During his recent trip to George, Peter Palm indulged in the town’s record-breaking Classic Car Show, immersing himself in a world of vintage automotive marvels. Here’s what he got up to.
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It is truly amazing what a turnout the show had, both in cars and spectators – a record-setting crowd of over 13 000. This Classic Car show is back to the good old days before Covid struck. The only difference is that the city of George seems to have many more residents than in past years with parking for visitors nearly impossible to find.
The show is held by the stalwart Southern Cape Old Car Club (SCOCC) and is extremely well organized.
On our way up from Cape Town, we saw a number of display cars being driven up by their drivers. This is no mean feat for some of the old timers with one or two resting by the roadside to let radiators cool a little. Some of these hiding V8 engines under the “hood” so we can only imagine how much the fuel cost the owners.
Apart from the vintage and classic cars, there were motorcycles, rat rods, muscle cars, vintage tractors, stationary engines and model cars. The tractor display was particularly impressive with a bevvy of Vaaljapie Fergusons resplendent with the original grey paintwork, a colour that has only recently come back into fashion. This after all but disappearing in the early 1960s.
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The only cars that I missed were GSM Darts and Flamingos but I may have overlooked other vehicles, there were just so many on various fields.
A number of drive-bys were held with commentator Stuart Johnson doing the honours. These included Veteran and Vintage (pre-1930), Vintage motorcycles, Post Vintage cars, German cars, American cars, European and British too. A large turnout of Piaggio Vespas from the local Vespa Club had some very well-restored early examples.
New cars were also displayed by many dealerships on a separate field and the many food stalls all did a roaring trade. To keep up with the “old school” ambience, I stayed overnight in a 1960s Gazelle caravan in the Wilderness and the weather couldn’t have been finer. I hope to return in 2025.
