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A
bitterly cold but dry and sunny morning saw a sizeable line up in the
Tadcaster lay-by prior to the 10:30 run into York. This included John
Gray learning to get to grips with his Harley, and Nick Calvert and
Anne in their Wright M35. Nick says he has yet to finish
repainting it, but it looked fine to me and boy do they sound the
business.
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Our
organiser Chris Smyth had gone on ahead this year so the whistle was
blown by Simon Roberts who then lead us out onto the busy A64 at
40mph! Just a little too fast for the convoy to stick together.
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| Arriving
near Clifford's Tower we were greeted with the sight of dozens and
dozens of motor bikes and scooters leaving the Museum precinct under
the watchful eye of the Lord Mayor.
At least he seemed
happy to see us arriving and I think we all missed scraping the
Mayoral limo parked in the middle of the road as we took our places on
the circular green.
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really was too cold to stand around, but it would seem we area fairly
hardy lot and small groups could be seen scattered across the site
busily chatting away.
Happily the staff at
the Museum let us use their facilities and cafe so you could warm up
with a coffee if you so wished.
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| Jeeps
dominated our display with the majority having the top down! Hugo
Hunter went one better with the screen down whilst his 3 small girl
passengers in the back huddled under a blanket. Clearly they are made
of sterner stuff over in Huddersfield. I couldn't stay until the end,
but did manage a chat with Bob and Simon Fenton who had brought their
4x4 Humber Heavy Utility and Austin K2 along. |
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latter is probably the last that will be rescued from a scrapped
wreck. It is excellent and surprisingly was sign written by Simon's
wife who clearly has a very steady hand. Bob hopes to bring along his
1936 Vickers Carden Lloyd Utility tractor to Elvington as it is nearly
completed. It is the only survivor of the 20 made. Elsewhere amongst
the usual suspects I saw that Graham Golder had arrived in his latest
purchase, a Dodge Ambulance. |
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Dave
Boston-Dunn likes Volvo's and had braved the elements with his
immaculate aero screened 1962 PV Jeep which he has owned about 10
years. A very rare beast indeed and the only one in the UK. The bigger
stuff remained on the tarmac and a nice 432 was parked alongside the
Reo's of Nick and Dale. Nicholas and Stephanie Dunford were sat out of
the cold in their lovely 1951 80" Land Rover restored ( but
ongoing Nick says ) finished in Post War gloss with the markings of
the 20th Infantry Workshops ROAC.
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leader Brian, fresh from the USA, managed to make the afternoon in his
jeep despite having just arrived back in the UK in the morning. Nearly
all jeeps are some shade of olive drab but to my surprise we had a
lovely one on show in light mud and sand with Airborne markings. What
a refreshing change. I didn't get to speak to the owner but hope to
get the chance if it is at Elvington. Is the camo scheme a Western
Desert one or the Italian Campaign? |
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For
myself, I had made the journey from the other side of Halifax with
James in my latest acquisition a 1943 Ford GPW. I'm happy to say this
performed very well on the 90 mile round trip on some very bumpy A
roads. Over 50 mvs turned out on the day which is really great and
shows what a good club we have. Had it been warmer and fuel cheaper
perhaps the numbers may have been higher.
Mike Humphreys |
