GWENT MG OWNERS CLUB

It was a fine Friday morning so the only option was to take the Midget with the hood down. Rather than take the boring direct route along the A42/M42 this was a good opportunity to explore some of the B roads between Nottingham and Birmingham, a much more interesting run, but a little greasy in places.

Having paid a premium for the ticket, the next step was to pay £8 for the privilege of parking the Midget 10 minutes walk away from the Exhibition Hall. Still, the exercise was good for me and it was a nice day. If it had been raining I could have queued for the courtesy bus. The Classic Car Show was sharing the NEC with a Christmas Crafts show and a live version of a popular BBC Chat Show, so it was important to go to right entrance.

Having finally made it into the hall, with, of all things, a restored family hatch back at the entrance as the first thing you see, the first impression was that this was a bit up market from the usual club venue, with a predominance of classic Jaguars that looked as though they had come straight out of the show room. I rather liked the Aston Martin DB6, although the DB5 has better lines. I even bought a £1 raffle ticket to win a new Jaguar saloon, even though it doesn't have a gear stick. I could also be tempted by the Jaguar C type replicas, although the interior was even more basic than my Midget. So far, the only MG was a Tickford TC.

Going further into the exhibition, I finally found the MGs, with the MGOC, MG Car Club and Midget and Sprite Clubs tucked away near the back. There was an excellent selection of pre-war square-riggers, including the C type shown above, which was actually for sale on the Barry Walker stand. If he had had one in mineral blue I might have been interested (if the price was reduced by three quarters). The last new MG SV-R was available for those with deep pockets. Given my earlier experiences with 75 hp at the rear wheels on the greasy roads it is probably lucky for me that I'll never be able to afford one of these. There was also an MG Maestro (well I like them) and a Metro rally car on the M group stand. The Midget and Sprite Club had a fine selection of Spridgets including the famous V8 modified car and a Sebring-bodied Midget. And finally, on the MGOC stand, I eventually found a couple of MGBs.

As usual there were also plenty of trade stands, but a large proportion were for polish, which was not surprising considering the standard of cars on display. I was looking for a tin of Hammerite, but this was like asking for weed killer at the Chelsea flower show. At this level you don't touch up rust spots on you badge bar, you send the whole thing away to be re-chromed.

The Sporting Bears Charity were offering 10 mile rides in a variety of exotic cars such as an Aston Martin DB9 a Ferrari. I tried this once and paid £15 to almost be sick in an Austin Healey 3000 replica. As I recall the police had set up a speed trap to catch all the sports cars giving rides for charity. Funds are a bit tighter this year, so I didn't contribute, although I was tempted by £10 for a ride in a Midget, just to support the marque.

Ther was also a small hall with Classic Bikes. My favourite was the Brough Superior, all chrome and levers and no plastic in sight.

The day went very quickly and I could have spent longer looking at all the great cars on display. Just in case you think that it was all mega expensive classics, there were also plenty of everyday cars like Vauxhall Vivas, Austin Allegros and Golf GTIs that had been equally lovingly restored as the concours Jaguars and Astons. At the end of the day the price was worth it (but given the price of the food, next year I'm taking sandwiches).

Report from Roger