Totnes Classic Car Show returns with a few Bond-style surprises

I took my Triumph TR6 along to the Totnes Classic Car Show, along with a host of old car magazines, and had an absolute ball talking to anyone and everyone about all manner of old car nonsense!
I was surprised at how long some exhibitors had owned their classic, with one man bringing his Lotus Elan that he had owned for nearly 50 years.
One delightful elderly couple from Newton Abbot, who were also exhibitors, dropped by for a chat. They eventually bought an old AA Car mechanics book I was selling for £2.
Enquiring what car they had brought to the show, he said, “Oh we’ve come in her Aston Martin DB6, as I’ve left my DB6 at home this time.”
After I picked myself up from the floor and somewhat taken aback at this revelation, I got to know a bit more about them. Both of them really loved Aston Martins of the James Bond era and, as she pointed out, they were bought over 40 years ago, when these cars were affordable. They just happened to have kept their beloved cars ever since.
This is the really lovely part of classic car ownership and it is so refreshing
to see today. Each Aston is worth a conservative £300,000 apiece!
This reminded me of my own Aston Martin DB5, which I too had owned about the same time as they bought theirs.
Having accepted a position as air crew with British Airways, my fleet manager pointed out that I needed a reliable car that would start at the dead of night after three weeks in the Heathrow staff car park.
Well, my Aston struggled to restart after just three hours, let alone three weeks, so it had to go. I got just £2,000 for the old girl.
Who was to know quite how valuable these classic cars were to become? But there is a wise saying that goes like this. ‘If the classic car market could have been predicted, then it would never have happened’.
And thinking of my new customers, the other saying to remember was never ever judge a book by its cover.