Mopar Muscle Association UK

Wanting to avoid rush hour traffic in the busy areas between Luton (where we joined the M1) and Heysham, and not wanting to cut it too fine with the 1.15pm latest check-in for the 2.15 ferry, we set off from Hitchin at 5.30am

Couple of fuel stops later, with just some slow traffic along the A50 thru Stoke (to avoid the M6 thru Brum) at 8am, we got to the ferry terminal at 10.40
5th in the queue behind 4 Corvettes

Despite being over 2 hours early, the lanes quickly filled up and by midday, they moved us thru to the waiting area nearer to where we'd board the ferry.

Then came the message that the ferry was delayed about an hour, so yet more waiting... and more car talk with a bunch of strangers

Eventually got underway about 3.20. Next stop, Douglas, IOM...

great photos thanks for posting

looking forward to a full report

Thanks Simon. That was just some pics from my phone, yesterday, in the sunshine
Today, however, has been wet since... well, last night
Plenty of driving today but no photos unfortunately as its a bit tricky taking pics while trying to keep the car on the road.
Plenty from the motor museum tho, which was surprisingly excellent! You'll have to wait till I get back for those tho

Right, now where were we... oh yes... getting on the ferry

The ferry going out from Heysham, was the Manxman, the newest ferry on that route, just a few months old. Clean, spacious and very comfortable, it proved to be in complete contrast to the one we returned on, but I'll come to that later

Heysham terminal itself was surprisingly comfortable too, which was nice as we had a few hours to wait before they stated boarding us, around 3pm on the Thursday.

Heysham Terminal lounge:
Boarding:

Douglas:

Ready for the off:

Next up, Sloc closed mountain runs...

So, the next day (Friday) was the first day we had organised events to attend - the first being the drive along a mountain road that was to be closed for the day, known as the The Sloc.
To get there we had a 20 mile drive, and being in the first group to set-off, we had to be there at 9am. As it turned out, we were in the first group for everything each day, so we (Rob & Stu, Pete & Julie, Matt & Mandie) met for breakfast at 7.15 so we could be out for about 8am

At the meeting point, we met up with Andy Robinson (72 New Yorker) and his friend Michael (78 New Yorker) and Scotty Dave and his brother, who were already there. Also in attendance was Ben from Classic American, covering the event for the magazine. As you can see, the wet weather had already set-in, as it turned out, for most of the day
We still had a bit of a drive to get from there, to the closed road - led in convoy as a group of about 40, by one of the Scenic Car Tours people.

Once there, we queued and waited our turn, and set-off in 30 sec intervals... or longer if you were behind the 1920's Ford (Model A?) or the Mack truck

I was driving to didnt get any pics on the actual 'run' but got these while we were waiting...

After a couple of runs along the wet and in places, foggy mountain road, we headed off to the next meeting point which was the IOM Motor Museum at Jurby, another 20 miles...

(pics to follow )

Quote - "At the meeting point, we met up with Andy Robinson (72 New Yorker) and his friend Michael (78 New Yorker) and Scotty Dave and his brother, who were already there. Also in attendance was Ben from Classic American, covering the event for the magazine. As you can see, the wet weather had already set-in, as it turned out, for most of the day"

.... you forgot to mention Kev with 'the other' Satellite.

Stu Twin wrote: ↑Thu Sep 28, 23 5:13 pm Quote - "At the meeting point, we met up with Andy Robinson (72 New Yorker) and his friend Michael (78 New Yorker) and Scotty Dave and his brother, who were already there. Also in attendance was Ben from Classic American, covering the event for the magazine. As you can see, the wet weather had already set-in, as it turned out, for most of the day"

.... you forgot to mention Kev with 'the other' Satellite.

oops, sorry Kev

After a more relaxing drive, back on 'open' roads, north to Jurby, we got to the Motor Museum and parked up amongst the other classics and not-so-classics
Scotty Dave's already posted a bunch of photos that show what a great collection the museum had, with a large proportion of American limo's and funeral / flower cars, from the 50's to 70's.
In contrast, they also had some Peel microcars which of course I had heard of and seen before, but didnt know they were originally made on the Isle Of Man

Needless to say, they had a few hundred bikes on display too, but not knowing what I'm looking at when it comes to bikes... I stuck to the cars

Outside first...

Moving inside the Museum, I was surprised to see an early Viper as part of their 'red' collection... (parked with a London bus and some Ducati's )
The grouping of the other exhibits seemed a bit less tenuous

Some of the odd-balls that I liked, first, before the more conventionally interesting (ie American) stuff :

Looks like it was raining...

World's wettest 'Cuda award....

Prob my fave car in the museum - 56 Cadillac Combination Ambulance& Hearse!

Talk about keeping your bases covered!

The only bike I got a photo of was this; Guy Martin's Wall of Death record-breaking Triumph


Back outside... it was still raining



Then back at our hotel in Ramsey... those New Yoikers again


Still raining, in case you were wondering