Tag: classic cars

Am I Cursed Or Jinxed?

This car show is how it should be, cars that are at least twenty years old with nothing before 2000 was allowed in. I hate to say it, but a few still sneaked in! Some recent car shows I have been to there are three or four year old cars on show. If I wanted to see cars like that I would just walk around a superstore car park on a Sunday! Anyway, rant over; this car show was held at Stonham Barns which is about twenty minutes drive from where I live. The weather forecast was promising with only thirty percent chance of rain. The sky looked good, so I decided to go for it. The show was packed and there was lots of variation of cars still arriving at the cut of point of ten o’clock. I parked up and decided to go for a look around before the general public was allowed in.

There was some nice auto jumble stalls which I spent a little while looking around. It’s funny, that when I was looking for stuff like this – I could never find it!

So as is the norm now, in no particular order except that I started at the furthest end of the field and worked back towards my car.

There was a nice club that was showing some nice UK Fords,

Plenty of Americana represented as well,

Some old school beauties,

On the way back to the car there it was, a spot of rain. I walked quicker and it seemed the faster I walked the more it rained. I bumped into a friend of mine David who was walking towards me on his way back to his car, he said “I’m not coming to any more car shows where you go, it always f…..g rains where you turn up.” Said in the best of humour and we laughed as we passed. As I got back to the car it was pouring quite hard and I spotted this;

I checked my app and it said it would rain, it wasn’t wrong. I hung around for about half an hour with no signs of it stopping. With that decided that I had had enough of looking at my car getting wet.

The only good thing is that my Chemical Guys P40 Quick Detailer was beading brilliantly. I have reviewed it here, if you are interested.

Now here’s the thing, I had the right hump and got in my car and started the drive home. This is no word of a lie here, as I pulled into my own village the sun came out and started to pour heat rays all around. I pulled straight onto the drive and watched the sun cast shadows everywhere as I dried the car from the remaining few spots of rain. So I arrive at a show it rains, I leave a show and the sun starts to shine. So who ever has the rain cloud effigy of me, please can you give me a break (not literally obviously). I’m really starting to get a complex now.

Am I cursed or jinxed? I honestly think so! 🙁

The remaining part of the day wasn’t wasted as managed to do a bit of work on my car in the sun which I will go into on the next post.

The best part of the day, while I was there that is, was that I spotted my local Meguiar’s products retailer. I was speaking to them and they said that they had some samples. Great, so I had one of each of course, so what do you do with the samples?

You pour the samples into the products you already have. Most samples don’t give you enough for what you want to do with them to be honest, but this way you can make proper use of them.

You saw it hear first 😉 

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Helmingham Hall Car Show 2019 (Part 2)

As promised this is part two of the Helmingham Hall Classic Car show where I moved to the private entries where pretty much anything goes. As the day wore on the weather was warmer and the visitors just kept coming in. I spoke to many people that day and even a guy who purchased a new ’65 and wanted some pointers. By the time he had finished talking to me and David, we think he was sorted if not a little worried about what was ahead of him!

So in no particular order – some more cars;

Some military vehicles.

More random cars.

Some pics of the location.

This massive car took my attention, I have no idea what it was, but it certainly makes a statement!

This little guy was on a photography stand, he was just loving all the attention he could get!

There was no rain, and leaving was a straight out breeze, maybe because I left half hour before the rest of the fields. A great day and the show still lives up to my expectations. Can’t wait for next year now as well.

Note to self: get there earlier!!

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Helmingham Hall Car Show 2019 (Part 1)

The weekend just gone was a busy one with one of my favourite car shows of the year, stunning cars and beautiful surroundings. The weather for Sunday was a sunny start with the promise of a nice day, all day. Helmingham Hall was built in 1510 and can boast Grade 1 listed gardens, in other words; significant historical importance, the same sort of historical status as Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge or The Houses of Parliament etc. Only 2.5% of all the listed buildings in the UK are Grade 1 listed in fact. Anyway, I met up with my mate David who has a S197 Mustang at a truck stop for a little breakfast before we set of with the few other Mustangs that had arrived. We were to depart in convoy and arrive at the halls around twenty minutes later, or so we thought.

