The biggest indoor classic car show in the United Kingdom kicked off in fine style on 14 November, with more than 250 club stands and 1700 classics wowing visitors.
The show theme was Movie and TV cars and there were a lot of stands depicting this theme. On show was the Volvo P1800 of ‘The Saint’, a Lotus Esprit S1 from James Bond ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’, the Delorean from ‘Back to the Future’, the Cadillac from ‘Ghost Busters’, the black with red flashing lights in the grille Pontiac Trans Am – K.I.T.T. car from ‘Knight Rider, the green Ford Mustang 390 GT 2 + 2 Fastback from ‘Bullitt,’ and many, many, more.
Competing for the public’s attention was Car Zero – the first prototype of Jaguar’s reborn Lightweight E-type. Only six cars will be built to continue the planned production run of 16 cars, which was cut short to just 12 in the 1960s. Car Zero took pride of place on a rotating pedestal and proved a huge hit with punters, one of which stated: “It’s one of the most beautiful cars I’ve ever seen, and so much sleeker in real-life than you would ever imagine. I wish I could afford one!” The Lightweight E-type prototype was joined by the third and final shortnose D-type to be raced by Ecurie Ecosse. The gorgeous racer was built in 1956 and was borrowed from owner Adam Lindermann to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Le Mans-winning model.
There was so much to see with demonstrations by Ed China and Steve Brewer of the ‘Wheeler Dealers’ fame, ‘Fuzz’ Townsend from ‘Car SOS’ was present too and in fact drew the winning ticket for the 2007 XK Coupe in this year’s national JEC raffle on Sunday.
Also, club members, Ann and Luan Lazarus won the “Endeavour Cup” for their superb looking 1996 XJ6(X300) 3.2 Sport on the JDC stand. David Lazarus, who unfortunately passed away at the beginning of the year, was a member of both JEC & JDC and would be so pleased with the ‘girls’ efforts in securing this prestigious title for the car. The “Endeavour Cup” award recognises the effort put into getting the car up to a very high concours condition without the need of any restoration.
Doug Warren
