Perhaps the closest car show to me is at Rougham Airfield, well what’s left of it. The control tower is the only remaining part of the airfield which is now a museum to the airfield and the squadron stationed here. There are volunteers who keep the place tidy and provide a glimpse of the WWII era with some period correct clothing. The location is a short six miles away from my house hardly time to warm the car up. The show is called “Buff The Ruff” organised by my car club ‘Bury Retro Car Club‘ and all vehicles are welcome. The show said 10am, I wasn’t sure if that was public time or time to arrive with the car. It turned out it was turn up time, to be on the safe side I arrived at a little after nine, I could of had an extra hour in bed. There was three of us there when i turned up with the same thought, when does it start. We drove onto a bit of land behind the control tower in a good position. In a line there was six of us as we were parking up now, a MK3 Escort, a MK1 Capri, First Gen Mustang (me) a Mustang II Cobra and then a white MK3 Capri, and a Model A hot rod, we got talking and promptly called it the Ford field! It didn’t stay a Ford field for long though.
By the time I finished wiping down the car it was getting on towards ten and quite a few more cars were starting to park up. The weather was overcast, warm with a light breeze and no rain was forecast.
This Ford Anglia was just like the one my Grandfather had, but it didn’t have this fancy engine.
I took a trip up the tower onto the roof to get some high angle photos just as some more cars rolled in which gave me an unusual angle to take some great shots.
This blue Charger nearly got my car of the show, a real nice car that sounded as good as it looked when it rolled in.
I took a few pics inside the tower to a couple of rooms that I hadn’t seen before. The Jeep outside had a few grenades in the back and I think a grenade launcher? I assume they were deactivated!
Marts Car Of The Show, this really nice 1984 VW Golf GTI MK II. Such a clean well loved nice tidy car. A great engine in the 1.8ltr Bosh K Jetronic, 112bhp. For it’s day this was a quick car and was the original pocket rocket with a scarce rag top. Often copied and the boy racer’s dream.
At around two thirty I made a move home as a number of other had also started to leave. I got home within minutes and for a change the fuel gauge didn’t move (much). A good show with some really nice cars and some and some nice chats with a few mates who turned up to support the show.
The background to my car is that it was brought over to the UK and stationed in RAF Lakenheath by a USAF pilot all the way from Virginia USA some three thousand eight hundred miles away. My excitement was high to see that Lakenheath Classic Car Show 2026 was back on this year. I was hoping it was going to be at the airbase itself, sadly that wasn’t case. The show itself was held in a playing field about a mile away from the base. My car was almost home, so near yet so far.
The UK is having a bit of a heatwave at the moment which makes a real nice change. But, sitting in an open field where there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky with a temperature up in the high thirties, it was hot for us Brits. My wife got up with me early and said “I have packed the cool bag, add anything extra that you may want”. I looked inside to find three bottles of water and a dog bowl!
I asked ‘What’s that all about?’ She replied with “just in caser there are any dogs there that need a drink, make sure you give them a drink”. Never mind me, she was more worried about the dogs over heating. I got my own drinks and lunch and packed it into the cool bag, and into the trunk of the car.
The show was to start at ten with drive which was about fifty minutes away. The order for today was a steady drive along the back roads scenic route to keep moving and not get stuck in any traffic. The marshals were super efficient and guided the cars straight onto the field and parked us up in turn. I got out the car and started to wipe the car down from the road dust accumulated by the trip in and set up the show board. By the time I had completed the quick wipe down it was approaching noon and I was starting to boil. I slapped on the factor fifty and drank a nicely chilled one litre bottle of water. Luckily and common sense prevailing for the day, I didn’t see any dogs being dragged around, so that meant I was now going to drink the water that was put aside for them. I had underestimated how thirsty I would get during the day.
There was a round hundred and fifty cars being hosted by the show. Some were the usual Walmart wagons, like three year old BMWs with stickers on them, a few newer Mercs and of course the boy racer specials, the Ford Focus STs, I didn’t bother with most of them. While making my way around the show, a first for me was that my phone (Samsung S26 Ultra) flashed up a warning of overheating which then stopped me taking photos. To allow the phone to cool down I went to seek out some shade and sit inside a little building for half an hour or so that was doing a roaring trade in cold beers. That’s two shows on the trot now where I was tempted, but I still resisted.
With the phone recovered, I quickly completed the rest of the lines of cars. Being so close to the air base there was a heavy bias to American iron and muscle.
