ACV SHOW – MOUNT EDGCUMBE PARK, CREMYLL, TORPOINT, CORNWALL - SUNDAY 7th AUGUST 2005

On Sunday 7th of August, the Southwest Area of the club attended the American, Classic and Vintage car show at Mount Edgcumbe Park. The show has been going from strength to strength for the last decade, and it also includes a large number of trade stands and some live music for everyone’s entertainment.

The weather forecast only looked like being half decent, but on the day we had a very pleasant surprise, as the whole day was glorious.

We set off from home at 8 am expecting a 10 am arrival. We found, as usual, we were the last to arrive, with four other MK1s already parked up in formation. We took our place on the stand and went about the business of polishing up the cars and saying our hellos and introducing ourselves to new faces.

Attending on the day was myself and Chan, Martyn and Dawn, Ashley and Ali, Paul and Carolyn and Jeff and Louise.

After around an hour the site was opened up to the general public, and by the early afternoon the place was packed with people looking at whatever took their fancy. I would say we had a fair amount of attention from the general public, and our cars obviously appealed more to the young schoolboys than maybe an Allegro or a Morris Oxford might!

On the day there were 450 cars on display, covering anything from an old Ford model T right up to the most modern of automobiles.

At around 4pm, the group started to break up as some of us had a fair distance to travel, and as it turned out, was made a much longer journey because of a detour and the sheer volume of traffic.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Martyn and Dawn for there efforts. They bought a gazebo along, made a banner for it and laid on some food as well. It was very much appreciated.

Thanks to everyone who came along and made the day what it was. Hope to see you all again soon.

Cheers for now,

STEVE HALLETT

I read about the show in the local paper last year and thought it was worth enquiring about. I spoke to the organiser in March this year who said it would be fine for us to have a pitch. I then contacted Steve Hallett, the South West Area Organiser, as to what his thoughts were on the show and he agreed with me that it was worth while.
I sent off the application form which came back with the entry tickets within the week, I knew that there would be three cars to display at least on the day; Steve's, Ashley's and mine.
In April I had a couple knock on the door asking if I knew of any MK1s for sale, having seen mine parked on the drive and thought I may be able to help. They came back a month later with a dark blue one that they are really pleased with.
I e-mailed them in May asking if they would like to come to the car show and said they would love to. They also knew of another couple with a MK1 that they would have a word with to see if they were interested in the show.
I spoke to Ashley and Ali Goodfield at the JAE Show about arrival times at Mount Edgecumbe and they said they would be there around 9am, Steve said they would arrive at 10am, I e-mailed Carolyn and Paul who said they would meet at my house at 8am so we could go together.
On the Saturday we loaded the support car (the wife's Astra) with the gazebo, chairs and the banner Dawn, my wife, had made, while Dawn made quiches and a black forest gateau.
We were up nice and early and were all ready at 7.30am for the arrival of Paul and Carolyn at 8am, when Dawn said that they had arrived. I opened the door to be met by a red MK1 and two people I did not know. They said that Carolyn had said we were leaving from my house at 8am, so we invited them in for a coffee and it turned out to be the couple that lived up the road from Carolyn and Paul.
It turned out that this was Jeff and Louise, who were not sure if they would be able to make it as their MK1 had been written off in an accident, but they had managed to buy it back off the insurance company and had had it repaired.
We all left at 8am and as we got onto the A38 by pass, who should pass us but Ashley and Ali in their blue MK1A. So there were four of us in convoy with the wife bringing up the rear, the comment from Dawn was that the cars looked good all in a line going down the road.
We arrived at Mount Edgecumbe at 8.45am and were given a pitch just by the entrance gate, and so had a great view of all the display cars as they arrived. We parked the cars in a line, set up the gazebo and chairs and the banner, then Steve and Chan arrived dead on 10am.
After introducing everyone and having a good chat, it turns out that if Ashley and Ali had not stopped to check the map we would not have met up on the bypass. We all had a good walk around the show as there was lots to see. While manning the club pitch it was interesting to notice the children, seeing that the bonnet open, look inside and ask their parents where the engine was, then having it pointed out to them.
I spoke to a few people that had MK1s, who wanted to know things like how to get the leather seats repaired, to how do you get the bolt out that holds the alternator in when the ends have sheared off – I even gave out an application form to a gentleman who lives in Cornwall who was talking to Carolyn.
Members of the club starting leaving at 4pm to beat the rush and due to the distance they had to travel. I would just like to thank everyone for turning up and making it a memorable day.

MARTYN WESTBROOK