APRIL

13th SOUTHERN CLASSICS AT CHICHESTER COLLEGE

MAY

4th MAGNIFICENT MOTORS EASTBOURNE

Met up on Fort Fun car park at about 9am where Karens MKI decided it didn't want to go any further so Davin towed it up to the lawns.

Irony stepped in and our site was at the top of the hill! With one tow car, five pushing and careful steering by Wayne, it was rolled into position. Shortly after and a bit of fiddling under the bonnet the car that that 3ltr music again.

The sun was out with a gentle sea breeze and large crowds. Had a lot of interest in the cars and some really nice comments.

11th    NATIONALS BADGERS HILL    CCI

Matt, Gemma, Davin, Jeni, Greg and Gavin went up on Saturday and the plan was to relax & have a bbq and a few beers, the reality was Gavins 3ltr S (having just been put back together the previous day after a full respray) decided to loose a couple of gears on the M25. They limped it up to Badgers Hill where John Hill saved the day. He sold them a replacement gearbox, provided the tools, lighting and gearbox fluid and the poor lads finally finished about 10pm.

Sunday dawned hot and the lads took Gavs car for a spin only to find that the manifolds were holed and needed changing. So after a quick fry up during which Wayne and Dave arrived the lads set off round the trade stands to get manifolds, which they did and then they fitted them !!!!! Everyone managed to get their cars cleaned and drove down to the judging lane (new idea that worked well).

Nice to see old member Keith (up with his Mk 1) and new member Andy and his son. Greg and Gavin were by this point bored so decided to rebuild the carbs, the rest of us pottered around getting sunburn and looking at the great cars that had turned up.

Finally, the moment of truth, the prize giving - and what a result! Matt and Wayne got gold, Dav, Jen, Dave, Keith and Gavin got silver and Greg got bronze, and John embaressed the lads by telling everyone about their hard work and they got round of applause!! After that we packed up and left for an uneventful drive home.

What a great show. 

JUNE

1       CLASSIC FORD SHOW SANTA POD

Well, what a great show. Despite the one rain shower in the morning and the flooded grassed areas the organisers did well to set everybody up on the tarmaced areas.

Matt, Gemma, Davin, Jeni, Greg and Wayne camped there and all went well overnight despite most people using the area behind Jeni & Davins tent as a toilet and Gregs' not having an air bed to sleep on in his tent he got from the Early Learning Centre. All seemed happy for the day ahead and cleaning the cars when Pete arrived at about 8.20. Later arrivals due to traffic (Fords) building up quickly, Terry (Red 2.8i Turbo), then Andy (Red 2.8i). Later still because of the traffic was Brian (white Laser), Stuart (Blue 2.8i) and Jon (Green MKI). Finally, Daryl (Black 2.8i)arrived about lunchtime.

Greg was the only one to do a run up the strip and for a 2ltr Laser turned a 17.odd and a 16.9.

Unfortunately something went clunk of the return road and so didn't do the third run. However, its turned out to be a broken engine mount, so not terminally expensive.

Not wanting to feel left out, Terry had gearbox problems so left early in case he needed to AA & he hadn't even been down the strip! It wouldn't have been a show without any problems. 

Loads of photos taken, grease burgers eaten, tea drunk, feet aching and the thought of the miles of jams on the motorways we finally left the site at about 5.30. Stopping at Toddington Services on the M1 car park we formed an unoffical car display of our own which got heads turning - but then a collection of older Fords always do!

Really good show and nice to have 11 Capris lined up behind the banner and looking forward to the show next year; cheers Classic Ford mag.

6 - 8 Dorset Capri Show

15      BROMLEY PAGENT OF MOTORING

Nice early start for this show, as usual. Pete, Matt & Gemma & Steve & Jane met up and went into the showground and met Dave, Karen & Wayne on the one make parking area. Cleaned the cars down and looked like it was to be a sunny day. Massive variety of cars there from many eras, types and manufacturers, which makes the show interesting.

Did a lap round the car club stands, trade stalls and the other vehciles such as the military stuff and custom cars, then back to the cars for food and natter.

Had a really good day finished off with a bbq at Steve and Janes gaff.

Well worth the effort going to as its nice to see such a variety of cars on display at one time.

