Totally disheartened with the whole car thing *Mood-hoover content*

[burraston2006]

^ Based on the Sierra, is that.  As you'll know... 

 

As you know it was really based on the Reliant Kitten

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Some of the comments above really sum up what I enjoy about AS. I may not like all the cars we as a bunch of misfits actually own, but what I do like is the fact that we own what we do because WE like it, rather than because it's popular or valuable.

You say that Mat and I kniw what you mean but I'm seeing 5 pages of folk whining and bitching about 'the great unwashed' because someone at a show once said something disparaging about their car. 'Oh I don't go to car shows any more because of all the (insert usual mythical AS bogeymen here)'

 

Cheer up twats! I love car shows, I love all the mentals that go to them, I love the spectrum of people you get at them, from one-man roadside engine remanufacturers, through beardy Dad's army rejects, Kevs, Mr Trebus wannebees, 'Mk2 Granada 2.8 Ghia Estate Drivers' Guild' jumper-wearing maniacs, even the headset-wearing goon selling polish who spends all day shining up half a red mini bonnet. If someone came up to me with some level 12 horse shit about the K series being a BMW/Ferrari/Massey Ferguson design or some such, id be lapping it up? 'Oh yeah it is is it? Wow I neve knew!!! Tell me more!!!' I love it man. If you have stopped going to shows because someone once said something to you that you knew to be inaccurate, its YOU who needs to get a life and stop taking it all so seriously. Its a flippin hobby man!!! Grow up losers!!!

[garbaldy]

/\  That's a fookin ace reply man and very nearly had me reaching for the like this shite button.

[RoadworkUK]

You know, I often wish that people would come up to me and go "PHWOOAAR" at my 825, but they never do. Never will.

 

Even when I (very) occasionally visit Trig's most superb East Coast Retros meets I end up parking the Rover among the normals because, well, it's just an old Rover. Even if it was the very nicest 825 left on the planet (and it must be close) nobody's going to give much of a fuck on account of nobody gives a fuck.

 

Don't care.

 

I know what I drive and I know why I drive it. At any show I ever visit, at heart I know that I like my car at least as much as most of the cars on display.

 

At this year's press day at Millbrook I was one of two people to turn up in an old 800, much to my disappointment as I thought I'd be alone. It was parked among all the long-term press cars that journos get to flop around in, and it gave me a raging hard on knowing how much less generic my everyday driving experience is than theirs.

 

Thing is, though the 800 was commonly regarded as "a bit shit" back when it was still for sale, its shitness is totally irrelevant today. It's a bit of a shite icon, and now looks hugely more individual than any number of BMW, Omega etc, in fact every one of its superior 1997 rivals somehow seems a bit dull in comparison. Except the 605. And the Alfa 164. Obviously. I'd far rather have the 825, irrespective of its incompetence.

 

At the end of the day the general public, even those who claim to know about cars, are quite awesomely ignorant. People genuinely tell me that my late '90s Rover is "the one with the V8". The populist viewpoint is the easiest to latch onto, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Everybody loves Capris and RWD Escorts but ask them why and they'll have great difficulty issuing any worthwhile reasoning.

 

In short, we like our cars. Even if only We know why.

[vulgalour]

I have taken the Princess to two shows.  Opinion is totally divided about it.  I really want to take the Corsa to a classic car show because it's 20 years old ffs and it really has no right at all to still look as smart as it does.

 

Best thing about car shows are all the fantastic stuff you see in the car park owned by people that don't realise or don't think their cars are interesting and cool enough to be on the main lawn.  Car shows are ace, there's always gems hiding amid the sea of generic classics.  Even generic classics can be appealing, I'm always looking for the absurdly clean Sherpa Coupé or 70s street furniture Moggy.

[beko1987]

I tend to walk past the 12x identical concourse cars and beeline for the sheddy old daily driver chod at the ends when I happen upon a local car show. See a surprisingly nice amount at the car boots too.

[beko1987]

I tend to walk past the 12x identical concourse cars and beeline for the sheddy old daily driver chod at the ends when I happen upon a local car show. See a surprisingly nice amount at the car boots too.

[Split_Pin]

You say that Mat and I kniw what you mean but I'm seeing 5 pages of folk whining and bitching about 'the great unwashed' because someone at a show once said something disparaging about their car. 'Oh I don't go to car shows any more because of all the (insert usual mythical AS bogeymen here)'

 

Cheer up twats! I love car shows, I love all the mentals that go to them, I love the spectrum of people you get at them, from one-man roadside engine remanufacturers, through beardy Dad's army rejects, Kevs, Mr Trebus wannebees, 'Mk2 Granada 2.8 Ghia Estate Drivers' Guild' jumper-wearing maniacs, even the headset-wearing goon selling polish who spends all day shining up half a red mini bonnet. If someone came up to me with some level 12 horse shit about the K series being a BMW/Ferrari/Massey Ferguson design or some such, id be lapping it up? 'Oh yeah it is is it? Wow I neve knew!!! Tell me more!!!' I love it man. If you have stopped going to shows because someone once said something to you that you knew to be inaccurate, its YOU who needs to get a life and stop taking it all so seriously. Its a flippin hobby man!!! Grow up losers!!!

