[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Was it due to some recent road marking painting? I would have through that it would take more than elbow grease to remove

I do not think so. It was grey and road marking paint tends to be white. And would be really difficult to remove. This stuff dried up and was relative easy to remove again.

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

I'm guessing that, even though paint is necessarily good at bonding with surfaces, your polishing might provide a not-so-friendly layer. Even so, a lot of hard work! Well done for restoring the car's beauty

[shankar.balan]

Dear Jeroen
I want some tips on the 'Route Napoleon' for a road trip next month.
And I want to rent a classic car for that.
Can you help with inputs?
If it is possible can I correspond directly on email with you?
Because for some reason my TBHP
Inbox is broken.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

If it is possible can I correspond directly on email with you?
.

Sure, what is your e-mail address?
Jeroen

[Jeroen]

So yesterday (Sunday) I managed to make it to this classic car event. It’s only about 15 km from our home. That is how the crow flies though. On the road it is almost 45 km. Lots of rivers to cross, which means finding bridges and or little ferries. Nice relaxing ride over.

I had never heard of this event. I heard about it from a guy a met at my Alfa Garage a week ago. Whilst I was waiting for my Spider to go up the lift, his Ford Capri was still on it. We chatted, as classic car owners always do and told me he would be visiting this event. I looked it up on line and decided to go.

It is held at a huge park. Anything goes, as long as it is old. Over the years it has also become one of the larger Classic Truck gathering. It is all free of charge, both for participants as well as the public. Very relaxed, very easy going, very Dutch. About two dozens of market stalls selling “car” related stuff. I manage to find myself another cool sign to go onto the wall of my garage.

Some pieces to give an impression.



Nice little Honda. These are quite rare these days. They are tiny. I could never ever fit into one of these, even if you paid me.



I know very little about trucks. Other then I like looking at them and I love the old classic trucks. Some of these were of course, part of the daily road view when I grew up.



A nice little Jenssen. Look at the low riders at the back. And I mean LOW riders! Ford Cortina at the right (or Taunus?)



Most of these classic trucks are meticulously restored. Have a look at the paint job on this one:





Here the Ford Capri I mentioned earlier. The owner has had it for more than thirty years. It is quite modified. Still, I always like Ford Capri’s. This one has a 3.0L 6 cylinder engine and an auto box. Both are modifications. Even though he has had it for a very long time, he rarely drives it. Only club meetings and these sort of events. A few hundred kilometers a year only.



As you will see on these images, a lot of American hardware about. Not particularly my kind of classic cars, but always good fun to look at, talk to the owners. At the rear you will see a couple of old school “caravans”. These contraptions are proper little houses on wheels. They used to be horse or donkey drawn. Early 1900’s and you would have seen plenty of them on the road. Gypsies used to roam around them. Now they are more of a hobby thing. People restore them and show them off. They are also still being made brand new!



In this part of the Netherlands, you can not have a classic car event without some classic tractors showing up as well. At the back some Willy Jeeps too.





Several classic motor bikes. I love this FN one. Old Belgium make.



Restoring old mopeds is quite a thing here as well. Usually guys my age. When I grew up these were the ones to have. Under then Dutch legislation anything with less than 50cc engine and limited to 40 km/h was considered a moped. You could legally drive it from 16 years upwards. No test or papers other than insurance required. Of course, my mates and me managed to get these things modified and they were doing 80 km/h easily! You could buy all the upgrade parts easily. After a while I seem to recall it became illegal to sell these parts for the mopeds. Anything other than stock got your fined, moped impounded and most likely destroyed.



This particular moped was known as a Puch. If you had one of these, you grew your hair long and were anti-establishment. It never became clear what you were in favour of, just what you were against. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nozem

But the Puch was their transportation mode of choice



A very nice Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto. A well preserved and or restored Duetto costs a lot of money these days. I have seen them being advertised for well over Euro 80.000.



Another Spider, this one being very similar to mine, though a few years it’s senior. Look at the mighty Mack behind it!



Not my cup of tea, as they say, never the less, all the work done on this car are of the highest standard.







Another quite rare car these days, the Pacer. Notice the bucket? There were buckets everywhere. They fill them with sand, so they don’t topple over and you can extinguish your cigarettes in them, but also throw all your trash into it.



This event attracts thousand and thousands of people. There is food and drinks all about, but nobody throws anything on the ground. It all goes into these buckets.


All in all, quite a nice event. I spend about 2.5 hours walking around, chatting to some folks, looking at the cars, the merchandise on sale, enjoying myself

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

My first on-the-road driving lessons from my father were in parents' Capri. No 3 Ltrs, though: just a humble 1.Something.

My mum loved the sporty look. Poor man's E-type!

