Saturday 12 November 2016

Kop Hill 2016 (part 2 of 2)

This weeks blog is part 2 of 2 about the 8th annual Kop Hill Climb 2016, which was held on 17th and 18th of September. The  Kop Hill is a steep hill climb just outside Princes Risborough, a small market town nestling at the foot of the Chilterns in the heart of deepest rural Buckinghamshire. It rises 304 feet in just 3,848 feet, with a gradient of 1 in 4 at its steepest. At the turn of the 20th century, Kop Hill was just a dirt track up an open scarp. Its surface was loose, stony, hard and bumpy, with a nasty rut at the top that could tear off motorcycle tyres, and a hump that launched many drivers and riders into the air. Today Kop Hill has a smooth tarmac surface with gentle bends, and its verges are lushly wooded. It starts with a gradual slope but by the halfway mark reaches a 1 in 6 gradient. The road then eases off before getting even steeper at 1 in 4 for a short section just before the summit, showing the power and grace of some of the classic machines in our revival and challenging the older cars and bikes simply to make it to the top.This is a fantastic family fun day out with enough to keep everyone happy, attractions include: amazing historic vehicles, traders, children's area, food court, licenced bar and fun fair to mention just a few. The Kop Hill event has a garden party atmosphere, and this years theme was the 1960's.The one attraction, apart from all the classic and American vehicles, that I wanted to see was the 'Wall of Death'. You can find out more about the Kop Hill climb event by clicking this link to their web page: 
http://www.kophillclimb.org.uk/about.html  
Kop Hill is only about 9 miles from my hometown, and to save me getting the microbus out and end up parking it up in some muddy public parking field, I decided to nip over to the event in my trusty T4 Transporter. The blog continues as I continue to wander around admiring all the classic vehicles on display.
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.

This 1955 oval window beetle was absolutely
stunning. The silver blue paint showed off the
perfectly straight body perfectly. This car looked
to be 100% original and as though it could have
just driven off the factory line.

You can see just how straight the old '55 really
is from this photo. The deck lid rack was a really
nice accessory that suited the car as did the
colour matched wheels.

The inner wings had also been painted in the
same body colour and finished to the same high
standard. Small details like this help the vehicle
go from being a nice car to being a gorgeous car.

The unmistakable shape and colour scheme
of a 1969 MK2 Ford Lotus Cortina. Ford made
MK2 in collaboration with Lotus from 1966- 1970.
The Lotus Cortina was only for the 2 door model
Cortina's and always in the same colour scheme.

The Lotus Cortina had the larger 1557cc straight
4, twin overhead cam engine. This really a nice
clean example of this very desirable classic car.

This lovely two tone blue MK2 Ford Zodiac
was really nice. The chrome work was like new
and the two tone paint had been expertly applied
over super straight body panels. The aftermarket
wheels looked just about right and not out of
place. I did like the steel sun visor and the spot 
light mounted onto the A post. 

The MK2 Zodiac was produced from 1956 -
1962 and was a higher spec version of the
Zephyr. The way to distinguish the Zodiac from
the Zephyr is a more elaborate tail end styling
and a different front grille. The 2 tone colours
were standard on a Zodiac as were the gold
plated badges.

I spotted this sticker in the window of the Zodiac
which brought back happy memories. It was for
the N.A.S.C. (national association of street clubs)
show for 1982, which I'm sure a few friends and
I attended.! The N.A.S.C. Nationals was the 
biggest hot rod event of the year back
in the day here in the U.K.

This steel bodied 1928/9 Model 'A'  5 window 
coupe was gorgeous and re-lit the hot rod flame
deep inside me. I think this belongs to a guy 
from my hometown as I have seen it driving
around a few times. This fully fendered rod
in that unusual deep red colour looked 
awesome and the black steel wheels with
white wall tyres looked a perfect combination
to suit the car perfectly.

It's unusual these days to see a coupe that
hasn't had a roof chop and this looked so much
better for not having one. I do like those deep
dish steel rear wheels. This really was a nice
5 window coupe that I hope to see more of.

Looking in through the small rear window the
dash looked to bear a close resemblance of an
original '29, which I think is always the way to go. 