There was quite a few modified cars there as well, the first two here followed me for part of the way to the show. Me doing a steady fifty five wasn’t fast enough for them, so I moved over to let them past on the country roads.
A popular car was this Skyline.
There was a few bikes and trikes too, but many didn’t stay that long.
There was a heavy Mustang contingent as I expected, so I grouped them all together here.
That leaves me with Marts Car Of The Show; which was this huge 1977 FORD LTD that looked like it had just come out of a showroom. It was like a land yacht in a great colour that continued inside. I’m not sure what garage would house this beast, I suspect it would have to be more like an aircraft hanger.
I got back to my car got the chair out, and sat down with a more cold drinks and little light lunch. The factor fifty was applied generously over the next couple of hours. I got into some great conversation with a couple behind me who had just purchased their new toy, 1947 Bentley and their story around how they got it.
The seatbelts which I do up and place on the seats just to make them look neat were so hot I couldn’t hold them and I was worried the metal buckles were going to melt the seats, literally they were that hot I had to use a couple of cloths to unclip them. At around three in the afternoon I admitted defeat – I couldn’t take the heat anymore and decided to go home. I had all the windows down while taking the scenic route home, longer by about five miles but much more enjoyable.
A great day out, in fact it was the hottest May Bank holiday since records had begun, so I was informed by the weather lady in the evening news. It was a shame I didn’t get to go on the base with the car it would have been awesome, but I know for a fact that my car was driven around these very roads in the late 1990’s.
Last weekend’s car show was on a Saturday and not a Sunday which made a pleasant change. It meant that I could write up about the show in my own time on the Sunday. Especially useful excuse when the wife wants me to cut the grass or do some DIY, I can’t keep my readers waiting now can I? The show was in the next county from from me, about a fifty minutes drive through some beautiful countryside of Thetford Forest. The show is listed as Anglo American Feltwell Classic Car Show which is always well attended. I managed to get to this show a couple of years ago and was surprised by the heavy American classics there. Feltwell is surrounded by some US airbases, two of the big bases are Mildenhall and Lakenheath, the smaller one is Feltwell itself. I like driving round this part of the country as the American cars from the bases are used on a daily basis and seen out and about. It always feels like home around Lakenheath as its where the serviceman was stationed that owned my car bought when he brought it to the UK with him. I was expecting plenty of American muscle and I wasn’t wrong.
I arrived at the location an hour or so after setting off with a couple mishaps on the way. The first being a water mains was leaking and running down an incline of a road. My nice clean car was now getting splattered with dirty water. To those behind me, it must have looked as though I was intoxicated trying to drive around the little streams trying to mitigate the dirt sticking to the car. The second issue was me missing the entrance to the show. It was ‘sign posted’ (I use that in the loosest of terms), by the odd bit of A4 paper stuck on the odd lamp post. I saw a few cars pulling into the turning in my mirrors and pulled over into into a layby. When there was a gap in the traffic I started the six point turn in the middle of the road. No sooner had I started my manoeuvres a dozen cars or so in each direction came into view, I couldn’t write it. Yep, I was that person who held everybody up! Once I turned around in what seemed like minutes, I pulled into the narrow lane and was directed onto the field. The marshal told me that they were going to keep all the Mustangs together, that was the theory but it didn’t work out that way.
The weather was holding out, with periods of sunshine and the odd cloud. I got straight to work on cleaning the car, when a couple of friends caught up with me (also fellow Mustang owners), and asked me if I needed therapy as my car had gotten dirty. I did say that I needed to lay down in a darkened room to get over the trauma though.
By the time I had finished cleaning, the show which started at ten was getting busy. Time for my wander round for the photo’s and started at the back of the field and worked my way up and down the lines.
At the end of the first line there was a nice Ford truck with a Mustang on a trailer. It didn’t get moved off the trailer, so I don’t know if it had been picked up or being delivered, but it made for a few nice shots.
Moving onto the second row of cars, many more were still coming into the show, even though it had now opened to the public.
This slammed Lincoln was getting some interest from the younger public.
The guy who owned this Thunderbird also owned a couple of other cars, namely the white Studebaker from the first batch of photos of this post.
The next row was where the Mustangs started, they were also scattered around the field, but I collated all the Mustangs here. The first one I think has an identity crisis and was trying to identify as number of Mustangs according to the grill. The limited edition Bullitt Mustangs were out in force and was parked either side of me.
