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24th international oldtimer festival Axel, NL - May 13, 2010

Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 2:02 pm
by Ron Keij
Hi all,

Yesterday we went to a car show near the Belgium border. We had never been there before but I heard from Marjo's cousin that it was a great event. At 9 AM we left home and we were very disapointed by the weather, it was raining a little :twisted: After a smooth drive of about 1 1/2 hour including a 4 1/2 mile long tunnel (what a great sound my SF has :D) we arrived there and it was still raining.

We registered and found a nice place to park the car as there were not a lot of cars around at that time. But when the rain stopped around noon it got really crowded there and they even didn't have enough room to park all cars. The limit was 200 registered cars but they kept coming.
And it seemed like the whole town was walking around to have a look at the cars. The 59 got a lot of attention as it is a rare bird around here and I answered a million questions.

Then at 3.30 it was time for the "Concours d'Elegance", a short drive through the town and then a stop in front of City Hall where some people were interviewed by the speaker. A big crowd there too.

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start of the Concours d'Elegance
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near City Hall
IMG_0406.jpg
the speaker



After we returned to the original parking I met with Davy Borghys a former 59 Suburban owner from Belgium. We had a lot of fun and met a lot of wonderful people during the day, and even one guy who knew right away that my car was not a Christine! Ever since I bought this car in 2001 I think this is the first time it was immediately recognized as a 59 Sport Fury :mrgreen:

Here are some pictures for you all, I concentrated on the cars that you don't see everyday in the US.

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 2:15 pm
by Ron Keij
And some more pictures.

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Sat May 15, 2010 12:36 am
by Denver 59 Fin Convert
Ron, neat picutres! That's Herbie the Love Bug (VW) Of Walt disney movie fame! Kids do love that!

The Caddy HT to Convertible conversion looks pretty good from a distance... Does it have a convertible top frame or is it a Roadster style with no top?

200 cars (and tractors) is pretty good show!

John Q.

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 11:42 am
by Ron Keij
Denver 59 Fin Convert wrote:Ron, neat picutres! That's Herbie the Love Bug (VW) Of Walt disney movie fame! Kids do love that!

The Caddy HT to Convertible conversion looks pretty good from a distance... Does it have a convertible top frame or is it a Roadster style with no top?

200 cars (and tractors) is pretty good show!

John Q.
The Caddy does have a convertible top frame, it is so easy to find parts when you drive a GM car :? These guys can buy a new car in parts and build, I would miss the challenge.

I checked the website of this show and they had 250 cars and the tractors were just a bonus.

Ron

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 11:10 pm
by Fins59
Hi Ron - Nice pics. I hope that guy with his foot on the front bumper of that '59 Ford owns it - chrome is expensive. One of my friends?? did that to my car one time and he hasn't been forgiven yet :x . One of my son's just got a VW bug like the one in the pics. Not a herbie car but a white one.
Some pretty scenery there in the background. Large hedges, vines growing on houses, cobblestones. Reminds me of scenery scenes in the English TV series "Midsomer Murders" with DCI Tom Barnaby. I'm a fanatic fan of that show. But we have to get the videos from the local library, because that series is not shown on American TV anymore :( Again, nice pics.

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 8:05 am
by Ron Keij
The guy with his foot on the bumper is the owner! He restored the car himself and I hope he knows about the price of rechroming, in the Netherlands it is even more expensive than in the US :( I had both of my bumpers done in the US for 1/3 of the price I'd pay here for one bumper 8)

If you know how to download and burn your own DVD I can give you a lot of links for "Midsomer Murders". A quick search gave me links to season 9 episode 1 (the house in the woods) and Death Shadow (don't know the season or episode). If I check other sites I am sure I will find a lot more. It is all free to download and the best thing is that you also have a choice for Dutch subtitles, what a wonderful way to learn Dutch :D

The show was in the most Southern part of the country and it is almost at the Belgium border, lts of quiet old towns like this one in the area.

