Chearsley Classic Car Show 2014.

The beautiful rural village of Chearsely is nestled deep in the Buckinghamshire countryside and every year this sleepy village hold a classic car show / fun day on the cricket pitch. This is a show I have visited a few times before and have always enjoyed the event. This year the weather forecast was good with plenty of sun and fairly high temperatures predicted, so as Chearsley is only about 5 miles from my hometown I decided to jump in the bus and take a drive over.

The show started at midday but vehicles were
arriving from 10.00am. I arrived at about 11.20
and parked my bay up. The show field looks a
bit sparse in this photo but then it was still early.

The first car that caught my eye, was this
Jaguar XJ220 in British racing green. This 2
seater super car was only produced from 1992
- 1994 in collaboration with the specialist auto-
motive and race engineering company Tom
Walkinshaw racing. The XJ220 held the record
for the fastest production car throughout 1992
after recording a top speed of 213 mph (343 km/h),
before being superseded by the McLaren F1 in
1993 when it recorded a top speed of 231 mph
(372 km/h). The Jaguar held the Nürburgring
production car lap record between 1992 and
2000 with a time of 7:46.36.

The XJ220 had a turbo charged V6 engine
with 4 wheel drive. It also had a revolutionary
aluminium chassis. By the end of production
in 1992 just 275 cars were produced and each
one cost £470,000 (about $767416).

The rear end of the XJ220. The engine is mid
mounted and the tripled layered rear glass
lifts up to aid ventilation to allow hot air from
the engine escape.

A lovely 1970 Jaguar XJ12 Mk.1 finished in
a stunning coat of brilliant white paint. This one
has the 2.8l engine (2790cc). These luxury
cars has power steering and leather upholstery
as standard.

These XJ12's were commonly known as the
Daimler Sovereign, however these were made
by Daimler and were an upmarket version of
the Jaguar XJ12.

An absolutely gorgeous Morgan plus 4 with
an equally gorgeous coat of Burgundy paint
with cream leather upholstery.

The smell from that lovely leather upholstery was
intoxicating, and the real wood dash was a work
of art, as was the wood rimmed sterring wheel.

Even today Morgan still hand make all those
body panels and wings. The alloy body sits on
a steel box chassis with wood bracing to support
the body.

A Mk1 Ford Escort in bronze with widened
fibreglass wheel arches to cover those 7 x 13
super lite wheels. This Mk.1 had the original
1700 xflow engine.

A beautiful 1953 Morris Minor series 'MM'
convertible. The present owner gave this
'moggy' a restoration which took less than
a year!

The Morris Minor line up at the Chearsley
classic car show.

This is a car close to my heart as I owned one
many years ago. It's a Triumph Herald, I can't
remember what year mine was, but this was a
1965 model complete with sunroof.

This car wasn't in concourse condition, but it
was very nice and most importantly, it was
on the road and being driven.

A very clean T25 pop top. I remember this from
last years show, because I was amazed how
clean it was. A year later and it's still as clean.

This 1980 bus was immaculate and finished
in a lovely colour and had plenty of accessories
on show.

Inside the cab of the T25, the owner was
prepared for the worst by having his 'AA'
membership card at hand, just in case of
a breakdown.



A lovely 1965 MGB roadster finished in a
gorgeous green. This 4 cylinder 1748cc
engine is the original engine.

A true British classic. This car had also had
the original gearbox until 2012, when it was
replaced for a gearbox with overdrive, which
allows 500rpm lower in third and top gears.

A beautiful type 34 Karmann Ghia 'razoredge'
which was stunning. I had a long chat with the
owner and he was saying that this car underwent
a 3 year restoration a few years back, and since
then he has travelled to many show across
Europe with the Karmann Ghia club.

Only the essentials in the luggage space, a
jerry can, spare battery and some spares.

Absolutely stunning bodywork finished in a
silver colour which I think suits the car perfectly.

The owner was saying that on his way to
Germany for a KG meeting, the choke cable
broke and shorted out the electrics causing him
to cancel the trip. He has now had the car re-wired
and new choke cable fitted.

