Meg       Charlie

Another year has gone already and we were back at Knebworth for the annual Classic Car Show run by Greenwood Exhibitions.  There was the usual confusion as to who we were, where we were meant to set up our pitch and how many cars we were expecting to have.  We were shown to an area which we didn’t like.  Mal came to the rescue and suggested we go next to the TVR guys, which is what we did.  It was the same place roughly that we had been two and three years ago (last year we were given an even worse spot and didn’t move when we had the chance)

We did the usual thing promoting the show to all members; sadly, not that many managed to come along. Those who did seemed to thoroughly enjoy the show, despite the cold windy weather on Sunday (it is Martin’s fault, he wore shorts!).

We also invited people to camp over night on the Sunday, we had one taker this year, Stephen and Lesley.

It is such a lovely venue, it is almost worth going just to camp out under the stars (or as Sunday night, the orange  of Stevenage’s street lights reflecting on the clouds).

Sunday’s turnout of cars was good but the chilly weather meant people left earlier than usual.  There was the usual selection of classics, sports cars, a few buses, a lorry or two and of course kits and campers.  The auto jumble wasn’t good and as always the food outlets were extremely costly, £3 for a portion of chips and £5 for a jacket potato. 

Great to see the East Anglian Kit Car Club.  Most of them took a slight detour to get to the show, taking the wrong turning at one point and finding themselves heading for Luton, but they eventually arrived to a loud applause from us.  Martin has a write-up on his web site at http://www.eastangliankitcars.co.uk/knebworthpark.htm

I was busy cooking bacon butties both days and making plenty of tea and coffee. Hope everyone who had them enjoyed them. 

Stephen arrived in his Robin Hood 2B towing his recently purchased tear drop caravan, whilst John had driven the VW Camper.  Guess who drove the Westfield?  ME!  That was scary fun. Quite a tight fit for me in there!   He had warned me that the clutch is fierce and reversing off the drive made that very clear…. Also he didn’t mention that whilst the brakes are really good, you do have to push them reasonably hard to make them come on; soon got used to all of that.  He wanted to go the long way round, joining the A1 at Junction 8.  I had to overtake him so that he could see the car being driven and also hear it.   That was fun, 80 in no time at all, I can see why he worries about speeding, it is just so easy to do.

Stephen’s tear drop caravan caused a stir and so many people were fascinated by it, especially to learn that it is pulled by the 2B.  He bought a small throw up tent to use as living space and the caravan is mainly used for sleeping. The cooking is done at the rear, the back of the ‘van lifts up to allow access to a cool box, cupboards, shelf to cook on.  There is also room for a little porta potti. 

Our VW also drew people to have a look; it is amazing how many people say they would love to have one and people who have one like to look at other peoples’ vans.  I guess we are just all nosey. 

We had a good night’s sleep and woke up at a reasonable time.  It is quite interesting watching the show ground come back to life after everyone had gone home the night before.

As has been said before, the guy doing the commentary on the cars is so knowledgeable; he rarely finds a car that stumps him.  He was caught out by the RS200, he had no idea it was in fact a kit car and although it wasn’t a four wheel drive he was impressed by it.

The show on Monday was bigger, far more cars than Sunday’s turnout.  Triumph had around 120 cars due to turn up, there were so many there so possibly that was roughly how many came.  Sometimes on the Monday you get a few different auto-jumble stalls/sellers but we think there was just one extra stall, selling number plates. Quite poor really, possibly the organisers are charging too much for the pitches!

It was drizzling first thing and only started to clear up after 11am.  In fact by the time Alan (I don’t drive in the rain) Rowe arrived, the sun was almost fully out.  The weather continued to improve throughout the afternoon, getting quite warm at times although that wind still kept blowing. 

Thank you to everyone who joined us.

It was fascinating, as I said above, to watch the show come awake first thing in the morning; it was just as interesting to watch it all close down and things return almost back to normal apart from the food vans and a scattering of cars hanging on ‘til the very end (including us)  John and Yvonne were the last SG7s members to leave at around 5.30 and we left at 6pm. 

Thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, shame it wasn’t warmer! 