JULY

12          SALTDEAN

Despite the weather being well windy and a couple of very light showers it turned out fine in the end. Really relaxed day as the event is a cross between a village fate, car rally, dog show and kids sports day.

Got there early and set up the stand with a nice line up of Capris attracting much attention as usual.

Some really nice cars at the show of many types from vintage and veteren through the 60's to 80's classics. 

Dave, Gemma and Jeni entered their dogs in for judging of which Dave and Jenis dogs won rosettes.

Good showground as theres loads of room for the kids to run around and avoid the cars and other attractions if needed. Although there were seveal inflatable slides, bounday domes and other fun fair things for them to spend our money on!

Really nice show this one with a good family atmosphere.

27    MILD TO WILD BADGERS HILL CCI

Didn't attend this as a club but Pete, Greg, Gavin, Matt & Gemma went. Nice turnout of cars including a mint LHD RS2600 imported from Switzerland.

Matt, Greg and Gavin entered their Capris in different classes for judging. Matt won two trophies for his totally mint track car 5ltr which always gets the attention. Matts won best paint and best none standard engine bay- defined as over 3ltrs & V8's.

Gavin won best MKIII which pleased him no end as hes worked so hard on that car and it after all it is a minter despite it being used every day - well worth the effort though mate.

Petes 2.8i wasn't in for judging but nice comments were heard from fellow owners - nice to hear.

Had good time and the sun shone brightly, M40 back home was a nightmare due to somebody getting it wrong big time.

27         OLD SKOOL FORD LONDON TO BRIGHTON

Didn't do this one as a branch but three of us from Hastings (MK1 Capri,  my MKII and a friend in his MK1 Mexico) made the run up to the Ace Cafe leaving at 5am. Good job we did as just before the ace on a petrol stop my PAS pipe burst. Did a quick fix with a piece of fuel line and off to the ace and one of their superb breakfasts.

Plan was to leave there at 8am to meet up with the next group at Pease Pottage services on the M23. Had a quick stop at the services for us all to meet and collect other cars and then all set off to Brighton.

The run down was really good and at one point all you could see were old Fords taking up the A23! The weather just got hotter which added to the day.

Good to see classic Fords 'brightoning' up the highway and got into the Marina on Brighton seafront with a great collection of Fords.

A walk round the plot surprised me to find that there were only a few Capri's there with only one Mk2. Anyway, a really good day was had by all and roll on next year!

AUGUST

3            FORD FAIR SILVERSTONE

Don't think anyone went to this, if they did can you please email the details and photos through.

17         CLASSIC FORD & AUTOJUMBLE BATTLESBRIDGE

Didn't go as a club but the show was well attanded with a great selection of classic Fords. Autojumble was very busy and loads of bits to be had.

17     BLUEBELL RAILWAY CLASSIC CAR SHOW

All met up at Davin & Jenis house and we took six cars to the show which was generally made of of much older cars. Had a nice drive over to the showground and parked up with many other classics.

The Capris were generally the newest there but still attracted enough attention. The shows roving reporter giving a live commentry during the show interviewed Davin about the Capri and what its like restoring and running them.

Spent most of the day on the steam trains which was quite nice. Had a pub lunch at one of the stations and went for a short walk. Very leasurely day which makes a change from some of the shows.

Good weather all day and the showground was pleasant. One of the few shows where we had no real gremlins with the cars!

Also it didn't take hours of driving to get home which was a rare bonus.

24      DUNSFOLD WINGS & WHEELS

Most of us met up at Pease Pottage service station on the M23. Moved off in convoy and got over to the airfield and onto stand as the public were arriving. 

Had a really long stand available which we had no problem fitting the cars into with the gazebo in the middle(ish) and with the bunting up and club sign looked respectable. Even gave some of it away as others parked up who couldn't find their stands, strange...

Some of the cars as it was impossible to get them all in as we were spread out.

The rain fell until about 10.30 with low cloud and mist. By lunchtime the clouds had cleared and it was quite sunny. Really nice show and very well attended by the public. Despite the weather, Classic Car weekly confirmed over 20,000 visitors attended!

Lot of interest in the cars, Matt brought his stunning MKI Granada & Jay brought her MKIII Escort. Natalie was meant to bring her mint MKI Escort Mexico, but seeing the weather & it was blocked in at home we'll hopegully see it sooner rather than later. and a good line up of Capris, shame Steves MKII 3ltr is off the road, but Wez brought his gold MKII 3ltr along instead. Deans MKI attracted attention as its a minter just as much as it did last year.

