London Classic Car Show - Anyone been yet?

[TeeRev]

I went to the Boat Show, Cruise Show and the Classic Car Show yesterday and really enjoyed it, £50.00 for two of us to do all three shows, I thought there were some beautiful and interesting cars to be admired with no restrictions as to how close you could get to them. The Motor Sport display of significant F1 cars was excellent and an idea for the future might be to display all of the cars of all of the British champions.

The highlight for me was definitely the Adrian Newey section, fascinating insight into the man, his career and his cars. Watched him race the GT40 at Goodwood Revival and it's always been my dream car (wanted to buy one for about 4.5K a very long time ago but the insurance company laughed at me), loved the Elan he built with his Dad (had one of those a very very long time ago) and I'm so looking forward to seeing his progress on the Lotus 49 tub.

[Jagmanv12]

iva cosworth said:

I went today.

Enjoyed it but not £25 enjoyed.

They say they want to rival Retromobile and Techno Classica.......long way to go for that.

They do have a live action thing but it's not like a top gear show.

Nice to see 3 F1 cars driven up n down.

High quality and interesting cars. It was a show more for looking than buying (unless you have deep pockets). Even if it occupied all of the Excel building it would still be only about half the size of Techno Classica, so needs a larger building.

[y2blade]

No surprise to hear it was pretty dire, The London motorcycle show held EXCEL is crap too btw.


The NEC classic is a much better show
http://www.necclassicmotorshow.com/

[NomduJour]

Didn't pay for tickets, but I thought it was a reasonable use of an afternoon. Do wonder if the number of events has reached saturation point though.

[RichB]

72twink said:

RichB said:

But many people will have seen him racing this. Indeed I saw him crashing it at Le Mans Classic

Isn't an F1GTR well outside the cut off for any plateau at the Classic?

You're correct, it was his GT40 that I remember him crashing on the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans a few years ago not an F1.

Edited by RichB on Monday 12th January 13:02

[rscott]

Went on Sunday expecting the worst after reading the reviews on here and was pleasantly surprised.
Okay, there wasn't much in the way of everyday classics (one Capri and a few Minis) and a few too many brand new cars - no way should Astons & Ferraris currently in production be at a classic car show.

The Grand Avenue was impressive to see and hear - especially the Stratos who had to be warned several times to slow down. Apparently snaking sideways between several million pounds of cars isn't appropriate. The grant departure at the end was a sight to behold - I've never been 20ft from a C-type while it spins it's tyres before, let alone when the F1 cars came out to play.

The Adrian Newey corner was impressive too. James May's cars was okay - perhaps a touch over-hyped though.

[TeeRev]

I forgot to say that I saw Bernie Ecclestone in the Boat Show, he was being led along by the hand to the waterski/wakeboarding kit stand by his tall good looking grandaughter? girlfriend?
She spent quite a while looking at wakeboards while he walked up and down outside by himself looking totally bored, obviously boats are not his thing, does anyone know whether he has one?

[RichB]

TeeRev said:

She spent quite a while looking at wakeboards while he walked up and down outside by himself looking totally bored...

Shame, a session on a wakeboard could just finish him off.

[crockett]

i went Sunday - £25 entry ??? £15 parking ?? and something you could walk round in 2 hours, not many (if any) goodies stands selling things that us mere mortals want or can buy, but a few poncey stalls selling £400 leather jackets and £3000 "works of art, yah" made out of old hubcaps and Chevy rocker arms, what a joke. Glad we only had to drive half an hour away and not get ripped off getting through the tunnel as well. Oh yeah, and as someone has already said WHY are there so many stands selling their new cars ??? Citroens for example WTF !!!!!!

Never again

[NomduJour]

crockett said:

i went Sunday - £25 entry ??? £15 parking ?? and something you could walk round in 2 hours, not many (if any) goodies stands selling things that us mere mortals want or can buy

Whilst it was by no means perfect, there are plenty of shows selling market stall tat and old bangers if that's what you want.

