Enthusiasts & the NEC Classic Car Shiny Show

By Mike Peake

Hello Chaps. Well it’s been 2 long years since there was any big indoor classic car shows and I don’t know about you but I’ve really missed them. So, imagine our excitement when we heard that this one was definitely happening and that we had a stand!
 
My excitement was tempered somewhat when our beloved Fat Controller of events Gar Cole - who organises this so well - suddenly announced that he was swanning off on his oft-postponed cruise and would be leaving the stand in my bumbling incompetent hands! I know! Selfish or what? The pressure was further increased when Gar handed me a GoPro and told me to film everything.
 
Don’t get me wrong, the prodigious amount of behind the scenes paperwork and organising was still handled by Skipper Paul Sweeney and Gar, but the stand would be mine. So, no pressure then.
 
After hyperventilating into a paper bag for 3 days and counting to a billion to calm myself, I started thinking about the type of stand I wanted and the team to help me out. I decided I wanted to show what a diverse group of people and cars our group represents and a group of stalwart, hardworking and reliable chaps that I could rely on to do all the hard physical labour so I wouldn’t have to. Of course, they would all have to be very shiny too as this is the shiny show after all. (The cars, not the chaps.)
 
With the cars chosen and team selected, all I had to do now was wait for the show dates to arrive and worry about everything that could possibly go wrong as well as the very long list of rules that we had to obey whilst in the halls and which Anthony kept reminding us of. Anthony was very useful in other ways too. He came up with and organised the professional-looking information stands displayed next to each car and modified them so they could be secured under the car wheel and wouldn’t be knocked over by the clumsy public and damage the cars.

​He also came up with the excellent idea of fixing different plaques from our tours to the cars to show that we are an active group and that the cars are actually driven regularly and not pampered show queens. Thanks for this Anthony.
 
Set-up day arrived and we’d all agreed to meet in a local Toby Carvery for a full slap-up breakfast. We were all surprised to see that breakfast included Yorkshire puddings. Tosh just had a cold croissant though, because that’s now his favourite.

​ All replete and satisfied, entrance forms distributed and help provided to luddites on getting the Covid passports, we set off for the halls in a convoy of 5 classic cars (Anthony was displaying 2 cars on different stands) and me in my modern chock full of stand paraphernalia. 

​Once we’d successfully negotiated the queues, bureaucrats and jobsworths we arrived at our stand, which looked HUGE when empty. Even more so when we unrolled our embarrassingly small new stand carpet! (I think we need another 3 of these rolls Gar!) Anyway, I unloaded the rest of the stand equipment, told the chaps where and how I wanted the cars positioned and left them to it while I dashed off to remove my car from the hall and avoid the huge fine that would be imposed if I overstayed.
 
When I came back, lo and behold, it was all done and done exactly as I’d asked. It was the easiest set up I think we’ve ever done. I only had this photo taken in order to make Gar feel better. The stand didn’t look so big anymore either. The carpet still looked embarrassingly small though , but at least provided a border between the public walkway and our stand. Well some of our stand anyway. (Did I mention we need 3 more rolls Gar?)

​We were all done by 1.30pm so were able to go home or to our hotel for granddad naps and telly watching.
 
So let me introduce the team:

• Anthony Osborne displaying his 1938 Austin New Ascot Light 12/4 and Pat Osborne who spent her time dashing between our stand and the Metro stand where they were also showing Anthony’s Rover 100.
• Lincoln Hunt with his 1973 Range Rover.
• Gus and Tosh Brooks showing Alison Brooks' 1956 Austin A35 2 door saloon.
• Nick Arthur with his 1963 Ford Consul Capri GT.
• Finally, Phil Allin who wasn’t showing anything and had just turned up for the cake but was a huge help manning the stand for the 3 show days as were the rest of the team.

 
Normally, I would show a photo of each team member stood next to their car but I was so overwhelmed with the responsibility of being the team leader and focused on getting good footage on the bloody GoPro that I kept forgetting to take the stills I needed on my phone. So sorry, but we only got this photo of Phil Allin taken by Lincoln and this photo of Tosh Brooks.

​So now let me introduce the cars. Actually, Anthony did such a good Job on the “blurb” he wrote for the display stands, that I’ll let him introduce the cars.

