Tag: car show

For A Good Cause

Earlier in the year I submitted a photo to ‘Frost Restoration’ Who were running a competition for a calendar. Frost is a company who offer all sorts of tools and sundries for car restoration projects and maintenance. Before you ask; no I’m not on any sort of commission or retainer. Yes, I have used their services a number of times in the past where they have provided me with excellent service. Anyway back to the photo I submitted. The mini competition was for a charity calendar that Frost produce in aid of a good cause ‘Rosemere Cancer Foundation’. If you win – the prize was to be in the calendar, simple as that. I’d forgotten about it until I was contacted a few weeks ago about winning a place in the calendar. I’ve been waiting for the calendar to be released before I actually got too excited about it. Well it’s now available here if you wanted to by one, or click on the top image.

I made it into the calendar for the month of September 2022

I have bought two copies of the calendar to help support a worthwhile cause. A great present for a classic car fan and helps a good cause in the process. (No I’m not selling them.)

This picture was taken a couple of years ago before I swapped my registration plate over to 1966 OX.

For Sale..

When it rains at a car show I often get asked a question, where did you get that cowl cover?

This got me to thinking; could I even get to sell some for a little pocket money?

I looked into sourcing the materials and got to work on the design.

A few months later, I’ve now just had my first small batch of some rather cool covers. These covers provide an answer for the age old ’64 – ’66 classic Mustangs problem; rusting cowls!

The vents under the windscreen are responsible for a fresh air feed into the cabin. Unfortunately it’s also a place where water can pool up if the drain points are blocked. Eventually you will get a foot shower of leaks when it rains.

How do I know? Simple, this was my car!

There are various fixes on the market like solid screw on covers which are expensive, can crack and they can even leak when the foam seals fail. The most common sort are the screw in Scott Drake style plastic covers. I personally think that they spoil the clean lines of these cars and they also say; ‘I have a leaky cowl.’

My solution is simple and different; it’s a magnetic cowl cover. I currently have a few of both styles in stock; black carbon and plain gloss white. The white style you can add your own stickers or vinyl wraps.

These covers aren’t designed to be a permanent fix for the problem, they are there to protect your car from water or other undesirable debris like leaves entering into the cowl space. Once in this space it’s almost impossible to clean them out. These magnetic covers are placed on the vents in seconds and removed when protection is no longer required. This allows the fresh air back into the car. The magnetic backing conforms to the contours of the cowl forming a nice seal. I always use my magnetic cowl cover when washing my car, just to be on the safe side.

When you have finished with the magnetic cowl cover, just dry them with a wipe over, then stick them somewhere flat. I store mine inside the truck, stuck on the inside of the rear quarter where it’s a flat surface. It’s out of the way and easy to grab when you need it also keeping the magnetic material working too.

Other covers can be square cut with no cut out for the wiper arm as it’s cheaper obviously. My covers are cut to the contour of the cowl’s sweeping lines along with the wiper cut out. If you want to move the cover, lift up and reposition, don’t drag it!

For more information on the product click on the for sale menu or click here for the link. Or email me on the “Contact Me” menu on the mail heading.

Ideal for simply washing the car, or for getting caught out in the rain at a car show, like me – many a time. These covers make great presents for the ’64 to ’66 Mustang owners from £21.50 to £24.00 (inc P&P), for the standard UK postcodes. Ask for details on other regions.

My Webpage

My menu heading on the webpage have been a bit of a pain recently and causes errors when I try to save them for increasing the drop down list for ease of browsing. After more calls to WordPress they advised I list the heading and make a submenu page. I have taken that a step further to make it easier on the eye.

I have started to list the pages for the sub menus which is now an on going project. I will slowly work my way through most of them to make them all similar.

When you click on the new worded sub menu, it will take you to a page where all the pages are now shown with a picture and description. I think it works, but any feedback would for the new style would be a help to me whether it’s good or bad.