Through the villages, we cruised through and the locals were out to give all the classic cars a wave as they passed by. Half a mile out we hit this little lot, with a complete standstill and the temperature rising there were a number of upset people, me included.

The temperature was rising in the car as well, not so much the water, but the fuel was being evaporated from the carb. The result was a car that was starting to run a bit rough on idle. I turned the engine off, as did many of the cars behind me. to stop boiling over and save fuel allowing them cool off a little. Many opened their bonnets (hood) to allow it cool quicker.

After forty-five minutes to an hour or so we eventually got in, starting the cars up and moving a few car lengths at a time. Repeating until we got in the main gates. Cars were boiling over and there really should be a better system. So sort it out Helmingham Hall – myself and fellow classic car owners were not impressed at all.

I parked up with the Simply Mustangs UK Facebook group who had a spare ticket for me to get in, so I was lucky I was on a stand.

Getting the car clean was a long job as the general public were being allowed in as we set up the club stand. I was almost on the end until a new Bullitt parked up next to me. Once we were all buffed and cleaned, I took a few pics of the cars from Simply Mustang UK stand proudly on display.

It was interesting to see the comparison of the old and new Mustangs in respect of the engineering.

As it was such a nice day the car parks got full pretty quickly and can be seen on the fields in the background of some of the pics. The venue was busy, very busy.

There was a variety of food tents cooking all day not more than twenty-five meters away from us that made me hungry all day. There was a dance floor surrounded by hay bales with dancers and even a bird show with owls and an old timer vulture.

But enough of all that, the cars, lots of cars! In no particular order, I just wandered around and took a few pics of what caught my eye.

Super cars were there as well.

Then onto more club stands.

The odd car was for sale!

At the front of the Halls there is a reserved area for some cars, I’m not sure how they get there each year, but they have a beautiful backdrop to their cars.

The next field over was for the private entries which will be in Part 2 towards the end of the week.

Watch this space 😀

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Horses for Courses

There is an English proverb which is “Horses  for courses” which basically means different people are suited to different things. I liked the idea of the heading as this car show was held at Newmarket Race Course. I’m certainly not a horse racing fan, but I do have a lot in common with ponies and horses, the original Ford Pony cars and how many horses I can unleash under the hood that is. Anyway, I have had a little surf of the net and found some history of the Newmarket Race Course:

Racing in Newmarket was recorded in the time of James I. Charles II was known to attend races on Newmarket Heath with his brother, the future James II. The first recorded race was a match for £100 between horses owned by Lord Salisbury and Marquess of Buckingham in 1622. The racecourse itself was founded in 1636. Around 1665, Charles inaugurated the Newmarket Town Plate and in 1671 became the first and only reigning monarch to ride a winner.  Up until 1744, the two most valuable races run at the course were the King’s Plate and the Town Plate. Two more Plate races were added in that year, paid for by local traders, both worth 50 guineas (a coin of approximately one quarter ounce of gold that was minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, worth around £1.05p in modern money). The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, where much of the gold used to make the coins originated- one was a race for five-year-olds carrying 9 stone, one was an open age race in four mile heats. Another paid for by landowners was a four-year-old race over four miles, each carrying 8 stone 7 lbs. At that time, formal races at Newmarket only took place twice a year – once in April, once in October. Since then many, many more big race meets have been added to the calendar making it Britain’s premier race venue.

Newmarket is hugely influenced by the horse racing set, and all the money and trappings that go with it. Some beautiful houses around the town which are some of the most expensive I have seen in the country side with the land that comes with them. Also without a doubt the horses are looked after properly at the race course with rubberised walk ways where the horses walk, the place is spotlessly clean. There is a huge betting presence there to take your hard earned cash from you with plenty of viewing areas, but not as many as thought there would be.

