Northern Bygone Society - 26th April Meet

[vulgalour]

Today, Mike ferried us over to Hartlepool for the Northern Bygone Society meet being held, possibly coincidentally, on Drive It Day.  We went in the Triumph, I had wanted to take Blake and the Xantia but my back was being impossible so driving and dog handling was totally out of the question for me.  What follows are some pictures and some words of the day.

 

OFF WE GO.

 

We arrived and while there were many lovely things to witness, there was a little gem that had caught my eye on the way in that had nothing to do with the meet.

 

 

The meet was much more of the chromed classics variety.

 

 

This Humber Sceptre was lovely and on only its second owner who was a very personable chap.

 

 

Not entirely sure what this was.  My suspicion is it's a Beetle underneath with a Porsche mimicking bodyshell on top.  I'd welcome some info on it.

 

I like early Beetles and this one was rather smart.  Striped furry seat covers looked at home inside.  The indicator upgrade was quite smart too being some almost invisible motorbike repeaters.

 

 

There were a number of Escorts there, as there always are at these events.  This one stood out for just being a normal looking Mk1 Escort 2 door with vinyl roof.  It even still had the brightwork around the side windows.

 

This C reg SAAB was very tidy and on the best wheels.

 

Another unusual Ford to see is the Mk2 Cortina, quite surprising to see two of them parked up together.

 

[vulgalour]

Triumph GT6 and a Rover P6.

 

Timewarp Bedford CF camper, complete with 2' tidemark and repainted door hinges in a slightly different white to the rest of the van.  This is how I remember them growing up and this is how I like to see them preserved, shiny ones look nice but never as I remember.

 

A more different Bedford CF camper in the form of this fabulous Dormobile.

 

Wolseleys.

 

 

 

 

Understated Rover 90.

 

Fuzzy cat.  I was having trouble focusing the camera thanks to my back giving me grief.

 

Nice old Capri.

 

It may be a one owner car with only 30,000 miles on the clock, but the paint wasn't perfect and the price was decidedly salty for this 440 auto.

 

 

Mk1 Spitfire.  If it had a roof it would be a GT6, I am told.

 

The GERMANS.

 

Apparently French and British, perhaps this is the European Union in car form?

[vulgalour]

Nice little Austin van looking suitably tiny.

 

There were a few Rolls Royces in attendance and they were all beautiful.

 

 

This Bentley was also beautiful.

 

While there was a small scale replica MG on the dashboard of this MG I couldn't see if there was also a small scale replica of the small scale replica on the dashboard of the small scale replica.  Fractal MGs.

 

I had not anticipated that there might be a Princess there.  Absolutely stunning late model 2200 HLS model.

 

 

 

Behind it was a large but not massive Caddilac.

 

 

This gold Hillman Hunter estate was a treat too, a once everyday car that has pretty much disappeared now.

 

 

[vulgalour]

An Edsel with a continental kit.  It went on FOREVER.  I wanted to take it home but I fear that even if I had been allowed to our street wasn't long enough to park it on.

 

 

 

 

Tidy little Morris Minor.

 

Beautifully scruffy Morris Oxford.

 

 

I have no idea what the strange device on the steering wheel is for.  It had what looked like a red telltale and some wires running off under the dashboard.

 

Autoshite don't do Rolls Royces, but if they did...

 

 

 

TAXI!

 

[vulgalour]

One of three Probes in attendance.  The third one was modified and interesting but the only picture I got of it was so out of focus as to be no use.

 

 

I wonder if all Mercedes Benz end up automatically as classics, something about the styling of even the most ordinary ones seems to really stand the test of time well.

 

Another big American car, almost as big as the Edsel.

 

 

This was super cheery.  In the pictures you can't really see that it had a greenish tint to the paint that made it look like it was made out of 70s bathroom suites.  I wanted to take it home, possibly in the boot of the Edsel, it was irresistibly adorable.

 

 

 

Mike's GT6 at the end.  When he closed the bonnet I couldn't get a shot of all three red cars together so this is the best I got, likely never to be repeated.

 

These were the other side of the Italian things.

 

I've been told by a couple of German folk that they call the P1800 estate "Snow White's Coffin".

 

I don't know what this commercial was but I liked it.

 

I adored this Rover too.

 

 

[vulgalour]

When this Jaguar C Type appeared it didn't draw much of a crowd, which was handy for getting pictures.  Soon the crowd it drew made pictures impossible.  I assume it's a C-type and genuine, it had that feel about it.

 

 

 

ADORBZ etc.

 

 

 

 

My only picture of the BSA with Squire sidecar.  Neat contraption.

 

Appropriate numberplate on this gorgeous Jaguar.  It had an air of being a rally attendee, couldn't really tell you why but it had that look of a car that was cared for but used for the purpose it was built to do.  Also features one of my favourite rear light designs.

 

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

i do hope you didnt "soil" that princess with your excitedness

[vulgalour]

Happiest car ever, the little Austin Healey Sprite.

 

 

Really clean and tidy Ford Fiesta Ghia too.

