The long winter was over
and this would be the first Rod Run for us this season. The new AOD trans
was in and working and I had tested it on a trip to Preston cruise the week
previous so all should be Hunky Dory in theory but this journey was to be its
big test. It was to pull our large caravan and 4 adults (well two adults and two
teenagers but they are big teenagers) A full tool box and enough prevision's to
last 3 months in case we got snowed in, or a nuclear war or something I think.
Yep I was taking spanners out of my tool box so I didn't take any unnecessary weight
my misses was packing food (tinned) and all provision's to meet any and every
eventuality like only women do!!
We all really enjoy Drayton Manor, so it was with great excitement and smiles all-round
that we set of at 6-30am Friday Morning. Even though we were 1/2hr behind schedule we were all
still speaking and actually laughing as we boarded the 34 express to Drayton.
Off for a great weekend of Rodding Fun. Every year we arrive and
have to camp in the dark this year we were determined to get a good position and
to camp in the day light for once hence the early start. I have a message board
which I hoped to find other Rodders going our way so we could journey together
but nothing came of it, so again it was a solo run for us ;>(..............
But hey at least we were going.
It was early on into the journey when it was obvious I had made a boob in remounting and setting up the rear shox, as the rear was making some really serious banging as we went along the bumpy roads out of Cumbria, as each bump made the rear bang I got madder and madder until I was fuggin fuming Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr So it was decided first services I would lift & stiffen the shox a Tad. Once on the motorway though the bangs were few and far between, so it was agreed we should wait until we had covered a lot more miles and actually needed to stop for a stretch and a squat for the girls that I would do some tinkering with the Shox.
While the girls had a sit down in the services, I lay under the car & lifted the rear and stiffened the damping, I also moved the tool box into the caravan instead of the boot of the 34............ 45mins later the girls slowly meandered back as if we had all the time in the world come on I said "lets get movin!" we were now 1 1/4hr's behind schedule Grrrrrrrrrrrr Once on the move it was apparent the mods had done the trick and the 34 Express was now bang free and very very stable and smooth. What a difference in fact by the time we left the motorway and we were on the A5 I was shouting "come on bumps do ya worst" Ha Ha how little things please us eh........ Oh yeah I forgot to keep us all happy while on our journey I had made a music CD for us to enjoy, I called it Dad Music all the stuff I like to sing along to, my daughter kept her head phones on until she was intrigued to what I was singing along to so loudly. Rosie her friend was clearly shocked at this strange fat old bloke, singing his head off to some very weird & crap music.......... then she slowly got into it aswell and soon I had them all joining in singing there heads off, even my misses tapped her feet after hearing the same songs 5 times Ha Ha I was brain washing em into likening Dad music.... It was no R&R oh No it was Electronic, The Go Go's, Talk talk, The Transplants etc etc all good sing along stuff.
We were passed some miles back on the M6 by a blue Mk2 Cortina with a Scottish flag on the boot, we had now caught up to it, on the A Roads, I wasn't to sure of the way to Drayton even though this was our 4th time so we thought just follow them they must be going err mustn't they??. Strange though as we saw our first sign saying Drayton Manor they went straight on????
We had arrived 41/2 hrs after we had set off and it was that all important still day light and I still had a 1/4 of a tank of fuel left so the overdrive box was giving me the desired result more fuel economy Yeeeha!! The NASC reps at the sign in tent were welcoming and gave us our passes etc with a smile and I felt we were in for a great weekend. As we were trying to find a prime spot in what looked like an already full camp site I became aware of some people waving, it was Steve Enright (Rodder of the year) and Shaun Wilson (Hot Rod Gazette) inviting us to camp with them, that did make me feel so welcome I felt honored and real chuffed :>). We soon got camped and my throat was shouting nay begging for a cold beer............. oh Man heaven! I sat back sipped my beer and thought what more could a man want Eh Rods, beer, no work, sunny weather and a Weekend of being around people who know why we do what we do aahhh Bliss. Oh then the afore mentioned Blue Mk II arrived they had apparently gone the scenic route Terrrrrrrrrr if driving all the way down from Scotland wasn't enough eh!
