ELLERSLIE S HOW I MPROVES W ITH AGE

DOES TIME GO FASTER AS YOUR CAR AGES, OR DOES IT JUST SEEM LIKE THE ELLERSLIE CLASSIC CAR SHOW COMES AROUND SOONER EVERY YEAR?

The 46th annual event is now only weeks away, as Sunday, February 11 looms on the horizon and the feverish scramble to prepare cars and club displays is underway.

If you were there when the event began in Cornwall Park, in 1972, you may well wonder where the years have gone. Certainly, you’ll be aware of how the show has grown, changed, and improved.

For a start, some cars now regarded as classics didn’t exist when the event began — Japanese collectibles, for example. Many others, particularly British marques, have ceased production, duly becoming more desirable.

Like cars, the show has evolved, with new clubs such as the Mclaren Owners Group set to show this year.

As have previous shows, 2018 promises the spectacular — with an unusual Classic Cover Insurance Club Display theme casting a different angle on the history of one of our favourite hobbies or passions: ‘Women and the Marque’, which reflects the influence of women on all facets of motoring for over a hundred years.

Back in the day, Bertha Benz first used her husband’s prototypes to ferry the kids to their grandmother, and, since then, women have become involved in design, assembly, maintaining, racing, and selling, as well as owning cars. In advertising and at shows, glamorous women draped over cars has given way to a focus on attributes that reflect women’s tastes.

Magazines now commonly feature ‘ best

cars for women’ articles. International female motoring writers present their slant on new models — and the manufacturers listen. Female classic car owners are as enthusiastic and knowledgeable about their collections as male.

In 2018, again expect to see the country’s best classics — entered individually or as teams — vying for coveted awards ranging from the Intermarque Team Shield to Masters Class for individual vehicles, Best Survivor, and Best Club Display.

Always popular attractions, the latest prestige and performance cars on show will include new Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Maserati, Mclaren, Mini, Porsche, Rolls-royce, and Volvo offerings. Expect to see the growing influence of electric vehicles reflected this year as well.

The 2018 show’s host is last year’s team winner, the Jaguar Drivers’ Club, with an organizing committee of around 10 members from other clubs, managing show activities — from Saturday’s Meguiar’s Tours d’elegance through to judging, site management, and commercial partnerships.

Thanks to committed, imaginative sponsors — New Zealand Classic Car, Meguiar’s, Classic Cover Insurance, commercial exhibitors, and clubs, the Ellerslie Classic Car Show and Intermarque Concours events have become acknowledged as world class. And at the pace time flies, 50 years of the most significant classic car event in the country is just around the corner.

For more information, visit the show’s new website: concours.org.nz.