Thanks again Anthony.
 
Friday was going smoothly, a steady stream of visitors to the stand were chatted to and fed cake when all of a sudden I get a phone call from His Highness and Senior Mugwump in the classic world, Lord John Simpson of Practical Classic towers.

​It appeared that Lord John had been shortlisted for an award in the Classic and Sports Car magazine Club Awards. However, Lord John being a busy and important chap was unable to make the dinner but needed someone there to represent him and asked me if I knew anyone of good character that would fit the bill.

​Well for the life of us, we couldn’t think of anyone so he told me that I’d have to do and I was to take three other chaps along to keep me in order. Well the only other chaps I knew that were staying nearby were Phil Allin and the Brooks brothers. I know! What could possibly go wrong?

​So the four of  were enrolled as honorary members of the Boston Classic Car Club, which involved some rather strange ceremonial antics because - well they’re from Boston - and we were dispatched, rather reluctantly by all parties, to partake in the free food and drink at the awards dinner.

​Due to some rather shady practices by the judges, Lord John was robbed of his award. Even more surprisingly, the four of us made it to the end of the night without getting thrown out and had a rather enjoyable evening sharing a table with the Talbot Sunbeam Alpine owners club.

​Tosh and Gus knew them from when they bought the Talbot Sunbeam that tried to kill Tosh and me on the second Peaks tour. Details of which can be found in my blog www.britishmotorvehicles.com/members-blogs/the-peak-district-tour-2-part-2 (I know. Shameless self-promoter aren’t I?)

​Now the night before, when the Brooks and I went out for our meal, Gus made the schoolboy error of admitting that he didn’t drink much anymore. So we made him drive. When we got back to the car, I programed the sat nav and we set off for our hotel, only to find that the gates were closed and locked. So we went in search of another way out. That was locked too. As were the 14 other gates we tried.

​Dawn was fast approaching when we found ourselves back at the 1st gate, where we finally noticed the huge sign with the security teams phone number on. We called it and were given the instructions on the actual way out and were then able to follow the sat nav instructions back to the hotel with only one minor detour when Gus made another schoolboy error and listened to the drunk person next to him instead of the sat nav.
 
Saturday morning arrived far too soon for some of us and bleary eyed, we met up in the hotel car park.  Gus drove us back to the NEC where, because the hotel didn’t really offer breakfast, Phil miraculously produced a Primus stove and some bacon and we had a car park fry up in the East one, instantly curing all hang overs. Before getting the shuttle bus to the halls. Which broke down and needed the air pumping back up in order to lift the bus and let the brakes off. Once that was done, the bus set off for the halls again. Then promptly got lost as they’d changed the direction of incoming traffic whilst we were waiting.
 
When we finally arrived at our stand, we were relieved to see that it was already manned by Anthony and no muggles or visiting members had missed out on any cake. Thanks again Anthony.
 
Saturday was quite a busy day with lots of visitors to the stand including my wife and senior daughter bearing sausage plait and many of our members stopping by for a chat and cake. I’d particularly like to thank Windy Woodward, Bernard Owen, Big Liam White and Finlay, Graham Adams and Dangerous Dave Aikman who not only turned up and ate cake but also helped man the stand giving us a bit of time to have a look around. (I think Windy and Bernard just wanted more sausage plait though!)
 
During this time many of us had caught the wonderful whiff of petrol while on our stand, we weren’t concerned though and just blamed it on the Sporting Bears doing a wonderful job raising money for charity just down the hall from us. Actually, it  turned out to be coming from Alison’s A35 Jessika, who’d got just a bit too excited with the occasion and suffered a bit of incontinence. Fuel was slowly seeping out from the bottom of the tank. Super Enthusiast man (Gus Brooks) was delighted! He immediately dashed off and bought some Chemical Metal and set about a repair.

​Later on Saturday, we found yet another good reason to thank Anthony and Pat for coming. It turns out that their daughter, Sarah Womack (who is a master baker and cake decorator, no less) presented us with this wonderful cake. It was almost a shame to cut and eat it, but somehow, we managed to. Thank you very much Anthony and Sarah.

