All British Car Day – Trentham Memorial Park, Wellington – February 8th 2015
Those who thought that any event celebrating only English cars was going to be full of old classics should think again. All British Car Day (ABCD) 2015 was the year of the modern English car. Actually this, the 29th year of ABCD, was officially in celebration of British V8s (and there were plenty). However it was the sheer number of modern English cars included in the 300 there that really marked the day.
Brand new or modern Jaguars, Minis, Mgs, Morgans, Lotus…the list went on and on. Some absolutely stunning modern English cars were represented, including an incredible Morgan Aero that was almost impossible to get a shot of with no one else around.
As mentioned the theme for the Day was British V8s – no need for American muscle here (okay, some of them had yankee V8s). A plethora of English V8s were in attendance, helped along by the fine weather. Not 1 but 3 Jensen Interceptors were on display – one of this writer’s favourite cars. A yellow Interceptor that arrived in the early afternoon quickly had a crowd gathered around it. Many Daimler V8s were on show – a single SP250 (original and unrestored) and a surprising amount of Daimler 250 V8 saloons. Some modern Jaguar V8s were represented, as well as a good number of Triumph Stags, MGB V8s, Sunbeam Tigers (all 4 that reside in Wellington were on show), Rovers (both P5B and P6), Rolls Royces, TVRs, Range Rovers (both very early and brand new) – and some Land Rover V8s parked in a row, on a bank.
Plenty of 4 and 6-cylinder English cars were on display as well as the V8s; Hillman, Vauxhall, Triumph, Mini, Jowett, Bradfords (remember those!), Armstrong Siddeley, Ford Escorts (including Mexico and RS2000), Capris and Cortinas – even a recently restored Transit flat deck. Some that had more than their share of cylinders, like the Aston Martin DB7 and E Type Jaguars, were well appreciated.
Roy McGuinness (of McGuinness Motors fame) was again the MC for the day and as usual, he did a fine job. It was great also to see the British High Commissioner once again coming along to support the day and dishing out prizes.
The quality of the cars on display was truly remarkable. Sure, there were some that needed some major TLC (and good on the owners for turning up regardless) however many were in superb condition – and obviously hours of prep time was spent cleaning cars, for this the biggest English car event on Wellington’s calendar. All proceeds from the day go to support Wellington Free Ambulance.
Next year’s ABCD is sure to be a huge gathering – the 30th anniversary will need some major celebrating.
