Helmingham Hall Car Show 2026 (part 2)

Part two of the Festival of Classic and Sports Cars at Helmingham Hall, takes us into the privateer field on the other side of the hall. After taking in some liquid refreshments and a few calories Craig and I set off to find some more nice cars. This was the view that greeted us as we emerged from the tea and cake. It was reported that there was 1,200 cars and 8,000

The cars that parked up on the Tollemache area are here, it was a relentless sea of people swarming around the cars.

There is a red Lamborghini Countach here which is in fact a replica or tribute car as they tend to be known as now days. It was interesting to hear the people saying that it’s a real one, a simple look under the mid engined hood would see a v8 and not the glorious V12. Don’t get me wrong it’s a beautiful looking car, but the real thing wasn’t allowed on the Tollemache, more on that a little later in this post.

As the privateer field was not a club stand field, it was divided up into into various decades. Sixties, seventies, eighties etc. Although looking at the mixture of cars, it looked to be good intentions for organisation, but it didn’t work flawlessly. The field was full, but as we got out around two thirty some of the cars were leaving early, so we missed a few of them, nothing spectacular was missed.

Each of these little galleries was supposed to be the decade, but I have just left them in the order of walking up and lines of cars which was a little chaotic at times it has to be said.

This poor chap was having issues with his car, but what was nice to see is a number of people that gathered around him to help out. It was refreshing to see regardless of the make of the vehicle, people were helping out. I did hear some dubious suggestions for the potential problem not used to old school carburettors, but also some very valid next steps for trouble shooting.

In the previous post I mentioned that there was an issue with the Tollemache entrants area. As we pulled into the event’s main gate there was a car in front of us who was clearly trying to blag his way into the Tollemache. It was quite obvious that he hadn’t booked so wasn’t allowed to park up which was a good thing, but that left a problem the marshals who couldn’t turn him back down the drive. They had to work out where to send him as he wasn’t on a club stand either. Due to this person’s attempts to get somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be, it caused a queue of traffic behind him, that’s me included and load of others who were getting a bit frustrated. This guy had clearly paid to get on the Tollemache and had his ticket in the windscreen, but wasn’t allowed to park at the Tollemache for what ever reason, these privileged tickets ain’t cheap and I hope he got his money back. This Lambo is the real deal.

With the field completed it was time to head back to the car, but via some of the gardens. The gardens were busy and we decided not to go all round them. Such a shame that the heat has ruined the lush greenery and vibrant colours of the flowers.

There was some stalls, but no autojumble which was a bit shocking to be honest, after all this is a car show. There was home made jewellery, cakes and some artworks you could buy should you need to. I had taken some cash with me as I wanted to buy some detailing products and a few microfibre cloths, but no I couldn’t which was typical. There was no car oil stalls, car parts for the rest of us petrol heads, such a prestigious event like this I was expecting more car related stalls. However there was one car stall, but it was the Hot Wheels type. Outside one stall there was this lovely ol’ thing, I have no idea what it is and would genuinely love for somebody to tell me what it is, apart from stating the obvious of being old.

Mart’s Car Of The Show.

This is an MG Y (I think) from 1952. I don’t know why this caught my eye, it was battered and well used which was the appeal to me, a 1250cc or 76.3ci for my friends on the other side of the pond. This was in the club stand field with the MGs. A great little car with plenty of character that I bet could tell a story or two.

We took a another well earned break and done some mandatory people watching. I had one guy stop by to say hello and I couldn’t place him. We got to talking and it turned out that he was a neighbour over the road from me who had seen my car way back when as a wreck being worked on up my drive before it was stored at Mustang Maniac where I could work on it properly. Matt and I reminisced for a while and caught up on what we had been doing since we had lost touch. I said that I would mention on my post that Matt has a really good app that I do use called ‘Shaboodle’ link here and this is not a sponsored plug by the way. It’s a great (secure) app for storing all sorts of information, car details, documents, itinerary etc. all in one place online or via the app. I like it so you may want to check it out.

I mentioned that Lee is a good friend of Craig’s and I have gotten to know him as too meeting up at the car shows. He, like Craig is a keen photographer with a good eye for a shot. As I pulled into the event making my way down the drive I slowed right down as Craig had spotted Lee who appeared right on cue to take an action shot of us coming up the drive. It was now my turn to hold the traffic up as you can see behind me! The difference was I only stopped for a few seconds. Lee sent me these cracking photo’s and I said I would also give him a shout out for his Instagram: s2kathome or the link here https://www.instagram.com/s2kathome/ again this is not a sponsored mention.

