FOTU 2023

[RichardK]

On 7/28/2023 at 3:38 PM, wesacosa said:

Really been thinking today if I should go or not. I have been so upset about the ULEZ verdict today even though I expect it that the thought of spending the day looking at cars I can no longer aspire to have is too depressing.. But then I thought that's exactly what he wants, anyone who doesn't buy into his ideology to be punished. So barring any last minute disaster me and my lovely XM will be giving one last two fingered salute to Sadiq Khan. Come and say hello if you see us

Fucking ULEZ

That XM's numberplate is oddly appealing to me given WGW is a thing I try to enjoy twice a year...

(Whitby Gothic Weekend. Apparently now down to once a year though)

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, wesacosa said:

the arrival of the bASe made it on the official Hagerty into vid , @BorniteIdentity

https://twitter.com/HagertyUK/status/1685274946224713728?t=LY2bHRWCnjKDbSk_ExCPYw&s=09

For an official vid, I found that very disappointing.

[BorniteIdentity]

34 minutes ago, RichardK said:

Pretty sure when @Zelandeth brought the van up, we passed that heading south on the M1 and it was very exciting

He came up from Bedford so very likely. Nice guy who also has a MK1 Granada. He was in front of me in the queue. 

[wesacosa]

38 minutes ago, RichardK said:

Fucking ULEZ

That XM's numberplate is oddly appealing to me given WGW is a thing I try to enjoy twice a year...

(Whitby Gothic Weekend. Apparently now down to once a year though)

  not been to WGW but Whitby is lovely and the abbey is amazing 

[captain_70s]

Ready for the show.

15 miles in it started getting hot. Pulling in to Hamilton services to meet up with @blackboilersuitand @Supernaut for a convoy south I head something ping off the undercarriage and saw something rolling off into the lorry park in the mirror.

Hopped out and went for a look at it turned out to be the crank pulley nut...

@blackboilersuit dashed home to grab an appropriate massive socket and we got it reinstalled.

Less fixable was this:

Constant foam from the coolant, overflowing when revved. When I pulled the dipstick the car nearly stalled. Aye, that's fucked.

Limped it home and swapped to the Volvo.

Made the show, didn't take any photos, Girlfriend_70s did take this one though:

Good time was had by all and @davidfowler2000, @blackboilersuit and us set off northwards.

Just at the last stretch of dual carriage way on the A66 a horrendous wailing noise started. I crawled up the side of the road looking for somewhere to pull over unit the sound intensified to the point where I gave up and just parked half on the verge to try and avoid destroying the car.

Turned out a rear tyre had suffered sudden loss of integrity...

Luckily a pair of mk3 Cavaliers were convoying back to Belfast from the show and stopped to lend a hand and we got the car onto the spare and out of harms way within a few mins. Changing a wheel in the dark and rain at the side of fast moving traffic was not fun...

We did make it home alive though, arriving around 12:45am.

[jmsguzzi]

Festival of the exceptional moaners again, same every year, not enough of this, to much of that, not so much on here but definitely on other platforms.
 

Personally absolutely loved it again this year, there’s so much to see that I found it very easy to just walk past the stuff that I didn’t want to look at or that ‘shouldn’t of been there’. I didn’t have much of a problem with the que but did get there relatively early, think it took about 20/30 mins to get in.

Tatra V8!

[High Jetter]

Tatra with a roll cage and towpoint indicator? Classic racing?

[dollywobbler]

That Tatra sounded amazing. 

[jmsguzzi]

8 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Tatra with a roll cage and towpoint indicator? Classic racing?

Yup, seems like it was set up for competition use, full cage, cut off switch, racing seats etc.

[Supernaut]

My car did not like the queue on the way into FOTU.

I managed to limp it in by shutting it off periodically and only moving once there was space to roll along for a while. Quite a few people were doing that too!

I got home about an hour ago without any further thermal incidents.

 

I didn't take many photos either.

However, I did take some.

Starting with the already mentioned Tatra. It did indeed sound utterly filthy when it left.

 

Next we have a GAZ M21 Volga whatever, featuring a Vauxhall Cavalier and  @captain_70s to demonstrate the sheer scale of it.

 

Mitsubishi Colt Saporro!

 

I wish mine was this colour.

[Surface Rust]

That Volga had real presence and epic ground clearance, I reckon you could service most of the undersides without the aid of a jack. 

Further photo for scale, the Cavalier is NOT far away.

