker and more menacing. We decided to leave sooner than later in case the drizzle came to a lot more than that. As we were packing up Craig had an idea; as we were allowed to drive down the full length of the drive he would run ahead get a good position to take a couple of action shots. I wouldn’t be to popular to hold people up so we could get some good photo’s, but so be it. As I was one of the first to leave it wasn’t to busy to be fair. The guy in the Aston Martin behind me realised what was going on, he thoughtfully sat back from me to allow it to happen. Here are those photos which look pretty cool.
After these action photos I stopped the car and Craig jumped in to start our trek home. As a reward for his picture taking efforts, I found a quiet place to pull over, we swapped seats and Craig drove the last dozen or so miles home. We pulled onto the drive as a few spots of more sinister sized drops of rain intermittently started to land on the car. I ran around the car as quickly as possible to get the road film off knowing what was about to come down. Immediately the cleaning had finished, I jumped straight into the car as the rain started to literally fall out the sky as I moved the car forward, within seconds there were pools of water in the road and on the drive, everything was soaked, it was if somebody had turned a shower on. I got the car in the garage with only a few spots of rain on the top of the car. The drying towels came out to wipe the car over yet again, before covering the car over.
A delay by another minute or so and the car would have been drenched and the therapy session would have to have been booked! The rain wasn’t letting up, Craig took out his camera’s SD Card as we ran into the house. I downloaded his photo’s onto my PC ready to edit them a bit later for this series of posts. Once the rain eased up an hour or so later Craig left for home with my thanks.
It was a great day at my favourite show of the year, fantastic cars, lots of nice people that I spoke to and mate with me for the day, which was nice change from being on my own. Thanks to Craig for the photos and putting up with me dragging him around the fields, although the tea and cake helped I’m sure.
I have only four more potential shows that I’m booked in for. Hopefully I will find some more where I can just turn up.
Continuing on from part one of this car show series at Helmingham Hall, Craig and I still had many lines of cars which now seemed to have no logical alignment due to the number of cars as I mentioned previously. By no means a criticism, I just think they had more than they catered for, which means more lovely machinery for us to look at.
We worked our way up the decade assigned rows in ascending order, towards the two thousand’s line I didn’t take that many photos, as to be honest there wasn’t anything really special, well maybe the the odd one or two which did catch my eye.
The timeless beauty of the Aston Martin Vantage – I may start a go fund me page to buy one of these, anybody want to start me of with a donation?
Maybe a crowd funded Chevy Camaro SS, again beautiful.
Did I mention a crowd fund for a Dodge Charger R/T? Stunning.
I remember these Lotus cars quite clearly as it was all the rage to have the JPS – John Player Special (cigarette manufacturers) livery on the Lotus cars which was made famous by the legend of Ayrton Senna. Today it’s unthinkable to have such livery on a car, shame because it was such an iconic brand.
We found Craig’s mate’s MX5, so I couldn’t resist a checky business card on his screen.
As I mentioned before this field is for the individual entries of which there was a few Mustangs dotted around. There was an anniversary Bullitt which is supposed to be quite rare, but more on that in part 3 when I get to the Mustang stand.
Back to the other modern cars in the lines.
At the far end of the field was a section dedicated for the army vehicles.
The time was now a quarter to one, so we made our way back to the Hall’s courtyard for the tea and cakes. On the way we passed John Grose of Ipswich who had a stand just to the side of the T110 section. On their stand was a Mustang Dark Horse which turns out a rather nice 500bhp from factory. The 0 to 60mph time is a mare 4.1 seconds! That’s right up there with many super cars and almost hyper car levels of performance.
On the John Grose stand next to Dark Horse they had a more eco friendly Ford electric model and other makes of cars to fill the spaces.
All of this while being serenaded by the brass band playing Star Wars and other theme tunes.
A couple of minutes later we were at the main entrance, crossed over the little moat bridge into the courtyard. I turned around to look back out to the fields.
