NEC 2012 Report – Hall 12, Stand 12C12.

Some of the Crew.

This year’s show was the largest to date and we took full advantage by having a true Classic Car display on a well presented stand.  Cavaliers Mk1, 2 and 3 alongside a Chevette all attracted maximum visitor attention. 

Saturday on the stand.

Cavalier Mk1’s belonged to members Vince Poole and Richard Watt, Vince with OPF 10W 4-door saloon, the only one remaining 2-litre LS Cavalier Mk1.  Richard with LOU 848P the now much, if not the most, publicised Cavalier Mk1, it’s bright bodywork featured in many magazines and motoring papers giving much appreciated publicity to the Cavalier and Chevette Club.

“LOU” is the oldest Cavalier Mk1 in the world and is still performing 100% 37 years from its 1975 birth date. 

Kevin Bricknall’s Mk2 Cavalier Calibre E30 FTL is one of only around 26 remaining out of a production run of 500 and looking superb in its untouched original state.

The Cavalier Mk3 “N54 UWK” was presented by proud owner Claire Usher, this immaculate Vauxhall has the honour of being the very last manufactured Mk3 Cavalier out of a total of 1,678,368.

Vinces Cavalier Mk1 LS OPF 10W

The theme of the show was “The First and The Last”; the Club Cavalier contingent on our stand fulfilled this theme admirably. 

N54 UWK the Last Cavalier Mk3 owned by Claire Usher

Last but not least Chevette “BJA 763Y”, a 1983 4-door white saloon was parked on the stand by Peter Norrish.  BJA did appear on the Club stand at the NEC a few years ago, so it was rewarding to see this car once again attracting interest from many visitors.  The Chevette as we are aware is an ever increasingly rare classic.  The constant flashing of cameras bore witness to the popularity of our Vauxhall’s, not to mention enrolling new members. 

BJA 763Y Peters White 4-door Saloon Chevette in period black and white photo and colour.

The Club Stand Team were:-

Vince Poole, Richard and Beth Watt, Peter and David Norrish, Claire Usher, Kevin Bricknall, Simon Downs and Bryan Wilcox. 

Members and Friends visiting were:-

Mal and Julie Docherty, Paul Ellson, Keith Richardson, Shirley Purdy, Phil Wright, Dave Boon, Bob Urwin, Phil Scaife, Rob Knows, Jonathan Powlesland, Neil Marvin, Franc Marino.

Apologies if I have missed anybody out!

Major effort and substantial personal expense is involved in producing a car display at a show of such high profile, so a sincere thank you to one and all.

Richard and Beth carried a huge amount of display items in 2 cars and also provided the gazebo giving us a the professional touch.

So a special thank you to them both for their contribution.

NEC 2013 we are ready!!

Bryan Wilcox (041)

NEC REPORT EXTRA

By the Website Administrator – Kevin Bricknall

Richard's next purchase?

As we have a bit more space I thought I would add a bit more to what Bryan has written above.  The gazebo provided by Richard and Beth as said above gave the stand a professional touch along with the red carpet, dealer flags, roof boards, display boards and not forgetting the posts that Bryan had put    together.  The stand had a real show room feel about it.  Simon and I managed to locate two more large bits of carpet for next year. 

The Vauxhall 30/98 from the Heritage Centre Stand.

Our stand was in Hall 12 along with all the other Vauxhall and Opel Clubs and for the first time the Vauxhall Heritage Centre had a stand.  Also in the hall were dream rides where you can pay anything between £5-£100 to go out as a passenger any anything from an Austin 7 to a Bentley.  I went out in three cars over the three days of the show a Lancia Delta HF Intergrale, Caterham, and a Westfield SEIGHT V8. 

The Auto jumble at the show is always very good and one of the Brochure stands was having a closing down sale and has a large quantity of Vauxhall and Opel brochures and very reasonable prices.  A number of members including Simon and Richard purchased a number of brochures from there.  There really is a lot to take in at the show and I’m sure there are bit that none of us saw due to the size of the event.  We were at the NEC ready to enter the show at our allocated loading slot at 8.00am having left Milton Keynes at 4.00am (and not forgetting the time that Bryan must have left Wales, Peter and David leaving Yorkshire and Claire leaving Derbyshire).  A special mention must to one of the security guards on the door by our stand who kept us entertained over the three days with various conversations.

Bryan Wilcox writing his report for the Newsletter and Website.

If you have not attended a Club event before and are think of visiting just one event in 2013 then I can thoroughly recommend this show.  I look forward to seeing you there in 2013.

Kevin Bricknall – Website Administrator.

NEC REPORT EXTRA EXTRA!!

A Report by Club Member Coming soon.