So last weekend I went along to the regular meet at Shamrock Quay in Southampton.

As is typical, I had washed the car the day before, so it was tipping it down on Sunday, hopes for a good turn out were not high, especially as there was another local show the same day. Mark, the show organiser was also fairly pessimistic regarding attendance but at least he had brought his Lotus Esprit.

The good news was that there were't many people to get in the way of my shots and I could also use the HDR modes of the EOS 80D. They say that every cloud has a silver lining and there were certainly plenty of clouds on Sunday.

However, as the rain eased off, a steady stream of cars started to arrive and in the end there was a reasonable amount of cars. Some of the more oddball vehicles included a rare Chevrolet SSR, a VW Rat Rod and a Fire Engine!

The Chevrolet SSR was only made for three years and was somewhat of a disaster for GM, who were trying to tap into the nostalgia market, with retro inspired design, harking back to the pick up trucks of the 1950's. The early model had a 5.3L 300 bhp V8, however the later models were gifted the LS2 V8 from the Corvette, adding roughly another 100 bhp. They are also pretty unique in the fact that they had a retractable convertible hardtop. So safe to say the sort of person who owns a SSR doesn't go in for run of the mill! This particular example has custom art work, exhaust and side steps. Due to our weather being less than Californian, the owner has replaceD the chrome bumpers grill with stainless steel.

The Rat Rod was also a pick up, with some serious camber on the rear wheels and shot gun cartridges for wheel nut covers! The bonnet, if you can call it that, was made of an old sack, definitely a unique look and oh so cool.

As I was also attending a Wessex Car Club meet at lunchtime, I left the show around 11.30am but there were still cars coming in.

Photos from the show are on my Flickr page.

Just goes to show that just because it's raining, it doesn't mean people won't show up with their pride and joy.

CZ