A damper had been put on this weekend before we even
started. A few days earlier there had
been a tragic accident leading to the death of an 11 year old schoolgirl in the
Rapids which led to the closure of the theme park for several days. Nevertheless
the Nationals, which was situated in the camping area just outside the park,
went ahead.
With a 3 hour window before the expected rain, we set off early
with the top up on the car just in case but we needn’t have worried. We enjoyed
a pleasant drive after joining the A5 at Weedon. Shortly after joining this
road we stumbled across some nice looking restored commercial buildings so
called in and discovered an assortment of delightful little independent shops.
We even found the perfect clock for our kitchen.
We arrived at Drayton Manor and went to register at the NASC
tent. The atmosphere was eerie with the rides all silent and very few people
around. We saw Jacko and friends but not many other cars had arrived. It
transpired that most of the weekenders were families with caravans but few had
Hot Rods with them. It wasn’t until Sunday that most cars arrived and even then
there were only 300 or so.
The Fazeley Inn where we were staying for the weekend was a
nice pub and we had a small but comfortable room. It was newly refurbished and
good value at £50 per night and only slightly let down by the builder’s lackadaisical
attitude towards the finish of the room. We got some really nice fish cake and
chips from the Fazeley Fish bar across the road and ate them while we strolled
along the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, passing the old Fazeley mill and the marina
which popped out close to Drayton Manor. We drove back to the show and spent a
nice hour or so drinking and chewing the fat with Mike Payne and Karen at their
motor home before returning to Fazeley for a dirty kebab. We enjoyed eating whilst sitting on a bench
where the B and F canal meets the Coventry canal. We finished the evening off
at the Three Tuns and listening to a mediocre band play.
Saturday morning saw us driving through the pretty
Warwickshire countryside avoiding the motorway and clocking the 40 000 mile
mark for our third and final visit of the year to the Coventry Transport
Museum.
We displayed our car at their Coffee and Cars morning outside the museum on what was the last day of their Kool Kars and Kustoms exhibition. We took the opportunity to look around the city centre landmarks- The old and new cathedral, Lady Godiva’s statue and clock (which was broken unfortunately). There were several interesting buildings but most of it is post 50’s, ugly concrete which must have seemed marvellous when it was built to replace the bombed out war sites but now looks like it should be pulled down and started again. The raised inner ring road is undoubtedly efficient but ugly! After the war Dresden chose to rebuild its city to its pre-war look, Coventry chose modernism. I know which I prefer!
We displayed our car at their Coffee and Cars morning outside the museum on what was the last day of their Kool Kars and Kustoms exhibition. We took the opportunity to look around the city centre landmarks- The old and new cathedral, Lady Godiva’s statue and clock (which was broken unfortunately). There were several interesting buildings but most of it is post 50’s, ugly concrete which must have seemed marvellous when it was built to replace the bombed out war sites but now looks like it should be pulled down and started again. The raised inner ring road is undoubtedly efficient but ugly! After the war Dresden chose to rebuild its city to its pre-war look, Coventry chose modernism. I know which I prefer!
We returned to Drayton Manor mid-afternoon. The park was
open but several rides were still shut as a mark of respect for the family. I
think this was a mistake. It had been closed since Tuesday and how long do you
define respectful? Life does go on and I feel Saturday would have been the time
to draw a line under it. We went on a couple of rides- The Haunting, Golden
Nuggets and Yogi 4D as well as looking around the zoo and Thomasland but
avoided the big rides that were open. We’ve been there and done that hundreds of
times and finally no longer feel the need.
Back at the Fazeley Inn we had a few drinks, a nice meal at
the Peninsular Cantonese restaurant, served at break neck speed. We walked to the Hampton Suite at Drayton and
enjoyed an evening chatting to people we knew and watching a decent band
singing soul oriented music – surprising for a car show.
Sunday was a nice sunny day and a good selection of cars
were there for the show and shine. We parked ourselves for most of the day with
the NSRA crew on their stand. Last time we came for the weekend was in 2005 and
since then the show has shrunk in size. It felt like it should be a Sunday only
show. Unbeknown to us, this was to be last one as the NASC folded in January of 2018. The prize winners were some very nice cars including Tim Hammond’s
debut car, a tangerine ‘34.
We had another pleasant drive home via the A428 and even managed
to get lost in Northampton!
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