After the glamour of Retromobile in Paris we come to the first of the big UK events, the Practical Classics Care Restoration Show 2017 in Birmingham. It’s quite a contrast to Retromobile, but not in a bad way, it’s actually rather good. In fact, I like this one a lot. The NEC based show gets bigger each year and they manage to pack in lot. It’s got some superb club displays in it where you don’t just get to see cars displayed, people are working on them. And that’s what I think sets this apart from other shows, it’s aimed at people who drive and maintain their own cars.

First off I headed to the barn finds section, it’s always interesting with quite a diverse range of cars on display.

There were a few that caught my attention though, when was the last time anyone saw an Isuzu Piazza?

It was an unusual model having the Handling By Lotus pack on it and an automatic transmission.

And a Nissan Cherry, the sister car to the Alfa Arna, an unusual tie up between the Japanese and Italians, which was rather unfairly criticised as the offspring of having the worst elements of the two parents. Now it was not supposed to be the most interesting of cars, but it was rather nice to see one again as there are hardly any of them left.

Howmanyleft.co.uk shows no licensed Arnas in 2016 and a 1.5Ti on SORN and only 1 Cherry. Well, in 2016 there was a Cherry taxed in Qtr 2 & 3 then one on SORN in Qtr4. I bet those two events may be related…

There was a nice looking right hand drive Audi quattro 10v in Tornado red, well maybe a bit pink here and there. I admit to being a huge fan of these when I was younger, well I still am. I never bought one, but I’d have only picked up a rough one in worse condition that this one, which wasn’t bad at all.

The lovely Victoria Jones agreeing to pose along side it too.

For me the ultimate barn find had to be the Rolls-Royce Shadow, not so much bard find as it had been left outside. It seemed to be sustaining its own ecosystem judging by what was growing on it, at least it probably protected the paintwork underneath. Clean the windows, pump up the tyres and it looks good to go.

The Rover clubs had a fantastic collection of cars, from the well represented P6 to the 800 series. This one on the Rover P6 Club was the subject of quite a bit of attention.

This is what’s really good about the show, you don’t get this anywhere else.

The Rover Sports Register had the car of the show, and deservedly so. The replica of Jet 1 was superbly put together, it looked stunning and looked just the real thing. There were a couple of differences, the 3.9 V8 under the bonnet and the slightly less powerful instructional 60hp gas turbine. It looks right, sounds right and with that engine under the bonnet, faster than the real thing.

The new Wheeler dealer pairing of Ant Anstead with Mike Brewer doing the award presentation.

This wasn’t the only form of presentation going on, the Practical Classics live stage was busy most of the time, with a variety of cars passing through.

Of course Jalopy was drawn to the SAAB Owners Club stand, there were some nice 9000s there.. Actually I’m a member and like the club, essential if you like old SAABs.

The ex Abbotts racing 9000 Carlsson was superb and rather non standard with quite a few mods including a seam welded shell.

Speaking of SAAB 9000s, I managed to track down a few more, these ones were slightly more manageable in size… As I already had the No 2 car in a box I bought the Fly Virgin one and I found a red one too elsewhere. Quite a good result I thought.

I was really tempted with the Bagheera on the Matra Club stand, I want one of these and the price was tempting on this one, but another project car could be too much for me.

I loved the uniqueness of the Citroen GS pick up, I certainly haven’t seen one of these before.

It was quite  lot of money for £15000, which is why it probably dropped to £10000 a day later, I still couldn’t afford it…

The Practical Classics stand had a superb Lotus Esprit Series 1, in white with the typically Lotus tartan trim.

This was the ultimate Bond car clone, unmistakable from the Spy Who Loved Me, what a way to get Lotus onto the world stage. Certainly left and impression on me. I still love the purity of the wedge shape, but being taller than Colin Chapman I may just have to admire one from the outside…

Another fantastic show, I will be going again.

Have a look at the Facebook page, there’s more pictures there.

Simon