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01.09.2012, 19:27:57 cet

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Birmingham, November 11, 2001

Bigger & Better
The 19th edition of the international Classic motor show hosted a truly diverse selection of superb historic and modern vehicles. This extremely popular event always attracts large crowds to the centrally situated location, and the increase in demand for exhibition space, led to the organisers increasing the floor area by 25% with the addition of a third show hall. This year there were 177 different car clubs with display areas, and over 300 vendors in the extensive autojumble area.

Most Impressive – Size Matters!
There was a particularly impressive display from the Bentley Drivers’ Club, which not only featured a wide array of pre-war classics, but also the EXP 5 model that came third in this year’s Le Mans 24 Hour Race. Another impressive display was that of the Heritage Motor Centre, that included the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally winning Mini Cooper, the 1965 Le Mans Rover-BRM Gas Turbine car, driven to 10th overall by Jackie Stewart/Graham Hill, and the streamlined MG World Record car driven by Stirling Moss. American cars also featured strongly with almost a third of the second hall devoted to ”Detroit Iron”, including a fine display of Chevrolet Corvettes, and another of the original ”Pony Car” the Ford Mustang, whilst late fifties fins and chrome were also very much in evidence. The BMW Car Club of GB had a nice selection of the craft of Bavaria on show, including an M1 coupe. The MG Owners’ Club, reportedly the largest one-make car club in the world, with 48,000 members, had a broad spectrum of models including a stunning electric blue example of the new 175mph ZT saloon. A short distance away Unipart International (Jaguar Classic) had a superb display of Jaguars, that included the Quaker State ”E” Type raced successfully in the USA, together with ”F” Type and XK 180 concept cars. The Aston Martin Owners’ Club had a fine display that included a race modified DB 7, a rare example of the sixties four door Lagonda Rapide, and a delightful 1500cc 4 cylinder 1935 Special Sport saloon, beautifully finished in two tone blue.

Small is Beautiful!
Conversely, you didn’t just find the best or most unusual cars on the biggest stands, for example the Panhard Club had a Panhard engined 1959 Deutsch-Bonnet on display, one of only three known examples in the UK. Another better known French air cooled twin cylinder visitor, was the venerable Citroen 2 CV, displayed in a number of guises. There was also a strong Mini presence on various stands, one of them being in the Guinness Book of records as the world’s lowest car. This amazing creation based on a 1976 Mini is only 600mm high, and is powered by a Rover V8 engine producing 300bhp, that can propel it to 180mph!

Recreation or Re-creation?
There were a number of ”kit car” makers displaying their wares, so that you could spend your recreation hours re-creating your own ”Porsche Speedster” or ”Cobra”. One project on display took re-creation a little further, this was the 1955 Lancia D50 project undertaken by Jim Stokes Workshops Ltd, for which they received the Historic Restorer of the Year Award 2000. They have constructed a series of six of these cars, which faithfully replicate the original vehicle, and you would be hard pushed to tell them from the original, apart from the fact that they are in finer condition! On a slightly different theme was a Maserati sports racing car shown by Ivan Dutton, which at a glance had a touch of A6 GCS about the front, but  with later model traces towards the rear. A look through the wheels revealed front disc brakes, and cast aluminium finned drums at the rear! The dashboard chassis plate revealed that it was a 3500 GT, chassis number 101 208, that had become a donor car for the fifties look-alike, that doesn’t purport to be something it isn’t, how refreshing!

Ferrari?
The Ferrari Owners’ Club were not represented this year, so Ferraristi had no focal point to concentrate on, but instead had to seek them out in the various places that they were displayed. Fortunately they were quite prominent, in places like the Autoglym Concours, or on the stands of leading classic magazines ”Classic Cars” and ”Classic & Sports Car”, both of which had a Ferrari to advertise their wares. It must be said that the former had the nicer example, an early 246 GT, whilst the latter’s 308 GTS  QV looked great in yellow, but was hindered in the desirability stakes by its chocolate coloured leather upholstery.

A very enjoyable and interesting way to pass a cold November weekend. If you were going to cover everything in depth then you would need the whole weekend, with deep pockets for the sojourn in the trade and autojumble areas, although there were plenty of bargains on offer, particularly with scale models.

Dino 246 GTs/n 00656


Ferrari Models On Display

Model

Colour Reg’ # Chassis # Notes

Dino 246 GT

Red/Blk - 00656 LHD

Dino 246 GTS

Gunmetal Met’/Red POB 222M 06716

308 GTSi

Red/Cream-Red SFG 729X 41405

308 GTS QV

Yellow/Brown UJN 628Y 43285

F40

Red/Red G914 BFC 83705 LHD

348 ts

Red/Cream RAY 348 86489

348 Spider

Blue Met’/Cream M704 NCG 99515

550 Maranello

Silver/Blk S50 EHF 122353


Keith Bluemel

Lancia D50
Bentley Speed Six
F40 s/n 83705
Aston Martin Mark II Saloon s/n L4/524/L
Ferrari 166 Inter Vignale Coupe s/n 0065S
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