When I was at Elveden Car Show a few weeks ago, I was handed a flier for this event with a lot of hype for new cars, classic cars, children’s entertainment and stalls. This was the second year for the event and was going to be bigger and better than the previous year. I found out that only a handful of classic cars attended last year.

On arrival I was directed in and told to follow the path round to the main display area. Being greeted by another staff member who decided that I was heavy so I wasn’t allowed on the grass, so I was told to park out the front of the main building just on the corner.

After parking up and cleaning the dust of the car after the drive to Newmarket I had a look around the other cars. There wasn’t a lot to look at all, there was however a lot of new cars from sales rooms around the area selling their stock of brand new and used cars. I believe this was the main purpose of the event and the classic were asked to attend in order to get people into the place and provide some other interest.

And there was a very well dressed older gentleman who was the ‘car expert’ there. He said this was the first AC Cobra made and was worth millions.

He was partly correct as the Original AC (chassis number CSX2000) is indeed is worth tens of millions, it was also in left hand drive and it’s certainly not left unguarded at a Newmarket Race Course. However the pretty lady immaculately dressed and dripping with some expensive jewellery, who was about a quarter of his age I reckon, looked (almost) impressed at his knowledge!

The other side of the main building was where the car dealers from all makes who were selling cars at discounted prices and where the majority of the people were to be honest.

Even a few great looking motorbikes were for sale along with a few couple of classics.

There was one car (I think it was a car) that caught my eye from Renault. I did try and get in the ‘car’ but I failed (very) miserably I might add. I got shoes bigger than this car in fact.

There were a few Mustangs there all be it this first one was a statue and not a Mustang from what I could work out from my very limited horse knowledge.

Almost opposite me was me was an Aston Martin race car that previously one its race the week before. a 740bhp ‘detuned’ to 600bhp to allow it to race.

The entertainment was a generous term unless you wanted to eat burgers, have a go on the racing simulator or play the electronic driving range for the golfers out there. Neither of which were exactly busy should we say.

 

The only stalls was a home made sweet stall, a bloke selling a couple of old workshop manuals and the plod with a Porsche GT4 they use. Now I know where my tax paying money goes, not on the maintenance of the roads, oh no. It’s being spent out for these jobsworths so they can sit in flash cars and eat donuts all day! They just wait on slip roads waiting for a motorist doing a couple of miles over the speed limit instead of catching murders, grooming gangs, knife crime and rapists in third world capital city now called ‘Londonistan’! Rant over. Before you say it; no I’m not jealous – I am not a Porsche fan and never have been. Great cars obviously, but they just don’t do anything for me.

As the day wore slowly on after running out of things to look, I wasn’t feeling to well and just sat in my chair, in the shade and reading a free newspaper I was given on my little walk around. I even asked an official if I could leave early as I wasn’t feeling great, but health and safety guidelines said no, I had to stay until 4.30pm. I thought it was just the sun, but it turned into something a bit more for the next couple of days. But to add to my woes the general consensus of the day was they public could sit in the cars of the dealers. The public thought that this applied to the classic cars as well, I had to stop kids pulling on the handles and I made a point of telling one bloke who opened my drivers door before I even locked it, I was getting my chair out the trunk at the time. He had taken of his back pack, dumped it on the floor and was about to get in my car. I told him to pay some respect and to ‘ruck right off’ should we say, those that know me will know exactly what I said. He just didn’t like the idea of me stopping him. One thing was for sure, when it comes to my car, there was no way he was getting in it. His girlfriend did come over to apologise after he walked away. I was not amused and never moved from my perch watching the car at all times when somebody got near it.

On the plus side, have you noticed that I didn’t mention the rain? Well it didn’t rain and the sun was out all day, at long last my rain jinx had been broken. 😀

As there wasn’t a lot to take photos of I tried a few different ideas for a few shots. Where I had parked the car it was a little slope, so if the car looks as though it leaning to one side, it was.