[Chetan_Rao]

The picture of the Puch reminded me of the Indian version, the Hero Puch. Quite the rage, and both me and my sister had one, each, as our first rides!

Lovely photos, esp. the trucks. Always had a soft spot for the stubby nosed variety, called lorries in India.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

My first on-the-road driving lessons from my father were in parents' Capri. No 3 Ltrs, though: just a humble 1.Something.

My mum loved the sporty look. Poor man's E-type!

The smallest engine on the Capri was the 1.6l (I think). The largest one a 2.8 6 cylinder. I don’t think it ever had the 3.0L this one has, another modification.

Not so sure about the USA, but in Europe the Capria was hugely successful. Here was a really good looking sport saloon, that would do as a family car as well. They looked a lot faster, than they actually went, especially on a simple 1.6L engine of course in those days.

Not that many have survived, you don’t see too many Capri’s on classic car shows these days. Shame, nice car, nice memories.

Jeroen

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Ford Cortina at the right (or Taunus?)

Thats actually a Ford Granada 1977-1986

Originally Posted by Jeroen

The smallest engine on the Capri was the 1.6l (I think). The largest one a 2.8 6 cylinder. I don’t think it ever had the 3.0L this one has, another modification.

Jeroen

There was a poverty spec 1.3 version - so basic you would wonder what was the point. The Mark 3 was built in Cologne. The Capri Mark1 and Mark 2's were built both in Dagenham and Cologne. The UK versions came with the 3 litre "Essex" engine. These engines went into the Zephyr, the Granada and Transit emergency vehicles. The 2.8 Litre engine was developed for the Granada Mk 2 which wanted to be more BMW like as opposed to the Mk1 Grandada. These were extended to the Capri and it was common sense to chop the older 3 litre engine.

With the full impact of the EU and its free borders post 1975, the Mark 3 Capris were imported from Germany.

[Jeroen]

Just came across this video about the classic car event I attended earlier. Pretty cool video!

https://youtu.be/HBivsdSvEBQ

[Thad E Ginathom]

Jeroen, have you considered taking your own photography into the skies with a drone?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Jeroen, have you considered taking your own photography into the skies with a drone?

Yes, I have looked at it, but not in any detail. Earth bound photography is keeping me on my toes as it is.

[Jeroen]

I arrived home from a week in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. In the mail the formal information pack for next weekend Concours d’Elegance!!

This is one of the top Concours d’Elegances in the world. There will be a stellar line up of Classic cars. Lots of merchandise for sale, car parts, watches, tools etc.

Have a look at this, click on “bekijk de after movie"

https://www.concourselegance.com

This Concours has been running for many years and I have visited at least 4-5 times over the years. This year it is being organised by a different team and they have also changed the location. It has always been at very nice locations, usually old palaces/castles. This year it will be at the Palace Soestdijk. Which used to be the residence of our former queen Juliana and also her daughter and former queen Beatrix has lived there. The Dutch Royal Family sold it some years ago.

As part of this huge and prestigious Concour d’Elegance, the car magazine Octane is hosting a national Concour d’Elegance at the same venue. They wanted to get some more ordinary and affordable classic cars to be included.

So the Octane (Dutch version) Chief editor Ton Roks wrote an article in his magazine some months ago. Outlining his attention and seeking readers who were interested to put their cars on displayed. I mailed Tom and within a few hours my Mercedes W123 was accepted to go on display.

I have received all instructions, entry sticker to get the car in, wrist bands which will give me free access to the venue and various stands.



It all appears to be very well organised. And to be honest, that is what everybody expects. I can take my W123 either Friday night or very early Saturday morning. The show opens at 10.00am, so all the cars need to be in position and lined up by 08.30 at the latest.

The judges will come around between 10-12.00 o’clock and the winners and awards of the national concours will announced 16.00 hours on Saturday afternoon.

I am competing in the family&Saloon class. Only 10 cars, including my W123 so at least in theory I have a 1:10 chance to win! Both the Jaguar and the spider have won numerous awards over the years. Not so the merceds W123. But then, till date, I have never entered it into any completion yet.



As I am not allowed to take my car of the venue until Sunday evening, after the event finishes, I have booked myself in a little local hotel. So two days of Classic cars, fiddling, talking, looking, photographing, drinking and eating to look forward too.

I intend to make a very detailed, lots of photographs, story, which I will publish in a separate thread.

So far the weather forecast looks promising! Fingers Crossed!

Jeroen

[ajmat]

You have a Peugeot 604 to contend with, a very rare car nowadays. Also spotted a Citroen SM. - Loved those cars.

Good Luck!

[Motard_Blr]

Who noticed the 3rd entry? I'm amazed that someone loved it so much that they took one all the way to Europe and restored it.