Auto fest - second review by Nancy

Old cars, tractors and bratwurst - Bedford's winning show combination

By Nancy Helmuth
There are ground rules when taking a husband to an old car exhibition: Do not bring a checkbook, hide your credit cards in the place where the vacuum lives, or where the cleaning supplies in the house are kept, because you can be certain he won't look there. Then, remember how it was when you took your 14 year old son to an exhibition of model trains and you should be all set.
Mine gets so excited about old cars and the prospect of wolfing down some of Bedford's best bratwurst, that he forgot to close the sunroof of our Range Rover with the expected results after 30 minutes of deluge...
However, there were more than 150 beautiful examples of vintage automobiles, hot rods, rare European sports cars, antique farm machinery and early snowmobiles on display. This was the 14th rendition of the Auto-Fest and every year it seems to grow in scope and volume. The exhibitors are mostly local people, one family who owns an insurance company in town usually brings about a dozen of family owned vehicles. The Bedford fire department shows off their hardware and cheerfully explains all the gears, valves, switches and gadgets that make their life-size toy trucks work.
Memo: Manfried has an antique tractor, he does not need an antique fire engine to restore. A hypnotist might come in handy at times.....

One of our favorite sites is the exhibition of old lawn tractors, all lovingly kept in pristine working condition, or restored to like new status. Also, the great old snowmobiles of yesteryear, so utilitarian and far removed from the offerings of today. Simple, elegant machines, simple but rugged, and as one of their owners explained; "used on my farm every winter and it never once let me down". Good for Armand Bombardier, who would have loved to be at the show and have a bratwurst and a beer with my husband whom I intercepted just in time before he began earnest negotiations about an ancient Sno-Cat which we really do not need on less than 1/2 acre of property in the center of Sutton...

There is such joy to be had in speaking to the owners of old cars, they are a breed by themselfes, they know the difference between an L-head or a flat-head, a stove-bolt six Chevy truck motor and a Cleveland double bolt main bearing V-8. And their long suffering wifes bring the picnik baskets and smile and let every Tom, Dick or Harry gaze into the interiors of their prized posessions, answer inane questions all day, while the hubbies are out and about, trying to fing that perfect pair of fuzzy dice to hang on the rear view mirror. (Ours are white with black dots)

So, having survived another old car show without any unneccesary addition to our impoverished household, we look forward to next year's edition of this great fun event, a centrepiece of which is a huge platform, balanced on an axle ,where the old car nuts drive up one side and try to balance their car for a few seconds without falling off on either side. This is always hilarious as people will either applaud or boo the hapless drivers on top of this torture machine.

 As soon as we were back home, Manfried had to mount his 60 year old David Brown (of Aston Martin fame) 4,640 lbs tractor, to make sure he also could make some noise. If I would have let him, he would have driven the old thing to Bedford...