Lot’s of great newer American muscle cars here too but they didn’t look out of place with the classics.
There was bunch of trucks together, I’m not sure if it was by organisation or not, but it was interesting to see how they have grown in size up to the massive orange Dodge Ram (which was also for sale at £120,000).
The rest of the cars from the lines in no particular order.
There was a number of motorbikes coming in and out throughout the day, mostly Harley Davdisons.
After my wandering up and down the lines I took a well earned break for a spot of lunch and got the chair out for some serious people watching. I was going to get a burger, but when I saw the price of £8 and heard the not so pleasant comments about them, I decided against it.
Although it has to be said the beer tent did look tempting for an ice cold beer, but I won’t drink and drive.
During my rest up watching the world go by, then I spotted them, two plod. They were wandering around the car show looking at the cars.
I heard one of them ask one guy about his number plate to which the guy said “no it’s just my show plate”. I can’t say for sure why they were there, perhaps they wanted to look at the lovely cars, or was it something more sinister? Surely they had better things to do? Everybody was on best behaviour, no revving up engines or leaving the show sideways. The plod walked past the front of my car and looked at my reg plate, I was expecting some sort of comment, although I’m allowed black plates with silver numbers. Perhaps they thought my plate was a show plate as well and didn’t bother. Regardless of what they were up to, I wouldn’t have engaged with them.
Marts Car of The Show:
This was it, a beautiful Oldsmobile Holiday. It caught my eye from a distance where I initially thought it was Chevy Bel Air. I was hoping to chat with the owner, but I didn’t catch them sadly. The car was immaculate and a seriously loved car by the looks of it.
The show was due to finish at four, but a number of cars started to leave around lunch. I got talking to few nice people and with a guy who was telling me about buying his Mustang from new in the ’60s, I love those stories. At two in the afternoon I made the decision to leave as the sun was coming out less frequently and the clouds were getting darker.
The journey home was amazing and peaceful, apart from my exhaust note through the forest on the way home. The water leak I drove through on the way here had stopped and dried up on the road where it had previously been running down. I arrived home and wiped the car down straight away to put it away. The house was quiet apart from the energetic greetings of the dogs. I plonked myself on the sofa and looked at the photo’s I had taken for this post to do a bit of quality control. Before I knew it, I had nodded off for an hour, I was only woken up by the sound of the dogs having a mental at the wife as she returned home from her hair appointment. What a great way to end the day after a great show.
I have been in conversation with magazine publishers called ‘STANG Magazine’, and sent them a few photos of my car. They have added my car to their Special Edition, Editor’s Choice November 2026 latest publication of the magazine which is available online now.
The front and back covers of their magazine.
They sent me the article they was going to publish which I have added here with their permission.
I wanted to help the guys out, so I asked them for some details about their STANG Magazine and they responded with a few paragraphs for me:
“ The new King of Mustang Magazines: How STANG just made history.
For decades, the legendary Mustang Monthly held the ultimate crown in automotive publishing. Between 1978 and 2020, they produced a staggering 502 issues over 42 years of solid Mustang content. That record was considered unbeatable as there is a new record holder.
STANG Magazine has officially broken the record for the most issues ever published by any Mustang magazine in history.
While it took the previous record-holder 42 years to reach their milestone, STANG Magazine smashed past their milestone in just 12 years. With the release of Issue #503, the crown has officially changed hands. We give a massive nod of respect to the former king, but the throne now belongs to a new era.
Fun Facts: STANG Magazine by the Numbers
1,000,000+ monthly global readers.
503+ issues published and counting.
12 years to break a 42-year-old record.
$0 spent on paid advertising.
100% free to read online.
Built For the People, By the People
STANG Magazine was built on a simple promise: to give Mustang enthusiasts exactly what they asked for. Founder and Editor-in-Chief Daniel Ramey launched the publication to break the traditional media mold.
The philosophy is straightforward:
No Ads: Zero sales pitches or corporate fluff.
No Fillers: Just pure Mustang pictures and stories.
Real Rides: Focused on daily drivers, not just “trailer queens.”
Community First: Created by Mustang owners, for Mustang owners.
A Global Grassroots Phenomenon
STANG Magazine didn’t reach the top through massive corporate backing. It grew purely through grassroots, word-of-mouth popularity. What started with passionate owners using their phones and cameras to share adventures has evolved into a global powerhouse. Today, it stands as the first Mustang publication to be available worldwide in both print and digital formats. It has reached readers in almost every single country on Earth.
