British Car Day 2016 PT 1

Attended my first British Car Day today and what a show it was. Stunning weather, a great turnout of amazing cars and bumped into some cool people.

British Car Day is an annual event held at Trentham Memorial Park in Upper Hutt. This year was the 30th anniversary of the event, and the turnout was huge. Over 400 cars were expected to attend.

We got a good close park (not in the parks carpark though; as we saw when we left the access was simply diabolical with barely one lane for both directions of traffic and parking on both sides), and got in nice and early, before the heat of the day really kicked in. Such a beautiful day for it too, clear skies, slight breeze and warm sun.

Immediately, before even entering the event we came across a couple of very cool pieces of metal in the carpark.

This little winged pig was kinda cool

Once in we were immediately greeted with a whole load of classic Mini’s. Some absolute stunners here, like this one which appeared to be powered by a Nissan GA engine, maybe a GA13.

Another classic Round Nose in a delish shade of purple

Really digging the wide stance of this one

There was this racekar beast hanging around too. Shame i couldnt hear it running, bet it sounds awesome

This Moke was something i havent seen before and was cool to see in person

A great little Clubman in a shade of green that looks suspiciously similar to the Spanish Olive on my old Marina.

There were a couple of Valentines themed cars

Some more modern gear was in attendance too, like this lush Bentley Azure droptop

My preference was clearly still on the classics though. Spotted this little Spitfire hanging out by its self.

Typically the Landy club was in attendance with a good turnout

This beasty fire machine was showing off, as the guy on the loudspeaker said, “that it has no prostate issues”.

This Rangerover was exceptionally tidy

I dont know the story behind this little Austin, but it certainly looked cool!

There just arent enough badges that use a beautiful font like this

Certainly not pedestrian friendly, so a long lost fixture on the front of cars.

An IMP showing off its stunning paintwork

This oddball Allegro Wagon was a sight to behold.

Found it almost impossible to get a good picture of this car due to the paintwork, but damn it looked good in person!

A great little Escort wagon

Period correct luggage in the boot of one car, very impressed.

Gotta love an Anglia. Such weird looking, but great little cars.

Rover V8 in an MG RV8

As much as i love seeing SD1s, it was actually really disappointing to see so few of them on display. Out of all the cars, only four were in attendance. Hopefully as more and more get restored we should start to see more. This Cashmere Gold 3500 with Bitter Chocolate interior looked great and sounded the part as he drove past to park up.

This stunningly tidy Series 1 3500 was great to see, not many of these around now. This one for forsale too.

This SD1 3500 was stunning. Its just had a full inside and out restoration. The paint and interior of this car are just amazing, and everything is so clean you really could eat off it.

This Zircon Vanden Plas EFI was a great addition too. Being used as some sort of base station for the PA system, with a trailer on the back. Shame it was optioned without leather though, the velvet interior just isnt quite as nice.

The perfect classic car motto

An OG HKS wooden steering wheel was a surprising sight. I cant remember what it was in, but it certainly wasnt Japanese!

The prince of darkness was in attendance, all over the show

Another stunner someone brought out for the day was this MINT MK1 Mexico. So much want for this car.

This RS2000 was a strange one. Didnt realise it was a MK2 with a domestic front end. Lots of power under the hood too.

This black MK2 sedan was looking great, so much shine in the paint. Sadly the previous owner had bit of a ding in the rear, but once thats fixed up itll be one hell of a minter.

Of all the clubs in attendance, it certainly looked like the Jaguar club had the biggest turnout. Some amazing cars on show from this club.

It was great to see a few cars that were in various, less than perfect, conditions. Hope to see these cars back another year fully restored, or built to how the owner desires.

I’ve exceeded the limit for this post, so jump over to Part Two for more.