Hope you are looking forward to the Holidays, I know I’m looking forward to the time off more than anything else.

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Hedingham Castle

This car show took place in 2nd August 2021 on the outskirts of Colchester which is the oldest town in the UK. This was a new show for me and I was looking forward to it especially as I hadn’t been there before.

The weather apps said there was a round thirty percent chance of rain later in the day. When I got up the sky looked grey but felt dry, so I decided to go for it. I got the car out and set up the Sat Nav for a scenic route and set off for an unknown journey.

When I got to the castle there was a board outside that said “closed to visitors no entry”, I was not impressed. I couldn’t see any cars inside and and also couldn’t see any cars arriving.

I backed out onto the road to drive around and look to see what was going on. I saw a guy walking his dog and asked him if he knew anything about it. Lucky for me he did. He said that they put the sign up to stop castle visitors but the car show was on. So I drove back again and past the sign. A very slight curve and I saw the marshals and a few cars parked up. I was directed to the field that was on a bit of a slope and wet. I was having trouble trying to get traction where they parked me and said I could move over a little on the flatter part of the field. I was grateful for her consideration and said thanks, but I mentioned if it rains I would have trouble getting out.

The plus side is that I had a great view of the castle from below.

I got out to speak to the guys next to me a couple of nice guys I knew who were walking over to me who are also in the Bury Retro Car Club that I’m a member of. About ten minutes later the head marshal came over to tell me that a car club had cancelled (around 125 cars) and would not be coming due to the potential weather, would I like to move?

I said yes and pointed to the main walkway which was on a path where my two friends had just come from. She agreed I was allowed to move and parked up near them with a fantastic backdrop.

Then it happened, a few spots of drizzle! Rain wasn’t due for another three hours or so. As I stood looking up to the sky another friend who owns a newer Mustang pulled next to me.

The area where I was parked is such a nice place with walk ways and a large pond.

I decided to walk around and take some pictures before it started to rain.

I was quite taken with this truck and would be my a project I would like to do next.

Walking up the slight incline the was a little bridge over to the castle on the left.

I reckon my car would have looked good under these arches but it wasn’t being allowed from what I could see, a real shame though.

Towards the top of the incline there was a house with a few big luxury cars.

Turning to the left you walk over the bridge to the castle which was planted in the middle of a large green and the cars were parked around the outside, mainly clubs from what I could see.

Towards the back of the Alfa Romeo there was a drop and an opening where you could look down on where I was parked.

With a little bit of zoom.

By the time I got back to the car there was a few new cars arrived, this brand new 2021 Mustang Mach1. Why this is even in a car show i don’t know, I can see this in any Ford car showroom that stocks them.

A little further down I had a childhood flashback, my first bike, ‘Raleigh Chopper’. This are now holding stupid silly money like £1,000 for the early models.

The rain started to fall and I found a nice shaded area under a tree where I could keep dry. Obviously I had to close the hood.

When the rain stopped the hood went back up along with the show board.

There was the occasional spells of sun but more frequent and longer rain showers. With that in mind I decided to leave, I was only there for a few hours in the end. The drive home was getting wetter by the minute, it was a good choice to leave I’m sad to say.

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Lavenham Car Show August 29th 2021

One of my favourite car shows of the year as it’s a beautiful drive out to the sleepy little village, and it’s just a nice environment. Not over flowing with modern cars, and a real family type day out. This year there was a lot of Jags on show, I mean a lot, MK1 and MK2. I reckon the Jag Owners club turn of some sort turned up en masse.

I got up early as usual and thoroughly enjoyed the drive through the country lanes, until some idiot in a Renault (white) van wanted to sit right up my rear. It did bother me a bit as I wanted to relax and enjoy the country side, so I ignored him. I was in good mood and didn’t care about the rest of the world that morning.

