Vauxfest Billing 2018
This month has seen my car show calendar completed for 2018. On 2nd September, I attended the inaugural Vauxfest event at Billing Aquadrome and on the 8/9th I attended the AACI’s last bash of the summer.
Vauxfest
The VBOA has been absent from Billing for the last couple of years, but now that the venue has U-turned on its “no more car shows” decision, a new event has popped up to fill the Vauxhall (and Opel) shaped void.
Vauxfest, the brainchild of organiser Richard Watt, ran between the 1st and 2nd September and I went along on the Sunday to see what it was all about.
Rather than being organised around car clubs, the event was open to anyone owning/driving a “loosely” historic Vauxhall/Opel. An owner would arrive with his/her vehicle and park it in the next available space in the current row. This meant that vehicles of all types and ages were displayed together.
In addition to the vehicles, there was an autojumble and various catering/other concessions.
Because of the nature of the event, the vehicles on display probably differed quite considerably across the two days. I have no idea if Saturday was bigger and better than Sunday or not.
I arrived at Billing around 12:30pm, by that point, and by my reckoning, there were approximately 100-120 vehicles.
I am fan of the seventies stuff but there wasn’t much to get excited about from that decade, there was more from the noughties, 90s and to a lesser extent, the 80s. I wandered around with my camera for about half an hour before I left.
Lots of effort had obviously gone into organising Vauxfest, but it was low key in comparison to the VBOA National Rally. Still, it’s early days for the event and I’ll look forward to it growing in awareness and status in the future.
Click on any image below to enlarge. High resolution images available, if you'd like one, just get in touch.
Vauxfest
The VBOA has been absent from Billing for the last couple of years, but now that the venue has U-turned on its “no more car shows” decision, a new event has popped up to fill the Vauxhall (and Opel) shaped void.
Vauxfest, the brainchild of organiser Richard Watt, ran between the 1st and 2nd September and I went along on the Sunday to see what it was all about.
Rather than being organised around car clubs, the event was open to anyone owning/driving a “loosely” historic Vauxhall/Opel. An owner would arrive with his/her vehicle and park it in the next available space in the current row. This meant that vehicles of all types and ages were displayed together.
In addition to the vehicles, there was an autojumble and various catering/other concessions.
Because of the nature of the event, the vehicles on display probably differed quite considerably across the two days. I have no idea if Saturday was bigger and better than Sunday or not.
I arrived at Billing around 12:30pm, by that point, and by my reckoning, there were approximately 100-120 vehicles.
I am fan of the seventies stuff but there wasn’t much to get excited about from that decade, there was more from the noughties, 90s and to a lesser extent, the 80s. I wandered around with my camera for about half an hour before I left.
Lots of effort had obviously gone into organising Vauxfest, but it was low key in comparison to the VBOA National Rally. Still, it’s early days for the event and I’ll look forward to it growing in awareness and status in the future.
Click on any image below to enlarge. High resolution images available, if you'd like one, just get in touch.
AACI Late Summer Open Nationals
On the 8th and 9th I went to Billing again, but this time to attend the American Automobile Cub International Late Summer Open Nationals. Regular readers will know that over the last few years, this car club’s events have become firm favourites on my calendar. This was the third such gathering this year for me.
Normally I attend AACI events on the Sunday of the weekend they are held, this year, because I already had commitments on the Sunday, I decided to go on the Saturday.
The weather had been predicted to be horrible; the afternoon was overcast but, aside from occasional spitting rain, the heavy showers predicted didn’t materialise. I took a chance and headed to Billing to find that lots of exhibitors had decided not to take this risk.
The number of vehicles on show was frankly disappointing but there were still some gems. The Starsky and Hutch liveried Grand Torino shown below was a joy to see. It wasn’t there on the Sunday so I would have missed it if I’d stayed at home.
After mooching around for a little while and accepting that the returns for the journey out were limited, I decided that I’d just have to come back on the Sunday too. Though I only had until mid-morning to participate, I am glad that I returned because the Sunday was significantly better.
The weather was better too and this time, I spend a couple of happy hours with my camera enjoying and photographing a range of exciting vehicles. More were still arriving as I left, but I couldn’t hang around.
One poignant thing about this event was the respect shown and sense of loss felt in the American car community following the recent passing of the legendary Burt Reynolds. In terms of the cult of the Pontiac Trans Am, Reynolds was almost single-handedly responsible for the car’s place in history. Smokey and the Bandit was a feature of this show and there were plenty of Trans Ams present as well as red Bandit sleeved jackets, cowboy hats and fake moustaches. There was also a “Snowman” Kenworth truck and trailer.
As mentioned above, the outing on the 9th completed a hattrick of enjoyable AACI events and my thanks goes to the organisers for all their hard work.
Click on any image below to enlarge. High resolution images available, if you'd like one, just get in touch.
On the 8th and 9th I went to Billing again, but this time to attend the American Automobile Cub International Late Summer Open Nationals. Regular readers will know that over the last few years, this car club’s events have become firm favourites on my calendar. This was the third such gathering this year for me.
Normally I attend AACI events on the Sunday of the weekend they are held, this year, because I already had commitments on the Sunday, I decided to go on the Saturday.
The weather had been predicted to be horrible; the afternoon was overcast but, aside from occasional spitting rain, the heavy showers predicted didn’t materialise. I took a chance and headed to Billing to find that lots of exhibitors had decided not to take this risk.
The number of vehicles on show was frankly disappointing but there were still some gems. The Starsky and Hutch liveried Grand Torino shown below was a joy to see. It wasn’t there on the Sunday so I would have missed it if I’d stayed at home.
After mooching around for a little while and accepting that the returns for the journey out were limited, I decided that I’d just have to come back on the Sunday too. Though I only had until mid-morning to participate, I am glad that I returned because the Sunday was significantly better.
The weather was better too and this time, I spend a couple of happy hours with my camera enjoying and photographing a range of exciting vehicles. More were still arriving as I left, but I couldn’t hang around.
One poignant thing about this event was the respect shown and sense of loss felt in the American car community following the recent passing of the legendary Burt Reynolds. In terms of the cult of the Pontiac Trans Am, Reynolds was almost single-handedly responsible for the car’s place in history. Smokey and the Bandit was a feature of this show and there were plenty of Trans Ams present as well as red Bandit sleeved jackets, cowboy hats and fake moustaches. There was also a “Snowman” Kenworth truck and trailer.
As mentioned above, the outing on the 9th completed a hattrick of enjoyable AACI events and my thanks goes to the organisers for all their hard work.
Click on any image below to enlarge. High resolution images available, if you'd like one, just get in touch.
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Vauxfest
AACI - https://www.aac-int.com/
Other Relevant Posts:
https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/american-cars-and-fathers-day-thoughts
https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/car-show-and-car-sos
https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/aaci-late-summer-open-nationals-2017
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/aaci-summer-open-nationals-2017
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/24424-the-aaci-summer-nationals-and-fathers-day
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/aaci-late-summer-open-nationals
Blog Library
Home
Vauxfest
AACI - https://www.aac-int.com/
Other Relevant Posts:
https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/american-cars-and-fathers-day-thoughts
https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/car-show-and-car-sos
https://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/aaci-late-summer-open-nationals-2017
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/aaci-summer-open-nationals-2017
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/24424-the-aaci-summer-nationals-and-fathers-day
http://www.adrianbaldwin.net/blog/aaci-late-summer-open-nationals
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