Tag: v8

Kersey Mill Car Show 2023

I attended this show last year when it was held in May not in July as this year. The weather was predicted to be breezy but no rain, so I decided to go for it and turn up. This is a free show held in some nice surroundings just few miles outside of Ipswich.

As ever the alarm woke me to some nice sunshine which was drying the roads from the previous Saturday night’s rainfall. I opened the garage went through the process of getting the car ready to go out, that consists of unplugging the battery trickle charger and uncovering the passenger side of the car first. Then I walk round to the other side and fold up the cover, then I spotted a puddle on the garage floor. My heart missed a beat and then started to pound as I put the cover on top of the toolbox. I got on the floor to see what was going on and felt the puddle, it wasn’t sticky or smell of anything, that usually happens from a coolant leak. I looked around and couldn’t see anything immediately wet or dripping in the engine bay.

Behind me was my dehumidifier which looked to have water around it too. On looking the safety had cut out and wasn’t working, I usually hear a gentle hum and just thought that I hadn’t turned it on from when I was last in the garage. I turned it around and noticed the water collection draw was full, this was an overfill from the pipework that I had plumbed in to avoid constant emptying of the draw. What had happened was the drain pipe from the back now had a high hump point and the water wasn’t able to run away into the condensation pipe primarily used by the heating boiler. The angle of the pipe is fine when the unit is in a certain position, obviously I had moved the unit without realising, thus creating a slow back flow, the pipe would have backfilled into the collection draw and eventually overflowed which is when the safety would have cut in. The unit would have cut off, but the extra water in the pipe was just enough to overfill the draw. I grabbed a few old microfibre cloths and mopped the water up which looked a lot worse than it was, maybe a cup or so. Relieved I readjusted the pipe to the correct angle, and started the unit again to dry the garage while I would be out.

The drive was enjoyable, with sun and cloud taking it in turns to dominate the sky, but the grey clouds were the majority of the sky the closer I got to Kersey. I arrived some thirty on minutes later and asked where to park. I was directed to be on the right of the driveway on the grass near the entrance. I parked up on my own like some sort of Billy-no-mates!

I waited for an hour or so and went for a walk round. It looked obvious that there wasn’t going to be a big turn out due to the weather. There was a couple of lines of cars in place so I started there.

There was a car there that was getting some attention, but I couldn’t put my finger on it why. The car just didn’t look right. I will get to the reason why a little later. when i then became evident why it raised my suspicions. The front bumper just didn’t seem to sit right to me.

Walking over the little bridge to the area where there was some ‘street food’ stalls cooking some amazing smelling food. Near them was a few more cars. I stopped to talk to Paul for a while who owned the Capri, the same model and body kit a friend of mine had when I was an apprentice.

The Rolls Royce was real nice car and a candidate for my favourite car of the show.

Just past the food stalls was a few more cars outside what looked like the owner of the mill house.

Another candidate for my favourite car was this Ford Cortina, the simple reason being was that my Grandfather owned a blue one. Right next to it was a Ford Anglia, another car that my Grandfather owned.

Towards the back of the house there was little walkway with a sign for the cars to display and parking for the public parking. Unfortunately they never got used.

Mart’s Car of the Show

The little courtyard had a couple of cars there which was where I saw this nice Sunbeam Alpine.

That was pretty much it round that side of the venue, so I wandered back to where I was parked up. On the other side of the driveway some more cars had turned up thankfully.

The weather was very changeable with a couple of very light spitting of rain episodes, not enough to bead on the car though. But when the sun came back out along with the slight breeze it soon evaporated away, just like last week.

Back towards where I was parked a few more had parked up, a couple of which I had seen before with their v8 swap outs.

Back to the Lamborghini Countach I mentioned earlier, the owner had opened it up then I realised straight away what was wrong. The car was a kit car and the engine was a Land Rover v8 lump.

For a kit car it was done very well I might add. But, when you start to look around properly you could see the build quality wasn’t quite there. The car left an hour or so later, when it started up it made a nice rumble granted, but it should have been a very shouty howling V12. I had posters of this car on my walls when I was at school, the super car I always wanted, and still do.

