Brill Village Classic Car Show (part 1 of 2)

This weeks blog is the first part of a two part review all about the 13th annual 'Brill Festival 2016' which included a classic car meeting. The village of Brill is nestled deep in the Buckinghamshire countryside and only a short distance from the Oxfordshire border. Brill village is only about 15 miles from my hometown, so for me its a nice local show. I have attended this show for the past 4 / 5 years and it's always been a good little show that gets better every year. Brill is probably most famous for it's windmill that has timbers dating back to 1685, and it has just undergone a full restoration. The Brill festival is a two day event that was this year held over the weekend of 27th - 28th August and featured a beer festival, a food fair, classic car show, and a talent show entitled 'Brill's got strictly and factor talent' there is also plenty for the children to do and see. There was also live music from 'The Dung Beatles' in the marquee in the evening. The classic car show, on the Sunday always attracts a vast array of old classic cars, including the odd Volkswagen or two. As with most weekends in the U.K there are numerous events to go to and as most of my friends were at other (VW related) shows, I headed over to Brill with only my faithful Boobie dog for company.
To see all my other blog entries, go to ‘My Blog Archive’ to the left of this page. Simply click on an arrow for a particular year, then click on an arrow for a particular month, this will then give you a drop down menu for all the blog entries for that month.

My 1969 microbus parked up at the Brill village
classic car show. I have been attending this
local show for the past 4/5 years and although
there aren't too many VW's that normally attend
it is still a great little show.

Considering I haven't had time to wash the
bus for a few weeks, she still looks good.

Looking back at the early arrivals in the show
and shine. The show did have many more
participants later in the day. My bus has some
good company. 

The village of Brill is situated on top of a hill,
and this provides fantastic views of the flat
Buckinghamshire / Oxfordshire countryside.

This gorgeous Armstrong Siddeley really was
immaculate. Armstrong Siddeley were a British
Engineering group that produced cars from
1919 - 1960.

I'm not sure what model this lovely car is, but
I was chatting to the owner and I said how do
deal with any rust issues? He said that the bonnet
was made from industrial aluminium and the
chassis was made from steel girders, so it's not 
going to rust in a hurry !.

This lovely British classic 1971 series 2 (1968
-1971) E-Type Jaguar was stunning. The series
2 had no glass in the headlight recesses but did 
have wrap round chrome bumpers.

The E-Type has an instantly recognisable shape
that even Enzo Ferrari, when he first saw it,
commented on how beautiful it was. This one
has the V12 engine with a manual gearbox.

The interior of the E-Type has a classic timeless
look about it. 

This lovely blue and white MK2 1959 ford zodiac 
caught my eye. I do like these old Fords. This 
looked to be pretty much original and so much
 better for it.

The Mk2's had a straight six engine with a 3
speed gearbox with optional overdrive. This 
lovely car was up for sale for £7000. ($9100)

This 1977 Lotus Elite stood out, not for the fact
that is was painted in Ferrari red, but because 
it was so clean. The elite proceeded the Elan
and they had a 2.0 litre engine that produced
a very reasonable 155 BHP.

This Plymouth Belvedere circa 1960. This huge
American classic looked amazing in it's cool
turquoise and white paint scheme which suited
the car so well.

The interior was pure nostalgia and as I looked
inside I could hear almost Danny and the Juniors
singing 'At the hop' in my head.

This car really was huge but it was also stylish,
those tail fins were a work of art.

All the Belvedere models had various sizes of 
V8 engine, ranging from 3.8 litre to 5.7 litre with 
either 2 or 3 speed auto box.

This 1948 Pontiac Streamliner Sedan Coupe 
looked fantastic. This one had the straight 8 
cylinder engine, nicknamed the Silver Streak.

I think the rear end of the lovely old '48 looks
great.

This U.S import had some real patina, that really
suited the cars overall look. Lets just hope the
owner never decides to paint this classic.

The owner was saying that because the in line
straight 8 engine produces so much torque, you
can leave it in second gear around town and
only put it into 4th gear on motorways.

This 1929 Morris Cowley dome head coupe is
quite rare. The engine was a whopping 11.9HP
4 cylinder with a top speed of 52MPH.

The performance doesn't seem a lot compared
to today's standards, but back in the 1920's it
was quite impressive. This car would have cost 
you £180 new, and you would have got 28MPG.
From this angle the old Morris looks very similar
to a 1929 Ford Model A 5 window coupe.

This dinky 1981 Mini Moke was produced by
 a subsidiary of British Leyland, Leyland
Australia from 1966 - 1981. The Moke is based
on the Leyland Mini. The Australian Moke's,
nicknamed the 'Californian' had the 13 inch
wheels as opposed to the 10 inch wheels that
the British Mokes had.