[rscott]

crockett said:

i went Sunday - £25 entry ??? £15 parking ?? and something you could walk round in 2 hours, not many (if any) goodies stands selling things that us mere mortals want or can buy, but a few poncey stalls selling £400 leather jackets and £3000 "works of art, yah" made out of old hubcaps and Chevy rocker arms, what a joke. Glad we only had to drive half an hour away and not get ripped off getting through the tunnel as well. Oh yeah, and as someone has already said WHY are there so many stands selling their new cars ??? Citroens for example WTF !!!!!!

Never again

Citroen had the new DS on their stand as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the original DS. There were more new cars on the Aston Martin stand than the Citroen one. Think that was the only other 'new' car stand (unless you're counting Eagle & Frontline Developments).

How often do you get to see//hear a genuine Stratos and Diablo in action - certainly not at any of the other car shows I've been to which sell binloads of rusting 'spares' for a few quid a time. Never been within a foot of a v16 BRM until then either.

I was quite impressed with the anglepoise lamps made out of Lucas headlamps & Healey hubcaps - they were £250ish, not £3k. Most shows have the luxury tat at them nowadays - they need to in order to cover their costs.

[Blib]

I went on Friday as I missed the NEC Classic Car Show and I needed my fix. On Friday, entrance to the Car Show also gained one entrance to the Boat Show. There were displayed the end=-of-line Land Rovers, which I enjoyed crawling over.

I really enjoyed seeing the boats. I won't be returning to the Car Show any time soon.

[SEE YA]

Blib said:

I went on Friday as I missed the NEC Classic Car Show and I needed my fix. On Friday, entrance to the Car Show also gained one entrance to the Boat Show. There were displayed the end=-of-line Land Rovers, which I enjoyed crawling over.

I really enjoyed seeing the boats. I won't be returning to the Car Show any time soon.

Looking at the feedback, you may not be the only one?

[sisley]

Here's the genuine Stratos - worth the £12.50 I paid for a ticket

[countzero]

some photos

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wessexcarclub/sets/7...

Did seem to be too much like a showroom and way too many NON classic cars - La Ferrari, New Masser etc

Lighting was terrible

And too many Etypes, something I never thought I'd have to say!

Timing of event also not great given that Autosport was the same weekend

[countzero]

TeeRev said:

I forgot to say that I saw Bernie Ecclestone in the Boat Show, he was being led along by the hand to the waterski/wakeboarding kit stand by his tall good looking grandaughter? girlfriend?
She spent quite a while looking at wakeboards while he walked up and down outside by himself looking totally bored, obviously boats are not his thing, does anyone know whether he has one?

saw him at the Car show as well

[jmwalkeruk]

I went on Sunday - took the father-in-law, as he's over from New Zealand and I wanted to get him out to some sort of car event. My expectations were pretty low, as I struggle to get excited about any static car show having been to Goodwood every year since '94!

Got to say that I was pleasantly surprised (not least because I'd read the dire reviews on here the night before). The grand avenue idea was a pretty good one I thought, I'm always happy to hear a Maserati 250F or Jaguar C-Type fire up. And the 2-for-1 ticket deal via MotorSport magazine certainly helped...

Thinking about it, that demonstration alone took half an hour, so I can't quite understand anyone leaving after an hour and a half. As for the poster that says that the NEC is a better show - have you been to both? I have, and I wasn't overly impressed with the NEC to be honest...

[SEE YA]

The NEC sets the standards for most car shows. Its always the last one, of my season we go to over ten a year.

Last years crowd over 65k people attended the event.

[72twink]

It's pointless comparing London to the NEC, one show is for London, the other National, one has happened once and the other evolved over 20 years + into what it is now. A fairer comparison would be the London Excel show to a corner of the upstairs we used to get at the Motor show or the Ally Pally/Olympia shows

[SEE YA]

Not really people, will compare shows its a car show like any other.

It did have a lot of press,to say how good it would be to rival other car shows in Europe.

You have to find a balance, something for everybody at a car show.
This in turn will bring people back the following year.
Will people who went this year, and did not enjoy it go back again?
Also price is it right, many people have said not worth the money?

Shows like the NEC took years, but they had the right magic at the start.

Also they listen to people, to find out what they wanted Clubs etc.

So many cars show's around take your pick.

Edited by SEE YA on Wednesday 14th January 17:17