Ford the people’s choice at Cars in the Park
The brand name Volkswagen may mean “people’s car”, but it was Ford that seemed to have the upper hand in terms of the number of cars on display at the 2015 edition of Cars in the Park at the Zwartkops Raceway near Pretoria recently.
There were Fords everywhere, ranging from pristine vintage models to comparatively standard Prefects, Escorts, Cortinas and Capris to a wide range of customised and modified versions, including Mustangs and other V8 models. Among the most impressive were the late model Cortinas that came up from KwaZulu-Natal. I have mentioned in reports on previous Cars in the Park events that there does not seem to be a passion for the brand among Toyota owners.
This brand has by far the largest car park in South Africa and is currently the leading vehicle manufacturer in the world, but Toyota’s were again hard to find among the thousands of cars on display around the race track this year. There were, as usual, scores of Datsun/Nissan products as well as a myriad Volkswagen models – mainly Beetles – while the Mini brigade turned out in force. But the big surprise was the huge armada of Unimog’s assembled on the run-off area outside Mercedes-Benz’s new AMG Driving Academy. They were big and small, old and new; there was even a chassis with running gear on display. Most of them are obviously used for expeditions into darkest Africa and beyond. It was most impressive!
A particularly interesting area to have wandered through is the open pits where there were all kinds of memorabilia and other items on display and often for sale. This is where you will find old books and magazines you have been searching for – I know my friend Stuart Johnston found some motor magazines he needed for his vast collection.
There was also a mixed bag of vehicles on show that would set out on the 2015 Thunder Tour in the afternoon of Cars in the Park and they made interesting viewing, although with some there were doubts they would complete the week long tour! The 2015 event marked the 36th staging of Cars in the Park by the Pretoria Old Motor Club which celebrates its half century next year. It started as a low key show at the Pioneer Park in Silverton and six years ago moved to Zwartkops Raceway as it had outgrown its original home.
This year there were once again thousands of cars on display, but it seemed there were fewer spectators than in recent years. This was a pity, as the weather was fine – warm with no wind – and the organisation of entry, egress and parking was better than ever before. However, when I left the show in my Millennium 7 at 11:00 there was still a steady flow of cars coming to the show. After all this is the biggest show of its type in SA and deserves healthy public and trade support.
