09/09/2026
Its the first day at Automechanika, with circa 4000 exhibitors its hard to know where to start so I began with old friends and current manufacturers. Its good to meet other suppliers like LR Parts and Heritage Parts who are like ourselves trying to provide durable parts and keep the sons of Solihull on the road.
It was well before dawn when laden and clinking like the tinkers of old we headed to Heathrow, where, despite the Air Traffic Control chaos the previous day our flight left on time.
Patchy clouds lay like a net curtain over France and on into Germany, a notably slim Rhine threaded north and for a history buff like myself I recalled all those lads who travelled in like manner from Lincolnshire 82 or more years ago.
Customs was not the bureaucratic nightmare anticipated and the air train journey passed quickly in the most agreeable company of some gregarious American tourists. In fact if we hadn't found the wrong station it would have been entirely routine! Retracing our steps we found the regional station and headed into Frankfurt hauptbahnhof where similarly ambiguous signage threatened dispatch to somewhere hard to pronounce. So eager was I to avoid an inadvertent mystery tour that we debunked a station early and spent 15 inpatient minutes gazing over the geometric and orderly (though graffiti rich) cityscape before finally arriving at the Messe centre. The security staff were singularly unimpressed by my collection of obsolete Land Rover memorabilia and I was obliged to leave most of my dusty load in the cloakroom in the charge of a brace of bemused gentlemen.
Thus mostly disarmed I made a second attempt to conquer the tectonic ring of security with my remaining trinkets of steel. Predictably they saw through my cunning disguise and a further search ensued. My humour was worn somewhat thin by then and with due and rather hotly stated protest that 'this is simply not on' I was allowed to pass. Salena who had previously passed untroubled with her case was surgically intercepted and her case similarly quarantined. With our remaining parts we went in search of our favourite factories.
The next 6hrs flew by, we are now enlightened in every sense and doubtless the company bank account will experience a similar sensation when the bill arrives. Some of these projects will take a year to complete so I don't want to create unsustainable suspense but we have leads for Series braking & clutch cylinders, series axle parts, some scope to explore early Series 2 sprung base seats, several 101 parts and a few Defender parts.
Its now evening, hotels are at a premium when any such show is in town so a hostel was booked. I can't deny a wry smile escaped my lips at the brand name Shindler adoring the lifts as we headed to the dorms though the shared room had one slight issue in that there was a shortfall in the beds/occupants accounting. Fortunately this has been amicably resolved and we are now listening to mixed hits from the 1950s, eating pizza in an Fawlty-esque enclosed street cafe. The waitress handed us a menu which curiously made oblique reference to the late Maradona, and with current tensions I was reminded of a war I hadn't thought I would have to avoid mentioning in this particular part of Europe! Furthermore a pizza to share wasn't considered worthy of a second plate, neither was the subsequent pizza based nutella dessert. The evening is brightened by a steady procession of ambulances which appear to be either a Doctor led team or service facilitated by the fire department. Most intriguingly one has just passed marked 'Malteser' which reminded me of the ambulances in Zimbabwe brightly branded 'MARS', whatever next? Perhaps a tie up between Nestle and orthopaedics, 'have a break, have a kit-kat? The single Euro cent I found on the floor earlier has just fallen out of my pocket and disappeared between the slats on this floor so I think this will suffice for one day! More news tomorrow 🙄😊