SEPTEMBER

6          ACE CAFÉ CAPRI DAY      LONDON

We all met up in a layby about 8am on the A264 near the M23 & then drove up to the Ace arriving about 10ish.

As we expected the turnout wasn't as good as we'd hoped for, but there were still nearly 50 cars! Impressive given the horrible weather.

We stayed for about 31/2 hours making mental notes for the dream garage and admired the variety of Capris there.

However, because of the traffic we left about 1.15pm which was unfortunate, but still took upto 4 hours to drive home. We'll go next year, but certainly doing some homework on escape routes out of London!

27  BATTLESBRIDGE CLASSIC CAR SHOW

Started early for this show. Pete (2.8i), Ray (2.8i), Matt & Gemma (5.0 MKIII) went in one group and met Steve & Jane (3.0 MKII) there. Terry (2.8i Turbo), Stuart (2.0 MKII), Wayne in his (3.0 MKI) & Dave (2.8i) arrived just after Andy, Mags & Liam in their (2.8i). Around lunchtime Paul arrived in his 2.8i.

Wayne had prebooked four spaces on the Capri Forum stand, so four cars parked up there, four parked together in general classic parking, and the others were dotted about the same area. However, it quickly became obvious that the organisers hadn't counted on such a high turn out of classic cars, bikes, trucks & other stuff. As cars were still rolling in at nearly lunchtime and many cars were blocked by later arrivals.

The autojumble and traders were out in force and seemed to be doing well as its the last major show for many as a lot of tax discs appeared to expire this coming Tuesday.

So much choice of cars on display, from a 1275GT back in the to a stunning Pontiac GTO???:           

With fantastic weather we should have had from May, the show was very very busy, but equally relaxed. The day went even better when Stuart won an award for something, not sure what though, could have been best MKII Capri. Anyway, well done Stuart, good to see the car is now winning awards, makes all that hard work worth it.

Talking of Stuart, the mint MKIII Cortina in this line up is one of his restorations recently out of his his workshop (Restore-A-Ford) & sitting proud with the best of them.

At about 4.30 we decided to make a move and Matt & Gemma, Pete, Ray & Nicolette, Andy, Mags & Liam went in search of food. After the first pub had a power cut in the kitchen we found another place towards Southend for a meal. Had a really good time & the headed for home. Great way to round off the day and for some the show season.

No cars gave any trouble which was good and apart from a pheasant deciding to pick a fight with Matts N/S/F wheel on the way there all went well. Nope, the pheasant didn't win, actually looked like a 12 gauge had hit it when seen from behind, messy ...... mmmmm.

Great day, reckon we'll be back again next year if the weathers this good! 

OCTOBER

11/12    HASTINGS CLASSIC CAR SHOW

Write up due asap - never did get a write up on it!.

Historic section!

2007

Pleas note, all photos have been deleted to free up space to add more to the 2008 show reports.  

April:

14th  Boxhill meet, Surrey   (C)

Nice start to the season, took 9 cars to the meet. Some really nice motors around, most of which are known, but some new ones which have been sorted over the winter. Nice motor bikes there as well since its a bikers haunt as well. Cracking weather. Be there again next year. Forgot camera this time, sorry.

15th Shoreham airport classic car show (C)

Southern Classic car Club ran the show and a huge range of cars on display. Many club represented and well worth turning out for! We arrived about 09.30 and had the last few spaces as the venue had been swapped to another parking area so many owners were not able to get in. Still, we took 8 cars to show a range of condition and ages. We one best club stand and Jeni won Best 1970's car for her stunning MKII 3.0 Ghia. Well hot for April at about 24 degrees with no shade, still really good day.

 May:

5th Magnificent Motors Eastbourne show on the sea front lawns (F)

Nice show, only took 8 cars and 5 of them were either red or black and in Gemmas case it was red and black! Thanks to John and Daryl for breaking up the colours. Spent the whole day there and had time to go into the town centre for food. Grate collection of classics including military, busses, bikes, vintage and classic cars. Even had a fair and band! Daryl in his blue over silver 2.8i turned up after this shot so didn't make it - said there was a black and red thing going on!

