Rustival Thread

[wesacosa]

I had a half arsed look for a car wash but the two places I tried didn't have one so I just found two non washed cars to park between

let's face it nobody's gonna be paying close attention to a 2004 C class anyway

 

[rob88h]

  On 09/03/2024 at 09:56, wesacosa said:

I just found two shonky looking non washed cars to park between

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Hang on, didn’t that Amazon blow up just the other day? And doesn’t it live way up North somewhere? 
Let me go and find a cap so I can doff it. 

[Marina door handles]

  On 08/03/2024 at 17:34, Sunny Jim said:

I'll be there in my C15. (Thought about washing it after work but it's bloomin' freezing here so thought fuck it, it'll only get dirty on the run down there).

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Pretty sure you followed my silver Honda Accord out of the event onto the M40! 

Anyway didn't manage to speak to anyone so here are some bad pictures....

The none event parking spots..

Rather glad I didn't park in the display areas as I would have missed those gems!

 

[wesacosa]

  On 09/03/2024 at 19:31, Marina door handles said:

Pretty sure you followed my silver Honda Accord out of the event onto the M40! 

Anyway didn't manage to speak to anyone so here are some bad pictures....

The none event parking spots..

Rather glad I didn't park in the display areas as I would have missed those gems!

 

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I didn't even think look in the non event car park

[Marina door handles]

Display chod, what a great mix of cars......

[hairnet]

Great how everybody takes different pics

Stuff there i hadnt seen

Busy day here.

[Marina door handles]

  On 09/03/2024 at 19:44, hairnet said:

Great how everybody takes different pics

Stuff there i hadnt seen

Busy day here.

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Was this intentional or did you get lost on the way out of Gaydon?

[Sunny Jim]

Just got home. I must admit when the alarm went off at 5am this morning I did think to myself, 'Am I really going to bother?'. So glad I did, it were a grand day out. As others have said, a great mix of cars but I think what really made the event was the people and the organisation. Really relaxed, friendly and welcoming bunch of folks and none of the "try hard trendies" who've begun to blight FoTU. Minimal queues for loos or food or to get in. If you're thinking of coming next time (and I hope there is a next time) I thoroughly recommend it.

@wesacosasaw your Merc but unfortunately didn't get to meet you and @Marina door handles yes, that was me on the M40.

[wesacosa]

  On 09/03/2024 at 20:04, Sunny Jim said:

Just got home. I must admit when the alarm went off at 5am this morning I did think to myself, 'Am I really going to bother?'. So glad I did, it were a grand day out. As others have said, a great mix of cars but I think what really made the event was the people and the organisation. Really relaxed, friendly and welcoming bunch of folks and none of the "try hard trendies" who've begun to blight FoTU. Minimal queues for loos or food or to get in. If you're thinking of coming next time (and I hope there is a next time) I thoroughly recommend it.

@wesacosasaw your Merc but unfortunately didn't get to meet you and @Marina door handles yes, that was me on the M40.

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likewise, I saw your cool van but missed you.  agree with all of your comments. Made such a change to breeze in to car show without a horrific queue

Already looking forward to next year 

[dollywobbler]

Thanks for coming folks. Still can't get over how the event was everything we wanted and more! Such a relaxed vibe.

Now I shall sleep for many days...

[Soundwave]

Ooh, is this the photo dump thread? Excellent, allow me to commence dumping... 

 

No idea what this car-boat-thing was, but I think I want one:

Here we see a rare shot of a Mk3 Granada giving birth to a tiny Renault Vel Satis. Isn't nature wonderful?:

Fifty three shades of grey blue:

It may be on its first outing, but Rustival is already highly Acclaimed. Two of several in attendance:

My mate's Beetle looking a bit lost among a sea of Volvos:

Some horrible old wreck that some idiot brought along:

ADORED this R9...

Some areas of the car park could almost be a scene lifted directly from the 90s:

Daewoo Nexia Belmont saloon. Bestill my heart!