I pulled into the venue and was told where to park. The same spot as last year on the end near the entrance. Where I quite like to be and can watch the cars come in 🙂

I spent a fair amount of time checking the App that no rain was forecast, but it was little nippy in the slight breeze when the sun was hiding behind some clouds. This was taken about half hour before the public was allowed in, so not all the cars were in place.

I wasn’t very hungry until I got the delicious waft of bacon and sausage baps being cooked around ten in the mornin’ just the gates were opened to the public, not a coincidence I’m sure. As I didn’t have my wallet with me, being the absent minded fool, I had left it in the garage. I went hungry, apart from the little packed lunch I took with me. Cheese and ham sarnie just doesn’t cut it, but the ham was as close as I was going to get to bacon on that day!

Parked up next to in the American stand was a Pontiac station wagon, the owner was saying that there is only one other in the country!

I decided to go for a walk about half hour after I had wiped the car over. So in no particular order, but I walked clockwise around the circular shaped format of the cars.

This lovely car was tucked in a corner,

There was a limited Super car section, where the Lambo and DeLorean combo were together again. The Ferrari was a replica of course.

I’m not into motorbikes as they scare the hell out of me, but this Subaru flat four based trike was amazing.

When i had finished doing my rounds I got back to my car and found that it was hoods up time. Not to be outdone I had to do the same.

I left about half hour before the end so I could drive home at my own pace. Another beautiful trip home, not cars trying to get in my trunk and I was in my own little world just listening to the beating heart of a Ford Small block V8. Is there anything better to end the day than that? To cap it all – it didn’t rain either.

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Stonham Barns

Thanks to everybody who sent me messages from my last post(s) about the number of cars within the posts. The consensus was ‘the more the merrier’ so here is a fairly large post in one go. I have been a little busy with car shows and trying to catch up with posting about the shows, I can’t complain as this time last year I had only a couple visits to car shows. This post is about Stonham Barns which took place on the 15th August 2021. A free for all show where anything goes age wise and there is usually a good mix of cars and some car part stalls as well.

The weather was supposed to be dry, it didn’t look great, but at least it was dry. I left a bit later than normal and thought it would still give me plenty of time to get in. Wrong, I hit a queue to get in, I normally try to get to the shows early to avoid this very scenario.

After twenty minutes or so I eventually got in and had a cyclist who cut across the front of my car causing me to brake while he was going to the car boot sale which was in the adjacent field. As I had my window down this lycra clad clown started with “Am I holding you up?” I responded with an equally sarcastic; “Causing me to brake and avoid you then yes you are.” He started with some rambling rubbish which I couldn’t hear (I was so upset about that – not), as my engine was purring away. He did shout “nice penis extension” at me as he prepared to ride off. The cars were moving in front of me again, but I did pause to instantaneously shout back to him; “At least I don’t dress up to make myself look like a pr!ck”. The other people wandering into the car boot show started to laugh at him. I didn’t give him time to respond and moved away with a few revs on to drown him out. I enjoyed that, so funny 🤣 Classic Car Owner 1 – Cocky Cyclist 0.

Still chuckling away to myself I drove into the field and was directed around to the Bury Retro Car Club stand and parked up. Here we are all lined up.

It was a busy day with lots of cars and plenty to look at. So in no particular or I just wandered up and down the lines.

The weather was cloudy and sunny at alternating intervals all day, which is fine by me.

American, British, Japanese and German all together. The little Audi in this set was amazing and I just loved it.

I’m not sure what this truck is in the first picture but it was massive, and I liked it.

This Ford Escort isn’t my cup of tea, but the guy had spent plenty of time on it that’s for sure.

The white Vauxhall Cavalier in the first picture used to be a firm favourite with Sales Reps, almost disposable. Yet here we are 25 odd years later and it’s in a classic car show!

This proper old school Ford was just beautiful.

The weather started to turn with a little drizzle which didn’t last that long or even dampen the atmosphere.

