Bromley, 08 June 2014
The Bromley Pageant of Motoring is billed as the largest one day
classic car show in the world, and with around 3000 classic
vehicle, plus a number of “modern classics” and motorcycles, it
can certainly stake a valid claim to the title. A beautiful sunny and
warm early summer’s day greeted participants and visitors alike,
to the vast expanse of grass that is Norman Park in Bromley,
Kent, just to the south of London.
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The event is truly a family orientated gathering, centred around a
massive array of classic cars, with plenty of entertainment to
keep all ages happy, mostly located close to the central arena,
which hosted drive-pasts of various car groups and clubs during
the day, together with spectacular high flying motorcycle stunt
rider demonstrations. There was also live music, a classic
motorcycle display, classic commercial vehicles, a trade sales
and autojumble area, so a vast amount of things to see and do
during the course of the day.
The cars on display ranged from what might describe as
“everyday” classics, like Morris Minors, VW Beetles and Minis,
through “Golden Oldies” like a Model T Ford, a 1929 Buick, a
1935 Wolseley from Fife in Scotland, where it has resided all its
life, to custom cars and a wide selection of sports cars, ranging
from a vast array of Mazda MX-5s, a number of Triumph Spitfires,
to Aston Martins, Ferraris, Porsches and Lamborghini. There was
a Kit Car Club display, which featured original styled cars, along
with mainly Toyota MR2 based clones of Ferraris and
Lamborghinis. When one looks at them with a passing glance,
they could be taken for the real thing, especially if they were
moving down the street, but the overriding thought is that they
must cost a fortune to produce, and all that you have at the end of
the day is a replica. One might say that it is the bottom end of
the Ferrari 250 GT SWB and GTO replica market, but at least
they have proper original Ferrari running gear.
Fortunately there were examples of the real thing, with a number
of Ferraris around the displays, ranging from Dino 308 GT4s,
through 308, 328, 348, 355 and 430 models to a 599 GTB Fiorano
HGTE. The Aston Martin display was very impressive, and it
included a pair of 1934 Mk II Tourers, one in short chassis form,
and the other in long chassis form, together with examples of
DB4, DB5 and DB6, through to more modern variants from the
seventies to today. Sporting Ford models like the Mexico,
RS2000 and Escort Cosworth were plentiful, as were Mitsubishi
Evos and Subaru Imprezas.There was a good selection of
American fins and chrome, plus their British equivalent from the
sixties, the Vauxhall Velox and Cresta models, and the Ford
Consuls, Zephyrs and Zodiacs.
Amongst the more unusual cars, the Jensen marque was well
represented, with a number of examples of the Interceptor and its
FF cousin, plus a pair of CV8s and a lone Jensen-Healey. The
Classic Renault display featured a varied selection, ranging from
the humble R4 and R6 models, through to Alpine models,
including a pretty “hot” French Blue Dauphine that had come
across from France, along with an attractive Calberson liveried
Alpine A310 V6 and a lurid metallic orange A610 Evolution. The
show fields were so vast that a day was not enough to really
absorb, or to see, everything, as there were some real rarities
tucked away incongruously, like a rarely seen Turner, or a
Fairthorpe Electron, a Triumph Spitfire based Hurricane, a Reliant
Sabra prototype and the production Sabre Six, a row of Panther
Limas, a pair of Marcos Mantis’, and the list goes on!
Keith Bluemel
06/2014
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