Wonderful variety in the lakes

Traditional and modern classics rub shoulders at charity fundraiser

For anyone taking an early summer holiday in the Lake District, 2018 has already been memorable for providing more sunny days than the locals can handle.

Of course, we don’t like starting our event reports with comment on the weather, but it provides an interesting backdrop for classic shows in Cumbria – they’ve been getting record attendances this year, and that’s all about the lack of rain.

This proved to be the case for the seventh annual Lakes Charity Classic Vehicle Show, with 212 classic cars on show, alongside a couple of commercials and eight motorcycles. Visitor numbers were healthy, too, as the car park confirmed alongside people who walked in to the showground from the beautiful Lakeland town of Grasmere, with at least 500 tickets sold on the day.

The event’s ‘anything goes’ theme meant that the cars on show were an eclectic bunch, which explains why the rare Bond Mini Car attracted as much attention as the desirable Facel-Vega FK. The increasing number of modern-era classics compared to previous years showed the direction of travel the classic movement is taking, but the most popular cars on the field were the MGB, Land Rover Series and Morris Minor.

Anthony Harrison, chairman of the Windermere & Ambleside Lions, which organises the event, said: ‘The show has now raised more than £45,000 for local charities. Last year was the highest amount with more than £10,000 raised; we’re hoping we can beat that this year.’

Paul robinson, from Garstang, bought this concours-standard Toyota celica supra Mkii in surrey in the late-1980s.

Mike Pratt has owned his renault alpine GTa V6 Turbo for 18 years. He and his brother do all of the maintenance on it.

Michael Moore has brought his Porsche 944 Turbo up to concours standard in the five years that he’s owned it.

1970 Mini has been used by generations of the same family from new.