: VINTAGE CARS :

These notes are from the 2009 event and will be updated shortly.

Welcome to the Car section.For many of our visitors the car section brings back many happy - and sometimes not so happy - memories of cars once owned or ridden in. Each generation has its own favourites and many families may have three or even four generations of these memories. Dad may fondly remember his Ford Cortina of the seventies, grand-dad possibly remembers his Vauxhall Velox of the fifties whilst great grand-dad muses over learning to drive in his Morris Eight of the thirties. All these have made it into preservation and along with many, many more, are here for your enjoyment. So popular is the car section that last year over seven hundred classic, vintage and veteran cars were booked in and this year promises a similar number.

Because of its popularity, this year the section is being presented as six themed groupings, mainly but not exclusively based on age.

Our oldest group consists of veteran, vintage and pre-war models and here you will see such icons as the Bullnose Morris, Model "T" Ford, Austin Seven and the mighty Bentley sports cars with some exhibits going back almost to the dawn of motoring history.

Moving up in time we are proud to show the classics from the end of WW2 to 1972 with models which many visitors grew up with. Here you can see many examples which gave motoring to the masses as well as lesser known makes and models. Cars such as the Morris Minor, Ford Anglia, Vauxhall Victor and Austin A40 are bound to feature along with a sprinkling of rarer models such as Panhard, Riley, Singer or Austin Atlantic.

 Moving on again in time we come to the Post 1972 Collectors cars. These newer models will almost certainly become the classics of the future and many will still be seen in regular use. Many Jaguar models are certain to appear as will many of the smaller manufacturers such as Lotus and it is always interesting to compare these with the more common makes and models of this period, all of which have a place in our history.

On a more make specific theme we have a display of the famous Daimler and Lanchester makes. 2009 is the fiftieth anniversary of the Daimler Dart (or SP250) sports car and it is hoped to have fifty of these magnificent vehicles on display.

It is also the fiftieth anniversary of the Mini (the original and best - not the BMW one!!) and a separate display should exhibit fifty of the iconic cars including variants such as van, pickup, Wolseley Hornet etc. Nearly everyone has owned a Mini at some point so this is a trip down nostalgia lane for many. At the other end of the size spectrum we have a display of pre 1972 American cars - who can forget the classic pink finned Cadillac or Thunderbird. Let's face it, we all fancy a V8 Boss Mustang!! But there will be cars from the 1920's onwards showing the development of the automobile on the other side of the pond and many are superb examples of the coachbuilders craft.

If you are not already exhibiting and would like to, please click on Exhibitors to download an entry form for any of the themes described here and send it off to the appropriate organiser - we are sure you will not be disappointed.