Other Rods were arriving all the time even some as mad as us towing Caravans
with Rods.
I then found
time to talk to the guys near us and Steve Enright's Pop just cracks me up, it
is just amazing and really looks stock, even down to the false pea shooter
exhaust sticking out the rear. What it does hide is a serious 12sec 302 with
ally heads and much more. The proper V8 exhaust is craftily hidden behind the
rear bumper and looks like bumper irons when viewed from the top, which is real
cool. Have a proper look next time you get chance and to carry on the old rusty
car look it is an old rusty car Heh Heh!
You
heard the noise first..... this sounded like one serious motored Car coming over
the horizon. We all looked and the faces of everyone around me lit up. What was
this black image coming into view and taking everyone's breath away? Shaun
Wilson knew who's it was as he ran out and stopped him, everyone rushed over to this
stunningly mind blowing and Howling Black 34 while I just gawped :>O
As the owner of this cool stead got out I realised it was someone I have gotten to know quite well and feel privileged to know. It was Johnny Best with the Fresh out and revamped Hemi Powered 34, once voted best 34 in the Uk by the ukhotrods members. Johnny was clearly enjoying his first journey out in the 34 and chose Drayton not Hemsby as he wanted me to make him a copy of my CD, so he could play it in his 34 and sing along to like we did instead of listening to that Old Rock and Roll stuff. Well a little fabrication there as I guess you may of realised.............. he cant sing :>)
The months of hassle and not starting was found to be a wrongly supplied Magneto by a Hemi expert..... which now to cut a long story short is all sorted and the Hemi is now running very strong indeed. He teased us with a quick glimpse of the afore mentioned Hemi.
I asked if I could see the motor again and this time the hood stayed up as he talked us through some of his tales on bits that he had sourced for it. I enjoyed every minute what a Rod and Johnny is a Dude for sure, lives the dream and enjoys it! With no edge which I admire, as it is hard to not sound big headed when you are centre of attention and have such a Cool Rod. *reespect*
I was now fired up wanting to see more Rods, so armed with my camera, my misses
and my self thought a walk round to see what cars were here would be a good way
to spend an hour or so before I took her and the girls to the shops.......*hum*
This was the first sight of a show Rod down from us Mick err Shepherds? 35, beautiful
Rod apparently sprayed outside and as good a job as I have ever seen luvery'ly
Rod. Then there was a roped off area not sure who they were, but they had some of
the finest machines at Drayton that was for sure, must of been southerners as
they were organised and they looked posh anyway Ha Ha........ Update apparently
the guys with the posh cars are not Posh southerners but Posh northerners maybe,
or not posh at all? that bit I'm not to sure about! but they are the Zoom
Club. Their gorgeous cars are a stunning 53 Chevy Truck (yes Please), a Mind
Blowing Pilot turned 36 Coupe which is a real piece of work, A groovy 39 Chevy
Blue with flames... the list goes on, real nice Cars Guys!! Then Round the corner
was a hotch pot of all tastes from Rayvern Hydraulics Wild Truck to a Van and a
brace of Pops oh and the odd 50's Truck, what a great sight it all was.
Bit further up was some more Brit Tin with a neat Chopped Y and two Pops with
that nice low stance.
I loved the chopped, chopped Screen on this Lowboy, now then tell me, do you
need washers for this? what would you aim at?
As you all know I love Trucks this 54? was Ace, mega low but std leaves, I desperately
wanted to speak to the owner to find out how he had managed to get it so low
without a late model clip. While there was often a gang around the vehicle I was
to shy to ask who owned it and find out the info I wanted..*soft git*
T and a Tear drop now that is Rodding, what must normal people think when they
come across this flying up the Motorway. Most must never have seen anything like
it, it must blow there minds *nice one Dude*
Next Rod I came across that stood out to me was this A, I thought it looked
real Groovy. It wasn't until sometime later I found out I know the owner and his
wife, I had met them the week previous at the Preston cruise. This is the one
that had primer on it last year from a liddle prang, (last photo on the hotrod
drags write up). Now all repaired and painted. but the Owner's (sorry don't know
their names) where far from Happy they had paid a well known sprayer £1700 for
the job and though at first glance it looked ok, though I did think it was an
old job not a fresh one. You can see every repair and some repairs were cracking
already, so they were not happy bunnies at all and where hoping the guy
responsible would be there and agree to make it all good. I don't know how they
got on, but I hope it all ends up Happy, as bad feeling in our little family of
Uk Hot Rodding ripples... Good Luck Guys!
