rixter
Gold Level Sponsor
Hello,
I attended the Rootes Heritage Day event at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, UK on July 20th. This was about halfway through our UK trip that started in London and ended in the Cotswolds. What a great vacation! We even got to drive a right-hand drive rental car on the left on super narrow, no shoulder roads. More than a couple times we were scraping the bushes on the left as we encountered oncoming vehicles. Not a problem as long as we kept vehicle dings "under golf ball size" according to Enterprise. LOL.
We had great weather, but as most know, all bets are off on rain potential in England. As luck (bad) would have it, it rained on the morning of the event and I worried that would wipe out the vehicle turnout. I was wrong. Many Rootes car showed and there were several vendors selling "bits" in a mini autojumble. As luck (good) would have it, there was also a British Ford show going on at the grounds. Talk about a treat for one price. Entrance to the museum and two car shows. You can tell from my posted photos there is some moisture on the ground from early rain. The amount of Rootes cars in attendance was immense in my opinion. Not sure what a typical Rootes gathing looks like over there. There were Alpines and some Tigers, but also tons of other Sunbeam models and other Rootes Group vehicles including Singer, Hillman, Humber and even Commer trucks and vans/buses.... stuff you just don't see on our side of the pond. I never realized there were so many versions of the Imp. It was also interesting to see cars that looked familiar as Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth cars here that were Rootes cars over there, such as the Horizon.
Being also an English Ford Thames van owner made the addition of the British Fords to the show grounds was a bonus. The museum itself is a gem. In addition to the main museum, they also have a separate building of British cars that are presented in "car park" format.... literally rows and rows of cars in a warehouse open to walking through. I highly recommend this event, which has been held annually for a few years around this time of the year. We stayed in nearby Leamington Spa, which has a great selection of restaurants and shops and is near Warwick Castle.
I'll throw up a few photos... I have many, so in batches of select ones.
Rick
I attended the Rootes Heritage Day event at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, UK on July 20th. This was about halfway through our UK trip that started in London and ended in the Cotswolds. What a great vacation! We even got to drive a right-hand drive rental car on the left on super narrow, no shoulder roads. More than a couple times we were scraping the bushes on the left as we encountered oncoming vehicles. Not a problem as long as we kept vehicle dings "under golf ball size" according to Enterprise. LOL.
We had great weather, but as most know, all bets are off on rain potential in England. As luck (bad) would have it, it rained on the morning of the event and I worried that would wipe out the vehicle turnout. I was wrong. Many Rootes car showed and there were several vendors selling "bits" in a mini autojumble. As luck (good) would have it, there was also a British Ford show going on at the grounds. Talk about a treat for one price. Entrance to the museum and two car shows. You can tell from my posted photos there is some moisture on the ground from early rain. The amount of Rootes cars in attendance was immense in my opinion. Not sure what a typical Rootes gathing looks like over there. There were Alpines and some Tigers, but also tons of other Sunbeam models and other Rootes Group vehicles including Singer, Hillman, Humber and even Commer trucks and vans/buses.... stuff you just don't see on our side of the pond. I never realized there were so many versions of the Imp. It was also interesting to see cars that looked familiar as Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth cars here that were Rootes cars over there, such as the Horizon.
Being also an English Ford Thames van owner made the addition of the British Fords to the show grounds was a bonus. The museum itself is a gem. In addition to the main museum, they also have a separate building of British cars that are presented in "car park" format.... literally rows and rows of cars in a warehouse open to walking through. I highly recommend this event, which has been held annually for a few years around this time of the year. We stayed in nearby Leamington Spa, which has a great selection of restaurants and shops and is near Warwick Castle.
I'll throw up a few photos... I have many, so in batches of select ones.
Rick