Attendees on Sunday

Glyn Rust, Stephen & Lesley, John & Val, Ced & Lorraine with Alan, Mike & Lorraine, Martin Pidd, Andy & Michaela, Bob Rowell, Nigel Farrell & Ros,

Alan & Steven Bell, Dave Jones, Chris Clarke, John and myself with Charlie

Attendees on Monday

Stephen & Lesley, Mike Bloomfield, Nigel Bartram (JBA Falcon tourer), Dave Hall with Dan & Sarah and Dan’s sister and son, John & Yvonne with Meg, John & Jill, Alan & Pauline, Richard & Caroline

                                               where has everyone gone?

Another annual pilgrimage to Knebworth for the Classic and Sports Car Show, which we have attended for the past few years as a club had come round again.  How time flies when you are having fun; where has this year gone?  Yet again the weather forecast was iffy.  On Sunday morning we woke to quite heavy rain/drizzle and decided to take our time before setting off for the show, which was a good decision since by around 11.30 it had stopped.  The field had already started to get muddy but luckily once the rain stopped it soon dried up.

We had been allocated a spot right at the very top of the field, a bit away from the main flow of things, which was a shame.  Although we had other cars nearby on Sunday and didn’t fee too isolated, being so far from the centre of the show did mean that we were short on spectators having a look at the cars.  Monday however, we didn’t have any other clubs near us; we should have moved but we had too much to shift around so stayed put.  We had bought some barrier tape to set out our club area.  I would highly recommend anyone to do this, it kept a lot of sticky fingers and pushchairs at a distance! 

Knebworth has traditionally been a show to meet some new members and we did have a few newbies join/ talk to us; Daniel Sims, Michael Willis, Jim Fernie, John & Sue, Dave Horsley.  It was nice also to see David Wilkes, the builder of John’s or, I should say, my Robin Hood.  He is building a Royale Sabre which is almost on the road.  He is also hoping to join us at a meeting at the pub.

As always there were some very nice cars on display.  The show is always very well attended.  Mal had a club pitch with his TVR owners club with around 50 cars turning up over the two days. 

Who came Saturday:

Martin Pidd, Ced & Lorraine, Andy Barbet, Emily & Aiden, Dan & Sarah, Dave, Stephen & Lesley, Ian Henderson & son, John and myself.  (8 kits, 1 mx-5 and 1 mini 1976)  Jason Burke and ‘Windy Miller’ came to say hello although they were not in kits.  Dave Horsley, the owner of a Robin Hood, came to say  hi although he was parked with another club.

We had rallied a few ‘mates’ to camp over night on Sunday but only Dan & Sarah stayed.  We had a barbeque supper and were joined by Sandie & John who came over for an hour for a chat.  Lovely to see them.  We had a great evening, although a little chilly, under a beautiful star lit sky.  So peaceful apart from airplanes going into Luton airport and the noise from the Codicote road.  It is such a lovely place to be both day and night.  There were also geese, owls, a fox calling, and a deer walking through the field in the distance.  Once Sandie and John left, we soon settled down to get some sleep.

MONDAY

Six o’clock in the morning, apart from John snoring, it was deadly silent.  I got up, did “the necessary”, then put the kettle on and just sat in the silence (yes I managed to keep quiet!) watching the field come back to life.  The sun had risen over the church but it soon clouded over. The stewards were camping in a group, there were the stall holders gradually waking up, then other campers, and then finally John.  Dan and Sarah had a little help to wake up with various ring tones from our phones, such as a herd of sheep, reveille, wasp but nothing worked, they were fast asleep! 

Soon cars were streaming into the show ground.  Monday’s forecast was the better of the two days so I guess people had waited to come today to avoid the rain and mud.  The wind had become quite strong and blustery and blew Mal’s and our gazebo enough to bend the legs so they both had to be taken down.  Thankfully Dan’s tent was nice and large so we made that our base for the day.  Thanks Dan!  We had a great turnout today with 18 cars parked on the pitch at one point.  As I said above, we were rather on our own so didn’t get as much interest shown in the cars.  Another great selection of classic cars today, no real favourites.  The compare in the arena managed to keep going as always – what he knows about cars is unreal.  He must have done a degree in motoring!  One good thing about being far from the arena was that we were out of earshot of his informative spiel…. ;-)

So, to the names of those who came Sunday:

Dan & Sarah, Mike Bloomfield, John & Sue (from Lakenheath), Andy & Michaela, Glyn Rust, Gav & Kev, Daniel Sims, Richard, Andy Barbet, Sandie & John, John Mandiville, Val & John, Stephen, Nigel Cady, Chris Shilton, Michael & Dean Willis, John, Helen.  (18 kits)  Jim Fernie, the owner of a Marlin Roadster and also a Berlinetta, came to say hi, he hopes to come to a meeting soon.

