Rose Saturday bright and early got the breky on and found my misses had thought of everything when she packed our provisions. First paracetamol followed by a real hearty English breakfast. I read the NSRA info booklet and found that the prize draw coupons needed to be filled in as soon as possible no even sooner than that. So it was a mass panic as I really wanted the 350 crate motor. I didn't know all the answers *hum* who can I ask numpty swearing Scotsman knew a few and CC answered a couple of others I knew some but wasnt 100% confident I was right. So I toddled of to John Denton's camp next door. Hi John, "what is the full name of the NSRA mag is it Gasser or Street Gasser? "Gasser was the reply! "Are you sure as I thought it was Street Gasser" No its Gasser was his reply. "Er what's the Chairman of the NSRA called is it Neil Meredith I said ?" "er No"" er is it Dave Bikerdyke," er No its Adam Sayer said John....Derr... I thought Hell I must of sounded a total Numpty!! "Oh and what is the name of the new NSRA insurance underwriter called?" "Now look if we tell you all the answers then we have less chance of winning ourselves" John said ;>(..... So I Thanked him for the answers he had given me and I knobbed off!!!
My Mate had waxed the Rod when I got back so it was time to have a good look round. I don't fancy the Cruise not with the motor leaking oil and having to pay another £10 to go on it to Duxtford air Museum, though I used to fly Microlights years ago I now have no interest in planes well not at a Rod Run anyway! So A walk round the camp site was in order. There were plenty of Beautiful Rods to look at and so much quality it was jaw dropping. We eventually found our way round to where the ex Mark Van Driels 34 was parked with new owner Graham ?. I have seen this guy about at Preston Cruise a few times and Rawtenstall the other week but I had never actually talked to the guy. I really wanted to show my mate Pudzz what a fantastic piece of engineering this 34 was. I approached the Rod with a bit of trepidation as I thought the new owner may not suffer fools gladly and believe me us two can be fools ;>).. but he was great. He gave us the time of day, told us some stories and really went out of his way to explain stuff. He talked very sociably, even though my mate pointed out he had a screw missing and a bolt loose underneath. I told my mate to behave himself but Graham said he didn't mind and was quite pleased he had spotted them. Also he gave me the answer to the insurance question I needed so off to the NSRA tent we went with all the answers on my vouchers.
Beautiful Racing Green 40's ford of John Hall from Reading (sshhh don't tell
anyone but John has an oil leak just like mine *smile*) This was in the top 10
so keep it quiet eh! bet you wish you hadn't told me now eh John *smile*
Johns Ford runs a 1967 327 Chevy and a TH350 Trans And looks a treat and he has
been into the Rodding scene since 1972!!
The field had quite a few Rod's lined up for the cruise, I put all my vouchers in the one pot for the Chevy Crate motor. Had a look round spotted STREET GASSER mag on display arrghhhhhh I knew it was Street Gasser ....so now I had the wrong answer on my prize vouchers Boo Hoo but all was not totally lost I still had 4 other vouchers with the right answers on *fingers crossed*.
While talking to the NSRA guys we decided the cruise could be good fun after all but it was leaving imminently. In fact I was the last person to enter. I asked Pudzz if he would run up and get the Rod while I sorted the payment out and also I wanted to video the cruise leaving. As the Rods slowly filed past, oh yeah and one nice looking lady on a Harley aswell ;>) I was starting to get panicky where was my Rod? . The last Rod pasted and still no sign of mine. I wondered were the Hell my car was, I quickly rang Pudzz and got the reply "your car wont start".... Grrrrrrr. The rear car was waiting for me, so I told him to carry on and we would catch them up once I had managed to start the Car. After much scratching of head's and undoing of panels etc etc, it was traced to a burnt out wire on the solenoid. It was now to late for the cruise so it was decided since it was polished and looking good, lets put it on the show field and have a look round the trade stands
As we drove onto the field I was accosted by two gents, who peered in through the open side window of my 34 and said rather loudly "Are you Holmsey?" "yeah " I said rather excitedly I thought it must be two more uk-hotrods members come to introduce themselves............ "We want a word with you about your Rawtenstall write up" ;>0 *whoops* I do tend to write stuff as I see it and on this occasion I did say stuff that should not of been said. I was apologetic and tried to explain that I am just a big Gobbed Get and to take no notice of me. They said that Andy? was also very annoyed with me and was going to give me a roasting when he sees me ; > ) .. Suppose it serves me right for thinking no body from the route 66 gang would ever read my ramblings. Actually it was all quite light hearted in the end and we had a good crack. I explained that the elite club I was on about was the Hot Rodding scene in general, it was just I had written it on the end of the Rawtenstall write up which made it sound like I thought the Route 66 lot were all elite. Case of misunderstanding and me being pissed off with my Rod and the day in general. Moral think before ya drink before ya write *smile* We shook hands and said our seeya's and I hoped I made two more Rodding mates and not enemies especially as they come from the North same as me and they both have very Neat Rods!!!!!!
