British Motor Show
Excel Centre
London

August 2008
 

Three "petrol heads", Trev, Liam and myself set off at about 8.30am and arrived at the Excel off site car park at 10am where an old London Bus was waiting to shuttle us to the main entrance. We pre-paid our tickets so walked straight through to the main arena and all we could see was shiny metal with light and sound everywhere !

It was a long day. I could comment on all the cars one by one as we sat in most of them and even drove around the Land Rover Experience. The outside displays were all benefitting from the blazing hot sun and we had to dive for cover inside some very interesting motor homes. Then to the bar for a few refreshments. It is a hard life !

The far east manufactures were putting up a very strong case this year, with Ford and Vauxhall having the most impressive stands. I was disappointed by the lack of German vehicles. Only the BMW Mini and Mercedes had made it to the show. No sign of Audi, VW, Skoda or BMW. Even Volvo had not turned up ! What a shame, but I guess they are all finding times hard under the current "credit crunch climate".

Some of the show cars were out of bounds. There were old classics and of course the concept cars and wow... some of them looked just terrific !

For me, the only thing that spoilt the show was the constant reminder that we should be "thinking green" and driving those horrid hybrid cars that come out of a breakfast cereal packet !

Here are a few of the more interesting motors on show:

Dan Smith.