The Mustang legacy is alive, well, and officially rewritten. As Daniel Ramey says: “Enjoy the ride, and who you ride with!” “
I was previously unaware of STANG magazine to be honest, but found their home page online here:
I’m not being paid for this post, I just wanted to give them a shout out and they deserve a little free exposure. After seeing the proposed article I wanted a hard copy of the magazine if it was possible and asked them for details how to go about getting one. They replied with, ‘Yes you can order one, we print them to order’, so I did two in fact. I paid via PayPal and they shipped it right to my door in just over a week. I was really impressed with the quality of the magazine, it wasn’t printed on flimsy paper, it wasn’t full of ads or random fluffiness, just high quality colour spreads front to back.
The inside cover and first leaf.
A random opening of the magazine to another article;
Towards the back a model posed with a Mustang.
The inside of the back over.
A little background from me; I used to be a printer. I served a four year apprenticeship in the city of London when I left school mid term to take the job when it came up. Once my apprenticeship was completed and signed off officially, I could be known as a ‘Master Craftsman’ for my trade. Unfortunately that trade died with the onslaught of Adobe Photoshop 3.0 (on floppy discs, remember those?) and the relentless progression of Cromalin proofing. My roots are still with the print and I still miss that job, I loved it. To this day I still enjoy printed material of books and magazines and collect special editions where I can. I don’t care what people say, nothing beats reading and holding a book, turning the pages and the smell for the experience of a good read.
Although I’m sad about Mustang Monthly no longer being in print, I can understand why. The internet has a lot to answer for with the death of many printed publications turning to online. Then on the other hand, no trees are being cut down for paper unnecessarily. I even had copies of Mustang Monthly shipped over to me in the UK and enjoyed reading them while learning a few things as well. Of course I can now read all that information online and STANG Magazine is now part of that revolution. It has to be noted that producing printed material was, and still is expensive and the printed publications (no mater what the subject) relied on advertising to make their money. Due to editing, proofing and press lead in times many publications were monthly, hence why it took so long to get the lofty numbers of Mustang Monthly, compared to online publications, which can be up for the world to see in a matter of hours. That being said, it takes nothing away from STANG Magazine and I’m personally pleased that they offer the option to have a printed copy if you wanted one. It wasn’t a cheap publication by the time it was shipped to me the UK, that isn’t STANG Magazine’s fault by any means, but when it comes to my car – it was worth it.
Last Sunday was the first booked car show for me at Kersey Mill a short trip fifteen miles away about thirty minutes away. This year the plan was to go the back route for a relaxing scenic drive with no pressure of the main roads. Before I had even got out of my little village or off choke at eight thirty on a Sunday morning, some idiot nearly took me out being on my side of the road coming round a corner. If I had of been doing thirty miles an hour it would have been a head on crash, best of it was he had a young kid in the front seat as well. I think I may have woken a few people up as my window was down as I expressed my displeasure in a raised tone, nothing from the driver he just carried on.
The rest of the drive was serene and enjoyable, many of the little villages that I passed through had speed limits in place so the car was just running on tick over through them, hence the longer time to get there. The marshal on the gate asked me if I was with a club which I wasn’t and directed me to field four. The trouble was I missed the entrance to the area and carried on round the corner. The marshal here was the opposite, a little bit of power had gone to his head and wouldn’t allow me to go back to the other field, about five seconds round the corner, even though nothing was coming up the path. Instead he ‘told’ me to park next to a red Alpha under a row of trees, err no! In my defiance I parked in the middle of the hard standing to keep away from tree sap and potential bird deposits. He didn’t look to impressed, I didn’t care to be honest, within a minute or so I was being surrounded with other cars with the same thoughts as me. I was next to cherry blossom tree which smelt amazing.
This is a great show with lots of different cars on display, from steam driven oldies to the less attractive couple of year old Tesco car park specials, I don’t bother taking photos of those, even with that in mind, I still ended up taking over two hundred pics.
I started taking photos in the hard standing area which was near the near the food, the smell of bacon rolls added to the lovely morning fresh air. Speaking of air this Chevy Bel Air (see what I did there) was pristine.
Walking through the end of the hard standing there was another field with lots more cars and a couple of car clubs, mainly Mini and Lotus.
My runner up car of the show is this glorious Model A, a rust patina special. This is about as original as it will ever get. Credit to the guy who drove it in.
