2016 Bourne Classic Car and Bike Festival

[vulgalour]

This is going to be oodles of pictures because it was a good sized show with quite a lot of cars I'd never seen before.  I was attending with my good friend Adam who works over at Hall's Garage in Bourne and he was there in the capacity of helping with the little stand they had for their new, very nice, MG Midget kits (more on that later), I was there to show the Rover and make Adam's life a bit easier by giving him a lift to the garage and doing a little bit of running around.  I got set up next to a Standard and a Mazda and that pretty much sets the feel for the show which was pleasantly eclectic.

 

While Adam was setting up the stand I wandered off to see stuff arrive.  As much as I like wandering around a static show, I do get quite a lot more enjoyment from seeing cars driving in and getting to see the drivers of them too.  There's so much more to classic cars when you can hear and smell and be slightly poisoned with carcinogens by them.  This little Austin was an excellent example, the elderly driver and dog in seemingly period dog cage on the back seat looked like they'd be lifted straight out of an Enid Blyton book.

 

This Triumph based special I had actually seen before over in Lubenham at the Triumph Six Sports Club house when Mike used to have his GT6 and attended there.  At least I'm fairly certain it's the same car.

 

It wasn't just a car show, there were supposedly some bikes on display too though I never found them.  This was the only time I recall seeing this tricycle on the day and I think it was the same chap that arrived in a Model T Ford and later pedalled in on a different bicycle.

 

More on this handsome commercial Austin later.

 

Bubble cars look tiny in modern traffic.

 

There were quite a few Rover P5s and Wolseley Sixes there, but only one Toyota Celica that I could find.

 

This one was a bit special.  A 1901 Pick, an early petrol car that was Lincolnshire built.  The owner was really approachable and even popped the bonnet for me to understand better how what little was under there actually worked.  I find these early cars fascinating and would love to have one to tinker with some day.  They are sadly far beyond my budget to acquire.

 

 

At the back, the two cogs are the gearbox.  Two forward gears and no reverse.

 

Under the bonnet, and the rod the sprocket is on is for the starting handle which goes through the spokes of the wheel.  Once started, the engine drives a central component by belt which in turn attaches by chains to the cogs on the rear axle.  It's a really elegant piece of engineering and incredible to think we've come so far from this in the last 115 years.

 

Another unusual oldie is the Singer.  Judging by the rear mudguard I'd have to say it's a 9/60 but that seems counter-intuitive to my understanding of this kind of model designation which would suggest a 9 cylinder 60hp engine.  Perhaps someone knows better?

 

 

 

Cute little Austin Seven with lots of wind-busting screens.

 

The Standard Big Nine (I think?  I'm not sure) I was parked next to which appeared to be fabric bodied (seen a lot of that lately).  It was impeccably turned out throughout but didn't feel over-restored, just really well cared for.  Absolutely charming thing.

 

 

 

 

[mercrocker]

Singer Nine - I think it was 60mm bore.   Power output more in the order of 36-45 BHP depending upon tune.  9 was the RAC HP rating.   I don't believe any of 'em could top 60mph stock although the racers were considerably faster.   Nice shots there, VL.

[vulgalour]

There was, of course, a rat rod there.  Seemed to have gone with a wartime theme and provocative statements.  I don't know what model or make it was.

 

 

That charming 'Enid Blyton' Austin again.

 

This Albion was lovely, my pictures do not do it justice.

 

 

A Morris 8 that was full of just-post-war peacetime memorobilia which was an unusual motif.

 

The colour on this Popular was really flattering to it, some evidence that it was a recent respray rather than original.

 

Nice, unmolested Austin Somerset.

 

Nice, thoroughly molested Austin Somerset sporting lots of appealing 90s custom stuff and a V8 under the bonnet.

 

 

Of special note is this 1949 Triumph Roadster, resplendant with its 67 years of wear and tear on display.  One of my favourite cars of the whole show.

 

 

In contrast, there was another metallic blue Triumph Roadster there.  I would have loved to have seen them parked side by side.

 

Handsome Rover P1/2/3 (I genuinely can't tell the difference) could have been easily overlooked tucked away in a corner.

 

Here's that handsome Austin commercial again, showing off it's chunky pie-crust tyres.

 

 

To finish off this post, have a rare MG Y type.  I still can't decide if it was two tone green or green and black.

[vulgalour]

One of these two costs considerably more than the other, I imagine.  A Bentley on the left and an Armstrong Siddeley Star Sapphire on the right.  I have a lot of time for Armstrong Siddeleys.

 

The proportions on these are just gorgeous, I'd happily waft along in one.  In fact, I'd prefer this over the Bentley next to it.

 

I can't say I've ever seen a metallic green Bentley of this era before and I'm not entirely sure I like it.

 

When I first saw this I was baffled as to what it was.  The shape was familiar but I couldn't place it.

 

 

Ah, there we go!  It's a Hillman Minx.  Not the drophead version you usually see.

 

Standard Super Ten.  I thought it was a Ten, but the badge said Super Ten.

