Riverside
Reliability Run 2004
Lately the trend in Hot
Rodding appears to be that people actually want to drive their Hot Rods, (as
oppose to just parking them in a field). Motivated
by this,
Riverside
member “Big Al” Williamson (that's his Flamed Chevy Truck) contemplated organising
his own reliability
run for the club members – probably to be held before the start of the show
season. The idea was put to the
Riverside club members at the AGM and was met with a very healthy and positive response.
So
8:30am
on Saturday the 20th March saw 12
cars waiting at the Railway Inn, Lye.
At
9am
the cruise moved off in procession, but after only 300 yards one of the group
(who shall remain nameless) missed the first turn, so the cruise had to pull
over and wait to regroup. Following
this slight mishap the cruise moved effortlessly on through the stunning
Worcestershire countryside on long smooth, twisting roads.
Halfway to our destination
and the convoy pulled into the Duke of Wellington pub (just outside Bewdley).
There were no break downs this time as this was a planned stop for
breakfast. The pub owners were so impressed with the line up of cars
(and no doubt the extra business) that one actually fainted. After a full English and a few mugs of tea we all set off
again until a big cloud of smoke signalled the first and only break down of the
weekend. Dave Mills had worked
through endless nights to get his rod finished, but had acquired a leak from the
rear seal of his gearbox. This was
soon topped back up and the convoy moved off again.
Driving on these magnificent roads through beautiful countryside in a
stream of high powered hot rods was pure heaven, and even though there were no
speed cameras everyone chose to simply cruise along at a steady pace and enjoy
the moment.
Midday
saw us all arriving safely in
Hereford
town centre. Big Al had sorted out
a fantastic B&B (the Alberta Guest House), that had a friendly reception,
great rooms and a big CCTV covered car park.
After making ourselves at home the ladies opted to do a spot of shopping,
while the lads opted to retire to the local public house to watch some football.
Once we were suitably refreshed we returned to the B&B where half of
Hereford
’s entire taxi fleet were waiting to whisk us to the local ten pin bowling
alley where an hours worth of pin bashing had been arranged.
Stuart “Kenneth” Smith eventually topped the score board at the end
of the bowling session – could it be because he is such a great bowler or
because he is usually the most sober? Afterwards
you had the choice of socialising
in the bar and having a game of pool.
8pm
saw the taxi fleet return to take us back to the original pub in
Hereford
town centre where a group meal had been organised.
Steak and chips seemed to be the order of the day and also gave Al the
chance to award everyone a commemorative plaque for actually making it there.
After a few night caps (the last round was actually paid for by the club)
it was time to make it back to the B&B and slip into something more
comfortable – like a coma.
It was a pleasant surprise to see everyone up bright & early for breakfast. Once we had
topped ourselves up we made our own way home, though not before the observation
quiz had been handed out. This
consisted of a set of 20 cryptic questions regarding the scenery along the route
home. The person(s) with the most
correct answer would receive a £25 quid petrol voucher – very useful on a
trip like this.
All in all it proved to be
a very successful run. All the
participants agreed that it had been one of the most fun and memorable weekends
for a long time. So all this must
have cost a fortune - right? Wrong
- the whole weekend cost £35 each, plus your evening meal and booze– quite a
bargain in my eyes. Well done Al.
*With
the first run such a success, the club may open it up to non club members next
year*
ALAN
www.awupholstery.co.uk