NEC Restoration Show Report - March 2019

NEC March 2019

The club was lucky enough to be granted a stand at this prestigious show again this year. As usual, Graham Toye and I leapt into action with the organising! We decided to have three cars on the stand and as you may be aware, the exhibitors are encouraged to work on the vehicles. Two members offered their cars for us to work on and we opted to display the club’s latest barn find “Very Bury” on a trailer to show common Allegro rot spots. Member Mike Pringle was kind enough to offer his late Series 3, which needed rear wheel bearings and gear change oil seal. Unfortunately the other car originally offered was withdrawn for health reasons, so I brought my newly acquired early Series 3 which needed a new clutch. 

Set up day went without a hitch. Unfortunately the first show day saw Graham unable to attend so I was on my own manning the stand – not ideal as it would have been unsafe to carry out any work! Thanks to Colin Corke and Tom Morley who popped across to relieve me occasionally. 

The rest of the weekend went more to plan. All the jobs were completed successfully and I’d like to give special thanks to James Butler who fitted the clutch to my car in super quick time, and Tom Morley who polished it up beautifully! As ever, Graham Toye has my constant admiration for his hard work and problem solving abilities – I couldn’t do it without him. 

I have applied for a stand again next year, BUT if we as a club are to continue exhibiting at this event, we need more volunteers to help out – not particularly to set the stand up but just to spend a few hours on the show days welcoming visitors to the stand and talking to them about the car we all love. Free passes are provided for this with plenty of time to look around too. Contact me if you’re interested in future events at the NEC. 

John Windwood