NEC Classic 2009 - Wot, No Amazons?

[Guest]

On Sunday I wafted down thus to the NEC Classic and partook of the various exhibits there. I know the prices are off putting, especially for people on my tragic wage.

 

However, I had a great craic last time, and the event sprouted fourth from my wall planner like an ivory tower in the otherwise suppurating filth of work, pub and despair previously arranged.

 

I had agreed to meet Mk14Dr and Magnetteman from NSJC. Various traffic disparities put paid to that when the Highways Agency decided to close Junction 6 as if by magic. I saw Dave, Janey and her dad towards the end of the show, and I also bumped into Seth, Mrs_Seth and Sethlet Minimus.

 

As most of us know, the NEC is not the best venue for photography. Neither are its patrons particularly aware or tolerant of people getting snaps.

 

So, in splendid GIMP EDIT Technicolour (C902 spec) come my photos salvaged forthwith.

 

 

Tidy VdP Allegro spied near the footpath away from my chosen car park. N12. A dire Sunny variant, and the furthest distance aft of the atrium. The buses were pretty sporadic.

 

 

Walking through the main passageways of the NEC is redolent of Manchester Airport in 1986. Broken travelators were often hazardous.

 

 

 

 

 

BMW 507, one of the best things ever to come off von Goertz's drawing board.

 

 

Maserati Sebring.

 

 

Pre A Porsche 356.

 

 

Old and new.

 

 

CITROEN SECTION

 

Most of the photos that came out appear to be of Citroens old and obscure. No bad thing really - the 2CVGB Owner's Club had a wide selection of bizarre and interim prototypes to see:

 

 

 

The wheeled mollusc is the Coccinelle prototype.

 

 

Epic early CX on the adjacent Citroen Owner's Club stand.

 

 

I took a shot of this lovely ripple bonnet 2CV last year. It was flanked by the first ever Deux Cheveux prototype that was built during the war and hidden from the Nazis.

 

 

END OF CITROEN SECTION

 

 

 

One of the few modern cars I would buy if my numbers came up.

 

 

Paid the Talbot stand a visit on the way out.......

 

 

AUTOJUMBLE

 

On balance I think I got more out of the tat parade than the show itself.

It's worth a route round certainly. There's some *creative* ideas as to what things are worth, but that sort of thing is rife wherever you go.

 

I've been trying for 3 years to get a model of a Piazza from the toy stands.........

 

 

This year, I finally managed it. A mint boxed 1:43 scale Diapet Piazza. JDM spec and badged confusingly as an Impulse.

 

The overall detailing is slightly heavy handed but there's a lot of features to take in - the doors and boot open, and the bonnet opens the right way - i.e. like a Mk 2 Fiesta.

 

Best of all, it's on deep dish OEM waffles. I think I'll have to go over to Minicapopo to get the Lumnyo Asso Di Fiori and Bella XE at a decent price.

 

The negotiations started at £35, and I left with it for £25. Chap selling also had a Diapet Tredia for around the same price.

 

There was another stand selling Altaya F - Tin. I stumped up for a 504 and a Mehari:

 

 

My final purchase was a pile of old CAR issues from their golden period of 1985 into the early 90s. These were £1 each and I bought as many as I could fit into my rucksack, all in excellent condition:

 

 

Same time next year I think.

[brammy777]

Nice shots, i like the richness of your pictures as per.How much is entry, as this is looking damn tempting for next year!I am going to the NEC for the autosport show in january so maybe, just maybe there will be some tat there.Good diecast finds there too, and I love old CAR magazines.

[Guest]

Nice shots, i like the richness of your pictures as per.

How much is entry, as this is looking damn tempting for next year!

I am going to the NEC for the autosport show in january so maybe, just maybe there will be some tat there.

 

Good diecast finds there too, and I love old CAR magazines.

Sunday entry is the cheapest out of the 3 days at £17.00 for an online ticket booked in advance. It was chocka

 

The biggest arseache was the cost of car parking - at £8 you've spent over thirty smackers before you're in the door and had anything to eat. It's one of the few 'major' shows I go to so I bear the brunt of the costs.

