The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show 2025
I went to the N.E.C in Birmingham yesterday with my friend Scott to attend the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show. I had only booked the one day, but it really wasn’t enough time to fully explore everything that was on offer. There was so much to see and do, from stunning classic cars to various exhibitions.
It was certainly an early start yesterday, as we left Maidstone at 6 a.m. It felt like it was dark and foggy for ages. To be honest, I am not enjoying these dark and cold mornings. Still, we stopped at the Shell garage for a coffee and promptly set off on the three-hour drive to the centre. Even though all the staff at the centre guiding the traffic were friendly, they really didn’t have a clue what they were doing, haha. I had already booked and paid for parking but was sent around the houses a few times, being given different information about where to go each time.
Once we were parked, we made our way to the main entrance and got in very quickly, which was great. The first stand we came to was The MG Owners Club, which had this really cool boxy electric car that instantly reminded me of the Metro 6R4. I then saw a familiar face—the same guy I had been chatting with at Bicester Scramble not long ago. I reminded him of our conversation about the success of the new Renault 5 EV and how it would be great if MG took note of this approach. I praised the MG they had on display, even though, at this stage, it was still the concept car. My very first car was a boxy 1.3 1989 Metro (which really was not popular back then), and I had a desire to fit the 6R4 kit to it to try to make it look a bit cooler. So, the impact of this new MG EX4 with a very similar design achieved the nostalgia we had discussed only a few weeks back.
After this, Scott and I carried on exploring the insane number of displays, which you can see in the photos above. Eventually, we met up with one of Scott’s friends who actually had a car for sale in the auction. He had a Holden SS-V Ute 6.0 V8 that he was selling, so he managed to get us into the auction section with him, where we were able to look around the cars going under the hammer. His was coming up soon, so we grabbed a drink from the bar and sat on the rooftop watching the sales until his car was up. He received a phone call right on his car, so of course, I thought he was missing his car being bid on. I zoomed in from the rooftop to the screen and quickly snapped a photo to show him, hoping he might realise he was missing it. It turned out that it was the auction house on the phone to him, so he knew exactly what was going on, haha. It didn’t meet the reserve initially, but later there were a few negotiations that took place, and he finally settled on a price. It was such a great experience to witness, to be honest.
We carried on our journey around the massive venue. We trekked quite far to get to the Ford display as this was in Hall 8, and the moving escalators were not in operation, and I am slow at walking. When we got there, I was disappointed not to see any base-spec Mk3 or Mk4 Escorts. The Escorts on display were the XR and RS models, which were great, but I had seen enough of these so far at the show. To be fair, we didn’t make it around some of the halls due to the sheer volume of what was on show, so maybe there were some base models that we missed. I know a few people with some pristine Mk4 Escorts that would have fit right in.
On our journey, we came across a familiar stall. Steve, who is the artist behind Mancave.art, had his setup in Hall 3a and was unmissable with his incredible auto art. Steve is part of the Auto Art Collective, as am I and many other artists throughout the UK. Steve and I have traded at a few different shows together, and I had seen his stall long before we met, purely because of how unique it was. Please take a look at his site and give him a follow on the socials listed at the bottom of his homepage. Supporting small businesses like Steve’s is what it is all about. He was doing a raffle at this event to win one of the pieces he had created, which was a great and new idea that went down really well. He was raffling off the front end of a classic Mini. How cool is that!
