Illustration by Leon Edler

A train, a trudge through a field, an argument down the line with a local taxi company, rendered worse by patchy service; a long wait on a roadside embankment under a tree to shield from the rain, and a taxi successfully hailed. Of all the barriers to entry when it comes to attending a vintage car festival in rural West Sussex, not being able to drive must be the primary one.

Anyway, here I am at the South of England Showground in Ardingly for the Classic Ford Show – or “Europe’s largest classic Ford event” to you (does this accolade warrant a plaque?). In my limited knowledge of the automobile, Ford always stood out as pure Americana: that boxy frame designed for the industrial East Coast highway; Bruce Springsteen, if he had an axle and four wheels. And whatever other clichés we can summon – the blue jean?…