 

Incidentally, I prefer this to the Beaulieu Autojumble. I know they're not directly comparable but I was somewhat underwhelmed the last time I traipsed down there - and the trip wasn't the work of a moment.

[seth]

Nice atmospheric photos Jon. Good to see you again.Lack of Amazons on the Volvo stand was bemusing.

[Guest]

Nice atmospheric photos Jon. Good to see you again.Lack of Amazons on the Volvo stand was bemusing.

Likewise chap.Were the VOC even there? I saw the VEC stuffed on to a plinth near the Saabs, but other than that I was none the wiser.

[Spiny Norman]

Superb pics there. There's a bit of discussion on the VOC forum about what was reckoned to be a pretty poor show this year.

[dollywobbler]

There was one Amazon - a turbo'd one appeared on the Live Stage at various times. I've got a pic somewhere...For info and donning my anorak - the Coccinelle and 2CV prototype were on the 2CVGB stand. The Citroen Car Club stand had the bonkers C-60 prototype (complete with a fan belt that goes through 90 degrees. Twice.) and Projet L - the forerunner of the CX but with a flat-four lump.

[Mr Lobster]

There was another stand selling Universal Hobbies F - Tin. I stumped up for a 504 and a Mehari:

 

Altaya actually

 

If you don't mind me asking, what sort of money did you pay for these?

 

We're looking at having a stand at NEC next year and am trying to work out whether I can make enough money to cover the very significant cost of doing it.

 

I really wanted to go partly just to suss out how the model sellers were doing but a lack of time and big dose of apathy means that I just stayed in bed and enjoyed the lie in instead.

[retro80sboy]

 

 

Tidy VdP Allegro spied near the footpath away from my chosen car park. N12. A dire Sunny variant, and the furthest distance aft of the atrium. The buses were pretty sporadic.

 

I saw this as the owner was parking up and remarked about the good condition of the car. was a nice example, got a pic on my camera, ill have to get it on here.

[VWPowered]

what camera you using those pics are very arty farty

[Pillock]

Excellent OLLOX plate on that CX, it's only need a bit of misrepresentation to make an ideal private plate for Capt. Bol.Obviously krush the car when you've plate-raped it

[Alpineandy]

I haven't been there fore 20 odd years. The cost of a stand there is horrendous so the renault guys don't go. I had planned to go on friday but my companion backed out and I couldn't be bothered.

[Father Ted]

I looked into it a couple of years back for BXc and the stand was free, but the cost of accomodation, transport, stuff for the stand (banners , badges, posters, stickers, T-shirts etc) was what put me off. plus trying to get five or six REALLY nice different BX's (not all TZD Turbos) at that time was damn near impossible.

[ChinaTom]

I know it's been said many times already above, but I am compelled to compliment you on those photos. I'm not usually big on effects, but what you're doing is absolutely bang on. So much so that I have wasted a good few hours trying to emulate it. Failed though.

[brammy777]

do you use a c902?How did you get the pictures like this?

[scruff]

Quality - there's a nice 80s CAR motorshow report feel to some of your pics as well.

[ChinaTom]

Trouble is, when I start adding effects to photos, I always end up going overboard and so need to just leave it alone.

 

 

DOH!!!

 

What you have done there is a Telecaster through a Twin Reverb, but found the sweet spot with a chorus pedal. Bugger, gone all arty.

[ChinaTom]

No, I meant what Watanabe did.What I achieved was a Marlin Sidewinder through a Carlsbro 1X12 with all three knobs on the flanger set to 10.I'm guessing there is some saturation tweaking going on - I'd love to be able to transform some of my pics like that.

[Milford Cubicle]

I think he uses GIMP

[Guest]

I think he uses GIMP

I use GIMP 2, indeed.My chosen camera (out of skintedness rather than choice) is my Sony Ericsson C902.The effects aren't the hard bit for me - it's the composing. Get that right and you're 95% of the way there.The remaining 5% is a mixture of very basic controls on sliders. Most of my stuff is done through contrast and brightness, although I tend to lean on the former rather than the latter. I sometimes use the Colourise function and then build on the effect with more contrast or saturation.Desaturate set to 'Lumiosity' is the best setting for any B&W photo you have in mind.Incidentally, never take a phone snap in B&W - always do it in colour so you have a wider palette to play with. After that, more contrast.That's about it. I sometimes use a filter called 'Cartoon' on certain areas such as headlights to bring their textures up.Thus I give away the technique I've worked out over untold nights of pissing around with very low tech equipment.