If someone had come up with an inventive piece of Daily Mail trivia about my car on Sunday I would have loved it. It was the disheartening lack of dialogue that got me down.

 

Through the disparaging bits of your post I can see your point of view though, so ta.

[purplebargeken]

Most interesting car I ever saw was in the car park of an Enfield Pageant a few years ago. It was a red Mk2 Grannie estate with 6 wheels. It was ace

[Lacquer Peel]

I think the Astra coupe is a nice looking car and I wouldn't mind seeing one close up. Couldn't get mega enthusiastic about one though, it's still a relatively common car.

 

A Rover 800 though, now you're talking!

[RobT]

As Bol says, shows are great for the nutter quotient.  I’ve said it before, but BMC/BL events have mentals of the highest quality, probably the best in fact.  But they are a (mostly) benevolent sort, so I like it when one comes up to me and starts hyperventilating over the differences between my Metro and launch-spec ones.

 

So maybe buy yourself some BL tat Ian and enjoy the comedy!

[Angrydicky]

At a show last year I saw a minty Renault 6 arriving and heading straight for the visitors car park! I walked over and got some pictures (after I'd waited ages for the owner to finish faffing around fitting his steering lock), but it should have been in the actual show. In fact it was much more interesting than a lot of the cars inside the show (14 plate, straight out of the showroom Mercedes)?

[Uncle Jimmy]

I still like a couple of car shows/year. Not as much as I did. I don't hover around any of the cars I've owned so I never really know what people might say. As always, if it's mundane, tatty or odd, I have a good look.

Shame you got that attitude about your Astra, don't sell it for that reason, you'll regret it. My old Volvo isn't glamorous or fast or whatever but I love the old bus and i'd be forlorn if I was without it.

[I_am_Diesel]

I own a Vauxhall and a Volkswagen yet still frequent Autoshite. Never give up my friend.

[Bobthebeard]

Car shows... Hmmmm. Never go to them now TBH. Did that once. Not that I don't appreciate other people's cars, just get bored of seeing a row of polished vehicles with proud blokes in lawn chairs sat next to said vehicles. I much prefer to see the cars out in the wild doing what they were designed for, being driven and used for transport. I fully understand the disappointment of the OP when some oik made a comment about his pride and joy though. Such places are best avoided if seeking admiration. Car shows just bring out the 'nice car, meh' overload in many people. Lots of nice cars, where's the burger van mentality.

Just drive the car, use it ever day and it will stand out. Have had loads of compliments about my Honda Prelude at petrol stations, supermarket car parks etc. Only took it once to a local car show and nobody gave it a second glance!

[dugong]

I like covering car shows for work, but I'd hesitate to display one of my own cars. Too many get-togethers are shorthand for 'concours only'.

[alf892]

Car shows are fun..............all of humanity is before you!

 

Engage your imagination and enjoy yourself.............

 

If you really need to get offended by shit get into religion or politics

[xtriple]

I took my Metro to Paignton green classic car show a the year before I incapacitated myself. I really loved that little Metro and it was bloody MINT! I loved it all the more 'cos it was one owner who lived one street away from me all its life and the fact that it was utterly bog basic. Metro City. No 'X', no nuffing! No radio, no aerial (but the standard bung in the wing where it would go if you splashed out) no passenger side mirror, no bidet...

 

I spent a fortune having a new windscreen fitted as the old one was chipped to buggery and I had my favourite dent man come round over two weeks and take all the giffer dents out of it (mainly the bonnet as the previous owner had obviously parked in the garage with the nose under a bench or similar) and it was a cracker - even got Central Garages to make me original dealer plates and put the dealer sticker in the back window and tax disc holder.

 

Yes, okay it was 'just' a Metro and a City at that, but I really liked it and had spent money on the little thing and I genuinely thought people might be interested in seeing it.... oh well you can only be TOTALLY wrong!

 

Had a bit of a fight just to get it in the show as the guy on the gate wasn't keen, and then I listened to a lot of very snotty comments about it all day. Didn't bother me in the slightest to be honest, I still thought it was 'car of the show'

 

Best comment of the day came from a very (un)yummy Mummy pushing a pram who said: 'But it's just a shitty City!'  How I laughed....

