When The Boyfriend was 7 his parents took him to the Chelsea Cruise to watch the classic cars drive along Chelsea bridge as a birthday treat. Watching cars was followed up by a vanilla ice cream sundae with chocolate sauce - the kind of chocolate sauce that goes hard after you pour it so you have to crack it with your spoon to get to the ice cream. The height of sophistication when you are 7. And one of The Boyfriend's most treasured childhood memories.
All the wedding planning has got The Boyfriend thinking about cars again. A 1950's Ford Anglia as a wedding car maybe? An Alfa Romeo Giulietta? What about a Mustang?
After a bit of googling we discovered the Chelsea Cruise is still going, every last Saturday of the month. It stopped for a few years in the 1990's when it got take over by boy racers and got broken up by the police but it is now very much a scene for old car enthusiasts. So last night we went down.
Chelsea Bridge was all lit up and looked fantastic as we walked up from the Kings Road. There were around a hundred cars, mostly for the 50s and 60s. All amazing shapes and colours and in some cases with spoilers and lights. My car knowledge isn't very good but The Boyfriend was very excited and knowledgeable about rare cars. The crowds really mixed too. Some staunch enthusiasts who have come every month since the 1970's; families with (mainly) little boys on shoulders, students practicing with their DSLR's, rockabilly types and excitable tourists like us. We may not need a wedding car, but if we do then I think we've found a great place to find advice.
If you like old cars then I recommend American Graffiti for some inspiration. Set in 1962 the film is about 2 boys scheduled to leave for college in the morning spending their evening cruising the strip in their cars. There is a young Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard and Harrison Ford too. I've only seen this clip so far but looks good and we're watching the DVD tonight.
American Graffiti: George Lucas: 1974
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