Tredegar Park Classic Car Show

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Sunday 15 September 2002 started cloudy but with the promise of sun and no rain - ideal conditions for a car show

The 2 entrants from the club for the Tredegar Park show, Paul and Mark S, agreed to meet at Cardiff Gate services at 9.30 to be at the showground by the required time of 10 o'clock

This proved to be optimistic as it took 45 minutes form joining the queue just outside Tredegar House to actually arriving on site and a further 10 minutes to be shown where to park up

The delay was made more bearable by the sight of many fabulous cars in the queue as the cars doubled back form the roundabout (there were also a few overheated cars at the side of the road with equally overheated owners)

The MX5 club this year was located near to the dirt track that generated so much dust last year but not quite as close - the cars were still dusty when the day was over, however

Paul, the winner of the Best car in the Region competition, decided we would attract more attention if he opened his bonnet to show off the chrome bits and he was right - everyone passing stopped to look (one couple even came back 6 times - they were looking to see what bits they could add to their new Phoenix) - Paul had also prepared a list of all the bits he has fitted to his car which also got a few comments from passers by

How many uses can you find for leather dog collars (Paul has got 5 in his car)

Mark had put his hardtop on the car for the first time since taking it off the day he bought it two months ago - the general opinion seemed to be nice hardtop, shame about the colour of the car - Paul also decided that a hardtop should be added to the list of must buy items for his car

Quite a few existing MX5 owners expressed an interest in joining the Club and took away the necessary forms - most said they were unaware the Club existed so perhaps we need to attend more car shows to raise the Club's profile

The good news was that most of these "potentials" were from the Cardiff and Newport area which may help to restore the balance between South East Wales and South West Wales

Ros and Bob and Ray and Marilyn came along to give their support and had to walk miles from the public car parking for the privilege (and the writer has been asked not to refer to an incident concerning Bob's trousers)

Being a Classic car show there were also stacks of other cars on show ranging from the mundane to the exotic - it is surprising how cars of yesteryear like the Ford Cortina have all but disappeared from our roads but can still be seen in their numbers at these shows

There was even a silver Eunos for sale on a Japanese importer's stand

All in all it was a good day out and both participants are looking forward to the 2003 show and hoping we can put more cars on display to compete with the other car clubs