I think this really solid and clean looking 1966 
beetle is from my hometown as I often see it at
local shows. This all white bug looks to be pretty
much original, which is always nice to see.

You can see just how straight this old bug really
is from this photo. This car could have just driven
out of the Volkswagen showroom.

The organisers of Kop Hill climb had arranged
for some old retro style fairground attractions
to attend which gave the whole event a real
friendly family affair.  

During both days of this 2 day event they also
had soapbox racing. This is just one of the
home made soapbox racers that caught my eye.
This looks like an old 1950's T bucket hot rod.

One of the classic commercial vehicles that I 
spotted was 1913 Ford Model T truck. I just 
loved this old truck. This truck was unrestored
and the paint looked to be original as did the 
rest of this rare old truck.

The body was mainly made up from rotting
wood, and the canvas sides had also seen
better days, but I just hope this old truck stays
just like this as it looks great.

The solid steel wheels with the skinny tyres
looked as though the ride could be somewhat
bumpy. 

I have to admit I have no idea what this single
seat car is, it is possibly made from whatever
the owner had. I'm assuming that this car ran
up Kop Hill as it looks like it was designed to
race.

Again, I have no idea what motor this is or what
it may have come out of, but judging by...

The drip tray to catch all the oil it may well have
been a Volkswagen!

Whatever that engine is it drives the rear wheels
via chains. 

This unusual vehicle was built by R.A.Harding 
Ltd which was founded in 1921. The vehicle 
has a 250cc Japanese and an Albion gearbox
which provided drive to the nearside rear 
wheel only via a chain.

This actual car is owned by Paddy Hopkirk, who
 is famous for winning the 1964 Monte Carlo 
Rally in a Mini Cooper.

The 250cc engine provides chain driven power
 to the nearside rear wheel only.

Paddy Hopkirk learnt the art of handbrake
 turns whilst driving this Harding around an old 
P.O.W. camp near his home, as this was the
 most efficient way of stopping the Harding.

Quality air-cooled classics parked up side by
side at the Kop Hill climb.

This 1964 Porsche 356C looked great in it's
black paint with twin red stripes. The lack of
bumpers gives this old Porsche a tough look.

This lovely 356 had a 1720 cc engine and
disc brakes at all four corners. The reflection
in that gorgeous black paint is amazing.

1962 alpine rally themed bug is a car I instantly
recognised. It belongs to Julian who is a member
of the Wolfsburg Weed Huggers VW club based
just down the road from me in Penn.

This is really a nice looking car that I never get
tired of seeing at various shows throughout
the year.

How nice does this 1957 Lotus Eleven Le Mans 
special look with it's polished body panels.
The Lotus Eleven was designed by Colin 
Chapman as a racing car. The highest position
 the Lotus came in the 24 hour Le Mans race
 was 7th. 

The Lotus Eleven came in two body styles,
one with a headrest and one without a head-
rest and just having 2 small fins. Only around
270 of these cars were ever produced so this
car is extremely rare.

The interior of the Lotus looks very comfortable
considering what the car was designed for. I
do like the fact every surface is polished rather
than being painted.

Behind the grandstand over looking the hill was
this trader selling coffee from the back of their
split screen bus. The bus may have the RAT
look but the coffee is second to none.

This 1955 Chevrolet 3100 pick up truck looked
right at home parked up on the straw that was
put down to soak up the wet mud. In 1954 the
3100 series underwent some modifications to
 the styling and one of the mods was the curved
windscreen.

Another modification was the introduction of
cargo bed rails, although I'm not sure if these
were the original items. It's nice to see the
standard wheels with hub caps on this lovely
old pick up truck.

This huge 1963 2 door Ford Galaxie 500 XL 
convertible looked fantastic parked up. This
gorgeous car was immaculate and that gold
paint suited the car so well. This '500' had
the 390 cubic inch motor with the fantastic
sounding 'Cruise-O-Matic' automatic gearbox.

This stunning 2 door was huge, just look how
big it is from the doors backwards! The rear
end styling is awesome and if you squint it looks 
like the front of another car.