We had a great day talking to everyone, even my nephew, Andrew, came to see us.  Gradually people started to drift away home, leaving just Dan, Sarah, John and I to take down our tents before clearing up and going home.  Unfortunately, Dan’s car decided not to run.  Despite having 3 jump starts the car just didn’t want to know.  A phone call to his dad to get him to come to help was the only solution.  We left Dan & Sarah to wait for him to come and rescue them.  I called Dan later and he had arrived home ok, despite his dad’s car breaking down on the way home.  Sarah blames herself!  She was in the car when Dan bumped his sump and made a hole in it, she was in the car when it wouldn’t start, and she was in Dave’s (Dan’s dad) car recently when it went wrong.  I suggest if you see her hitch-hiking, you smile sweetly and drive past!!!. 

As always, a huge thank you to everyone who came along and made this another special occasion to remember.  Special thanks to Dan and Sarah for helping to cook sausages/bacon and making tea.

Since some members forgot to buy their tickets in advance, I think it might be worth me getting the £2.50 from those who want to attend and then buy a bulk block of tickets for us all.  It is a long way off, but believe me, it will come round again soon!  It will soon be Christmas you know!!!

Until next time, bye bye

Sunday

Well, after a spate of dreadful weather, including a slight drowning when we went camping last weekend, the forecast was good for the bank holiday.  We had decided a while ago to camp over night on the Sunday, Richard and Caroline, Glyn Rust and us packed up enough paraphernalia to get us through two days.

We arrived and set up the gazebo and banners to stake a claim to a bit of land for us to gather on.  It wasn’t long before we had a good display of kits shining beautifully in the morning sunshine.  There was the usual selection of trade and private stalls selling all sorts of things from toys to bits more fit for the dump!  Plenty of parts for classics but not so much for the like of our cars.  

We were very honoured to have a group of our East Anglian friends join us.  Martin was joined by Andy Petrie & Michaela, Mike and Lorraine Shearing and Nigel Farrow.  Always nice to see them.  Martin is thinking about setting up a club similar to the SG7 gatherings to encourage more makes of cars rather than just Robin Hoods, one reason being that apart from Nigel, none of the above now owns a Robin Hood!  Westfield and Luego owners now….  Having an ‘open’ invitation to any kit make certainly brings in some very interesting and varied cars.  Anyway, back to today. 

The bacon rolls and cups of tea and coffee were soon on the go.  It was a great day of sunshine once it broke through the clouds, and at times it was very hot.  There was plenty of the usual banter between us all.

Mal, ex-Westfield now TVR, had organised for his area group of TVR to have a pitch there, were supposed to be next door to each other but the organisers had other ideas so we were separated by another club.  He had a good turnout of 37 cars, however, despite a good turnout, they didn’t stay as long as us and it wasn’t long before he joined his old mates for a huge bit of ribbing and being called ‘Billy No Mates’.  Sorry Mal; just can’t resist it.    Yes, he did outnumber the amount of cars, we had 15 on our pitch but at least they all stayed for the best part of the day!    It is good that he knows where his friends are!  Thanks to him by the way for taking a few bits over to Knebworth for us on Sunday Morning.

Now, as for the camping, after much talk of deer attacking us, earwigs eating their way through my head from one ear to the other, other wildlife that might enter our tents etc, we set up the tents, lit the barbeques, got some drinks on the go and settled down for an evening of chat and laughs.  Shame a few more didn’t manage to stay, for £4.50 per tent it was good value entertainment.  However, I think the only one who actually managed to sleep well was John!  I was still awake at 2.30 when I finally gave in to having to unzip the tent and visit the loo, well behind the tent actually…..  When we first went to bed the noise from the A1 was very intrusive, plus a disco going on in the Barns.  At about 12.30 the noise died down and at 2.30 it was so peaceful with a full moon shining over the field and house I was glad that I had gone outside.  I stood out there for a couple of minutes having a good look round and then suddenly remembered I was in the middle of a field with these deer about to attack and earwigs ready to jump into my ears, plus of course the thought of murderers waiting in the long grass so I got back in the tent as quick as possibly, in the sleeping bag and finally managed to sleep until 6am.  