Ron

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 8:39 am
by Dick Koch
Ron - Thanks for the car pitchuhs, real nice cars, all those FIATS reminded me of our move to Miami from New Orleans in 1961 in a 1959 FIAT 1100 we bought brand new. It was basically a VW with four doors, the car was our box, cardboard boxes took up to much room. I bought a car top carrier and we put a toilet paper box on top and filled that too. Me, Yvonne and Pierre (our dog) made the trip, 850 miles in 20 hours straight through. With the load we had I could only get it up to 55 MPH so we had to cruise at 45 mph. and that was before Interstate highways, two lanes all the way through every town in Florida it seemed like. I made the mistake of pushing the front seat as far forward as I could get it so we could get more "stuff" in the car. I ended up driving the whole way with my knees stuck in my ears. What a trip. Loved the car though, wish I could find another one in decent shape. My dad had a FIAT 500 for several years he used to collet life insurance premiums door to door. It was what they called a debit route, he had three books about 8* thick with customers that had policies and he would collect .25 to .50 cents at each stop. Those were the days.
Dick.

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 10:48 am
by Fins59
Ron Keij wrote:The guy with his foot on the bumper is the owner! He restored the car himself and I hope he knows about the price of rechroming, in the Netherlands it is even more expensive than in the US :( I had both of my bumpers done in the US for 1/3 of the price I'd pay here for one bumper 8)

If you know how to download and burn your own DVD I can give you a lot of links for "Midsomer Murders". A quick search gave me links to season 9 episode 1 (the house in the woods) and Death Shadow (don't know the season or episode). If I check other sites I am sure I will find a lot more. It is all free to download and the best thing is that you also have a choice for Dutch subtitles, what a wonderful way to learn Dutch :D

The show was in the most Southern part of the country and it is almost at the Belgium border, lts of quiet old towns like this one in the area.

Ron
Hi Ron - Thanks for offer on links. I just found some sites where I can download. Thanks for suggestion. I think I will try that. (btw I have a hard enough time with English without learning Dutch :D ) I had to make up a listing of all episodes I've watched because there are so many and they can be mixed up fairly easy.
I just watched a new "Hound of the Baskervilles" the other night. John Nettles played Dr. Mortimer in it. Strange seeing him in another role. Very good actor.

As long as I got you on the line........on May 24, 2009, Matthew posted a few pictures of '59's he found somewhere on the web. He put them on the "Show Your Ride" section. Link was "Just Surfin Around The Web". One of the cars happened to be my "59. Could you ask him if he can remember where he found the picture. On that outing I was with 2 other guys. One had a '55 Chevy and the other, a '71 Dodge Charger Super Bee. They were wondering if pics of their cars were also pictured with mine on the page Matthew found. Both these guys are non-computer guys and were amazed (as was I) that Matthew found the pic that was taken in little ol' Wausau, Wis. by a passer-by. If Matthew can't remember I might have to consider getting DCI Barnaby in to solve the mystery 8) .

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 1:35 pm
by Faulkner
FWIW, here's the link to Flickr -- although, I can't decompose it to see whose account it belongs to...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3062/283 ... 2b.jpg?v=0

Dan

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 2:31 pm
by Ron Keij
Matthew is not home so I decided to do a search myself, pics are taken by MNkiteman and he placed them in a folder "street rods and customs" :? So is your car a street rod or a custom :lol:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/84853337@N ... 083235694/

Your friends cars are there too 8)

Ron

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 8:23 am
by Fins59
Thanks Ron & Dan for the links. :D Been away from computer for several days.
I'll have to show my friends their cars. They'll be surprised.
Street rod or custom? With the skirts, it kinda looks like a custom 8)

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 10:27 am
by Faulkner
Fins59 wrote:With the skirts, it kinda looks like a custom 8)

Ooh! Skirts, Matthew! Skirts!

Dan

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 10:04 pm
by Denver 59 Fin Convert
Oh thats right Mathew loves 59 Plymouth Skirts! Probably because you can take them off or put them on in less then a minute. Only needing one hole in each wheel opening flange.Changing the look of your car for that period look!!! Or take them off for that less then streamlined look (coefficent of Parasite Drag increased without them)

I have an old used set in my basement Mopar liar that I will donate to the "Love those fender skirts look" that is coveted over in Dutch land.

Where should I send them to? Ron's house or right to Matthew? :roll:


John Q.

Re: 24th international oldtimer festival Axel (NL)

Posted: Sat May 29, 2010 7:55 am
by Matthew Keij
No skirts for me :evil:

Keep them in the basement!