Birmingham show.

dubtom

Spent a very pleasant day at the Birmingham show on Saturday. I was last there about 4 years ago and it seemed to have tripled in size since then. There seemed to something for every enthusiast from classic fords to Ferrari's to a very nice Fiat 127. There was also a few shows within the show, one being a stunt driver who could amazing things with a mini and evo 6? I think. The thing that caught my attention most was for Charity, Dream Rides it was called and involved Classic and prestige owners giving Jaunts to Joe Soap for a fee. I think the average was about 50 quid.There seemed to be no end of takers, a constant line of people were queuing up to get a go and there seemed to be every conceivable car you could think of, from a general lee, which seemed to be on the go all day to a newish looking Nissan Skylon.
I thought it was a fantastic way to make money for charity and I'm wondering what the up take would be like over here from owners and punters.I know I wouldn't have a problem doing it for charity ( I do it for a living anyway, in a camry, I'd probably do a better business if I used my Mustang, although the profit margin would disappear.) So would any other owners of classics or otherwise consider making a few quid for charity by being a chauffeur for a day at a car show, as opposed to parking your car in a field for people to admire.(nice as that is )

Alfasudcrazy

I think that's a great idea and would have no problem giving people a spin in my TR6 etc. Was it two seaters or 4 seat cars being used - 4 seats are probably better as they all could go in the one car. Was it £50 for the trip (reasonable) or £50 per person (Mmm slightly unreasonable);)

Anyway I wanted to go to the show too but as with previous years I was tied up in court cases (not thankfully as a defendant you understand) so I could not go. Did you take any digital pics - I understand that the lighting at the event was quite poor for good quality pics - pity really as it deprives many of us of seeing what we missed.:mad:

Ah well perhaps I will go next year ... as I have been saying for the past 10 years.:rolleyes:

dubtom

Well i saw 1/2 and 3 people being loaded into cars. I can't say for sure if the 50 was per person, that does sound a bit expensive alright. I didn't bring my camera unfortunatly, I was hoping to pick a few bits up over there and didn't want to be carrying too much. I also remembered from past expierence that the place gets very full and trying to get a car without six heads stuck in the pic can be a challenge,never mind the lighting. By the way, Classic American mag's November issue has a write up on the Kilbeggan show and Tommy Clancy's 54' Pontiac Star Chief was featured on the CA stand over there. I believe he won the best car on the day in Kilbeggan, hence the invite. Absolute cracking car.

MercMad

Yeah I couldnt be there this year either !

That Charity run sounds interesting, I would do it as its a great cause, whichever charity is picked. However would there be insurance implications ??

dubtom

MercMad wrote:

Yeah I couldnt be there this year either !

That Charity run sounds interesting, I would do it as its a great cause, whichever charity is picked. However would there be insurance implications ??

I would imagine a waiver of some sort would be signed by the passengers before their trip. I couldn't see it being a problem though, basically each person recieved a ten or fifteen minute ride in a car.When the passengers were picked up first in a indoor arena, some cars pulled off in a cloud of smoke and wheel spins, this had the effect of giving the passenger a thrill but also the putting a goo on the people who were watching but I would imagine that common sense would prevail on the open road.

dealgan

dubtom wrote:

Well i saw 1/2 and 3 people being loaded into cars. I can't say for sure if the 50 was per person, that does sound a bit expensive alright. .....

I saw this too. The price depended on the car. I guess the more popular were more expensive. I saw some of them priced at £15, can't remember what cars they were though .. mabye an '81 ford fiesta ?
I think the range was from £10/£15 up to £40/£50.
It was per car, 'cos all the pics & prices on the notice board stated how many passengers could be squeezed in.
Great idea for charity though.

dubtom

15 quid sounds about right, charge anymore and people wouldn't pay. I really think that this could be a winner charity wise, owners would have the pleasure of people ohhing and ahhing and saying how wonderfull they were for owning such a georgous car, and punters would have the pleasure of getting a drive in a car of their dreams. It would be a big job setting up though.