A Double Spring Break

Today was a promised to be a nice day according to my weather app. I was awoken by two little dogs whom decided they wanted to wander round the garden before the alarm went off. Fortunately it was only five minutes before I was due to get up anyway and saved me from the torturous alarm sound. I could of done without the furry foot on my face though.

I packed the cool bag with plenty of drinks as it was going to be a hot one. I loaded the trunk, got in the car and set of down the road. There was plenty of classics on the road, some going the opposite direction to me, I’m not sure what event that was, perhaps I should have gone to that one if i knew where it was of course. About twenty minutes later, no road works and no hold ups I arrived at Stonham Barns in Suffolk which was advertised as their “Spring Break”. Every Sunday at this location there is a huge car boot sale which is held in a field to the left of the main entrance. A marshal started to direct me into the car boot area, (I’ve experienced this once before at this location). I kept trying to point past her to say I wanted to get into the car show. She eventually let me past and I continued on my way. I was directed to drive into the main arena to park up. To my left was a more modern Mustang and to my right was a General Lee also just parking up next to me.

The gates open to the public at ten o’clock which was in about forty minutes time. I got my detailing products out to wipe of the road dust along with virtually every insect that decided they wanted to splatter themselves on the windscreen, the grill, front valance and number plate. One of the headlights looked like a checker board with the black bugs all over it, the other side was fine with none on it. A good tip to get rid of bugs is to a spray quick detailer on the bugs, allowed it to soak into the bugs in order to soften them up. By the time I had wiped over the upper surfaces of the car. It only took a couple of minutes to wipe them off. In no time, all was soon sparkly clean again.

I had a long cool drink before I set of to take some photos of the cars. There was quite a few cars that I hadn’t seen before, thus quite a few picture on this post like the last post. I wandered around the outside of the main arena before working my way inside to the arena and eventually back to my car.

There was some amazing paint jobs on display and this was the first of them, these black skulls appeared as you walked around the car in the sunlight.

I just loved this Plymouth, no idea what model it is apart from its a ’56. If somebody could let me know it would be great. I couldn’t find the owner as I would have asked them.

Another General Lee was at the show, wit ha closer colour to the TV series cars.

Another great paintjob, nothing fancy simply a beautiful colour such a deep gloss.

Inside the main arena there was an area for motorbikes and trikes.

This bike was simply stunning, the more I looked at it the more fine details I spotted. Just an awesome bit of kit and I loved the shotgun detail. The fuel tank artwork was amazing.

The Chevy Nomad from the last show was here again.

This was my car of the show.

I got talking to the owner of this Buick who told me about the story behind it, where it had been bought by a father for his daughter to go to and from college in it. The flag on the roof was painted free hand with spray cans by a street graffiti artist. The owner treats this car as his daily driver and isn’t afraid to get it wet and drive it. This is a rare rare example as they only made these for one year.

This Ford had a bold paint job perhaps the best in the show for artistic flare.

This van had a black paint job with coloured flames which were so subtle you had to catch the light just right to see them. I think this was the best paint job overall.

There was a few Mustangs at the show, some modern and some classics. I’ve grouped them all together here.

It was a bright sunny day and my Galaxy S24 Ultra coped fairly well with the bright conditions. Some images are bit washed out and some had glare, but I think they looked better for it.

There was a diverse range of cars with a very heavy emphasis on the USA models. The Trucks were really well represented with newer models alongside the old school classics.

I left the show a little early just before three before the Birds of Prey exhibition started as they don’t like you moving cars around at that point, which is understandable. The trip home was good apart from some a-hole in a lorry that pulled across the front of me last minute, only indicating as he was making the manoeuvre, like that was going to help. perhaps I should I mention the lorry was on foreign reg plates. As I overtook him I gave a little wave to show just how displeased I was with his lack of road craft and general lack of situational awareness.

I got home some ten minutes later and gave my car its mandatory quick detailer wipe over before putting it away in the garage. Not only had I been on a Spring break car show, my wife was spring cleaning when I walked in from the garage. Seeing the destruction that the tornado had left in the kitchen, I played it safe and kept well and truly out the way. I usually post a week later after a car show that I had attended, after taking time to edit the stock of photos from the day. This week it’s a rare posting on the same evening of the actual car show. Due to the afore mentioned destruction, I powered up the PC so that could edit my photos for this post.

It was a gloriously hot and sunny day, lots of great cars. Let’s hope the good weather continues.

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Stonham Barns Classic Car Show (Part 2)

The second half of the show had a general mixture of the almost new cars, that cost a lot when new, but not worth so much now as they common in any car park. However, there was some amazing looking cars there and I will start with a couple of my favourites again, the Audi Coupes, why o why did I sell mine?

