Autumn Beaulieu Weekend

[richard]

leaving at 5 in the morning to get to Britains oldest and largest autojumble. Friday set up with mike shepherd (g-o-g-g-o) looking forward to see all the regulars and maybe some new faces - always something microeven if you have to look hard sometimes   finds in the past include Bond A headlights , horn button light switches  ( several of them) and backlights all very hard to find anywhere ! Gordon grill and even a very rare Gordon engine now in Jeans car ,brand new unused Clinton engine for my Trojan Trobike  just to mention a few  items found recently - wish us all happy hunting   amongst other things i have for sale a set of goggo seats -anyone need them ? mob :07772135715

[richard]

got back at 11 last night - 5 hours to cover the 280 miles in a modern car just endless traffic jams on the motorways. autojumble was great as always , and great crack with mainly European visitors. g-o-o-g-g-o and i met swiss , french , german , dutch and i certainly saw scandinavians there . dont recall any american visitors to our stand but i may be mistaken. loads of old faces also. there was a goggo for sale on one stand so many mentioned it and the conversations went on from there. business was brisk - like the old days . where were you alan ? there was a schmitt in the sales arena and later i believe a bubble window isetta - were the they both steve vines ?   
unfortunately i was hit by a bug ( say no more  ) so didnt stray much from the stand but still managed to find an  period mirror for my Bond A , also light bulbs that are usually VERY hard to find from any dealer .  , A headlamp glass Gordon / Bond c/d EXTREMELY rare. Also a 6v wiper relay for the Lloyd wiring in the Brutsch . g-o-o-g-g-o also found - just before i would have !! two bond minicar club plaques - prizes from 1962 in red and yellow enamel on the usual wooden shield . absurdly cheap and he even shared the prize by letting me take one of them  various other bits and pieces included rubber bushes to mount the engine on the mark A bond and some rare ,even to g-o-g-g-o , workshop sheets on the isetta electric gearchange.
on reflection i feel a little sorry for those queuing up at stands buying all the goods straight off the shelf to fit minis, triumphs, jaguars etc ( and some micros are the same of course) these buyers are building new cars and not restoring old ones . do some not know the pleasure of blasting , welding and repainting , but just the pleasure of getting out there creditcards ?
working on early Bonds , Gordons , Brutsches etc. etc. is a quite different prospect with no owners clubs or spares lists
On my return and checking emails i found that our leader Jim had been in touch . a little while back i asked for LHD bond photos or a contact for ken weger who i know owns one in the U.S.
well Jim really came up trumps - he had been over to kens and taken a series of photos which clarified a lot for me . well done and thanks Jim - this is what its all about !! 

[g-o-g-g-o]

I went down to Beaulieu in my Bedford CA with my large Gazebo - as it is so big it takes four people to erect it, and Richard and I erected it - it stained Richard's back - and he was unwell for the next day, but still selling my spares and his spares, as well as looking round to find microcar spares.
   It was for me the best Beaulieu for many a year with a RHD goggomobil saloon for sale at £2,850, the Messerscmitt for sale at £14.450, and the Bubble window Isetta nicely restored ( I think the Beaulieu Garages one ) for £15,000 which is not a bad price if you compare it with the ones sold in America recently.
  I bought a lot of microcar spares when I could get away from the stall, normally first thing in the morning and last thing at night - we had a lot of interesting visitors including Walter Zeichner - who wrote the book International Kleinwagen - the best book on microcars even though it's in German, and Mike Wortinton-Williams and his wife who bought my copy of his book - From Cyclecar to Microcar ( selling sands to the Arabs!!).
  A good weekend in all - I am just looking at my purchases.
                                                                                                                                                        Mike

[Big Al]

where were you alan ?

You mean me?