Monday

Glyn had already had a cup of tea by the time I got up so we sat quietly chatting until the others eventually surfaced.  After a breakfast of bacon and sausages and toast,  we moved back over to our pitch and waited to see who would come today.  We had 11 cars today.  Not quite so warm during the morning but by afternoon it was quite hot again.  

The selection of cars on show was excellent.  There was good support for the VW camper van club fraternity, some very nice specimens and also, of course, those not quite so smart but still treasured.  A large number of TR club members turned up, looked as if about 50 cars or more were there.   Others such as Capri, Mini, Vauxhall, TVR had a reasonable turnout.  My favourite two cars or camper vans were one in pink with custom painted flowers, pink gingham curtains and in excellent condition and also a black and white one with black gingham curtains and all the trimmings to match.  Both were highly photographed and popular.

Very impressed again with the organisation and facilities at the show.  We still think that charging £7 entry into the show is rather steep but then you do get to see a lot of cars, especially when Chris, Glyn’s wife, arrived almost at the close of the show and was still charged £7!  OK she was staying over but they didn’t know that!

So, once again, great fun, loads of chat, a few new contacts made, lots of questions answered, can’t count how many cups of tea, and all in all a very enjoyable two days were had by all. 

Attendees - Sunday

Martin Pidd, Andy Petrie & Michaela, Mike and Lorraine Shearing, Glyn Rust, Stephen & Lesley Altwasser, Ced & Lorraine, Richard & Caroline, Dan & Dave, John Mandeville, Doug & Maggie, Steve King, Nigel Farrow, John, Helen, a couple from Walthamstow ( I will find the names and add them if I can, sorry)

Chatted to James Radford, Andy Barbet & Connor, Mal

Attendees  - Monday

Jeff Spencer & Alan Piggott (Spyder VW), Richard & Caroline, Mal & Lynne, Glyn & Chris, Stephen & Hugh, Nigel Farrow + 1, Alan Rowe & Pauline, Nigel & Pauline Cady, Chris Shilton + 1, John, Helen

Chatted to Trevor Smith who is completing a build on a Robin Hood 3a

Another fantastic day with wall to wall sunshine, a lovely breeze, bacon butties and lots of tea.

There was a bigger display of classic cars today.  So much to see, not enough time and energy to look at everything.  The auto jumble was disappointing, in fact the stalls in general were uninspiring!  Also, to pay £3 for six small ring donuts is a little extortionate as was £1.50 for a small bottle of cola.  The entrance price of £6.50 per person is also high if you are taking the family.  However, prices aside, it IS worth the effort to get to the show.  By booking in advance, we paid £2 per car (up to four people in the car  - difficult in a Hood) for entering the show for both days, coming and going as much as you please!  It is well worth the risk of not going to save a fortune if you do go.  We did try and explain this at the beginning of the year but some of the members may have missed the e-mail.  A few names spring to mind......

Thanks to those who joined us, we had a thoroughly enjoyable two days.

Attendees:

Hoods:   John, Alan Rowe

Cobra:   John

Dax Rush: Sandie

Westfield:  Mal and Lynne, John (from Luton)

Mx-5:  Chief Nag Bag

Tintop:   Richard and Caroline, the Hood had battery problems

We were also joined by a very nice Ferrari (based on an MR-2), three Caterhams and a brief visit from the Ronart at the end of the day.

We snapped a few photos of some of the classics on show for you to have a look at: 

  Alfa Romeo - Guilia Junior

                                 Delorian

                                                            Ford Anglia

   Ford Consul

                                  Ford Popular

                                                                   MBG GT

   MR-2 based Ferrari replica

                                 MR-2 Ferrari and MX-5

                                                                   Morgan

   Mustang

                                  Triumph TR-3

                                                            Foden truck

   VW Campers

                                                 Vauxhall Victor

      Wolsley

The SG7s group booked a club pitch under the name of RHOCaR again as we did last year.  John once again picked a pitch up at the top of the hill overlooking the whole show so there was always plenty to look at.  I didn't feel there were as many cars this year.  The organiser of one of the other club pitches reckoned that the show was much smaller, with less food facilities/toilets etc than in previous years.  I certainly felt that the auto jumble was very poor with few decent stalls of any interest. 

