Rufforth Autojumble July 2013 - some pics

[Yorkie]

Colin ('Retired'), has often mentioned the Rufforth Autojumble, held throughout the year on the first Saturday of each month. Colin goes most months, and I hook up with him there three or four times a year, as I did last Saturday. There are indoor and outdoor stalls, and attendance is a bit unpredictable. From Spring to Autumn there are so many other events on that the traders go where they think they can make most money, and in the winter, the weather often puts off the outdoor stallholders. Last Saturday was a glorious day, but attendance of traders was down, with several usual stallholders indoors noted by their absence. Apparently this was due to a two-day Traction engine rally at Duncombe Park North Yorks.

It's always interesting to see the bikes and cars that turn up, and to see the eclectic range of things on offer. It's primarily meant to be a motorbike autojumble, but there are stalls selling anything from garage floor paint to washing machine detergent, Karcher jetwash equipment and window vacs, Hammerite paint, welding gas cylinders, lathes and all sorts of sundry junk.

There's nothing unique about Rufforth - there are autojumbles all over the place and in particular, a huge one at Newark showground known as 'Normous Newark'.

To give a flavour of what was at Rufforth last Saturday, I've attached a few pics. I'm not a great fan of Morgan cars but many years ago I enjoyed a factory visit there. For those that do like them, they might like appreciate the pics below. There were a couple of brand new nice little compressors, one at £50.00, the other at £60, with an airline and a few accessories. (See pic). I don't do enough spraying to warrant getting a compressor and I just don't have room for something that might get used a couple of times a year. A nearly new cement mixer that would have suited Colin a couple of months ago!

A guy selling non-contract gases for hobby users, such as Argon, Mappgas, CO2 and oxygen from the back of his truck, and a Myford lathe dealer.

I gazed fondly at a dilapidated Mobylette moped 'basket case' and wondered how it could have got into such a state. It would make an ambitious restoration project! Marvellous machines - I had the UK equivalent - the Raleigh Ultramatic. Wonderful to ride and so simple - no clutch - the engine ticks over with the throttle closed, then when you open the throttle an ingenious but simple variable belt drive gives smooth gearing rather like the Daf 'Variomatic' did in its day. I had mine in 1968 - 70 and it went like the wind, in the days before mopeds weren't restricted.

I did get a nice little Heathkit AV3-U AC millivoltmeter, not that I needed one, but at a fiver, I couldn't pass it by. The three valves are worth more than that! It's a nice little bit of kit and works a treat, despite some of the caps being questionable purely on age grounds (dated 1965). Handy as an audio output meter for peaking up IFTs etc, or seeing what effect a new output valve makes. Goes up to 400kHz and from 0.01 Volt FSD to 300V in ten ranges. I found the circuit on internet, but I've been unable to trace the full manual anywhere despite a jolly good furtle around. I'll post some pics of that in the Test Gear section.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks for adding this thread David. Yes we had an excellent morning at Rufforth last Saturday and I absolutely amazed myself because although I took along a wad of cash I bought nothing at all.

I was looking out for a set of new 3.8m telescopic ladders and a pair of safety shoes. I've already bought multi function platform ladders from Rufforth paying £45 and similar ladders are demonstrated on Ideal world shopping channel at around £129 plus P&P. These were in the manufacturers wrapping and brand new.

I saw a stall selling boots and shoes but the choice was limited so I think I'll end up buying from my favourite store Screwfix.

I've been having a huge clear out so am doing my best to resist impulse buying; at least your impulse buying is getting smaller David with you not resisting the millivoltmeter?

The Mobylette would make someone a nice restoration project. We also looked at a tidy BSA C11 250cc. One of these was my very first ever motorcycle bought for £11 when I was aged 15. This one though was priced at £2,200; dream on.

We also looked at a nice big Yamaha (bike not organ) and a very tidy Triumph both around £1,500 each and these would have been very usable looking in good condition.

The two compressors in the picture were a bargain and brand new. The small one at £50 coupled with a spray gun would easily manage most painting jobs and the one at £60 also came with a blow gun; I have one of these blowguns which is very handy for blowing off a chassis and also for blasting the garage clean.. For home spraying though I would recommend one of the self contained spray systems such as the Apollo these being HVLP.