I no longer attend Beaulieu events. I objected to their marshelling and to my mind, general abuse of the traders. The event that finished my attendance, and that of my associates, was documented in full in Classic Car Monthly - being the only magazine not in thrall to Lord Montague. The questions raised were never answered and I feel sad that such a great event has descended into a scrabble to rip off the autojumble trade, including untrue advertisements and charity scams, having gone a long way to invent the past time in the first place. I hardly know anyone of the genuine jumblers and enthusiasts who used to populate the event and I knew very well who now go. So socially it has ceased to be much of an event as well. It is now primarily an event for servicing foreign buyers and populated by dealers not jumblers.
Suffice it to say the dramatic action climaxing my last attendance was 5 'security guards' and a dog hanging off me as I exercised my right, written on my wrist band, to enter via a trade gate, leading some 25 other traders also being given the run around as we had the temerity to refuse to pay for the car parking scam introduced without prior warning. We agreed I was right later but without any manners or merit to Beaulieu so as far as I am concerned they can get @?+*&$* They need me more than I need them. I have had the pleasure of costing them a considerable amount of lost revenue for taking me on as they are liars and cheats. I actually had people I did not know thanking me and supporting the future non attendance of the event at Newark a few weeks after publication. Bad move Beaulieu, chose the wrong person to try and argue with. Hope the car boot traders replacing the real jumblers did well with their cash and carry crap..... I enjoyed a great day out at Toddington, for free.

[richard]

  oh ignorance is bliss isnt it ! and i thought we all had a lovely weekend - silly me . i never looked at any dealer stalls selling polish or t shirts only the THOUSANDS of autojumble stalls with oily and rusty old junk LOVELY and there were of course those little gems to be found 

i begin to think that there are glass half full people and glass half empty people - and my glass was as always overflowing.


ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE 

[Trident]

I agree with you Dickie - this forum has been invaded by the "gRUMpy old man" brigade.

[blob]

As for me, I too was suffering from some flu type bug, though found little either Friday or Saturday apart from a door lock used by a myriad of microcars and a switch bezel for a Frisky Sport indicator, I actually bribed this from the hands of an MG enthusiast, even though it wasn’t entirely spec and a little modified, but at least I had a chance encounter with Stephen Boyd.

[Big Al]

i begin to think that there are glass half full people and glass half empty people - and my glass was as always overflowing.

Not very easy when someone nicked the glass!
Seriously, that is very true. Events are what you make them. As with many of these things I was attending in the late '70's/early 80's when jumbling was lucrative fun. It was a different world. It was not a case of finding a part but finding the cheapest one. Remember I become a trader so business was important. Beaulieu was too expensive early on and it was cheaper to attend sharing a plot. Later we got in with LMB, Quarry, AA and the crowd and had great meals in the evening. None of these guys go now. Mannhiem was always cheaper despite the distance away. The returns were far better too. That experience has wained now. The parts are just much less available than they used to be and intense jumbling is not going to yield the results to warrent the effort. Gentlemanly jumbling probably does and is enjoyable for its own rewards. Having had the argument with that particular venue I abide by my principles is all. I refuse to attend. I still do a few jumbles as a day out with chums if they are up for it. Newark, Stafford and the like. I expect to find little so am often pleasantly surprised at what might be found.

[P50]

I went to Beaulieu expecting to find nothing and thus was not to be dissapointed..

Lots of junk.  To be expected seeing as the golden era is basically mid 30's to late 60's so all the decent stuff has been depleted.   As time ebbs on true finds are uber rare. 

I hate to admit it but Ebay is where you're more likely to pick the special stuff likep a NOS Lucas 8H horn for a Peel.  I have found 3...

I won't be going next year..  Unless I need a Marina wheel cylinder, a clutch plate for a mk5 Cortina and a box of rusty imperial spanners...
   

[blob]

I think unless you're prepared to rummage on your hands and knees through utter detritus you've got little hope in finding anything micro, though very slow this year... I blame it on throwing away my lucky yellow bag!

[Big Al]

I think unless you're prepared to rummage on your hands and knees through utter detritus you've got little hope in finding anything micro, though very slow this year... I blame it on throwing away my lucky yellow bag!