That massive bench seat looks so comfortable
with enough room for 3 people to enjoy the ride.
I can just imagine cruising down some back
road in America, with the sun shining and the
 radio playing some rock and roll tunes.

This silver 1965 Porsche 356C cabriolet looked 
so nice in that gorgeous silver paint colour with
the black top.

This really was a lovely car and just as original.
The last of the 356's to come off the production
line were assembled for the Dutch Police.

I spotted this 1965 Ford Falcon and made a 
bee line over to it. I love these cars and this 
one with it's red and gold paint job looked so
tough. I think this is the V8 version as the V8
models had 5 stud wheels whereas the V6 
models had 4 stud wheels

This really is a gorgeous colour scheme that
makes this car stand out. I did like the black
wheels that matched the black detailing on
the car and gave it an aggressive look.

This stunning jet black 1968 (I think) Ford
Mustang fastback looked fantastic and was
so clean. The perfectly straight body looked
great covered in an almost perfect coat of black
paint.

These fastbacks are such nice looking cars,
and it was the fastback that Steve McQueen
drove around in the iconic film 'Bullitt'.

This lovely stock looking 1950 Chevrolet step
side pick up truck looked fantastic. I did like the
paint which may well have been original and the
tatty bodywork which gives this truck so much
character. 

I'm not sure if this is the 1/4 ton, 1/2 ton or 1 ton
pick up, but then I suppose it doesn't matter as
it's a lovely old truck whatever. I did like the rear
wheel arch that had some battle scars that suited
the truck so well. This is one of those vehicles that
I hope never gets restored as I think it's fine as it is.

This pastel blue Ford Popular had had some
serious body modifications to create this lovely
convertible. It reminded me of the Model Y
from the rear, or maybe even a 1934 Ford. 

The body mods had been expertly done and
it looked great. I did like those huge rear wheels
tucked under the rear wings.

One of the attractions at the Kop Hill event was
'The Wall of Death' where motorcycles ride
horizontally around a wooden structure. This
has always been one of the things on my bucket
list, one of the things to do before I die!

They don't use fancy equipment or modern
motorcycles either as this photo of an old
Indian motorcycle shows. This is one of the
bikes they actually use during the show.

Having paid my entry fee I climbed the steps
to the top of the arena and the view was
awesome. Looking down the 30 feet or so at
the motorcycles parked up. As you can see there
isn't a lot of room down there.

To be honest I expected rough looking hairy
bikers with tattoo's to ride the motorcycles but
I couldn't have been more wrong. This young
attractive young lady came out, kick started the
old bike and started to ride around whilst getting
up to speed.

Once up to speed she simply rode up the side
of the circular structure. As if this wasn't good
enough she proceeded to go round one handed

whilst waving to the cheering crowd.

After a few minutes the young lady descended
down the structure and stopped, then this guy
gets on a 4 wheel kart and does the same.
These guys, and girls get so close to the top
of the structure.

This guy was the third to go and proceeded to
go round smiling and waving at the crowd.

He also rode side saddle with no hands while
travelling around the structure at about 25 / 30
MPH.

We were then treated to 3 riders all going
round together. The photo is a bit blurred but
trying to get a good photo as they went round
was a bit tricky.

This is a better photo of the 3 of them going
round together smiling and waving to the crowd.

This is the view coming out of the wall of death
looking across just a small part of the Kop Hill
site. The weather was good and the vehicles
were fantastic. This really is a good day out.

Walking around I spotted this very young lad
playing the drums to a recorded beat of modern
tunes. This young lad was an amazing drummer
and the beat he had was in perfect time to the
beat. I don't know how old this young lad is, but
I'm sure I have t-shirts that are older 
than he is.

So that was my brief 2 part review of the Kop
Hill Climb, if you missed part 1 of this review
you can find it in the top left hand corner of this
page in 'My blog Archive'. This must be the only
review of the Kop Hill Climb that doesn't feature
any of the actual racing up the hill! This is because
I was too engrossed in all the classic cars on
display. Next weeks blog review is all about
the Volkswagen cruise for charity around the
M25 motorway in aid of the teenage cancer
trust. So be sure to come back next Saturday
to read all about this event.

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