CAKES, MISSILES & PITSTOPS
We sent our Nick off to find the show’s hidden gems – but he got a bit distracted…
No point in trying to decide what to see first. Just jump in to the whole glorious lot of it like a wild grunting truffling pig!
At last, the annual beacon of classic automotive thrills, which bring joy and character to the NEC show halls every year, is here. Stunning rarities, cars dragged from barns and cars dragged from temperaturecontrolled pods, all to be savoured during the seemingly endless hike around lofty exhibition halls. And, of course, so many people to meet, and great stories to hear.
Tales of motor racing glory from those behind the wheel, and what it’s like for you and your brother to have owned a Humber Hawk for 55 years. Well done David and Geoffrey Wells!
And who couldn’t possibly fall in love with the Rover V8-engined Reliant Robin that was lurking on the owner’s club stand. It seemed virtually impossible to actually get into, let alone drive! Apparently there’s a kitten-sized gap where you’d normally find the passenger door, but I couldn’t find it.
The Triumph Stag Owners’ Club was proudly displaying one of only two four-wheel-drive examples of these cars ever built, but even this paled into relative insignificance (well, they did build another one!) compared to the other great stand attraction – free slot car racing, with the club even having its own race marshals to keep things ticking over properly. Unfortunately the only Stag model available turned out to be unreliable and didn’t take too well to going round bends.
Naturally, I spent a fair old chunk of my time drooling unashamedly over a variety of Rovers, with one particular highlight being Steve Le Sage’s 1965 Willow Green P6, which his fatherin-law bought when it was new. It’s the only example I’ve ever seen in this delightful light hue, though there are supposed to be two others still in existence.
I even did a bit of Christmas shopping – er, for myself. A mere £25 on the Rover P4 Drivers’ Guild bought what at first appeared to be a gift-wrapped bouquet, but which actually turned out go be a book of technical tips, a tankard, cufflinks, a tie, mug, coaster, notepad and keyring. Everything a Rover-owning chap such as myself could possibly need, in other words.
The Rover 75 (of the non P4 variety) is now firmly established as a classic and you could – and, indeed, still can – get a calendar of members’ cars from the75andZTclub.co.uk for £10. So I did.
Continuing with gifts, what appeared to be a small ballistic missile on the always excellent Old Collectors Garage (thecollectorscargarage.com) stand, turned out to be a 1950s car air conditioning unit. Just what I’ve always wanted!
But I digress. Other vehicular joys of particular note included two MG VA restoration projects that had just returned to Britain after leaving our shores during the war, Renault R4CV and Isetta bubble car vans (!!), a Chrysler 180, a Cadillac wearing a Donald Trump sticker, a BMC J4 pick-up in Atco lawnmower yellow and green, a Rover SD1 Group B rally car once sponsored by Golden Wonder Crisps for £100,000 a year (the vaguely Knight Rider- sounding owner of this car, Michael Kitt, is actually the owner of the Austin Rover Ltd. name following a timely visit to Longbridge in 2005) and lots of lovely Wolseleys on a combined club stand.
In fact there was so much to see that I had to do the unthinkable and miss lunch. If the lovely people on the Sunbeam Talbot Alpine Register stand hadn’t offered me some excellent lemon drizzle cake, I might not have had the energy to write this piece!