CARS OF THE STARS VISIT -
SUNDAY 15th OCTOBER 2003
Sunday’s club run was an exciting dash from the
Church Mouse Pub to the World Famous “Cars of the Stars” museum in Edinburgh.
After clearing the first frost of the season from the windscreen we had an early
9 O’clock start at the Church Mouse Pub. The first 4 cars assembled at the
Church Mouse Pub. Dave was there first and greeted us (Jo and Steve) as we were
new members to the club. Michael and Joanne then arrived with copies of the
latest Classic Cars magazine so we could all take a look at the article
featuring Michael’s car. Mac and Jackie arrived a little while later and we all
took a steady drive to Kingston Park for a breakfast and coffee stop in
McDonalds. At Kingston Park we collected our 5th club member John and his father
Cliff. From Kingston Park we took the A1 north to Edinburgh weaving in and out
of the traffic and relying on Michael who was in lead position to avoid the many
speed cameras and unmarked police cars, not that anyone would be tempted to
exceed the speed limits. The weather was fine and dry if a little cold with
periods of sunshine necessitating the use of sun glasses at times. By
coincidence the colour order of the convoy was red white then blue how patriotic
is that! After the first 100 or so miles we pulled into the services at Dreghorn
for a much needed pit stop after all that coffee and to pick up Gordon and his
son Stewart the sixth car in our convoy. After Dreghorn it was a short ride
around Edinburgh to Ingliston where the Cars of the Stars museum is situated
next to the exhibition centre and show ground.
At the museum Michael negotiated a group discount and organised a conducted
tour of the exhibits. Ian who conducted the tour for us was a very knowledgeable
and enthusiastic guide who kept us all enthralled with in depth tales
surrounding each of the exhibits. Half of the James Bond cars were on display
which included Lotus and Aston Martin examples and the fabulous DB5. Other cars
from Knight Rider, The Saint, Herbie, Batman, Mr Bean and others were also on
display. We must have been in the museum for at least 2 hours but nobody noticed
just how long the tour had taken due to Ian’s splendid presentation. Many thanks
must go to Ian for making this a really enjoyable tour. Further details of the
Edinburgh museum can be obtain on 0131 333 1117.
After the museum we were all in need of something to eat. There was no
parking at the local Bistro so we set off back intending to stop at the first
reasonable looking pub we came to. However we found ourselves back at the
Dreghorn services and piled into the Little Chef. We were warned that there
might be a delay but it took 1 hour and 5 min's for us all to be served with our
orders. This was even after Cliff’s best efforts to inject a sense of urgency
into the lethargic manager. Cliff was rewarded for all his efforts by being the
last to be served. This must be the slowest fast food outlet in the UK that is
unless anyone knows of a slower one. For the record we arrived at 15:35 and
finally paid our bill at 17:14. I would not wish to comment on the quality of
the food as it would possibly distract from what was a very pleasurable day. One
advantage of stopping at Dreghorn was the price of petrol 73.9p/l a big
improvement on prices south of the border.
As we had 200 miles to cover back to North Yorkshire we left the group as
they were filling up at Dreghorn and headed home. We had a smashing time
covering over 300 miles on the Sunday and 450 altogether over the weekend. Being
driven is what the cars were made for. Many thanks to you all for making Jo and
me so very welcome. All we need now is for someone to make a film featuring the
“Mid Engine Perfection” of the MR2 MK1.
STEVE AUSTEN
