Words and photos by Rob Thornton
Thanks to Tim Griffin and Dave Bradley, the Club managed to put on an excellent display of bikes at the annual Classic Car Show at Birmingham’s NEC, held from Friday, 13th to Sunday, 14th November 2009.
This is the second year that a hall dedicated to motorcycles was incorporated in the show and by all accounts, it was bigger than ever.
The event was something of a logistics exercise as the bikes had to be delivered on the Thursday to arrive for a timed slot to permit access to the hall. The stand then had to be manned over the next 3 days and machines finally collected after 1800hrs on the Sunday! If you have ever experienced the parking arrangements, volume of traffic and general chaos, you will appreciate this was no small undertaking!
It was surprising how much interest was shown in the bikes by people who seemed more car-orientated and favourable comments were received on the quality of the display. Tim and Dave had assembled a collection ranging from Dave’s first production alloy beamed Greeves, through unusual Villiers 2T-powered trials and scrambler to more ‘modern’ machines. Also gleaming was Dave McGregor’s superb ISDT Challenger, ridden by Pete Lasota for the British Army team way back in 1965, flanked by 5 LHK. Barry Keymer’s ex-Brian Stonebridge NSU-Greeves was also a much-appreciated display and it was good to see that his wife has finally dried out following the Battlesbridge water fight back in July!
Apart from the bikes, there was another 5 halls packed with cars and associated parafenalia ranging from rusty Sprites to a F1 Maserati! It was interesting to see how the other half live and it certainly seems to be on a grand scale. Was it just luck or design that Hall 1, containing the scantily clad young ladies was just about as far as possible away from the bikes (and GRA members!)
All in all an excellent event and if you have the odd £23 spare to buy a ticket and don’t mind crowds, a good day out!
