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.

Kop Hill 2016 (part 1 of 2)

This weeks blog is all about the 8th annual Kop Hill Climb 2016, which was held on 17th and 18th of September. The  Kop Hill is a steep 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.
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 blog review we start with a
car that I spotted as soon as I walked in the show.
It's a gorgeous 1932 Ford Model B roadster with
a real 1950's hot rod look. The '32 roadster has 
to be in my top 5 cars to one day own.

The baby blue paint with the red painted steel 
wheels with chrome beauty rings and hubcaps
and wrapped in white wall tyres are pure nostalgia.
This lovely hot rod had a 4500CC engine, which
 in a roadster means it should be able to light up
the tyres in almost any gear.

The interior was trimmed to the same high quality
as the exterior. The white tuck and roll door cards
are also another hot rod period must have. I'm
not sure if this is a steel bodied roadster or not,
but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

The custom alloy seats obviously save weight but
I'm not sure on how comfortable they would be
on a cruise or long run somewhere.

The classic and beautiful front end of a 1932
roadster. This one had a drilled front bean axle
that had been painted red to match the wheels.

American and British classic cars parked up
next to each other. Here a 1965 Ford Mustang 
and a 1962 Triumph TR4 share the same area
at the Kop Hill show. The sheer diversity of vehicles
that were on show was huge.

This gorgeous light green 2 door hardtop
Mustang had the 289 cubic inch, 4.7 litre V8
motor with a manual gearbox.

I did like the contrasting blue stripes over the
body on this Mustang. I don't think this is a Shelby
or GT model, but I do know that those reversing
lights were an optional extra.

This lovely British classic 1962 TR4, looked 
amazing it in it's race guise. I did like those
banded steel wheels and the lack of front and 
rear bumpers. The huge race number on the
door indicated this cars purpose. This TR4
had a 2238cc engine with a 4 speed manual
gearbox.

This really is a nice looking car that in it's day
was quite nippy. With a 0-60 time of just over 10
seconds and a top speed of 110 MPH.

 Chevrolet Corvette C1 circa mid - late '50's. This 
car was stunning.The traditional red and white
paint scheme is probably the most common
colour combination, but Chevrolet also produced
the C1 in turquoise and black with white amongst
other colour combinations. The early C1's had
the single headlight, which I prefer to the quad 
headlights the later models had.

Both my passions in one photo, an American
classic and a Volkswagen camper van.

The C1 really is a beautiful car, the flowing lines
are almost a work of art. I love how the rear lights
are recessed into the rear fender and how the
exhaust exits from under the car through the
lovely chrome bumper corners.

This really is a beautiful place to sit. The styling
of the dashboard is almost perfect. You can
almost imagine driving down the freeway with
your favourite tunes on the AM radio and the
wind in your hair.

This lovely old 1969 early bay was parked up
just behind the C1 and looked great. This bus
was riding at what looked like standard height
and looked so good. The chrome head light
peaks were a nice addition that suited this bus. 

This old bay was very straight and looked solid.
I think this bus may have originally been a panel
van as those rear side windows look non standard.

A close up of the rear side windows, I don't
recognise them which makes me think they were
fitted at a later date, they did however look cool.

This stunning lowered 1964 Porsche 356C was
immaculate. You can just make out how straight
the old Porsche is from the reflection in that lovely
blue paint down the side of the body.

The 356C had disc brakes all round and the 
original 1600cc engine has been replaced with 
a more powerful  1720cc motor. 

This 1914 Fafnir Hall-Scott special was amazing.
Fafnir was a car manufacturer based in 
Germany between 1908 - 1926. Hall-Scott 
was an engine manufacturer based in Berkeley
 in California between 1910 - 1960.

This car has the Hall-Scott 10 litre aero engine 
originally built of a WW1 bi-plane. It is a four cylinder, 
water cooled, single overhead cam engine that  
makes this huge motor 10,000 cc.

This car could reach speeds in excess of 100 
MPH, and the only brakes this beast had were 
rear brakes, there were no front brakes what
so ever. !

The interior doesn't look that comfortable but
 then I guess if your doing over 100 MPH in this
old bone shaker car and you only have brakes 
on the rear, comfort is probably the last thing on
your mind!.

