Spiny Norman Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Since it was mentioned in another thread I thought some of you might like to see a few snaps I took at the Motor Show in 1985.I think it must have been one of the first events in the then new SECC, it had only been opened a few months at the time, and this was the first motor show since leaving the Kelvin Hall. These would have been taken on my old Minolta 35mm SLR, hand held with no flash ( I HATE using flashguns!) and are on Fujichrome 100. I remember being quite impressed with how well they came out. Sorry there's no shite to speak of, the teenage me wasn't very interested in Talbot Solaras and Austin Maestros I'm afraid. Spinning Granny Merc stand with new W124 Main entrance hall with Porsche 962 on display. Like I said, there are getting to be too damn many Volvo 700 estates about the place! Vauxhall stand with Cavalier Cabrio on left. Opel Manta Opel Monza dash. Real Space age stuff in 1985! BMW stand, all red. More Ovlovs.. Rally Skidder. Splitty Minor Delta Lambo stand. I may have leaked some man juice while gazing at this pair..... Arty Countach pic. Porker 924 Ford RS200 Blurry MG EXE concept on turntable. If you want to see a few more or bigger pics, the album's HERE. Barry Cade, Fat_Pirate, inconsistant and 12 others 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMC Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Niice pics, how did you get theat distortion effect in the pic of the BMW stand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Norman Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 Niice pics, how did you get theat distortion effect in the pic of the BMW stand? Quite a few of them (BMW and Vauxhall stands, the main hall shot and the Manta) were taken with an ultra wide angle 'fisheye' lens. A 16mm focal length on a 35mm camera gives virtually 180 degrees of coverage and to hell with keeping straight lines straight! Jim Bell 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vin Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 WOWSERS!! Great Pictures. My only motorshow experience of any kind was at the NEC in 1988. There was a VW Corrado stuck to a wall and I had brochures foisted on me by Seat and all I did was wonder why a car company was named after a chair...I wish I still had the official posters we got... the 88 of 1988 was incorporated into exhaust pipes. Make of that what you will. Again, Ace pics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilko220 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Fascinating stuff - thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Wonderful. There was a flickr group banging on about how good the SRT was, and you've just proved it. MOAR PLS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Sterling Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 That MG EXE eventually, somehow evolved into the Rover 800 Coupe. The EXE still exists somewhere, never actualy seen it myself but I heard it used to be on display at Gaydon. Great stuff man, thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSparrow Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 These are great, thanks for posting. A good year for chod, just about everything there can be classed as shite. Also the beemers look well fit. Skut 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavcraft Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 15, superb stuff and would like to see more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProgRocker Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Great pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Bo11ox Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Wonderful!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hertz Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 That brings back memories of a similar motor show they used to have at the G-MEX in Manchester years ago. I remember bringing home several carrier bags full of brochures and various tat including those funny paper hats that "spiraled" to fit your bonce, happy days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cort16 Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Great to see these. This show was the stuff of legend to me being in southern Scotchland but never got to go. I did however get to go to the Glasgow Garden festival in 1988. Lucky me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
<type username here> Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 One of my favourite threads so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Largactil Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Top stuff - First one I managed to attend was in 1993/4. (Still remember sitting in the Delta Integrale Evo on the Lancia stand - As well as the Audi RS2, which someone had pinched the gearknob from... ) Main entrance hall with Porsche 962 on display. I'll don my anorak, and venture that this is an Ecurie Ecosse Ford C285... M'coli 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Split_Pin Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Man alive, this show was the highlight of the year for me, especially in the late 80's and early 90s. Thanks for posting, they have brought back great memories for me. Countach was my dream car then. I had a poster of one on my wall and a 1/24 Polistil model of one which was unusual in not being fitted with a rear spoiler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Norman Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 Cheers for all the kind words guys. I've got a few more, but they're just different shots of the same cars. (Film was expensive back in the days, not like now when you can batter off a few hundred shots at a time on a digi camera. This represents the best of what was on two rolls of expensive slide film) I'll stick 'em up later on when I'm back on the PC that's got them all stored