Dash is glorious too:

[meggersdog]

18 hours ago, trigger said:

Another fantastic day and got to meet many forum members again miss aload of you too... 🙄

I was escorted up this was beige delight belonging to @Brodders, here he is washing bird shit off it at Brampton Hut services

Loads of people are moaning about the queues in but we got there at 9.15 and was driving in at 9.30 but it was super busy

I had a few grumps about the show, mostly the large number of cars that i personally found either too exceptional or just damn right completely out of place at the show in my opinion, Is a Ferrari 348, a DeLorean,  Porsche Boxsters and a new McLaren really unexceptional?

i managed to dodge a bullet being the winner of 2019's show that i wasn't asked to go up on stage and speak to the public about my experiences like some of the others previous winners, i left that to the 'social media influencers' to enjoy 

But other than that and all the bastard wasps it was a great day and the Orion was faultless!

I've added all my photos onto facebook, hopefully the link works?.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=dockertrigger&set=a.10159839807632087

didn't realise that was you @trigger.  That photo of the queue you must have taken it at the side of my Nissan. The Pug 309 was infront of me, my mates Citroen XM behind and the for sale Orion behind that.

[trigger]

1 hour ago, meggersdog said:

didn't realise that was you @trigger.  That photo of the queue you must have taken it at the side of my Nissan. The Pug 309 was infront of me, my mates Citroen XM behind and the for sale Orion behind that.

I didn't know that was you! I got you in this photo then

And @catsinthewelderunfortunate breakdown was captured on camera

[wuvvum]

Fuck me, I think that's the first time I've ever been photographed running.

[catsinthewelder]

5 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Fuck me, I think that's the first time I've ever been photographed running.

Thanks mate, you're a star 😃

[MJK 24]

It’s essential I attend next year.

[dollywobbler]

46 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Fuck me, I think that's the first time I've ever been photographed running.

Likewise I think. Good job I was wearing my sports shorts. Any diagnosis on the Dacia Rich?

[Soundwave]

One very minor gripe if I may... actually it's not even really a gripe, more a query.

Does anyone know why, when the first field is full, they fill the second field from the far end and work back towards the first one? All it seems to accomplish is leaving a massive gap in the show that takes until mid afternoon to mostly fill. Is it to help spread things out and avoid overcrowding with people or something?

[catsinthewelder]

@dollywobbler The first AA man reckoned that the coil was dead.  Would make sense with the overcharging but it's typical Mighty Dacia that it kept running to the destination then refused to restart.  He didn't have a spare and couldn't get one at 7.30 on a Saturday night so called the big yellow taxi.

As folk may have spotted Miss C was busy with the camera yesterday so have a pile of pics. (Mostly of Vauxhall's and Rover SD1s)

[juular]

Second year at FOTU and enjoyed it even more this time round as it turned into a very pleasant day enjoying some very good company in pleasant surroundings, the field of scrap being a nice bonus.

As mentioned earlier myself and @MrsJuular set off on a slow tour southwards from central Scotland in the Toledo and 205. The real goal was just to get the Toledo down there in one piece and the entire journey was spent with one eye on the temperature gauge and listening out for any signs of problems with the rebuilt engine.

The 205 was taken mostly as moral support and as a backup vehicle and as you can see I made every effort to make it as showworthy as possible.

It's an interesting social experiment being in an utterly fucked looking old car. People keep their distance as if the shitness is somehow contagious. The most common reaction is dismissive head shaking.

Of course the best things in life are free and the prep included filtering 50 litres of chip fat to fuel the nugget.

Some nice roads south were taken including Hartside summit at a large rate of GLF.

Wildlife was spotted.

The Toledo continued to attract attention for the opposite reasons to the 205.

We stopped off at the Avro heritage museum which offers very interesting guided cockpit tours of a Nimrod, Vulcan and Lancaster.

We met up with the Scotoshite representatives @captain_70s @blackboilersuit @davidfowler2000 and Welsh representative @Sunny Jim in Peterborough for a nice dinner and then a convoy to FOTU the next morning where we also met @Supernaut

Things which interested me at FOTU.

Tatra 603. Absolute show stealer.

The Saab with the retro-modern pod was something special.

The OM605 Commer was high on the want list.

The Citroen van with the model car display had an Autoshite sticker in the back. Someone here?

This Alpine was exactly the condition FOTU cars should be in.

Very pleased to see both Colt Sapporos back this year. Still the best interiors.

