A successful day for our petrol heads

A Ford Mustang at the Port Solent Car Meet. Photography by Habibur Rahman

To the delight of the event’s organiser Jason White, from Fareham, there were vehicles from the sixties and seventies.

These included hot-rods, classic cars, pre-1995 trucks, super cars, kit cars and scooters galore, all looking wonderful while on display.

There were strict guidelines about which vehicles were appropriate for the gathering, but all the cars present fitted the bill perfectly.

Two fire appliances and officers from Cosham police station were also there to lend authority to the event.

John Hollings and Steve Ellis were quite taken with a smart Panda car of yesteryear, which really stood out from the crowd.

It wouldn’t have looked out of place in the now-running television serial Prime Suspect 1973.

Proudly showing off their 1972 Triumph Spitfire Mark V were David Baker and his daughter Megan, fromGosport. The open-topped vehicle was immaculate inside and out, from oil sump to steering wheel.

David said he loved driving it and thankfully car parts were plentiful.

David is a pilot boat coxswain and Megan is studying film creative writing at AS A-Level at St Vincent College, Gosport.

It was like taking a trip back through time as onlookers clustered around faithfully restored Morris 1,000s, early Volkswagens and gleaming scooters festooned with mirrors and lights.

Jason was rather easy to find as he stood beside his scary Gothic decorated Volkswagen.

The Car Meet takes place in the main car park at Port Solent from 9am until 1.30pm on the second and last Sunday each month.

In this column on March 14 I reported that Professor Ken Shaw told me that one in 100 people suffered from type two diabetes.

Clearly, I must have misunderstood him for this earned me a mild finger-wagging from Professor Ken. My statistic was miles out. According to the professor, a staggering one in 15 people have that condition.

Anyway, I’ve been forgiven, not least because the recent joint concert by the Portsmouth Philharmonia and the Meon Valley Orchestra raised £2,080 for the Solent Diabetes Association. I played all the right notes in both ensembles’ performances... but not necessarily in the right order!