Practical Classics Show at the NEC 22-24 March 2019

[ACourtney]

The club will be exhibiting at the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show, with Discovery (to give its rather long title)

This year we have been allocated a large stand quite close to the entrance to Hall 3. Stand number 3-455.

If you are planning to visit the show then keep an eye out for the ticket discount code in the next club newsletter. Better still why not help out on the club stand and get in for free. All volunteers get a free entry pass and lunch provided by the club. Anyone who has helped out on the club stand at a previous show will tell you that, as well as being free, this is by far the best way to see the show. Yes, you will need to spend some time on the stand talking to visitors, but you will typically get to spend around two-thirds of the day looking around the show. Plus once you are back at the stand you have somewhere to sit down and rest your legs. If you are interested in helping out the contact Tony Moss at events@midasownersclub.co.uk


image001 by Alistair Courtney, on Flickr

[ACourtney]

That was almost two weeks ago and has been well reported on the Facebook page. For those who don't follow Facebook, however, I can report that it was another really good show.

Our prominent location, near to the entrance of Hall3 meant that it was almost impossible to visit the show and not pass our stand. Our membership secretary, John Orson, reckoned that we were missing a trick by not having a charity box to take a £1 off anyone who said 'I've never seen one of these before'. We also got a number of well known visitors:

Fuzz Townsend by Alistair Courtney, on Flickr

Yes, this year we got the real Fuzz Townsend. Meredith cornered him and wouldn't let him escape before posing for a photo.

Alex in Midas by Alistair Courtney, on Flickr

I spoke with Alex Riley (The One Show, The Classic Car Show, Fifth Gear, etc) at last year's show. He is a real Midas fan, but had never sat in one before. So this year we gave him the chance to try Streetsy's red Convertible for size.

CKC visitors by Alistair Courtney, on Flickr

Adam Wilkins and Jack Wood of Complete Kit Car magazine were having a staff outing at the show and were happy to join the crew of the MOC stand for a group photo. Jack currently has a Mk2 Midas Coupe and you can follow his experiences with the car in the magazine, while Adam was the previous keeper of my yellow Excelsior, so there was plenty of enthusiasm from them to feature the cars in future issues.

Apart from talking to the visitors and looking around the show, we kept ourselves amused with the usual banter and japes. As usual Tony came in for much torment. The photo below shows an experiment to see whether the smell of a wine gums would awake him from his slumber:

Tormenting Tony by Alistair Courtney, on Flickr

It didn't wake him, but the sound of our laughter did. I must finish by saying a big thank you to the guys who brought their cars along - Neil, Brian, Richard and Justin - as well as all those who helped out on the stand over the three days. It was good to see some new faces this year along with the regulars.

[Jin]

It was a great show and well worth it.
Will be going again for sure