Hooe concours d'elegance - triumph of perseverance

Years, sometimes decades, of work have often gone into turning a basket-case into a showpiece.

Despite a dull day with drizzle, the ever-popular show - the club's 39th - brought a record entry to Hooe recreation ground on Sunday.

Appreciative visitors found an astonishing variety of entries, from Bexhillian Michael Kent's 1899 Peugeot Type 26 four-seat Phaeton up to Sixties classics.

Some hardy souls defied the conditions, picnicking in wicker-hamper elegance and competing gamely in such timeless attractions as the car-and-lady competition which matches fashion to vehicle.

For chairman Ron Wanmer, compere with encyclopaedic knowledge for countless motoring events, the courageous turn-out was highly encouraging.

"It is slightly up on last year. We don't want any more! We have taken steps to limit numbers. We were turning away better cars than we had on the field last year'¦"

Visitors could browse the auto-jumble for sought-after spares, seek bargain books and toys or just relax and listen to Hooe Village Band.

They could let their memory stray back to 1964 when the Metropolitan Police had Daimler Dart 2.5-litre V8 traffic cars - with bells in a pre-twos-and-blues age.

Courtesy of owner Mike Hallett and a restoration so painstaking that he enlisted the aid of a former postman to ensure authenticity they could take a nostalgic look at a 1968 Morris Minor Royal Mail van, complete with postal memorabilia.

Coachbuilding specialists Crayford made only cabriolet conversions of Ford's V4 Corsair. Ray Checkley, of Hailsham, could hardly believe his ears when he learned that one was for sale in Huddersfield. Sadly, the "damp-proof" conditions in which it had been stored had served only to conserve the damp.

Twenty years of dedicated ownership and restoration have produced a showground stunner.

"I've done it!"

Michael Kent's announcement was part joy, part surprise.

When he bought his 1914 Panhard 4-seat tourer at auction it was with the usual "Buyer beware" warning.

But the restoration list he had been compiling quickly multiplied a hundred-fold.

"Two weeks after I bought it I sat in it and the seat collapsed."

Under the beautiful leather upholstery the timber frame was riddled with woodworm,

That was 11 years ago. Eight years of painstaking work later the Panhard is nearing completion.

Michael has completely re-built the frame and fashioned a replacement aluminium body which his research has shown is more accurate than the one he removed.

All bar one double-curvature rear panel which required specialist rolling gear he did himself.

But the last words must go to Ron Wanmer.

His 1927 Peerless was once a New York taxi.

"15 cents first mile; 5cents additional quarter mile" read the legend on the behemoth's flank.

Not only do they not build them like that any more, cabbies don't charge that kind of rate.