 

This I confused for a Cresta, but as you can see it's a Vauxhall Wyvern.

 

A magnificent beast that really ought not to work in that colour scheme but does.  In person, that flash of brilliant blue really did work exceptionally well and it's one of the biggest British cars I've seen.  I know it's a Daimler, I just don't know which one.

 

Speaking of large British cars, here's a Bristol 403.

 

 

There were, I think, three Rover P5s there.  This grey and black one, a red and black one and a green and black one.

 

[vulgalour]

There were two Humber Imperials (or were they Super Snipes?) present, another favourite of mine.  This one looked quite Australian with the exterior visor and whitewall tyres, falling short of being American by not having too many accessories covering every available surface.

 

 

The owner of the other one had bravely put a folder on the front wing.  I feared for his paint in the face of the general public.

 

Pretty little Standard Vanguard.  The only detail I remember about this is that the paler paint colour is called Pink Wisteria.

 

 

Ford Consul in black, with a red interior, wearing slot mags.  I wanted to take this one home.

 

Gorgeous Alvis drophead.

 

Cute Wolseley 1500.

 

Because the showground was flooded, the show had been spread out into all available spaces in Bourne town itself.  That meant some of the local supermarket's car park had been commandeered making for some interesting parking collections.

 

Here's a rarity, a Ford Zephyr 4.

 

A Princess next to a Riley 4/72, which is itself another rarity.

 

Delightfully proper little Mini.

 

There's two E-types in this picture, but of greater interest is this Humber Sceptre.

 

 

Here's a couple of tidy Vauxhall Vivas.

 

 

[danthecapriman]

Daimler is a Majestic. And utterly gorgeous!

I love the Humbers too.

 

Great pics Vulg.

[vulgalour]

You may have noticed the cars getting younger as we go along, that's intentional.  I had to sort the mountain of snaps somehow.  It's not exactly chronological, just roughly so.  We get right into the 1990s eventually.  Since we're still somewhere around the '60s and '70s, here's a pretty little Lotus.

 

Although this picture was taken with a vegetable, it does highlight the unusual shape of the door glass and cabin 'bubble'.

 

Neat bit of parts binning with the Austin Westminster rear lights.

 

I like white and red cars almost as much as black and red ones so this Anglia was quite appealing.

 

I mentioned earlier that I'd gone with my friend Adam who works at Hall's Garage.  Here are the cars in question.  He drove the primrose frogeye Sprite while the blue special next to it was brought over in the Austin car transporter in the background.  That car transporter has an interesting history having been rescued from a plant nursery and is beautifully finished throughout, much like the two cars accompanying it.

 

This is a massive old bus I know nothing about.

 

 

There had to be an aircraft carrier somewhere, there always is.

 

 

A Vauxhall Ventora!

 

Shame my picture of it leaving later in the day was so poor really.

 

Look at the happy little face on this Landcrab.

 

 

A Wolseley Six in a weird pale lilac (Mirage?) with a red velour interior.

 

Another Wolseley Six this time in a sort of dark teal and I think this one had a green velour facings on the brown vinyl seats.

 

In the 80s it was fashionable to have white cars with white wheels and white interiors.  In the 70s beige was de rigeur throughout as demonstrated by this little 1100.

 

Autoshite Racing Livery on this Staaaaaaaaag

[vulgalour]

Do you know I said that the cars were getting younger as we went along?  Well... that's not entirely true.  Turns out I sorted them by country too which I'd totally forgotten I'd done so we'll soon be leaving this green and pleasant land to venture over to the land of the free.  First, here's a yellow Vauxhall Viva.

 

This little Reliant Rebel was another favourite at the show for me.  It was just right, even though it was no longer a little van or estate car.  Someone had clearly lavished a lot of time and effort on it and it looked eminently adoptable.

 

 

I have only seen pictures of this kind of roof on a Range Rover so seeing one in person was quite exciting.

 

I liked this Scimitar too.  It sounded great and even though the mods on it would sound terrible on paper, they worked really well in person.

 

This Capri sounded amazing too!

 

There were, I think about 5 of these Jags there.

 

Very smart Transit with Ford wheel trims.

 

I was a little bit in love with this Maxi on Allegro Equipe alloys.

 

Ford Cortina.

 

This MG Metro was pristine.  If you had a mind to, you could have probably eaten your dinner off it.  The owner might have told you off, mind.

 

XR2

 

The only other Montego I've seen this clean is Sam Skelton's blue one.  Seriously, it was flawless.  It's not an MG version either.

 

The other R8 at the show was this early one that was a symphony in beige and bronze.

 

Big turquoise Bentley.  Weren't the 90s ace?

 

That's a Studebaker next to it, btw.

 

Calibra in impeccable condition.

 

 

In the next post we move over to the land of guns, burgers and walmart.  Hold on to your electric store buggies and four gallon drinks containers!

[vulgalour]

America! F*CK YEAH!

 

Studebaker.

 

 

Chevrolet.

 

Signwriting a little hard to read.

 

 

Another Chevrolet and an unusual Italian.

