Chiltern Hills Vintage Vehicle Rally, (part 2 of 4)

This weeks blog entry is the second instalment about the annual Chiltern Hills Vintage Vehicle Rally which is a one day show for classic and vintage vehicles (including old Volkswagen camper vans) and is organised by the Game Club to help raise money for local charitable causes. The rally is a well established event which allows owners of classic and vintage vehicles to gather together in the glorious Buckinghamshire countryside. This event was actually their 23rd anniversary, and took place on 21st May. The new venue is at Weedon Park, Weedon Hill near Aylesbury HP22 4NN and is a fantastic location for this great one day show which attracts well over 1000 vehicles of all descriptions and the Game Club had also organised: Children's rides / slides, a fun dog show, trade stands, an auto jumble, a beer tent, speciality teas, a pig roast, burgers and ice cream stands. I have attended this event for the last 4 / 5 years and it's one show that I really enjoy due to the huge diversity of the vehicles. Find out more about the Chlitern Hills Rally from their website here: http://www.chilternhillsrally.org.uk/
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.

To start this weeks review we have this gorgeous
Porsche 356 Speedster finished in a perfect coat
of brilliant white paint. I'm not sure if this speedster
is an original or not, as the registration denotes
it's year as a 1969 and Porsche creased making
the speedster in 1965.

If this was a replica it was a very well built and
convincing replica. The standard and finish were
both impeccable.  The 356 speedster has to be
one of the worlds most beautiful cars ever made.

How nice is this 1937 Ford model 78. Ford only
made the model 78 in two years, 1937 / 1938.
This stunning car was imported from a dealer
in Seattle, U.S.A. and the owner uses it as much
as possible, including for use as a wedding car.

The '78 has a flat head V8 side valve engine
with a 3 speed gearbox. This combination gives
the car a top speed of 85 MPH and returns around
15 - 20 MPG. This car will happily cruise along
at 50 - 60 MPH all day.

This stunning all black Ford F100 was perfectly
straight and the paint was so good that this old
pick up truck gave off almost perfect reflections.
The 'F' series pick up truck was first produced
in 1948 and is still in production today.

This 1956 beauty had been dropped in the weeds
at the front giving a nose down stance, that
reminded me of hot rods back in the 1970's.

This tough looking 1966 Oldsmobile 442 looked
menacing with it's lowered stance. The name
442 actually refers to the 4 barrel carburetors,
the 4 speed manual transmission and the 2 (twin)
exhausts that this muscle car had.

This really was nice and looked so straight. This
car could achieve 0 - 60 MPH in 6.3 seconds,
which back in the sixties was impressive and
run the 1/4 mile in 14.8 seconds.

I did like this slammed 1961 Ford Galaxie that
had the 390 cubic inch, 6.4 litre V8 engine. The
gorgeous satin paint suited this car and gave it
a really tough look.

You can see just how low this car is in this photo.
The 1961 Galaxie had some body changes to
the earlier models, the tail fins were almost gone,
and had the round (pie-plate) tail lights.

This immaculate interior of the Galaxie, how nice
must it be to cruise around sitting in this. The all
red vinyl interior is typical of both U.S and British
classic cars of the time.

Another Ford Galaxie, this time a 1963 500
model. You can see slight body modifications
from the earlier Galaxie above. The 500 had the
223 cubic inch, 3.7 litre engine or the 292 cubic
inch V8 on the 500XL model.

This really was a gorgeous car that looked stunning
in it's gloss black paint.

This 1963 Chevrolet 10 pick up truck was another
gorgeous looking vehicle. This boy was a dramatic
new style that was lower and longer than previous
models. This model also had an integrated cab
and bed, although this design proved unpopular.

It may have been an unpopular design but I think
these are really cool looking pick up trucks. This
one had been slammed and just looked even
better, and the all black paint work added a nice
aggressive look to this old pick up.

This lovely pastel yellow and white 1959 Ford
Fairlane caught my eye with it's gorgeous two
tone colour scheme and those cool chrome
wheels with white wall tyres. The name Fairlane
actually comes from Henry Ford's estate, 'Fair
Lane' in Michigan.