Yes that used to be me. It used to work despite people falling over you.
Best Beaulieu buy was finding a load of Goggomobil spares that the seller had been contracted to clear from a premises. Since he had been paid once and the stuff was in his way I got a bargain. New barrels, pistons, a crank along with boxes of used stuff. However the real memories tend to be trophy buys, signs or badges, which go on display rather than being dispersed fiscally in doing cars up. I rather fail on that for Beaulieu offering a Messerschmitt Midlands Club bumper bar badge poorly made in aluminium but apparently quite rare and desirable. Maybe there is a poll thing there as we recall Beaulieus passed.
I think my lucky yellow underpants, never washed from the day I first found a bubblecar part, wore out in about 2005 when the altercation with the stewards occurred. A lucky bag sounds more pleasent and efficient as it doubles as a rain hat. I will get some in and on eBay.

[richard]

ah but i think you are all missing the point surely . its the thrill of the chase isn't it ? do i go to the car boot sale with 20p in my pocket because of what i found last time ? no !! i never go without at least £ 50 in case i find anything . its the anticipation of the event over months and weeks that make it what it is .

I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU ALL !! SOME OF YOU ARE IN YOUR 30'S STILL ARE YOU GOING TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR HOPEFULLY VERY LONG, LIVES MOANING ABOUT THINGS THAT ARENT WHAT THEY WERE IN THE 1970'S? 

ENJOY LIFE KARRANGA BE HAPPY !! 

[P50]

I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU ALL !! SOME OF YOU ARE IN YOUR 30'S STILL ARE YOU GOING TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR HOPEFULLY VERY LONG, LIVES MOANING ABOUT THINGS THAT ARENT WHAT THEY WERE IN THE 1970'S?  

Err sorry?  the fact is you fuel your car, get stuck in traffic, pay a sizeable entrance fee and trawl the jumble.  But there's nothing but piles of old crap.


However one more fact renders the entire excercise pointless.

FRIDAY IS TRADERS DAY.   So by the time joe public punter arrives on Sat all the items of interest have had ownership transfer. That's tantamount to inside trading which is banned in the financial markets!   

As for mourning the past etc KR's were scrapped to supply parts for survivors. TG were scrapped.  Two thirds of Tridents were destroyed...  Sobering but who was to know?  The past is the past but I shan't bother with Beaulieu again.  Unless I happen to buy a Austin 1800.

You can stick it where the sun don't shine... Much like many thing is this day and age, it's a con.   (Unless you happen to have a Friday stand..)        

[richard]

suggest you get a new hobby - pursuit of a pastime for pleasure . if its not a pleasure for you just give it a rest cos your spoiling our pleasure . oh by the way what on earth do you think the dealers do with stock they buy ? durr ! THEY SELL IT 

[Stuart Cyphus]

 Myself personally, I've always rather enjoyed my trips to the Spring jumble the past four or five years, but having said that, the fact I assist manning the Trojan Museum Trust stand in the great company of David Hambleton & David Keymer & thus have never had to pay entrance might help there.    Every year I take about £200 & every year it all seems to go on something, but then as Big Al said once, Beaulueu is very miuch geared to the sort of stuff I like: being signage & paper.  Last year I got a whole bundle of genuine brousuers etc for the Mini Comtesse & other Funny French Fhings from a Frenchman who had just put the box out on the table. Then two or was it three years ago, I went for my browse on Saturday morning once we'd set up, & was wakling past the corner of a dutch chappie who was at that monment in the process of upending two sacks of overseas number plates onto a sheet. Natrally I dived straight in before they even hit the floor, & spent a very enjoyable half hour kneeling amidst about 400 plates, now & then holding one aloft & announcing "This one?" to which the stallholder would call his price from the comfort of his deckchair & as I assembled piles from one side of me to the other of plates I was having, plates I wasn't & plates I might have depending on how much I blew on the ones I was having. Ahhhh bliss.....    For some reason it seemed to draw a bit of a crowd round us, this mad Dutchman & mad Englishman having much anamated & amusing banter with plates flying everywhere & prices & counter-prices being tossed back & forth. Can't think why....

 You lot out there, you don't know what you're missing, getting distracted by PMG light lenses & suchlike when there's number plates to be had!    





 How can anyone resist browsing stuff like this, being sold by folk like that.....  

 Ah, Perry, Lucas 8H horns,  that reminds me: anyone know if a  Lucas Altette horn will fit the same hole as a Lucas 8H will? Despite much hunting, I still can't find out if those two horns are the same physical size or not!