What have you done today

Funny how your day can get turned around . I made the short trip over to the race car workshop / storage facility where I rent space for the C3 to bring it home ready for a trip up to Lichfield on Saturday to join the South Central gang at Cars in the Park .The plan being to avoid the huge traffic build up in my area in the run up to the Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend . The workshop is even closer to the circuit so things will be manic tomorrow and Saturday morning ! On arrival my mate who rebuilds and preps all the race cars said " Glad you`re here , can you lend us a hand ? " He was rushing to complete the re - assembly of the Spice Group C car that won at Le Mans 24 hours back in the day as it is going up for auction at Silverstone Classic in two weeks time . He had recommissioned the Spice and replaced the fuel cell which was well past its certification date . That had necessitated the removal of the body and the complete upper part of the aluminium tub to access it sandwiched between the engine and the cockpit bulkhead . Despite the lightness of the carbon fibre body shells , they are a bit unwieldy to lift and lower in place over all the mechanical`s . Made for an interesting interlude and much banter about his days spannering in motorsport . Nearly complete now and soon to be looking resplendent in its period correct FEDCO livery as I photographed it at the Group C 40th Anniversary celebrations at Silverstone Classic in 2022 . Valued at circa £340 K if you are looking for a new toy to accompany your Vette !

Had a great three hour round trip blast up and down the A5 to the `Cars in the Park ` show at Lichfield today to join Mike and Debbie Penn their happy band of CCCUK South Central members. It was a thoroughly good day socializing , showing off cars to many interested passers by who were drawn by a great display of Corvettes covering all models except C1 . There was a few other interesting American cars there too including a stunning 1956 Buick Century Riviera and a 1930 Plymouth Coupe

Took a trip out today in Vette today a new and modestly sized classic car show held at Chester House near Wellingborough in Northamptonshire . The venue is a local authority owned archeological records centre and museum of all places with the show organised by the local Rotary Club for charity . A really eclectic mix of cars and motor bikes all being admired by the public as well as the various car owners . Always good to chat with like minded enthusiasts and some interesting Americana to boot . Spent ages talking cars with guy from Texas now domiciled in the UK with his beautifully modded Volvo Amazon that he has done himself .

Went to the Powderham Castle Historic Vehicle Gathering on Saturday. Took both my cars. Child and I went in the Corvette as he loves it, and wife drove the FTO with all the show stuff we need in the boot of the FTO. Handy having both cars, as we can take so much more show stuff (and baby stuff) and be parked together.

Great day out, super hot weather, lots of cars and steam engines, buses, lorries etc etc. Sadly I didn't take many pictures, all taken in with the show, and pretty much all photos I did take are "family" photos featuring the child and I try not to put many of him on the internet.

Needless to say the child loved being in the car, and loved it when we went to the ring to watch the steam engines go around. He plonked himself down right at the front and happily watched them go by just a few feet from where he was sat. Lovely.

EDIT: Actually, I've done some bad AI photo editing to remove wife and child from between the two cars. Hence it looks a bit weird there. But hey, here are my two cars at the show.



And here is the child watching some steamers - he's got his back to the camera, so I'll allow it:

On the way home from the show, went to Smyths toys in Exeter (as you do) to get some, errr..... toys for the child. Parked the Vette up (with child in) and immediately a mum and her (teenage?) child get out of their car and mum is just in absolute love with the Vette and starts talking to me about it and wanting to take photos etc as she's never seen one and thinks its the most beautiful car ever. My wife walks over from where she parked the FTO, and I ask where she's parked and she points "over there" and you can see the FTO at distance - what surprises me is the "mum" talking to me then says something like "Oh, you're in an FTO" or some such. It surprises me because there aren't many around and outside of the club I don't know many people that would recognise one, let alone at distance. So FTO got some love too.

Lovely people, nice to meet them. Naturally I let them take photos of the Vette etc. I wonder if they got posted online somewhere?