Did you know:

That iconic rear wing was purely cosmetic. The Countach actually suffers front axle lift at high speed, and bolting a park bench on the back only exacerbates the issue. But customers loved the look, so engineers zeroed out the wing’s angle, rendering it non-functional. It was designed as a one-off for F1 impresario Walter Wolf, the spoiler wasn’t an official option either. Once the look caught on around 1976, Lamborghini couldn’t afford to re-homologate the car with a new aero wing. As a workaround, completed cars were taken off the assembly line driven to the factory parking lot, where employees installed the rear wing using an electric hand drill while awaiting dealer transport. Apparently the installation of the wing only took about 10 minutes.

After a four or so hours at the show I decided it was a bit slow for me too and left to go home. A shame because it could have been a nice show.

I was emailed a couple of photos yesterday; Thank You Scott. One as I was talking to somebody and the other as I was leaving.

Having a proper camera instead of a cell phone camera makes a difference. That’s all I’m gonna say on the comparison.

Share my Content

Pakenham Power Show

Another first time car show for me was the Pakenham Power show which was about twenty minutes drive away from where I live. There was two other car shows on the same day that I knew of so it was going to be a bit of a gamble if this local show was going to be any good or not. I studied the weather apps as I missed a show the previous week due to weather warning of thunderstorms that never took place. The weather apps all said hotter than Saturday so I packed the day bag ready for the morning; battery pack phone charger, sun screen, head ache pills, wallet etc.

The alarm woke me up to an already warm day, I let the dogs out and got ready to go. I packed plenty of drinks into the cool bag, I was going to need them. The factor fifty was moved inside the cool bag so it was cool and soothing to put on on. The show started at eleven according to the flyers, but I didn’t know if that was for the public entry or when the cars were to start turning up. I left at quarter to ten so I would miss the rush to get in that I had played out in my mind. The drive there was super relaxed windows down and an easy cruise at fifty mph.

I pulled into the gates and nobody was there. I think the noise of me turning up triggered them to appear from the other side of a wall. I was asked what year my car was and my response qualified me to park in the lower section for fifty year old cars or more, which sounded much grander than it was. I was told to park in front of a bank of four other cars already there, which I think belonged to the marshals.

An ideal photo opportunity for a minute or two before they changed their mind and asked me to move the car backing it up to wall. I was pleased about that as the stones could easily fly up from tyres onto paintwork.

It wasn’t until I got home and downloaded the photos from my phone that my car was the same colour as the sky! The Samsung S23 Ultra did quite well in the strong light conditions considering.

Once I was parked up there was plenty of shade from the fairly high wall. I wasted no time in getting the chair our to grab a can of cold drink.

The sun was hot already and I decided not to wipe over the car with a quick detailer as the paint was already hot, sitting in the chair I could see the heat haze from the roof. Applying products to hot paint will cause them streak and make it look worse. So for a vary rare change, I didn’t wipe the car over once I parked up at a car show.

I had a wander over to the bus and some fond memories flooded back from being a kid. Looking at the back of the bus health and safety wasn’t a thing then as people jumped on and off the moving buses.

This vehicle is one of one made in 1897, it can reach speeds up to 30mph even back then.

It was now getting closer to eleven and some more cars started to arrive and park in the area I was.

The field by the side of the barn was slightly elevated and was for anything less than fifty years old. The little walkway on the left had some mini steam engines, just chugging away barely making a noise. I stood for ages looking at the intricate engineering that is still running seamlessly today.

There was a modern take on an old school fair ground wind instrument which was fed by punch cards. That was the musical entertainment for most of the day.

There was more cars coming in that were older than fifty years old so they got to park up on the other field.

There was this little mini rod that was buzzing around now and again. I think it had a lawnmower engine or something in there. The woman driving it was of a slender build and just about fitted in it. I doubt I could have got one leg in it!

Then we move to to the opposite end of the scale, this huge Bedford ‘Drifter’ 1969 motorhome. It was quite basic, but pretty cool to see. I didn’t even know Bedford made a motorhome.

Making my way back to the wall there was some local goods for sale, there was a proper BBQ, refreshment caravan, cakes and even bread that was made from the mill itself an hour or so earlier. We even had a brass band playing a couple of slots too, not sure what they were playing, but it was entertaining.

