BRITISH & EUROPEAN CAR DAY
Unlike their unfortunate rain-ravaged northern counterparts during Cyclone Gabrielle, the organisers of Wellington’s British & European Car Day were able to go ahead as planned in mid-February. Their efforts were rewarded by an excellent turn out of participants and spectators.
First held in 1987 as the British Car Day, the event moved around a number of venues until settling on the pleasant and spacious grounds of Trentham Memorial Park in Upper Hutt. For the last few years ‘& European’ has been part of the title for the day’s activities, which has introduced more clubs, cars and variety to the mix. This year was no exception. In fact, where to start is the problem!
In terms of numbers of British cars, MG, Mini, Morris, Ford and Jaguar were among the marques with substantial numbers on display, as you’d expect. Nice to see a pre-WW2 MG TB, a Metro Turbo and a 99-year-old Morris ‘Bullnose’ Cowley among their numbers. Looking at the latter car and the lovely quartet of late 1920s Austin Sevens makes it pretty clear that people on average must have got larger over the last century, and travel with far more clutter and stuff than they used to! A one-family owned sunshine yellow 1980 Mini LE looked a treat, still in its original paint and with all its ‘limited edition’ features in place. I liked the bright green Holbay-modified MkI Cortina with matching pram and a Ford Windsor V8-engined MkIII Zephyr certainly stood out with its custom paint job.
Not far behind in terms of numbers, Land-Rovers in all forms had taken over their usual corner of the field and there was a nice selection of Vauxhalls including Trevor Stone’s prize-winning Velox, and a newly restored Chevette with an ‘HSR’ look caught the eye. One of the Leyland P76 saloons was demonstrating that you really could fit a 44-gallon drum into the boot! The group of Wolseleys included MYRTYL, a very smart two-tone 14/56 model. Among the less numerous Brits could be seen a handful of Armstrong-Siddeleys, a couple of Jensen Interceptors and lone examples of Railton Straight-8, Jowett Javelin, Lotus MkVI and Marcos.
After admiring a nice group of motorcycles, primarily BSAs, and a 427 Cobra (is that British or European?), let’s move on to the Continentals. The line-up of Citroëns was impressive, including some Traction Avants and a number of 2CVs including a lovely van in ‘Byrrh’ livery. An attractive pair of Renaults were included too; an Alpine and a Caravelle. Peugeot club stalwart Malcolm Edgar had assembled a selection of the Sochaux marque with 203 and 403 saloons as the earliest examples. There was a smattering of Lancias, Alfa Romeos and Fiats plus a solitary Volvo P1800 coupé. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was the mouth-watering group of around a dozen late model Ferraris (not all red!) including a 1000bhp SF90 whose owner seemed happy to explain his exotic machine to impressed passers-by. A good turn-out of BMWs included a few of the elegant and rapid 635 models, and I was delighted to spot a rare 1988 Opel Manta GT/E with full Irmscher kit.
The Stationary Engine Club guys’ machinery puttered away happily, and Roy McGuinness combined his usual sartorial flair with knowledgeable commentary and friendly interviews, for what he thought was his 29th year.
And, as the best example I spotted of the delights of combining machinery from Britain and Europe, how about an 007-like Aston Martin DB9 alongside an early SAAB station wagon. The latter might look a little homely but let’s not forget that Erik Carlsson won many tough rallies in the 1960s with his saloon version!
Apologies to any marques I have overlooked but it was great to be at such a well-supported event. And the Wellington Free Ambulance once again benefitted from the day’s takings – well done, British Car Club!