Newmarket Race Course was a lovely place to be, but I doubt I will go back there again. Such a shame, it could have been so much more, it wasn’t as though they didn’t have the room either. I think this last pic sums it up for me. The day had its ups and downs.

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Elveden Car Show 2019 (part 1)

This was my fourth car show of year and was in a beautiful little village in Suffolk called Elveden, the best bit was that this show was to be held within their Walled Garden. This was my first trip here and wasn’t to sure what to expect. The sun was promised all day and most importantly no rain! Make a note here – that all four apps I use said “No Rain”. I had a beautiful drive to the show some back roads with very picturesque fields and open spaces. Window open, engine throaty burble and countryside. This was going to be a nice day.

I took rather a lot of photos during the day and decided to split them over a couple of days so it’s not photo overload. The main area was for the general public cars, I spotted that the Bury Retro Car Club was there in the club area. I explained to an official walking around that I wanted to join them as I belonged to the club. He said that I had to stay there within the public exhibition area, apparently “Health & Safety wouldn’t allow me to move.” 🙁  I couldn’t be bothered to argue with him, which was down to the fact I was enjoying the nice weather and chilling with the cars. The second walled enclosed grass area was similar sized to the main area, but they had more room to spread out due to less cars in there.

Anyway, in no particular order I wondered up and down the rows of some gorgeous cars and chatted to some very nice owners, and few of them ladies which was a pleasant change.

A rare Crayford Cortina took my eye and was great condition.

My car getting a little attention from the public. 🙂

There was a woman just standing behind my car saying “I’m in love.” I heard her as I walked back from the other area and stood next to her. I chatted for a minute or so unaware that I was the owner. She said I want to find the owner and ask if she if she could sit in it. I said to her “I don’t think he would mind”, and I opened the door. She said ‘you can’t do that’ and looked a little worried. I just smiled and said “Don’t worry, it’s mine, and do you still want to sit in it?” With that she handed the reigns for her toddler to her eldest son next to her and sat in my car. She sat there for a minute just staring at the dash. Then she wanted to know what all about the car, so I told her the story. She said that I had made her day, while her children took lots of photo’s of her in the car. I had some as well, but she explained for personal reasons, if I wouldn’t post them on any social media. I agreed of course and she explained to me why. So for that lovely lady, consider your requests granted, but I also have to say it was my favourite part of the day.

Tomorrow I will post ‘part 2’ where we will have the club stands, Hot Rods and some super cars too.

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Gone Shopping

A few weeks ago I was at the Cars By The Lake Car Show near me and it was a wonderfully warm day. During that show I wandered around and spotted a newish car club called ‘Classic Car Club Bury St Edmunds’.  I was speaking to the guys there where I asked about the events they hold. They told me that they were having a little ‘display’ more than show as such of a dozen cars or so on the Saturday (yesterday) and the Sunday at the local very popular shopping centre called the ‘Arc’ in the middle of Bury St Edmunds. This intrigued me and said I was interested, but I wasn’t a member of the club. I gave them my details if they wanted an extra car if they were short for any reason.

It turned out that last week I got a couple of very nice emails asking if I wanted to attend on the Saturday, of course I said yes. The display was to also raise funds for a charity MDF  which is for mental health. This was funded by agreeing to have photo’s taken in the cars and a ride for thirty minutes in a car from the selection being offered for minimum donation, any profits from the day also going to the good cause.

The agreement was to arrive at the Shopping Centre at quarter to eight in the morning where we would be escorted through to the centre of the centre two cars at a time. We got parked up and had a few adjustments of cars to make it all look good. I took this photo from the building opposite the club gazebo which had an upstairs and balcony.

There was a great variation of cars that turned up as expected. No sooner had the cars been parked up when the very early birds and workers passed through while looking at the cars.

We had a Studebaker and a Westfield.

Then there was my Mustang, a rare Hurtu and a Dodge Fluid Drive.