Next Rod to assault our senses was this just simply beautiful 39 Chevy of Martin
Nortcliffe's from North Yorkshire (see Wakefield
Cruise for more info). I love everything about this Rod the paint, the
interior, the engine, the shape of the lights.... yep everything. And though it
looks like a pure classy ride this TPI powered 39 does not whisper along as you
would expect, this Bugger Growled and leave's you in no doubt that it can Haul.
Quite often over the weekend I heard this unholy Roar of a V8 and I would look
to see which car it was and low and behold it was this one not burbling along
but battering the air around the camp site Groovy!!
Friday Night
Soon it was time for the Sat night Disco so me an the miss'es had a few
cups of tea like ya do! got all spruced up and headed for the Lounge Bar. The glass's
of Tea flowed like there was no tomorrow if ya know what I mean! no
drinking for us as there was a Cruise in the morrow right!. I met loads of
people who actually read this web site, or are members of the e-mail group which
was such a good feeling. It is great to find out that people do find this web
site entertaining, and even better when it is people who are into our scene and
they find
it informative aswell Thank you all that gave me feed back.. Ta!
I got talking to a Dude called Pike with a Quiff of epic proportions and his Girl with wild Boots and equally wild makeup.........We got on like a house on fire, like we were old mates, which I thought was kinda Cool as they are obviously into the live style and me I'm just an old square. We would never under normal circumstances be in the same place, nor would we be drawn into conversation with each other, but thanks to this web site and Hot Rodding we did meet, we did speak we did get on and we spent many hours just crackin, which actually went on until 4am and this old square even got them singing along to his Dad Music CD....... Just proves our Scene covers all backgrounds and we can all get on, if we just take some time to get to know each other and respect why we do what we do our own way.
The disco was coming to an end at I think 1:20am? not sure as by now I was swilling in Tea, and my misses was clearly delirious with her cocktails as she had milk in hers..... thing is with my misss'es she is tiddly to pissed after one drink, but she then goes on to drink 2 more bottles full..... yep she partied hard Friday..... every now and then she would be lying on the floor laughing trying to get back up... but she was to pay the price, as she died all the next day and everyone thought I had killed her, as she was so wild the night before and no sign of her all day Sat tut Teenager eh!.
Ahh just remembered, the security came round within 2 mins of us returning to our caravan and told me to turn my music down as they could hear the Bass right across the car park *Whoops* I think I must go a bit deaf when I have had to many cups of tea cus I couldn't hear it? So I backed the car round to the Caravan Awning and tuned it back on quieter I think... in the end we brought the Dad Music CD into the awning and played it in there to a now very full awning with my miss'es still ending up on the floor laughing every few minutes. I kept reminding the gaggle of young lads in there aswell that my Daughter and her mate where 14yrs old which received a very loud DAAADDDD!!!! If you were camped near us I do apologise if we disturbed you I do try and respect people really but I had had far to much tea to be sensible..
We'ed all had a real long day up at 5am Friday and it was now 4am Saturday so we bade or goodnights..... I made sure the lads went to their own tents and our girls went into theirs in the awning and me and the miss'es were asleep in about 5 seconds of our heads hitting the pillow's Zonked!!! What a great first Day!!
This metallic purple 32 Dooster was running a 3.0l Essex
with auto box and owned by Dave Hayward a member of the Rattlers Rod and
Custom from Somerset. The car was finished on the Thursday night and then it
towed a caravan up to Drayton. Cool Eh!