So many people told me over the weekend that it was the best Classic Motor Show ever that any doubts I might have had were dispelled. Truth be told, it has always been my favourite event – the people's end of term party – and I thought it was the best, too, but didn't want to be overconfident without at least a thousandth opinion.
The question for me then became exactly why it was the best ever. I mean aside from the organisers' conspicuous hard work to elevate the size, quality and popularity of the show.
Yes, some of the club stands may be a bit bigger and better than in the past, but that would suggest that the same effort wasn't made in the past. And it was.
In fact, the vast majority of club stands are pretty much as they have always been in terms of quality, so, even though that, like so many factors, has added to a general gradual improvement, it is surely not the whole answer.
So, I asked around a lot. What is different now to the Classic Motor Show of a decade ago?
The primary answer, to my surprise, was that it was the visitors. Even though a fair proportion of the near-50,000 or so who attended over the three days still had a passing enthusiasm at most, their level of interest and engagement is unrecognisable from the past.
Rather than just wandering the halls to kill half a day, they are all over the stands, in and out of the cars, bombarding the clubs with questions and their own anecdotes.