There was a BMW, Daimler Dart a popular car with the Police in the day,

An Ambulance that was being converted into a camper van, Bugatti ‘Teal’ and one of only two remaining 1914 Humber in the world, the other is on New Zealand.

A lotus 11 and a TVR

The Arc shopping centre had some rather large lettering that said ‘Love Cars’ which is being brought out for this event that happens one weekend a year in the centre.

At around lunch time we were asked if we wanted to start our cars up for a little rev up session so people could eat their food with a nice smell of spent petrol. Each of us was asked to start-up in turn, when my turn came the event was  filmed by the Arc media team who posted it on the Facebook page straight away along with the other v8 Daimler Dart. The best bit is to watch the little kiddies in the background having their ears covered!

Turn up the volume.

The video didn’t do the noise justice as the sound echoed brilliantly around the courtyard, and I think that I filled Monsoon shop behind me with some freshly burnt fumes. 🙂

The day was so busy I did not even get to sit down at all, apart from starting my car up. That’s eight till five thirty when we were then escorted out again, three at a time now.

My car had a constant stream of people around it and lots and lots of questions too. I had a sore throat at the end of the day from talking to much. The last time I had that was when I exhibited at the Birmingham NEC Car show.

I think the men loved it while the wives and girlfriends went and done what they needed to do.

Perhaps the star of the show was Candy, a lovely little girl who sat in the car and took all the attention she could get until she went home early afternoon just around the corner.

The weather was not great but a few spots of rain made me nervous for the downpour that didn’t happen. But I still cleaned the car again when I got home.

All in all a great day and something very different and I enjoyed it immensely. Well done to the club for organising it, oh I’m now also a member. 😉

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Paper Trail & Magazines

As the end of the car show season starts to creep in upon us here in the UK I am slowly turning my attention to all things Mustang in the mean time to give me my daily dose of Mustang I need, just until the car shows start again. The model car I have was posted a few weeks ago and the story behind that, but how about articles. The paper magazines that people had way back then and just threw away as they weren’t going to be worth anything, right? Well not quite.

To set the scene; in 1964 the Ford Mustang sports car, is officially unveiled by Henry Ford II at the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York, on April 17, 1964. On the same day, the new car also debuted in Ford showrooms across America and almost 22,000 Mustangs were ordered by customers. Ford sold more than 400,000 Mustangs within its first year of production, far exceeding sales expectations.

1) To celebrate such a huge launch at the time three of the biggest magazines at the time all held articles on the Mustang. The Mustang was first automobile to have an editorial feature in all three big USA publication’s April 1964 editions – Time, Life and Newsweek…

2) This was significant as Time and a Life tended to only focus on ‘life changing’ and ‘significant events’. Newsweek was more like a newspaper and was full of current issues and views.

3) The only copies left from those April 1964 issues are because people subscribed to the magazines and we tend to keep old mags!

4) As that generation reached an age when they either downsized or left estates to be cleared, the magazines show up from time to time as part of house clearances.

5) The magazines (Time/Life) tended to get kept and those that survived are in pretty good condition – often still in the original addressed envelope and some even unread.

6) The rarest is the Newsweek copy as it tended to get thrown after reading.

7)  Individually,  the Life magazine can be bought for a reasonable amount while the Time edition has become extremely rare as the popularity of the iconic first Mustang has grown – particularly after it celebrated its 50th birthday. The Newsweek edition has always been rare and therefore expensive when those copies are found and offered for sale.

8) Together in one collection, the three copies are hard to come by and, if you could find a collector willing to sell all three as a group, the cost would be very significant – well into 4 ($) figures.

9) Rarity  can be evidenced by looking for the big three magazines other editions before or after these Mustang editions on a well-known auction site, they are easy enough to find and go for very cheap prices considering their age. The Mustang editions on the other hand are not that easy to find nor are they cheap.

The magazine covers are very well-known especially the Time magazine and Newsweek editions, all these pictures are from my own collection.