Once parked and settled we set about the enjoyable task of
checking out all the Hot Rodding goodies on sale. There was some fantastic stuff
for sale and I was very very tempted to buy an ally sump and an Edelbrock Air
pan but as an engine rebuild was on the cards I would need all the spare cash I
could find to finance that *sad*. There was just about everything you could
possibly want for your Rod. One real must have was a hand formed Ally 34 grill surround
for £250 that was pure craftsmanship. I needed bear claw latches which were
there but again I daren't spend any cash as it was all spoken for.. Pudzz and me
bought flamed t-shirts for our loved ones back home ;>) to get some
brownie points and that was it. While I was at one stand there was a fantastic looking
F100
which I just had to take a photo of. The owner of the trade stand said "hang
on mate I'll shut the hood for you so you can get a better photo". I
lined up the shot and pressed the button on my camera and nothing?? then the camera
switched off???? Click click click and still no photo *damn* the batteries had
gone flat. I tried all the 6 spare ones I had brought with me and the same they
were all flat, the boot had leaked in from washing the car and soaked
them?????
Update received an e-mail from the lucky owner of this Gorgeous F100 and here's a bit of spec on it! scratch built chassis, strut front , mustang discs, Willwood 4 pot calipers, Herbert race cams built 454 big block Chevy with at least 500 b. h. p. 700r4 overdrive g/box and curries 9" axle. this set up gives 28 m.p.g. on a run believe it or not. 7x15+15x15 billet wheels , Hoosier quicktime tyres, ididit column with billet wheel, c.d. e/windows, remote entry. every part was new on the build up.
So it was decided a trip into town was in order to get some
new batteries.. We were cruising along enjoying the slow ride through the
Knebworth grounds. We approached the mat covered cattle grid suspecting nothing
and Boom!!???** the Rod stopped dead and us two Fat lads almost came out the chopped
screen?????? "What the Fug was that?" I thought? Pudzz shouted "don't
move" and jumped out of the Car....... two rather dopey young lads were
stood there and said "We knew something like that was going to
happen".
What had happened was there had been some very thick conveyer
belt style rubber matting, laid over the step up onto the grid and it had a bump
sticking up which had caught my California Kid style nerf bar and number plate
and that took all the impact bending the Baggar right under the front of the Rod
and my number plate was a mangled mess..... But it did save the rod from serious
damage!! *phew*.
I took several very deep breaths to stop me going into a rage. " why the Bloody Hell didn't you warn us Ya bleeding Numpty's" We tried to see who could be made responsible, the NSRA were understanding but thought the blame was with the Knebworth people and vise versa. I was advised to ask Adam Sayer but he looked harassed enough so I have just put it down to experience... Best of it is I found out I had my setting's wrong on the camera and the batteries I had were all ok Derrrrr and I paid £4-99 for batteries I sell for £1-99 Grrrr Grrrr Grrrrr. So what would you do?????????? Yep we cracked open the Tinnies and got Ratted... Then the heavens opened and the sight of Nick Taylor in the Kugel speedster with the top off speeding back to camp with Nick huddled behind the minuscular screen for some kind of protection from the Thunderstorm did kind of brighten my day up. He was soon followed by a few Rock a Billy Rebels all in open topped Rods of course.
