show report Duxford Military Vehicle Show !

[chevpol]

ok folks,

 

as promised, piccys now on my site, enjoy

 

Mark

[Willyslancs]

Good pics mate , not been to duxford for over 20 years , still looks a good show .....

[chevpol]

Good pics mate , not been to duxford for over 20 years , still looks a good show .....

 

thank you :blush:

 

really enjoyed it, first time at Duxford for Helen and Martin, Helens first words when we drove from the M11 junction to the exhibitors gate was "its a big place isnt it!!!)

 

Mark

[Lauren Child]

Just for you Lauren !

 

 

Thanks everso Andy! Now I can show my friends what I was driving

[AndyFowler]

Some very nice privately owned vehicles !

[Chris Warne]

As usual, a nice drive through the villages for us from Bishops Stortford/Stansted, but I thought the show was poorly attended this year, compared to previous years.

Admittedly I wasn't there in 2009, but it appeared much busier in 2007 & 2008, for example.

 

During the course of the day, there seemed to be two main 'complaints' that I heard voiced several times...

 

1. Organisation of the exhibitors vehicle parking. Vehicle entries are given a 'classificiation' which identifies the type/period they fall into, eg C1/nn would be pre-1945 Softskin, C2/nn would be pre-1945 Armour, etc... but the vehicles are parked in order of arrival. I heard several comments from WW2 and postwar owners why each 'type' wasn't parked in its own area instead of randomly mixed. Perhaps an extreme view, but I heard one vehicle owner call it the 'Duxford Landrover show'!

2. Entry Price. £18.50 per adult is too expensive. A friend who came along in my Dodge, later told me his mate & family had abandoned their planned attendance at the entry gate - they simply couldn't afford it.

 

I think, if the majority wanted a change, then 1. could be addressed easily. There were plenty of marshalls there, so it's just a matter of organisation on the day - plus a few direction signs to each area.

For the second comment, this is a DAS event (the main organisers are the MV section of the DAS) but the IWM have overall control and, I believe, set the pricing. Admittedly visitors get full museum access included, but £18.50 is alot to swallow, especially as it can be a challenge to see the museum, the MV's, Cavalcade, model tent, Tank runs, etc, etc... in one day. If anything, it would be preferable to have a standard admission price on the MV show day, as visitors would get an additional attraction and more inclined to attend.

 

Finally, i've heard a couple of rumours about IWM selling off unique aircraft examples and a funding shortfall of £6m. Sadly, it's not a cheap business running a museum and, especially, conserving/restoring aircraft and as with all 'luxury' items, they are first off the spending lists.

 

Not good news if the rumours are correct.

[mike65]

I think some people were also put off by the weather forecast.

It was supposed to be heavy rain.

Mind you it did just after we left and were 10 minutes down the road.

 

I kind of liked the way the vehicles were mixed up.

Row upon row of Land Rovers and Jeeps in line can get a bit tedious.

 

I did have one complaint about the day.

We got there a public opening time and left about 5 and still did not have enough time to look around everything.

 

Mike

[John Pearson]

finally, a rant!!!!

 

Why do people take their pride and joy to a show, then insist on sitting infront of it so nobody can get a decent shot of it?

 

Mark

 

Two reasons I think:

1: So people are on hand to talk about the vehicle, answer questions, correct misinformation etc. Personally, we have to have a rota for "front" men as the questions never stop.

2: So as to catch the 1 in a thousand who tries to steal something and to break their fingers.

 

We always move if we see a camera approaching: you could always ask the people to shift if they do not spot you!

[Big Al]

Two reasons I think:

1: So people are on hand to talk about the vehicle, answer questions, correct misinformation etc. Personally, we have to have a rota for "front" men as the questions never stop.

2: So as to catch the 1 in a thousand who tries to steal something and to break their fingers.

 

We always move if we see a camera approaching: you could always ask the people to shift if they do not spot you!

And you only need to ask we will help!