London Classic Car Show - ExCel - 16 February 2019

Spent the day yesterday at the ExCel Centre in London, with my son and a friend of his, visiting the London Classic Car Show.

There was a fair variety of vehicles on display from vintage, through to modern day supercars (although I draw the line at modern day BMW being called a classic - apologies to any BMW drivers reading), with a good showing of American cars to boot.

There was also a tribute to the film "The Italian Job" which is at 50 years old is apparently the same age as me!  On show were various cars from the film, not only the red, white and blue Mini Coopers, but also a Lamborghini Muira (I would love to have one of those) an Aston Martin DB4 and an E-Type Jaguar (there were plenty of E-Types on display around the show).

630kg Mini with 1000kg of gold in the boot...hmmm

This is such a beautiful car!!!!

"We are the self preservation society..."

I spotted a few Cobras on display.  No originals as far as I could see, but a Gardner Douglas, a couple of Dax models, a Pilgrim and a couple of AK 427s were to be found.

I also found this beauty.  A Kirkham 427 with polished aluminium body and brushed stripes.

Stunning!

Apparently David Kirkham was restoring an original Shelby 427 when a relative asked him if he could repair a Polish Fighter Jet that had been damaged in transit.  He figured the aircraft panelling was similar construction to the Shelby, 
found the manufacturer in Poland and sent off a fax saying"Can you guys build an aluminum bodied car?" Within 12 hours he got a reply: "No problem."

A week later, David was on a plane to Warsaw with an English-Polish dictionary, a toy model of a Cobra, and a dream. He spent a week scouting the factory and exploring their manufacturing abilities. He saw a silent factory with idle machines. The enormous factory had produced aircraft for over 60 years. After meeting with three generations of skilled craftsmen eager to make these cars, he forged some agreements and left filled with high expectations and enthusiasm. And that was the beginning of Kirkham Motorsports, which since 1994 has become one of the leading manufacturers in the component car industry, although perhaps better known on the other side of the pond. 

Still stunning...!!

I have no idea what it takes to keep that polished body in that condition but it does look simply beautiful.  And I have discovered on the Kirkham Motorsports website that you can also order a body in polished copper or bronze......

Oh well I can keep on dreaming!