Rainy Gaydon and the Truck Show

The British Motor Museum at Gaydon seems to be something of a second home for me at the moment, this being my fourth visit in a year. Just a fortnight after last time I was back again for a repeat of the Classic Truck Show, and in case you're wondering this was a deliberate decision so I could have plenty of time to look around the Collections Centre on my previous visit and wouldn't be rushing around this time trying to see everything in one day, knowing the size of the truck show.

The most apt numberplate of all?

All change at Gaydon

What was the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon has recently been through one of the biggest upheavals in its history, closing late last year and reopening in February with a new name and a new building, so the time had come to pay another visit and see what had changed. I have been there several times over the years and seen the place develop since it first opened in 1993 in the ownership of the Rover Group; it was included in BMW's sale of Land Rover to Ford and is now owned by Jaguar Land Rover. Following a refurbishment and the opening of the brand new Collections Centre it is now known as the British Motor Museum and is responsible for three principal collections, the original British Motor Industry Heritage Trust assets being joined by those from the Jaguar Heritage Trust and the former James Hull collection.

The Jaguar Heritage Trust collection is now at Gaydon. I like this XJ6 estate but it never made production.

Buses Festival at Gaydon

A couple of months since my last visit to Gaydon for the truck show, I was back again on Sunday, this time for the Buses Festival. Organised by Buses magazine, this was a new event on the rally calendar for 2014 in response to dissatisfaction with the 2013 Showbus venue at Long Marston, and returned bigger and better this year, with almost a hundred vehicles in attendance. This was the first bus rally I had attended for a couple of years so these are my impressions, both as a first-time visitor to this particular event and as a returnee to bus rallies in general.

A shrine to Swedish supremacy

Gaydon Truck Show report

Thanks to waning interest in the bus and coach scene, as previously discussed on this blog, I am finding myself increasingly drawn towards trucks. As part of this conversion, I paid a visit to the Classic Truck Show at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon on Sunday and found it a very interesting event, with over 200 real vehicles and countless fine models on display, so here I recount my experiences as a first-time visitor.