 

I learned recently that Chevrolet put smaller wheels on the '57 to make it look bigger.

 

 

 

I. LOVE. THIS.  Pink Cadillac with white interior.

 

 

 

Lincoln in Lincoln.

 

 

Ford Thunderbird.

 

Chevrolet extravagance.

 

 

 

[vulgalour]

That's enough of that, let's relax and head on over to France... or possibly Slough since this is a RHD Traction Avant.

 

Peugeot J7 was a delight to see.  Less delightful was the scrambler bike chained to the front bumper rendering good photographs of it impossible to acquire.

 

 

Veg-cam again plus bonus over-exposure of this white Puglet.

 

Let's go to Italy, see if my camera gets any better.  No?  Oh well.  Here's an ancient Fiat.

 

Oh, there we go, that's better.

 

It had some nice details on it like the totally illegible sign for those behind it and the baroque foot plate.

 

 

A more different Fiat.

 

Boat tail Alfa Romeo 1750 was a pleasant surprise.  They're still a horrible car to work on, but nice to look at.

 

Another Fiat, this time a 131 with terrible wheels and a few knocks.

 

 

No, I don't know what was going on with the headlights on this Lancia Beta Montecarlo either.

 

Maserati which kept the roof up all day.  Quite a smart little thing, nevertheless.

 

[vulgalour]

Japan next and this beautiful brown Celica.

 

 

There was a more different Celica there too, this is perhaps only the second drophead version of one of this era I've ever seen.

 

The £1500 Civic.  No really.

 

Germany?  Why not, let's head over to Germany.  That makes sense I'm sure.  Have a Beetle estate (I know, I know, it's a Type 3 really).

 

 

Now, I don't get excited about Golfs normally but I'm making an exception for this one.  It was pristine, it wasn't lowered and it was wearing tarantula alloys.  It's the first Mk1 Golf this clean that I've seen in person that wasn't lowered on BBS lattice alloys.  I could genuinely see with this one why the Mk1 Golf GTi became a classic in a way that the modified-by-numbers ones just don't show.

 

 

There was a reasonably tidy Sirocco there too.

 

I reckon we just have time for a quick detour to South Korea for this absolute gem.  Whoever braved bringing a Mk1 Kia Pride to a classic car show is some sort of legend.  It was turned out really well, in proper classic car show fashion.  Sadly, this is the only picture I have of it, my camera would not cooperate in part because the red was so shiny it was difficult to get a focus on it.

 

I did manage to get some overview shots when I was helped up onto a wall, you rarely get a chance to take these shots and I'm not one to pass up an opportunity.  My back did not thank me afterwards, but never mind, I didn't die so it'll probably make me stronger.  This was only one section of four or five that the show was spread over.

 

 

We just have time for some parting shots and a few of the cars I didn't manage to snap earlier.  I missed out quite a few in fact, some due to a lack of interest and some just because I didn't get a photo in focus.

 

This is one of my favourite snaps from the whole day, really sums up the happy, relaxed atmosphere of the show.

 

 

 

Your guess is as good as mine here.

 

 

 

The little heritage centre was worth a visit too.  Plenty of racing memoribilia, local history and this porcelain tank.

 

 

 

Here ends the show report.  I hope you enjoyed it.

[mercrocker]

Thanks - Have enjoyed this thread....

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

A magnificent beast that really ought not to work in that colour scheme but does.  In person, that flash of brilliant blue really did work exceptionally well and it's one of the biggest British cars I've seen.  I know it's a Daimler, I just don't know which one.

 

 

 

 

Daimler Majestic Major. Powered by a lovely V8 too.

[406V6]

Great shots, well done. Like you, the last time I went to a big car show (Macungie PA, USA) I got most enjoyment out of watching the cars arrive. It's a different dimension when you can hear the engines as they move and seeing the owners can be entertaining too.

[Essex V6]

Pedant alert - the Fiesta is a Supersport.

 

Looks like a great show - loved the MG Metro and the Golf GTI!

[vulgalour]

What's the difference between an XR2 and a Supersport?

[UltraWomble]

What's the difference between an XR2 and a Supersport?

1.6 donkey vs 1.3 donk

[oldcars]

Great photos thanks for posting them. Love the Kia Pride was there.

[flat4alfa]

This is a massive old bus I know nothing about.

 

 

http://www.delainebuses.com/45.html

[Vantman]

Nice report and pictures,thanks for sharing. There used to be lots of stuff in Bourne museum about Raymond Mays who was a local 60s motor racing character.

[UltraWomble]

What's the difference between an XR2 and a Supersport?

Oh and visually:

Supersport - square headlamps:

 

XR2

Round headlamps, different side graphics & usually pepperpot alloys - from the back - two foglamps and a boot shroud type spoiler. I think both the XR and Supersport have the rear valance bulge for the alloy wheel, but could be wrong.

[vulgalour]

I'm happy to be educated on the differences between the two, it's saved me the embarrassment of doing artwork of the Supersport and calling it an XR2 erroneously.

[flat4alfa]

Either way they rusted to buggery