This year was to be a three day event, especially to celebrate Vauxhall's Centenary. In fact it was well supported by Vauxhall Motors themselves, and was not the only event this year to be. In April/May, a cross section of Vauxhalls were driven 1000 miles round the UK, from some of the very first cars to the VX220, etc. Quite something when you consider that this was funded by Vauxhall - a good idea showing commitment and a good PR excercise to boot.

After that particular event, Billing was set to be something special this year and nobody was disappointed. In fact the VBOA rally is the second largest one make car show in the UK, the Bug Jam being the first. That's quite an achievement. It's also a good thing that the clubs have actually stuck together to organise something like this. There are many other marques where the clubs have fragmented and something like this would be less easy to put together.

Enough of my spiel and into the rally itself. The weather was fine, as is the case almost every time. Billing really was packed this year. It was the most full I'd ever seen it. The show area was bigger than the previous year and the turnout had no trouble filling it. I've never seen so many Vivas in one place at any one time! Some had taken the trouble to travel from other countries. I spotted a couple of E type "Ute"s, from Australia as well as a healthy showing from the Swedish Vauxhall club. Apologies if I have not mentioned any other foreign clubs! The autojumble had certainly picked up on last year. There were many good bargains to be had. I spent a lot of money as I had time to have a good trawl through the boxes of parts in search of the odd gem. Can't wait to get my car on the road! (Give me another year or so...!)
Weather was scorching hot again on Sunday when the cars just kept rolling in well into the afternoon. Boy it was hot!! I finally left at 3pm to avoid the traffic and I had work again the next day. A pity really as there are some bargains to be had at the end of the day, just to clear stock.
If you have never taken your Vauxhall to this event, book the time off in January and get the car ready - It's the best event outside of a race meeting. Roll on 2004!