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 I really want to take the Corsa to a classic car show because it's 20 years old ffs and it really has no right at all to still look as smart as it does.

 

 

 

 

Do it.

 

I'm old enough to remember buying the first ever Practical Spastics in 1980. A 20 year old car was a mark 1 A40 Farina or a Mark 11 Consul and they could be seen at classic car shows back then as examples of The Good Old Days.

 

Thing is, if nobody starts to save and show 1990's stuff now it will all be gone soon. Fuck me, an A reg Montego is over 30 years old now! And they've all gone.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 BMC/BL events have mentals of the highest quality, probably the best in fact.  

 

 

Fucking hell, another keyboard ruined with spat coffee. Bastard.

[Noel Tidybeard]

i got the usual "why did you buy that?" stuff when i got the renner

 

1. £100
2. when was the last time you saw one?

that usually does the trick

[Cavcraft]

First year I 'did' Cholmondeley we had ten or eleven BXs there. I overheard a couple of comments and saw a fee snotty looks. That just made it better for me, I honestly hope it ruined their day.

 

Anyhow, most car shows are great for the characters as much as the motors and this website is the same. There are some real diamonds out there no matter what they drive.

[anonymous user]

On reflection, my problem with car shows is probably me, I'm no good with people and especially no good at talking to people I don't know, particularly if I think they are wrong. I'm not prepared to go very far to a show and around here that will mean you end up seeing the same Jaguars, MGs, etc, at all the local shows for years, or at least until the owner dies. The last one I took a car to was about three years ago now and that was only because it was less than a mile from my house. I managed about two hours before I had had enough and then had a job persuading them to let me off the field to go home.

 

I much prefer the old fashioned village show, slightly disorganised, everything there from the WI cake-stall to the giant vegetable competition, with a few old cars, tractors, motorbikes and phut-phut oil engines thrown in. Where else will you see a genuine Bugatti T35 shoved in next to a Morris Minor and Fergie Tractor, with the star of the show being the local coal-merchant's old lorry. Something like the NEC would be too much for me, too many people shoved in a small space, that's why I enjoy the pics other people put up on here, as I don't have to go.

[Justin Case]

Tis the other way round at bus shows. The general public respect the vehicles, we never have any damage, and you get a lot of nice comments like ' I used to go to school on one of these', 'my Grandad used to drive one' etc and you often find out things about the buses when they were in service that you weren't aware of. But the so-called enthusiasts You can tell them a mile off, Billy No-Mates with a generally uncared for appearance and will complain in a nasal whine that you have only got 77 rivets on the front nearside flange bracket panel when there should be 79 and looks at you as if you have been skinning live kittens to reupholster the seats.

[fordperv]

I do go to car shows in my saph, it is my daily as well, i get lots of positive comments from people of how nice it is, people make a b-line for it, i love now and then I get the know it all type saying to his mates "look at that cosworth" i take great pride in putting them right telling them it's not.

 

I say ignore the negative stuff, you'll probably find the people who say negative comments drive a shitty small barried 1.0 hatchback that they think is 700bhp because it's got a chav cannon and a k&n

[lisbon_road]

Ref the above comment, bus rallies are good.  I will be doing Alton this weekend with the Viva - Alton has cars as well.  I do find though that there is an atmosphere to rallies that varies and some are more friendly than others.  I went to a small one near Newberry once and the atmosphere was so good even my wife enjoyed it;  and I have been to others where I just want to go home.

[danthecapriman]

I don't think I've ever taken one of my cars to a show, I just can't be arsed with it all! I very rarely go to shows just to look at other peoples cars either.

I prefer to have what I want because I want it, and get what I want out of just owning, driving and working on it. I'm not really a 'people' person either to be honest!

 

I say have and drive what you want and bollocks to everyone else.

[HH-R]

I find car shows pretty dull, usually have a little walk round and then just go to the pub instead.

 

Bus rallies are better though, I need my yearly dose of Gardner 6LXB topped up.

[EssDeeWon]

At a show last year I saw a minty Renault 6 arriving and heading straight for the visitors car park! I walked over and got some pictures (after I'd waited ages for the owner to finish faffing around fitting his steering lock), but it should have been in the actual show. In fact it was much more interesting than a lot of the cars inside the show (14 plate, straight out of the showroom Mercedes)?

 

Take it you mean the Lawns?

 

There was a nice (ok, slightly tatty) MK2 Granada Ghia in the carpark this year, and a minty early MK2 Fiesta Popular. These should be in the show, and maybe lose some of the MGB'zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Angrydicky]

Yeah it was the Lawns. 

 

Talking of MK2 Granadas, I saw that really ropey A reg gold one in Shoebury yesterday when I was driving the Maestro. Gave him the thumbs up and got a wave back