I spent quite a long time speaking to this guy who only had the car for a little while. It came with a box full of sales receipts and invoices and not to mention a few boxes of spares too. I was surprised to see an I6 under the hood, but he says it cruises great and is such a smooth ride.

I reckon that the Custom, Galaxy and the Chevy must have been the biggest cars there.

I’ve lucky enough to drive the a Harley Truck, it was like sitting in my favourite chair at home, such a nice place to be.

A few fast Fords, 60’s Lotus Cortina and a Sierra Cosworth.

You just beat the fins on these American master pieces.

The stalls weren’t that bad either. I’m not sure what was going on with the screw on aftermarket exhaust tips, they are mounted horizontally as a rule, but like they say – rules are meant to be broken. I’m not that rule was though!

I eventually got back to my car for a well earned sit down and a sandwich. The Cortina GT parked up next to me was a nice example and the owners were thinking of selling it and had a few interested people ask about it.

And to finish up with some dogs I managed to grab a few pictures of.

A great show with lots of nice people to talk to. The weather held of and the drive home was nice and relaxed with no signs of self entitled cyclists to ruin my journey home.

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Helmingham Hall 2021 (part 3)

This is the last part of the car show to complete the previous couple of days. As we got to the end of the field the drizzle started again and came down a little harder now, each shower seemed to be getting a little harder and longer. Again it soon finished after a quarter of an hour or so. The weather sequence carried on for the rest of the day and you never new where you were, sun cream or coat.

There are a couple more rare racing Ford Escorts to start with on this little batch;

As we got closer to the main house we passed some food stalls which Craig decided the queues were far to long, and and a brass band serenaded us as the sun came out again.

There was this amazing truck which I had seen before at this show, but never had the chance to get up close to it because of the crowd around it. I’m not sure if the back of this rig has had a bit added on to it, but it was like a living room, flat screen TV, leather seats, drinks bar etc. a real home from home.

By the main building (where you pay extra to get afternoon tea and some typically British jam and butter cream scones so I’m told), a big attraction as ever. The main reason is that this area is the main walkway to the house and gardens which is open to the public too. All in all a good family day out in that respect. and when the rain started the house got very busy for some reason.

We wandered back to the car. I took some pictures of the club stands but they weren’t that great. There was Mini’s, MG owners, Rovers, Corvette club with lots of C6 and C7s, Mercedes, BMW etc, most of their cars were from the last couple of decades or so. The cars that can be seen pretty much anytime really on the road. As I sat here editing this post I thought it looked a bit like an old supermarket car park montage photo when I looked at it. So I reluctantly I left those pictures out.

We got back to my car, broke the chairs out and had something to eat and drink to refresh us after at least a couple of hours walking around cars. I even lifted the hood on my car, once it stopped raining.

Craig took a few more pictures of my car;

Some more of Craig’s other car pics he took which I liked;

As we are almost at the end we have some pictures of man’s best friend.

Craig captured a few for me too;

The trip home was made a little bit earlier than the ‘rush’ to get home, and it still took us a fair while to get out, it would be dash to get home before the threatening rain. We lost, it absolutely chucked it down. for about twenty minutes. The sun started to appear as we got back home, I managed to wipe the car down quickly just as it started to spit again, this time it looked like it was going to stay. I pulled the car into the garage and put the dehumidifier on without the cover for a few hours.

Craig packed his daily car with the stuff he took to the show. We stood for a while outside under our little porch and chatted a little more about a few things I had promised him for ages. Due to Covid he hadn’t managed to get over and pick them up. But, he seemed pleased with a old school pair of steel car ramps, some samples of waxes I had, some cleaning cloths, wash mitt and applicator pads etc. We eventually said goodbye until the next show where he will hopefully be bringing his real nice Honda Integra Type R to a few shows. He just has to put it back together again now after he got it back from the paint shop.

