Classic motor show celebrates its 21st event this weekend
EXCITEMENT and anticipation is building among fans of classic vehicles of all kinds as the isles’ 21st Shetland Classic Motor Show prepares to open its doors on Saturday morning.
There will be plenty to see at the massive community event at the Clickimin, with more than 220 classic cars on show and all available spaces taken.
One of the highlights of the show will be the ultra-rare Jaguar F-Type Project 7 sports car, of which just 250 have been built. It is described as a ‘homage’ to the legendary Jaguar D-Type.
In a bid to appeal to a wider audience, the show this year has a themed section in the Clickimin’s main hall featuring around 20 cars of German manufacture which, inevitably, includes a number of the Volkswagen – or people’s car -from Wolfsburg.
Motor show chair Colin Nicolson said: “Very often, it is the ‘go faster’ models that attract the most attention and therefore survive into maturity as a cherished collector’s item. In the case of Volkswagen, the legendary Golf GTi is a good example.
“However, at the other end of the scale, and two years older than its enthusiastic owner, it is great to see a Lupo E in this group, one of three entered at the event.”
Historically, the show often debuts local restoration projects, and this year is no exception.
In the motorcycle section, displayed in the bowls hall, is a 1957 BSA Gold Star scrambler, built by the factory as a special order, and regularly raced, back in the day, around the Aberdeenshire circuits, including Mosswood Park, against the likes of the Shirlaw brothers – a surname synonymous with motorcycles throughout the North East of Scotland.
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Brought to Shetland by Peter Leask as a box of very well used parts, it has been restored to showroom condition and rebuilt to Catalina spec – a style once revered by the US market for desert racing, a pastime made popular by the likes of actor and successful racer on two and four wheels, Steve McQueen.
Keeping the BSA company will be a selection of more than 140 motorcycles, ranging from a 1921 Rover TT Sports to a 2015 Victory Judge.
As a special theme this year, there is a display of Italian motorcycles, including two delightful Moto Guzzi machines, with their owners making the pilgrimage to Shetland all the more special by getting married in the Lerwick Town Hall earlier in the week.
Nicolson added: “Often erroneously referred to locally as ‘The Classic Car Show’, there is so much more to see at the Shetland Classic Motor Show, than simply auld cars.
“As well as the usual firm favourites of agricultural machinery, bicycles, models, commercial vehicles, stationary engines, motoring memorabilia and 4x4s, as well as the motorcycles and cars, this year features two firsts, namely a Towmotor fork lift, registered new in Whalsay in 1971, and a Chrysler speed boat, supplied by the then local Chrysler dealer, J. Burgess Garage.”
The Shetland Classic Motor Show is being held at the Clickimin this Saturday and Sunday, with doors opening from 10am.
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