Column: the Beauty of Beaulieu

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Step by step I see them coming. Ambling along, then stopping again at a stall. The old man points at something; the boy picks up the part and says something to the old man, who, sitting on his rollator, looks on with interest. He shakes his grey, wrinkled head energetically, and together they move on. At the next stand the same scene unfolds – but this time it is a success. A friendly chat with the seller, hands are shaken, and money and part change hands. The old man, his gaze once more fixed on searching, shuffles further. The boy, a little more delighted now, follows him.

They walk towards me and I wonder if they will notice anything here. At the PreWarCar.com-PostWarClassic.com stand we don’t sell much, apart from a few bits and pieces and some merchandise. What we mainly collect are stories. So I speak to the man – and, as it turns out, his grandson. Yes, he’d like a beer, but not for too long as they still have the other field to cross. I quickly grab three cans and sit down.

Two hours later I am still listening intently. He tells me how he has been coming to Beaulieu for more than forty years, first with his son and now with his grandson. About that one unique part he once found at the top of the yellow field. About how the fair has changed, yet he still cannot do without it. About the days when the whole family came along, and how on the way back he had packed the car so full that his wife refused to come again the following year. But also about the many friendships made over the years – connections that remain warm to this day.

He admits that he is getting too old to spend the whole day fully engaged. His son has now taken over the stand, though he himself is still there every day. But the organising he leaves to his son.
A little later that same son arrives: he has seen a box of special bolts and wants his father’s opinion. So much, then, for ‘no longer being involved’. The old man gets up sprightly and together they move on, towards the next fine story. Leaving me behind with a few empty beer cans – and even more with the realisation of what the Beaulieu Autojumble truly is: the social heart of the hobby.

These days, with websites like ours, fairs have changed. No longer is it about searching for that one part you need right now – you can easily find that online. At the Autojumble you look for things you might be able to use, things that become part of a story. It is entertainment, it is social, and that is what makes it so wonderful.

The Beaulieu Autojumble continues throughout this weekend – certainly worth a family outing!

Text by Laurens Klein

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