I hope these posts didn’t bore you with the size of the posts and lots of cars. Let me know if I posted to much and I will cut it down a bit going forward. But, in my defence, there was some great cars to share with you.

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Festival Of Wheels

Last weekend was a full on couple of days with a show on both days. Saturday was a two day event so I decided that I would go on the Saturday as the much better show would be on the Sunday at Helmingham Hall, where a mate of mine would be joining me. That post will be split into two posts as I took a lot of pics!

I got up on the Saturday and the weather was little overcast and was supposed to be a dry day. The thirty minute drive to Ipswich or the Suffolk Show ground was a nice run where a Mk 1 Ford Capri sat beside me on the dual carridgeway as we gave each other thumbs up and nods of approval.

The Bury Retro Car Club had a stand for both days and I was directed to the marked out part of the field. Being the considerate club member i parked on the end leaving space for the others.

I didn’t need to worry as I was the only there on the day. The rest were going to show up on the Sunday. So for the day, I was ‘Billy no mates!’

After a quick wipe over that lasted an hour or so, I decided to go for a wander and look at the other cars, to be honest there wasn’t a huge amount there. To put a two year old Ford Focus in the show is not my idea of a car show, sorry. If I exclude a lot of those types of car then there was even less on show.

I walk around clockwise which took me to the traders where there was nothing there for any real petrol head. Wicker baskets, flowers, womens clothing, home made jewellery, kids toys, were all avoided like the plague. No car parts, but there was a cheap and nasty tools stall.

There was an original Charger from the TV series Dukes of Hazard on show. The cast had signed the inside and drew a lot of attention.

There was some exhibition stuff, displays and some fairground rides, which I didn’t see run all day.

There was some nice trucks and vans on in their own little area, which was quite nice to see.

A little further round there was BMX team doing their thing and the bloke on the microphone was really into it, much more than the little crowd watching.

There was a a monster truck fitted out to take a passenger payload at the back, this got a constant stream of visitors for the ride, where it would drive over some cars on a little track.

There were a few cars which I think I should the ‘WTF section’. I mustn’t be cruel, somebody loves these cars and they may think that about my car. Look behind the top picture and there is a fairly new Audi SUV. I can see them all day long in a Supermarket car park!

The dying of trend of ‘slammed’ cars was out in force. That does exclude the rather flattened cars that the monster truck rolled over a few times.

A few bikes of various styles were dotted around.

Perhaps my favourite of the day the Hummer; I never realised just how big these vehicles were.

A selection of Mustangs of course.

More American Muscle

Some nice trucks were at the show and there seems to be more each year. I do like a nice truck.

Outside the main arena was another park area where some motorbikes were doing stunts and the low riders were parked up. There was a Porsche low rider that had problems and decided to dump a good deal of what ever fluid they use onto the floor. They didn’t look to impressed and a few naughty words could be heard.

The rest of the cars that took my fancy

As I eventually got back to my car for a well sit down there was a few people around my car who were drifting their way to the centre ring.

I spent a nice hour or so talking to many people about wanting to ‘Do one up’ or restoration for our USA friends.

The main arena had a a little show of ‘Who has the loudest exhaust’. There was a bout ten or so who took it in turns to rev the nuts (mechanical ones – not the men’s dangly bits) out of their cold engines. Just behind where I was parked up on my own was the Subaru owners. Who decided to rev the nuts out of their engines at the same time. Obviously miffed that that they didn’t get picked to go in the ring. There was a tractor unit in the ring with massive air horns. That idiot thought it would be great to do his parade around the ring sounding it for about five seconds and of for about two seconds. It drove me insane.

I got so hacked of with being mostly on my own in my own little bit of field I decided to go home early.

I wish I hadn’t as the wife tried to give me a few jobs to do in the garden. Unfortunately I had to explain to her that the car need a wipe over. For some reason she didn’t look impressed.

