Words by Gordon Campbell; Pictures by Brett Huxtable, Jeff Whitehead, and Paul Hollingworth
The AOMC’s* British and European Motoring Show was held recently on Sunday 26th of February at Caribbean Park in Scoresby. This is Victoria’s biggest classic car show of the year and this year we had a bumper attendance as we all continue our emergence from Lockdown. This year the show featured several important milestones including 100 years of Triumph cars, the 125th anniversary of Riley cars, 40 years of the Peugeot 205 (one of our new members, Chris, brought his beautiful 205 along to display at the Motafrenz), 60 years of the Rover P6 and the Triumph 2000**, and the MG annual concourse. (*AOMC – Association Of Motoring Clubs.)
(**I remember reading in a British car magazine a review of the then-new Ford Cortina TC 2000 from about 1972. The reviewers noted that Ford must have copied the template from the Rover 2000 and Triumph 2000 to create an excellent car – a large sedan of the right dimensions and with the right amount of power. They noted that the Ford had a new 2000 cc overhead cam engine and in most specifications was very similar to the Rover and Triumph. They also noted that fully optioned-up the Cortina was nearly as expensive as the Rover had been when it was first released, although admittedly that was some years ago, in the early 60s.)
So very early (for me) on Sunday, I arose on a coolish and overcast Melbourne day. I packed the Peugeot 504 with my gas barbecue and tea and coffee and biscuits and headed off. We Motafrenz met at McDonald’s in Rowville before 9 AM for a chat and coffee. At just after 9 AM we set off in convoy for the short drive to Caribbean Park. We were there early and already there was a queue of classic cars across three lanes arriving for the big show. We moved quickly to the payment booths and paid our $15 display fee and then entered the grounds. Caribbean Park is a huge expanse of open ground behind an industrial estate. The ground slopes down with various roads crisscrossing it to provide access. I think it’s an excellent venue, spacious and with shade trees in some places. The AOMC had done a great job setting up food vans, admin offices, and an excellent public address system.
Motafrenz had a large area at the bottom of the slope and there we set up our very impressive display. We had 23 cars and our new huge and eye-catching marquee enabled us to really stand out as a landmark amongst the other clubs. We spent the remainder of the morning socializing and looking at what is Victoria’s biggest display of classic cars. At lunchtime, some Motafrenz helped me to set up a sausage sizzle barbecue and other people brought lots of tasty cakes and biscuits and we enjoyed socializing and eating together. Soon after lunch, the AOMC prize-giving proceeded and soon it was time to pack up and say our goodbyes after having had a wonderful day together at the British and European Motoring Show. I would like to thank Chris Q and Jeff W for organizing such a wonderful day and a great impressive Motafrenz display. I also thank Mike Frith for bringing the trailer loaded with our display gear. And of course, thank you to all the attendees and those who displayed their cars with Motafrenz.
So, until next time thank you all from Gordon