The absolute highlight for me, selfishly, was seeing @MrsJuular display the Toledo she's worked so hard on to get to the show. I'm really proud and it's a credit to her patience and commitment, learning to weld, rebuild the engine and carb, replace the suspension, rewire the ignition and iron out all the niggles and put up with all the disappointing near breakdowns and actual breakdowns as part of the process.

A wall of celtic Autoshite.

On the way home we took an equally slow tour north. Field repairs were carried out.

We did some more sightseeing on the way home.

The little cars definitely proved themselves.

 

[wesacosa]

1 hour ago, Soundwave said:

One very minor gripe if I may... actually it's not even really a gripe, more a query.

Does anyone know why, when the first field is full, they fill the second field from the far end and work back towards the first one? All it seems to accomplish is leaving a massive gap in the show that takes until mid afternoon to mostly fill. Is it to help spread things out and avoid overcrowding with people or something?

they did it last year too..I assumed they didn't want to piss the people off who got their first by parking them furthest away from the action but that's a pure guess

[juular]

Regarding organisation, I think they've got the essentials right. The toilets are very clean and there's lots of them. The catering is just enough to allow them to make a decent income but the important thing for me is that the quality is outstanding. The coffee is really good, the noodle bar was tremendous for the second year running, the whole atmosphere about the place is quite zen and relaxing. There's a few trade stalls but they're not obnoxious in any way.

As festivals go, it's one of the better organised in my opinion. Other festivals I've been at you're guaranteed to queue for an hour to go for a shit in an overflowing portaloo, it'll be £15 for a dry burger, and there will be people walking the crowds pressuring everyone to spend money on absolute crap.

Anyone thinking of doing it next year, absolutely do it. Take a camping chair and a picnic, arrive early enough to avoid the queues, and it's a cheap and enjoyable day out. It's the closest to an official Autoshite event you will ever see.

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Fuck me, I think that's the first time I've ever been photographed running.

Uh, when you say 'running'? That's pushing it!

[Ghosty]

Avro Heritage at Woodford is something I've somehow never managed to go to, despite it being extremely local. Have they got the Shackleton in yet?

I'll never forget looking up at that in MOSI with my dad, and him reading the reg and saying 'That wasn't my one'.
He's 75 on Thursday.

[Saabnut]

8 hours ago, juular said:

 

Where was this spotted? That used to be mine many years ago (we restored it to a fantastically high standard) so sad to see it looking a bit forlorn. I wonder if he wants to sell it?  

[brownnova]

@Sunny Jim honking in this video… 

 

[EyesWeldedShut]

5 hours ago, Ghosty said:

Avro Heritage at Woodford is something I've somehow never managed to go to, despite it being extremely local. Have they got the Shackleton in yet?

I'll never forget looking up at that in MOSI with my dad, and him reading the reg and saying 'That wasn't my one'.
He's 75 on Thursday.

Ask him if he knew a Flight Engineer called Tom Limond - that was my late uncle. Last flew out of Lossie and retired late 70s/early 80s in some cutbacks. 

[MiniMort]

Drove my mate's Sana for the first time. Christ the gearbox is sloppy and the build quality is pure Yugo but the ride quality isn't bad and the keep-fit steering is actually pretty light. 

Oh, and here's another angle on the Mighty Dacia's mighty departure.

[juular]

2 hours ago, Saabnut said:

Where was this spotted? That used to be mine many years ago (we restored it to a fantastically high standard) so sad to see it looking a bit forlorn. I wonder if he wants to sell it?  

What are the chances!

Here you go:

24 Main St

https://maps.app.goo.gl/jATGXcwNomHR1MaS7

[juular]

7 hours ago, Ghosty said:

Avro Heritage at Woodford is something I've somehow never managed to go to, despite it being extremely local. Have they got the Shackleton in yet?

I'll never forget looking up at that in MOSI with my dad, and him reading the reg and saying 'That wasn't my one'.
He's 75 on Thursday.

Pretty sure the Shackleton wasn't there.

It's quite a small museum and you can get round it in half an hour, but the real selling point is the cockpit tours which are done by people who know what they're talking about. We did the Nimrod and probably spent around an hour in there going over all the anti-submarine gizmotrons before getting to sit in the pilots seats.

They charge a couple of pounds per cockpit tour which is fine. I wish we'd stayed longer and got to do the Vulcan tour, but had to press on.