I too David am not a Morgan fan especially of the model shown in your pictures; beauty is in the eye of the beholder? I think its ugly and would prefer the trike we saw at a previous meeting which was so cool?

Its a good job the cement mixer wasn't on offer when I needed one David; can you see me squeezing one of these into the Aygo?

Rufforth costs me about £14 each visit with fuel and the £4 entry fee but it is worth it just for the pleasure of wandering around and to meet up with you again.

Kind regards, Col.

[dennishoy]

Thanks for posting the pictures.
This looks like an interesting venue with lots of sales stands.

The Morgan Aeromax coupe is the ugliest car they have made IMHO. Thankfully, it was limited to a production run of just 100 cars costing £110,000 each. This car has an aluminium chassis and frame; it will be interesting to see how many are still around in a few years time, especially as toys in the hands of idiots like Rowan Atkinson and Richard Hammond. I recall reading these have a lot of standard BMW parts like 'Mini' headlamps so they're no longer truly 'British' either.

For that money, I'd rather have an Aston Martin which is probably a lot safer too, but I think I'll keep my 13 year old Astra for now.

[Yorkie]

Thanks for posting the pictures.
This looks like an interesting venue with lots of sales stands.

The Morgan Aeromax coupe is the ugliest car they have made IMHO. Thankfully, it was limited to a production run of just 100 cars costing £110,000 each. This car has an aluminium chassis and frame; it will be interesting to see how many are still around in a few years time, especially as toys in the hands of idiots like Rowan Atkinson and Richard Hammond. I recall reading these have a lot of standard BMW parts like 'Mini' headlamps so they're no longer truly 'British' either.

For that money, I'd rather have an Aston Martin which is probably a lot safer too, but I think I'll keep my 13 year old Astra for now.

Styling is a fickle thing - I recall thinking that the Jensen Interceptor was the coolest thing on wheels, and although it's a bit dated now, for styling, I still like the Chrysler Crossfire. My wife thought that the Chrysler PT Cruiser was the business and even now if she sees one, she points it out. Personally, I thought they were an abomination - a cross between a hot-rod and a hearse.

As to Aston Martins, our elder son has recently bought a DB9 - (6 Litre 12 cylinder engine). I remarked that he could have bought a Bentley 'Continental' for a bit less, and he replied: 'yes, but that's just not me - they're a bit 'chavish' - people might mistake me for a premier league footballer". So, it's the 'brand perception' thing again. What does he do for a living? He runs his own branding consultancy with a worldwide client base of blue chip companies, and has just had his seventh book on the subject of branding published, but he's still as susceptible as the rest of us to the influences of branding. 'A Bentley Continental is just not me?' I'd have one!

I blame the parents

We're going down to one car - we don't need two any more so I've traded my Fiat Bravo in to await delivery of a new Skoda Fabia some time in September, so we're running round in my wife's Fiat Panda. I don't know what our son will think when turn up in a Skoda and park it on his drive just around the corner from Nick Clegg's house. Bang goes the neighbourhood! Oh well, he can make apologies for us and tell his neighbours that we're a bit 'northern'. (I try to be nice to him - one day he may choose my care home!).

[pwdrive]

If Glegg lives there the neighbourhood might have gone bang anyways....

I like the old American cars, Ford Mustang a la Steve McQueen/bullet etc a bit o' street cred and sod the petrol.

On the subject of brand David, at one point in my checkered employment history we were constructing the trade stands for Mercedes Benz etc at the international type motor shows we were subbing for the Germans at one particular job in Frankfurt but they had an English guy working for them so we asked what was the cost of putting on this one stand, he said from conception though to the stand "build up" though to the period and during of the show and through to the stand "breakdown" including all material purchase/disposal etc was 80 million deutchmarks which back then was about 30 million pounds, A lot of dosh, for a few days display....

Lawrence.

[dennishoy]

David, the Aston is much better looking, better built and certainly safer than that Morgan. At £110,000 the Morgan has to be a joke, but then if you make only 100, then there will always be sufficient folk (or mugs) to buy them all. That is what marketing is all about. In reality, what they are getting is a car that nobody else has (other than the other 99 owners).

While we're on the subject of Aston Martin, there was a limited build of just 77 of this model, all for export at a price of $1.8M + tax. AFAIK, they are all lefthand drive.
Picture attached.