Stamford Car Show 2009

The Standard Motor Club visits the Stamford Car Show

Our Club line up … oldest on the left, youngest on the right.

Sunday 30th August 2009

The sixth Stamford Car Show, organised by Stamford and District Round Table, took place on Sunday 30th August and for the first time the Standard Motor Club was excellently represented with eight fine examples of our cars from across the decades.

The Show is held on The Meadows, an attractive field in the centre of this historic and picturesque town. Stamford is partly famous for being the backdrop in the BBC’s drama "Middlemarch" based on the novel by George Eliot about provincial life in the 1830s, but more for the splendid Burghley House and grounds where the annual Land Rover Horse Trials are held.

On the day we had 8 Standards as follows:

• 1926 Charlecote Paul Newsome
• 1937 Flying12 DHC Phil & Lynda Homer
• 1938 Flying 9 Bev Thompson
• 1951 Vanguard Ph1 Estate Tom Dolby
• 1952 Vanguard Ph1A Roy Gillman
• 1957 Family 10 Conan Lewis
• 1958 Pennant Alison Flack
• 1959 Vanguard Vignale Pete Foster

Click on any of the thumbprints to see an enlargement:

General view of Stamford Meadows

Tom Dolby's Phase 1 Vanguard Estate

The late entries of Paul and Phil’s cars were very welcome to boost our numbers and to add some of the earlier cars to complement the 50’s ones. Paul made the trip over from Rugby and back in one day, proving that our cars are more than usable to cover significant distances in one day. In fact, over the course of the previous week, Phil and Lynda had recently completed the Cotswolds Run and a day at Stoneleigh, before making a cross country trip to Stamford to complete a great weekend out in their car.

The Stamford Car Show is open to all cars whatever their age, so there is something for everyone, young or old. The youngsters of course head straight for the exotic Aston Martins, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, the sporting enthusiasts for the TVRs, RS Owners Club or Mazda MX5 Club. The more curious among us spent a long time admiring the concourse standard Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, not to mention all the other Standard Triumph family and assorted Austin, MG, Morris, Riley, Rover etc. Something for everyone and all to a very high standard.

Peter Foster with Nick Black

Josh Lewis, wondering what life in the dickie seat of Paul Newsome’s 1926 Charlecote would be like if his Dad got one of these magnificent machines – Pete, Ivor, Alison, Anne and Lynda and  look on.

Our Club stand, complete with our new flag banner, attracted attention with many passers-by stopping to take a nostalgic look at a car they once owned, rode in or had some ‘experience’ in. It obvious talking to people who lived through the 30s – 60s that Standards have been a memorable part of their lives in one way or another.

Towards the end of the day we were visited by Nick Black, son of Sir John Black, who lives in Stamford and was our guest of honour at this year’s National Rally at Cirencester. We had a chance to catch up with him and it was sad to learn a couple of days later that the publishing date of his book about his father’s life and work at Standard has been slipped now to early 2010 due to economic pressures at his publisher. On a positive note this is giving Nick more time to polish the writing and research and update some inaccuracies. This will be a must for all Standard enthusiasts and I encouraged Nick to get a launch date close to the AGM and to come along and sell us all a signed copy !!

We hope that one day we’ll hold our National Rally centred on this town and to enjoy the great driving roads around it. In the meantime we would love to see even more Standard’s next year and I’ll ensure a top spot on the field, so put a date in your diary for the Sunday of August Bank Holiday 2010. Why not make a weekend of it and come and stay here? If a few of us do this I would be more than happy to organise a local roadrun for the Saturday and/or Monday.

See you next year …

Report and Photos by Conan Lewis

If you would like to know more about Stamford Show next year, get in touch with Conan Lewis. Thank you for organising this year's event.

So, with rainclouds threatening and the evening drawing in, we started up the Flying 12 and headed south to St. Albans. It is pretty much impossible to join the two places together without going on the A1(M), so we decided that is the course we would take! I have to tell you that pressing on at 45-50 mph with loads of traffic behind you all trying to get to London at motorway speeds after a weekend away is no holiday for a 72 year old car with no indicators. Suprisingly, the only pleasant part was the 8 - lane section ( 4 each way) where we were left relatively safely to ourselves in the inside lane! We arrived home without incident, shortly after dark.

Phil Homer

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