 

Had a lot of time for this Landie, it looked honest and like it could rescue anyone from anywhere.

 

 

A few late arrivals here with a Triumph Herald, MG TF (I think, could be wrong) and a very 80s Porsche.

 

 

This Austin Sixteen Sports Saloon was a bit odd.  It had brown leather recaros and harnesses inside, a high level brake light (perhaps a wise addition, the brake lights on this era of car are pretty feeble) and massive modern door mirrors.  But it didn't seem like it had been given a performance engine.  Couldn't make sense of it.

 

 

 

[vulgalour]

Superb Sunbeam Stilleto.  The fat rear tyres and the noise it made coming in hinted at something interesting in the back.  I know next to nothing about the Stilleto/Imp so I couldn't tell you what might or might not have been in it.

 

 

Austin Seven and a very tidy Triumph Acclaim, both cars of the people.

 

2CV sounded really healthy and looked great in black and yellow.  The two-wheel conveyance next to it was, quite literally, a work of art and very impressive even if you don't like that sort of thing.

 

 

Rider had a matching helmet.  Unbelievably sparkly combo.

 

This SAAB was another late arrival but worth getting a couple of shots of on the way out.

 

 

Then we went home and followed this tidy Mk2 Escort 1300 almost all the way back.

 

 

Was a great day out, looking forward to the next one when I'll hopefully take one of my own cars.

[danthecapriman]

Great pics, looked a really good show.

 

That Edsel! Stunning car. How could anyone call them ugly?

The mk1 Escort looks exactly how they should look too, not another Mexico or rally replica. Lovely.

[Justin Case]

Great selection of cars there, thanks for posting Edsel is just perfect and has just instantly leapt to the top of my bucket list. Best of British for me is a tie between the Sunbeam Stiletto and that lovely early P4.

 

XK 140ish is really an Aristocat, based on XJ6 oily bits; late registration and body wider than original are the giveaways. Also the red MG is either a TA, TB or TC, TF came later [anorak mode] if that is a London Registration then it is a TA from about 1936 [/anorak mode ]

[Jim Bergerac]

Good pics. Looks like a cracking meet.

 

That Porsche 550 might be one of the Banham ones based on a Skoda Estelle rather than something Beetle based.4

 

cf: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andy.murdoch1/spyder.html

[vulgalour]

Quite a few folk have said the Porsche* is a Skoda.  I really struggle to see it in the proportions, it's so completely different to how I think of a Skoda and the wheels don't really give anything away to me either.  Never heard of an Aristocat either, had me completely fooled.

[JohnK]

Fucksticks. I had the E23 down at their event last weekend at Shildon Locomotion, planned to go to this today but the missus had other ideas. Looked a better turnout too!

 

The guy who owns that red C reg Saab is an absolute gent as well. Big E23 enthusiast who gave me a shitload of literature for free on them. His Saab is MINT.

[Angrydicky]

Great selection there. Looks like you had good weather too, which is always good!

 

I love the Oxford MO. The weird switch on the steering column looks like a Lucas rotary indicator switch, so looking at the picture I think it's been mounted on a home made panel which in turn is mounted on top of the horn push assembly where the trafficator switch would have been originally. Why the flasher conversion has been done like that, I don't know. It's much easier to just mount the switch on the dashboard somewhere, or link it into the trafficator circuit and have them working off the original switch.

 

The A30 and Austin 16 are lovely, too!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Those mirrors on that Austin 16 look OK, I know they shouldn't but they just do.

 

 

That C-Type seems to be a replica I'm afraid, seemingly on a dodgy logbook,

OJR 989 is a 1957 Black 2.4 Jag that hasn't been taxed since 1992 .

[vulgalour]

Shame about the C-Type, it had the look of a genuine one, in that way cars do.  Thank for the info on the Oxford, AD, that makes a lot of sense even if it is an odd way of doing things.

[fordperv]

That unknown silver convertible that people have said is a skoda is showing up on a reg check as a skoda, do you have any more pics of it? I like the look of it

[vulgalour]

That's the only one I took that was any good, all the others were just fuzzy blobs.  Based on a Skoda 130 it's a replica of a Porsche 550 and someone did tell me the kit maker but I can't remember who it was, Brahman or something like that.  It's a new one to me at any rate.

[MikeKnight]

Interesting that the Jag C-Type was a replica, it looked very genuine and the owner even took the steering wheel off to prevent theft.

 

If I had a genuine C or D Type I think I'd also hire bodyguards for it.

 

The weather was good, it didn't rain, but it was oddly chilly. Typical late April day, and it had rained buckets the day before.

 

This trip out also taught me that I REALLY need to pull the engine/gearbox/overdrive from the Triumph for the rebuild I've been putting off. It's dropping and consuming vast quantities of oil, tiny bit of blue smoke out the back, gearbox leaking rivers of oil, overdrive apparently stuck on and won't disengage, and the reverse gear has just started to make some very odd noises indeed. The oil pressure gauge runs out before the fuel gauge does. Never a good sign.