Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Woking Classic Car Show


This is a show provided by owners who are often much older than the cars they own. The De Dion Bouton is an exception that breaks the rule. It dates from 1903 and was in much better condition than its passengers.













Or so I thought until 20 metres after it moved off the driver had to leap out and re-start it. There was no starter motor in those days and so a man had to use a handle connected to the engine to turn it over to get it going. This was hard work. And riding in it on a wet day would not be much fun either.

One of the cars with even better finish than a modern Beemer was the following Bentley with a Flying Lady statuette on the bonnet, walnut trim on the dashboard, stainless steel mouldings and leather upholstery in a delightful shade of grey. Very nice car. The owner was well upholstered too.




The only US car I spotted was a Thunderbird which presumably inspired a certain British TV program (Thunderbirds are go!).











A car I was very pleased to see was a Morris 8. This was the same as my Dad's first car except that the latter was a saloon (i.e. it had a roof). Luverly, innit?

1 comment:

Gordon said...

maybe Thunderbirds was inspired by the er Thunderbird type of bird

We went to wine festival the other weekend that had a handful of Thunderbirds (the car type) and similar from the 50s or 60s with big tail fins. They really looked impressive, I wish I'd taken pics now. Also quite sad considering what a poor job they do on the aesthetics of US cars now.