This Mustang is modified with a wide body kit and Lambo doors, you either like the doors or you don’t. For me I can appreciate the work involved, but it’s not my thing I’m afraid.
Moving back to towards the mill itself there were some great oldies parked in prime positions at the front.
Around the side of the house were some super cars where I caught up with my Mate Craig, who has shared some of his photos with me for this post.
Either side of the main path into the mill itself there are display areas either side.
I used to play a game ‘Need for Speed Underground’ and my son used to customise this car to the max, the legendary Toyota Supra. Not seen one of these spec cars for a while.
This 1966 Plymouth Barracuda fastback was amazing, the rear glass section on this car is a work of art, I wouldn’t want to try and source one of them if it broke!
Mart’s Car of the Show
I haven’t seen an original untouched BMW M3 E30 (the proper M3) for such a long time, then this beauty parked up just behind me. A modern classic that dominated touring car racing late 80’s and early 90’s. He didn’t stay that long, but I’m glad I caught some pics of it.
Early afternoon a few cars started to leave, Craig and Lee decided to bring their cars into the show and parked up next to me and we had our own mini car show. After some lunch and a chat they went of for more car spotting and photos while I desperately tried to keep myself from falling asleep due to the early start, busy pretending to keep an eye on the cars.
Thanks to Lee, for this artistic pic. You can find him on Instagram @s2kathome
A little while later I decided to leave around three to miss the traffic as the show closed at four. Craig stood in a strategic place and caught some cars leaving.
He even managed to grab a couple of me leaving too. Thanks Craig for the pics.
I absolutely love this picture.
The drive home was just as leisurely as the drive there. What is better than a scenic route home, window open and a V8 rumble in your ears? A great day out with mates and looking forward to more. Hopefully I will catch up with Craig and Lee at more shows this year with our cars together.
After the quick detail to remove the road dust and put the car away, I plonked myself on the sofa and feel asleep for an hour (or so) cuddled up with my little dog. What a great way to end the day.
Since I had gotten my car back on the road some eleven years ago now, I still try to keep it as original as possible. Keeping the original parts where I can, replacing the parts that can’t be seen with modern reliable alternatives such as the wire loom, LED bulbs, electronic ignition etc. I have collected many things relating to the 1966 Mustang, original printed media, magazines, memorabilia all from that mid sixties era. I like things in my car to look and appear correct for the period the car was on the road first time around. With that in mind I have various eBay saved searches to look for these gems. One such search a few days ago popped up with a Tax Disc holder which I had to buy. A little more on that later after a little history lesson on what I’m talking about regarding the UK ‘Road Tax’, ‘Vehicle Excise Duty’ what ever it’s now called or will be called.
The fist motor vehicles hit the roads in the mid 1880s, by the early 1900s automobiles had increased significantly, where the current UK road infrastructure couldn’t cope. In the 1921 the UK government decided to raise funds which would be ring fenced to improve the roads. They applied a “Road Tax” to each vehicle to fund the much needed expansion. In 1934 the revenue raised from motorists has now gone into a much larger pot of revenue which is used for other things such as housing or welfare.
Since then virtually every year the motorist is targeted by successive governments to raise more money, thus the UK motorist is often seen as the cash cow of the UK. Not only can a road tax, or vehicle excise duty cost be stupid amounts, but a fuel levy is imposed as well so you pay every fill-up. To show just how much that is, if we take it that a litre of fuel costs £1.50, a fuel duty of £0.53p is applied per litre. Then on top of that there is VAT (Value Added Tax) which is in effect a tax on the tax, so that means a litre of fuel costs around £1.875 a litre. The road tax, vehicle excise duty or whatever ever name it’s given now, the way it’s calculated changes to squeeze even more out of you, now it’s based on the CO2 emissions, along with a new showroom tax for a new car. It’s no wonder the UK motorist feels a little hard done by.
As of October 2025 these are the vehicle tax costs and how it ramps up which is now based on the “CO2” emissions the vehicle produces. I can sort of see it because of the environment impacts, but the money raised will more often than not be allocated or wasted elsewhere on other ’causes’.
Anyway, rant over – back to the ‘Road Tax’ disc; to show this duty had been paid by the vehicle’s owner, there was a requirement to place a 75mm round disc in the vehicle’s windscreen to be clearly seen. The tax disc would hold the discs unique ID number, vehicle’s registration mark, the amount paid, class of vehicle and the expiration of the tax either on a rolling six-month or annual basis, the annual cost being slightly discounted. To prevent fraud of these discs there were many changes made over the decades in colour, perforations, watermarks, embossing, holograms and stamped from the issuing location.
