It's Bangers & Cash for real!

I discovered the Yesterday channel on TV only a few months ago, almost accidentally, when looking up something to do with an old building. That got me going on one of the series featured on this most interesting channel, Abandoned Engineering. And then I got hooked on The Architecture That Railways Built. And Murder Maps. And then Bangers & Cash.

As you'll gather immediately, the Yesterday channel's main intended audience is men, and bloke-ish men at that, the sort of men who like to know stuff, and do stuff with functioning machinery. Still, the channel's abiding thrust is all things historical, and a series like Murder Maps obviously has a wider appeal, if you like true (though sometimes grisly) tales of human interest. The Yesterday channel also shows that perennially absorbing history classic The World At War. I'd say that despite the big robust nod to male tastes, there's plenty to enjoy if you're daintier but still want your historical side tickled. 

Back to Bangers & Cash. This is about a car-auction firm called Mathewsons at Thornton-le-Dale, a village between Pickering and Scarborough. But not ordinary cars. They specialise in classic cars, which is broadly anything notable from the 1920s through to the 1990s. But they'll also handle a very wide range of wheeled vehicles. Delivery trucks, old Green Goddess fire engines, motor-cycles, three-wheelers, road rollers, tractors, you name it. Plus sundry memorabilia. 

But the main category is of course classic cars, sporty or otherwise, and in all kinds of condition, from loved and cherished and beautifully cleaned and polished - perhaps with a pet name - to redundant rusty hulks left untouched for twenty years in a street garage or tumbledown farmyard barn. 

The ones from the barn, covered in dust and bird or rodent detritus, and apparently beyond redemption, are the subject of naked lust where restoration-minded enthusiasts are concerned. Such folk will pay big bucks for a flat-tyred, brake-seized wreck that their magic will transform. Apparently almost anything can be restored and brought back to life in all its original glory. It will of course cost a lot to do it, but it amply pays off if it's a rare car and the restoration is done properly, over a period of months, with attention to every detail, and preserving as much of the original vehicle as possible. Some of these finished restorations will be worth an awful lot of money. In all cases, the restorer has a delicious challenge on their hands, although their poor wives won't see much of them while they grapple with their latest project. 

But those barn finds are unusual. The more typical classic car that gets put up for auction will be a runner in pretty good condition, needing only some TLC - if that. The term 'Banger' doesn't really do full justice to most of the cars on offer. But 'Cash' most certainly comes into the picture.  

Who puts cars into an auction? Dealers and restorers obviously. Some sellers have a collection of cars, and occasionally sell off one or two in order to purchase something new. But ordinary people, such as old men in their eighties - or their widows - will offer a car for sale, often sadly, in the hope that the new owner will give their pride and joy a comfortable new home, and love them just as much. There's generally a human story behind every sale like that. 

Who buys them? Dealers and restorers and car-collectors obviously. Men wanting a special nostalgic gift for their wives. Anyone looking for a special set of wheels, or a car that will bring back their youth. Some of these cars, the rally-standard ones from the 1990s say, will still blast down the road as fast as they did when new. Some, the ones from the 1950s or early 1960s (an Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire for instance, or a Jaguar) are bought for their luxury and their style. 1950 to 1970 is the era that chiefly interests me: the aspirational cars of my childhood. 

The show is not just about the cars. It's just as much about the people at Mathewsons - the owner Derek; his sons and lieutenants Paul and Dave; occasionally their wives; younger family still, such as Jack and Charlie, enthusiastic youngsters destined to step into their fathers' shoes in the decades ahead; and the office staff, such as Lucy, led by laconic family friend Sarah. Also the quirky sellers, characters all of them. Plus, of course, the people who come to the auction, the potential buyers. All sorts. Fascinating!

When planning my current holiday, it crossed my mind that it wouldn't be too difficult to take in Thornton-le-Dale (and the North York Moors) on a long day trip from Richmond. And so, a week and a half ago, on Monday 10th May, I set forth south-eastwards from Richmond, picking up the A170 at Thirsk, the road that would lead me through Helmsley and Pickering to Thornton-le-Dale.  

