Birmingham, 15 – 17 November 2013
The 30th edition of the Classic Motor Show, with new title
sponsor Lancaster Insurance, was held over the weekend of 15 –
17 November at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre. The
show, which started with just two halls at its inception in 1984,
has grown substantially over the years, to fill eleven halls in 2013,
with 82,000 square metres of exhibition space in total. Over the
three days, the show attracted around 65,000 visitors to see over
1500 cars and 300 motorcycles, in what is Britain’s largest and
most popular classic car show.
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As was the case in 2012, the layout of the halls was in the form
of, what could probably be best described as, a large letter C,
with a Classic Motorcycle section, featuring the always popular
Wall of Death display, occupying the central part of the vertical
bar. The show provided visitors with virtually everything that one
could imagine in the classic car world, whether it be a new
classic purchase through one of the many vendors or the
Silverstone Auction, through a whole raft of accessories and
spare parts, to scale models books and literature. The show also
featured a live restoration theatre, where visitors could see a
restoration in progress, and gauge the degree of detail that goes
into a thorough bare bones restoration.
There were around 125 single marque and model club stands,
with a wide variety of vehicles spanning almost the whole history
of motorised vehicles of all types and sizes, including
commercial, military, family saloons, sports cars, right up to the
2010 Jaguar C-X75 hybrid Concept Car. This is not what one
might classify as a classic yet, but provided a nice foil to the
classic Jaguars on the Jaguar Classic Parts stand, and attracted
large crowds on interested spectators. There were a surprising
number of California “Barn Find” cars around the vendor stands,
including an Austin Healey Sprite and a Jaguar XK 120. There
were also a number of classic police cars on display, better here
than in your rear view mirror, not only on the Police Vehicle
Enthusiasts Club stand, but also in numerous other single
marque/model club displays.
Some of the special features of the show this year were a
celebration of the centenary of the Morris marque, plus a visit
from David Soul, he of Starsky & Hutch TV series fame, with the
famous red and white Gran Torino, who was on the Wheeler
Dealers Live Stage on both Saturday and Sunday, to which Sir
Stirling Moss was another visitor. There was also the ever popular
Dream Ride feature, where visitors could be taken for a 10 mile
drive in a classic or sports car, for a minimum £10 contribution to
the Sporting Bears Charity, with around 1,000 rides being given
over the course of the weekend. That’s pretty good value, when
compared to taxi fares!
If there was an award for the Best Magazine stand display, it
would have to have gone to Classic & Sportscar magazine , with
their triangular stand at the entrance to Hall 9, featuring a quartet
of cars owned by the “Fab Four”, aka The Beatles. The cars, an
Aston Martin DB6, an Iso Fidia, a Facel Vega Facel II and a Dino
246 GTS, had featured in a recent issue of the magazine, and
were displayed against a Merseyside backdrop, with life-size
cardboard cut-outs of John, Paul, George and Ringo. Apart from
many classic models familiar to most British enthusiasts there
were a wide selection of American cars on display, together with
some stunning examples of the art of the Hot Rod and Custom
Car. Supercars are always popular, whatever their age, and there
were a trio on the Ferrari Owners’ Club stand, a F40, a F50 and
an Enzo, whilst the Bugatti Owners’ Club stand featured a lurid
black and orange Veyron surrounded by pre-war examples of the
marque. There were also some, what may best described as
“oddballs”, like an Anadol A8 from Turkey, an ex-Fangio IKA
Torino 380S from Argentina, and numerous British “Special”
builders wares long since consigned to the history books, like
Arkley, Ashley, Cannon, Fairthorpe, Rochdale and Turner. Once
again a truly diverse show, with so much to see, that you really
needed a weekend ticket to appreciate everything on offer.
Ferrari Models on Display
Model Colour Chassis # Ferrari Owners’ Club
365 GTS (LHD) Red/Black 12307
328 GTS Red-White Stripe/Black 63429
F40 Red/Red 88139
F50 Red/Red-Black 106735
360 Spider Blue Met’/Black 130199
Enzo Red/Tan 134602
430 Spider 16M White-Tric’ St’s/Black 166407
Spellbound Cars
330 GT 2+2 S1 (LHD) Grey Met’/Beige 6581
360 Spider Blue Met’/Beige 138949
Runneymede Motor Company
512 TR Red/Cream 94346
F355 Spider (LHD) Red/Black 110046
Longstone Tyres
308 GTB White/Black 19385
Herts Classic Car Storage
308 GTBi “Dino Look-Alike” Red/Cream 38425
Meguiar’s Concours Display
208 Turbo Red/Cream-Red 42283
Midland Automobile Club
308 GTB Red/Red-Black 20891
Silverstone Auctions
512 BBi (LHD) Red/Black-Grey 38625
512 TR Red/Black 101421
Classic & Sportscar “Beatles Cars Display”
Dino 246 GTS Yellow/Black 08598
Note: LHD only mentioned for cars available in both LHD & RHD
form, all other cars apart from those only available in LHD form,
were RHD.
Keith Bluemel
11/2013
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