National Street Rod Association Billing Fun Run 2014, part 1/2

The National Street Rod Association (N.S.R.A.) hold an annual fun run at Billing Aquadrome at Great Billing in Northamptonshire. This year it was held over the weekend of 30th May - 1st June and is their first major hot rod show of the year, and weekend activities and entertainment, trade stalls, Saturday cruise, huge show ‘n’ shine car show for pre-1972 Hot Rods, Street Rods, and Customs; (and Volkswagen buses!) This is a show I have attended before and as an ex-hot rodder I can thoroughly recommend. My good mate Claude, who owns a 1960 Kombi had to remind me of this event, so we arranged to meet up on the Saturday morning and drive the hour or so over to Great Billing. Check out the NSRA web page for more information: http://www.nsra.org.uk/

Claude brought his 1960 split screen kombi
over to my house on the Saturday morning for
the short cruise over to the show.

 

After about an hour's driving we arrived at Billing
Aquadrome, and driving through the venue we
spotted lot's of rods and we could tell this was
going to be a good day.

 

I let this 1932 roadster pull out from a junction
just so I could follow it.

A lovely red and white early bay parked up.

There were hot rods and customs parked up
everywhere. I think Claude may have got
distracted once or twice as we drove along.

Once we had parked up we could start enjoying
the rods and taking a better look. A lovely black
1932 roadster in a traditional hot rod style.

This gorgeous white over mint green split
screen cruised past, there were quite a few
VW's at the show.

A true British classic, the Ford Pop. This one
has had the traditional roof chop and sat low
and wide. A nice twist on the normal black and
flames paint job, was the deep Burgundy with
lime green flames.

The British rodders favourite car, I have had
2 of these over the years, although maybe not
to this standard.

A lovely candy red 1934 3 window coupe. This
'34 was immaculate and the paint was flawless.

Lovely flowing lines along the length of the
body. I love those wheels, they look as though
they are made billet alloy.

On the left is a fully fendered 1930 Chevrolet,
5 window coupe in matt black and on the right
a 1932 Ford roadster.

The Chevrolet had such a lovely shape, which
is so similar to a 1932 Ford it's almost
impossible to tell the difference.
 

Again from the back, the similarities are
uncanny. The only difference I can see are
the leaf spring mounts and the shape of the
petrol tank along with the chassis shape.

A beautiful fully fendered Model 'A' Sedan in
a dark bronze pearl paint with a tangerine
bottom and bronze flames.

It's un-usual to see a rod that hasn't had a
roof chop, but the stock height roof looked
good as did those chrome smooth wheels
with chrome hub caps.

A lovely 1927 Model 'T' coupe in Royal blue.
I love those rear American racing wheels with
the whitewall tyres.

This '27 looks as though it has had the body
channelled over the chassis to make it sit this
low.

This sky blue Model 'A' pick up drove past as
we wandered around the show. It's one thing
to see the gorgeous cars parked up, but to
see them actually driving around is something
else.

This fender less Model 'A' sedan looked good
with colour coded matching steel wheels with
white wall tyres.

This RAT looking 1956 Chevrolet step side
pick up pulled up in front of us. As the driver
got out he flicked a switch and the hydraulic
suspension lowered the truck so it almost sat
on the grass.

This truck was up for sale at a reasonable
£15,000. That is a lot of truck for your money,
and I think Claude took a liking to this one.

The classic shape of the Chevy Pick up. I
have to say that I quite liked this, if only I had
a spare £15.000



This 1947(ish) Chevrolet 3100 truck looked
awesome. I think the colour is some sort of
paint effect rather than real patina, although
I could be wrong... whatever it is I love it.

Such a beauty from every angle. I liked the
1950's tail lights and the hub caps.

A modern twist on an old classic. This 1934
3 window has been built to the highest possible
standard.

The classic shape of the '34 has been
smoothed out, and with the single colour looks
right at home in the 21st century.
 

Not a very good photo, but you can just make
out how modern the dash and interior looked.

A lovely blue 1957 3100 Chevrolet step side
truck in a lovely shade of blue with white
detailing on the grille and bumpers.
It makes a change as most trucks seem to be
red.

Blue must be the 'in colour' this year as this
Model 'A' proves. The little roadster had a cut
down Model 'B' grill shell and a small block
Chevy engine to push it along.

How about this for a rear end? This 1932
Model 'B' looked awesome running fenderless
and as for all those louvres on the trunk are to
die for.

This 5 window has been around for years now,
but it still looks fresh. I have always liked the
chequered scallops on this cream coupe.

This '32 Ford roadster looked sweet with bright
red paint and a white hood. The blind in the rear
window was a nice accessory.

Another neat accessory was the drilled sun
visor, normally only found on Model 'A's and
the bobbed rear fenders.

Yet another blue hot rod was this late 1950's
Ford Popular. I didn't see what motor this was
running but looking at those huge 15" x 15"
rear wheels it must have been big. A nice
touch was to use the original Ford Pop tail
lights

Now this satin blue Model 'A' pick up was so
nice. I liked the polished bulk head and the
Moon disc's over the wheels, it looks kind of
like a salt flat racer.

Another 1932 Model 'B' 3 window coupe, in
red with a nice black scallop down the side and
sitting very low. These coupes have simple lines
that make these cars stand out.

I don't think I will ever get tired of looking at
the curves of a coupe. The look is enhanced
by the lack of fenders and traditional big
and little wheels.

So that was a taster of what was at this years
N.S.R.A. Billing Fun Run. To see more of
what was on show come back later to see
the second and final instalment.