Having some lunch and copious amounts of cool drinks, the sun was creeping over the other side of the wall. Now there was no shade at all, I stuck it out till about two thirty then I had enough.

Some other cars were starting to go, so I joined them for another gentle drive home. It was a good show for very old cars, but it was small. Will I go again? Probably not as it was a bit to small for me. It was a nice day out and wasn’t far away. All windows were down on the way home and the sound of a V8 was flooding into the car. I was thinking, compared to the brass band – the sound of American iron sounded so much better!

Share my Content

At Last

The first car show of 2020 (for me anyway), which took place last Sunday 16th 2020 at Stonham Barns in Suffolk. It took me about twenty five minutes to get there at a gentle pace. I arrived at about nine fifteen and the sky was grey. Forecast was forty six percent chance of rain, I figured it was worth the gamble, I had to go. I parked up with the Bury Retro Car Club whom had a club stand on the tarmac and not grass which is always nice. As I always do when I park up, I wiped the little ol’ lady down with some quick detailer, paying particular attention to the windscreen with glass cleaner. I think the glass had collected more than its fair share of insects for the short trip.

I decided to go and get some photos before the promised rain was due to arrive just after lunch time. With no particular order some cars that took my interest as I wondered around. the sun even showed it’s face for a few minutes now and then.

A while ago I did a little article on the Ford Capri being the UK Mustang here, these photos show the comparison next to each other which was rather nice.

There seems to be a growing trend in the UK for half cars to be the trailer:

More Mustangs including this red ’69 done to concours standards.

VW were out in force and the patina on the beetles was a little extreme, when it’s flaking off.

The rest of the cars I liked:

There was a number of stalls there too, nothing to fancy just the usual auto jumble, which was on the grass just behind the club stand.

Bury Retro Car Club stand:

I thought mu car was quite a long car, when compared next to a stretched Caddy – It’s tiny. The front of the cars lined up more or less level.

Tim Greening let me borrow his video from his YouTube channel; https://www.youtube.com/c/AutoAddictuk/ Thanks Tim 🙂

You can just about catch a glimpse of me chillin out and chatting cars just behind my car.

I took a few pics while sitting in my chair of the new wax I have been using. I did notice the clarity of the shine while sitting there.

I thought I would play around with the colours a bit on this one, black & white with a little hind of car colour.

I left at three in the afternoon an hour before it was due to shut, the wife had text me to say there was thunderstorms at home. I wanted to get home before the car got soaked.

The clouds were blackening up as I did a very quick wipe over before I covered the car up in the garage. As I got out the car in the garage the heavens opened and it chucked it down. That’s what I call perfect timing, literally thirty seconds from rain.

For once I went to a car show and it didn’t rain, I was well chuffed. What could be better than than? I know – a pic of me in the review view mirror of the Jag XJ6 next to mine! I didn’t move the chair to take this pic I just happened to look up and there I was.

I needed that car show. I just had to get out and catch up with friends again, grab some fresh air and look at cars, lots of cars. I had two offers to buy my car during the day, one which was some bloke takin the p!$$ or trying to wind me up I’m not sure which, the other guy gave me his card just in case I wanted to sell, after asking me some good questions about the history of the car.

There are two more scheduled car shows this year that I have booked in to attend. Will the rain hold off for me so I can get to them? I hope so, with all the rain I got caught in last year, it’s the least mother nature could do for us considering the pandemic we have endured so far.

Share my Content

Wings & Wheels

Weekend just gone I attended the Stowmarket Carnival which was held over two days with a classic car section on Sunday. The general public was let in from eleven onwards, but the cars had to be in before nine thirty, although they were still being let in at ten thirty. So, I decided to take my photos sooner than later without too many people around, and before more cars arrived. A nice mix of cars and some top quality restorations on show. It was one of the first days this year I could get my show board out without the wind and rain because the sun was out all day, I even had to apply sun cream, twice! There were stalls, a dog shows, live singing, and a fun fair too.

