Out & About
Devon on Earth
Words and pics: James Webber The Crash Box and Classic Car Club’s annual show, titled The Historic Vehicle Gathering, was a new show for me – and one I shall be returning to in the future. It was held in the grounds of the lavish Powderham Castle Estate near Exeter and was blessed with glorious weather. Now, we all know that when the sun shines, it brings out people and their motors. But this was on such a scale it almost matched a national show. Well over 1000 individual cars attended, in addition to around 70 club stands plus a few stragglers in the public car park. Multiple food and drink caterers did roaring business throughout the day and a huge trade area
‘When the sun shines, it brings out people and motors – but this was on such a scale, it matched a national show’ had everything from local companies and produce to auto jumble. Alongside trhe cars were motorbikes, traction engines, lorries, buses and just about anything else with wheels.
Cars were lined up in rows of two, grouped by their years – which gave visitors plenty of space to look around them. Clubs were further down and, depending on their size (I think the smallest had 25 cars on display), they took Above: How’s this for a cool over the back end stage? The Liberty Sisters were very much at home in of the venue. the back of their GMC truck Expert Below, right: Recently built marshalling was Chevy 3100 pick-up turned up sporting a blown 5.7 litre in place courtesy V8 motor of the Exeter Sea cadets, who deserve a hats off for volunteering to do so in the sort of temperatures that really take it out of you. And best of all, tickets only cost £15 – which, with everything rising the way it is, was damn good value for money. With this being the first Historic Vehicle Facebook or pay a visit to historic-vehicleGathering since 2019, the club can be gathering.info to keep tabs on that – you forgiven for taking a deep breath before won’t regret it! CC announcing the date for next year’s. Check it out on
Left: Stock and bagged trucks. See if you can work out which is which, children Above: Cadillac announced a few months ago that it’s going to build a new pick-up based on the Escalade. Will it be as cool as this one? Don’t be silly…
22 CUSTOM CAR DECEMBER 2022
3pp Out and About.indd 22
13/10/2022 15:26
