Cyril bought the car last December with the intention of using it and doing a rolling restoration. The car looked sound but it was far from what it had once been and looked rather sad in dull grey blistering paint with a badly "painted" interior. I privately thought that Cyril would never be happy with the car in that condition and fully expected him to get stuck into sorting it out in his own particular style. Before long the rolling restoration had been abandoned and Cyril had the body stripped of its interior trim. All the glass, mouldings, and fittings came off so he could see just what he was up against. There was a considerable amount of damage on the body combined with poor panel fit and some broken timbers. Cyril tackled the work at tremendous speed working day and night on the car. With the major  body repairs complete Cyril's friend Gary Cooper was engaged to bring his considerable knowledge of specialist vehicle painting to the project. Many hours were spent ensuring the panels were flat and true and that the gaps were pleasing. Eventually the car was painted in a colour christened Milllward grey because it was a a variation on a Rolls-Royce colour - Oyster grey mixed specially by Gary until Cyril felt happy with the shade and level of metallic particulate. Gary painted the car in October and then flatted and polished it as Cyril worked along side him re-assembling the car right up until the day before the show at the NEC. Cyril had fully restored all of the interior trim so it was nice to see it re-instated and complimenting the new body colour beautifully. Cyril's 405 must now certainly rank among the best Bristol 405's in the world. It was an impressive sight on the Bristol stand at the NEC sparkling under the lights and surrounded by an admiring crowd.
 
As I walked around the larger than ever show this year I was struck by the very high standard of presentation of some of the cars. In particular I was very impressed with the amazing standards achieved by some of the Ford enthusiasts. Two cars stood out for me, one was a light blue MK I Escort RS2000 which looked stunning and must have taken many thousands of hours of careful work to present it in such flawless condition. The other was a MK I Capri finished in burgundy, again that car sparkled like a crystal glass full of burgundy wine, it sported one of the best paint jobs I've ever seen and is no doubt the pride and joy of its owner. I have the greatest admiration for the owner/restorers of the less glamorous and valuable vehicles on display at concours events. These men often labour alone in far from ideal conditions and with a very tight budget. They achieve results by sheer hand work and tenacity, they are very special people.
 
Among the other stands I was pleased to find a delightful owner restored 1924 Austin 7 van. This rare little commercial was beautifully presented and had been restored from a tired looking wreck discovered in a Scottish shed. Beautifully sign written and correct it was very much admired.
 
The Jaguar Drivers Club put on a magnificent display, it was a pleasure to see their cars so immaculately presented , and with a variety of models all in similar condition.
 
The Rover P4 Driver Guild had a stand dedicated to the Rover 75 Cyclops. I soon got into conversation with my friend Alan Buttell who was there showing his JET 1 replica along side his 1950 pastel blue Cyclops. Alan has a large collection of P3 and P4 Rovers all of which are in concours condition. Alan works tirelessly on his collection and always presents his cars  wonderfully. His understated style of total authenticity is always very impressive to me.
 
Among the cars were a few veteran vehicles. To my mind one of the nicest and best presented was a 1904 Mercedes Simplex displayed on the Mercedes Benz stand. Again the standard of presentation of all the cars on this stand was very impressive, it is very hard to do the show justice with so many vehicles worthy of close inspection on display.
 
I eventually made my way over to  the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts Club Stand. This was a very interesting stand displaying the 1963 motor show Silver Cloud III chassis. This is preserved at the club headquarters and is used often to aid the club's training seminars run annually. It is nice to be able to see the mechanical  components clearly without the coachwork in place.
 
The NEC is an ideal venue for this kind of show, it's warm, dry and there is every facility at hand, it certainly beats a wet field and a howling gale. I feel sure it will continue to grow in popularity.