The owner has owned this car for many years
and it wasn't until the car was re-wired this
time that the clock in the dash started to work,
it never had before!

This is a factory fitted sunroof, however the
roof section came from a rusted Karmann
Ghia, so although it is a factory fitted sun-
roof, it's not factory fitted to this type 34. The
roof section was replaced when the car was
restored. The owner was saying that the cable
to operate the sunroof has broken and he is
having trouble finding a replacement.

 

A good friend of mine, Melanie came along
in her Army Land Rover.

Mel and her partner 'spanners' like to keep
the Army theme going. Mel's Landy and
'Spanners' Army truck.

This 1959 MGA 1600 roadster was amazing.
This one has the 1950cc BMC engine which
pushed out 130bhp.

Lovely 1950's stying on this MGA.

It has push button starting, 5 speed Ford type
9 gearbox and electric variable power steering.
The red vinyl interior was gorgeous.

This 1950cc motor can propel the car to a max
speed of 110mph, and 0-60 in 10 seconds, not
bad for a 1950's car.

This front end is so recognisable, it's a Ford
Escort Mk.1 Mexico. The front end of a Mexico
differs from other Escort models by having
chrome quarter bumbers and plastic covers
over the head lights.

The classic paint scheme of the Mexico.
Although the Mexico was available in various
colours, the scheme was always the same.

This must have had a restoration as it was
totally immaculate and all original.

 

This 1929 Indian scout motorcycle was so
beautiful.The Indian Motorcycle company made
these from 1920 - 1949. The owner of this
motorcycle was on holiday in the U.S where
he saw it hanging on a cafe wall as a centre-
piece.

The bike wasn't running as it was only for
decoration. The guy liked it that much he
offered the cafe a huge sum of money and
the cafe owners not only sold it, but they also
shipped it to the U.K for the new owner. It now
runs like it should and sounds lovely.

A 1954 Mk.1 Sunbeam Apline finished in a
gorgeous turquoise. These lovely 2 seaters
were hand built from 1953 - 1955. They were
quite revolutionary for the time and featured
a 2267cc engine with alloy rocker covers
and a siamese exhaust ports (on cylinders
2/3).

The Mk. 1 was developed from the saloon
model, however, since it was developed on the
saloon chassis, with the roof removed it suffered
from rigidity compromises despite extra side
members in the chassis. The gearbox ratios were
changed, and from 1954 an overdrive unit became
standard. The gear change lever was column-
mounted.

Very few of these cars are ever seen on the big
screen. However, a sapphire blue Alpine
featured prominently in the 1955 Alfred Hitchcock
film To Catch a Thief starring Cary Grant and
Grace Kelly.

This 1954 Morris Cowley medium sized
commercial vehicle (MCV) and based on the
Morris Oxford. This had the 1746cc side valve
engine, four speed column change gearbox and
were rated as 1/2 ton carrying capacity.

This particular truck was one of a thousand
that were shipped by CKD to Australia as a
kit, and they were re-assembled by a dealer
in Sydney. This one spent it's life in a vineyard
down in sunny Australia and underwent a
total restoration about 10 years ago. It was
shipped back to the U.K in 2008 and has
been here ever since.

The 1746cc side valve engine. It almost looks
lost in that huge engine bay.

Interior of the Morris Cowley is totally original
and looks so period.

This amazing led sled arrived later in the day.
This is a car I have seen being driven locally
and I have seen it at a few local shows.

The bodywork fabrication on this car is a work
of art and must have taken hours. It rides on
air suspension, which gives you a clue as to
what this car started out as...

The rear end looks menacing, and reminds me
of something from a Batman movie.

A better look at the rear body work fabrication.

Interior of the led sled is a mixture of 1950's
nostalgia and the jetsons.

This led sled is long, much of that length is
from the rear axle backwards. Oh by the way,
this car started life as a Citroen.

So that was the Cheasley classic car show

2104. Overall a fantastic day out and a

cracking little show. Apart from the classic

cars, there was also a live band, and a 13

year old solo singer covering songs by

Adele and Lilly Allen. There was also a

bar, hot food, auto jumble and craft stands.

It was a really good way to spend a sunny

Sunday afternoon.