The original on the left and the final iterations on the right.
All well and good for most people, but they were hated and not really liked. With the evolution of technologies, the requirement to display a physical tax disc in the vehicle’s windscreen was removed effective from 1st October 2014 as the tax information is now stored on a government database. Ironically many people now miss these little discs for nostalgic reasons. There is even a following where the study and collection of these tax discs is called “Velology”. The term was created by combining the initials VED (for Vehicle Excise Duty) with the commonly used “ology” suffix. There is even a little niche market to provide replica discs, exact copies would be seen as fraudulent. Some of the rare older discs can go for high values.
Finally onto my point, these tax discs need to be held onto the glass. Early days there was suction, metal displays, sticky foam or plastic as time moved on, even sticky tape or glue. Motorbikes had a metal fitting which encased the disc from the elements, also on some vintage cars too. There were many fancy designs for holders such as polished chrome, sticky with removable magnetic backs etc. The earlier plastic iterations had a mild glue around the outside (like this one) and were a one time application. Then later on a plastic vinyl-like formula which when moistened would stick on the screen and reusable. As I mentioned earlier, my eBay saved search came up with an original 60’s tax disc, once I saw it, I had to put a bid in for it, which I eventually won some six days later. What made me want this? Apart from the fact it’s period correct, but it’s also a product I have used in the past on my car.
These tax disc holders became good sources of advertising and were often given away, or information such as emergency numbers for an insurance company, car dealer’s information or a breakdown service details on the back of them. My new purchase was simple advertising and also useful information, “Duckhams” oil and the weight of oil 20w50 specified for my car, it all ties together.
I currently had a larger holder in my car given to me by Mustang Maniac, which has been on the screen for the best part of ten years. It has been faultless, but this Duckhams purchase on eBay is the only reason to change it.
I carefully pealed the old holder away from the screen, and placed it on top of my toolbox. Comparison of the old Mustang Maniac holder and the new Duckhams one. The Mustang Maniac holder also had a place to hold their (or any other) business card on the back.
The replica Tax Disc I use is also from Mustang Maniac who have a large selection of discs for many various years and different styles of stamp on the disc, click here for the link.
The design of the Duckhams holder is a simple slightly larger disc with a sticky outside to hold it on the screen. Before I peeled the backing paper off I checked it for size. Normally I would have put this with my other collectibles, but in this case I was sure it should be used.
Making sure the disc and the Duckhams text were aligned front and back I offered up the holder to the screen.
It was surprising just how sticky the outside was, but I still made sure the holder was evenly pressed onto the screen all the way around.
From the outside the holder isn’t really seen, just the tax disc itself as a minimalist look now.
With the older holder removed I used some Isopropyl Alcohol and a glass cloth to remove the slight residue on the glass which I arrowed below. This also gave a good clean surface for the new holder to adhere to.
Something like this is pretty non-de-script and over looked to be honest, and who really cares? But for me, it just adds a little something extra for the car’s originality. Also in the package there was a sticker from Duckhams which would have been stuck under the hood during a service near the oil filter.
I’m not sure if I should stick this under the hood or not, I’m not a great lover for lots of stickers apart from the factory ones of course. What do you think, should I stick it under there? Currently, I’m using Millers Semi-synthetic 20w50 oil, so technically it’s not actually correct, there again neither is the tax disc holder holder with a replica tax disc. I wonder what else awaits me on eBay to spend my money on which nobody will ever notice!
Last weekend is perhaps the closest show to my home that I attend. There is one in my little village but its not that great to be honest. The show was at Rougham Air Tower on the site of an old air base. Last time out at the show there was plenty of WW2 period costumes to be seen, unfortunately not this year. The car show was due to start at 10am within the tower’s fields. I had a rough night before and had little sleep and woke up an hour earlier than I needed to, so I decided to get there early and make use of the additional time in hand. Thinking that I would be the only one there I was surprised to see two other vehicles already parked up, I found a place that I liked the look of and parked up which would be seen down the side of the tower’s line of sight as you drive in to the event.
There was no need to clean the car as I hadn’t travelled far enough and the car was just getting warmed up. We had a bit of a chat and I got my chair early and planted myself down to watch the world go by with a bottle of chilled water. The weather was predicted to be good all day with the outside chance of rain and maybe a thunderstorm in the evening. The field started to fill up a little before the official start. There was expected to be around hundred cars supporting the club Bury Retro Car Club which I’m a member of.
