The AHC Midland Centre were represented again this year at these shows. Both shows attracted several club members and it was good to see you at the stands.
Arriving early for this show is never too difficult as it is always held on the Sunday that the clocks change. Membership Secretary Phil Brown kindly loaned us his white BN1 for the stand. We are supposed to be doing some restoration at this show but Phil was not too keen and prevented us from stripping down his front suspension say that it had got him to Stoneleigh OK and that he intended it to get him back home again.
This is always an interesting show with a mixture of autojumble and demonstrations of various restoration crafts. There were plenty of bargains to be had; I could not resist a Kismet 3-way gauge. This has three spirit levels and attaches to the front hub. Having zeroed the bubbles you turn the steering from 20 degrees right to 20 degrees left then read off the castor, camber and king pin angles. At least that is it in theory, as there are no instructions I cannot be certain about it, so if anyone has knowledge of this instrument I would be pleased to hear from them.
This year the show was located in halls 7 to 12, more space and a bigger show. Organised by Peter Dodson, the club stand took as it's theme the forthcoming international rally in Switzerland and the trip from Birmingham to St Moritz. Peter had obtained posters from the Birmingham Tourist Information Centre and from the Swiss Tourist Board. In addition we were kindly given a large Toblerone; unfortunately it was empty, at least it was when we got there on Saturday.
Cars for this year were a green MK1 Sprite belonging to John Platt, a Green BN1 belonging to Tony Stafford and Nigel Adams MK1 Sprite, Class E winner of this year's Austin Healey Race Championship. A big thank you to each of you for making your cars available.
Sir Stirling Moss opened this years show and at the request of the organisers he visited our stand. Margot Healey was present to welcome both he and his wife aboard. He had a sit in Nigel's racing Sprite and enjoyed a long chat with both him and Margot before leaping out over the roll cage.
My nephew William, a budding car nut, manage to shake Stirling's hand and get his photograph taken. It is included below as a memento of the occasion.
Peter putting finishing touches to the stand.
The Birmingham to St Moritz theme in the background.
Sir Stirling with Viv, Mell and Margot.
Nigel Adams talking to Sir Stirling Moss.
Margot Healey talking to Sir Stirling Moss.
William with his mate Stirling!
That empty Toblerone.