by Rob Jones

Not one of the best weather patterns to bless this show occurred on Sunday February 9 however, despite the rain in Wellington and many other places early in the morning the day dried (mainly) by the time we reached Trentham Memorial Park and I was pleased to see a good turnout of vehicles present on the park. Two Leyland's!

Immediately through the gate I could see a Reliant Regal and a 1914 Humber, obvious photo opportunities. We have never had a Reliant Regal at BCD before although the Humber has appeared a few times. It's just so impressive!

We spotted Ron Butler and his gazebo, complete with a wall panel on the windward side. What a great idea, it even has windows in it. Looked a bit like a castle! Park up, open the boot, get a chair out and start answering questions about the cars. No time to properly unpack really and I wanted a coffee badly. We got sorted and for about 40 minutes it seemed we were mobbed by visitors asking about the cars, old friends coming up for the annual chat and more car questions. There is no doubt these cars now attract a huge amount of attention at shows or just out on the street.

Then a bloke came up and introduced himself to me and asked if I'd like to look at some 6cyl P76 parts - who me? With Sonya’s kind permission I was off on a quest that turned out to be beyond imagination really. I ended up with a good haul of very useful near unobtanium parts, a model Fiat for my collection and some other parts I knew I could on sell to a man here in Masterton. They have gone already. And some more V8 bits for the club too. He was selling a lot of stuff given he specialises in old BMC parts and was at BCD.

I returned to our castle for lunch, joining Sonya, Jessica and Pete. ]ack and Abby were out in the park playing soccer and Ron was away viewing I guess. After lunch Sonya, Abby and I went for a walk around the displays, stopping to chat with several HVJEC members, members of the RR & BC, Morris Enthusiasts Club, British Car Club, MG Club, Sunbeam and Vauxhall Clubs, even the MC of the show, Roy McGuinness along with old neighbours from Wainuiomata. We are still in the HVJEC despite recently selling our 1958 Mk1 Jaguar.

I took only 6 photos and missed out on the Humber! (Humber photo taken elsewhere) I have so many that I now only take those that we will use in our book on the history of the event, recording new cars to the show like the Reliant and an Austin A90 Atlantic, and some makes that haven't been well recorded before. I noticed that three of the four vehicles in last year's report were attending again.

A selection of other cars on display


A double Flying A Austin Atlantic A90 from 1952 hiding an A40 Countryman and an A60 Cambridge. Both the latter car's are from Masterton.	1954 Vauxhall Velox E Series, BCD and WVBC stalwart Melby Scott cruising the park seeking donations for Wellington Free Ambulance and towing his matching trailer full of kids just for fun. The wee ambulance on the front of the car collected nearly $300. Abby climbed on for a ride shortly after this shot was taken.	The legendary Reliant Regal from 1964 all three wheels Worth

The additional photos are of a line of open mouthed Ford Zephyr Mk11's, being a 1962, 61 and 62 models. Ford's are increasingly popular (no pun intended) as we see each year as a greater variety of models are displayed. Escorts and Cortina's are being brought out of the shed at last	And for something a bit different we have a TVR Chimaera from 1997 leading into a line up of Morris Minor’s.	The 1970 Triumph Spitﬁre Mk 111 of Brian and Beverley Rimmer attracted a lot of attention. Proud new owners, they offered this car for advertising British Car Day in the Wairarapa. Each year I locate a suitable car and accommodating owner for use in the newspaper to publicise the event. We have had Morris, Vauxhall, Rover, Leyland and others over the years. I'm pleased to report that it was Brian's first show with the Spitfire and he was very pleased with the response he got to the car and loved the event. He will be back..

As there were only two P76’s present and they are oft seen in Penzed I didn't bother recording their presence. We did however make a small picture in the April issue of NZCC. Check it out and see a lot of the other cars on display.

The British High Commissioner's XF Jaguar was in attendance which is quite normal, people's choice, a jack up if ever there was one was won by an MGTD for the third year in a row. The BCC should alter the rules to at least force the many MG Club members to vote for another of their club, or even look around the field a bit!

The Sunbeam Club won the best club display trophy, a worthy effort with a big range of models on display.