My 216's ancient ancestor:

Metro saloon. A bold attempt, but maybe for the best this one never made it past the prototype stage. Was still cool to see:

4wd Mini thing:

The future Triumph that never was:

The S.S., before some poncey-tached Austrian gimp ruined the name:

Things I never thought I'd do: walk entirely through an MGB:

Straight outta the 70s:

An overview of the action:

 

All in all, had a great if somewhat knackering day. Caught up with friends, and had a good nosey around the museum which I've been meaning to do for some time. Thanks @dollywobbler and the team for putting it all together. Hopefully we'll see Rustival again next year? I do hope so, I've started a sticker collection now and I want to keep it going...

[catsinthewelder]

Glad someone took a picture of the possibly amphibious weird camper.

[Sunny Jim]

Oh, I saw this on the bric a brac store and had to have it:

Thanks to @mat_the_cat for the picture.

[hairnet]

  On 09/03/2024 at 19:57, Marina door handles said:

Was this intentional or did you get lost on the way out of Gaydon?

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[hairnet]

I was passed on the m40 by a red montego estate a late one with rover 25 wheels 

Was he there or was he just rocking it on a Saturday 

[egg]

  On 09/03/2024 at 21:14, hairnet said:

 

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translation - you're seeing Bill Bailey at the Brighton Centre?

[brownnova]

A superb day out! 
I stopped locally the night before and was glad I did so as not to have a 5am start!

Such a great range of cars there… not least TWO Yugo Sanas!!! 

Crikey, I needed a sit down after those. Thankfully I recovered enough to be able to see… 

Good to see various folks, disappointed to miss some others! But a strong AS contingent were present!

Looking forward to next year already! 

[trigger]

Kicking myself for not making the effort to go to this now but life got in the way, yet again.

[Marina door handles]

  On 09/03/2024 at 21:14, hairnet said:

 

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Is this the Teletubies remake ?

[juular]

  On 09/03/2024 at 10:38, rob88h said:

Hang on, didn’t that Amazon blow up just the other day?

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Hi.

[dollywobbler]

  On 09/03/2024 at 21:20, hairnet said:

I was passed on the m40 by a red montego estate a late one with rover 25 wheels 

Was he there or was he just rocking it on a Saturday 

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Yup, was at the show.

[juular]

It was a fun weekend.

Pinging @dollywobbler on the customer service line, for what I hope is taken as constructive feedback for next time and not an old man rant.  TLDR; I enjoyed it and I will come back, but there's scope for betterness(tm) without big changes.

Having to apply separately for a parking space within the event is a stupid idea.  The distinction between attendee and exhibitor was made so blurry it didn't exist. I bought a ticket (very early),  it was weeks before I realised the need to apply to park. Many said they didn't know about having to apply until the last minute when it was too late. As a result some interesting stuff wasn't there, or was parked miles away. That's a little sad really. Having a default first come first served space with a block at the museum reserved for mobility seems fairer.

Communication.  Almost everything official was posted on Facebook. Facebook is an echo chamber unrepresentative of the outside world, and more people I know are off it than on it. We had to rely on word of mouth or continually pinging the Rustival email address for clarity. To their credit they were shit hot at replying and were nice about it, so kudos.

I found that facebook information conflicted with what was on the Rustival website and differed again from what was being said on the Gaydon website. To compound; there was a video doing the rounds of what to expect, details differed again.  9 mostly serious adult people were sitting round a table the evening before the event trying to arrange a convoy, but we had all gleaned different details from the scraps we picked up.

I wasn't emailed tickets, so I'm glad I screenshotted the website booking confirmation otherwise I'd have done a 700 mile trip for nowt. It might be worth looking into that, as I definitely wasn't the only one.

It may not have been intended this way, but Mayfair did feel a little out on a limb and that cars were a bit scattered and/or grouped into bunches of car clubs. We really felt that Mayfair was Rustival Unofficial, a separate event for those that didn't get the memo. Meanwhile, notable empty spaces in VP, or they were taken up by modern yawn that I could enjoy* outside Tesco any day of the week. An age limit or some other gatekeeping just to gently press the ethos might be a good thing.

Positives, and there are plenty.

It's got a nice feel. Really friendly. A refreshing absence of rivet counting. Lots of people saying hello and welcoming inspection of their shitheaps. 

On the whole the cars that showed up were ones that we wanted to look at.