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At Last

The first car show of 2020 (for me anyway), which took place last Sunday 16th 2020 at Stonham Barns in Suffolk. It took me about twenty five minutes to get there at a gentle pace. I arrived at about nine fifteen and the sky was grey. Forecast was forty six percent chance of rain, I figured it was worth the gamble, I had to go. I parked up with the Bury Retro Car Club whom had a club stand on the tarmac and not grass which is always nice. As I always do when I park up, I wiped the little ol’ lady down with some quick detailer, paying particular attention to the windscreen with glass cleaner. I think the glass had collected more than its fair share of insects for the short trip.

I decided to go and get some photos before the promised rain was due to arrive just after lunch time. With no particular order some cars that took my interest as I wondered around. the sun even showed it’s face for a few minutes now and then.

A while ago I did a little article on the Ford Capri being the UK Mustang here, these photos show the comparison next to each other which was rather nice.

There seems to be a growing trend in the UK for half cars to be the trailer:

More Mustangs including this red ’69 done to concours standards.

VW were out in force and the patina on the beetles was a little extreme, when it’s flaking off.

The rest of the cars I liked:

There was a number of stalls there too, nothing to fancy just the usual auto jumble, which was on the grass just behind the club stand.

Bury Retro Car Club stand:

I thought mu car was quite a long car, when compared next to a stretched Caddy – It’s tiny. The front of the cars lined up more or less level.

Tim Greening let me borrow his video from his YouTube channel; https://www.youtube.com/c/AutoAddictuk/ Thanks Tim 🙂

You can just about catch a glimpse of me chillin out and chatting cars just behind my car.

I took a few pics while sitting in my chair of the new wax I have been using. I did notice the clarity of the shine while sitting there.

I thought I would play around with the colours a bit on this one, black & white with a little hind of car colour.

I left at three in the afternoon an hour before it was due to shut, the wife had text me to say there was thunderstorms at home. I wanted to get home before the car got soaked.

The clouds were blackening up as I did a very quick wipe over before I covered the car up in the garage. As I got out the car in the garage the heavens opened and it chucked it down. That’s what I call perfect timing, literally thirty seconds from rain.

For once I went to a car show and it didn’t rain, I was well chuffed. What could be better than than? I know – a pic of me in the review view mirror of the Jag XJ6 next to mine! I didn’t move the chair to take this pic I just happened to look up and there I was.

I needed that car show. I just had to get out and catch up with friends again, grab some fresh air and look at cars, lots of cars. I had two offers to buy my car during the day, one which was some bloke takin the p!$$ or trying to wind me up I’m not sure which, the other guy gave me his card just in case I wanted to sell, after asking me some good questions about the history of the car.

There are two more scheduled car shows this year that I have booked in to attend. Will the rain hold off for me so I can get to them? I hope so, with all the rain I got caught in last year, it’s the least mother nature could do for us considering the pandemic we have endured so far.

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Most Revealing….

For a number of years since I started my blog I have keept my identity off the web. A little background as to why. My blog was intended to be a diary of the build progress of my Mustang and nothing much more. Somewhere to store my thoughts and photos if you like, my build diary. The posts back then had a little write up so I could read it through a number of years later. That little diary has evolved into something much more now, almost a website with lots to look at, obviously something I’m very pleased about. I now do reviews of car detailing, books, tools, memorabilia, collectables and articles. After a few early posts on the blog I started to get emails from people to say they enjoyed what I was doing. Thinking about what was happening I stepped up my game pretty quickly and started to create more how to guides, processes and instructions on what I had done or I was doing at the time. This of course was a view from a man on the street who had never done anything like restoring a classic car before. I made mistakes and they were corrected with the help of Mustang Maniac and all was well again. All of that hard work comes to a giddy height when I go to a car show. Late November 2019 I was invited to attend the “Lancaster insurance Pride of Ownership” at the Birmingham NEC. There was ten of us (finalists) there and I did a comprehensive write up of the show over the three days which it ran. The only downside was that it was marred by cheating of the winner which I proved and fully documented. All that aside there was some massive plus points about that show too; I meet some wonderful people, shared many laughs, got foot ache, back ache, lost my voice, I got a severe case of larringitus thrown in too, all in the name of a great time at a car show. And where is all this going you may ask?

