“If all the cars in the country were placed end to end, it would probably be Bank Holiday weekend”. 
                                -Doug Larson.

“When buying a used car, punch the buttons on the radio. If all the stations are rock and roll, there's a good chance the transmission is shot”. 
                                -Larry Lujack.

“Hotrods, I chuffing love hotrods!”
                               -Panther Shaun.

Tink, tink, tink, kerchink, tink…

….“Tink, tink, tink”? That’s not right. The alarm goes beep, beep, beep –not tink, tink, tink. What time is it? 6.o.clock. That’s definitely not right. Venturing out from the dark warmth of the duvet, I ease back the bedroom curtains.
Tink, tink, tink. The howling wind outside whips up the hailstones & pebble-dashes the window with them.
Oooh, bugger. That don’t look too promising.
The duvet tempts me back to it’s cosy embrace.

Beep, beep, beep.
That’s more like it. Let’s try again. Over to the window. Peer through the gap in the curtains…Wahey! Glorious sunshine!

And so the 2008 Surrey Street Rodders’ WheelsDay Show got off to a much more promising start. Held as usual on the grassy fields of Rushmoor Arena, near Aldershot, Hants, WheelsDay’s fast becoming the established season opener for the British rodding scene. It’s a date to aim for to get that Winter project back on it’s wheels & out into the Spring sunshine. Or rain. Or hail. Or sleet. Or howling wind. Or sunshine again. The variety of machinery on show this year was matched only by the ever changing weather.
Drivers arrived in shorts & T shirts. Drivers arrived in waterproofs & wellies. Both were equally valid fashion choices as the conditions constantly veered from pleasantly warm to bitterly, arcticly cold, before chucking in a bit of horizontal rain & sleet for good measure. Not surprisingly, the attendance numbers seemed a little down on last year’s heatwave, although it’s always difficult to estimate as WheelsDay’s not just a static show. Cars are constantly on the move, cruising around the main arena amphitheatre & the smaller field beyond it. The grassy bank that surrounds the show field gives a panoramic view of the cream of the current custom scene, with trade stalls arranged around the outside. Traditional rods, high tech billet rods, low riders, high riders, trucks, classic Yanks, classic Brits, race cars, cruising cars, chops, trikes. They were all represented & all worthy of  attention, but with so many on show –some 2,000 vehicles attended last year’s event, it’s easy to skim through the ranks & walk right past machines that’d stop you in your tracks if they were parked on your local high street.
Fortunately we had no less than 5 MMMotors roving reporters on hand this year, all snapping their particular favourites, with surprisingly few doubled up shots in the 1060 photos we amassed. Dave & Janie were there in Connie, their mark 2 Consul, as well as her Dad, Jacko on his Preying Mantis V Dub trike. Her sister, Sarah, & her kids made it a truly family affair by helping out as volunteer marshals in the carpark. A thankless task but well worth the effort as their cub scout group were rewarded with a generous donation by Surrey Street Rodders for their efforts. Lunatic & his parents were there, plus Chevy Rick, up from the New Forest in his truck, as well as Panther Shaun, snapping away in his Brit Chopper magazine reporter guise. Simon also put in an appearance on his little black MMMotors Reliant trike. Tazet was wielding her shiny new camera so instead of trailing me around the showground as I photograph anything that moves, or doesn't, we were in competition to grab the best shots & often split up to cover different cars. Manky teamwork. As we cover more & more events we’re starting to bump into familiar faces, some we just nod Hello to, some are fast becoming good mates. So Hi to everyone we chatted to through the day. See you all at another show soon.
There’s no point me trying to describe the cars to you here –go & look at the photos. Almost impossible to pick a favourite. There were just too many to choose from in so many different styles, but with my own Ford Pop pick-up project recently underway, I found myself drawn to the nostalgia rods. Some gorgeous examples on show. What would you have chosen?
The five pound entry ticket entered you for the prize draw & the chance to win the SSR ’34 sedan project in it’s eye-catching orange paint. A lucky lady living just four miles from the arena got to take that home with her. Wheels FM radio kept the music flowing all day, giving the punters something to listen to on their car radios as they queued to get in, while a brace of live bands did their thing from the back of a trailer, “The Borderlines” sounding particularly tight, playing some great doo-wap. All in all, a great show.
Many thanks to the Surrey Street Rodders crew –a surprisingly small band of enthusiasts, for putting on another cracking event. Well done guys.      

Oh, & just to complete our tick-list of crazy weather, we left the showground to the accompaniment of torrential rain, followed by snow!    

-Manky