These imagines are not for distribution or copying, no copyright infringement is intended. Where applicable the copyright remains with the owner of the works. I am using the images for fair use to show the editorial coverage of Ford’s historical Mustang launch from the World Trade Fair 1964. Under fair use I believe it’s in the interest of the new generations of Mustang owners and automotive historians to see where it all began. Without tracking down these rare, out of print and now expensive magazines, nobody would be able to appreciate the excitement the Mustang launch caused at the time, in my opinion that would be such a shame to loose such great editorial works. These images are to allow you to read the articles whilst considering their historical importance to the automotive world.

What is less known is what those articles actually said. I have taken a few pics of the Mustang articles, and a small sample of the adverts from each of the magazines of that long bygone era.

Time Magazine – April 17th 1964

The article:

Advertisements from Time Magazine;

The magazine still has the subscription card in place.

Life Magazine – April 17th 1964

The article:

Advertisements from Life Magazine;

Newsweek – April 20th 1964

The article:

Advertisements from Newsweek;

Pocket Guides

Something else just as rare as those editions but much less known which I didn’t know existed is the following pocket guides.

‘Visitor’s Guide to New York City & Long island’.

This little a5 pocket guide is full of vouchers and all sorts of tips for the City, subway map, travel information, services, entertainment and surrounding area.

I just love this little booklet as it’s a snapshot in time of New York in 1964.

The last booklet may have come with Newsweek I believe, other than that I have no idea of its origin;

‘What to wear at the fair and what to do when you get there’.

Another little pocket-sized booklet of only sixteen pages and another insight to the fashion of New York in 1964.

All these magazines and guides are just incredible, it amazes me that the paper has stood up to the ravages of time as these editions were disposable and not intended to be kept.

I hope this enables fellow enthusiasts to be able to read the magazine’s articles in full on the Mustang launch and to see just what all the fuss was about way back in 1964.

You see today’s magazines are also on-line and the world can see them pretty much anytime they want to, so those corresponding magazines are no so unique, apart from owning the physical copy of the paper article what ever it may be. Old comics are collectable because of the paper and limited runs, the paper was the only media type at the time to view them, at that time print was king. So some of the early magazines which were intended to be thrown away are collectable for the same reason. Tickets to events at the time or leaflets were not intended to be kept, and after a few years nobody had them. Move on fifty years, the paper or magazines has been used to start fires or wrapping up delicate items when moving home, so the existing copies become even more scarce. Old news papers are exactly the same idea, worth nothing on the day, try and get a back copy for somebody’s eighteenth birthday and you will have to dig deep to get it, if you can even get it. Off course not all magazines are collectable, which is a bit of a contradiction of what I was just saying I know. But the subject matter will be a key factor for such items will determine their collectability.  Articles, adverts, cigarette cards, stamps, postcards etc. for such big names like, Marilyn Monroe, JFK, Elvis, Henry Ford, Frank Sinatra, Babe Ruth, Abe Lincoln, George Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King, James Dean, Howard Hughes, Al Capone, Walt Disney, The Beatles, Winston Churchill etc. will command high prices because of who they were. It’s rare that a car can have such an impact on this type of collectable market, yet early Mustang adverts, literature, photo’s and so on can demand some good money. At the end of the day most memorabilia is only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it.

Now I have posted this article maybe I have just made people aware of the values for some of the these items and hang onto them, thus making it difficult for collectors like me trying to get a copy of it and if I do find a copy of the cost has just gone up knowing that I want it. I suspect not, as I just one man and his Mustang who likes to collect Mustang things.

So, have I just shot myself in the foot as we tend to say? 🙁

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One Week Later

Back to back car shows where the prior show in Lavenham was rained away, then just seven days later was the weekend of the popular ‘Cars By The Lake’ in Fornham St. Mary, just outside Bury St Edmunds which was being promised nice weather, unlike the previous show. Sunday morning of the show I got up and checked the weather, it was sunny, I checked the app – it said sunny, lastly I asked the wife who said ‘It’s going to be a hot day’. I packed my day’s food, extra drinks, some suntan cream and loaded it all into the car and set of for the half hour drive. This big farm field has a carp lake in the middle of it, hence the name for the show.

