Beaulieu Autojumble
Paid my first ever visit to the Beaulieu autojumble today. I had to go alone as nobody else fancied walking around acres of land for hours on end, looking at obscure fragments of cars. No problem though, it left more room in the car for bringing home crap!
First tempting bit of tat was this stuffed badger umbrella holder... great for infuriating the Mrs and terrifying the boy and animals. It would have been a mistake. There was a fox too, you can see it in the background. And some cow skins. Lovely for decorating the house.
How about a missile? I'm not sure what it acutally is but it was ace. There were quite a few cars for sale too, I'd assumed they'd be overpriced and some of them certainly didn't disappoint (£10K for a late 90's E430?), but there was serious temptation for the person with £3K in their pocket. Nice 80's S-class Benz, '95 Jaguar XJR (supercharged 4-litre V8), plus some mint Austin 1100s, even a nice MX5.
I almost bought a wheel and tyre from a '96 Williams Renault F1 car, claimed to be either Hill's or Villeneuve's. It was £200 though and the bloke didn't take cards, so I made do with a load of old Autocar and Motor magazines. I got some that would have been for sale when I was born, plus '50s, '40s and even a couple of war time ones.
Didn't find anything for the MX5 - in fact the only Japanese thing I saw all day was a Honda showroom sign. It would be easy to believe there's no car manufacturing outside Europe at this place.
I spent some 6 hours walking but still didn't see everything. I had a quick look in the museum before I left, it's not very big but I'm very fond of it; it has a warm ambience you don't get at, for instance, Gaydon. When I was a nipper I found an article about the display hall being built in an old Autocar magazine. It sounded fabulous but I was living in Norfolk, so it might as well have been on another continent. I finally got there in 1989 when I towed my horrible old caravan down to Cornwall. It seemed a long way from home (but then everything seemed a long way in a Morris Marina with a hefty caravan on the back), but I wasn't disappointed. Happily I live less than an hour away now, so the next step is to buy the place... so visit now, I won't be letting the public in to touch my precious tat.
There's a Top Gear display too, here's the remains of the Reasonably Priced Car and Clarkson's Citroen CX camper...
How about a missile? I'm not sure what it acutally is but it was ace. There were quite a few cars for sale too, I'd assumed they'd be overpriced and some of them certainly didn't disappoint (£10K for a late 90's E430?), but there was serious temptation for the person with £3K in their pocket. Nice 80's S-class Benz, '95 Jaguar XJR (supercharged 4-litre V8), plus some mint Austin 1100s, even a nice MX5.
I almost bought a wheel and tyre from a '96 Williams Renault F1 car, claimed to be either Hill's or Villeneuve's. It was £200 though and the bloke didn't take cards, so I made do with a load of old Autocar and Motor magazines. I got some that would have been for sale when I was born, plus '50s, '40s and even a couple of war time ones.
Didn't find anything for the MX5 - in fact the only Japanese thing I saw all day was a Honda showroom sign. It would be easy to believe there's no car manufacturing outside Europe at this place.
I spent some 6 hours walking but still didn't see everything. I had a quick look in the museum before I left, it's not very big but I'm very fond of it; it has a warm ambience you don't get at, for instance, Gaydon. When I was a nipper I found an article about the display hall being built in an old Autocar magazine. It sounded fabulous but I was living in Norfolk, so it might as well have been on another continent. I finally got there in 1989 when I towed my horrible old caravan down to Cornwall. It seemed a long way from home (but then everything seemed a long way in a Morris Marina with a hefty caravan on the back), but I wasn't disappointed. Happily I live less than an hour away now, so the next step is to buy the place... so visit now, I won't be letting the public in to touch my precious tat.
There's a Top Gear display too, here's the remains of the Reasonably Priced Car and Clarkson's Citroen CX camper...