I especially love this shot.

Once I had parked up Lee had taken these as well.

Thanks for letting me use the photos Lee.

Although there was 1,200 or so cars there, I was a little selective and hope I captured the spirit of the show. So, that was Helmingham Hall all done for another year, a great show as ever, well organised and it was nice to have some company with me for a change at a car show, now I’m looking forward to next year.

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Helmingham Hall Car Show 2026 (part 1)

The biggest car show I attend and my favourite took place last weekend at Helmingham Hall, or to give the show it’s full title ‘Festival of Classic and Sports Cars’. The show was booked up for 1,200 cars with the expected foot fall of 8,000 people. I think it was a little more than that as it was properly wedged with people all day. This show my mate Craig was coming with me and we made a time to leave my house at eight in the morning, an early start for Craig. We loaded the car up and set off bang on time and took a leisurely drive to the event. My ticket was Tollemache 110 which means we have nice parking spot in from of the hall and lunchtime tea and cake. We parked up and we got a waft of bacon. That prompted a mission to go find some breakfast, we didn’t have to travel far to find a hotdog stall, we got a couple which was £7 each or the best part of $10 dollars! That’s just a a rip off I’m afraid, but demand will command the price. I paid it so I can’t complain, but it was a good start to the day for sure. We booked our time for tea and cake and caught up with another friend Lee and his daughter who had an MX5 who was also on the Tollmache area and was going to do a run down the main driveway and back again for crowd entertainment which is always popular part of the day.

The event is split into two fields, to the left of the hall is the club stands, and to the right is the privateers on display. We decided to check out the club stands first. This was taken early before the public were allowed in and shows the hall and some of the cars for the Tollemache. The fields are brown and no green grass as half of the UK is now in ‘drought’ conditions with hosepipe bans everywhere. The dry fields is a nightmare for dust in the air but I somehow coped with the stress of the dust!

Due to number of cars I have taken pictures of many cars together to save umpteen scrawling pages, I decided to split the show into two parts with around one hundred and seventy photos on each post, just to make it easier on the eye. With the sun being so bright I tried to get the best pics I could without glare.

Of course there was a Mustang stand, but not a single old school classic Mustang on their stand sadly.

More American Muscle.

The first few pics here are of a genuine Lamborghini Countach, this is relevant for a couple of cars a little bit later on.

We finished the field as the announcements for the driveway run were announced. Lee was due to be up first but a unmarked police car went first, yes I did make a note of the number plate! Here we have Lee in his car being interviewed before he set off and made his return back up the drive.

I’m not quite sure what Lee has done to his car, but it sounds like a flat four boxer engine or even a V8. Regardless it sounded pretty good with a pop and bang overrun compared to most MX5s.

I only have a my Samsung phone so the zoom is a little pixelated on the way back up the drive (sorry Lee), but a few action shots of him anyway.

The start of the driveway run was perfect timing as we were now at the top of the drive and near my car. We watched the cars, me from the top and Craig wandered a bit further down to get some head on shots. After the runs, I needed to put more sun screen on as I was getting hot and get a cold drink was needed. Craig, Lee and his daughter wandered of to get some food which allowed this poor ol’ timer to sit his ass down and take that well earned drink and rest! Craig got back looking pleased with himself holding a nice pot of noodles. We ate our food while we people watched for half an hour or so before we went for our tea and cake in the courtyard.

The area for the refreshments is in a quiet little courtyard with a dozen or so table spaced out for little peace and quiet from the ‘car’nage (see what I did there) of people walking around. We found some shaded area and enjoyed our cakes, mine was a Cherry Madeira and Craig had a full on triple chocolate job. As I don’t drink tea or coffee, as I don’t like the taste of either, Craig had my tea as well.

Part two will be tomorrow at the same time where I name my car of the show, and have some great shots of my car. The second field walk around to look at the privateers.

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Helmingham Hall Car Show 2025 (part 2)

Continuing on from part one of this car show series at Helmingham Hall, Craig and I still had many lines of cars which now seemed to have no logical alignment due to the number of cars as I mentioned previously. By no means a criticism, I just think they had more than they catered for, which means more lovely machinery for us to look at.