I follow on Instagram a group of ladies called ‘_modifiedgirls’ and they also have a website called ‘https://modifiedgirls.co.uk/’ I mentioned this because I see a FTO being lovingly cleaned by a couple of ladies. Without trying to appear anything other than a genuine car fan I got talking to Tara Ashton who confirmed that she was a member of the Modified Girls scene. We had a chat about cars and I have to say that these ladies do know their stuff. I also think it’s fantastic to see members of the fairer sex enjoying the car show scene along with the guys. Here is her FTO she rocked up in to the show. I said I would give her a shout out on my blog, consider it done.

This Mk1 Ford Escort GT was a preproduction model and was used by the media to review the car. A nice example with some serious provenance.

There was mixture of a few hot rods, kit cars, more modern cars and some restorations to wonderful standards. Did you know the Fiat 500 number was the engine size in CCs? That’s 500 cc’s or half a litre, for our US friends that’s 30.5Ci  Abarth gave the engine a stage 1 modification up to 595cc (36.3Ci) which made 31bhp.

Triumph models were varied, Stag, TR6, Dolomite, Spitfire. I almost bought a Stag when I was looking for a classic car, but when I saw the Mustang, my mind was made up. But I still like the look of those stags. 🙂

Some of the other cars that took my attention, I didn’t bother with the Nissan Skylines, as for the Golf GTI’s, Jags, Vauxhall Corsa etc, I could have gone down the road to the Asda car park and seen as many as I wanted. Is that a harsh thing to say?

From the heading I mentioned wings as well as the wheels. The Saturday they had a fly by of a Spitfire (the classic WW2 plane – not the car being propelled through the air). On Sunday we were treated to a WW2 Lancaster Bomber. If I had of known I would have taken a proper camera not just a cell phone. But I tried my best to capture this incredible plane that did three low(ish) fly overs.

I turned this into a black and white picture, I think it works better than the colour pics. I took a video of he final fly over, the trouble is you just get to hear the fabulous noise.

I took this video of the last fly over, the trouble is that the video didn’t pick up the incredible sound the plane made. 🙁

To finish the post I must be going soft in the head or getting sentimental in my old age. I had a guy Andrew who loved my car and was looking all over it. He made a good presentation to me on why he should sit in my car. I let him sit in it after emptying his pockets of keys etc. so as to not to damage the upholstery, I even took a picture of him in my car, just because I said I would. Consider that done as well.

It was a hot day, but I’m not complaining about the weather for a change. 😀 I spoke to lots of people and had a great day. More of the same next time I hope.

Share my Content

A New Venue

I know this post is a bit late from the day but I just haven’t had time to get round to it all. So apologies and I have reprimanded myself quite severely. Anyway, the new venue was a generously sized field at Barnham Common in the lovely area of Thetford Forest. The best of which is the drive through that beautiful forest area to get there. Considering the previous shows have been a wash out with rain, this was Father’s Day and the weather apps said only a few percent chance of rain. Awesome I was going. I arrived fairly early and was expecting the Bury Retro Car Club to be there so I could park up with the guys, considering I missed out at the previous show in Elveden. Pullin’ into the field there was not many people there, in fact some of the stall traders also turning up to get ready. I was directed to park pretty much where I liked near the other lines of cars. I found a nice Ford Orion and parked next to him and I was pleased to say that a Ford Granada parked the other side of me. A Ford sandwich with USA muscle for the filler.

Checked app – no rain forcast. I started a wander around before it got to busy.

About twenty minutes later the car club turned up and parked a line down form me.

A good mixture of cars on the day.

UK Fords

USA Muscle

Later on the sky clouded and thought felt it, surely not. A few drops to start with then it stopped, not enough to bead on the car. However, half hour later, nowhere to hide except to sit in the car – it happened.

It only lasted for a few minutes, but it was enough. once it stopped it had to dry the car, the first of a few times that day. then the sun came out as quickly the rain feel. that was the pattern for the day. A rain shower for a couple of minutes then sun. I still manged to get sunburn on my face, don’t know how. But I was pleased with the beading though from my new quick detailer from Chemical Guys which I reviewed here.

Around the field spirits were high still and nobody seemed upset about the rain. The entertainment for the kids was great with bird handling and few live shows even.

But an hour after the start of the show to the public this old lady came in. Next year this traction engine will be a century old. I think this was the favourite of the show for me.