The drive through the golden countryside to the National Exhibition centre for the Classic show was worth the journey alone. The autumn trees were on fire. Tickets had been purchased weeks ago, the saving considerable but the eight pound car park is always a challenge. If the railways were cheaper well that would be the best option; Painless, step off step in.

First to greet was a large hall filled with vintage motor bikes; a dozen Italian Augusta’s all in fire engine red. Hundreds of bikes lying in wait behind them ready for eager eyes to inspect. The show offers concept cars, club stands, vintage caravans, trade stands celebrity lectures and interviews and then several thousand jaw dropping collectable Classic automobiles plus free entry to the adjacent show MPH featuring Top Gear live. There are four or five massive halls so a grid walking strategy enables little to be missed. We spent six hours lost in time and still did not see all of it however.

Highlights for me? Well, there were many. A 1952 USA Airstream caravan in burnished silver was worth a look still earning its keep as a tattoo parlour, a towing Dodge well side pickup doing duty as a jazz music platform - Swing those hips. An Ensign Station Wagon or shooting brake depending where you come from also caught our eye. It is part of the Standard Vanguard stable. A 1929 Teignmouth saloon? Never heard of it? Neither have I and only vaguely the Fibre Glass Peerless sports car with TR3 engine. A mint 1965 MGB had a price tag of £9,900 and an MGC £20,000 but most remarkable were the two Jaguars. One was a Daimler Sovereign and the other a 2.4 litre Jaguar with 22,000 and 10,000 miles from new respectively. Now where have they both been hiding, one wonders?

Speaking of Jaguars, are there any more perfect than the SS1s with long louvered engine cowling and several massive stone guarded head lights? Gorgeous. What about the MGA twin cam then, this one in black? From 1958 to 1960 only 2,111 were produced and basically thought a failure at the time but now? Oh dear, we all want one. Bubble cars always promote a lot of interest and many manufacturers produced them; Messerschmitt, Trident, Goggermobile just three. Some are so tiny, you are literally wearing them. Safe? I don’t think so.

We moved on to the Riley Kestrel straight out of the chicken shed with straw all over it and a fresh egg on the seat. Needless to say it is awaiting restoration. E-types… What can you say about these beautiful, desirable crumpet catchers? Everybody looks good in an E-type Jaguar. Two of them are now almost restored and only awaiting interior leather and glass. More Jags to take your fancy? Then how about the stunning 1935 Airline Coupe? MG made an Air Line Coupe equally desirable.

Then we come to the Marcos. As you may know, Frank Costin, designer of the wooden Mosquito bomber during World War Two designed the first Marcos and Jackie Stewart drove it to many a victory. Jem Marsh put it all together. Marcos is an amalgam of the two names. Jem is well on his way now to a good age and has a new book out telling of the trials, triumphs and tribulations of being a motor manufacturer. He was on hand, walking stick bound, to give a fascinating half hour interview on the Live Stand. We bought the book having had the pleasure to own a 1979 Six cylinder Volvo example in New Zealand for many years. Jem penned a dedication in the book for us. They were produced in the early years for the really tall driver with clutch and brake pedals on a sliding rack, the seat not moving. He mentioned being at the London Ace Café in 1952 and at the show the Ace Café lived on. Remarkable! There were stories of the Le Mans 24 hour race when only one of two finished helped along by having a French driver who turned a blind eye to the replacement of an ECU on the Mulsanne straight when a substitute was brought strapped to the back of a mobile phone.

Morgan was represented at the Classic with a prototype 1909 three wheeler with Peugeot engine. Now that makes the Morgan 100 years old. Supercars take your fancy? How about the Bugatti Veyron or any number of Ferraris, Astons and Lambos?

Not popular with all English devotees of the Classic car but American cars do it for me, especially the late fifties and early sixties. They were outrageous and tell of a confident stage in Americas manufacturing history. Chrome, chrome and more chrome, interiors in pale pastel colours with rounded dials and push button radios. They were far easier to use than today’s mind blowing affairs. Oldsmobile and Buicks were always fitted with straight eight engines. Dodge, Nash and Plymouth to name a few. Duisenberg and Lincoln also roll off the tongue. The huge black 1939 Buick sedan had the most satisfying sounding doors which shut with a click clunk

The MG Car Club, the MGF and Z registers and the MG Owners club all had stands and the Police vehicle enthusiast club had several examples from the MG range of the past with blue lights and bells. What ever possessed them to use such impractical cars as the MGA or the slower MG Magnette or the TC? They must surely have been MG nuts just like us!

Dave Walker