London was the place to be the final weekend of October 2015. The first ever Classic and Sports Car - The London 2015 Show, one of…{"id":7970,"date":"2015-11-17T12:09:50","date_gmt":"2015-11-17T20:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/?p=7970"},"modified":"2015-11-17T12:09:50","modified_gmt":"2015-11-17T20:09:50","slug":"classic-and-sports-car-the-london-show-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/17\/classic-and-sports-car-the-london-show-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Classic and Sports Car – The London Show 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

London was the place to be the final weekend of October 2015. The first ever<\/span>\u00a0Classic and Sports Car – The London 2015 Show<\/a><\/strong>, one of the largest and most prestigious European classic car shows this year,\u00a0was held at the beautiful<\/span> Alexandra Palace<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Legendary Jaguar chief test driver and engineer Norman Dewis OBE, was the star guest on the Interview Stage. Dewis kept the audience on the edge of their seats, talking to broadcaster Henry Hope-Frost, and taking questions from the crowd. Dewis was only meant to hold the stage for 15 minutes, but he talked for over an hour… regaling the overflowing room with high-speed tales from his 33-year career at Jaguar, including an 11-hour dash he made to the 1961 Geneva Motor Show in one of the first ever Jaguar E-types. Incidentally, the E-type was also named the “Best British Car Ever” on the opening day of the Classic and Sports Car Show! And to the delight of those assembled, Dewis was reunited with the very car he drove to that 1961 Swiss show, the \u201977 RW\u2019, which is now the oldest surviving E-type roadster. This special Jaguar E-type is currently on display at Alexandra Palace.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI left Coventry at 7:45pm and the car had to be on the stand for 10am the next morning,\u201d Dewis recalled. \u201cI hit every green light on the Edgware Road through London and kept up a high pace \u2013 but when I got to Dover, they’d already closed the gates for the boat to Ostend. The security guard shone his torch on the car, though, noticed it was the new E-type and stopped the boat from leaving port. I then drove non-stop to Geneva, arriving at 9:48am, having averaged 68mph.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

World-renowned as one of the greatest test drivers of all time, in October 1953 Dewis set the production car speed record with the Jaguar XK120. He worked on the development of many of Jaguar\u2019s most famous models, most notably the D-type, E-type and the XJ13.<\/span><\/p>\n

The XJ13 was the subject of another of his incredible stories. In 1971, while driving the Jaguar’s prototype V12 Le Mans car for filming at the MIRA test track, Dewis suffered a terrible crash. \u201cAt 145mph on the banking something didn’t feel right and the car immediately lurched into the guard rail,\u201d Dewis described. \u201cIt was then listing at 45 degrees down the straight, still at very high speed. Heading for the infield and with no way to control it, I decided to turn the engine off and, at the last moment, got into the scuttle in the passenger side for protection. It performed three barrel rolls when it dug into the earth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even today at 95 years old, Dewis shows no signs of slowing down. \u201cI’ve only got three points on my license these days,\u201d he laughed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Classic & Sports Car Show featured more than 300 of the world’s most prestigious classic cars from world-famous collectors and classic car retailers. The London show also included an exhibition of Sir Stirling Moss’ iconic single-seater competition cars, and displays including a Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, a 1973 Pontiac Trans Am, a Porsche 993 Carrera RS, and a number of Ferraris, including a 250GT California Spider, a 250GT Lusso, a silver 275 4 Cam, an F40, and a 288 GTO. Aston Martin also had an impressive and crowd pleasing display, featuring their oldest surviving model, a 1921 A3, as well as a DB4GT.<\/span><\/p>\n

The complete line-up at the London show was estimated to be worth more than \u00a318 million!<\/span><\/p>\n

The show attracted collectors, dealers, and classic car enthusiasts from around the globe, and was undoubtedly one of the premier classic car events anywhere in the world in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo Credit:<\/span>\u00a0Jaguar E-type Lightweight Low Drag Coupe<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0by<\/span> Brian Snelson<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(<\/span>CC BY 2.0<\/a><\/strong>).<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":8001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[3777,3787,3786,3778,3763,3764,3766,3782,3783,3785,3784,3770,3781,3789,3772,3773,1769,3791,3774,3790,3765,2468,3776,3767,3768,3771,3788,3769,3779,2766,3780,3775],"class_list":["post-7970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-automotive-news","tag-1973-pontiac-trans-am","tag-aston-martin-a3","tag-aston-martin-db4gt","tag-cars-displayed-at-classic-and-sports-car-show-london","tag-classic-and-sports-car-magazine","tag-classic-and-sports-car-the-london-show-2015","tag-classic-car-show-in-london","tag-ferrari-250gt-lusso","tag-ferrari-275-4-cam","tag-ferrari-288-gto","tag-ferrari-f40","tag-geneva-motor-show","tag-gullwing-mercedes","tag-henry-hope-frost","tag-jaguar-77-rw","tag-jaguar-d-type","tag-jaguar-e-type","tag-jaguar-speed-record","tag-jaguar-xj13","tag-jaguar-xk120","tag-london-auto-show","tag-mercedes-benz-300sl","tag-mira-test-track","tag-norman-dewis","tag-norman-dewis-obe","tag-norman-dewis-test-driver","tag-oldest-surviving-aston-martin","tag-oldest-surviving-jaguar-e-type","tag-porsche-993-carrera-rs","tag-sir-stirling-moss","tag-sir-stirling-moss-single-seater-competition-car","tag-v12-le-mans-car"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t