Culford Car Show ’24 (part 2)

My wanderings around the show was about halfway round now. It was now around lunch time and the public was still coming into the show. I did spot that some of the cars arriving were also classics which were being parking up in the public areas, and getting their own attention amidst the see of Euro wind tunnel designed boxes. This car show is always fully booked and you need to get in early, or at least be a member of a car club.

My car of the show is this beautifully stored Willys Jeep, not for the paint job or rarity. The owners attention to detail was evident throughout. I wanted to drive it home and that is what matters to me for picking my car of the show.

The rest of the show needed to be explored, but first the collection of Mustangs:

There was a Lotus restorers there with some amazing cars.

I eventually got back to my car and the urge for food was greater than ever due to the many other food stalls now fired up. There was the more generic ‘craft’ style stalls there as well.

The show was due to finish at three thirty in the afternoon with show cars being allowed to move at three.

With my issue of having not a lot of fuel I was watching where the public were leaving, and where I could cut into the queue as near the exit as possible. Again this was round the back of the school on a single track so the wait was around ten minutes to get out. I made the point of leaving just after three in order to miss the traffic jam. Eventually I got to the roads and headed back home. I did arrive home with the fuel gauge showing empty. I suspect there was more in the tank, but you can’t be sure in these old cars. I didn’t want to be held up just in case. I do carry a spare fuel can in the trunk. However, it’s not full as the hot weather can make the fuel expand and the fuel has a shelf life anyway. I will need to get some fuel before the show, so that will be via a Jerry can, enough to get me to the petrol station and fill up properly.

The weather? It was mostly cloudy with the odd breakthrough of sun. Not enough for the factor fifty, but at least there was no rain.

A great show as always, well organised but they do need to sort out the entry and access delays.

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Culford Car Show ’24 (part 1)

This year the Rotary Classic Car Show at Culford was held on 14th July 2024 and is one of the biggest in the East Anglia area with over six hundred cars on show. I really enjoy this show and is always booked up well in advance for both entrants as well as stall holders. The setting is located in a private school grounds and only takes about thirty minutes for me to get there. In fact it took longer to drive down the access road than it did to arrive at the venue. There were delays getting to the display area as there a speed bumps and some low riders were having trouble getting over them. As I didn’t see many at the show for a few cars that had issues they could have driven over the grass at the sides of the path. In fact my car’s long headers do hang pretty low, so I too have to be careful and always take speed humps slowly. The ground was dry and wouldn’t have damaged the grounds. The drive to the main display field is always a pleasant experience.

Eventually I was pointed to the Bury Retro Car Club stand where I parked up and got out to chat to few friends who were there before me. After the exchange of banter I got back to the car to give it a little wipe over before I started my wanderings round the show.

First things first the car club was parked near some food stands and I thought I would treat myself to a nice sausage roll. That would have been fine if I had remembered to bring my wallet. This was a problem in itself as I also needed to get some fuel on the way home as the fuel gauge was now lower than it’s usually allowed to get. As there wasn’t going to be a fuel stop now the drive home was going to be a steady gentle drive home. The weather was promising to be dry all day although the cloud cover was coming over with patches of sun.

The plan was to start on one side and work across the field, I started with the club stand itself:

The only thing I will group in part 2 will be the Mustangs that were at the show. In order to save huge amounts of photos, I tried to take a more multi car shots without loosing the details of the cars.

At the end of the first row there was a Ferrari stand with some beautiful examples on show.

A modern an increasingly rare car that I still have a very, very big soft spot for them.

The public was getting very busy and I managed to grab these couple of shots before the general public came in as the event opened at ten o’clock.

There is much more to come from this show in part 2.

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Culford Car Show – Pro Shoot

Going back a few weeks I was at the Culford Car Show which is one of the biggest in the area which I always enjoy. I took plenty of pictures and spread them across two posts. My photo’s come out pretty much OK on my trusty Samsung S23 Ultra, but they are not perfect like a proper digital camera and quality lenses.

At the show I got talking to a couple of photographers; Matthew Filby and Emily Silkstone who stopped by my car. They showed an interest in my car we had a really nice chat and they took a number of photos and offered to send them to me. True to their word they have done just that and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. I have only just gotten round to making this post of great their work. In return for their kindness and photos, I said I would be more than happy to give them a shout out to their social medias.

Matthew Filby: His Instagram account can be found here, @matthewfilby

Emily Silkstone: Her Instagram account can be found here, @stoneandlightmedia

Her Facebook account can be found here, @stoneandlightmedia

Please pop over and see some more of their great work and give them a like and follow.

Thanks to Matthew for allowing me to use the these photos he had taken below.

Thanks also go out to Emily for allowing me to use the photos she had taken below.

Again a really big ‘Thank You‘ to Matthew and Emily who have both taken some great shots of my car which I don’t post up that often. I really do appreciate you sending them over.

