Monday, November 18, 2024

NEC Classic cars 2024

Phil in Austin 7 racer

Add another classic car to the list of vehicles I don't fit in - and Austin 7 based racer. 

Pedants will point out that you tend to build these around the driver, and so if I built one with the pedals slightly forward, and wore much less clumsy footwear, I might be able to drive it. Whiel I was at it, the hammered aluminium seats could be adjusted to fit my backside, they were hardly comfy!

As ever, the NEC played host to five halls of classic cars. Basically a days worth of looking around, asking questions and wishing a little bit that I was a millionaire with a big garage. A little bit. I think I prefer these things in thoery than in practise. 

If I were a millionaire, I wouldn't have bought the low-mileage 1993 Ford Escort turbo that I saw go for £180,000 in the auction. It might have less than 6000 miles on the clock, assuming it wasn't clocked in Essex 20 years ago, but what do you do with it? Drive the thing around, adding miles, and you are reducing he value. Sit it in the garage to look at, and well, what's the point? Someone must disagree, as there were at least two bidders. 

If I was buying, apart from the Rancho I always mention, I quite fancy this Ford pickup.

Ford Econoline pickup

It had some rust bubbles. Quite a few in fact, that I'd have used to try to beat the price down, but it looks fun. Probably not the most practical of vehicles, but it is cool. 

The Ford would come second to this Morris J-type van though.

Morris J van

Doesn't it look fantastic? 

No obvious rust, and a spanking paint job in a lovely livery. OK, the thing will be miserable to drive in modern traffic, but standing with a polishing cloth at a local classic car show would be a lot of fun. I wouldn't be carting layouts long distances though!

Anyway, you can enjoy the show a bit without thousands of steps on a hard NEC floor, by visiting my Flickr Gallery.

Despite the sore feet, I still enjoyed the show. The Sporting Bears were working well, with a procession of cars going off with their punters who had made donations, and drew a good crowd of people watching from the barriers. 

Elsewhere, there were people who just loved their cars, and the enthusiasm when chatting came across. Like a model railway show, it's great to see people doing something they love, even if we are spared the cold nights in the garage fighting rusty fixings! 

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