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When I worked for Bluewater I was based in the Netherlands and my flat in Haarlem came with a lock up, so come the summer I brought my 1959 MGA across on the ferry from Newcastle having driven down from Fife.
I did not use the MG every day, but when the weather was good I took the car into work as I had a parking space there as well.
Like a lot of Dutch companies, Bluewater had a Friday Bar in the office and everyone would go at 1700 on Fridays. It was actually a good idea as you often met people you needed to speak to but who had been away or busy.
So, I am at the bar one Friday and Bluewater's owner Hugo Heerema asked me about the MG and told me that he too had old cars - mostly Bentleys and Mercedes! He then said that there were a lot of classic car owners in the company, suggested that we could have our own Classic Car Run and that I was just the guy to organise it. What can you say when the owner suggests this?
I got together with Paul (1966 Ford Tanus) who knew some routes and we developed a local run and a "ball and arrow" style map. We also got sponsorship from Bluewater and we ran off our own rally plates and copies of the instructions from the office.
Come the big day, we had about 25 cars in total including an XK140 from the local hotel owner who got a lot of work from us. It was a real family occasion and cars ranged from a 1928 Model A and included an E-type, Alfa Romeo Spider, Volvos and 2 Citroen Diane's.
And so started the Bluewater Classic Car Run. It ran every year until at least 2009 when I left the company. The numbers of cars always seemed to be about 20 - 25 - but as people came and went there was always something new and the UK ex-pats would sometimes bring across cars as well for a long weekend break.
All in all it was great fun - but Bluewater really was a good company to be with as they organised ski-trips, sailing weekends, summer and Christmas parties and sports teams as well.
Although I like being in the Far East, KL is not the place to try and run a 60-year old car - especially one that is not weather tight! - and one reason for the grass always seeming to be greener on the European side of the fence is that I could get back to running classic cars again.
McC
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