The courtyard was eerily quiet, no hustle and bustle of people. We had a choice of cakes which were hand made and rather scrumptious, I could easily have demolished a couple more slices. Craig chose his cup of tea to go with his chocolate cake, I had the raspberry ripple. I don’t drink tea or coffee for no other reason than I don’t like the taste of them, never have. I asked for a cold drink if they had any, my option was a cup of water that they used to boil and make the tea with or nothing. I took the kind offer of the cup of water.
We sat and ate our cakes and just relaxed for half an hour or so. The little tables were spread out around the court yard far enough apart that we didn’t have to listen to anybody else, in fact the silence was quite tranquil.
A quick pic of craig doing his thing before the crowds got going.
Here is that photo he took above.
In part three we go back out to the other field where the club stands are, more Mustangs, and my car of the show.
Early February this year I decided to try something different to attend my favourite car show, Helmingham Hall. Normally the entrance fee is £12 per car (driver and one passenger) for this show. There is an alternative which what they call ‘The Tollemache 110’ option. This is for a limited number of cars. One hundred and ten cars max are allowed to park at the front of the Hall, but it comes at cost, quite a lot of cost actually. The plus side is that that you get a tea or coffee, slice of cake for the driver and one passenger plus a commemorative plaque of the day. To pay three times as much entry fee is a gamble, especially when the weather is unknown. Back then I paid the money and hoped the sunshine on the day. My rule is still based on if it rains or I know that it will rain, the car doesn’t come out the garage. So it’s a lot of money to pay and not turn up.
This a show where my good friend Craig joins me for the day, one it’s nice to have company at a car show, secondly he has a great camera and takes much better photos than me. We were swapping messages all week before the show debating the weather, it was going to rain! I have a total of five weather apps I use just for car shows. Four of the five said that there would be light rain at mid afternoon around three for an hour or so, the other one said all rain all afternoon. I decided on this occasion that as it was only light rain while I was there, and not driving there or home, this would be would be acceptable. Craig Turned up at twenty to eight in the morning on a Sunday which felt like the middle of the night. We had chairs, food, coats and camera equipment all neatly packed into the trunk. Craig filmed the car backing out the garage, which I was quite pleased with.
The sun was out and we had a journey of two halves, first to the petrol station where we met up with Craigs other friend who was also going in in Mazda MX5. He followed us to the event which was only around twenty minutes later. It would have been quicker if it wasn’t for the driver in an Austin Healy in front of us thinking he was driving a Sherman tank down a cycle lane. We dived of to some back roads to avoid him and save my sanity. It was longer by a couple of minutes, but it did mean that we had a clear road driving at our own pace. We pulled into the event where we were directed down the main driveway to park out the front of the Hall. We was directed to a great slot next to the path which leads to the main entrance for the Hall. The only down side was that the ground wasn’t level where I parked as it was on a little slope, a small price to pay for a good location.
Once you have parked up, you can collect your show plaque and place it by your car, just a little A-frame with a A4 printed history of your car. The boards can be seen lined up in the above pic, Craig found our board and placed it at the front of the car. He decided to take some photos before the world and his mate were allowed into the show at ten. Even so, it was still busy.
Due to the sheer number of photos, I took over six hundred pics of the one thousand two hundred cars that turned up. For that reason, I will split this show over three posts. Hopefully it will avoid readers getting cramp in their hands scrolling through the all the pics in one go. Like I said Craig’s pics are so much better than mine so here a few to start with. The rest of his pics will also be spread out over the next couple of posts.
In the main archway there there was a table looked after by a woman who took your preferred afternoon spot for tea and cake. We decided at around one in the afternoon would be good. More on this a little later.
We started in the T110 area to the left of the house as you walked out, by now the general public were being let in and it got busy very quickly.
The real thing in White and a replica in red, the ever beautiful Countach.
Then the timeless Ferrari Dino, with a fury passenger.
We the main field was split into years, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 2000s. Due to sheer number of cars the lines did get a little mixed up. But we started just behind the vendor stalls where the oldest cars were and then worked out way to the far side of the field to the more modern stuff. Well that was the theory, but it didn’t work out practically though.
At the bottom of the field is a large pond getting on for a lake.
Working but up the next rows.
Nearer the top was an area for Hotrods.
After this was the second half of the field and John Grose of Ipswich stand who had a mixture of cars, including a rare Mustang.
