Best of Brtish Motor Shows 1948-99
Relive more than 50 years of motor show memories in our 18-page special, starring everything from the Morris Minor to the Rover 75 – which shows do you remember?
The excitement of seeing some genuinely eye-opening metal for the first time. The hustle and bustle of the crowds queuing to get in. That feeling of being weighed down by bags full of brochures on the way out. There’s nothing quite like treating yourself to a day or two at a really big motor show and spending hour after hour working out what to add to your dream garage.
With many of the nation’s big events called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic – including the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, which is going ahead in an online-only format instead – we decided to re-create some of that magic by revisiting Britain’s greatest motor shows.
We kick off with 1948 – the year the Earls Court Motor Show got back on its feet following the Second World War, and where the world caught its first glimpse of the Morris Minor and Jaguar XK120 – and revisit all the best national motor shows right up to the turn of the century, when Earls Court hosted its last big event.
Over the next 18 pages we’ll be revisiting the star debutantes from Rover, BMC, Rootes, Ford, Jaguar, and many more – so whether you remember the days when car nuts shuffled off the Piccadilly Line platforms en-route to Earls Court or cooing at the Rover SD1 (and possibly, TVR’s models of a different sort) at the NEC, then we’ve got something for you.
We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have putting it together – and that it brings back the excitement of motor shows during the lockdown!