The Classic Motor Show at the NEC

A thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a wet and windy November Saturday - indoors surrounded by classic cars and enthusiasts. A quite impressive array of cars were on show of all ages, from the tiny Peel P50 (as seen on BBC's Top Gear programme) to some real exotica from Ferrari, Maserati and a Bugatti Veyron. There was plenty to see in the autojumble/trade areas too although luckily my wallet managed to escape the visit intact.

Click for the picture gallery.

Some of the highlights for me included this lovely Saab 99 Turbo, complete with retro-70s velour interior:





This Citroen Projet-L CX Prototype, which owes much to the Pininfarina Aerodynamica concept and looked quite like a wedge Austin Princess from some angles:



This very rare Ford Granada 2-Door Saloon:





And my favourite car of the show, this Pro-Street Rover P4 which was absolutely beautifully built by Burnham Autos and featured Small Block Chevy power under the bonnet :









There are plenty of other highlights in the photo gallery.

I'll definitely be back for the 2010 show!

VW Golf Oettinger 16s

As the hot hatchback arms-race began to really get going in the early 1980s the leader of the pack, the Mk1 Golf GTI, had already been around for a few years and the competition was catching up. The Mk1 Astra/Kadett D GTE, Ford Escort XR3/XR3i and various others were making significant inroads into the VW share of the market.

More power was clearly needed, but the enlarged 1800cc engine couldn't come soon enough for VW France and the factory 16 valve head was years away. So with assistance and support from the Wolfsburg factory the tuning company Oettinger was called on to develop more power for the 1600 unit. Turbocharging the Mk1 Golf GTI had caused problems for those that had already tried it, and a bigger capacity block wasn't viable.

The solution came in the form of a 16 valve twin-cam cylinder head and uprated engine components to match. With the various improvements the engine was good for 136bhp (a similar figure to VWs own 1800cc 16v engine in the Mk2 Golf) and a rapid 0-60 time of 7.5 seconds.







Bodywork came in either dark grey or white, with a BBS bodykit and ATS Alloy wheels. "16s" badging was a further clue to those left trailing in its wake - the "S" being short for "Soupapes", the French word for Valves. Lots of other interior and mechanical detail changes helped to lift the 16s above the regular GTI model.



Between 1200 and 2000 cars were built, sold in France and Switzerland as official VW products with the full factory warranty. They are a real rarity today.

Porsche 911 S Stainless Steel Car

F. Porsche KG, Stuttgart, 1967.











This Porsche 911 S served as a test model for the use and processing of non-corroding steels in automotive manufacturing.

The body parts are made of cold-rolled sheet steel shaped by machine and in part by hand. The individual parts are welded. The body was not painted, but only ground and brushed. During its 7 years of operation, the car was driven 150,000km. The material passed all tests.

(text from the Deutsches Museum verkehrszentrum).

Unipart Instrument Mounting Console

A very generous recent donation to the Retro-Motoring archives, courtesy of William "RaggedyRacing" Ball.



A lovely retro-period auxiliary instrument cluster, complete with the original box and stick-on metal-effect surround for the dials. Part number GAE130. Fantastic!





Cheers Bill!