Lancaster Classic Motor Show - November 2019 - Birmingham NEC
The 2019 Lancaster Classic Motor Show really is huge, each year it seems to be bigger and bigger. Tthis year I seemed to easily cover more ground. Obviously a further improvement
This year the theme was Top Trumps, a card game where the highest, or best score wins. So there were cards on certain cars with specification, the usual, top speed, 0-60mph, engine power and so on. A classic car Top Trumps game would be good.
So to start, walking in before the crowds I entered at what I think is always the main entrance. The Lancaster display, the concourse cars of Meguiars and of course Classic and Sportscar. The Ferrari F40 was very nicely presented, I liked the stand backdrop and they had obviously taken time to position it well.
Now I have seen several of these, probably most of them over the years and I am always taken by the stunning looks of one. The purposefulness of the design is still striking even today and probably more purposeful than anything else since.
The F40 isn’t like today’s supercars, no safety features, huge turbo lag and very little in creature comforts. But, that doesn’t matter when they look that good and by all accounts are engaging to drive, if a little bit difficult if tales of them catching out the unwary are to be believed.
Replicas?
Just around the corner, appropriately things being Ford v Ferrari was a spectacular GT40 MkII was actually a continuation car built by Superformance in South Africa. These are virtually indistinguishable from the originals and cost a fraction of one of them. I’m all for continuation cars, especially as they enable those of us who would want to have the chance to drive or own one.
Ok, they’re around £160K, but that’s a lot more in reach than the millions for a real one. Do I care, no. I’m starting to save up now… If only they made a Porsche 917…
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Harry's Countach
Keeping to an sort of Italian theme the stunning Countach that Footman James had on display was a later UK car, without the rear wing. The wing which is often seen on these looks great, but limits rear visibility and top speed, a lot. Allegedly it does nothing for downforce, just adds a massive amount of aerodynamic drag.
Do you prefer them with or without? I’m unsure as both are great, earlier cars, like the LP400, the clean wedge shape are better without adornment. These later ones are more outrageous, the pure shape being lost, but looking like nothing else. 80’s excess at it’s best. This car sold in 2010 for around £75k, now you could put a 3 in front of that figure and it would be about right.
This particular car being From Harry’s Garage, a really excellent YouTube channel, of course, sponsored by Footman James.
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The Bugatti Owners Club and the Bugatti Trust had a fabulous selection of cars, I love the idea of a Bugatti, the expense is a little beyond me, but the single minded purpose of it’s racing cars or the opulence of the tourers make them highly desirable. The Trust doing a fantastic job of keeping the Bugatti legacy alive and well.
The Type 59 race car is the sort of car what made Bugatti famous, introduced in 1933 it was built for the 1934 750Kg rules, but featured a solid rear axle and cable operated drum brakes. The competition had moved onto independent suspension and hydraulically operated brakes. Bugatti stubbornly sticking to the older configurations, but still making a competitive car.
And at the other end of scale this large Type 50 Le Mans tow car for the Type 35B race car, what a combination.
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It's The Sweeney Guv'.
Moving to something more home grown, we have the Ford Consul GT, which could also be found as more the more luxurious Granada. The GT was a sportier take on the more basic car with a 3.0 Litre V6 Essex engine.
This car found fame as the main vehicle in use for series one and most of series two before being replaced by a Granada. All the high speed driving didn’t seem to take it’s toll on the car as it remained on the road until 1989. A long restoration process started and it was completed in time for the show. Well worth it, the results were stunning.
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More British motoring here, and this time courtesy of Lancaster Insurance, displaying the Top Trumps cars, somewhat larger than those you can buy. The Mini Cooper was gorgeous, and in a lovely blue, I think maybe even Ice Blue. There were a myriad of colours across the the BLMC group.
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This creation stopped me, and several others, in our tracks. It took quite a while to get a nice photograph, but I did take the time to speak to the owner and creator. It was a long process and the inspiration was taken from something similar.
I’d not seen a Mk1 Transit Flareside before, a bit of a cross between that and an F100, it really was beautifully done and I think the look suited the truck. I can imagine them selling well here, but I guess it wouldn’t have got past Ford marketing. The U.S had the leisure truck market, whereas the Transit here had the builders market. Pity.
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Bristol 401
Next interesting car has to be the very English Bristol 401. Built between 1948 and 1953, this very upmarket Grand Tourer was the successor to the 400 which was only in production for a year. It retained BMW power but had substantially different construction, see if you can find the door handles.
The earlier car being very much more like the pre-war BMW it was based on. Bristol having bought Frazer Nash and got the BMW connection through them. It’s a beautifully elegant car, not a fast one mind. Even with the BMW 2 litre straight six providing 85 bhp and the body being very low drag for the time with a Cd of 0.36, top speed was 97 mph according to a test by The Motor magazine in 1952.
Here’s a definite future classic, the VW XL1, the hybrid fuel saving marvel with it’s 800cc twin cylinder 47bhp engine coupled with a 27bhp electric motor. It’s claimed to be able to do an amazing 310mpg, which is great and I’d have bought one, except for the slight problem of the €111,000 asking price and limited 250 unit production run.
This one sold at the Silverstone Auctions sale for £70,875.
Sectioned Range Rover
Lastly, I rather liked this, it’s not much use as a car, but a fascinating look into, literally, the Range Rover. This one even appeared to be a long wheel base model too.
Thanks to Rimmer Brothers for bringing it, a nice showcase of the support they now offer for them and I rather enjoyed peering into all the bits you can’t normally see.
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As usual, head to the Lancaster Classic Motor Show 2019 Facebook gallery with many more cars here.
Simon