We worked our way up the decade assigned rows in ascending order, towards the two thousand’s line I didn’t take that many photos, as to be honest there wasn’t anything really special, well maybe the the odd one or two which did catch my eye.

The timeless beauty of the Aston Martin Vantage – I may start a go fund me page to buy one of these, anybody want to start me of with a donation?

Maybe a crowd funded Chevy Camaro SS, again beautiful.

Did I mention a crowd fund for a Dodge Charger R/T? Stunning.

I remember these Lotus cars quite clearly as it was all the rage to have the JPS – John Player Special (cigarette manufacturers) livery on the Lotus cars which was made famous by the legend of Ayrton Senna. Today it’s unthinkable to have such livery on a car, shame because it was such an iconic brand.

A classic black Formula 1 car with a distinctive gold 'John Player Special' livery, driven by Ayrton Senna on a racetrack.

We found Craig’s mate’s MX5, so I couldn’t resist a checky business card on his screen.

As I mentioned before this field is for the individual entries of which there was a few Mustangs dotted around. There was an anniversary Bullitt which is supposed to be quite rare, but more on that in part 3 when I get to the Mustang stand.

Back to the other modern cars in the lines.

At the far end of the field was a section dedicated for the army vehicles.

The time was now a quarter to one, so we made our way back to the Hall’s courtyard for the tea and cakes. On the way we passed John Grose of Ipswich who had a stand just to the side of the T110 section. On their stand was a Mustang Dark Horse which turns out a rather nice 500bhp from factory. The 0 to 60mph time is a mare 4.1 seconds! That’s right up there with many super cars and almost hyper car levels of performance.

A modern Ford Mustang parked on green grass at a car show, with people and tents in the background.

On the John Grose stand next to Dark Horse they had a more eco friendly Ford electric model and other makes of cars to fill the spaces.

All of this while being serenaded by the brass band playing Star Wars and other theme tunes.

A brass band performing under a tent in a park, surrounded by an audience. Musicians are playing various instruments, while some audience members watch from a distance.

A couple of minutes later we were at the main entrance, crossed over the little moat bridge into the courtyard. I turned around to look back out to the fields.

The courtyard was eerily quiet, no hustle and bustle of people. We had a choice of cakes which were hand made and rather scrumptious, I could easily have demolished a couple more slices. Craig chose his cup of tea to go with his chocolate cake, I had the raspberry ripple. I don’t drink tea or coffee for no other reason than I don’t like the taste of them, never have. I asked for a cold drink if they had any, my option was a cup of water that they used to boil and make the tea with or nothing. I took the kind offer of the cup of water.

We sat and ate our cakes and just relaxed for half an hour or so. The little tables were spread out around the court yard far enough apart that we didn’t have to listen to anybody else, in fact the silence was quite tranquil.

A quick pic of craig doing his thing before the crowds got going.

A blue 1966 Ford Mustang parked on a grassy area with a historic brick building in the background, where people are admiring vehicles at a car show.

Here is that photo he took above.

A vintage blue Ford Mustang parked on green grass, with a historic building in the background.

In part three we go back out to the other field where the club stands are, more Mustangs, and my car of the show.

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Helmingham Hall Car Show 2024 – (Part 2)

After lots of walking around the club stand field and watching the exhibition runs, we wandered over to the privateer field. There was a Ford main dealer showing some cars and some food stalls. We decided to go back to my car for a regroup and something to eat and drink as the smell of the food had made me hungry. There was a brass band hiding under a tree near the main dealers who were playing movie themes and other popular tunes while the audience were eating hotdogs and their burgers. There was no order to these photo’s, except for the rows were arranged by decades. We just wandered up and down the rows taking photo’s of the cars we liked. There was lot of modern cars there which looked just like a Tesco car park, so we sort of ignored those. A four of five year old Jaguar or Toyota doesn’t make a classic car show for me. But, there was some fantastic cars parked up, including some regular cars that I recognised from other shows.

A couple of my all time favourites, The Audi Coupe for the daily and the Aston Vantage for the weekend.

We were working our way back to our car’s location and ready for another quick refreshment before the next and final walk around.

This old Ford even had candles for a light.

My car of the show was this quite rare Porsche Carrera GT.

WE got back to the car and sat around for a while just chatting and people watching. Then we felt it, a few drop of rain and the sky looking a little greyer than earlier. We had a great day wandering around and decided to go before the rain started. A few others had the same idea as us and we got out without any hold ups.