Nice show for the decerning classic car or Ford nut. Didn't make it this year due to heavy rain so no photos or write up of this show then, perhaps next year. We will back up at Battlesbridge on 19th August for the Ford show so watch this space! 

20th CCI National show for the minters of the marque

On our way

Well, we took 5 cars up to the show. Alls well until Davins 2.8 started to grumble, which seemed to be the fuel pump/ accumulator. He did great getting there and back OK though. Then the closer we got to the show the worse my 2.0 Sport got as it developed a serious case of stalling at every junction - "oh bother" I exclaimed each time (sort of). We pulled into the field and had to push mine into place as it just didn't want to play anymore. After parking the cars we all go stuck in and set up the gazeebo and equipment for a gorgeous fried breakfast!

After cleaning and polishing the motors we had a lap round the ground and the autojumble. Came back and Davin (with me giving moral support) got stuck in & stripped the carb & sorted the points. Seems it just needed cleaning out and a good long run - but then it is only the second time its been out in 14 years. Works a treat now and found out its running 45 jets to boot - nice. Some of us got sun burned and the rest of the time there was really good. Glad it didn't rain as the tracks hadn't been upgraded so theres a warning to us all for this showground - if it rains, don't bother, you'll get stuck unless you one of the chosen few! Met up with some usual faces and nice to see some new metal on the scene. Seems there were many lucky customers getting loads of spares from Retroford International's new & bigger trade stand as Matt & Gemmas' van was much quicker on the way back! Judges decided to award Dave's 2.8i a Bronze medal and Jeni's 3.0 MKII won a Gold medal - don't know what the catagories were or how the judges arrived at their answers as I was busy and off doing other things.

Good show and we stayed to the the very end, no choice really since after four of us started our engines, Waynes' 1974 ignition key decided it wanted to stay in Evesham forever more as it snapped in the ignition barrel. Enter our techy for the day, Davin. He pulled another blinder, with Wayne now giving moral support and after about 20 mins had the problem solved, and the car back as Ford intended! 

Start number two, this time we all got away no probs. Stopped for petrol at the local Somerfield garage and by the time we arrived, it was painfully obvious the staff had seen enough Capris that day for the rest of their year! Good drive home and an interesting day for all of us.  

10th Classic Ford Magazine show Santa Pod (C)

Fords started pouring in from about 9ish until the club stand area was really busy and the Classic Ford parking area was filling nicely. Few cars in the sales area worth a punt. Good racing and the usual rocket car was on form. Wayne managed to sell a few more bits of his parts collection and Stuart sold his mint Brooklands Turbo - never thought he'd sell that! - but needs must eh?.... he's only got 2 Capris now. Some stunning cars and some cars, well, they'll be great when the project starts if you know what I mean. Karen and Jeni did a great job at feeding the masses and after lunchtime the weather pricked up so we watched some racing.

Off the lights, well turned out MKI Capri there!

Wandered about for the rest of the day thinking up the next project and the fantasy garage, ok, reality will kick in on the drive home, we know. Talking of which we all mucked in and helped dismantle the stand and get the bbq fired up - except Colin who was knackered: "...ad enough, dont want to play anymore and whos puttin the kettle on?". He's a happy bloke really with lots of Capris! honest...

Unfortunatley I didn't take a picture of the bbq as I was having a slight heart attack at the time at the side of Matts' (Retroford) van, so was busy. Food was great and we eventually left at about 6.20pm. As most people had gone by then it was aclear run home, except the M1 as the roadworks are ongoing for about 20 years! Oh and Davin listened to the sat nav so he went off into the sunset towards Bedford while the rest of us followed the signs to the motorway.

Great show and will be there next year for sure.

14th Saltdean classic car show (F)

Today dawned a bit dull & cloudy but Wayne & I (RS 3100 & MKIII 2.8i) headed off for the Sussex coast to the show, any excuse for an ice cream at the sea! Where we met up with Davin (2.8i) & Jeni (MKII 3.0ltr) on arrival we found new members Steve and his better half, Jane, were waiting in their Laser looyliky Capri. Others arrived later including Matt & Gemma in their scabby Sapphire (honourary Capri for the day) - their 5ltr is almost finished. We set up the stand and as the show was run by the Rotary club there were plenty of stalls (ie: cakes and food etc...) and lots of events to keep the kids and adults entertained all day. There was a good selection of classic cars and bikes and when it came to judging, Wayne picked up another award for best in class for his RS3100. Overall a good day and even the sun came out!!