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Culford Car Show 2023 (part 2)

The sky had started to turn a nasty shade of dark grey in the distance and the air felt cooler, although the sun was trying to stay out. But as yet still no rain, but it didn’t look good. I started off on my wander round again, picking up where I left off just after the Ferraris corner taking the rest of the photos. As this was a ‘Classic’ car show, I didn’t bother to take photos of cars that were only five or ten years old, all of which can be seen in any super market car park doing a weekly shop. I have one question; why? I can understand an exotic car sports car, but your dad’s taxi just doesn’t do it for me.

With the wind still blowing around I was glad I wasn’t under the trees this time. I could see the sap on the paint on some of these lovely cars.

It was a busy as the day even as the day wore on, although the grey sky looming ominously closer might have put people of, it didn’t.

This F350 nearly got my vote of the day, I think it was the biggest vehicle there.

My blog wouldn’t be complete without a grouping of Mustangs, old and new.

Marts Car Of The Show:

This stunning 1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT.

I eventually got back to my car for a sit down and a well deserved rest after all the walking. I spoke to really nice people throughout the day. Including a couple who had their own photography business who I hope will get in contact with me. After a few minutes it happened, a few spots of rain. The reaction was quite funny to see, the car owners rush to wind windows up and shut soft top roofs, me included. The few spots only lasted for a couple of minutes then the sun came out. The rain drops had disappeared within a few minutes as the still warm cars along with the welcome return of the sun and the continuing light breeze helped the process of evaporation.

As I was talking to my friends back at the car, a ‘Health & Safety’ marshal came round and told us that the way out would be the way we came in, but not to move before three thirty, which was around two hours away. It got to three pm and few cars fired up, the marshals tried to stop them, but they carried on. A few minutes later there was a number of cars firing up ready to go, me included as I didn’t want to get caught in the queue of traffic to get out, maybe it might rain again. I think a lot of people had the same idea.

I pulled up home and gave the car a quick wipe over before I put her away in the garage and covered her up. All this rushing around and it didn’t rain anymore for the day. I was happy as it was a great show, chatting to wonderful people and catching up with great friends again. Looking forward to next year already for another really well run car show.

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Culford Car show 2023 (part 1)

One of the bigger car shows in the area is held at Culford School which is independent school with boarding options. The school will take all ages as long as you have the money and its not cheap with prices in the tens of thousands – per year. The grounds are impressive with lots of space to hold a car show, although the cars were not allowed to be parked at the front of the school this year. The entry to the event requires cars arrive before eight thirty in the morning, with the show ending at three thirty in the afternoon. So an early start was on the cards, but not to early as the venue was only about twenty minutes away for me. The only trouble was on the way there I realised that I had left my wallet at home, my plan for for a bacon roll went out the window. My excuse was that it was to early to think straight.

I took around three hundred photos on the day so my phone ran out of battery, probably because I didn’t put it on charge the night before. My excuse was it was to late in the night when I went to bed and I wasn’t thinking straight. But, I did already pack my portable power bank the night before in the cool bag pocket, perhaps I should of done that with my wallet. Some of the photos were taken in the morning, then after some lunch with an hour or so charge on the phone got me some power so I could take the rest of the photos. I had about two hundred and sixty of photos that didn’t have people walking in front of the cars or looking directly at the camera with stupid looks on their faces. To save a huge scrolling post, I thought I would split across two posts.

For something a little different for my car show posts in the future, I had an idea to pick my favourite car of the show. There’s no criteria, no pre conceptions, no categories and no prizes, just bragging rights that the car that caught my eye was the best there in my opinion, apart from my own of course.

I arrived at eight twenty(ish) with virtually no queue to get in, but it was little stop start in the grounds as the cars were being directed to the locations.

I asked where the Bury Retro Car Club was and was directed to the stand and parked up. The club had booked plenty of spaces and had two rows. I parked up trunk to trunk with a friend of mine who has a number of cars, this time he bought his ’65 Coupe. I got out had a quick chat and started to wipe over the car and remove the road dust. The weather was a bit windy and stayed blustery all day, although the wind was supposed to have died the night before, with no rain forecast.

I will start with the car club cars, as that was where I was standing.

I wandered up the lines and and back down each side.

There was a nice selection of UK ‘Fast Fords’ on show, most of these cars ended up in a ditch, wrapped around a tree or they just couldn’t be given away. Now they are commanding some pretty strong money.

There was an area of super cars including this 1,400bhp GT-R with a parachute.

There was a couple of Fiat Dino there. Contrary to popular belief they are not Ferraris by brand, although designed by Pininfarina and built by Ferrari. The brand Dino was Ferrari’s lower cost sports car that had the mid engined V6. The V12 engines were reserved for the prestige Ferraris’s of the time. this was Enzo Ferrari not wanting to diminish the Ferraris brand. Enzo didn’t want to produce the car but he relented to fight with the Lamborghini Miura at the time. These cars are now accepted as Ferrari although they are not badged as such.

There was a good turn out of proper Ferraris in one corner of the field.

It was about this time that the phone needed a recharge so I headed back to my car for some refreshments. I will post up the second part in few days with ‘Mart’s Car Of The Show’ to be revealed.