MG Enthusiast Magazine Classic Car Buyer Free Issue Special Issue

As I type this I think my feet have just about recovered from two days trekking around the halls of the NEC at the Classic Motor Show. As we reported in last week’s issue, it was another
record-breaking show. Certainly it was as busy on the Friday as I can remember it being on a Saturday when I first visited over a decade ago.
Maybe it’s a problem with my memory or because I was seeing the Show through younger eyes,
but I think the changes to the big NEC Show since I first went are remarkable. Back then it seemed to be two complete halls of autojumble and two more for club stands. Most of the stands I recall were just a line of the club member’s shiniest cars.
I also seem to remember that ‘look but don’t touch’ was the order of the day, although this may have been understandable wariness on the part of the owners when confronted with a 15-year old who said he was considering a Vauxhall Chevette GL hatchback as a first car.
Now, not only has the autojumble shrunk into a small corner of one hall, but the show seems much
more of a two-way affair. Of course the most obvious example of this was the return of the Sporting
Bears and their Dream Rides, giving people the chance to experience cars on the road, but there were plenty of more modest examples.
It seemed that every stand had a car with its doors open that people could sit in or a club member on
hand to open a window or bonnet for photos (and this didn’t just apply to those wearing CCB t-shirts). This sort of thing can only be good for the future of the classic car hobby.
More and more of the club stands also seem to be dedicated to telling a story, rather than just
presenting ‘some cars’. The Metro Owners’ Club is one that sticks in my mind (they had the whole gamut of cars from an early miniMetro, through a beige Clubman automatic
to a 6R4), but there were plenty of others and this is another change
that can only help broaden the appeal of the Show.