Last year numbers seemed a bit down from prior years.   Probably the move put people off.   However, it felt bigger and busier this year.   While the new location looks further away on the map, in terms of time taken to get there, there is very little difference.

I took my E-Type and joined the rather impressive line up in the JDCA section.   It was a good showing this year.   The strongest displays were the E-Types, XK120/140/50, XJS, XJs and Modern XKs.   Surprisingly there were almost none of the big saloons like the MK VIII, and numbers for the compact saloons seemed down too.

Looking around at the other clubs, there was a great display as usual from the Rolls Royce club, who always have a range of lovely cars.  I enjoy seeing how the pre-war cars get plenty of use.   The Daimler club also had a nice display as well.

Being a British car show, there were of course large displays from popular models like the MGB, original mini and so on.   It is always nice to see those cars, but what makes this show so good is the sheer variety of cars.  I’ve been going for years and I always see something new and interesting and rare.

The show was held on the same day as the French car show.  Normally I would attend that event with my Citroen DS.  However, by the time I properly looked at the British cars, it was a bit late to go over.   I hope next year the dates are not combined.

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In the end I made a good choice.  Torrential rain in the days leading up to the day had the Berry event cancelled.  Instead of cancelling their event, the Rolls Royce club moved indoors.   It was supposed to be held by the water in Newcastle.  The backup location was a hotel parking lot.   Unlike most hotel parking lots, it was not a dingy affair, even the floors were painted. It worked out quite well, as there were areas for the main families of cars (e.g. pre-war, separate chassis, Silver Shadow based, Silver Spirit based and moderns).

I drove up to Newcastle in my 560SEL. I’m taking it on a 4800km road trip in July.  This was a good trial after having a new radiator fitted and fixing a few minor annoyances myself.   The rain was very heavy, but I find the W126 a very surefooted car in the wet.  Nothing else jumped out at me as needing to be attended to.

Given the weather, I was impressed with the display.   There were a fair number of cars that had traveled from Victoria and Queensland.   There was also a great selection of pre-war cars and the RROC must be one of the few clubs that extensively use their pre-war machines.   These cars need to be used an appreciated and it’s always nice to see the on the road.   There was a good selection of the early cars as well as a couple of examples of the V12 Phantom III.

Moving on to the other models, probably my favorite on the day was a Victorian registered Bentley S series, and of course the two different Bentley Continentals were not to be missed.   As you would expect, the largest numbers were in the Silver Shadows and related models such as the Corniche and Camargue, and the Silver Spirit and related models such as the Bentley Turbo R.

There was also a section of modern models on display.  These don’t hold a great deal of interest to me, but were good to complete the history.   I enjoyed the day and it was good to see the event happen despite the weather.

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I think these events are a good idea, as it brings a combination of cars together that are not often seen.   They are quite easy to organize, and its easy for me to go to an early morning car event on a Sunday and be home by 10:30AM.

There was a decent turn out overall, probably around 40-50 cars.   The Mercedes-Benz club was the biggest with about 20-25 cars. The Rolls Royce and Maserati clubs had about 20-25 together.

Having attended a Maserati exhibit at Autoworld Brussels recently, it was good to see some of the same Maserati’s on the road.   This included models such as the Ghibli and Khamsin.  On the Rolls Royce side there were mostly Silver Shadow and Silver Spirit (and their derivatives) models on display.

I took my 250SE Cabriolet.  It’s rather dirty from being caught in the rain in January.  I’ve still not had a chance to clean it, but the silver paint does a pretty good job of hiding the dirt.  There were a decent number of older models.  This included a W109 6.3, a W108 250SE, an Adenauer, a C114 and others.   The 6.3 had a beautifully patinaed interior and was quite original.

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Given the wild weather of the past few weeks, I was impressed with the number of cars sporting interstate plates.   There were plenty of cars on Victorian, Queensland and South Australian registration.  This is in addition to the expected ACT and NSW cars.   Even more impressive was the number of pre-war cars on display.   I’m always impressed how much these owners actually drive the cars – and drive them long distances.   In my view at least, turning a car into a garage queen is about the worst thing that can be done to it.   Not to mention using the cars keeps important skills alive and makes it worthwhile for parts suppliers to keep parts in production.

The other advantage of walking over to the Rolls Royce Club federal rally display was the better food options on offer!

As you would expect, the Silver Shadow (and its derivatives) and Silver Spirit (and its derivatives) dominated the display.  These are the only models that were sold in large numbers.   There were cars of all types and conditions, from the show cars to the driven regularly.   My favorites tend to be the later small horsepower prewar cars, and the Silver Cloud and its Bentley S series sister.   I would like to own one of these one day.

It was certainly worth the walk over to see the display.

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Taking the 560SEL also gave an opportunity to take two of my kids along and see if they enjoyed the day.   They are not yet old enough to travel in the W111 due to lack of lap/sash seatbelts and child seat anchor points.