I arrived at the road to the main gate and there was a queue already a dozen or so deep, the driveway to the field itself must have held fifty more cars itself. So I just had to sit and wait to get to the front. I was directed to the Bury Retro Car Club stand where they had reserved me a space, and yes I was the last one to the stand.

The club had a dozen or so cars, much more than some of the bigger clubs also at the show. They even had a fully functioning Crown Vic police car next to me. Working lights, siren, speed guns, cameras and bars at the windows.

I had a stream of people talking to me for the first couple of hours while I was gently cleaning the dust of my car, which was really nice. Eventually I managed to sneak of to have a look at the other cars. There was huge variety of cars from pre war to super cars.

Super cars were scattered around from Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini and McLaren. Oh and an old Jordan F1 race car.

There was a nice selection of American classics, perhaps my favourite pic is this one of the old school Mustangs and the new model.

I would still have the old Mustang any day, or maybe tempted by the AC Cobra or GT40 kit cars.

The remaining cars and bikes that took my liking in no particular order, except for the silver Aston Martin that was just gorgeous.

Last year they had over five thousand visitors on the day, I don’t think it was far of that this year, it was busy with a lovely atmosphere too.

An old friend of mine had his Alvis there at the show too, there is no paint job as the outside is just covered with the original leather covering.

The bar was doing well, the food stalls had lots of business and the children’s play area was big hit too. What a difference a week can make. I hate to admit it, but the wife was correct again, who needs Google when I have her? 😉

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Where Time Stands Still

A few weeks ago I was looking for some more local car shows when I stumbled across an advert for Horham Air Base – home to the 95th Bomber Squadron, which is near Diss in Norfolk. One advert said it was a seventy-fifth anniversary of the squadron coming to the UK, on another advert it said there was going to be an Americana Day including a car show too. So I decided that this was an event I wanted to go to, I hadn’t been to the airfield and the theme was American based too. It also means that this was the third day in a row of car related events, I’m lucky to have a very understanding wife! I arrived early and was pointed to where I should park, at that time there was just three of us. I locked the car up and went to have a look around the airbase with its “American museum in the UK” as it has been advertised.

What I wasn’t expecting was people volunteers who were all be dressed in the 40’s clothing and period army uniforms as well. There was plenty of army vehicles parked along the hedges leading to the entrance.

Walking through the narrow entrance was the old style tin huts that were in remarkable condition and beautifully looked after. There was no entrance fee, as the site appeared to be surviving on the donations from the guests on the day. For the moment I pretty much had the place to myself before it officially opened to the public.

Inside the huts there were traders selling their historic items, books and period clothing.

There was a stall where a guy was selling original adverts from magazines, he was also playing the original 78’s to give the place such an authentic feel of the war era. It sort of made me feel humble to be honest to wonder what it must have been like to live here, knowing your next mission could be your last.

Walking from one hut to another was like a rabbit warren that just seemed to go on for miles. There was a bar, dance hall, officers mess and an entrance room/hall with lots of displays and models that was serving tea and coffees. Everything that was on display had a description to it. It would have taken days to read everything.

The little bits I found interesting was the posters and notes stuck to the doors;

There was the museum that wasn’t huge, but it really packed the artefacts in there. The whole area was done with sensitivity for the fallen aircrews and referenced the guys that didn’t make it back from their missions. There were uniforms and photos, personal objects, maps and medals, money and paper work. All just incredible to see with such attention to all the small details that makes a difference.

There was bombs, seats, various parts from the bomber planes along with a mock-up of the rear gunner on the bombers.

