NEC Classic Car Show and MPH09, Nov 2009

NEC Classic Car Show and MPH09, Nov 2009 - Part 2

Written by Colin Rear

Sunday, 15 November 2009 18:46

NISSAN/DATSUN

Greeting show visitors at one of the entrances was this immaculate 1977 Bluebird 180B. A rival to the Cortina, this car sold well, but has now all but disappeared from our roads.

The Cedric and Gloria owners had once again taken a stand to show off some of these rather eclectic machines.

The classic 240Z was on a stand devoted to these admired machines.

Outside the main entrance to the NEC, Nissan had lined up the very latest 370Z in Coupe and Roadster formats.

OLDSMOBILE

A 1958 model EightyEight.

OPEL

Four examples of the GT were on show. This mini-Corvette was offered with 1100 and 1900 cc engines.

PANTHER

Last year, one of the show stars was the incredible Six. This year, only the more familiar models were on show, with a black and white theme: DeVille, Lima, Kallista and J72.

PEERLESS

This fibre-glass car, which was later marketed as the Warwick GT, was based on TR3 mechanicals

PEUGEOT

There were a couple of the very elegant 504 cabriolet cars, complete with their Pininfarina styling

An immaculate 205 GTi.

POLICE CARS
A wide variety of former police cars was to be found on this stand.

PORSCHE

A large stand, with representatives of the many different models from Porsche over the years

550 Spyder

356

944

968

928

911 Turbo

993

RELIANT

These Scimitar SS1 cars promised much, but did not really appeal to the mid 1980s market, and sold only in small quantities.

RILEY

Popular sports car make of the 1930s, there were a couple of such cars on show, including the Imp.

The RM Series of cars, launched in 1948, were popular sports sedans of their time.

The 1.5 was one of a pair of cars that was intended to replace the Morris Minor.

Bigger brother to this car was the Pathfinder/2.6 model.

Last Riley model was this, the 4/72, based on the Austin Cambridge/Morris Oxford.

ROCHDALE

Looking a little like a cut down "E" Type, these cars were based on Riley 1,5 mechanicals.

ROLLS-ROYCE

A 20/25 model.

ROVER

The P4 - known sometimes as the "Auntie" Rover had a long production life, running from 1948 until 1963, and was much loved of the professional classes. Not exciting, perhaps, but it was a solidly engineered car. Examples of many of the different models offered during this long production run were on show.

The P5 came in 1958, and although production ran until 1973, it is measure of the worthiness of these cars that they were retained for government use until well into the 1980s.

The P6 models - 2000, 2200 and 3500 - were much lauded when launched in 1963, and continued to be seen as highly desirable until well into the 1970s. Indeed, those who these days covet a 5 series BMW would doubtless have set their hearts on a 3500 with its V8 engine, and would know that they had really achieved something when they could finally take delivery of one of these cars. The boot was not very large, so mounting the spare wheel on the boot lid was a popular option.

As a small boy, the SD1, launched in 1976 was an object of massive interest and desire. Sadly, we all know that the build quality was patchy and reliability was questionnable, but these are still fabulous cars.

The "Tomcat" was the coupe version of the once popular 200/400 R8 series of cars.

The 200 BRM owners were present again this year, with a small display of these cars which are easily identified from the orange lining to the air intake.

SAAB

A mixture of classic SAABs were on this stand, ranging from the 96 model, through the Sonnet, the classic 99 Turbo and 900s.

SINGER

This is a mid 1930s Bantam, a model related to the Singer 9, a car designed to appeal to families who were perhaps purchasing their first car, and a direct competitor to the Austin and Morris of its day.

Sporting cars from the 1930s included this Le Mans and the 1.5 litre sports.

By the 1950s, Singer had ceased to produce their own designs, and their cars were simply more luxurious versions of the Hillman models on which they were based.

This is a Gazelle, close relative of the Minx

This Vogue was based on the Super Minx of the early 1960s.

The Chamois was based on the Imp.

SKODA

The Popular, from 1939.

The 1000MB

The later S110 Coupe

STANDARD

Examples of the inter-war offerings from this Coventry marque were these:

The Vanguard was a good export earner for Britain following its launch in 1948. Three generations of this car were offered, right up to 1963, with estate car models to complement the saloons. The final models were also offered as the Ensign, a cheaper model with a four cylinder engine.

STUDEBAKER

A rather tatty looking Champion from 1950 was in the area of cars for sale, and someone had clearly decided to acquire it, as the car sported "Sold" signs.

SUNBEAM

Best known now for the Alpine and Tiger sports cars that first appeared 50 years ago, and which were sold for 8 years as a direct competitor to the MGA and MGB. The Tiger models looked pretty standard but had a V8 Ford engine squeezed under the bonnet - something which Chrysler Corporation were not keen on when they acquired the Rootes Group in 1967.

Sunbeam also offered the Rapier, a coupe based on the Minx body in the 1950s and upgraded to sit on the Arrow platform in the mid 1960s. This Rapier H120 had the twin carburettor engine and was quite rapid for its day. Whilst the Prairie Wind paint is not to my tasted - nor to anyone else's it would seem as only one car was ever built in this colour - the rest of it was is rather nice. The market preferred the Capri, though!

The Venezia was a low production car, based on the Rapier, from 1963, with Italian styling.

TALBOT (inc SIMCA/CHRYSLER)

Although not perhaps the most meritorious cars of their era, the vehicles shown here are all now rare.

The 2 litre was the flagship model intended to take over after the big Humber models had ceased production. It only ever enjoyed very moderate success.

