Andrea and I spend a couple of weeks in the UK each September, visiting the largest swap meet in Europe and being tourists in a place we love.
This year marked out 21st trip to the Beaulieu Autojumble, and our eleventh stay with dear friends Ian and Marion Ashby. We met the Ashbys in 2011, when they hosted us at their B&B in Minstead, in the New Forest, a lovely timeless village ten miles from Beaulieu. Lots of thatched-roof cottages in Minstead! The Ashbuys have long since become very good friends and our stays with them are no longer strictly B&B visits, but rather visits with people we care about. We spend several evenings with them in the living room, talking about Everything (and nothing) and we enjoy a couple of great evenings with Ian and Marion at local pubs which serve wonderful meals (not all pubs are like that, but the Ashbys know the best places for a great meal, loaded with the history and atmosphere of a centuries-old local village).
Beaulieu, for those who don't know, is the home of Lord and Lady Montague of Beaulieu (pronounced "bewlee") and the estate grounds house the remains of a Cistercian monastery, Beaulieu Palace, and not least, the National Motor Museum. Here is a link to their superb website: https://www.beaulieu.co.uk. The previous Lord Montague was a huge fan of British motoring history, and he founded the Museum in the fifties, out of his passion for old cars. Now it houses an outstanding collection of turn-of-the-century cars, record-breaking machines, racing cars from the twenties up through modern times, Rolls-Royces, Bugattis, Daimlers, as well as a section of the common "bread and butter" cars seen in Britain in pre-1970 times, such as Morris Minors, Minis, Ford Anglias, Hillmans and the like. It's well worth a visit for any fan classic of British iron, but the reason the place attracts us (well, me especially) is the International Autojumble, held on or around Labor Day weekend each year.
The biggest swap meet in the world after Hershey, Beaulieu boasts some 2000 spaces and tens of thousands of visitors. Andrea and I set up a stall each year to sell parts from, as well as a base to bring the parts I buy so we can process and pack same for delivery to our London shipper, and, not least, a place to set up our kitchen and, under the tables, our air mattress and bedding. We keep the kettle whistling and entertain many old friends with a cuppa during the weekend. I have written about Beaulieu elsewhere on this website, and others have done a fine job of documenting why the event is so special, so I won't go into much detail here about the Autojumble itself. But suffice it to say that, for the fan of classic British cars and parts, Beaulieu is as good as it gets. Where else can you find an Invicta for sale, working aero engines that periodically start up, all the British parts manufacturers and dealers, mixed in with guys clearing out the garage or just selling off the extra bits from an old restoration, or an old obsession? Grand it is, and that's what keeps us coming back year after year.
This year was great as usual for finding rare parts. We scored a number of NOS Lucas fog and driving lamps from the fifties and sixties (our speciality), a superb pair of black leather seats for an early XK120, other Jaguar XK parts, many NOS switches and relays and the like, and a vintage picnic set. We used to buy and sell lots of vintage picnic sets (here are a couple of choices on this site) https://jollyrogersmotors.com.
We will be listing many of these new acquisitions over the coming months, so check us out from time to time but please email or call if you are looking for any specific parts, especially Lucas or pre-1970 Jaguar.
Geoff and Andrea Rogers
Rogers Motors LLC
rogers@jollyrogersmotors.com