[Guest]

 

There was another stand selling Universal Hobbies F - Tin. I stumped up for a 504 and a Mehari:

 

Altaya actually

 

If you don't mind me asking, what sort of money did you pay for these?

 

We're looking at having a stand at NEC next year and am trying to work out whether I can make enough money to cover the very significant cost of doing it.

 

I really wanted to go partly just to suss out how the model sellers were doing but a lack of time and big dose of apathy means that I just stayed in bed and enjoyed the lie in instead.

It's worth it, although I was knackered by the time I got home.

 

I'm more than happy to car share to make the cost of getting there easier if anyone wants to join me. We tried to do this over on NSJC but other commitments scuppered it and we all went in separate cars.

 

Lobster, the Mehari and 504 were £3.95 each. There was a deal on where you could have 4 for £15, but I'd just bought the old CARs and yogged £25 on the Diapet Piazza, so I had to reign myself in a bit.

 

I think they came from a magazine series as all of the cars were in a cardboard blister pack that housed the model, plinth and top.

[Alpineandy]

I looked into it a couple of years back for BXc and the stand was free

As I understand it, it now costs over a grand per car :shock:just added from another club forum; 'We had hoped to have a full club stand but I've been in touch with the organisers and was quite staggered by the proposed cost of the display space for 3 vehicles. The original quote was £6750+VAT and the revised quote after negotiating was £3750+VAT'

[Father Ted]

I looked into it a couple of years back for BXc and the stand was free

As I understand it, it now costs over a grand per car :shock:The original quote was £6750+VAT

Holy Sh1t on a stick. I mean why FFS - people pay to get in & park & eat over priced dogfood burgers, why the hell would anyone pay to exhibit?

[dollywobbler]

Hmmm. This is very intriguing. I'm fairly sure that at least some clubs I know don't get charged for their stands, though there's a huge waiting list of clubs wanting to take part apparently...EDIT - have done some quick looking into this. Are you sure they didn't pay for a trade stand to get around the queue for stands?

[Guest]

Trouble is, when I start adding effects to photos, I always end up going overboard and so need to just leave it alone.

 

 

DOH!!!

 

What you have done there is a Telecaster through a Twin Reverb, but found the sweet spot with a chorus pedal. Bugger, gone all arty.

[ChinaTom]

As you say, 95% in the composing. Not happy-snapped with the cheapest Nokia phone in the hooky fake cheapo streetmarket in a backwater town in southern Siberia!!

[AnthonyG]

Nice atmospheric photos Jon. Good to see you again.Lack of Amazons on the Volvo stand was bemusing.

There were much more interesting range of cars on the VEC stand (it seemed to be shared with the Saab club?) although it was very cramped. The convertible PV544 done by a swedish coachbuilder was lovely.

[AnthonyG]

What was MPH and did those who paid for that get free entry to the classic show? There were a lot of young kids and members of the shaved head brigade who didn't seem to appreciate classics wondering about (read getting in the way) for example lots of pic taking of the Veyron on the Bugatti club stand, in total ignorance of the proper Bugattis there like the Atlantique coupe. Bloody chavs, harrumph, harrumph :lol:I probably won't go again due to sheer numbers, it was like attending the ordinary motor show in the 1980s. A friend of a friend on the Club Triumph stand said it was packed on the 'Preview' Friday as well.

[Guest]

Superb pics there. There's a bit of discussion on the VOC forum about what was reckoned to be a pretty poor show this year.

Precious, aren't they?

[Mr Lobster]

I looked into it a couple of years back for BXc and the stand was free

As I understand it, it now costs over a grand per car

Going back a few years (about 5 or 6) it was always the case that clubs could get a stand FOC. If you wanted electricity, carpets and so on then it got expensive but the stand itself was free. I organsised the ROC stand for a couple of years and that was certainly the case back then. The problem was actually getting one as there was always a waiting list.I'd be amazed if they are actually charging clubs over £1k per car as surely very few clubs would / could justify attending on that basis.