Despite my comments about organisation, we all just rolled off the M40 and slotted into a parking space. It was fairly seamless in the end. @Talbot however did not have the same experience.

Being at Gaydon and having access to the museum and its facilities was tremendous and sets it apart from FOTU in that regard. 

I mean the ticket price was a positive too, no doubt. FOTU is going to shoot itself in the foot with that.

ANYWAY.

No point doing photojournalism as others have that covered, but here's my personal favourites.

@Sunny Jim's C15 is all kinds of right. I really want one now.

The Carina. Would suffer mechanical failure anywhere in this and be happy about it.

TR2.  You win.

DAF(T) but cute.

I'm really not sure what to think of this. I don't like the rear spolier but otherwise it has grown on me. Would probably really enjoy cruising around listening to synth music in this. I can imagine it being sold today as a retro-modern and I'd probably want one.

For the record, we were the ones in the concours Amazon, next to Dave's absolutely stonking Dyane, which I struggled to keep up with on the way back.

[hairnet]

the age thing does need to be looked at

if its modern its not rusty ergo no needing to display (at this event anyway)

apart from that it was excellent

[dollywobbler]

The name was a problem in some ways, as our ethos has always been All Wheels are Welcome, not actually just rusty stuff. We did not want any entry criteria at all as that inevitably leads to people complaining about that is/isn't worthy.

The ticketing is something we're not happy about but stems from the fact that the people had to buy tickets in the museum and the only way for us to have sight of the cars booked in was with an entirely different system. It added complications we didn't really want, and yes, there was conflicting info here and there. Food for thought for sure.

Similarly, the original intention was only to have Vanden Plas parking. Mayfair was drive by exceedingly strong ticket demand.

Communication - yes, we're probably guilty of too much FB but we didn't really have any other one place that people were engaging with so strongly. Something to consider next time.

Overall, the day itself seemed to go very well. Having two arrival times raised some eyebrows but the result was we were never swamped.

Thanks for the feedback. It'll be included in our post-event review.

[quicksilver]

  On 12/03/2024 at 16:09, juular said:

It was a fun weekend.

Pinging @dollywobbler on the customer service line, for what I hope is taken as constructive feedback for next time and not an old man rant.  TLDR; I enjoyed it and I will come back, but there's scope for betterness(tm) without big changes.

Having to apply separately for a parking space within the event is a stupid idea.  The distinction between attendee and exhibitor was made so blurry it didn't exist. I bought a ticket (very early),  it was weeks before I realised the need to apply to park. Many said they didn't know about having to apply until the last minute when it was too late. As a result some interesting stuff wasn't there, or was parked miles away. That's a little sad really. Having a default first come first served space with a block at the museum reserved for mobility seems fairer.

Communication.  Almost everything official was posted on Facebook. Facebook is an echo chamber unrepresentative of the outside world, and more people I know are off it than on it. We had to rely on word of mouth or continually pinging the Rustival email address for clarity. To their credit they were shit hot at replying and were nice about it, so kudos.

I found that facebook information conflicted with what was on the Rustival website and differed again from what was being said on the Gaydon website. To compound; there was a video doing the rounds of what to expect, details differed again.  9 mostly serious adult people were sitting round a table the evening before the event trying to arrange a convoy, but we had all gleaned different details from the scraps we picked up.

I wasn't emailed tickets, so I'm glad I screenshotted the website booking confirmation otherwise I'd have done a 700 mile trip for nowt. It might be worth looking into that, as I definitely wasn't the only one.

 

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Agreed on this. While the event itself was brilliant, the pre-event procedures were a bit confusing, especially as we booked very early before some things had been clarified. Having to fill in two separate forms on separate websites and then print out two tickets was cumbersome and not particularly well explained, but to be fair I assume this was a necessary workaround for limitations imposed by the museum and its booking system that couldn't collect exhibitor details on the museum site and pass them to the Rustival team. The difference between the £11 and £16 tickets wasn't clear either; had we realised we'd have gone for the £16 ones and got season passes.

That aside, the day itself went very smoothly. I feared massive queues but even arriving at one of the busiest times got in and parked in under 10 minutes, so all credit to the marshals for getting over 800 cars organised so efficiently. Of course there are going to be teething troubles with the first event but they were minor and Rustival has got off to a very strong start. The informality and mix of cars reminded me of the early Festivals of the Unexceptional at Whittlebury and Stowe before that got too commercial.

