Classic wheels rock at shows

CLASSIC NEWS/ Nasrec Expo Centre and Bethlehem events took nostalgic looks at blasts from the past, writes Stuart Johnston

Two notable classic car events were held within striking distance of Joburg’s CBD at the weekend. The first one that Motor News’s scribe attended was in the friendly Free State, where the Maluti Motor Show celebrated its 10-year anniversary in Bethlehem.

The great thing about this show for Gauteng enthusiasts is the different approach to petrol hedonism, with drive-bys around the showgrounds including vehicles such as Vaal Japie tractors from the late 1940s and huge US cars that have been gathering dust in barns for decades.

The Maluti Motor Show was held on Saturday, November 10, providing more than enough time for an early-morning blast back to the Nasrec Expo Centre southwest of Johannesburg for the summer rendition of the twice-yearly Classic Car Show starting at 8am on Sunday.

Here the accent was generally on the spectacular, rather than the rustic, and there were some strange sights and sounds. We particularly enjoyed two renditions of the current pick-up craze parked side-byside, both based on 1940s Chevys. The one was a giant Big Foot–type thingie, with a ride height about as high as the roof line of the slammed-to-thepavement low-riding Chevy parked alongside.

Young Time classics are a new trend coming into their own, and these include cars from the mid-1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s and even the early

Left: The minimalist approach to Beetle restoration, at the Classic Car Show at Nasrec. Top: Nope, it's not a Land Rover. This Defender-lookalike is a rare 1958 Austin Gipsy, virtually unheard of in SA. Above: A rare BMW Alpina B5, based on a 1985 BMW 535i, was seen at last Saturday's Maluti Motor Show in Bethlehem. Below left: The highs and lows of 1940s Chevy pick-ups, on show at Nasrec.