NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Any social or anti-social get togethers, track days, shows, stag nights etc. that may be of interest to members. The occational blast down the road, or trip down to the local.

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richardw
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NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by richardw »

Hello All,

Seasons greetings and best wishes for 2020!

We need to respond by 2 January confirming our attendance at the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020.

Could anybody wishing to bring a car and work on it at the show please respond asap. As a reminder, the show aim is to undertake live working on a current restoration project or demonstrate servicing/maintenance activities on clubs stand whilst the event is taking place.

We do not currently aim to have power on the stand as this adds around £200 to the costs of attendance.

We have been given a 13m x 8.5m stand, with a pillar, so I'd imagine that we could accommodate a maximum of four cars, allowing for space to work on the cars.

Cheers, Richard
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theelanman
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by theelanman »

Mine should have just been finished by then.........
So technically no tinkering required........
If it's any use........I'm happy to loan it out for the weekend......as I'm not really free for a whole weekend personally due to my 4 and 3 year old.......lol
Their mother would make mince meat of me if I tried a blag for a whole weekend....lol

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Tanz
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by Tanz »

I can be there - Sure I can find some jobs to do. Headlight pods wobble, Indicators cancel when they shouldn't, have a petrol pump conversion kit to fit etc.
Cheers, Phil
Never take life seriously, nobody gets out alive anyway!

richardw
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by richardw »

Tanz wrote:I can be there - Sure I can find some jobs to do. Headlight pods wobble, Indicators cancel when they shouldn't, have a petrol pump conversion kit to fit etc.
Sounds good Phil!
If we can get three cars booked then it's worth going ahead. Mine always needs minor jobs so it can be a reserve.
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rbgosling
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by rbgosling »

I’d love to come along. My whole interior is looking a mess, so a head lining redo would be a good project. I’m guessing this will need a bit of clear floor area to achieve cutting and preparing panels, so I hope there’s enough space?
If that’s not viable I’m sure I’ve got 3 days worth of minor repairs / servicing / tinkering, but no major project - although happy to lend a hand to anyone else’s project!
I live a couple of stops up the rail line, so can leave my car on stand and come and go by train each day.
"Farmer" Richard

1990 Lotus Excel SE (Lilith)
2022 MG MG5 EV (not due to be a classic for quite a few years...)
2011 Nissan Leaf (Ragly - EV pioneer, must be due to be a classic one day)

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rbgosling
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by rbgosling »

2nd January has been and gone - have we confirmed our participation at the show?
"Farmer" Richard

1990 Lotus Excel SE (Lilith)
2022 MG MG5 EV (not due to be a classic for quite a few years...)
2011 Nissan Leaf (Ragly - EV pioneer, must be due to be a classic one day)

richardw
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by richardw »

We have a number of expenses to cover as a club, now that we don't have the parts and merchandise revenue. These include the cost of hosting the forum until and unless we can move to another platform - I'm trying to engage Chris Hopper, our technical administrator, in a dialogue so we can decide how to move forward, including options for funding. The other cost is club insurance, which we would need for the Restoration show - our policy expires a week before the show. Given the relatively lukewarm interest in the show (with apologies to those who have volunteered their cars) it is probably wise not to attend this year.

The good news is I have been talking with Club Lotus, and they have agreed to set up an Elite/Eclat/Excel section - I will shortly be posting on this subject.

All the best

Richard
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by Johnwindwood »

richardw wrote: Given the relatively lukewarm interest in the show (with apologies to those who have volunteered their cars) it is probably wise not to attend this year.
Whilst I appreciate the reasons for this Richard, I should warn you that it will be difficult to get back in in the future if we withdraw at this stage.
Kind regards

John

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Johnwindwood
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by Johnwindwood »

richardw wrote:We have a number of expenses to cover as a club, now that we don't have the parts and merchandise revenue. These include the cost of hosting the forum until and unless we can move to another platform - I'm trying to engage Chris Hopper, our technical administrator, in a dialogue so we can decide how to move forward, including options for funding.
I think we may be going about this all wrong Richard. We have been offered FREE hosting at Lotusforums- therefore the hosting cost becomes zero. Surely the sensible way to handle this is to move to Lotusforums immediately and THEN sort out this forum and it's archives? I think thats what I'd do.
Kind regards

John

John Windwood

1984 Lotus Excel (1985 MY wide body)
1952 Austin Sheerline A125 Harold Radford Shooting Brake
1949 Austin Sheerline saloon (Parts car)
1997 BMW Z3 1.9
2002 Volvo V70XC Cross Country AWD

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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by alanmoss »

Johnwindwood wrote:
richardw wrote: Given the relatively lukewarm interest in the show (with apologies to those who have volunteered their cars) it is probably wise not to attend this year.
Whilst I appreciate the reasons for this Richard, I should warn you that it will be difficult to get back in in the future if we withdraw at this stage.
Clarion are always oversubscribed for club stands. John's making a very valid point.
Alan
Excel Celebration, 1999 Mini Cooper S, Dacia Duster 4x4

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Jason.goad
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by Jason.goad »

richardw wrote:We have a number of expenses to cover as a club, now that we don't have the parts and merchandise revenue. These include the cost of hosting the forum until and unless we can move to another platform - I'm trying to engage Chris Hopper, our technical administrator, in a dialogue so we can decide how to move forward, including options for funding. The other cost is club insurance, which we would need for the Restoration show - our policy expires a week before the show. Given the relatively lukewarm interest in the show (with apologies to those who have volunteered their cars) it is probably wise not to attend this year.

