2024 NEC Show Time

This year, we celebrated the NEC's "Hall of Fame" by presenting Pete's ongoing P3 restoration and Roy T.'s immaculate and stunning Piri-piri Orange 20M RS. Two very different ends of the Taunus range and the spectrum of vehicles in the FTC-GB Club.

Pete Goodman is progressing with his "rare as hens teeth" P3 restoration, with a lot of work being undertaken to rebuild the core structure of this extremely uncommon example of an uncommon Ford marque! As you can imagine, it has not been plain sailing!

The P1 through P7B range were German built vehicles, and very different to the UK domestic market offerings of the time. The P3 of 1960 through 1964 was a radical departure from the usual three-box layouts of the day, being very swoopy in design and fitted with a Ford Thunderbird-esque front end.

We also unveiled the total donation that the FTC-GB raised for Edale Mountain Rescue, with the help of a special guest...

The Club Stand

The FTC-GB were delighted to be accepted for the fourth time to attend the premier UK Classic Car Show. The Organisers theme for this years show was "Hall of Fame", and there were some particularly famous marques on display throughout the exhibition halls.

Our display this year emphasised the rarer side of the Ford Taunus Marque, displaying the "radical for the time" P3 and the acknowledged *first* Ford car to wear the coveted RS badge, the 20M RS.

Day Zero - Set up Day Words: Roy T.

Once again, FTC-GB were delighted to be accepted for a stand in our 4th year of applications. Regarded by many in the motoring world as finest indoor Show in Europe, the NEC Classic Motorshow is huge, with over 3,000 exhibits filling the NEC complex!

Arriving a midday Wednesday 6th, following a very uneventful 105 mile journey down to a venue, there was hardly a soul at the NEC. This made for a relaxed afternoon assembling the FTC-GB Stand. The RS was crammed full of gear to assemble, as usual, and we arrived just as Pete Goodman arrived with his P3 Resto on the back of his truck, great timing!

With the stand erected and cars positioned it was time to walk the 15 minutes to the on site hotel. With a hearty breakfast consumed it was a short walk into the nearest Exhibition Hall to see some of the exhibits arrive. The sights and sounds were epic! Something to savour as I wandered from Hall to Hall. Chatting to various owners and groups all day, an experience I don't normally have as I'm generally "on stand" for the 3 days dealing with punters and questions! It was a brilliant experience for me personally, and one I will do again hopefully if we are selected again.

Day 1 - 8th Nov

Day 1 (Friday) opened to chaos and queues a-plenty around the NEC complex as I observe stands being built and cars being polished. It's a mad mad world as slowly the stand are erected and clubs make their mark in the Halls

As always the Show opens to the Press at 9.00am, with a host of camera crews scanning the halls for "something new". I thought it was busy, but then at 10.00am the public doors opened, and Wow! I have never seen it so busy!!! From all directions people flocking around their favourite cars and stands.

In "Ford Hall 8" all of the 40+ Stands are dedicated to FORD. There is something for every Ford fan available, and its exceptionally busy - unusually so for a Friday.

Pete Goodman was in his element, describing the work undertaken on his P3 to punters and guiding them to his information boards too! I manned the Stand, dealing with numerous enquiries and members interested in the Taunus Marque in general. What a day!

Day 2 - 9th Nov

Day 2 (Saturday) is generally the busiest of the 3 days. With Pete absent today, his information boards came in very useful as I directed those interested to read "The Story So Far", freeing myself up for other enquiries etc.

Soon I was informed by John Waide (Retro Ford) of the availability, once again, of the delightful Sarah Crabtree to come to our Stand for our yearly Charity Presentation on behalf of Edale Mountain Rescue.

So with this knowledge, I reset the Stand a little to make the most of the photo opportunities available. As always, Sarah was very accommodating and great company as we set about the presentation.

The photo made it a crowd stopping moment on the Stand, and was enjoyed by everyone there! FTC-GB extend their thanks to Andy Ellis for his camera duties capturing the presentation and this moment was later featured in an edition of Retro Ford magazine.

The Total raised by FTC-GB club members was £516.74. With the 2 year total to Edale Mountain Rescue now standing at £1,059.24. All for a great cause.

Day 2 drew to a close at 6pm, overall a very busy, interesting, and amusing time was had.

Day 3 - 10th Nov

Day 3 (Sunday), and Pete was back with us today, answering lots of questions about his P3 which would have been a first ever viewing of one in the UK for many Ford Fans. As always the FTC-GB gets some curious looks from people, with the usual "what's that"? "Never seen one before"? remarks all weekend!

At 11.00 AM, everything and everyone comes to a standstill to observe the minutes silence in remembrance of those fallen in war. You can hear a pin drop. So much respect is shown to those no longer with us.

As every year, the event closure is announced over the tannoy system. This year, wow! Most of the owners blew their cars horns... It was deafening!!!

Another fantastic event for the FTC-GB, with attendance figures showing over 71,500 visited across the three days. As always, we look forward to hopefully being selected for a Stand once more in Nov. 2025!