Oh So Retro 2021

The last time I was at this show…in 2019, I nearly bought a MK2 XR2 in black with the red pinstripe. Here I was kicking myself for not doing it and what do you know, a line of Fords pulled up in front of my stall. It was like Lee was teasing me. Of course I would wander over and have a look. Turns out it was a family of Ford owners that all came down together. The dad in his HardTop Mustang, The mum in her red MK1 Capri, son in his blue G reg Escort and daughter in her F reg Escort that she decided to tell me she only paid £2000 for. I mean, talk about rubbing it in my face haha. I offered 3k, but she said no, so I made sure to throw numbers at her hoping I might convince her to sell it to me. Nope.

As the day went on, I got chatting to a number of people, in particular a couple who enquired if I had drawn an E30 or not. He was telling me that he was switching out his engine to a diesel replacement which of course, in the retro scene, is pretty unusual. I am a bit of a lover of a diesel given the fact my 21 plate Focus ST line X is none other than a dirty diesel. Personally I feel you should not underestimate their power. Anyway, I was chatting about my earlier encounter where I was trying to make a steal of a classic Escort. After they had left, they made a point of coming back to tell me that there was in fact a red Escort for sale for £2000. When it got to about lunch time I decided to shut up shop and go for a wander in search for this car. I was snapping away as many cars as I could as I knew I would want to use them for my blog and also have a look through to see what was on display.

I then ran into Amberley and her dad with their two classics. Hers being a giant 91 Jaguar XJS and his being a little green 76 Reliant Kitten De Luxe. Her dad made a comment that hers was the Cat and his was the Kitten which made me laugh. I personally thought that it was so nice to see a father and daughter have that kind of relationship. I myself have a little daughter Summer and there was a bit of me that kind of hoped that in the future I would have this kind of bond. Anyway, see photo below of the two of them.

I carried on my search and true to the E30 chaps word, there was the red Escort for sale. Yeah….I am collecting it tomorrow. I bought it.

It was at this point I had to hotstep it back to my trade stand as I had been gone for a while. When I got back, Harriet and her partner were at my stall. I had a really nice chat with them both as well as her parents later on. In case you wanted to see just one of his classics, see my last blog and go find his beautiful red Porsche 968. I also had a visit from Mark who previously commissioned me to draw his black and red VW Beetle Ragtop. I was really grateful for his comments about the loss of my mother last year. Such a nice thing to have remembered and to have done. His beast was also at the show.

Another mention goes to the couple who were clearly Ford mad, George and Michaela. He owned the bright yellow MK1 Escort that you just couldn’t miss and she owned a MK6 Sea Grey Zetec S. I must have been chatting to these two for ages and the entire conversation was about the Fords we’d owned and the ones we wanted. I took a few snaps on my travels.

Here are the other pictures I took. Unfortunately by the time I could get away from my trade stand again, a lot of the classics had left which was sad.

Next to me trading all day was a company called Ark Automotive and weirdly, they too work in Tunbridge Wells. They are a family run business that provides car storage and transportation. They had a great set up as you’ll see in the pictures below.

Anyway, these were all the pictures I got throughout the day.

I want to thank Lee and his team for all their hard work in what was an amazing event, even with the fuel shortage, the covid crisis and even the E10 palaver. Here is to Oh So Retro 2022!