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35 at the race track that was used as an
illustration in the 1960’s children’s ‘Orbit
Book One of Veteran & Vintage Cars’ - a
copy of which I have since acquired from
ebay for $10. Something I do wish had
bought more of were the £1 packs of
stainless steel screws, clips, bolts, nuts
and washers that I stopped buying after
the collection weighed about 5 kg. I
attempted to bring these through
Heathrow customs in my raincoat (on a
heatwave 30 degree day!) and needless to
say I didn’t get very far before I had to
give a ‘please explain’ to customs officials while they swabbed everything for evidence of
explosives. Already in my 30 kg full suitcase was £800 of windscreen and door rubbers,
badges, rear lights and shock absorbers from Alfaholics in Bristol. To lighten the suitcase
load and make room for my automotive essentials, I only took clothes that I could discard
before jumping on the plane.
To me one of the impressive parts of both events is the number of metal working craftsmen
who are remanufacturing by hand and displaying various aluminium and steel panels for
cars as diverse from an ‘Ulster’ Austin Seven to Ferrari 250 Coupes.
I was amused to see a party from Germany selling from their tent all manner of interesting
gear - including a piano for £40! A little later one of group sat down for 40 minutes and to
great applause played Broadway show tunes, jazz and then
various serious classics. This full demonstration of the
instrument didn’t seem to result in its sale. It was still there
on the Sunday (who carts a very cheap piano from Ger-
many to the UK and back again?!).
French sellers universally seemed to have the right
approach to life and commerce by playing cards, drinking
red wine, munching bread and cheese, and cooking various
French delicacies on camp stoves while making a quid.
‘Viva la France’! My only criticism of the Autojumble is the
lack of any logical organisation of the sellers’ gear. You
really do have to look, which takes time. I was surprised
after the Saturday just how little of the exhibitor area I had
covered, so my Sunday was done at a more express rate!
You are given a catalogue with the business names and
locations; so you can follow up the various sellers if needed.
At the accommodation I
found at
foxlease.org.ukin
Lyndhurst for £55($92) a night
were Swiss, French, Dutch,
German and English visitors,
all there for the Autojumble.
After some interesting
conversations over breakfast
we would all head off for a
day’s searching. I ran into the
Mark’s tiny taxi
WWII Bristol Blenheim bomber