Stars & Stripes Show
This year’s Stars & Stripes show proved, as many had suspected, that the desperation to get out and do normal things overruled everything else… even downpours of biblical proportions that would normally see punters staying away in droves. And we don’t just mean show cars (the show field looked as full as usual) but also the public coming to visit the event, who also turned up en masse.
Once one had got over the shock of not seeing Noah and his ark on the show field, there were plenty of interesting and unusual cars on display. Setting up early on Friday lunchtime were two gentlemen from Liverpool who’d brought along a very enticing 1941 Buick Special that very much looked as if it had seen military service during the war (from the colour, although it wasn’t the usual drab matt green) and then intermittent use after the war, until being laid up in the Sixties. We’re always going on about originality on these pages, but in reality, it’s rare to see a car as original as this, right down to the interior, Fireball Straight Eight motor and service stickers on the door from 1956. The owners said they were going to leave the car as it was, just fettle it mechanically, which was nice to hear.
If originality was your thing – and from a completely different era – then Richard Bromige’s 1979 GMC Van Dura Dayvan was a pretty breathtaking example to behold. Imported by Oldcott Motors (www.oldcottmotors.co.uk) it still wore its original brown Dralon interior and metallic brown with gold accents paint, looking as if it had just rolled off a Seventies movie set. Converted by the very Seventies-sounding ‘Santana’ one half-expected to see Cheech or Chong lounging in the back puffing on a big reefer! At the other end of the spectrum was a new Challenger (despite looking very hi-po, it was in actual fact a six-cylinder model) being offered by Ace American Autos (www.aceamericanautos.co.uk) who had a number of cars on display on their stand, including a very tasty 1963 Chevrolet pillared coupe with a 409 motor, four-speed manual ’box, American Torq Thrust II wheels and … air bags!
For fans of traditional Seventies custom cars was a ’67 Camaro SS called Silhouette that was a star feature in Hot Car magazine back in 1978. It has to be said that it looked in remarkable condition, so whether it’s been kept in a ventilated bubble for the last 43 years, or someone’s done some remarkably sympathetic restoration work is unclear, as there was no one with the car to ask when we saw it… Apparently, it had been imported in 1975 by Mick Cooke, who bare-metalled it, used five gallons of clear lacquer and added the murals in preparation for the first Manchester Hot Rod and Custom Show… a piece of rolling history, if ever there was one!