Back to Events Timour Hall Car and Bike
Sunday 29 JanuaryWhat a glorious day Sunday turned out to be! The sun was shining out of a clear blue sky, and for once the 'Cape Doctor' was behaving itself!
All in all we had 13 Triumphs in attendance, which was an excellent showing! It was encouraging to see three immaculately turned out Spitty's all in a row, including new member Bruce Valentine's red Mk.2. Well done guys!
TR6's were there in abundance, as well as our two famous TR5's, but only one TR4A (thanks Geoff!). There were also two pre-1960 TR's in attendance, thanks to Gill and Brian. I was personally looking forward to seeing my 'old' TR3 again, but new owner (and club member) Tim Crawley has put her in for cosmetic surgery in preparation for the Nationals, and arrived with Jamie Hart in his TR6. Now Jamie is also preparing a TR3 for the Nationals, and having personally seen both cars, I can only say that I think we are going to be turning quite a few heads in March…!
Many of the other Cape Town clubs were out in force as well. Famous Marques represented by their own clubs were (in no particular order) Jaguar, Mercedes, Morris Minor and MG. The Crankhandle club put on a huge display of cars, split into two fields-worth of pre-1939 and post-1939 cars. The Early Ford club were also there, but somehow they didn't seem to have many cars this year…
There were also several Motorbike clubs represented, and not to be outdone, the 'Mod Squad' (aka the Vespa club) had several scooters in attendance.
There were many beautiful cars and bikes on display, and I'm sure everyone will have had their own 'favourites'. My personal favourites were, once again in no particular order, a stunning silver-grey Mercedes 300SL, some exquisite Jaguar XK150's, a solitary 1952 Alvis, a 1961 Cooper Formula Junior racing car owned by Dickon Daggitt and for sale (I would have bought it if I had the money and space!!!), and an original 1959 Bristol-engined AC Ace, owned by the same (now elderly!) gentleman since new!
Probably the most unusual car at the show was a home-built Jaguar 'FF', built from XJ6 parts over the last 8 years. The 'FF' moniker is the owner's invention, probably to evoke memories of the famous Jag SS. Whilst it admittedly had a long narrow body and separate mudguards (all in stainless steel), the best way to describe it is to imagine a Lotus 7 on steroids, although one witty observer at the entrance gate remarked that it looked like it had been built using the kitchen sink…!!!
All in all it was a great day, and definitely worth attending in the future, so to all those members who didn't attend - put it on your calendar for next year, on the last Sunday in January, and let's have the best (and biggest) turn-out ever! All the proceeds go to deserving charities that the International Police Association supports annually, so it's a very worthwhile investment in time and money.