[Austin-Rover]

  On 12/03/2024 at 19:30, dollywobbler said:

The name was a problem in some ways, as our ethos has always been All Wheels are Welcome, not actually just rusty stuff. We did not want any entry criteria at all as that inevitably leads to people complaining about that is/isn't worthy.

The ticketing is something we're not happy about but stems from the fact that the people had to buy tickets in the museum and the only way for us to have sight of the cars booked in was with an entirely different system. It added complications we didn't really want, and yes, there was conflicting info here and there. Food for thought for sure.

Similarly, the original intention was only to have Vanden Plas parking. Mayfair was drive by exceedingly strong ticket demand.

Communication - yes, we're probably guilty of too much FB but we didn't really have any other one place that people were engaging with so strongly. Something to consider next time.

Overall, the day itself seemed to go very well. Having two arrival times raised some eyebrows but the result was we were never swamped.

Thanks for the feedback. It'll be included in our post-event review.

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Congratulations to you all for a top job well done. 

Instructions about the ticketing would never be clear enough for some people regardless of what you did, but I have to agree with comments previous that communications were heavily reliant on Facebook and YouTube. The Rustival website was completely devoid of any updates or links to these important instructions regarding tickets, parking and arrival times.  Website updates would have been great to signpost non-social media users to. 

I thought the split parking and arrival times were a winner, it worked so well! I've never seen such a free-flowing entry to a massive show before. Perhaps Mayfair being 'out on a limb' could be addressed by placing some of the attractions on the route between the two areas, or some clear way-marking with banners and flags? 

I'm a strong advocate for the 'bring anything' mantra. I saw from Facebook that there were occasions where people's first choice of car wasn't going to make it and their pre-conditioning for car shows meant they were thinking of not attending - they'd not "got" the fact that turning up in the daily driver was an option, and needed further encouragement.  The event wasn't swamped with boring moderns and those that were there were well spread about.  

Related to that, part of the charm was parking up next to pretty much anything and as such talking to people you might not otherwise have anything to do with.  I noticed in Mayfair there was a huge line-up of Volvos where the owners had clearly organised themselves to park together. I felt this was not in keeping with the show and over time there will be more of this with people breaking off in to their usual tribes. They'll be putting club flags up before you know it.  From what I saw, once you were directed in to Mayfair you were left to pretty much park on which ever aisle you liked. More stringent marshalling might be required?  ...and absolutely keep owners clubs away from the show.!

Oh, and the bacon butty van was crap. Runny eggs and pink bacon! 

[brownnova]

FWIW I thought the two parking areas with the two separate entrance times worked a treat. I also felt the two areas offered loads, and they were right next to each other so no problem there!

I was slightly skeptical that the stage would intrude onto proceedings by being loud or overbearing, but not at all. It actually added to things in a positive way for some visitors (not that I visited it at all bar the very end)

It was genuinely one of the best shows I’ve been to in ages. Like FoTu used to be before.

[juular]

I forgot to add, it's great to have such a big show at this time of year. It's nice to have something to look forward to after the long dark winter without having to fight for calendar space with all the summer ones. 

I did like the stage being small and not in your face. The one at FOTU is getting increasingly obnoxious year on year.

Hope my post didn't seem negative at all. I had a really nice weekend.

[quicksilver]

I should mention the price of admission here too - £11 is very reasonable compared with the likes of Bicester Heritage and FOTU who I think are getting greedy, especially as it included full access to the museum as well as the 800 visiting vehicles. If anything there was too much to do in one day as a lot of the Mayfair cars had gone by the time I eventually made it there in the afternoon and I ran out of time to set foot in the buildings except to use the loo.

There's hours and hours of footage on Youtube already so it must be one of the most videoed events ever. The vloggers all seem to have been discreet though as I didn't notice many when I was worried about it being full of annoying influencers taking selfies. Well done to everyone involved for putting on such a great event - the only problem is it was the first of the season and already the best so nothing else is going to live up to it!

[juular]

I forgot to mention the autojumble. Something sorely missing from FOTU.  It was excellent!