I must have spent hours in there because I was getting hungry and more people were coming in, as well as the unmistakable smell of the BBQ that was wafting around outside tormenting me, I just had to treat myself as it was getting near lunchtime now. The place was buzzing and outside the DJ was playing some original 78’s for the guests all sitting around eating and having the odd beer. There was a guy there whose father was in the “Desert Rats” and had dedicated himself to carrying on the stories that his father had passed down to him. The stories he told me about the conditions in the desert were just amazing. He had original rations for the troops, equipment and the uniform too. I hope these memoirs can be retold in years to come. It makes me sad to think that the it could all be forgotten one day.

playing music

The least area to explore and perhaps was my favourite little area, was the Military Police hut. I was in there on my own and I was literally standing in room where time had stood still. Everything was left just how it was back then, almost untouched, even down to the old magazine on the table.

I walked back to the car and found that the field allocated for the show cars had filled up. I would say some of the cars here are better than some official shows that I have been too in the past. The first pic is the early birds with virtually nobody else from the public here.

Some of the other cars that turned up for the day.

A great day on personal point of view, I had a little glimpse back in time to what it was like to live in those days.

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Cars On The Green

Over the weekend I attended perhaps my favourite car show, Cars on the Green in Bury St Edmunds. Sunday morning I looked out the window and there was a tiny few specs of rain. Now I don’t take the car out in the wet in case it shrinks in the water. So I waited for a while before I made the decision to go. I arrived some twenty minutes later and I almost had to put the wipers on and was uttering the odd colourful blue words at the rain. It must have done the trick as the sun showed itself as I pulled in to the show.

There was some great cars there and it’s always a nice atmosphere at this show. I was on the Bury Retro Car Club stand (patch of grass) shared with some great people from the club too. I took up station under a tree unfortunately, which was leaking sap like water through a cheese grater. So much so, that as I was sending a message to my wife I could feel the sap on the phone screen.

I always give the car a quick spray with some ‘quick detailer’ to take off the dust from the road just so the car looks her best while on show. With the sap falling like it was, I decided not to touch the paint in case I damaged it. Yes, I always carry (a lot) cleaning products, but in the location where I was it would have pointless to try to keep clean. So with a heavy heart I let the car get dirty, well what I call dirty anyway. 🙁

The public was allowed into the show from ten in the morning onwards, it was great to see lots of Dads on Father’s Day with their little ones for the day. I think I may have spotted the odd spouse or two who was, erm – not into cars should we say! I started my slow stroll around the massive venue and took some pictures of the cars that caught my eye. I tried to limit myself for the number of pictures otherwise it’s just picture overload. I will start with some UK cars which are starting to command some quite serious money now.

Then some good old American Muscle.

The Cars on the Green show is classed show for all cars, classics, modern, vans, trucks, modified and new, all of which were well represented. On a side note I have spotted over the last few shows that I have attended, there are a few almost new cars creeping into the classic car events. Now I am petrol head and love cars, so if somebody wants to show their car then fine with me. But, what is the point of taking a two-year old Volvo (example car), that is plain standard stock and parking it next to a genuine classic car. Perhaps that is such a controversial thing to say, and I certainly don’t want to offend anybody. I can sort of understand it, the car show scene is full of great people who always seem to help each other out when another car is in trouble.

Perhaps when the organisers of the events say “classic car show” the cars should be at least fifteen years old? What do you think? That way I can get to see more of the old cars that I personally go to see. I really hope that I haven’t upset anybody with that statement, it wasn’t my intention to do so. Perhaps I need to wind my neck in?

Back to this show, there was a couple of live bands and singers, fairground rides for the children, plenty of food stands and stalls for all things cars and couple of random ones as well nothing to do with cars. Lots of people turned up for the day along with a number of seriously well-behaved dogs too.

Perhaps my favourite pic? This one, where the Land Rover stand had an electric toy version of their vehicles for sale. This little lady just loved it and the guys all to their credit let her stay in it for a while. Well done guys, I think they made that little girl’s day.

After my walk around I sat back in the comfy chair and watched the world go by and had some great conversations with people I have been talking to via email; hi Simon!

I can’t wait for this weekend as it might be two shows, Saturday and the Sunday.

If it doesn’t rain of course.

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