The good news is I have been talking with Club Lotus, and they have agreed to set up an Elite/Eclat/Excel section - I will shortly be posting on this subject.

All the best

Richard


Quoted from a post by Chris Hopper

Sorry for the delayed response to this.

I host this site, currently at my own cost, but other than being a fan of Lotus cars (well lots of cars to be honest!) I don't have any direct affiliation with the Excel beyond being a friend of Spav who use to look after the site. (I did spend some time rebuilding hubs, brakes and diff with him though!)

I have no intention to stop hosting it; I really am quite proud of how good a forum it is.

Whilst I am happy to maintain the site, it is in serious need of some updgrades to keep it secure and to make the membership process a little better (okay, a lot).
This is something I will do during the next 6 months or so. I will post more when I am nearer to doing it.

I am considering if I should ask for donations, or have a very small annual fee, or perhaps start to include advertising on the site, but I am happy to hear your thoughts on this.
I am not looking to make a huge profit out of this, it would just be nice to cover some of my costs.

Plenty more to be said on the subject, but I am just throwing this out there to get peoples thoughts.



Has Chris removed the hosting of the forum?

richardw
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by richardw »

Johnwindwood wrote:
richardw wrote:We have a number of expenses to cover as a club, now that we don't have the parts and merchandise revenue. These include the cost of hosting the forum until and unless we can move to another platform - I'm trying to engage Chris Hopper, our technical administrator, in a dialogue so we can decide how to move forward, including options for funding.
I think we may be going about this all wrong Richard. We have been offered FREE hosting at Lotusforums- therefore the hosting cost becomes zero. Surely the sensible way to handle this is to move to Lotusforums immediately and THEN sort out this forum and it's archives? I think thats what I'd do.
You may be right John. If anybody wants to offer to handle this move then please step forward. I'm still trying to get to the first stage which is a reliable dialogue with Chris Hopper as until we know what we may be moving and where it is there is nothing more we can do. As I have pointed out to Gill, there is also likely to be a cost in moving the forum to the TLF servers that would have to be borne somewhere. I have asked the transition team for views about what we should do regarding the show, as well as this forum, with little response apart from those who have kindly volunteered their cars. As the deadline for declaring our participation (2nd January) is now past then we have unfortunately missed our chance. I can't magic enthusiasm or money out of thin air!

Cheers, Richard
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richardw
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by richardw »

Jason.goad wrote:
richardw wrote:We have a number of expenses to cover as a club, now that we don't have the parts and merchandise revenue. These include the cost of hosting the forum until and unless we can move to another platform - I'm trying to engage Chris Hopper, our technical administrator, in a dialogue so we can decide how to move forward, including options for funding. The other cost is club insurance, which we would need for the Restoration show - our policy expires a week before the show. Given the relatively lukewarm interest in the show (with apologies to those who have volunteered their cars) it is probably wise not to attend this year.

The good news is I have been talking with Club Lotus, and they have agreed to set up an Elite/Eclat/Excel section - I will shortly be posting on this subject.

All the best

Richard


Quoted from a post by Chris Hopper

Sorry for the delayed response to this.

I host this site, currently at my own cost, but other than being a fan of Lotus cars (well lots of cars to be honest!) I don't have any direct affiliation with the Excel beyond being a friend of Spav who use to look after the site. (I did spend some time rebuilding hubs, brakes and diff with him though!)

I have no intention to stop hosting it; I really am quite proud of how good a forum it is.

Whilst I am happy to maintain the site, it is in serious need of some updgrades to keep it secure and to make the membership process a little better (okay, a lot).
This is something I will do during the next 6 months or so. I will post more when I am nearer to doing it.

I am considering if I should ask for donations, or have a very small annual fee, or perhaps start to include advertising on the site, but I am happy to hear your thoughts on this.
I am not looking to make a huge profit out of this, it would just be nice to cover some of my costs.

Plenty more to be said on the subject, but I am just throwing this out there to get peoples thoughts.



Has Chris removed the hosting of the forum?
No, he is continuing to carry on at his own expense (around £250 pa). He has told me he is a very busy guy with little time to dedicate to resolving our issues. We just need some of his valuable time to resolve the way forward.

Cheers, Richard
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Ray-s
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by Ray-s »

Don't know the general feeling of members but I would be more than willing to make a donation to keep things going on this site
nobody should be out of pocket. Would hate to see this site collapse it's been a big help to me and i'm sure many others...
Ray.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Ray...
Why is there always bits left over ?

richardw
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Re: NEC Classic Car & Restoration Show 27-29 March 2020

Post by richardw »

Ray-s wrote:Don't know the general feeling of members but I would be more than willing to make a donation to keep things going on this site
nobody should be out of pocket. Would hate to see this site collapse it's been a big help to me and i'm sure many others...
Ray.
Don't worry Ray, we're all agreed with that. It has been very good of Chris to fund the hosting of the forum himself over the last few years, but this is not sustainable moving forward. We have been offered free hosting by TLF, but before we can take this step we need to ensure that we have someone who can support phpbb (the software the forum uses) it in case there are issues or in case upgrades are desirable/necessary. Chris currently does this but is unwilling to continue his involvement if we move to TLF hosting. We just need to be careful moving forward that we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, and properly evaluate the alternatives.

Cheers, Richard
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