My impression is that it was not as well attended as in the spring. Certainly, as I sat and watched the cars roll in from about 10.30am, there were long gaps in the steady vehicular progression across the top of the field. That said, there were still a good number of us standing around waiting for the gates to open & the fairly polite Gaderene rush - no elbows please, we're British - was as big as ever.
I think there more stall holders this time - but there was also a lack (for me) of interesting stuff to buy. There were a proliferation of stalls selling tools, raw material, ex WD stuff & the like, but fewer of enginey things.
What followed me home? I bought a Bernard SIMEL, one of those motorcycley, OHV, Belgian-made engines that are becoming so popular now. It started without a lot of trouble & ran cheerfully enough without clanks or smoke, so after some negotiation, I bought it. Lying down, the boot of the BMW will shut properly - very useful!
I found a Stuart-Turner twin cylinder compressor, the one based on the Sirius, but with fins instead of insulation, complete with a small receiver. Cheap too ;o))
A clockwork gramophone motor which I had a lot of fun with last evening at a close-friends supper. First of all had them trying to guess what it was (Hazel got it straightaway, I was deeply impressed) then stuck a 10" 78 with Bluetac to the 1" diameter aluminium boss on the centre of the spindle, rolled a cone out of a sheet of 80gsm paper, stuck a needle through it and spellbound them all with a very recognisable - if tinny - rendition of "Nancy" by Old Blue Eyes. Daughter Al is here for lunch, so I'll try it out on her. She is very acute but does not, of course, share Hazel's and my memory set.
After about half an hour of finding not a lot, I came across one of my Clubmates trying to sell a Coventry Climax fire pump, complete with absolutely everything one might need to make it go - cast ali pipes, junctions & fittings, connectors, hoses x 6 - even down to the standpipe fittings and hydrant thingy & tee bar to turn it on with. Now, I have a virtually zero hours Reliant fire pump, but precious few fittings - just those I've managed to scratch up over the last 18 months or so. He wanted £250 for the lot, £200 for the engine. He was somewhat taken aback that he suddenly had a customer for the bits but not the pump. I'm morally certain he thought he'd have trouble shifting the hoses & AFAIK, went home with the pump!
There's a lot of it & I had trouble pushing the cart back to the car.
Nick Highfield turned up at exactly the right moment & helped me shove the Bernard into the boot. I also saw Martin & friend, Dan Howden and positively could not get away from Philip TE !
Regrets? I looked at a little JAP 250 it was cheap, early 1920's & I should have bought it - ah well ...............
It's quiet here 'cos they are all at IF & I'm doin' time as requested to keep the peace ;o))
Regards,
J. Kim Siddorn,