This post will be the first of three posts to cover all sorts of cars at the London Classic Car Show which took place between 15th to 18th of February 2018. The first post being the general cars section, the second post will be all about different motor sports cars through the years, the third post will be all about me being able to tick a very big something off my bucket list. There may even be a photo of me in the post somewhere that the wife had taken for me.

I was treated to the tickets for the Sunday 18th as a surprise for Valentines Day prezzie by the wife. I only found out the day before we were due to go. We set off early in the morning and soon realised that the car park near the Excel centre was for pre booked spaces and a limited number of public spaces. We decided that with the size of the queue to get in we wouldn’t bother even trying. So we had a drive around and looked for a space, that was more wishful thinking than practical. We drove around and found a tiny Pay & Display which was having work done on the grounds. We drove in and found a spot that a builders van had just pulled out of, we were very lucky to say the least. the short walk to the exhibition centre was a little quicker than we anticipated as we both needed to find a rest room. A couple of minutes later and relieved we picked up the tickets and walked our way in.

This particular show is geared towards selling the services for restoration of cars and completed cars up for sale. All of the cars were gleaming and beautifully presented. The large hall was divided by a make shift road down the middle where some of the cars would run from one end of the arena and back again. I will show more of that in the next post.

Some rare cars such as this Jaguar XJ220. Originally this car was supposed to have a v12 but was swapped out for a v6 turbo charged unit. Only 275 of these cars were sold at the time in 1992 with a price tag of £470,000.

The American GT’s were out in force with a Genuine GT350 and GT40

A True British icon throughout the decades; Aston Martins

Super and Hyper Cars

There was an amazing section at the show called “Getaway Cars” many of the cars were iconic in the 60’s and 70’s such as the Lotus Cortina, Transit van, Jaguar and the classic movies of The Italian Job with their the mini’s and Transporter with the Audi. These weren’t the originals but a great tribute none the less.

Unusual hand-made wooden Mercedes.

The UK’s answer to the USA GTs, the UK “Fast Fords” of the modern times mostly tuned by Cosworth.

Perhaps one of the most important cars there in my opinion was the Ford Model T, this car really broke the manufacturing mold and set the benchmarks for todays manufacturing.

This company had taken seven months to restore this beautiful E-Type Jaguar. They seem to be the Jaguar equivalent of Mustang Maniac with their meticulous attention to detail. The sad part was this car has only done 300 miles and will probably never be driven on the road and just be left to sit in a collectors garage. That is such a shame. A truly spectacular car.

A famous car that was used in the UK’s Victory parade was following Sir Winston Churchill’s car with the picture to prove it.

We finish up with the Mustangs as you would expect. The orange KR was Adam’s and on loan to the great guys at the Mustang Owners Club of GB.

My next post will be around the Motor Sports cars at the show.

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This weekend was a bank Holiday in the UK and over those three days Enfield Pageant of Motoring took place. Mustang Maniac had decided that my car would be included in their line up this year. I am so excited about that I can’t tell you. Earlier in the week Yogi had fixed the transmission lever in place and connected it to the auto gear box. The result of which is that the car is now officially a driver. The brakes were bleed, the C4 transmission was topped up, the rear axle was topped up. The car now moves on it’s own and stops on its own. I have a video of the car moving for the first time from the garage. I will post the video up as soon as I can on my YouTube channel.

The cars that Mustang Maniac had taken were their KR GT 500 and an A code 65 Which were on a two tiered truck. My car was on the same truck that orginally took her to Mustang Maniac, the drive on drive off flat back. My car had no seats and time was short to try and fit some on a temporary basis. Yogi fitted the gear lever and linkages and finally fitted the pipework to the vacuum. The transmission was topped up, the steering was topped up, the axle was filled and engine was given the once over. I arrived early on Saturday morning and the guys were setting up the pitch. The large LED screen in the their large RV was showing the progress of my car from start, to the story so far. Adam was waiting to get her of the flat bed so I could see her, I was given the keys. Believe it or not I gave them back to him.

Why did I give them back? It’s simple, I’m unfamilier with the car, it had no seats, it was on a tipped up flat bed. If I got it wrong I could have damaged the car, just for the sake of a few weeks I left it to the professionals drive it off. But as a secret, just between us – there were people watching and I didn’t want to look stupid and let the guys down. But, I do have a video of the car being moved in public for the first time and again I will post it on my YouTube channel this week. When the car started up there was a little cloud gathered to see what all the noise was about. Adam rolled her out and reversed her into the line of other cars ready for the public to look at them.

The other guys Who I have gotten to know very well started to arrive and also parked up. Paul arrived to give the cars a quick valet in the mornings to keep them looking immaculate. Of course who is going to say no to a freshly valeted car? It was quite funny to see Adam and John sit on the floor pan of the car turning a steering wheel on a stick, with just a head on show.

flat bed

John moving her around

I was at the Enfield Pageant Saturday and Sunday helping the guys, answering questions about my car and trying to answer questions about the other cars they had there too. I was in my element, just talking cars all day. My time was just a little payback to the guys for their hard work on my car so far. As I forgot to take my Mustang Maniac shirt, I managed to blag another from Adam. I must say that I got a real buzz out of people looking at my car, many great comments on the paint job and the attention to detail. I stood next to a couple of blokes who were saying that they wanted one just like this, I felt quite privileged to be a part of the elite few that own these cars. I’m a lucky man. The crowds during the days I was there with were all very nice, and to see the look on the little kids faces when they see their favourite cars is a real thrill, I even gave a few of Adam’s key rings away to them. Hopefully it made their day just that little bit more special. Thinking about it, for a load of cars that was around forty years before they were born and yet they still recognise and know the name “Shelby”. Not bad for an old Ford.

During the days there was a little rain so out came the cover for my car. After all the last thing they want is for a car full of water, that would be an expensive puddle to fix.

Such a great weekend and I have really done the weekend justice. But I will promise to upload the videos as soon as I can. Forgive my short post, but I haven’t had time.

I would like to thank, Adam, John, Yogi, Lance, Paul (Lob Monster), Paul the painter, Ian, Spence, Martin, and a Paul the valet.