Craig took this photo as we wandered back to the car.

I took this just before we left.

We left and the rain wasn’t quite enough to warrant the wipers, and the steady drive home on the main roads made the rain evaporate quickly enough and the roads were fairly dry. I wiped the car over quickly during a dry spell and managed to get the car in the dry with the dehumidifier on to dry out any damp bits on the car.

Thanks to Craig for his photos and the good company as ever. I hope I didn’t bore you with so many photos over the last two posts.

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Helmingham Hall Car Show 2024 – (Part 1)

One of the biggest car shows that I attend is this show, Helmingham Hall. The show was on the 4^th August 2024, once again I had the pleasure of my good friend Craig (another total petrol head) to join me. The day was an early rise for Craig who had to travel from the next county to my house which was around forty minutes including his fuel stop. He assures me that he was within the speed limits all the way. We uncovered my car in the garage and packed our cool bags into the trunk along with his camera and chair. I set up the SatNav and backed the car out. We set off for the show and enjoyed a peaceful steady trip to the show, until we got to the usual traffic snarl up at the entrance. We wasn’t on the show stand like previous years so we had to park with the other private entrants in a field on the other side of the main driveway which goes up to the hall. We had a pretty good spot to be honest and parked up. The weather was looking good and the app promised to hold that way for the rest of the day.

As this is such a big show the event will have to be covered in two parts with a lot of photos on each. I took well into six hundred photos on the day. Some were unusable as I had managed to put my grubby fingers on the lenses on the back of my phone. Soft focus filter wasn’t what I was after.

We got the chairs out for little refreshment and a sit down before we summoned the energy to start the walk around this huge show. We decided to start on the stalls before they got busy. We needn’t have bothered as most of them were not car related. I was little gutted about that as I wanted to buy some 20W – 50 engine oil. But, I could buy some pot plants, hats or some home made jewellery and fudge! There was only one car related stall there which was for a alloy wheel refurb company, that was it.

We got to the main area at the front of the hall where you can pay the extra to park and get some afternoon tea in the cost of the entrance. These were the cars from that area.

As we were about to move onto the club stand field, a Countach could be heard arriving to join the area.

These are Craig’s photos of the same cars which are so much better than mine.

The Clubs stands didn’t seem to have the wow factor for some reason this year. There was some nice cars there, ironically on the stand that we normally park on.

Simply Mustangs stand was mainly the more modern iterations of the Mustang, with plenty of orange.

More of Craig’s photos of the club stands.

It was a busy day with cars parking up in the public car park throughout the day, and lots of people.

The display cars are split in to two halves either side of a main driveway up to the hall itself. Clubs stands to the left and the private entrants to the right. At the end of the club stands the the main drive way has an exhibition of cars that drive up and down. We stopped to watch the first showing which usually take around half hour or so.

Craig was taking a number of photo’s and messing around with photography settings, I’m not sure what it all meant to be honest, even though his explanation authoritative, it was toned down to his audience, me. He was trying to get the wheels moving while stopping the cars. It was nice to see the cars rolling and not driving at the same time. I could enjoy them, some where brutal sounding like the American muscle and the Aston Martin, the others were just poodling along enjoying the scenery .

After the exhibition runs we wandered into the privateer field where I had parked up, which we will cover in Part 2. There were much nicer cars on that side and plenty to look at.

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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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Mustang Convoy To Helmingham Hall

The second of a two show weekend was held at Helmingham Hall, another very big and well supported car show, this show is aimed at the car enthusiast more than a simple family day out. There was talk of this show being a let down due to the very well advertised second day for the Festival of Wheels which was being held as well in a similar location. This beautiful building is so well photographed it’s hard to take something a little different. It was a perfect day for a car show too.

I was supposed to meet up at around eight in the morning with the rest of the Mustang going to the show. Unfortunately one of our dogs decided to do a Houdini special on me and disappear down the road. This obviously meant that I was going to play silly chase with the little guy, which in turn made me late. I eventually caught him after couple of minutes and the walk of shame back home. I jumped in the Mustang and set off for the show. At the turning I supposed to meet the guys they were all on there way out and I was flagged down to join them. What a result. There was about thirty Mustangs all in convoy. All be it only four including mine were classic Mustangs. As we pulled into the show ground I managed to grab a picture of the cars in front and some of those that followed me into the show ground.

