40 years on, original members of Vintage Club return to take part in Autumn Run
MEMBERS of the Kingdom Veteran and Vintage Car Club celebrated another successful Autumn Run outing from the Kenmare Bay Hotel on Saturday, raising over € 1,000 for the Kerry Parents and Friends ‘ Buy A Bus’ campaign.
Celebrating its 40th year in existence as a club, what made Saturday’s outing extra special was the presence of a number of the original members of the club, now into their 70s and 80s, who drove
the entire length of the route.
“It was a huge success,” organiser Garrett Foley told The Kerryman.
“We had over 120 cars which would be high for any club and we’ve been maintaining this level for the last three years or so.
“This year, we had cars coming from all over, I think we had cars from as far away as Enniskillen.
“It has a huge draw because we’d be probably the last event of the year and there’s probably only about four clubs in the whole country that do weekend away trips/runs,” Garrett continued.
The route taken by the run was just under the 100- mile mark.
The drivers left Kenmare, went over to Kilgarvan, over the Top of Coom, down and around and into Gougane Barra, where they had a lunch stop before they continued on to Glengariff. They then went over Healy’s Pass and then back to the Kenmare Bay Hotel for dinner.
“We’re celebrating our 40th anniversary this year. We were formed in 1979 and so this year was a big year for us. A lot of those members from 1979 were there with us on the run. They were all driving vintage cars along the whole 100- mile route,” he continued.