A wonderfully varied mixture of about 2000 cars from 87 clubs crammed into Tatton Park for each day of last weekend’s Classic & Performance Car Spectacular, which drew just under 29,000 visitors. Many of the groups are open to any make of classic, such as the Rochdale Vintage & Collectors’ Car Club, which celebrated its 25th birthday with an inspired ‘carousel’ of vehicles (above).
Nearby, the Manchester Historic Vehicle Club also gathered a fantastic selection including ‘Bessie’, the magnificent 1934 McLaughlin Buick Series NA50 Model 58 that Ian Booth bought with a mate for £200 in ’71. “We started stripping it,” he recalled, “and soon realised that the ash frame was beyond repair, so that was rebuilt to the original spec after which replacement bodywork was painstakingly hand-wheeled and fitted to the frame.”
Fellow MHVC member Steve Rodick brought his rare 1951 Singer SMG1500, one of only eight known to survive in the UK. “I was on eBay looking for parts for another classic,” he explained, “when I noticed this and I’d never seen one before. It’s a full cruciform chassis with a hefty steel body – it weighs about 1.8 tons – but it runs well once you’ve got it going. It has the same 1500 overhead-cam engine that was fitted to HRGs.”
A fascinating trio of Allards nestled at the back of the Cheshire Classic Car Club stand, including H&H boss Simon Hope’s J2 and Mark Butterworth’s K-type – the only one in Europe. “It’s the most comfortable racing car ever built,” he enthused. “You can drift it one-handed around the complex at Silverstone. I’ve just had the Cadillac engine rebuilt and it’s now good for more than 300bhp on triple Carters.”
A large Mercedes-Benz Club corral included the beautiful 300SL Coupé that Ed Daniels had driven up from Essex and the 220SE ‘Ponton’ cabriolet that register captain Alan Cross bought in 2007 and has taken to Germany several times.
Across the aisle was a Jensen FF II painted in a lovely Mercedes turquoise metallic. “When we had it tidied up, it turned into a complete respray,” explained owner Alan Jones from Telford. “We always liked the original colour, and this was the closest that we could get to it. We’ve had the car for 11 years, but it was bought by my father-in-law in 1983 so I’ve known it since then.”