I'd already ascertained where Thornton-le-Dale's village car park was, but wasn't prepared for its vastness. It promotes itself as one of the prettier Yorks Moors villages, and seems to be a mecca for tourists, whether coming to view Mathewsons or not. I bought two hours' worth of parking time for £2.76, paying of course by phone. Not bad, really. £2.76 would buy you far less time in Brighton. 

Well, Mathewsons first, then lunch. The path from the car park led visitors through a serene little wood with a duck-filled lake in it. Then to the village green. A bit too much in the way of cars and buses to call it a chocolate-box hymn to prettiness, but pleasant enough. I spied Mathewsons up the road. It was just as on TV.

There were notices in the windows inviting passers by to enter. The window displays were full of Bangers & Cash merchandise. T-shirts, mugs, and other things. Oh good. I was already determined to come away with a nice souvenir, not just a few photos.

Let's go in! 

As I did so, Derek's nephew Jack passed me, clearly off to pick up some vehicle from a seller. And there was Derek himself, taking a call on his mobile phone behind the glass screens where auction-goers register as buyers on auction days. Just where the woman is, centre-left in the shot just above. Here's a better view of those screens in the background of the next shot. Derek had been taking his call under that blue car sticker. But he'd moved off to somewhere in the interior by the time I snapped this particular picture, and didn't re-emerge for a quick hello.

However, I was here and practically rubbing shoulders with major TV stars! And it didn't end with glimpses of Jack and Derek. To the right of where it says 'Commer' was the new Mathewsons admin office. A better view:

Two or three ladies were behind all that glass, and one of them was Lucy, who on TV often exchanges friendly quips with the worldly-wise Sarah. No sign of Sarah herself - a pity, as I'd been thinking of some witty things to say to her. Never mind. I chatted instead with that lady on the far left in the shot above, who was handling the shop sales. Then inspected the goods. The aprons in the centre of the shot above had already caught my eye, but I had a look at everything - taking my time, you understand, just in case another TV super-star appeared. Rather like hanging around at a Hollywood studio, hoping that (say) Tom Cruise will walk past. Nobody else showed though. 

This part of the premises had some classic cars in it, and some bikes and scooters, as well as the Bangers & Cash merchandise and some memorabilia:

I settled on that Bangers & Cash apron, and went back to the lady to pay for it. A very reasonable £10. Then I had a look around out on the forecourt.

To my mind the best thing on the forecourt was this smart and clearly well-loved VW campervan, known as Suzie Creamcheese:

Well, that was that. No more to see. Or perhaps I was wrong. There was a side street, and presumably a side entrance to the premises, as occasionally seen on TV. I found it. And, would you believe it, there was Derek - the man himself - reversing a blue 1930s delivery truck up a slope. I don't think he noticed me. Having very carefully manoeuvred the truck alongside a big shed, he got out and walked slowly inside. He must have seen me by now. But no doubt it was no novelty to him to be goggled at by a silly tourist, and he quite rightly ignored me. I don't blame him. 

I mean, I didn't expect him to come over, all smiles, and hold a fantasy conversation with me on these lines:

Derek: Are you enjoying your visit to Mathewsons? It's Lucy Melford, isn't it?

Lucy (curtseying): Yes, very much indeed, Mr Mathewson, thank you. How awfully clever of you to know who I am! I'm a great fan of the show on the Yesterday channel. I really love cars and driving them.  

Derek: Well, we have quite a few very special cars in that shed that we never show to ordinary people. Would you like to see them? 

Lucy (bobbing furiously): Oh yes please!

Derek: Perhaps I could get Paul or Dave to take you out for a spin in a supercharged Bentley Continental we've just got in? Would you like that?

Lucy: Gosh, yes, how ripping!

Derek: And when you're back, perhaps a bit of banter with Sarah? She's sharp, mind.

Lucy: I'm sure I can manage. 

He didn't come over, and there were no such words. Hey ho.

Directed by the lady who sold me the apron, I next had a good (al fresco) lunch at Baldersons down the road. Then it was back to the car park. I tried on the new Bangers & Cash apron. Yes, just the job for a stylish cook!

It modelled to better advantage in this shot taken back in the caravan, much later on.

Why 'much later on'? Because my adventures for the day were by no means over. The subject of at least two posts to come.