With most of the cars now parked up I had a wander round to take some pics. There timings for the day were relaxed so you could come and go as you pleased, that meant that there was a turn over of cars throughout the few hours of the show while we were there.
The control tower was open which I have already covered in full in a previous post for this event and a few new exhibits.
After climbing the tower I took an above view of the cars in my field, then I noticed that I was in a Ford Capri sandwich. Not only that, that there was a theme – the line of cars was were various shades of blue.
About half an hour before I left the show this monster Chevy Silverado rolled in and parked in the space next to me, it instantly became by car of the show which absolutely dwarfed everything in the field.
Although it wasn’t supposed to rain until later in the evening there was a light sprinkling for about ten minutes which stressed me some what, but the breeze soon dried off the car once the light shower stopped. The darker clouds were looking ominous and starting to close in with the air felling heavy with rain, so the decision was made to make the dash home. Within a few minutes I was home after covering the handful of miles. As is the norm, the car got a quick wipe over to remove the road dust and I put her away.
About half an hour later there was more rain, but nothing to heavy, certainly not a thunderstorm. The decision to leave was a correct one and pleased to leave when I did. It was a shame there wasn’t many more cars throughout the day as had been reserved for the day.
Not a bad day out and the best part, it was just a few minutes from home.
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.
I was told about a ‘scratch hack’ many years ago that removes light scratches from car paintwork, within seconds and cost virtually nothing. Sounds to good to be true right? I’m talking about the trade (not so) secret of the commonly used product WD40. I often wondered if it was true but never had a reason to find out. If I had a problem with paint, I would correct and protect it properly.
A little about WD40 first.
I was first developed around the early 1950s by Rocket Chemicals based in California who later changed their name on the basis of their product. The name WD40 stands for Water Displacement 40(th formula). The actual formula is a trade secret and only been held in secure vault in San Diego California since 2018. The product has not been patented to this day, to do so the ingredients would have to be disclosed. So if you want to copy it you could, if you try and reverse engineered like many others have and call it a different name.
The actual product hasn’t been changed for many, many years. The product was initially developed for a company to protect the outer skins of a super delicate skin of a ballistic missile from rust and corrosion. It later went on to find a host of household uses such as lubrication, protection and cleaning when it became commercially available in the very late 1950s. I won’t go into that side of it, you only have to look at YouTube or TikTok for various household hacks, from removing sticky labels, worktops, hinges, freeing up bolts etc.
I just want to look at this product from a car detailing point of view. It can be sprayed under the car to freshen things up, stop squeaks, apply a coating prior to winter to stop door rubbers sticking, short term storage or just polish up a bit. There are other products out there can do these dedicated tasks better than WD40, but not all of them together like this versatile ‘Jack of all trades’ product can.
Now of course there will be pros and cons for this ‘hack’;
Pros
Cheap, cost of a cup of coffee
Quick to use
Instant results
Looks OK
Disguises light scratches
Forms a protection barrier
Can prevent rusting
Long shelf life
Cons
Temporary fix
Only light scratches disguised
Body shops hate it
Often used to make cars look better than they actually are
Can be messy
Oil based
It can mess detailing pads up
The fact is that if you are spraying WD40 on anything, you are spraying an oil based type of product. Like I said in the cons, it’s only a quick fix and the old scenario of the car lot salesman showing you a gleaming car gives this hack a bad name.
The opportunity I had to try this hack out was that I had to remove a couple or stuck on hard plastic sill protectors on a car. Once they were removed it had left a couple of light scratches on the paint, even with my gentle panel removal tools. They are difficult to see but they are there.
So the tip so simple; spray a little on the paint and wipe over. Nothing could be easier, you don’t even have to rub it in just spread it about a bit.
The result is a miraculous cover up so the exposed paint could be seen again without the scratches.
So, does it work then? Yes – sort of
On the deeper scratches it improves it, but it doesn’t wipe them out. On lighter scratches does.
How? It’s all down the way light is reflected from the paint. The oil settles into the scratch and makes the light ray dispersion more uniform thus it disguises the scratch or swirl. This is a similar principle to car paint glaze which is a more durable option which needs a wax to protect it. I explain this paint defect principle in much more detail here. or cut and past this to your browser: htts://onemanandhismustang.com/difference-between-waxing-polishing-and-your-paint-job/
The general rule of thumb is if you can feel the scratch with your finger nail, you have a problem. If you can’t feel the scratch then it can be buffed, glazed or hidden in one way or another.