The Alpine was far more successful, earning the "Car of the Year" award in January 1976. When the alternatives were something like a Morris Marina, you can see why this car had its appeal. However, saddled with rather unrefined engines, and with a reputation for poor reliability, interest in these cars faded rather quickly, and the launch of the three-box model, the Solara, and a facelift did little to stem the drop in sales.

The Tagora came at just the wrong time, launched in 1980, soon after the acquisition of Talbot by Peugeot, it found in-house competition from the 505 and 604 models, and it had a very short life of less than 3 years, during which time about 31,000 were sold. Most of those sold had a 2.2 litre engine, but the show car was a very rare 2.6 SX model, which developed 177 bhp - not inconsiderable for its day.

TAXI

A special display of historic London taxis showed some of the cabs that used to ply our streets. This is an Austin FX3, the precursor to the famous Black Cab, FX4 model.

TOYOTA

Sole model representing the huge variety of what has until recently been the world's largest car maker, were various MR2s from the three different model types that were produced.

TRABANT

A definite cult car, and one which came to symbolise Eastern Germany. There has been renewed interest, unsurprisingly, with all the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin wall.

TRIUMPH

There were numerous Triumph cars from the various clubs that cater for enthusiasts for these cars. Needless to say, we called in on the TR Register to catch up with Dave Gibson and were very grateful for the offer of a refreshing cup of coffee.

This one-off Herald hatchback featured recently in one of the magazines, following its lengthy restoration. A car before its time, for sure, and much of the finish associated with the hatch itself and the folding rear seats looked rather crude.

A good mixture of TRs were to be seen.

Vitesse.

The Dolomite was a sports saloon of the early 1970s, before the genre had become quite so popular.

Precursor to this car was the 1300, a front wheel drive saloon launched in 1965.

There were plenty of Stags, too.

TURNER

These sports cars were built in the late 1950s and early 1960s and can often be seen at classic motorsport events.

TVR

A huge stand, with special tributes to the late Peter Wheeler, who did so much to transform the image of the Blackpool based company.

Several of the stand cars were racers, such as these:

This was a 1600M, one of the earlier cars.

VANDEN PLAS

The pinnacle lf luxury among the BMC marques. This Princess R was based on the Westminster, but fitted with a 4 litre Rolls Royce engine.

The 1100 was a very plush version of Issigonis' best selling family car.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the badge became devalued further, such as it when it was applied to top of the range Montego and Maestro cars.

VAUXHALL

The FD model Victor, launched in 1967 was one of the first volume cars to offer ohc engines. This generation of the car was notably bigger than the Cortina, and never sold in the same volumes. The show cars included the VX4/90 and Ventora models as well as the regular 1600 saloon.

These cars were succeeded by the FE series of cars, which ended up being the last of the line, before an Opel based replacement, the Carlton stepped into service in 1978.

When this Cavalier CD was new, in 1983, it was seen as highly desirable by all those whose car schemes confined them to the 1.6L model. Now a rare sighting.

Even rarer is the first generation Cavalier, and this is believed to be the earliest surviving car.

The Chevette, launched earlier in 1975 was the first Vauxhall to be so clearly based on an Opel, and yet it sold well.

Most of the Astras at the show were somewhat modified. This original car is one of numerous limited edition cars that were offered officially by Vauxhall themselves.

This PB Cresta dates from 1962.

2 of the just 4 Concept cars that Vauxhall have ever produced were on show on Classic and Sports Car's stand.

VOLKSWAGEN

Beetles featured, of course.

As did several of the Karmann Ghia variant.

Plenty of the "Bus" on show, in all sorts of guises.

The Golf was represented with a display of Series 1 cars, including these.

A nice display of Sciroccos , with representatives of both the first and second generation cars.

VOLVO

Two separate club stands, close to each other. The first one had just three cars on it: 262 Coupe, a 164TE and a 1927 early Volvo.

The other stand had examples of the PV544 Amazon (including a rare convertible), and a 1980 244 DL,

WARTBURG

There was also a Barkas van on the stand. The Ford Transit of Eastern Germany.

The Knight model sold quite well in the UK from 1967 until the mid 70s, but it continued in production long after that, and the stand included a saloon and this late model "Tourist" (estate) car.

An earlier model was this, the 1000.

WOLSELEY

A 1930s model.

After World War 2, Wolseley became little more than a series of badge engineered products based on Morris or Riley designs, with that added touch of luxury. This 6/80 dates from 1948, and was based on the new Morris Oxford of the day.

The 15/60 was the first of the Farina-based family cars, appearing in late 1958. the 1962 brought a larger engine a rename to 16/60.

The Hornet was a derivative of the Mini, fitted with a small boot.

There was a splendid period display featuring 5 of the Heinz Hornets. 57 of these cars, a unique Crayford conversion of the Wolseley Hornet, were awarded as prizes by Heinz in 1966.

OTHER

The HSCC had a stand with some historic racers on it, such this Jaguar, driven by John Watson, and a Maserati 250F

Something of an oddity, the "Easter Egg"

MPH09 SHOW

Frankly, I thought this was very disappointing. Even smaller than last year, the show contained some trade stands, manufacturer stands from just Peugeot, Citroen and Volvo, a few supercars, a gallery of cars with famous owners, and lots and lots of heavily customised stuff which was not my taste, and seemed to be no-one else's taste, either. You could see the whole lot in 30 minutes.

TOP GEAR CARS

Another sighting for the Mallorcan rally cars that I saw at Beaulieu a couple of weeks ago.