NEC Restoration Show - 21-23 March 2025 DISCOUNT TICKETS

[rbgosling]

Time to get booking to visit this year's Resto Show, at the NEC in Birmingham!

As the 50th Anniversary celebrations roll on to the Eclat, we should have a great stand featuring:

• A Penthouse model! In the form of a former press car that starred in an article by LJK Setright, this has also appeared in Car magazine and other contemporary publicity shots. Owned by a retired long-term Lotus employee, it's been sitting in a hedge for a number of years and is in a poor state, needing a new custodian to bring it back to glory.
• An Onyx Green Elite with a collection of fixes and cosmetic improvements to be carried out live at the show.
• A development prototype Excel.
• My '90 Midnight Blue Excel, undergoing a well-overdue service and numerous other fixes - no overarching project this year but a long list for a busy weekend.

There will be a few other clubs dotted around the place who might have some interesting cars and displays too, of course . This is very much an active show, with owners working to fix, restore, even assemble their cars live on the club stands. Practical Classics magazine usually has a car they are building live on stage, this year due to be a Fiat 124 Spider, hopefully ready to drive off by the end of the show. There will be celebrity guests, including Richard Hammond, and our own friend and Elite owner Gary Mavers (Mike Brewer always seems to be there too, but oddly is not listed on the site at the moment!).

As usual, we get a club discount - the code to use is CCC5M670. As well as £3.50 off your ticket, this also helps the club - sales made using this code improve our standing and help us get a good stand, we may get extra wristbands for those working on the stand (if bought by 27th Feb), and if we sell enough we can even earn commission (to help funding of this website), although TBH we've yet to get close to enough sales to qualify for this!

Book here: www.necrestorationshow.com



N.B. A change of rule last year means we can publicise our discount code anywhere, including where it can be seen by other members of the public, this is not restricted to members.

[AndrewWebber]

So the 'Penthouse Model' in Norfolk is now 'show ready' it has been given the once over and got rolling and steering over the last couple of days and is now positioned ready to be loaded onto my trailer for delivery to the NEC.

'F' Richard, the steering rack that had broken away is now affixed to the chassis with rachet straps but the anti roll bar is floating in mid air as that bit of the chassis has long since gone to dust so the single bottom front wishbones offer limited lateral control of the front wheel position, thus limiting steering lock as the tyres rub the arches and the brakes are disconnected and in 2 cases removed. So we ideally need a fairly empty hall at the NEC to sensibly push it and manoeuvre it into position on the stand, and likewise to collect it. Is arrival time managed by the NEC? if so how to 'book'? or if not do you know what time it could arrive and depart to ensure a less crowded hall please?

Thanks Andy

[rbgosling]

Hi Andy,

I'll set up a separate thread for admin for stand volunteers soon, but for now I'll answer here.

For drop-off, we need to book a time on their on-line system "Voyage Control". Bookings aren't open yet, I'll let you know when they are. You get a 1-hour window to show up, plus a further half-hour window to get your tow vehicle/trailer out again (IIRC), but you can ask for an extension if things don't quite go to plan. If you arrive in good time it's no problem to bring the trailer into the hall, so you only need to roll the car off and straight onto the stand - that's what we did with the Prototype Elite Coupe last year. Any time before midday the halls are still pretty quiet and empty.

Removal of vehicles is much more of a free-for-all. If you want to leave Sunday evening, you'll have to wait for at least an hour after the show closes to be able to bring a vehicle+trailer close to the halls, probably a bit longer if you are going to get the trailer into the hall. If you leave it to Monday morning, the hall will be practically empty so no problem getting access (and no need to pre-book a time slot either) but you may struggle to get bodies to help you; I'll have to be at work Monday morning for sure.

[AndrewWebber]

Thanks Richard, understood. Roddy and I are thinking of going to Norfolk to pick it up and bring it local to the NEC on the Wednesday, stay over somewhere, then, into the NEC early on the Thursday. Collection wise I'll probably go for the Monday morning, as you say, more time / space. I could do it on my own if I can get the trailer into the hall, in that situation...if it's me, and I know where to take it!

Andy

[rbgosling]

N.B. if you want to save on the (silly price) NEC car parking, you can pre-book and save a fiver here:

https://www.thenec.co.uk/visitors/parking-at-the-nec/

[MetBlue]

Collection wise I'll probably go for the Monday morning,

Andy, sounds like loading on your own could be a challenge. Happy to volunteer to assist. I'm only 50 mins from NEC traffic permitting.

[AndrewWebber]

Thanks Tony, 'if' I can get the trailer into the hall and aligned with the Elite I could then hand winch it up (when I break / crash my competition cars I've done it before) BUT, if I can't get that close any help would be very much appreciated. The first point to resolve is really where is the Elite going to / who will be it's custodian going forward? as it might be they want to collect it directly from the NEC themselves or at least help me help them with a delivery?

We'll have to see, but if you could keep the date 'available if needed' that would be great.

As it stands, I'm competing the following weekend with the 'Europa' at Cadwell Park, and am most likely to trailer the Europa from Kent to near to the NEC on the Monday morning, unload it / park it up somewhere, take empty trailer to NEC, collect / deliver the Elite, go back and pick up the Europa, go to work with the whole 'rig' in Staffs for a few days to pay for the trip, then up to Cadwell for the weekend!

So just need to know the future plans for the Elite and then plan accordingly.....anybody?

Andy

[rbgosling]

Sounds like a busy week Andy!

Can we move this discussion to this thread, which I've set up for Resto Show admin? The chat here was meant to be just for visitors, rather than exhibitors.

[rbgosling]

Ooh look - there's a news article about the hedge-find former press car in the News section for the show:

https://www.necrestorationshow.com/exhibitor-news

[Alan_M]

Lovely bit of promotion !