[Jeroen]

Last week I happened to be in Europe on a business trip to Sweden. As you can't fly directly from Delhi to Stockholm I usually go via Amsterdam, the Netherlands and stay the weekend before and after in my home country.

The first weekend 14&15 March saw also the British Car and Lifestyle show. This show has been running for probably 12-15 years already. It is held in Rosmalen, which is in the southern part of the Netherlands, sort of in between Breda and Eindhoven for those that have some knowledge of the Netherlands. Or put differently, just over an hours drive from Amsterdam.

I have noticed over the years that a lot of Classic car shows are slowly morphing into a more car and lifestyle show. Even my favourite show, in Essen Germany has a fair amount of lifestyle items. Actually, I quite like it, lots of that stuff has my interest as well. But this particular show started as a classic car & Lifestyle combination from the moment GO. It also means that this is very much a "couple show". Whereas, especially classic car shows usually attract mainly men, this show attracts a lot of couples. So it is the one car show that my wife actually accompanies me. By and large all couples appear to be in our age bracket as well. Maybe something to do with British cars and British Lifestyle stuff on display, have a look.

Entry to this show is Euro 15 or thereabouts, but just about every car magazine and car club in the Netherlands offers discount voucher. My wife and I were there at the invite of my very good friend and spanner mate Peter. I have written before on our adventures in our classic cars across Europe in some other posts.

Peter is also an official Classic Car Valuator. So that's what he does all day, looks at classic cars and assessed their value, mainly for insurances purposes. So, a more knowledgeable companion I could not wish for. My wife knows next to nothing about cars, although she is pretty well opinionated about which ones she likes and which one she doesn't.

I thought some members might enjoy some of the cars on display. The quality of the cars is very good to excellent. The complete exhibition is in one big hall, on the first floor the various Dutch British Classic Car clubs are present as well. They get offered steeply reduced rates to participate. So its a very good collection of commercial enterprises and non commercial clubs. Next to cars, lifestyle there is a huge selection of tools and car accessories, models etc as well.

The only thing is we did not have that much time, only about two hours. You can get to see a lot in two hours, but taking really good pictures is a bit of a problem. Mostly artificial lighting with lots of glare. So normally I would take my tripod and some filters, notable polarizing filter. That gives you much better control, but I did not have the time, so everything handheld at precious low shutter speeds.



This gives a reasonable overview of the main hall. The first floor is this sort walk around



Here you begin to see the matching and mixing of cars (Jaguars) and lifestyle stuff, e.g. leather belts and shoulder bags for the ladies





A couple of cars you might not think are British, but they were definitely made in Britain at the time.



How is this for some plumbing. Working on a Bentley must be a nightmare, bring lots of tools.



This is definitely a very British little car, Austin A35. Very nicely restored. "Verkocht" means "sold" in Dutch. Every car, except the club cars are for sale here.



Some motor bikes, this one is definitely in need of some TLC





Again, a very British brand, not that well known actually, but some stunning cars, Alvis



Another overview picture. Nice cars, nice colours!



Love these external handles and levers



Here some more British Lifestyle, a coat, some hats!



You expect a lot of Jaguars at a British car show!



If you drive a British soft top sports car, you have to have a British hat. That is the rule!



One of the nicest restored cars on the show, a XK120. Also, one of the most expensive ones, prices at Euro 250.000,-- which I think is silly money.



Whatever it is, it's British and it looks the business.



All open sports cars, all British. Get your caps on lads!



And now for a bit more technical. This is a beautiful piece of engineering. You can still gets this more or less new, or properly overhauled. Whichever, it should give prospective new British classic car owners something to think about that you drop the complete front and rear end out from under most British sports car. Trust me, when you become an owner, you'll get lots of practice!



TVR, these days Russian I believe, at least from an ownership point of view. But still a legendary British make with an equally legendary owners/boss (Wheeler) for a good period of its existence.



When you meet somebody that claims to own a classic Healey, he/she could be referring to this little frog eye as well as the BIG Healey's. This one, no offence, looks like it was parked somewhere in Delhi for a week before shipped to the Netherlands.



If its British there will be at least two things, one I can't write about due to forum rules, but the other one is of course sweets!

[Jeroen]

Whehter it is your lifestyle, putting car painting on your wall, is personal. But if you do, here is where you can get them.



Cockpit of one of my all time favourite, TR6



Jaguar MK2. As seen in all British Police series. Remarkably, on telly it is typically the inspector that drives a MK2. In real life, apparently it was the villains. Makes sense, because these cars where never cheap



Pretty rare, especially in this good a condition Triumph GT6 and in the background a Jaguar XJS



This is the British way of ensuring the bonnet doesn't fly of. Of course, engineering and producing a proper mechanical catch out of sight would have been better. But this is more British. British design and doing things properly are not necessarily mentioned in the same sentence.