This car is huge and must be quite challenging
driving it on the small British roads. The styling
is typical of 1950's / 1960's American cars.

This dark green Ford Model 'A' caught my eye
as it had not had a roof chop, unlike most Model
'A''s you see. I think this was a reproduction, albeit
a very nice one. The Ford Model 'A' was produced
from 1927-31. This car has the Model 'B' grille shell
which is a popular modification.

The small yet powerful 21 stud flat head V8 engine
is a hot rodders favourite engine.

The Model 'A' pick up is such a cool vehicle that
most British hot rodders would like to own. I did
like the cream coloured wire wheels that give the
truck an old vintage look.

This 1959 Ford panel van looked great in it's
dark purple paint. These panel vans are such
cool looking vans, that look so tough. I did like
the chrome wheels with the thin white wall tyres.

The 'F' series of trucks and vans were produced
from 1956 - 1960 (in the U.S.) and in '59 Ford
introduced a 4 wheel version, the first of the big
three U.S. manufacturers to offer this option. I'm
not sure if this was 4 wheel drive or not but it didn't
really matter as it looked so cool.

This massive 1959 ( I think) Ford Galaxie 500
skyliner convertible. The first thing you notice
about this car is the retractable hard top that
folds down into the trunk.

A closer look at the retractable hard top. This
feature was expensive and complicated and left
very little room in the trunk. This design has since
been used by Mercedes and Lexus but on smaller
2 seater sports cars which means the smaller
roof doesn't take up so much room in the trunk.

The lovely and classic interior of the Galaxie 500
with the new padded dash board and deep dish
steering wheel.

The original two tone paint was an optional extra
and with all the chrome and stainless steel this
really was an ostentatious vehicle that was very
typical of 1950's American cars. 

This lovely RAT looking 1953 Chevrolet really
was a nice looking truck. I did like the patina
over the light turquoise paint and those red painted
steel wheels with white wall tyres give the truck
a hot rod theme.

There was more patina over the rear fenders,
which looked great.This really was one cool
looking pick up truck.

I've seen this lovely 1934 Ford Tudor Sedan at
a few local shows and it always looks so nice.
This cool street rod was built in 2005 and has a
350 cubic inch motor and matching transmission.

This really is a nice looking car, I do like those
5 spoke American racing mag wheels that set
the car off nicely.

This RAT look Chevrolet step side pick up looked
cool with it's paint that looked like real patina (rust).
This lovely truck had been lowered and looked as
though it had a narrow front beam as those front
wheels were tucked nicely under the wings.

Bonnet (hood) mascots are quite unusual and
this old truck had a very unusual dog mascot.

This really was a lovely looking pick up. You can
see just how low this is by how far the rear fenders
cover the rear wheels.

A great selection of old British, American and
European classic vehicles from the early 1900's to
modern day. This really is a fantastic day out.

A great selection of old British, American and
European classic vehicles from the early 1900's
to modern day. This really is a fantastic day out.

A great selection of old British, American and
European classic vehicles from the early 1900's
to modern day. This really is a fantastic day out.

This gorgeous 1966 Volvo P1800 was just like
new and looked fantastic in it's off white colour.
This car became famous in the 1960's as the car
that Sir Roger Moore drove in the hit T.V. series
'The Saint'. The P1800 was produced from 1961
to 1973.

This lovey coupé has such a timeless body shape
that will still look good in 100 years time. The
P1800 had an 1800cc engine (as the name
suggests) with a 4 speed manual gearbox. There
was also a gearbox available with overdrive.

The classic interior of the P1800. In 1998 an
P1800S (the 'S' stands for Sweden') was certified
as the highest mileage private vehicle driven by
the original owner in a non commercial service,
having driven over 3 million miles (4.8 million km).


So that was part 2 of 4 reviews all about the great
one day show. Next week you can see plenty more
British classics, along with a gorgeous French 
classic. There are yet more American cars and
not forgetting more Volkswagens! You can see
all this next Saturday so don't forget to come back
next week.