This 1956 series one land rover wasn't in a
concourse condition, but it was all original.
The Land Rover was designed by Maurice
Wilks after he drove a Willys Jeep.

The Land Rover was originally designed for
farm and light industrial use, which is why the
interior is so sparse. The interior design hasn't
changed much over the years.

The 'Landy' has a steel box chassis and an
aluminium body, and Land Rover have claimed
that 70% of vehicles that were built are still on
the road today. Now that is very impressive!

This 1965 Mustang looked awesome in it's
grey / green colour. This beast had the 289
cubic inch motor with a 4 barrel carb and those
 great looking American Racing wheels.

This car was not only immaculate, but also
very straight. The paint was flawless and the
chrome shone like new. This really was a
lovely looking American classic.

This stunning jet black Ford Zephyr six looked
amazing. The Zephyr six was produced from
1951 - 1956 and had the 2262 cc six cylinder
engine with a 3 speed gearbox with column
change.

This amazingly straight and solid car is capable
of a top speed of 82 MPH. In 1953 a Zephyr
six won the Monte Carlo Rally beating a Jaguar. 

The thing I like about classic car shows is the
great diversity of vehicles you get to see. Here
a 1960's Rover 100 and a MK1 Ford Escort
Mexico are parked up together. I notice Boobie,
my gorgeous dog, had to get in on the photo!

This is a true British classic (in my humble
opinion anyway) It's a MK1 Ford Escort Mexico.
These Mexico's were produced in honour of
victory in the 1970 London to Mexico World
Cup Rally. 

The Mexico had the 1598cc cross flow engine
and the distinctive body stripes and the front
quarter bumpers. This old Mexico looked like
new and really stood out in the Brill display

Another great mix of classic cars at the show.
Here an MG T series (I think) circa 1940's is 
parked next to a lovely 1972 Triumph TR6.

I have to admit, I'm not an MG expert but I
think this is part of the 'T' series of MG's. What
ever model it was, it was extremely clean and
complete. 

The interior of this lovely old MG was the
height of luxury back in the day. That wooden
dashboard, which is probably Walnut or Oak or
some other expensive wood, looked fantastic.

This gorgeous purple 1972 Triumph TR6 was
totally immaculate. The TR6 was my dream
car when I was a kid, and I have to admit I
still like them today. 

Triumph produced these lovely 2.5 litre six
cylinder sports cars from 1968 - 1976 and the
 body styling with the squared off front and rear
 ends was supposedly a design feature involving
Karmann. 

The TR6 had the 2.5 litre engine with a 4 speed
manual gearbox with an optional overdrive
which could accelerate the car from 0 - 60 in
8.2 seconds, with a top speed of 120 MPH
 which back in the day was very impressive. 

This massive 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville in
a lovely dark turquoise overshadowed almost
every other vehicle at the show due to it's size.

When you have a massive body with tons of
chrome, you need a big engine to pull the car
along and this Caddy had the 390 cubic inch 
6.4 litre engine with a 4 speed Hydra-Matic 
automatic gearbox. 

This has to be America's best body styling of
the 1950's. The lovely side profile of the '59  
which has a body length of over 19 feet.

The rear end of this Caddy looks like something
straight out the cartoon 'The Jetsons' with it's
futuristic look.  

The most striking feature on this car are the
 huge sharp tail fins with dual bullet tail lights.
Why can't we have cars with tail fins now-a-
days? I'm sure it'd make driving more fun.

A close up of the beautiful bullet tail lights, that
look like the flames coming out of a space 
rocket. 

This stunning car is a Facel Vega HK500 circa
1961. It is a French car that was launched in
1954.

The HK500 used the Chrysler 6.3 litre, 360
BHP V8 engine that gave this extremely
luxurious car a top speed of 147 MPH and a
0 - 60 time of 8.5 seconds.

The body styling was amazing compared to
other cars of the same age. These cars were
also one of the first cars to feature a middle
console over the gearbox adding to the super
luxurious interior.

I just love those rear tail lights, they really are
a work of art. I can't imagine where you would
start looking for spares for this car.

The rear of the Facel Vega, the styling still looks
good today. I loved how the exhausts exited out
of the back of the huge chrome rear bumper. 

So that was part 1 of my 2 part review about the
Brill Festival. Next Saturday you can read part
2 of this cracking little show where you will be 
able to see plenty more classics both British 
and American, a couple of T25's, a beetle and
so much more, so be sure to come back next
Saturday.