As the WD40 is oil it will eventually disappear due to the elements if on an exposed area. If the product is rained on a lot, it will need regular applications. So, if you want to mask or ‘hide’ a light paint surface imperfection, then you could use this product on a temporary basis. If you are going to buy a car, gently feel the paint to see if there is a oily film to the surface.
Another down side is that dust can settle in the WD40 spray and stick to it, so wiping it away could introduce more problems. The reason body shops don’t like it is the fact it’s oil based and once on your hands can be transferred all over the workshop. To clean it up properly in order to spray paint anything properly, this makes it all the more time consuming.
I tend to carry a small ‘sample’ sized can for a couple of reasons;
If you get a stone chip and can’t get to fix it for a while, spray the area with the WD40 and it will form a temporary barrier until you can fully remove it later to fix the chip.
If you are suffering from damp in your distributor cap (back to old school cars now) or HT leads etc, you can spray this to disperse the water. After all that was it’s sole purpose for development.
Did you know?
To get those super smoky burnouts in Hollywood films easily, they used an application of WD40 on the tyres! Not that you should ever do that of course, as it could be frowned upon by the local law enforcement agencies. 😉
Last Sunday was another sunny day and I was raring to go, the drinks and lunch were packed in no time and the ticket to get in was printed out the night before. Once in the garage I put all my day’s supplies on the slide top tool cart. I put Hedingham Castle waypoint into the satnav and put the cool bag in the trunk. I got in, placed the satnav on the centre console, put my sun glasses on and reversed out. The satnav journey was adjusted for ‘A’ roads not the country backroads that I knew were tight and were going to be very dusty, that would make the journey around six minutes longer. I didn’t care to be honest as I was already enjoying the drive. I was just cruising along without a care in the world until I saw the signs for the castle, and thought to myself best I get the ticket on the dash in order to get in. Nope, I had left it on the tool cart back home in the garage. This could now turn out to be just under an hour drive there for nothing, then the drive back home. Nobody was directing the traffic in with a few from this side of the road then a few from that side etc. it was a free for all. However – we are civilised drivers in classic cars and some were letting others in. I pulled into the entrance gate and there was the slowly moving queue to get in. I frantically looked through my phone to look for the email confirmation I was sent. I eventually found it with the poor signal slowing things up considerably. At the check point the lovely lady marshal asked where the display ticket was. I had explain what had happened and showed her the email. She was great and pointed me to the area to park up.
Hedingham Castle is just outside Colchester in Essex. The castle was built in the 11th Century, so it’s old!
I managed to get a look around the grounds before the main public was allowed in. I don’t know why, but I really like this picture of the row boat tucked under a tree. The mini castle was for the resident ducks that lived on the two tiered lakes.
I was parked up on the lower field this time as I wasn’t part of a car club and had a little glimpse of the castle through the foliage.
I took a walk around the lower field.
Perhaps my favourite ‘Modern Classic’ the mighty Audi Quattro.
Walking up towards the castle the steep driveway cars were parked on the left and right where I was parked last year when it rained all day.
Near the top is a main house which had this amazing steam car parked outside with a diagram of how it worked.
Parked in a little area under just before the bridge was some military vehicles which grabbed some attention throughout the day.
On the upper fields there were the car clubs around the outside.
Around the back of the castle was a bigger open area where more cars were lined up in no particular order.
This camper had an awesome roof rack, From the movie Gladiator, Maximus Decimus Meridius; “Are you not entertained?”
There was some rather tiny little cars that were proving popular.
The we had some red rockets, from Japan the epic NSX, Europe’s Lancia which became the main rival to the Audi Quattro in rallying and some muscle from the USA.
The other side of the castle had some more military vehicles.
After my return back to the car I started speaking to some lovely couples and we chatted the afternoon away. Wonderful people who owned these vehicles, it made for such a nice day.
Not forgettin’ mine which was parked next to that beautiful Cortina 1600E.
Throughout the day I let a few people sit in my car, and a family from Dearborn spent some time chatting to me. thanks to all those that stopped by, I was on verge of losing my voice I was talking so much. Some would say that’s no bad thing though! 🤦♂️
The journey home was awesome, I left about an hour early to avoid the busy leaving time and enjoyed a beautiful ride home. A great day out here when the weather is nice, slightly overcast and warm with some great people too.