on it. I've also got some from the 1995 show I'll stick up as well. I'm pretty sure there's a SSang Yong Musso in that lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trigger Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Brilliant!, This is right up my street, It's a shame they don't do shows like this anymore, theres future generations of children just missing out on making threads like this in 25-30 years time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Norman Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 I'll don my anorak, and venture that this is an Ecurie Ecosse Ford C285... Then I shall I bow to your superior knowledge sir, I just assumed it would be a Rothmans-liveried Porsche.Maybe at Earls Court or the NEC it would have been, the SMTA show was always a bit low rent..... OK, the remains of all the slides I've scanned. Pretty much more of the same, but here goes. Car park with Pisshat. More spinning Granny. Ecurie Ecosse Ford C285. Vauxhall stand from above, with Astra and Cav on another turntable. I think they must have got a good price on turntables that year... Fisheye Manta. Vauxhall stand from ground level. Love the expressions on the faces of the two blokes just left of centre.... Salonen's 205 T16 rally car. Another arty Countach shot. Porsche 944 Turbo Close up of RS200 rally car MG EXE. I can remember being well impressed by that car. As a kid more into the Lamborghinis, Porsches and rally cars etc, I thought it was just the sort of car MG should be making, brickwall, johngarty, Banger Kenny and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcitroen Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Great stuff!!!! Those were the days. I remember trying to get as many brochures as a small boy could carry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayne Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 These photos are ace.I was hoping I'd recognise stuff but I don't think I went to this one (I did get to the Glasgow Garden Festival, aged 9, though). The BMW stand looks great with everything in red, I was in the local dealers this morning and it was a sea of silver and white.That Porsche 944 still looks good, it could be a current car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreepingJesus Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Great photos, brings back loads of memories.I reckon the chap in the Manta is a bloke called John Falconer, wot I knew once upon a time. He was at that time, a Vauxhall salesman; what made the SMS of yore so good, was that almost all the stands were organised by dealers. So I wouldn't be surprised if it were him, as all the Scottish Dealer Group would pool resources and manpower. Vauxhall (and all the others presumably), used to send the hardware up from down south, and we'd have a hectic couple of days putting stands together and fitting cars on them.The fettling time at night, to get the fingerprints off cars, and reinstate the stolen bits (badges and gearknobs were common, some other stuff was unbelievable!) was short and sharp. There was much bodgery, and crossed fingers that x,y, or z would be 'ok by the morning'.Why all this? 'Cos the show was always timed to alternate years with the main UK/English show, whether Earls' Court or the NEC. The manufacturers took it very seriously, and were happy to have a bit of cross-border rivalry to fire it up a bit. There were launches, and concept car unveilings (and Leyland always tried hard to appeal to the hardcore Scots hauliers who bought their stuff anyway, given that the Albion factory wasn't far from the SECC), and we were damned if we were going to let it be seen as some diddy provincial show'n'shine.Same applied to the Camping and Caravanning show, which was pretty much just as hard work. Sadly, the promoters decided to change the format, sometime in the mid-90's, and cut out the dealers. All promotional staff were either head office marketing bods, or clueless dolly birds with a handful of leaflets. I've never been back since. Oh, and by the way - I was at the Garden Festival twice. Both times invited to play me pipes, and I even got paid! (In luncheon vouchers. Remember them?) Good times, good times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiny Norman Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 Cool story CJ, but I'm pretty certain that's my mate sitting in the Manta giving me the evil eye! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest G_Reaper Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Great photos!! Do you have any photos of the Lotus Esprit Turbo on display at the 1985 show?I would be very interested as I own this car now it is white with blue leather interior. Cheers Mike brickwall and trigger 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukas Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 No japanese cars on display in 1985? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Bell Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Those were the days. Top snapping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy18s Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Interesting how much the RS200 changed from those pics to the actual rally car....and the Manta is the spitting image of my last 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brickwall Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 I remember this well. Milngavie Motors were very much parts of the motoring landscape back then, and my mum even bought a scrote from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inconsistant Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 I'm going to see if I can get an identical set of photos at the NEC Classic Car Show this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr A Lawrence Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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