The Morgan had a full on picnic setup going with a candelabra.

There was a club of ‘Fast Fords’ as they become known a decade or so later, in a circle display and few nearby. Among them was a couple of Mustangs in the middle, the blue scissor door Mustang has been around a few shows but is either a love it or hate it mod, it’s not for me to judge.

I enjoyed this camper van with the “Adventure before Dementia” slogan, love it.

This Renault ‘Williams’ is a bit of a rare find now days.

I was back to my car and the rest of the car club, the entertainment was going strong throughout the day, either these ladies singing to the backing tracks or a DJ playing some classic tunes from the 50’s and 60’s. There was many more car related stalls at this smaller show than the much bigger show such as Helmingham Hall, which is surprising. I spent a good while looking around the various automotive gems for sale, although I didn’t buy anything.

My car of the show was this huge Cadillac Eldorado, a monster of a land barge, beautifully turned out and I watched it drive in and it was whisper quiet even for the (i believe it to be an) 8.2ltr engine.

It was a good day, lovely weather and I spoke to a number of friends there too. A good show with lots of diverse cars to be seen. Busy day with lots of people all in good spirits, not the alcohol version.

I left about an hour before the end of the show. The drive home was serene and relaxing, if not a bit warm. I got home in good time and wiped the car over from the accumulated road and showground dust before I my my pride and joy under its soft cotton cover until the next show.

As I was editing these photos cropping out unwanted areas, I realised that I only took a few pictures of my car which was a little unlike me. The one above was early on before the car show got going.

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Stonham Barns Classic Car Show (Part 1)

A more general purpose classic car show was hosted at Stonham Barns on 18th August 2024. I wasn’t going to be expecting to much from this show, but I was wrong. It turned out to be much better supported than i expected and took a little over three hundred photos. As with big events and lots of photos I have split it over two posts to save the repetitive strain injury from scrolling down the page.

The day’s forecast was going to be nice weather, so I packed the factor fifty and plenty of cold drinks in the cool bag. I needed fuel and stopped off Shell for a fill up of some V-Power. I wasn’t hungry until the smell of freshly baked food greeted me when I walked in to pay. My will power failed me as I asked for a nice warm sausage roll, my treat to me just because I got up early, that was my excuse. The walk back to the car by the pump was slow while I devoured breakfast, I made sure to not get any grease on my fingers by holding the roll in the bag and the serviette. There was only one other car filling up, so it wasn’t as though they were busy. I binned the rubbish, got in the car and buckled up for the journey.

The journey to the event was fine, but the usual wedge of a traffic jam to get in was a bit longer than normal. While sitting in the car burning the recently purchased fuel, I happened to look around and spotted a convex mirror on a telegraph pole. I could almost see my car in it. As the line moved forward I got the camera out and took a couple of pics for something different, I think they came out well. The cars in front moved more than I expected, but I stopped where i wanted anyway. The impatient Audi driver wasn’t impressed and was waving his hands as if to move me up the road, all for the sake of a couple of car lengths. Not only that, he sat right up filler cap going round the twisty roads. Bovered? Nope! I won’t let anybody ruin my Mustang car trips.

I eventually got to the event and asked where the Bury Retro Car Club was to be parked. I was told follow the road round and they will park you up. I followed the road round and the dude hadn’t got a clue. So I just pulled to the side of the main arena and said I will wait here out the way. I parked my car up and waited for him to return, which he didn’t. I rang the club organiser to ask where he was and said that he was also stuck in traffic. I told him where I was parked and to let me know where I should be parked.

I wandered over to the main entrance to watch the cars come in and look out for the rest of the club to arrive. They arrived some quarter of an hour later and were directed to the a dark corner of the field with only three spaces. The drove round to where I was so we made out own stand!

I started at the far end of the field and worked my way back to where I was parked.

Cars were still coming in after the ‘start’ time but they got to park at the field near the end of the entrance road.

While I was waiting at the main gate I spotted a car like mine drive in, I found it at the far end of the field. This car was almost the same colour but had the standard interior and the rear quarter trims. I waited around for a while as I wanted to have a chat with the owner.

Around the same area there was a few Mustangs so I grouped them together.

I’m not sure what is going on with this Citroen 2CV, is the bloke having a laugh or has he got issues?

I hope it was tongue in check as it looked like the badge was just slapped on! This car got my runner up car of the show, I’m not a fan of these cars at all, but it made me smile. Part two’s post will have the rest of the show and my actual favourite car of the day.

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