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Stafford Classic Bike Show

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John Stevenson:
Went to the Stafford Bike show today, talk about busy, no idea what the gate was but made the average ME show look like a church fete.

JB cutting tools was there with a satellite stand plus some other vendors selling the usual ME tooling as opposed to the spanner stalls.

Some very nice classic machinery and the more exotic presented by a talk and then under power.

One of the more impressive ones was the NVT Challenger which was the UK last ditch stand to produce a world beater.

It consisted of a 1/4 of a Cosworth F1 engine but very top heavy and unreliable which was also admitted by the entrant, The British Motorcycle Museum at Birmingham.

Contrary to popular opinion this establishment releases bikes to appear in parades and demonstration laps at key circuits during the year to highlight the fact that it's not all about static exhibits. Of the bike on show and under power this one had the absolute most awesome sound.

Highlight of the show for me believe it or not was a Ford 400E van on the Villiers stand. This was stunning in the work that had been done to restore this if that is the right word because the van had only done 27,000 from new.

It looked to be an early model, possibly 1959 / 60 ? the guy was busy on the stand so didn't have a lot of time to ask questions.

Might sound a funny vehicle to latch on to at a classic bike show but these vans [ pre transhit ] were iconic as virtually all the racing lads had these as being the best tool for getting racing bikes around, sleeping in etc

It was not unusual in pre motorway days and lower top speeds to put 50,000 miles on one of this in a year.

The van in question is also featured in this months Classic Van [ yer I'd didn't know that one existed ] but first thing Monday your intrepid hero will be stood outside W H Shmitt and Co [ GMBH ] clutching his money to get this.

Anyway, well worth attending if you are in the Stafford area, last day is Sunday.

Brass_Machine:
That is something I would have liked to see. Got any pictures John?

Spurry:

--- Quote from: John Stevenson on October 18, 2014, 07:08:04 PM ---Highlight of the show for me believe it or not was a Ford 400E van on the Villiers stand. This was stunning in the work that had been done to restore this if that is the right word because the van had only done 27,000 from new.
It looked to be an early model, possibly 1959 / 60 ? the guy was busy on the stand so didn't have a lot of time to ask questions.

--- End quote ---
Mention of that took me back a bit....   :palm: I took my driving test in the pick-up version of one of those. As I recall, I was supposed to have a pre-test lesson but that time was spent arguing whether the said vehicle was appropriate for a 'car' test. In the event, it was decreed suitable, but I never got the lesson.
Pete

Jonny:
Didn't know it was on but hear the Telford one aint bad earlyish in the year.

Didn't Z Cars and the early Sweeney use them 400E


Spoilt by the colour and wheels

     

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