Just over a week ago my wife and I trailered our Fairthorpe Atom Major over to the NEC for the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show as the car was being put on the Fairthorpe Sports Car Club stand for the weekend. We took the car over on the Thursday evening as the show opened on the Friday morning, we even had an offer to buy it whilst we were unloading it! The interest continued and we had to be pushed out the doors when the halls closed at 10pm as two guys would not leave the stand, having walked all the way round the show halls they had decided that our car was the one they wanted the most, `not the prettiest styling` they said but it just had `something really appealing about it`. Unfortunately due to work on Friday and a commitment in London on Saturday I could only attend the show on the Sunday but having got in from London mid Saturday evening I had just sat down when the phone rang. The call was from the FSCC club stand organiser Andy Winston who was still at the NEC, apparently he had been invited to attend the awards gathering by the organisers, he arrived just in time to pick up a nice trophy plate which had been awarded to the Atom Major! The organisers had awarded a freshly restored Maserati Ghibli the `Car of the show` award and other main presentation was the Classic & Sports Car `Special award` which was presented to the Fairthorpe Atom Major, this is given to the car which `steals the judges hearts`. The club stand was very busy on the Sunday and again a lot of interest was shown in the car, several asking if it was for sale and several telling me not to restore it but just leave it as a time capsule! Sorry to disappoint but it will get restored and used, a couple of people kept coming back again and again to look round it, I still don`t know if it was just the `Barn find` condition or the quirky styling that was the appeal or maybe just a combination of the both, whatever it definitely created a stir and hopefully some good publicity for the club. I will be starting the strip down and rebuild in the new year so keep an eye open for updates.
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