So, I've been having quite a busy weekend! Like most weekends around this time in previous years, I went to the well-renowned Practical Classics Restoration show. This time, there was quite a difference. A few of us would be setting up a stand, to celebrate RetroWarwicK 's creation of RetroWarwick! It's time we went back a few months!
In the pub, like most good ideas, we decided a stand wouldn't be a bad idea. After much pestering and a bit of aid from @grumpynortherner, we managed to somehow secure ourselves a spot. Great All we needed were some cars.
Matt and I saw ourselves as being fine. I had my W124 then, the 2CV and if needs be, the M3 as a backup option. He had his Falcon and we all knew a few people who could come to commit! Like all great plans, it seemed perfect! We had a Escort also offered up as well as a van of sorts, in addition to a truck! However, it wasn't to be.
Firstly, I'd let the side down! As some know, I bought a W108 280SE 4.5. A lovely car, but it's no use on a stand when it's unroadworthy and it will cost a fortune to trailer down! Not a problem, you can take the other two surely? Cue on the 'Family Fortunes' Eh ERRR tune. One, if not both cars, would have to go to fund the W108. Sad, but that's life. The 2CV went down south almost a month ago, and a week ago, my W124 went to a friend of mine where it is getting the treatment it really deserves, that in reality, I wouldn't be able to do owning 3 old cars while working full time; I've had jobs to do on my M3 with the parts here, but another car has always put that on the back burner for example. A cop out? Maybe. On top of that, there were a couple of other fallouts too! But I am no stranger to this. I've organised shows years ago, and I've seen this happen on other stands. Thus, the backup option of the M3 would come back to the table. So, how were we looking?
Well, it looked something, like this:
It was interesting to see the place getting built up for sure:
Before we knew it, the place was built up, the van had turned up and we had the lot! So, how did it look?
So, what about the van? It was a Dodge A100 panel van with some great cues about Evel Kenival on it! Was the M3 a bit of an outcast on the stand? Possibly. That said, it didn't stop people coming over to myself to talk about theirs, or about them wanting to buy one, or even to have a moan about my now very-rusty wings on the car. A surprise? A little. Our stand seemed to be getting more attention at times than some of the single car/marque stands, and in a good way.
Besides Matt's Falcon, we had Alan's Escort on the stand, hiding a bit of a secret. It's running a Nissan SR20 engine, sans turbo. It does make for a quick, frugal, reliable Escort, and I'm not referring to the Amsterdam sort. It does hhowever, like the latter, seem controversial in many circles, including outside of the Ford ones. Genius or butchery? For me, it works, it's a win for me .
But what about the rest of the show? Was it purely for the purists? Not at all. We had this slammed XJ40 which was fairly unversally loved:
As always, the CCA folk were present, with a variety of classics present, going for a variety of prices!
Even ThePollitt made it down, in his latest purchase,a Cook Pass Babtridge Rover 827. Yes, I know Alan's was a later version, but we get the point
I do love a Minus:
Mike Brewer was there with his lovely Citroen SM, with Blackball Media presenting his new magazine.
We even spotted blackpopracing 's car! I would have come to have said hello, but it pays to be fair on a stand, and inevitably, you end up talking to people for longer than you expect .
Which German is it for you?
Some cars wore their storage stains with pride it is fair to say:
There are many more photos, but I'll have to chuck them onto a gallery with FlickR's latest rules being present. Hopefully, they can arrive soon .
In the pub, like most good ideas, we decided a stand wouldn't be a bad idea. After much pestering and a bit of aid from @grumpynortherner, we managed to somehow secure ourselves a spot. Great All we needed were some cars.
Matt and I saw ourselves as being fine. I had my W124 then, the 2CV and if needs be, the M3 as a backup option. He had his Falcon and we all knew a few people who could come to commit! Like all great plans, it seemed perfect! We had a Escort also offered up as well as a van of sorts, in addition to a truck! However, it wasn't to be.
Firstly, I'd let the side down! As some know, I bought a W108 280SE 4.5. A lovely car, but it's no use on a stand when it's unroadworthy and it will cost a fortune to trailer down! Not a problem, you can take the other two surely? Cue on the 'Family Fortunes' Eh ERRR tune. One, if not both cars, would have to go to fund the W108. Sad, but that's life. The 2CV went down south almost a month ago, and a week ago, my W124 went to a friend of mine where it is getting the treatment it really deserves, that in reality, I wouldn't be able to do owning 3 old cars while working full time; I've had jobs to do on my M3 with the parts here, but another car has always put that on the back burner for example. A cop out? Maybe. On top of that, there were a couple of other fallouts too! But I am no stranger to this. I've organised shows years ago, and I've seen this happen on other stands. Thus, the backup option of the M3 would come back to the table. So, how were we looking?
Well, it looked something, like this:
It was interesting to see the place getting built up for sure:
Before we knew it, the place was built up, the van had turned up and we had the lot! So, how did it look?
So, what about the van? It was a Dodge A100 panel van with some great cues about Evel Kenival on it! Was the M3 a bit of an outcast on the stand? Possibly. That said, it didn't stop people coming over to myself to talk about theirs, or about them wanting to buy one, or even to have a moan about my now very-rusty wings on the car. A surprise? A little. Our stand seemed to be getting more attention at times than some of the single car/marque stands, and in a good way.
Besides Matt's Falcon, we had Alan's Escort on the stand, hiding a bit of a secret. It's running a Nissan SR20 engine, sans turbo. It does make for a quick, frugal, reliable Escort, and I'm not referring to the Amsterdam sort. It does hhowever, like the latter, seem controversial in many circles, including outside of the Ford ones. Genius or butchery? For me, it works, it's a win for me .
But what about the rest of the show? Was it purely for the purists? Not at all. We had this slammed XJ40 which was fairly unversally loved:
As always, the CCA folk were present, with a variety of classics present, going for a variety of prices!
Even ThePollitt made it down, in his latest purchase,a Cook Pass Babtridge Rover 827. Yes, I know Alan's was a later version, but we get the point
I do love a Minus:
Mike Brewer was there with his lovely Citroen SM, with Blackball Media presenting his new magazine.
We even spotted blackpopracing 's car! I would have come to have said hello, but it pays to be fair on a stand, and inevitably, you end up talking to people for longer than you expect .
Which German is it for you?
Some cars wore their storage stains with pride it is fair to say:
There are many more photos, but I'll have to chuck them onto a gallery with FlickR's latest rules being present. Hopefully, they can arrive soon .