Footman James Manchester Classic Car, Event City

Well it’s that time of year with the show season coming to an end and most petrolheads need just one more weekend but with us now in September that is usually hit and miss with the rain!!!! Especially in Manchester.

So the chance to get to a show that the rain cannot, to pardon the pun, dampen must be on most peoples lists. Now for most tis would mean waiting till November and the beomouth that is the NEC show. But if you need a warm up act then the Footman James Manchester Classic Car may be for you.


Now in its 2^nd year its well into the swing of things and has extended the floor space the show covers in the huge Event City venue. Everything you’d expect to see was there concourse, classic car traders, venders and of course the clubs.

Who had turned up on mass this year from what I could see. Add to that the short outdoor rally stage, which in an improvement on last year, now had a grandstand type seating area. On the down side, this may have been due to one of the classic machines having a serious off on the day before, the main cars running were Nissan Micra’s. Granted they were demonstrating how easy it is to get in to the sport on the budget end of things.

Either that or I kept missing the big guns taking to the stage, that were parked up in the corner of the main hall-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Anyhow let’s get back to the cars, there’s no denying the vast array of machinery that had been put on show by the clubs and owners and all credit to them. All the usual suspect were there, and at time seemed to be on every club stand, MGB’s, a Rover or a Jag on them, which was starting to get a bit repetitive.

 

Thankfully there were enough clubs who had something different to show, loved the Fiat Pandas, Chevy Pacer, Chevy van, Matra Murena’s, Peugeot 504 Coupe etc all which kept you in your toes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Now one thing I like to see at these types of shows is the pre-restoration cars on show, as they show the commitment the clubs have and the skill individuals put into the next one.

One thing I did miss from last year was the individual shower area, this provided a mix up of cars sat next to each other, I suppose this was probably due to trying to accommodate so many clubs.

The concourse area had some epic vehicles and where else are you likely to get a 3 door Rover Metro up against a Ferrari Testarossa-

 

One thing the show had last year was supercars and exotics, these seemed thin on the ground this year. That being said there were some highlights dotted around the club stands, the Bristol Beaufigher, Stimson Scorcher, Ford Escort RS1700 replica, Back to the Future 2 flying Delorean, Calibra Cavalier and Triumph Italia for example.

 

 

 

“Restoration Stage” was always busy with a certain Fuzz Townshend helping out at one point-

The trader’s area seemed to be a bit thin on the ground, but most of what you wanted was there, and thankfully the “tat” stalls which have started creeping in to most shows were not. Despite that I nearly talked myself into a Cortina grill, I don’t even have a Cortina!!!

 Highlight of the show, well I’m a bit biased here as I’ve currently got one as a project, but the GT3 MGB GT build stand was just epic. From the pure audacity of the project to the craftsmanship in trying to pull it off-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again looking forward to seeing where this show goes next year and what they can add to make it stand out more as an event.

 

 Thank you to Footman James and Manchester Classic Car Show for the tickets.