​After another car park fry-up by Phil and a quieter Saturday night in the curry house, we were all much more refreshed for our Sunday stint. Visitor volume on the Sunday was steady but not crowded which gave me time away from the cake and to actually get to see some of the rest of the show. So, with “that bloody GoPro” in hand, I set off to immortalise all the cars at the show. Well, at least the ones I thought you’d find interesting. I also photographed the ones I found interesting.
 
So here are some of the cars Sophie and I found interesting.

What? It was in the NEC Lorry park!

Yes. A member!

Yes. There were loads of other interesting cars too, but we were focused on using the "Bloody GoPro"!

​Then of course, there are my two outstanding cars of the show. I know, It’s another pre-war Triumph Dolomite. Yes, I know I always wax lyrical about them on every NEC car show blog I’ve ever written, but this is the only place I’ve ever seen one in the flesh and come on, this one is achingly beautiful. Not only the stunning waterfall grill but that Art Deco interior is just wonderful. Please bear with me while I take a moment…

And now to my favourite car of the show. The gorgeous Triumph Fury. I’ve admired this car via internet photos for years and here it was, actually in the flesh. I came over all star-struck just as if I’d met a famous celebrity.
 
The Fury was a one-off prototype, designed by Giovanni Michelotti no less. Yes, He of Triumph Herald fame. OK, He designed for Ferrari and Maserati too but obviously, his best work was with Triumph.

​The Fury with its 2.0L straight 6 engine was designed to fill the perceived gap in Triumph sports car range between the diminutive Spitfire and the big butch TRs and in my mind it would have done this job superbly. In my opinion it is a true beauty. The penny pinchers that decided it would be too expensive to tool up for it should be ashamed of ending this lovely cars future.

​Imagine my delight when I realised that the current custodian of the car is a fellow member of our very own group, Janet Weitzmann. This makes it much easier for me to stalk and bombard her with invitations to attend one of our live tours and take me for a ride in it. (Please Janet, pretty please?)

Of course, our stand wasn’t the only huge success at the show from our group members. So I would like to express our admiration and congratulations to fellow member Mark Wilson, who with his E-Type Jaguar helped the Sporting Bears Raise a massive £29,000 over the weekend for their chosen charities. A fantastic job as always from the Sporting Bears

​Congratulations must also go to another fellow member. Shiny, Shiny Junior Jake Clappison. Following in his father’s footsteps, he won the Lancaster Insurance Pride of Ownership competition for having the shiniest Triumph Spitfire car ever in existence. Jake has also promised to join us on tour and me take for a ride. That’s if I can see past the reflective glare to get into the car.

​And that’s it for this year’s shiny show at the NEC apart from to say that we had the easiest show breakdown ever and were out of the halls by 6PM. (Note to Gar. Make sure we have a car big enough to chuck the stand in, on the stand!  Thanks Lincoln.)
 
So huge thanks to Lincoln Hunt, Nick Arthur, Gus, Tosh and Allison Brooks and Anthony and Pat Osborne for showing your cars, all your help, the laughs and the cake. You made it a great weekend chaps.
 
Thanks also to Skipper Paul Sweeney and Events Coordinator Gar Cole for all the behind the scenes skulduggery that goes into putting the show on.
 
Biggest thanks of all go to Sarah Womack for the cake and Mrs FB Anita Peake for the sausage plait.
 
So, Thanks for reading and see you next time!
 
Our next tour is the Ffffffffreezing Forest of Dean tour in February followed by the Restoration show back at the NEC in March. Gar has a truly cracking stand planned for this one so don’t miss it.

From L-R Lincoln Hunt, Anthony Osborne, Mike Peake, Nick Arthur, Gus Brooks and Tosh Brooks

​You’re wondering about all that footage from the “bloody GoPro” aren’t you?  Well as I write, the SD card is off to be “looked at “ by experts as it was showing an SD error message in the bloody GoPro and was unreadable on any other device I plugged it into.

​With any luck, the experts will sort it though. In the meantime, Skipper Sweeney has managed to make a short highlights video from bits and pieces Sophie and I filmed using our phones and you can watch that below. If the footage on the Go Pro can be saved, there will be more to come.
 
See you soon.

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