However, the weather was fantastic, a little breezy, but then we were at the top of the hill!  We had a good turnout again and were joined by a few unknowns.  Our thanks to everyone who made the effort to come. 

John did a great job with the bacon butties, thanks to Stephen for his contribution of a packet of bacon. 

We had a great laugh with my MX-5.  John had the idea to put a note on my car saying that it was a Ferrari based car made into an MX-5, the only one known in the UK!!! We had to add at the end 'only joking!' because too many people actually believed what they were reading.  I can understand someone wanting to make an MX-5 into a Ferrari but the other way round???? No, I don't think so.  We spoke to a lady from Luton who also owns an MX-5 and she brought it over and parked it with mine to keep it company. Nice to talk to her and her friend, sorry didn't get their names.

Attendees:

Hoods:  John, Paul Boatman and Jazz, Dan + 1 with his S7 from Royston (he is also building a Cobra replica), Stephen and Lesley Altwasser

Westfield: Mal, Steve Wakefield

Dax Rush: Sandie

Cobra:  John, Tom Hoey + 1

Tiger:  Doug, Maggie, Laura and Simon (we were very pleased that they declined an invite to go join the Tiger club who had a club pitch, Giles couldn't understand why they wanted to stay with us!!)

Mx-5:  Helen, 2 ladies from Luton

Tintop:  Keith and Ricky

BUT it was not going to put anyone off. 

John arrived early Sunday to pick a pitch and set up the gazebo.  He chose a spot near the brow of the hill overlooking the show, possibly a rather windy position but we had a good view of all the cars coming and going.  The RHOCaR banner stood out a mile, we had booked the site under the RHOCaR name.  The show is a very well run affair in the grounds of Knebworth House.  We soon had the gas on for bacon rolls and tea/coffee.  I can still smell the bacon.  Very nice.  We had plenty of rain and had to hold onto the gazebo many times during the day but there were a fair number of people showing interest in the cars.   We lit the barbeque and had burgers and more bacon.

Attendees:

John, Helen, Peter Bell, Brian Camp,  Steve Putrell (debuting his 2B very smart) - Hoodies

Sandie - Dax Rush

John - Dax Cobra

Mal - Westfield

Andy Barbet - tintop

8 cars in total

Also joined by a Caterham but didn't really get to chat.

At home time, left the gazebo up and went home praying that the wind would not blow it away!  A good day but rather cold and miserable at times.

 hometime!

Started off by getting the bacon going again!  Sorry Richard, it had gone by the time you arrived.

We had a good turnout from our group. 

Attendees:

John, Helen, Brian Camp and friend who is building a Dax, Richard and Caroline, Paul Boatman and Jaz (a very sweet dog), Andy and Linda Petrie from Norfolk - Hoodies

Sandie - Dax Rush

John - Dax Cobra

Mal, Simon, Steve - Westfield

We soon noticed that there were a few cars driving round looking very lost so we invited them to join us.  It was not obvious where the kit car section was.  A good opportunity to drum up some new interest in the SG7s club.  Hopefully we will see some of them again.

We were joined by:

Kevin - Cobra

Caterham from Dunstable, sorry didn't get names

Westfield, again no names. 

(let me know who you are and I will change this!)

Sandie had her car photographed by the guy from the 'Comet' newspaper.  Keep an eye out for that. We had such a lot of interest in the cars but when we were having photos done for mugs and t-shirts and were moving the cars round to pose them, we were suddenly surrounded by so many people, nice to hear the engines and see them moving around I guess.  We handed out leaflets promoting SG7s.  Definite interest shown by a few people.

The mugs/t-shirts were done by www.mug-shots.co.uk .  Very good quality and we all had them before we left the site at the end of the day.  Can be ordered by e-mail or post if you are interested.  Check them out.

Thanks to Sandie for contributing to the barbeque.

For those of you who didn't make it this year, I think most if not all of us who did would recommend the show.  There is an auto jumble, although more aimed towards classics than the good old Sierra, don't suppose there will be many Sierras in years to come at Classic Shows, we have broken them all up!  It took some of us up to half an hour to get into the show so getting there early is perhaps a good idea.

Looking forward to next year's show

Helen and John