Thursday, September 30, 2010

ACE

Dedcided to take the 'beam down to London to the "legendary" Ace Cafe - its been a bikers meeting place for decades and there's pretty much something going on with bikes or cars every evening and every weekend.
On Tuesday 14th September there was a classic car night which was marred by very heavy rain, so a fairly low turn out.

- A Sunbeam Lotus (!)
- A beautiful "in the metal" unpainted aluminium AC Cobra that was competing at the Le Mans classic earlier this year
- Lincoln Continental
- A 50s Buick
- 2 Rover SD1s
- Lowered, minilite shod Anglia
- A Lancia Beta (no, really, a Lancia Beta out in the rain!)
- Lancia Fulvia
- Merc SL from the late 70s, fully rally prepped
- VW Beetle 1300
- Austin A30
- Citroen CX
- Wolsey 6 (think posh Austin 1800 landcrab)
- 2 Mk2 Jags
And a few others, some of which I can't recall, some of which I didn't recognise.
A good bit of natter in one of the breaks between the showers and a few knowledgeable people wandering around.

Got back to the hotel, which is on a 30mph road, police everywhere and traffic chaos.  Somehow a Morgan Aero 8 has hit a tree and has been cut clean in two - the cabin and bulkhead at one side of the road and the entire front wing /suspension / bonnet / engine section 20ft away on the other side of the road.  Nasty.

On Weds 15th Septemeber it was a clear warm and dry night at the Ace for this one, and another well mannered evening of enthusiasts, and a very large plate of chilli, chips n cheese.
Almost ended up being the only tin car at the meet tonight, but one of the below was made of metal too:

Approx 8 Esprits from earliest 1973 through to last 1989ish V8
A couple of "modern" Elans
Lots of Elises
2 Exiges
1 modern Europa (looks much better than it does in the pics)
Mk1 Lotus Cortina
Several TVR Griffiths, Tuscans, Tamoras etc
A Marcos Mantula (that's a wierd thing to spend so much cash on)
2 (yes 2!) Nobles
So no 7s, Caterhams, Westies, original Elan, original Europa, Elite, Eclat etc.
Still a good turn out of about 35 cars so definitely worth a look. 
Sunbeam Slumming with TVRs (click the picture to enlarge)


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