Sunday 6th June saw the 2nd Stony Stratford Classic Car show take place in the Old Market Square. This is becoming an annual gathering of classic car enthusiasts in the area displaying their fascinating cars and showing off their finest features!
Stony Stratford is located on the old Roman road of Watling Street, now the A5. In the height of the coaching era - the 18th and early 19th centuries, Stony Stratford was an important stopping-off point for mail and passenger coaches travelling between London and the North of England. This coaching history is the source of the supposed origin of the phrase ‘cock and bull story’. The Cock and The Bull were two of the main coaching inns in the town and the banter and rivalry between groups of travellers is said to have resulted in exaggerated and fanciful stories, which became known as ‘cock and bull stories’. The two hostelries still exist and we sampled a selection of their fine ales during the day.
The weather started off grey and overcast, but brightened up later in the afternoon and fortunately, the heavy showers which had been forecast, failed to arrive.
The Old Market square started filling up with cars from 9.30am. A total of 160 cars attended throughout the day which required some overflow car parking.
Eight Morgans were displayed, six from Cranmog and two from Folkmog. The Cranmog cars were a trio of +4’s and another trio of +8’s.
Two Cranmog members, Steve and Moyra Isherwood in their +4 were interviewed at length by a member of the local MK press. We await with interest the publication of the article, it seemed quite an in depth interview!
There were some beautiful cars on display, a matching pair of his and hers’ Aston Martin DB9’s. Hers was a lovely shade of mint green. In fact, quite a range of Aston Martins were in attendance, another DB9, a DB7, a Vanquish and a couple of DB6’s, one of which was a fully restored 1966 SuperLeggera.
Other cars on show, included a number of Ferrari’s, a 1938 Austin - Big Seven, found in a barn and rebuilt, complete with a working gramophone in the back and a very loud drag car, so loud that is almost blew the ears of the unsuspecting black Labrador standing behind it as it started up! We think it was a black lab before it stood behind the exhaust, but who knows?
There were a few Jaguars, a 1965 ‘D’ type replica and the iconic ‘E’ types. Also, a beautiful dark blue XK150, which would have been my choice for the car I would have most liked to take home (apart from my own, of course).
There was a rare 1949 black Humber Super Snipe, apparently these were built for the bank manager classes of the day and a 1936 Talbot Lago GP car, displaying information that this was a sister car to the winner of the 1936 French Grand Prix, driven by Jean - Pierre Wimille, (interesting aside - his first car at the age of 20 was a three- wheeled Morgan).
I think that perhaps the star of the show was a 1903 Oldsmobile which had travelled from Buckingham. Recently restored by its owner, the car had tiller steering, centre chain drive, a 1- cylinder engine that develops 5 bhp, two forward gears and one reverse and a top speed of about 25mph. It had a side crank so the driver could start the car from the front seat. Judging by the difficulty the driver had starting it, I am quite glad things have moved on since then. Apparently, an option when it was built was a mother-in-law seat for $25.
A great day out was had by all. It was also in aid of a good cause, all entrants paid a fee £3 to raise money for Willlen Hospice. One for the calendar for future years.
Report by Michele Chapman
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