It felt like a summer day today, with temperatures of around 33C.   Probably quite hot for many of the old British cars, and a few of the spectators as well.   It was a lovely day though, without a cloud in the sky.

I decided to display my E-Type again.   In 2019, I didn’t display due to the large speed humps scraping the exhaust system in 2018.    I was assured by the club that it was better now, and it was.   I’m glad I had the car on display, as there was a nice line up of E-Types there in the JDCA section.

The two best displays were from Jaguar and Triumph.   Both organized their displays really well and had their models in groups of similar cars.  For Jaguar, this was by the model registers.  For Triumphs they did something similar.   It was really quite impressive seeing the two rows of Stags for example.   I wish they would do that at the German car show, as it looks so much better.   It’s such a shame to have them in no particular order.

For some reason the 2023 British Car show felt smaller than in previous years.   They were only using two fields and they were not especially full.    Perhaps because the school fete was not on, the day was less attractive to some?  Or perhaps because after three missed shows, people were out of the habit.   It can’t have been the weather.

Regardless this is still probably the best car show in the Sydney calendar, and was well worth a look.

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This year the Jaguars were moved from the top paddock to the middle one.  This pushed clubs like Rolls Royce and Daimler down to the bottom paddock.  In itself this isn’t so bad, but it has a few flow on effects.   Firstly, the Jaguar display felt a bit cramped and smaller in numbers.    There was a nice line up of E-Types and MK II’s, but other models were in smaller numbers.  Secondly, all cars had to use the same entrance which resulted in traffic gridlock.   I’m surprised there were not more cars overheating trying to get in.   My engine fan was to fail later in the day, but luckily it was still ok at this point.   What was worse was that the cars needed to move over a series of about 5 speed humps that scraped the exhaust system on my car quite badly.

They made better use of the bottom paddock to account from going from three to two, but I’m not really sure to what end.   Instead of the Jaguars on the top paddock there was a food truck and some stands for car dealerships.   It was a bit of a nothing use for a great space.

I can live with the two paddocks, but if they keep up the same route into the event, it would force me to stop bringing my car.   I did have my car on display this year, and ideally would at future events as well.

The two displays I was most impressed with this year was the Triumph display, which had a great turnout of all sorts of interesting triumph models.   And of course perennial favorites Rolls Royce.   This year they had a number of older vehicles that were in stunning condition that I had not yet seen before.  I think a couple of them were Silver Dawn’s, but I am not an expert in 50’s Rolls Royce.    Even though it was at the shannons display, I got to see a Derby Bentley too!  As a coupe, they want serious money for it at the auction coming up in November.

For the first time since I can recall, 3 litre Rover P5’s outnumbered v8 P5Bs.   The P5 was eclipsed by the P5B, and its nice to see the P5 survivors.  There was also a great little MG from the 50s with a dolls house style caravan.   Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to take a photo.   In the Daimler section there was a very impressive older Daimler, I think from the 20s, with a sleeve valve engine.

I also spent some time trying to see if I could find a match for the interior light in my Traction Avant in other British cars.   I’m sure it would have been a standard part used in other cars but I have not yet been able to identify it.    In summary, the 2018 British Car show was a great event and hopefully I will be back in 2019.

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I had originally gone back to these old photos to see if I could spot a Derby Bentley.   I have recently read a book on them and was curious if I had spotted one at any of these shows.

Back in 2011, I was hoping to bring my E-Type to the show, but it had not yet arrived in Sydney from its voyage from the USA.   It would not be until the 2016 show that I would display it.

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Not only is the display quite a sight, but its one of the few times of the year you’ll sit in traffic behind a Jowett and have a Daimler behind you.    One of the highlights was seeing a Bentley 6.5 liter in the Vintage Sports Car Club.   I was hoping to see a Derby Bentley as well, but unfortunately it would appear there were none in attendance.    Was hoping a member of the Rolls Royce, Bentley or Vintage sports car clubs would bring one along.   There was a rather nice S Series Continental though.

As usual, the Jaguar Club had a great display, especially the E-Type register.    As with last year, no XK140s on display but a few with other clubs.    There are always large numbers of MGs, Minis etc on display too.    After the big Flynn auction I was wondering if there would be a big display of Rovers this year, but it as pretty similar to last year.    For some reason this year there were only a few Jensen Interceptors on display.   The Bristol club had a nice handout of their key models including numbers in the club and production volume.   A nice touch.

It is great to see some of the more forgotten marques, such as Riley, Alvis, Wolesely, Humber.   These cars are going to need their next generation of enthusiast.   And the marques that are defunct but perhaps better known like Austin, Rover, Daimler etc.   These shows certainly help show off the cars to people who may not have been familiar with them.

UPDATE (1/9/17):  There was a lovely Rolls Royce Silver Ghost that looked it it had been through a very thorough restoration.   I noticed an interesting switch on the side of the car.   Through a friend in the Rolls Royce club, I was able to find out its function.   It controls fuel pumps.   The Silver Ghost apparently has a mechanical pump and a manual pump that can be operated by the passenger.   The switch allows the selection of one, both or neither of the pumps.   It is quite a clever system, as it’s easy to forget that back at the time this car was new, the infrastructure to support the automobile was also in its infancy.

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Last year the show was rained out, but there was no chance of that for the 2015 British car display.   The biggest showing was put on by the Jaguar club, with a nice selection of different models.   In one area, there was a racing green Mk1 parked next to a racing green Mk2 which provided a nice contrast.    Jaguars always have an impressive representation, as there are plenty on display from other clubs such as regional clubs, motorsport clubs etc.   I’ve always been a big fan of the XK140 FHC, and I saw one of these in a regional club.     One owner of a 420 had made a matching trailer he called the ‘Draguar’ and was trying to sell it at the show.

Probably the most impressive display was that put on by the Rolls Royce Owners Club.    Considering the exclusivity of these cars when new, their numbers were very impressive and there were a couple of special displays such as a Phantom II restored chassis, the Vice Regal Phantom that I saw at the German Car Show (special guest).    There was even a 1910 Rolls Royce that made quite an entrance, full of passengers and a backfire as it moved into position!   It is great to see such a car still on the road and being used, and seeing this car on full rego shows the farcical nature of the NSW historic plates scheme.    I also got to see one of my favorite cars, the Bentley S3 Continental, with a lovely example on display, as well as its sister car (the Rolls Royce version).       There are a lot of Bentleys from the RR era as part of the RROC, as well as some part of the Bentley club, but from a casual observation, the Rolls Royce club seems to be the popular choice for the Bentley owner of this era.

There are also nice displays from all the usual suspects, including hundreds and hundreds of British sports cars.

The 2015 British Car Display was held at the Kings School, who also run their annual fete, providing options for those who are not enthused by seeing all the variants of compact Jaguar lined up.

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