West Ashby 07, Lincolnshire.

[HMK]

This is where I'll be going - just so long as the weather isn't crap, or I'll be giving it a miss



With the 60's caravan - deck chairs, food & a fridge full of beer



But only if the weekend isn't a wash-out - I don't fancy trying to drag the caravan off that field if it turns into a bog

I'll do as I did last year & pay on the day - just in case I don't make it

[vauxhalljohn]

If iwas not in blackpool that week end id have paid you a visit as it looks like a great day out . hope you have a good weekend hmk , weather so far is looking promising for you , hope it hold s out mate.

[HMK]

The long range weather forcast is looking good, so I'll be going

Bad news for me is that I'm back at work tomorrow, but not before I attend the funeral first thing in the morning, of an old female friend who died the other day - not looking forward to that one little bit

The better news is that I'll be taking the day off on Friday to go to West Ashby & start the week end early

There'll be a lot of 'old stuff' there, but also some later stuff like the Carltons. I've been going since the start when I used to show an old Jag, but now I just go for the weekend away - I don't put the Carlton/s on the display

Looks like I'll be using 'Gav' the Satin Red Estate to tow the caravan this time

[HMK]

West Ashby weekend was fantastic

I didn't use the red estate in the end. I was going to cash the tax in on the blue estate before the end of August & take it off the road, but luckily before I did I decided to drop the caravan on the tow hitch of the red estate just to see if it was ok. Well it wasn't ok - five & a quarter inches ground clearance for the van tow hitch (it is a VERY heavy old van). Now this car has had brand new rear springs fitted by me last year, so should have been good. I then dropped the van on the back of the blue estate & seven inches ground clearance - a bit of a difference. So is this 'crap' aftermarket springs or something else ?


FRIDAY AFTERNOON -

Me & the girlfriend got loaded up & when 'Vauxhall Viva Man' arrived (in his Land Rover), We set off in convoy to West Ashby.

Got to West Ashby without problems - other than the idiots who hate being behind a caravan & pass on blind bends & all the rest of the 'twat like' behaviour that I can't be bothered to go into right now

We were first to arrive & got set up as far away from the Manor House as possible.......


Viva Man got his tent set up - he sleeps in the Land Rover, though


Those white chairs etc. in the distance, is where the car show will be on Sunday, so we were camping a fair way off - but that's the way we like it ................


Girlfriend & I went for a walk round the grounds as we usually do - the rear of the Manor House...............


The lake................


The bridge over the waterfall from the lake that leads to the woods...............


This is the lower dam that gives the head of water to power the 'hydro-ram' in the pit in the woods...............


& this is the 'Ram', installed in 1841 to pump water up the hill to the water tanks in the roof of the Manor House for the drinking water - & as you can see, still working perfectly, although it now has a modern blue plastic take off pipe (the original one would probably have been made of lead)...................

BTW, they don't drink that water now It's now piped up to feed the pond in the water garden behind the house

That's as far away up the hill from the lake as we were, so PLENTY of room for camping in peace & quiet .................


Then a couple of other campers turned up - Tony & daughter with husband - Tony is ex Lincoln Road Car Bus, as is Viva man (if Craig had been there it would have been a 'road car' old timers meet up ).....................



SATURDAY -

One other little group came later & put up a small tent under a tree, but that was it as far as the camping went


That evening, the girls sang us a few songs in the garden as the sun went down...............


I took a cool box of drink & our deck chairs & chilled out for the night while the music played ..................


SUNDAY - The Show -

Not to everyones taste on here, but just a few of the many photos I took - I had the Jag version of this Daimler 250 V8.........note the Carlton can be seen in the distance - just above the roof of the Jag ..........& probably on a few other pictures too






































The guy on the left with the BB cap is Pete Smith, he's the chap that started the whole thing off over ten years ago. I first met Pete through CB Radio many years ago when he was one of the big stars of the air waves.....probably even more famous than me at the time ..............










I just love this car It's at nearly every show, the guy has two 1950 Austin Atlantic (better when the 'rag-top's' down), made fore the American market, but didn't take off cos it wasn't big enough for them ..............




















HUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM ..................






This one could have done with a polish & a little plate welding on that wheel arch ...........


This one - look at the engine..............


Barbed wire for plug leads - & it drove there No trouble with the insulation breaking down on those.....cos there ain't none .................




























Plus many, many more

LATER -

Time to go - got hitched up & with a good 70 odd psi in the rear air shocks of the Carlton, it's time to face the dreaded 'cattle grid' on the way out - REMEMBER LAST YEAR


I snapped this shot through the windscreen as I came up to the dreaded grid


I'd checked it out earlier & it has had the three bent bars from last year completely cut out & replaced with new ones

& yes, that is at least a four foot rise to the road on the other side of the grid

The trouble is that as soon as the front wheels of the car clear the grid they start going up that steep slope to the road. This causes the rear of the car to go down before it's over the first part of the grid, thus causing the tow hitch to be dangerously near to the edge of the grid .........Anyway, with the air shocks pumped up to max this time, it cleared it without problem

A great weekend, I thought Shame there wasn't a Vauxhall in sight A nice colourful row of GSI 3000's wouldn't have looked a-miss........but, there ya go

Perhaps next time

[Pedro]

Great pix there, Mr. K - that 'blown bucket' rocks my world!!!!!

[A3LTR]

Very nice pics there !!  I do like the barbed wire HT leads 

[chrismec]

great pics Mr H, love the old Jags(always got a place in my heart)

[Scatmancraig]

I know the owner of this Daimler, or at least i knew the old owner if he sold it!  His name is Carl & he lives in the same village as me.  I can remember when he bought it in the late 80's when the car was light blue.  Apparently it's quite rare because it has a manual overdrive gearbox whereas most of these were auto's.  I still remember him driving it up the road with no exhaust, it sounded fantastic!  It was pretty rough when he got it, all credit to the bloke for the work that went into it. Ir's normally kept in the Lincolnshire Road Transport museum on Whisby road.

So who are these ex-RoadCar men then?  Who is Viva man, reveal all?!!  The only bloke i knew at RoadCar with th Viva was Dick Hill, he had a 1966 HA Deluxe 90, i ought to know about that car because i bought it off him in 1992 & it was my first car!!

[HMK]

Yeah, this one ...........

Good, innit..........the work that's gone into it - & that chromed Jag IRS Here it comes.......



I've never seen anything like that barbed wire before, but no reason for it not to work as they'll be stiff enough not to flop about & touch each other - on something more modern, the barbs might cause a 'point discharge' into the surrounding air due to much higher HT voltage than used when that was made.

Love the Jags, I've had seven.......... S-Type, MK11, MK10, Daimler4.2 Sovereign, XJ6 Series 1 & a couple of others.......one I broke for parts & another I never ran, but was too good to break. Strangely though, I don't think I'll ever have another one None of mine had that 250 V8 engine - to be truthful, not the best engine to have, but good to see an original 250 still in good order - below..............


Viva man is just a name I used on this thread for identification purposes, as it's the chap that has the yellow HC 1800 auto as seen in the 'viva barn find' thread on 'random R', when he was at Road Car he was probably running a big yank of some sort - his name is Rick. He's started the re-spray job on it this week - I'll post some pix (on the barn find thread) I took when he popped round earlier.

[vauxhalljohn]

looks like you had a good weekend hmk , and you had better weather than we did while we were in blackpool . Must agree there could have been a better show of vauxhalls at this event , maybe have a word with the organiser for next year and see if this club would be welcome aswell , im sure he would not complain .