BENTS PARK SUNDAY 23rd JUNE 2002
In early May our club was invited to attend a
classic car show in the North East organised by the MG Club of Northumbria. The
venue was Bents Park in South Shields.
A frantic rally around for members to display their cars resulted in an
impressive stand of 14 cars, it would have been 15 if out technical advisor Alan
Jones hadn't enjoyed Le Mans so much and decided to stay on an extra week.
The day began meeting members in various places around the region in
particular Fred and Doris Sanderson who travelled up from Loughborough for the
show, a well timed run by Fred as he arrived just as we were about to leave,
well done.
A convoy of 13 cars headed towards the venue, a new club record, can you
imagine what a sight this was, just about everyone we passed looked gobsmacked!!
As we were one of the first clubs to arrive it gave me the opportunity to
blag as much pitch space as possible, in fact I probably took more than I
needed. The stand looked superb with the new North East gazebo covered in Toyota
bunting, chain fencing leading into the gazebo and temporary club flag, in my
opinion the best organised club of the day.
The show criteria consisted of pre 1970's vehicles which is why I was a
little confused when they invited us, as it happened the Mazda MX-5 club were
there too with marks as late as 1999. On show were some really nice examples of
classics with a fantastic display of vehicles from the North of England American
Car Club which included a Corvette Stingray and an American vintage police car
fully loaded with siren. To date I have no idea why someone would want to own a
yellow vintage hearse but there was one there, I'm glad to say it was missing
its accessories!! Thoughts of the day go to member Paul Woods who spent most of
the day explaining again and again to the curious and fascinated public his LPG
conversion and other MR2 mods, well Paul that's what you get for being talented.
At the end of a fantastic day the MG organisers gave their awards which
mainly went to the older classic cars. After this we had our own club award
ceremony, results were:
Best Car Bents Park 2002 - Andrew Hudson
Runner up - Doris Sanderson
Third - Mike Johnson / Viv Allison
Quotes of the day -
"how long did it take to fit nitrous to your MR2 mate?"
quote from a member of the public after looking into Paul Woods' boot.
"life's a gas!" until you have to explain how it works!.... Paul Woods.
"do you ever stop talking about gas conversions?" Becky getting fed up
hearing Paul say the same thing for the 100th time.
"it looks like we have been gazunked by the MR2 Club" member of the MX-5 Club
when they realised they didn't have their cars in the programme
Well done to the winners and well done to everyone who attended in their
immaculately prepared cars it would not have been possible without your support.
Thank you.
Michael Sheavills
second meeting place before the convoy sets off
setting up the stand
BBQ under way
The stand from the front
2 Superchargers
Andrew wins best MR2 award
Doris with her award
One more for Mike and Viv's trophy
cabinet
