On the 8th of June, we took Lizzie to the Golden Valley Vintage and Country Fair, near Hay on Wye, this would be a 72-mile round trip.
Having done a lot of the prep work for this trip, the main thing being the refitting of the gearbox due to the pesky drive shaft, and a new set of gaskets on the manifold, as well as a shake-down run to Usk the weekend before, she was ready to go!
Arrival at the show was to be between 0730 and 0930. As I didn’t want to push her too hard, we left home around 0740 and took a route that would take in the back roads up to Usk, Abergavenny, and then the A465 as far as Pontrilas before turning off and heading towards the venue.
I was watching the temperature carefully as I didn’t want to be in a position to cause her to overheat. The gauge would climb slightly and then lower thus proving that the thermostat is working as it should. I managed to keep the speed down to around 40-45 mph but as the roads were quiet, we didn’t hold anyone up too much.
It took about an hour and a quarter to cover the 36 miles to the show and we were soon shepherded to a suitable parking spot, next to a more modern Ford product, that being a 1983 registered Ford Granada.
With other cars constantly arriving, we made a cuppa and had a brief look at what was around us. This is when we may have become a little excited… for the first time since we have been showing Lizzie off, we found another, unmodified, 100e, a lovely 100e Prefect, a little younger than Lizzie, this being first registered in 1959:
The weather was glorious, although the wind was a bit chilly, and, as I am writing this, I am a little sunburnt having spent time watching the various goings on, such as a Falconry demonstration among other stuff. If you like County Fairs and classic cars, this one is not to be missed. There were lots of craft stalls as well. As this was a cider area, the farm that hosts the event does sell this beverage, and Lizzie was used to bring a few bottles back.
Having walked back to Lizzie following one of the Falconry demonstrations, the owners of the Prefect came over to introduce themselves. We spent a good 20 minutes or so talking to Paul and Julie about life as 100e owners. Paul was kind enough to show us around the Prefect where we pointed out the differences between the two vehicles. There are a few, mainly around how things like the starter are positioned (different dash designs) and that we have an upgraded pully on the generator. Paul was a little jealous that we have a heater that works, but I agreed I would see what condition my spare one is in and maybe come to an arrangement with him.
Whilst we were asked to stay in place until 1730, a group of people on our row managed to persuade the stewards to allow us to leave early, this was beneficial to us given how long it would take us to drive home. We retraced our steps back home and Lizzie was put back in the garage for a well-earned rest! The journey home did give me some time to think over a retrograde mod I have been wanting to do for a while, a new post will be typed on this.
Before I post some of my photos of the other exhibits, I am going to point out this one, as this is something of a rarity and a star of the Grand Tour!
This is the Crosley CC Four Convertable, driven by James May in the ‘Eurocrash’ episode, aired on 16 June 2023 and still available to watch on Amazon Prime. There are a lot of details regarding this vehicle, here.
So the following pictures are all from this event, just to give a flavour of what was there.
And to finish, a picture of one of the beautiful birds of prey that were on display and flying as part of the Falconry demonstration.