Another close up of a very British cockpit



Morgan, still going strong even today!



No explanation necessary



You need something made out of leather, chose your deer/cow and see what happens



Every engineer needs one of these!



Very pretty MGA



Classic car enthusiast are suckers for books about their hobby. Hence, lots of books for sale!



Lots of parts for sale. Anything for your precious classic! Those battery clamps on the bottom left are very handy. You can undo the big black knob. That disconnects the electrical circuit. So the car can't be started. There is a small diode set across the circuit so your clock will keep on ticking!



Tools, tools! If you have followed my other thread ( http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...-them-too.html ) you will appreciate I spend a lot of time at this stall.



More parts



More parts. Classic cars are finicky. You need a constant stream of parts





Of course, with the British open top sports cars, comes the British cap and a pair of driving gloves. Apparently there is such a thing as "gloving" leather?!

Hope you enjoyed this little story. We certainly did.

Jeroen

[speedmunster]

Excellent Pics here. Love the way you have described each individual pic. Just wondering.. the bike and the car that are in bad shape... why would anyone display something like these in this condition. Plus the owners should have at least washed these machines.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by speedmunster

Excellent Pics here. Love the way you have described each individual pic. Just wondering.. the bike and the car that are in bad shape... why would anyone display something like these in this condition. Plus the owners should have at least washed these machines.

Thanks. The bike and the frog-eye are just examples. People go through extraordinary lengths to show their machines, to have them stand out. I just shot these two, but there were others as well, sometimes around a specific theme or so. Very often the car clubs go completely overboard. Not sure about this one, but often the organizer will have award for the things such as the most original theme, most unusual, most colorful etc.

All part of the classic car fun!
Jeroen

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

The first weekend 14&15 March saw also the British Car and Lifestyle show. This show has been running for probably 12-15 years already.

Thank you for sharing your experiences, certainly looks like much fun.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

When you meet somebody that claims to own a classic Healey, he/she could be referring to this little frog eye as well as the BIG Healey's. This one, no offence, looks like it was parked somewhere in Delhi for a week before shipped to the Netherlands.

Originally Posted by speedmunster

Excellent Pics here. Love the way you have described each individual pic. Just wondering.. the bike and the car that are in bad shape... why would anyone display something like these in this condition. Plus the owners should have at least washed these machines.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Thanks. The bike and the frog-eye are just examples. People go through extraordinary lengths to show their machines, to have them stand out. I just shot these two, but there were others as well, sometimes around a specific theme or so. Very often the car clubs go completely overboard. Not sure about this one, but often the organizer will have award for the things such as the most original theme, most unusual, most colorful etc.

All part of the classic car fun!
Jeroen

These days anything and everything is being passed off as a 'barn-find' - genuine barn find cars are seeing values appreciate more and more, and obviously everyone wants a piece of the pie, so we see more and more cars being presented in 'as found' condition. There is a fine line between barn find and simply dirty - and finally up to the new owner what he wants to do with it.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

These days anything and everything is being passed off as a 'barn-find' - genuine barn find cars are seeing values appreciate more and more, and obviously everyone wants a piece of the pie, so we see more and more cars being presented in 'as found' condition. There is a fine line between barn find and simply dirty - and finally up to the new owner what he wants to do with it.

Just to clarify, this car / bike was not positioned as a barn find. They both were part of marketstall to create the "classic car atmosphere" nothing, else.

I dont think barn finds have a appreciative affect on value perse.. A rusty MGB is still a rusty MGB no matter where it was found or left. So it really depends on what you find in that barn.

Value of Classic Cars is largely depended on a few simple factors:

- Pedigree (how rare is it really)
- Provenance (who owned it)
- Brand / Model
- Condition
- Originality
- market demand

So a truly rare car from a brand in high demand will always fetch a premium price in unrestored as well as restored condition.

To restore a rusty MGB will just about always cost more then the car will be worth when fully restored. (At least in Europe and the USA with high labour cost).

I certainly have spend considerable more money on my classic cars then what they are worth and I have done most work myself FOC.

The most surprising part for me is the fact that people will actually pay more because of who owned it previously.

The only way to turn the rusty MGB into something of extrordinary value if said MGB was at some point in time owned by a big well known celebrity. (Rockstar, Politician etc).

Not sure if you have been following the McLaren F1 put up for sale by Rowan Atkinson. Adviertised in all international classic car magazines:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrit...ale-8m-5032342

Of course, this is a good example of a very rare car, it is in very good nick, although it was nearly totalled, or at least repaired after Rowan crashed it for over a million pounds. The fact that this car has been owned from new by him, must have a considerable effect on the price.

I like him as an actor (Mr. bean, Johny English etc) but I'd be damned if I would pay a single rupee extra, just because he owned the car. I would look for the same car, owned by somebody less famous.

Jeroen