Vintage Transport Weekend at Battlefield railway line sees classic cars on show
HERE are photos and a brief history of our much-loved vintage car, a Morris Marina 1.8 Special Astral Blue Metallic 1978 (far right in photo).
One previous owner - the late Miss Mary Elizabeth Hinds of Dovercourt, Essex - this was a demonstrator car purchased in 1998 by our late father, there are now only six left of this model and only four in this condition (in concourse condition).
Between 300 to 400 Marinas remain out of a combined 1.3 million (combined Marinas/ Itals) produced by British Leyland at the firm’s peak.
Now on the near-extinction list, this model is very rare and used only for shows.
Fully restored in 2012, it underwent a refit in 2016.
It wasn’t greatly used by Miss Hinds so there is little damage from the sea air at Dovercourt.
It was on display along with others at the Battlefield line in Market Bosworth during the weekend of May 6 and 7.
On the Saturday it was perishingly cold, and there were few cars with their drivers/ owners huddled around the station master’s fan heater with temperatures at a wintry 5C (that does not including a strong wind chill factor making it feel worse).
On the Sunday, 24 hours later, the temperature soared up to somewhere between 20C and 25C, so warm and sunny, I almost got a suntan. What a difference a day makes. The Battlefield line was an excellent venue for this type of event where there was an Austin Allegro 1978 spotted, as you can see in the photo (white car).
For classic cars and trains, it does not get much better than this, so lond as you have the right weather.
We received an invite to the Husbands Bosworth Gliding club event in June. Brian and Trevor Ford,
by email