“EVERYTHING THAT WE expected plus a lot more” was the comment from a lady,one of a trio of elderly visitors I spoke to in the course of Saturday at the Bristol Classic CaShow; their first ever visit to the event.

“We are seeing all of those cars that we had in the family all of those years ago, we’ve seen them on the road from time to time, but we had no idea that everybody was so enthusiastic and the club stands, well !...It makes you want to buy one doesn’t it. We’ll have to see.” I walked past the group again later - the other lady, obviously the sister of the first, smiled. “Wonderful! I love the Morris Traveller” He, bless him, silent, followed on dutifully behind. Not typical, but purchased...many of them wearing that facial expression of a person who had found and bought the Koh i Noor diamond for 20 quid! Content and quality abounded, the colourful pageant of ‘ Alice in Volvoland’ on the Volvo Enthusiasts Club almost eclipsed the rather nice example of Colin Tatlow’s ’57 PV444. The Avon branch of the Morris Minor Owners Club mounted an all white model display with a member making a convincing performance as a clergyman, part of a wedding theme, whilst a stereo player delivered periodic renderings of the famous ‘down the isle’ musical march, playing on the nerves of every confirmed bachelor at the show. The ‘scrapyard’ scene depicted on the stand of the Landcrab Owners Club was equally convincing with its ‘72 Wolseley, a farm find, in a ‘for spares only’state. Sad! A reminder of what an excellent family facility this car and others in the Landcrab range were. Yeovil Car Club showed a very presentable Herald coupe in the familiar duo tone paint scheme of the time and the Imp Club always good for a attractive display must have been aware of some very tastily restored Hillman and Sunbeam Scottish built relatives in the car park that could have easily taken their place on the club stand. One of the most imposing cars on show was Adrian Kendall’s 1953 Vanden Plas Princess, this big duo-tone two owner saloon has covered less than 60,000 miles, barely run-in. Rochdale Owners Club members regailed visitors with the interesting history of one of the marques never the less one small important part of the rich pattern of this classic car world that we live in. The Footman James BristolClassic Car Show, at the Royal Bath and West Showground Shepton Mallet,in its 26th year, opened its doors to an extended facility and welcomed circa 20,000 keen and eager visitors. The lady was right, over 70 clubs fielding more than 300 of their cherished possessions combined to make this a ‘Bumper Bristol’ and over 300 trade and individual stall holders stepped up to prove what an important and valuable contribution to the economy the historic/classic vehicle world is...when you put it all together. The trade generally reported good results evidenced by the number of visitors carrying packages and parcels or staggering under the weight of parts old enough and reputable enough to pave the way for the acceptance of the self -build car into the classic world. Robert Lovegrove on the Singer Owners Club stand revealed that his apparently immaculate Singer Gazelle Estate had incurred frontal damage just a few days before the show. His expertise in effecting the bonnet and front panel repairs was self evident, the new grille had arrived at his Somerset home on a next day service, still in original Rootes wrappers?!?! The Rover P5 Owners Club came up with an interesting backdrop reminding some of us that the most exciting way of crossing the Channel many years ago was to load the family car onto a Bristol 170 Freighter of Silver City Airways climb into the back and “vibrate” your way from Lydd to Le Touquet. There was always the kudos of knowing that you were doing exactly what the best “works” teams did on the way to the foreign starts of the ‘Monte’ and other premier continental events. If you attended the Bristol Show I trust you gave yourself sufficient time to take it all in. Certainly excellent value for money. Nationwide Exhibitions aimed the Show as always at the enthusiast and his or her friends and family...yet again they were bang on target. The Show must have created a favourable impression with those visitors who were sampling the classic car world for the first time. 2005s event will be a hard act to follow, but follow it they will!

Peter Cahill