Right, I think I've just about recovered from the weekend to post up a few musings from my first time as an exhibitor/interactive display at the NEC restoration show. Huge amounts of fun, great to be on the 'other side' as it were, spoke to lots of people and made some great new contacts too.
HoTWire we really should have an RR stand there next year
The flipside of meeting so many folk fondly recalling their youth and having a similar car was that I also had many moments of frustration as countless people told me they once had spare parts that they sold for either pennies or just simply threw away. One chap in particular admitted he did such a thing very recently, telling me (with mild concern that he thought I was about to smack him), that he'd just scrapped a pair of nearly perfect doors... after I told him how much cash he'd just binned I think he wanted to hit me!
Now I didn't take a whole lot of photos, as to be honest I was just too busy, also if I did head out for a quick wander I invariably forgot to take my phone! However, if you want to see a good round up of the show and can cope with random musings of wiper goodness then check out Ian Seabrook's (Hub Nut) youtube channel - part 1 is up already:
Talking of Ian (
dollywobbler), there was even a mention of the Celica on his facebook feed after he visited the stand on Saturday...
Yeah cheers Ian, no pressure then!
There may also be a clip of us using the car as a picnic table at some point but you'll have to wait for that. There is also much talk of
jimspolicev8sd1 Rover.
Anyway back to the beginning of the adventure, there were obviously weeks and weeks of various preparations, from paperwork to liaising with the club to let them know what I was hoping/planning to do at the show. Understandably there were a few nervous folk in the club, as despite this being the 'restoration' show, they had never had anything undergoing restoration on the stand previously.
I always like to be the one that breaks the mold, and so with the help of @grumpynorthener a plan was hatched. The good news is that it seems to have worked and they were all really happy with the numbers it attracted and now want to do something similar at next year's event. Excellent result!
Thursday was simply a case of just getting there, as I'd escaped the office at a half sensible time and loaded the night before, which of course meant packing far more that I was ever likely to need...
It was a fairly uneventful journey around the M25 and up the M40, until I spotted a BMW being 'chased' by a blue rover SD1 catching me up
, sure enough it was
jimspolicev8sd1 and so I tucked in behind him and we convoyed up to warwick services for a quick catch up. Before finally heading on to the NEC where we were split by the weird and wonderful traffic management system that kicks in on set up days. At which point it was on with setting up the stand and getting ready for the opening day on the Friday. Another club member's 1975 Celica in front of mine, finished in Renault Sport yellow in case you were wondering...
Before then nearly getting my discovery and trailer stuck in the hall, as all and sundry came in behind me and blocked me in... that got exciting for a short while.
Once I'd dumped the discovery and was set up as best as I could, I then had a little wander to see what else was around. Lots of rovers nearby...
The rest of the days were mostly taken up by the planned Celica activities, trim removal, brake lines, vinyl roof stripping and then paint stripping of the rear of the car - suffice to say it took a little longer than I initially thought with lots of breaks to chat and talk about the car, fine by me - that's what we were there for.
So to save going through step by step, have some transformation photos
Have one of me getting stuck in to the last piece of vinyl trim
As expected the dreaded tin worm made an appearance but it's nowhere near as bad as I was expecting
and as the wife and friends were also visiting the show, they got roped in to assist as well
Then it was time for the main event... so the paper went down and the good stuff got put on
which resulted in the top layer revealing what we think was a yellow barrier coat.
followed by the rest
and eventually
Progress was good, so we moved onto the rear and a bit of the o/s rear wing
Before deciding that we ought to put some form of protection back on any exposed metal...
The rear lights and bumper then got refitted with bro's assistance (yes we both go to the same hairdresser!
)
and the oversill was eventually removed after putting up quite a decent fight, although did its job in attracting numerous individuals who remembered fitting them in the 80's and 90's
and that was about it, I managed a brief final break to have a quick venture round the show with my brother who'd stayed to help me load (and keep me awake on the journey home), where we also watched the practical classics team successfully start and drive the TR6 that they'd been rebuilding throughout the show, before it was then time to pack up and go fetch the trailer. Swear she's getting lower...
Scars on the trailer seem to suggest the same...
Normal service will be resumed this weekend, where I'll be starting on repairing the O/S sill... especially now I supposedly know what I'm doing!
Finally it was great to catch up/meet with
jimspolicev8sd1 ,
blackpopracing ,
s1105117 ,
johnthesparky ,
peteh1969 and lastly the man who literally made it all possible in so many ways - @grumpynorthener , thank you once again Chris. Hope you have recovered from your sterling efforts!
More soon.
ETA: Part 2 now up of Hub Nut's show tour now online - there's a little mention of the RR weekender and us having our lunch at 11 mins in