If
you look close you might be able to see the rain bouncing off my 34 and also
note the lack of front nerf bars and number plate..
Once the sky cleared the air was filled with the sound of
Steve Patemans Awesome 8sec Calibra. I managed to get it on video as it
burbled by, but not a photo ;>(.. My mate Pudzz was trying to encourage
Steve to give it a blip or two but Steve didn't take the bait but Man did it
sound Fantastic Yes! oh Yes! oh Yes!!!!
Things like this just went on all day, a raunchy sounding Econoline Van on
open headers was cool and every James Dean look alike at Knebworth also burbled past
mud splattered and having a ball with a slight splattering of Tot Rods.
One
ace little 3 geared pickup carrying three giggling Kids blasted past much to our
amusement *Cool*. Now lets get back to some serious drinking.
Very Cool Studebaker and superb 32 5 window looked great with std height
roof...
Managed
a cold shower (no hot water not cus I wanted one), and then looked some more
round the camp site saw this 46 Ford having new rockers fitted this was parked
next to the beautiful F100 from before and I think they were all from Dundee.
Now
that is a journey. As I was having a good look round I heard a big commotion
behind me and the Looney Scots had all got dressed/undressed in Daft attire. As
they were all blokes I didn't look to closely and especially as they were Scots
aswell. They may of been a bit desperate with no good looking sheep about
;>)...... They had what looked like home made g-strings on and various other
S&M style underwear and everyone was howling with laughter. I daren't
laugh in case it could be detected I was English and I scarped rather quickly
back to the safety of my own gang :>)..
It was slowly heading toward night time and the eagerly
awaited, Dr Feelgood playing live in the Marquee. The last time I had seen Dr
Feelgood was in the 70's so I was really excited about 1: hearing a live band
and 2:Hearing Dr Feelgood again Fantastic...
There were quite a few bods outside the Marquee I think there must of been some
kind of competition on, as they were all tattooed, even the fella's.. There was
also stood outside a woman that had everything a man could ever dream
of................moustache,, Big Arms, hairy chest, tattoos, cropped
hair ;>) only joking don't start!!!
The atmosphere in the marquee was electric with anticipation of hearing this 70/80's Pop legend Dr
Feelgood. I don't know who's idea it was to put on such a great band at
the Hot Rod SuperNationals but it was a Brave stroke of genius in my opinion.
And the Dr was absolutely magnificent. The marquee just bounced the full
set, I could of listened to him all night. I loved it so much I
bought a CD and my mate even managed to get the Dr to wear his Hat for a couple
of numbers.
Me and me mate Pudzz now totally pissed as farts decided to
seek out the Dr and get his autograph. we found him in the back of a mini bus
round the back of the marquee "Hey Dr, Man you were Great did you
enjoy yourself" "Yeah couldn't you tell?" was his
reply. "yeah you did look like you enjoyed it *hic* but ya
pissed of early didn't ya?" "No" he said "that
was our full set". "oh *hic* sign this for us will ya
Man!" I slurred " yeah no problem" "sign it
The Dr to Holmsey" I then asked him what his real name is ?
"Robert" was the reply "Ok Robert Man have fun oh and
what ever happened to the destroyers?" "oh they are long
gone" he said..........
We met thee legendary Dr Feelgood *hic and we staggered off into the
moon light. Two very happy old Fat fans of Dr Feelgood *hic*
Even better to top off the night we met someone even Fatter than us, don't ask me how we got talking to him but he said "come over and look at me Car *hic*" He was not only fatter than us two he was pist'er aswell ;>) He took us over to the most amazing Green Blown Devon he popped the Hood and showed us the size of his Engine *smile* "I only paid 50 quid for me blower" he said... "come off a D10 it did" "Do Ya wonna hear it *Hic*" "WoW yeah that would be Cool"... (notice how I turn into a hippy once I get wobbly) and he cracked up the Blown Chevy and it was just the most perfect end to a brilliant Day & Night Rock on Knebworth and Thank you The NSRA!!!
(Before you all tell me I know now that the real Dr Feelgood died some years ago and we had met someone else. Or at least I was reliably informed as I showed someone my signed copy of his CD *bummer*)