Another very successful year for the Classic Car Show at the NEC. There weren't too many signs of the credit crunch and I even saw this quote from James Szkiler of the Classic & Sports Car Centre ;
“Although some classics are not for everyday use, we are selling a lot of cars to people as investments; they are looking at the banking crisis and they want to put their money into something safe, which they can enjoy. We had a very successful weekend and sold three cars on site – a Sunbeam Talbot 90, a Bedford CA van and a Jaguar XJ6 series 3 – and have several strong leads to follow up over the next week.”
Classic cars as an investment in times of a banking crisis are they thinking straight (especially a Bedford CA van)! Apparently Cheshire Classic Benz sold three vehicles – a Mercedes 420SCC, a 200 saloon and a 300CE. Other dealers including Sam Bailey, Hurst Park Cars, Tygan and Chaplain all reported successful sales at the show and great interest for the future.
The show was top class and included a number excellent stands. I particularly enjoyed the Rolls Royce Club who brought all their cut-away engines, gearboxes and even a cut-away car which were used for training RR staff. Bugatti had a very imposing T57C and a great looking, if very muddy, Brescias trials car.
Volvo put on a great show with a whole raft of cars from right through from the 50's to 70's. I also spotted my first PV445 convertible which is owned by Kevin Price of the Volvo Enthusiasts club. It was built by the Swedish coachbuilders Valbo under licence on a PV445 chassis. This is the only one in the UK and they are very rare in Sweden. An acquired taste perhaps but quite handsome.
Overall a great show and it seems to have cemented it's place as the best show in the UK for a while yet.