22nd Wings Wheels & Steam Groombridge Place (F)

Didn't attend this one as the weather forecast was for torrential rain so didn't fancy getting soaked again! Shame really as it turned out sunny - Typical weather this year then = F€*$@!

22nd Boxhill meet, Surrey (C)

Nice day when the sun finally came out. Wayne, Davin, Jeni and I (Dave with red X reg 2.8i) set out for the Old Skool Ford meet arriving nice and early to stake our spot in the car park. We parked up and went for the obligitary cup of Rikers caff tea and sat down to watch the arrival of a great selection of old Fords from Anglias to supercharged Mustangs. As usual an excellent morning out and another excuse to take the Capris out in the sun.

Got the photos, just can't get them to load.....!

29th CCI Mild to Wild show at Badgers Hill Evesham

Found someone who went. They say 42 cars turned out with about 170 people and 2 traders. So most people watched the weather and thought, nah, not getting stuck in that mud! Thing is it turned out to be a very sunny day and a by accounts a good little show. This level of attendance is perhaps the lowest ever?! Oh well, see what October brings...... No photos of this one as we didn't go, bit obvious really!

August:

5th Ford Fair, Silverstone (C) A few of us went, though not as a club. Squillions of people and a hugh number of Fords patronised by a high number of traders across the massive site. The sun did its lobster making thing on people all day. Walking around the site, not the car parks, there was an unfortunately stark lack of the older metal. The Old Skool Ford crew, Mansfield Branch of CCI & a couple of others put on decent displays for the pre-plastic cars. About half the production run of the RS Focus

turned up and the Ford Focus Owners Club seemed to have about 1/4 of the site covered. ST owners club brought about 300 cars it seemed. Nice variety of cars and personal takes on the ST from their club. But having said that, we did have Santa Pod so I suppose the newer Fords need some event to show their stuff. Has to be acknowledged though, there are some great personalised cars out there - how a Ford should be!

Show'n'Shine plot had an great mix of motors from a 1.4LX Escort MK4 to the seriously tricked pink KA, with most Fords between.

Traders seemed to do OK with a large turn out offering wide choice. The cost of fodder was its usual robbery, £5 a burger & £1.70 for a bottle of pop with no room to haggle. That in mind, saw one bloke refusing to pay £30 for a set of brand new boxed/ unused Escort rear lights, complete, as they were too expensive! Cracking metal hurtling round the track was a good sight as was the sprints which saw a few nice Anglias in action. Great show with bods from about 7 nations I counted & flippin hot, still better than soggy!

11th/12th Autorama Tunbridge Wells

Weathers fine, but done so many shows we're having a break, but this events good for those odds & ends for the winter projects.

19th Battlesbridge all Ford Day (C)

After driving through heavy rain and mist we got to

the showground early not really expecting a good show as the weather was, well, wet. But the showground has great drainage so no mud - supurb!!

Once all the cars were parked up, the bunting and banners in place we set up with the waterproof tent (good idea as it chucked it down a few times). We watched loads of Fords arriving for a really nice show. Then it rained, but no matter as we were ready

We had 11 Capris in the end which considering the forecast was better then we'd expected.

Really wide variety of classic Fords from 50's Yanks, Hot Rods, Cutoms & Concours of all types which was great. Where else would you see a V8 Pilot next to a Tickford Capri?

We didn't win anything this year, but then we didn't enter anything! The show had a really good feel to it and a nice auto (& stuff) jumble. Time just flew past & before long we were back into the traffic on our way home! Excellent show - till next year ......... 

26th Dunsfold car/ airshow (F) One of the last shows of the season and what a totally excellent show as this & the other pictures sum up!!

We took 15 cars in all & thanks to Allan from Surrey Capri Club for bringing his immaculate 2ltr Laser & Dean for his cracking MKI 3.1. Most of us met at Pease Pottage services and drove in an often an uninterupted convoy to the airfield. There were vintage race cars, classic, modern & super cars, miltary vehicles, bikes trade stands as well as the air display. 

Very pleased at the line up of Capris on display which included 3 MKI's & 3 MKII's and the usual aray of MKIII's. Our cars got loads of attention which was nice, though our Karen (Green MKI 3.0 GT) got her own admirer!! Some great metal was parked around the site whcih took hours to take it all in, but was well worth the effort to get round to see.