Well, during the time at that show I was asked so many questions by many people. A few people recorded a conversation via mobiles etc. One notable instance was a nice guy who wanted to take a photo of me with the car and recorded what I was saying. I wasn’t sure what I was thinking at the time, but I agreed and so the photos were taken and his questions were answered. I thought no more of it. That was until a couple of weeks ago, when out of the blue I was contact by a weekly journal called “Classic Car Weekly” here in the UK. A link to their website is here. There was a couple of phone calls and emails to confirm a couple of points. I was asked if I had any photos of the original state, just a few maybe around 4,500 or so at last count. I had to pick a few out to send them of the car during that long build process over the four and a half years it took to complete.

The result is that I featured in this week’s edition of the paper released on the 8th April 2020. If you are quick you might even be able to get a copy. I even made the front cover;

The article is a full page interview and pictures.

The main heading refers to a reveal; where there it is, a picture of me.

To mark the occasion I bought a copy or four, one to read, one to keep prestine and the others just in case.

Now that you know what I look like, please come and say hello if you see me at a car show. That’s of course providing that Corona virus doesn’t keep us locked down and we can actually get to a show this year. I need to drive my car, it’s been five months now – FIVE MONTHS, just sayin’!

Until that next car show, keep safe and stay at home.

UPDATE: 13/4/2020

I have been asked by Richard if I can make a readable version of the article.

As requested here is a high res scan of the article converted to a PDF to download.

ccw-8-4-2020Download
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Sweet & Sour (part 1)

Over the weekend of 8th to the 10th of November 2019 I was asked to join the other twenty finalists for the Pride Of Ownership awards in the centre of hall three. I was thrilled to be a part of the show. This show certainly hit the sweet spot for me – Part 1.

During my time there I had a great time and spoke to many fantastic people and lost my voice as a result. Some might say that is good thing though! I even let a could of people sit in my car.

The show attracted over 3000 cars, some on show & some for sale, all of which made for a spectacular show. I took around 400 photos way to many to put on my little ol’ blog so I decided to split the weekend event into two sections. As the title suggests a fantastic time was had by all and i totally enjoyed my time there and a wonderful experience I doubt could be bettered. However – it was badly tainted with a nasty twist and sting in the tail, I will explain all of that in part two in greater detail.

I will start with the events up to the opening. All entrants for the show needed to arrive on Thursday 7th from 10am onwards up until 8pm when the building was secured for the night. I set off from home just after 7am in the rain. Yep I got the car out and it rained. I didn’t stop raining ALL the way to Birmingham all be it in various intensities I should say. I eventually arrived at ten past ten a little over three hours later. There was a couple of us early birds, promptly followed by a few more a short while later. The organisers directed us to the parking positions on the stand, well a bit of carpet actually. This is view of the hall before it started to take shape, a few behind the scenes as it were. There was a long que to get us into the correct area locations.

I started cleaning from 10:15am until 7:45pm when the place was being shut down and us stragglers who were there got turfed out for the night – I was still cleaning at that point.

The car was the dirtiest it has ever been. Chrome looked like faded aluminium and the paint a shade of grey dirtier.

Some other cars arriving as I was cleaning, these guys took it super serious with ramps and all sorts with mirrors under the car, some even trailered in with plastic wraps on the wheels.

I decided to waterless wash the car twice very carefully, then i wanted to strip the old wax off and start again. That was done by 70/30% mix of isopropyl alcohol and water. With that done I could then start to add a couple of layers of clean wax to build it up again. I took my pre packed case that I thought I would need- I needed it all.

