Very cool Kev. Not bad for an old classic -& so's your car. Sounded awesome on open exhaust headers rumbling over Chelsea Bridge.
I used to travel up to Chelsea every month for the cruise when I was still at school. I mentioned it to my Mum recently & she was horrified -she had no idea I was jumping on a train at 15 years old & wandering around the streets of London all on my own! The cruise was huge back then, with hundreds of cars parading around the circuit all night -over the Albert Bridge, past the Albert pub, around the back of Battersea Park, over the Chelsea Bridge, along the embankment, up & down the Kings Road. Automotive heaven for a young lad & sparked my passion for custom vehicles.
Over the years, things have died off, with some confrontations with the local Police leading to the cruisers being herded into Battersea Park, which killed the atmosphere completely -the whole point was to see hotrods, or Custom Cars as they were known then, in their natural environment, being driven. The rise of "hot hatches" & the boy racers that drove them in the 90s didn't help either.
The cruise has somehow managed to hang on though, with a few die hards turning out every month to relive the glory days, but it seems the internet age has come to our rescue. This modern era of instant mass communication means information & ideas can be passed around hundreds of like minded individuals within minutes. A few weeks ago, someone on another forum suggested launching a "70s Revival Onslaught" & soon online posters were everywhere. Cruisers that haven't visited Chelsea for decades were coming out of the woodwork, polishing up their cars & making plans for the cruise once more.
So my mate Bob, (Baychimp here on the forum), & I travelled up from Hampshire in my little Fiesta, stopping in at the Ace Cafe on the North Circular for a plate of Cheesy Chilli Chips, before heading for Chelsea & hiding it around the corner. I always thought the best way to see the cars was on foot anyway. Although Battersea Park was open earlier in the evening, the majority of the action was centred on Chelsea Bridge, with cars cruising back & forth all night. They were parking up along the bridge walkways too, which must've been a pain for the local traffic, but the Metroplitan Police seemed to keep a very low profile with only one patrol car as far as I could see, though I'm sure it would've been monitored on the bridge's CCTV cameras. Thankfully everyone behaved themselves with just a couple of mark 1 Escort drivers wheel spinning past the tea stall late in the evening.
A few teething problems with my own hotrod meant it didn't make it there this time, but I'll be back in the Summer.
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable night, chatting to some familiar faces, watching the cars roll by & reliving some old memories.
My digital camera really struggles in low light conditions, especially when the subjects are moving, so here's my fuzzy snaps from the night.