We all had a brilliant day at the show, got sun burned again and had a nice drive home in the sun.

September:

1st Ace Cafe, London (C) Kevin from Surrey Capri Club is organising a Capri day at the famed Ace Cafe. Wayne, Dave, Jon and Stuart represented East Grinstead Capri Club as the rest were working or busy. 

The drive  to the Ace was fine, though we were expecting to get lost (satnav saved the day again). We got there about 10am and the carpark was almost full with 40+ Capris. 

Had a good look around the car park and thought it was about time we got something to eat; well we were at the ace cafe after all. After a bite to eat we looked at the Capri which had to park up out on the road due to the large number of Capri which had turned up, 70+ capris in all. We did note that there was a good mix of mk1s and mk3s, but not one mk2 (where were you Jen?). Kev's car was as unmistakeable as usual!

All in all it was a great way to spend a Saturday morning. We had to leave left about 1.30 because of work later but there were still cars turning up at that time. There was someone taking pics for the mag but Ben didn't turn up (then again we hear he's an Escort man!). Well done Kev of Surrey Capri Club for making it all possible, hope it happens next year, twice maybe Kev?  

October:

14th CCI Octofest show in Evesham (C) None of our branch made the long journey up to the show with their Capris. Word is around 50 Capris arrived in the morning, but by early afternoon there were very few. Just as well we didn't make the 3hr+ drive whcih means starting out at 05.30 from the south coast!

So thats it, 2007 show season over! Generally a soggy year with fewer people venturing out to the shows is the memorably part of 2007. Dunsfold airshow was most definately the best show in terms of cars on stand and the event. Got some great pictures from there. Nothing is booked for 2008 as yet, though it may well start with Eastbourne and Boxhill again, we'll wait and see, lets get Christmas over with first!

See ya...........

SHOW NEWS 2006

The 2006 has proven to be a mixed year weatherwise, but a good year on the show curcuit. While some events were pretty wet, others made up for it and were scorching. All in all well worth the effort looking back.

Some top shows attended by EGCC members inlcuded:

April:

Boxhill Ford meet, Reigate, Surrey

1^st April 2006

Opening meet of the season when all the cars are back on the road after their winter lay up, as the wonderful British weather just loves classic Ford metalwork. A few of us took the cars out for a run to meet up with 'Old Skool Ford' club members who have a wide variety of classic Fords. The meet is very informal and has purpose built catering facilities on site. It rained the night before, but not on the day and the site is tarmaced anyway.

Southern Classic Car meet, Shoreham Airport, West Sussex

9^th April 2006

May:

Eastbourne Classic vehicle show, East Sussex

1^st May 2006

Held on the promanade lawns and this one was another bring any classic, so even buses were there! We all met up on the swimming pool car park and drove up the promanade together. Bloody cold and misty to start with but by noon it was very warm and managed to get sunburned by 3pm! Nice show, but unfortunatley there was a rare bit of snobbery from a couple of other people displaying their classics, as the issue was 'What is a classic'? Really nice day with the added bonus of the location. The weather put some off as the show wasn't as big as last year.

Capri Club International - National show, Evesham, Worcestershire

21^st May 2006

Held at John Hills' farm in the Vale of Evesham, home of the Capri Club. This was a major event in the Capri calander for the show and shine bods as well as those who just wanted to go to a Capri show. But, oh boy, did it rain!!! Shame, because this is when the cream of Capris are out to be scrutinised. The concours boys & girls came out in force with spit and polish and despite the near continuous rain & subsequent mud, the day was worth it, but come on John Hill, sort your drainage out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crawley Classic and American car show, Crawley, Surrey

29^th May 2006

June:

Santa Pod Ford show, Northamptonshire

11^th June 2006

Classic Ford magazines' big day at the Pod. Excellent day for the average Ford nut, whether walking around the club stands,  watching the motors go up the strip or just looking in the car parks, there was just so much to see and buy. This is a must for any fan of the Blue Oval. There was a decent turn out from the autojumblers which was good to see, parts a plenty though some prices seemed above average! Catering was good and trade stands were plentiful. The cars on the strip were entertaining, inlcuding the rocket powered car. Good drive in as we picked up more & more old Fords on the way in from the M1, must have been 40+ in one convoy going through one village, Ahhh... the sights and sounds......! Locals seemed a bit bemused though!