Simply Mustangs had a great showing and looked pretty impressive.

There was such a diverse range of cars on show I selected just some of the ones I liked best. On a post like this there is not much need for lots of words, the pictures do the talking.

I was very pleased that I went to this show instead of the Festival of Wheels as it was so much bigger, better organised and much busier.

Thanks to the Simply Mustangs UK on Facebook for letting join them and making me feel very welcome.

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Helmingham Hall Car Show 2017 (Part 3)

With such a big show at Helmingham Hall I managed to take over three hundred photos, half of which I have posted on these last few posts. This is the last of those whittled down selection of photos. I enjoyed the show and spoke to some great people, and saw some great cars too. So to finish up, and in no particular order, more cars.

Then of course there is the original bad ass Dodge Viper V10.

Another all time favourite car of mine is this beautiful Aston Martin V8 Vantage, another poster that was on my bedroom wall as a kid.

It’s not very often that you see real nice Lamborghini Countach at a show, then I spotted another at the show, this is a rare beast in a right hand drive. I was spoilt for cars at this show, some great Fords both UK & USA; Mustangs, Thunderbird, Escorts, Sierra Cosworth, Capri, Trucks etc.

I just had to finish with more close up of my car, I think it’s only fair though.

During the day I walked past the limited number of stalls that were there, nothing official from the brand names though. For once I didn’t buy anything, I had made my purchases at Waxstock a couple of weeks ago, but I now have a review of my new favourite quick detailer from Chemical Guys, click here or go to the Car Detailing Reviews menu at the top to see other reviews. From the pic above you can see why I am pleased with the results.

I haven’t forgotten about the semi pro pics of my car by the way. I will make a separate post of those pics on another small post soon, once I get them ready that is.

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Helmingham Hall Car Show 2017 (Part 1)

Sunday just gone I visited one of my favourite car shows at Helmingham Hall in the heart of the Suffolk countryside. Once a year for one day the hall opens its vast grounds to us petrol (gear) heads to show of our pride and joys. I managed to take lots of photos but I managed to break it down to under two hundred photos, including the ones of the hall which I am quite pleased with.

A little about the hall which is a moated manor house in Helmingham, Suffolk, England. It was begun by John Tollemache in 1480 and has been owned by the family ever since. The house is built around a courtyard in typical late medieval/Tudor style. The house is listed Grade 1 on the National Heritage List for England, and its park and formal gardens are also Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. The present Helmingham Hall may have been initially constructed in 1510 on the site of an earlier house called Creke Hall. The exterior was altered between 1745–1760, again in 1800 by John Nash, and in 1840. The original half-timbered walls have been concealed by brick and tiles. The house is surrounded by a moat 60 feet wide, over which it is reached only by two working drawbridges, which have been pulled up every night since 1510. These were originally operated with a windlass but in recent years this has been replaced by an electric motor. The house is not open to the public and Helmingham is best known for its fine garden, which is open on a regular basis. It is a semi-formal mixed garden with extensive borders, a rose garden, a knot garden, a parterre and an orchard. Beyond the garden there is a 400-acre (1.6 km²) park with herds of red and Fallow Deer.

This year I was able to park on the Nissan 200sx owners club stand, so a big thanks to those guys. We arrived early at just gone nine, the gates to the public were opened at ten just as the sun started to shine. We had plenty of space and managed to spread out, I was almost on the end and in a prime location. My friend Craig was in his Honda Integra Type R parked alongside me.

Once everybody had turned up who was going to be there we could shuffle around again, so now I was on the outside and Craig moved to the inside of me. Due to the extra space we could park diagonally which was pretty cool as nobody else could. I even managed to use my new home-made show board stand too.

Once everything had settled down it was time for a dust down and quick spruce up, which took over an hour before I even started to have a look around. I got to use my new Chemical Guys quick detailer which I was very impressed with. I will be reviewing that product soon as it’s not widely available just yet.

There was so many cars at the show again I am having to split the posts, otherwise there will just be photo overload and take for ever to load. There is no real logic to the order of the photos, it’s just a batch at a time.

As a young boy I had posters of this car on my bedroom wall, it still remains one of my favourite super cars to date. This is the update 25th anniversary edition. The unmistakable Lamborghini Countach which means ‘Heavens’.

I will post ‘part two’ in a day or so. There is so much more and unusual cars to show you, everything from more super cars to some timeless classic cars. There was even some birds of prey on show too.