The lineup of W126’s was quite impressive.   It was also a good illustration of the sort of cars that get preserved, and the sort that (sadly) don’t.   On display were 8 W126 cars.  Of those cars, all by one were V8s, all but one were long wheelbase, and all but one were second series.  There were 5 420SELs showing the popularity of that model in club circles, my 560SEL, a 300SEL and a first generation 500SE.   This is pretty typical in classic cars that were produced in reasonable volumes.  Most of the cars saved are the later and high specification models.  Of these, there was about a 400,00km difference in the odometer readings from the lowest to highest model.   You would never know by looking at the cars.

If you assembled 8 W126 models based on the most commonly sold variants, and only included those original offered for sale in Australia, your line up would be rather different.   Two 280SEs, Two 300SEs, and one each of the 300SEL, 380SE, 420SEL and 560SEL.

As well as the W126 line up there were some other lovely cars.   From the Mercedes Club that included a 190SL, 280SL Pagoda, 280SE 3.5 W108, Adenauer, W116,  450SLC and more.   The SLC was a recent purchase up from country Victoria and it looked great.   There were also a pair of A124s, quite unusual to see two at the same time.

Of the Rolls Royces, there were some nice Silver Shadows, Silver Spirits (and derivatives).  There was also one older model, perhaps a Silver Dawn?

The drive up the old Pacific Highway to Peats Ridge is always enjoyable.   Being a Sunday it was pretty busy and there were cyclists and highway patrol aplenty.   The food at the corrugated cafe was good, and the route back was through Central Mangrove over Wisemans Ferry.   I take regular late night drives up the old highway and I have never thought to come back that way.

I was happy with how the 560SEL performed after its service.  The new thermostat kept the temperature right where it needed to be, the new motor mounts smoothed the ride and the good used steering wheel is much nicer to hold.   I also start the car with impunity now the guides have been replaced.   The previous owner spent good money having the chain and tensioner done about 25,000km but inexplicably the guides and sprockets were not replaced as a matter of course.   It’s the guides that are the main problem in these engines.   I also had the camshaft oiler fittings replaced at the same time.

There are still a few more things I plan to do to this car, but chief among them is to re-instate the self-leveling rear suspension.   The ride from the rear is unpleasant on all but the smoothest roads.   My other option would be to remove the pedders springs and shocks and put in Mercedes springs and shocks.  If I am going to this trouble I might as well do it properly and put the self-leveling back.

Overall it was a good drive and the kids were not too bored!

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This year the numbers of Rolls Royces and Bentleys was down considerably.   From what I understand this wasn’t the actual concours day, and I’m not sure if this is a change from previous years.   The other marques somewhat made up for it, but I was curious as to why.   The day was still well worth attending and the cars that did attend were exemplary.   My pick of the day was the silver Bentley Continental.

This years event was the first showing of a Rover 3 litre coupe that has been under restoration for a year or so.   The car is a similar spec to the one I used to own, but much better in nearly every way.   The owner has chosen a classy two tone paint job that complements the blue leather interior.   It is a sort of blue/grey colour for the roof and it looks very good.    As can be seen in the pictures the car still needs quite a bit of re-assembly but the car illustrates what lovely cars these Rover P5s are when in nice condition.

There was also an interesting pair of Armstrong Sidseleys.   The two cars were very similar in colour, but one was a ute and one was a convertible.   They each had a different colour highlight line to provide a bit of contrast.

There were also a few random Mercedes-Benzes from spectators.   I saw a few people from the MBCNSW who were in attendance.   I dove there in my 450SLC, but parked outside.  Next year if I go, I will probably drive in and park with the other ring-ins!

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This is a nice event.  It is not well known by the general public and has a relaxed atmosphere.    As usual there was a nice selection of Rolls Royce and Bentley motor cars from the marques entire history.   As you would expect Silver Shadow and Silver Spirit models dominated.   There was a reasonable selection of 50s and 60s cars, and a few rather nice pre-war models as well.

This was the first car event my 9 month old daughter attended.    Not a bad one to start with some classy cars on display.   The cars only put her to sleep for some of the time!

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I took my DS which actually shares some of the Hydraulic systems with these cars – the Silver Shadow has hydraulics based on the old Citroen red fluid system and the Silver Spirit has the green fluid system same as my DS.   The hydraulics are not as extensively used as in the Citroen, but they are used for the brakes and self leveling suspension (along with regular springs and shocks).

I would like to own one of these cars one day – I am partial to a Bentley S series.

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The show was worth the trip and despite early rain had a good showing of cars.   As well as RROC, the Rover Club and the Daimler club had displays on, and was able to learn a bit more about Rover P5s.   I’m told the Mk2 P5 Coupe is the one to have.

For the Rolls Royces, there was a nice selection of cars including a very impressive range of pre-war cars.  Far larger than any of the clubs I am a member of.   As you would expect the Silver Shadow and Silver Spirit were the most popular cars on display, but there was a good mixture of cars.   My two favorites were the early Bentley Corniche coupe and the Bentley S3 Flying Spur.   The 2015 Rolls Royce Owners Club Concours was worth a visit and I will go again if the times work.

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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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