And We’re Off…

My first car show of the year was greeted with bright sunshine, virtually no clouds and a very relaxing drive to get there. The show was at Kersey Mill about thirty miles away from me. This show tends to be pretty much anything goes but is mostly classic cars.

I was running a bit late as I had to stop and get some fuel, I’m currently using Shell V-Power as it’s a premium fuel and not much ethanol in it. If I use supermarket fuel I get knocking and the car really doesn’t like it, runs lumpy and doesn’t like to idle very well. I arrived at the venue about thirty minutes before the show actually started and all the cars were pretty much in place. The public was already wandering around so me and number of other stragglers turning up late had to drive carefully. I had booked in to the show so that I could be with the club I’m in which is called the Bury Retro Car Club. I asked where they were by the stewards and asked to be with them. Due to some ‘Health & Safety issues’ allocated area was full so I had to park up in the middle section which turned out to be a great spot. I wasn’t complaining as the sun was shinning and it wasn’t overcast or raining. To top it all the atmosphere was really nice and the visitors were all in a good mood.

The grounds of Kersey Mill are very photogenic making wondering around the cars and grounds a very enjoyable laid back stroll, I even got to pet a few dogs too, more on those little guys later.

Where my car was parked was near the burger van and the smell was driving me crazy, burgers and bacon rolls wafting their delicious smells my way. My shop bought cheese and onion sandwich just didn’t cut it for me this time when I eventually sat back down with the car.

The down side of where I had been told to park was that the cars which were passing created little dust plumes; by the end of the day my car was covered in a fine layer of grey dust.

I started to wander around in no particular order, there was the front entrance to something or other, but I wasn’t sure what.

Then walked over the little bridge into the fields either side of the long driveway.

I spotted a club with a few Mustangs lurking in their midst.

The original horse power; I really like this picture, but I’m not sure why I do though.

The last field for a few more cars where I should have been parked with the car club.

Last, but not least was the dogs out for the day. They were all very well behaved and I didn’t see any bad tempered dogs all day. The little guy on the bottom right I asked the owner if I could stroke him, he was such a nice natured dog he just wanted me to play and looked sad when I eventually walked away.

That’s the first show done and dusted, literally I think I took most of the car park back home with me. It took me a good hour or so to gently remove the dust before I put the car away in the garage. With such a good start to the show season lets hope the nice weather continues. 🙂

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Helmingham Hall 2021 (part 3)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Craig took a few more pictures of my car;

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

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

Craig captured a few for me too;

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

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

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

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Culford Car Show 2021 (part 1)

A couple of years ago there was a great car show inside a walled garden at Elevedon. Due to the Covid pandemic it was cancelled last year. The show got some great feedback and demand for places was high. It was clear this year it would need to be moved to a new venue; Culford School in Suffolk. Culford is a private school and quite exclusive for those with plenty of money. This year’s event was held in collaboration with the ‘Teenage Cancer Trust’. This show has jumped pretty near the top for my favourite car shows, with the much larger and beautiful grounds of Culford. I took over one hundred and eighty pictures on the day so I will split this show’s coverage into two halves.

The weather was due to be hot all weekend and I woke up Sunday morning with a huge smile as the sun was out. It was going to be the hottest day of the year so far peaking at 30 deg cel. This poses other issues to classic car owners – will it over heat and other such terrifying questions.

I packed lots of of drinks and and the wife told me to also pack a dog bowl and some water for the dogs at the show if they are out for the day in the heat. Initially I thought she was mad, but thinking about it, the dogs do get dragged around in the heat with their tongues hanging out. So I thought why not (we are massive dog lovers with two little guys of our own), we don’t want to see any dog to overheat.

The drive there was calm and collected, easy to get after a thirty minute drive. Pulling into the school gate the were speed humps. Not ideal as I know that my exhaust headers sit quite low. The first hump caught my attention with the scrap of metal even though I was going slow.

The rest were taken at snails pace to allow the car to gently go over them. Funny enough on the way out I scrapped the same hump, so that one must have been a tiny bit higher. The grounds of the event are beautifully kept, almost film set quality.

As you can see from the queue of cars waiting to get in there was indeed a few cars that had broken down.

Halfway along the drive there was a little church for the school.

Pulling into the main area of the school where some had already parked up, I believe these were allocated spots.

I showed my pass to the organisers for ‘Area A’ and was told to follow the Jag XKR to a parking location. We had to drive across a field and we were all pointed to some trees. I wasn’t best impressed thinking about the tree sap and potential bird stuff landing on the car. In fact a few cars parked up behind us and were asked to move forward a bit. They tried but wouldn’t start up again, a TVR and a VW Beetle with a Porsche engine bolted in the back having the worst of the trouble and were pushed forward a few feet. The heat

I got out and spoke to the Jag guys who turned out to be great company all day. We had a quick chat about the trees, the impending hot weather, they pointed out that at least we are in the shade. Point taken and and all was good with me again. Sap and stuff would have to be tolerated, for now. The car that also followed me parked up and everybody got busy with dusting over their cars to make them look good.

Looking forwards I could see the expanse of the fields and car that were going to be there.

I now honestly think that our spaces were the best there.

Not forgetting what the wife told me, once I had finished cleaning my car the dog bowl was out.

As it turned out I topped up the bowl twice and I was pleased to see that there weren’t that many dogs there, hopefully being kept cool at home.

After the exhausting work of quick detailing the car in the rising temperatures I got my chair out and had a little rest, it was then that I decided that my car really does have a nice rear end. Biased comment to say I know, a little biased here (OK a lot), but in the shade with a little sunlight glinting of it, I think it looked pretty good.

I’m gonna jump the sequence of the day a little bit for a very good reason. After I got back from my wander round I had two little guys take an interest in my car with their parents. They were well behaved and very polite and credit to their parents.

So let me introduce you to ‘Christopher’ and ‘Ollie’. (I think that I spelt the name right, I did try to find them again later on to check, but I couldn’t see them.)

So guys if I have spelt your name wrong, please let me know and I will update it for you straight away.

They little guys wanted to sit in the car so I agreed and they took turns in the drivers seat. I didn’t manage grab a pic at that time. But, they also asked to sit in the back. Now as that was a real first for me – I thought – why not? In you get again boys. Now you’re famous. 😀

As with all these little things, it made my day. I hope to see you little guys again.

Back to the sequence of the day; After a little sit down and a rest I decided to go for a walk and have a look round for some pictures. There was some pretty average cars there and on the other hand some great cars, on neither hand, quite a few I had seen and posted on my little ol’ blog before.

A little gathering of some UK fords right near my parking zone. Note the flaked out dog by the Granada in the shade.