With the car pretty much where I wanted it to be I could cover it for the night and start early in the morning for the interior and finish the wheels.

Early on in the morning there was out info sheet that was to be put into the stand next to the cars, this was mine.

 Here was the stand ready for the press and some public at 9am on the Friday morning. The Ferrari wasn’t completed as it turned up, but a few guys worked wonders on it ready for the show. then carried on with the work after the show, each day the parts boxes getting less and less.

At 7.45 we were not allowed in even a few minutes early as exhibitors, mainly down to ‘jobs worth’ security guards. So a few of us sat here looking at this for quarter of an hour.

Early and late evening I could wander around and take a few pictures without people in the way. So in no particular order because I can’t remember here are a number of pics.

So real nice old timers.

 

Something different, not everyday you get run over by a tank!

Once the day got busy I hardly left the stand. The other exhibitors were great looking after each others cars (except for a couple of owners).

The car got plenty of attention throught the day and weekend and was non stop.

So what got me so fired up? Read the next post and find out, it’s not pretty reading!

Part two will be at 2pm tomorrow! 

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Not The Last Car Show After All!

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I had attended the last car show of the season, with a possibility of another if didn’t rain. Well, that was indeed the last car show for me as the next intended show did in fact rain so I didn’t go as my car has gotten wet enough this year already. However, earlier in the year I had applied to the Lancaster Insurance Classic Car Show to be considered for the “Pride Of Ownership” section of the show. The expectation was not to hear anything due to the standards of cars out there. Then I got an email to say that I had been selected as a finalist at this years show. That means I will be going to another show, hosted inside the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, UK.

The Birmingham NEC hosts and boasts the largest classic car show in the country with over 71,000 visitors across 7 show halls over a very busy weekend. This year the sights have been set even higher for even more visitors. The show is a full on Petrol Head event with over 3000 cars, many, many trade stands, autojumble, talks, live demonstrations and they are trying to build an E-Type Jag in a weekend!

There will be a total of 20 cars in the Pride of Ownership final, the winners will be decided by the visitors voting on the show days at the stand. The Lancaster Classic Car Show and the Birmingham NEC have been posting regularly now on social media and email shots. My car has been shown on a number of posts with this one taken at the Mustang Maniac yard;

This is the first press release on their website to show the first 10 cars selected for the category.

If you click this picture it will take you to the home page of the LCCS so you can see what is going on if you want to make a day or two of it.

My car was last at this show just after the restoration was completed in 2015 on the Mustang Owners Club of Great Britain. That was a manic three days where I started to loose my voice at the end of the weekend talking so much.

I’m so excited this year about being there again as an exhibitor and hope to see lots of people all weekend. Please come over and say “Hello” to me and mention my blog so I can meet some of my readers with little luck. Of course if you then think I’m a proud enough owner of my car more so than the other car owners, then maybe drop in a vote for me.

There is going to be some amazing cars there on this stand as my competition, actually that’s a little unfair, they are all fellow enthusiasts just like me. Win or loose it’s a privilege to be selected to appear at this event regardless. In fact I already consider myself to have won, just because I’m taking part. Sounds corny right? Maybe, but its true. My car is for me to enjoy driving it about and is not some trailer queen just for show. If I don’t win then I can at least enjoy my trip back home again. As you probably know I also use and show the car for some good causes too.

The journey will take me a little over two hours according to my mate Tom (Tom Tom Sat Nav), so I can add another half hour to that as I wont be thrashing the ol’ girl up the motorway to do the 120 miles fast as possible. I will not doubt be travelling in the wind & rain to get there and spend a total day getting her cleaned up again after I get there. ‘Cause lets face it with my luck this year it will rain, won’t it?

Oh, just for the record I’m not on commission for the event, I just wanted to shout about it as I’m mega excited and just can’t wait to be there. There is even a countdown timer I added to the show opening.

I honestly hope to see you there. 🙂

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