July:

Hop garden classic car show, Paddock Wood, Kent

2^nd July 2006

August:

Silverstone 6th August 2006

Review still awaited as I couldn't get to this show - holidays. I'll keep nagging until someone can get me a review done!

Capri Club International show, Evesham, Worcestershire

12^th – 13^th August 2006

Held over two days, on site camping is an option taken up by quite a few. The weather once again played its part and on the Sunday rained a bit in the morning, but was then kind and stayed dry. A lower than expected turnout happened this year and there were rumours that this may be the last of these events due to costs after 17 years!! RetroFord magazines'  editor Ben was snooping round at the show and put a multi page spread in the October issue which included EGCC cars. Nice bloke & great magazine, respect is due due him and check out his mint 2.8i in RetroFord magazine. The  day was  worth it and we drove back in convoy , but Jennys recently finished 3.0 MK2 had some gremlins still having a go,  so the journey proved longer for some! But come on John, sort the drainage and the advertising its getting silly now!!!!!!!!!!

Battlesbridge, Essex

20^th August 2006

Took six cars up to this really nice all Ford show. Its a great little show for seeing European and American Fords of all ages and descriptions parked up alongside each other in the car parks. The club stands included well old Ford Thunderbirds to Focuses. We won runner up award for our club stand, though must admit we were both happy but suprised! Autojumble traders were out in force and some parts were bought for sensible money after some haggling. The site is grassed, but well drained and easy to find and the show had good catering.

Bexhill 100, Bexhill -on -Sea, East Sussex

29^th August 2006

Bexhill on Sea, the birthplace of motor racing! Forget Brooklands and all those race tracks this is where it all began - thats offical!!!! Not that you'd know it from the advertising and the demise of the massive Bexhill 100 show a couple of years ago - killed off by insurance costs and the wonderfully British  Health & Safety Executive - bless them. Recently re-born the new Bexhill 100 was held on the Council show/ sports ground behind the promanade and consisted of a really mixed bag of all types of vehicles. We took a few Capris and got a surprising number of people interested about the cars, considering the range of motors there. People were interested in the branch and what we do, so we obliged them by telling all. Nice day out for all and cracking weather this time.

September:

Shoreham airshow, Shoreham, West Sussex

17^th September 2006

What an excellent day! Started by us all meeting up in a pub car park just inside Brighton & then all drove off to the airport. Some confusion by the organisers meant we all drove round the trade stands a couple of times, but then, this meant we spotted some decent trade stands, where the toilets were and the food vans, all before we parked up. Finally lined the cars up and set up the gazeebos. Jenny, Gemma and others pulled a blinder cooking fried breakfasts & getting the kettles on - oh yes, we do things properly in this club! The weather was hazy, but really sunny all day (got a bit sunburned - oops!). Good turn out from many other classic car and vehicle clubs. The added bonus of this show was the airshow which was excellent with WW2/ jets/ stunt planes and many other air displays. No autojumble for some, so sunbathing took priority - Matt! Nice to see people interested in the Capris and nice to field 12 cars. We couldn't take any more as the tickets were limited due to space & we had to blag more area than we were allocated - nice people those organisers. Great day out.

October:

Capri Club International show - Octoberfest, Evesham, Worcestershire

8th October 2006

Good end of year show, though aimed squarely at the autojumble readying all those bods own take their motors off the road over the winter. Ironically the weather was spot on this time - good old Britain, you can never second guess it can you? Quite a few cars turned out as well as some regular faces. Business wasn't too bad I hear for the traders large or small.  It was certainly worth supporting the event for Matt & Gemma (Retroford International), even if Gemma was left to hold the fort for most of the day while Matt did a lap of the country. He finall returned to collect ther missus after everybody else had left: he is sociable - honest! Still it gave John Hill time to do some catering for her, nice man! 

Well, unless we take a trip up to the Ford show at Donnington (J23 of the M1 - wow, not exactly round the corner for us!) in mid November, I reckon that's it for this year. The branch meetings will still be held on the first Monday evening of the month at the Dukes Head (see contacts page). Thanks goes out to those who organised attending the shows and to all those who brought their spit & polished motors to each show.

Ta ta for now.....