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Finally one of our meetings where it wasn't raining sideways and the sun was out. For our second gathering at Wharton Park we were blessed with a blazing sun and decent temperatures! We moved the meeting time back to 3pm and this seemed to suit folks well as we had a stronger turnout than last month. I hobbled along to the meet in my stricken Lotus, the LH front brake caliper is sticking slightly and the steering shaking it's head at me more than my old headmaster! I rolled into the car park to be greeted by the sight of a lovely Alfa Romeo Spyder in a delicious, vivacious red..I do love an Alfa! Tony the driver of the Spider is a friendly chap and we soon got nattering. Turns out his car is also suffering from the delights of sticky caliper…oh the joy of classic car ownership!
We often have a strong Mini turnout and whist 'the naughty twins' were not in attendance today we still had a classic pairing of Issigonis's masterpiece in the form of an '89 and a '94 example. The two young owners were suitably proud of their mounts and were telling me of their epic run down to Portugal together where both Mini's performed faultlessly (mostly) and how the next trip is to Germany. I often travel in Europe a motorbike and you can't beat a good road trip…I hope they have a great time. I was telling them how the Mini was produced by a company called Authi in Spain for many years, I do like to show off my anorak credentials and they didn't looked too bored at my ramblings! Another Mini soon rocked up too; Richard in his stunning end of the line Sport who also came out in the rain last month.
We also had no less than four examples of the 2001 R50/3 Mini lined up opposite our classic pairing and it reminded me of two opposite gangs lined up against each other…like the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story (younger members – google it!). The debate around the new 'big' MINI rumbles on. For my part I wasn't keen on them at launch in 2001 but as each new generation of BMW MINI gets launched they seem to get even bigger and less attractive and I find the R50's growing on me quickly. They are proper drivers car in Cooper S form too.
Some cars promote less debate as to their classic credentials, like the glorious V12 E type Jaguar that graced us with an appearance once again. John, it's proud owner catching us on his return from Shelsley Walsh. What a lovely car. Another copper bottomed classic is the P6 Rover and we had two show up today, a 2200SC Auto and a P6B 3500 with that iconic V8 pushing it along. The V8 looked stunning in white and I had a good natter with the owner a Mr.Fitchett who relayed the story of the car to me….it even still boasts it's dealer sticker in the back window…from Falkirk in sunny Scotland. The P6B is called 'Donald' in honour of its Scottish connections. He has had PAS retro fitted to the car for a very reasonable £150 much to the delight of his lovely wife who is in charge of the actual driving! I didn't get much chance to chat to the owner of the 2200, Blair but he seemed rightly proud of his Rover
I was really pleased to see regular group contributor Lee turn up at full family strength in one of his many vehicles, and I bet the Golf Club were quietly pleased it wasn't his amazing 4×4 Transit! This time it was his recently resurrected master of torque steer…the MG Montego Turbo, looking brilliant in British Racing Green and bright YELLOW wheels. Subtle it most definitely isn't…fun it most definitely is! It was a shame that Jamie had not brought out his MG Maestro Turbo this month as would have been great to seen this classic eighties pairing together. However disappointment was short lived when I realised he had rolled up a Sierra Sapphire Cosworth 4×4 instead. Completely stock too and a great looking car. Jamie has an impressive stable of toys and I wonder what he will bring along next month?
VAG was strongly represented this month with an Audi 2.8 V6 Convertible, a VR6 Golf and a lovely pair of MKII Sciroccos. John Kingsley is looking to sell the 2.8 Audi and a 85 Audi 200 Quattro in need of a light resto. Contact him via the FB group if you fancy a bit of spanner wielding! The VR6 Gold sounded lovely, but Baily the owners dog was suffering in the heat a bit, but I think we need to adopt him as group mascot, he is a lovely fellow as is owner Jim. He tells me he has no less than three VR6 Golfs…a VR18…now that would sound glorious!
The two Sciroccos both had female pilots, a white 1.8 on Porsche 924S wheels driven by Hayley and Denise in a stock 1.8 in red and riding on the ice cool stock steel wheels that make rocking horse poo seem a bit common. Those are seriously rare! I have a mate who used to crash Mk1 Sciroccos on a regular basis back in the day , bless him…God knows what they would be worth now…at least one was the super rare GTi. Denise the driver of the red example was attending her very first classic meet and really enjoying reliving some of her misspent youth at the wheel of black Scirocco
Rounding out our gathering was a beautiful white Triumph Stag that was here last month and a V6 Morgan, that whilst only 5 years old looked every inch the classic British sports car. I will give a quick mention to the chap who rolled up in a red BMW Z3, he didn't stay long and I missed him completely! Also there was a Honda S2000, I don't think that it was with us, but I like them, so I will give it a mention!So over 20 wildly varied cars and everybody seemed to mingling well and every time a bonnet was popped open an appreciative crowd seemed to have gathered. Thanks to everybody who came along it was great to have a natter about our common passion. We will work on roping off a section of the car park better for the next meet, so we don't have to mingle with the 'moderns'! Hope to see you next month and bring some mates along if they have some interesting wheels!
Link to the Bewdley and Wyre Forest Classic Car Club on FB:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/504239700099287/Wharton Park, our hosts…
https://www.whartonpark.co.uk/The bits you didn't get in the review…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Issigonis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story_(1961_film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authi
David Narburgh, the partner of the lady with the red Scirocco also runs this Instagram group…
Instagram @theretrocarclub
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