This bright yellow 1930 Austin 12/4 Open road 
tourer (I think) caught my eye. To be honest I don't
know a lot about the Austin 12/4 but it did look cool.

I spotted this in front of the radiator and in 
between the chassis horns, I'm assuming it is
some sort of supercharger?

This is a Humpmobile circa 1910. This car had
skinny wooden wheels look somewhat fragile
with even skinnier tyres. I think the engine would 
have been a 4 cylinder,  112 cubic inch engine 
with 2 speed transmission.

The oval windscreen wouldn't have done much 
to protect the driver from the elements or from
stopping the bug's getting into the drivers teeth.

This beautifully restored car looked stunning in
it's fresh cream coloured paint. I'm not sure how
fast this car would have gone, but I'm guessing
there wouldn't be too much traction from those
skinny tyres.

I loved the Kerosene tail lamps and the picnic 
basket. You can see just how skinny those tyres 
really are in this photo.

This lovely pro street Ford Popular was on a trade 
stand promoting welding or fabrication or something
 like that, and it was a customers car that they had
been working on. The big block Chevrolet engine
completely filled the tiny engine bay of the 'Pop'.

The super narrow rear axle and those huge 15" 
x 15" wheel and tyre combination look tough. 
The body was perfectly straight and although
this car has some way to go until it's finished
it does look very promising.

The interior is coming together but it still some 
way to go, but it's looking really good so far. That
huge transmission tunnel is to cover the unusual
(in a hot rod) manual gearbox.

This lovely 1974 Australian Ford Falcon caught
my eye as they are quite rare over here in the
U.K. This one is the XB GT Coupe model in
mushroom beige.

This lovely old Falcon had the 351 cubic inch
motor with the auto gearbox. This is a real
tough looking muscle car and those chrome
12 slot wheels and boot spoiler suit the car 
perfectly.

This Lamborghini Espada was gorgeous and
again quite rare. The Espada is a 4 seater
grad tourer which was produced from 1968 - 
1978 and had a 3.9 litre V12 engine.

Judging by the shape of the tail lights and 
the twin exhaust on this one I think this is an 
early model as it did have some body changes
during it's production. Just over 1200 of these 
lovely understated (for Lamborghini) cars were 
ever made which makes them very exclusive.

Talking of rare cars this Ford Galaxie 500 is even
rarer than the Lamborghini. This 1964 Galaxie
'54A' 4 door sedan, in raven black with black
interior is believed to be one of only 295 cars
ever made in this trim and body style, and records
show that there are only 16 left with this one being
the only one in the U.K.!

This stunning car had the 390 cubic inch, 6.4
litre V8 engine, 4 barrel carbs and a 3 speed
manual gearbox. You can see just how straight
that body is from the perfect reflection in that
mile deep black paint.

This immaculate car is the easily recognisable
1957 Chevrolet. I think this one was the Bel Air
2 door sedan finished in a perfect coat of black
 paint. The bright chrome body trim and those
lovely chrome American racing 5 spoke wheels
 looked awesome against the body colour.

All '57 Chevy's had a V8 motor of varying sizes
and I'm not sure what one this had. The body on
this '57 was just like new, it really was super
straight, check out that reflection on the trunk.

The interior of this car was just as nice as the
exterior. I did like the Chevy floor mats and door
cards. Optional extras available on the '57
included air conditioning, power steering and
power brakes and even a signal seeking AM
radio. I did like that full width bench seat that
looked so comfortable.

This lovely lowered 1967 rag top beetle looked
stunning in that gorgeous green colour. This bug
really was so straight and solid looking. Those
Fuchs style wheels suited the low look of this

The '67 had some changes from the '68 including
the larger 1500cc engine with 2 speed wipers,
12 volt electrical system and door locking buttons
on each door amongst other things. I did like the
all red rear light lenses on the lovely bug.

So that was part 1 of my blog review about Kop
Hill. Next Saturday you can read more about this
great event where there will be plenty more air
cooled vehicles, as well as American classics,
and plenty of unusual British and European
classic vehicles. There are also some photos
of the 'Wall of Death' which have to been seen
to be believed! So don't forget to come back 
next Saturday.