All roads will be leading to the Eastern Cape town of George for the George Old Car Show taking place at the Eden Technical High School from February 10 and the two-day event has so far drawn entries from as far afield as Thabazimbi in Limpopo Province, Upington in the Northern Cape, Gauteng, the Free State, and even two entries from Windhoek in Namibia!
The line-up of cars will showcase a sweep of time in South African motoring history that dates back more than 100 years, to modern cars that have already achieved ;instant classic’ status and, from Alfa Romeos to Zephyrs, they will all be there.
Traditionally there are no shortages of German-built machinery at the George Old Car Show and once again there have been strong entries featuring Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, DKW and Borgward machinery.
Support from Car Clubs has also been impressive. There are notable entries from the likes of the MG Car Club, the Kombi Owners Club in the Western Cape, the Rover Motorcycle Club in Hogsback in the Eastern Cape, as well as the Mercedes-Benz Club of South Africa and a massive entry from the Concept Crew Car Club from the Despatch area in the Eastern Cape. A contingent of 10 cars from the Morris Minor Owners Club will be travelling to the show from the Cape Town area.
“The drive-by component of the George Old Car Show is an on-going highlight of the event and makes our show stand out as something completely different,” says Waldo Scribante, Chairman of the Southern Cape Old Car Club. “It enables show goers to find a comfortable seat and experience all the cars as they drive by in groups on the main show field.”
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An interesting entry this year is from Wessie van der Westhuizen from Thabazimbi in the Limpopo Province. In 2019 he saw a genuine 1904 De Dion-Bouton at the George Old Car Show, owned by Tom van der Vyver. Working only from photographs, Wessie has since created a replica of the De Dion, and he will be showing this car in George this year.
At the other end of the motorised spectrum, interesting entries from the Eastern Cape recall an era that was pivotal to many of today’s older petrol-heads. Growing up in the 1960s and ‘70s, many enthusiasts enjoyed their first motorised experiences aboard 50 cc motorcycles, or buzz-bikes, as they were called then. Driver’s licenses for 50 cc bikes were available to 16-year olds, and high school parking grounds were awash with these rip-roaring machines.
This year in George, a number of 50 cc machines will be shown representing the crème-de-la-crème of the buzz bike brigade. From Gqeberha comes a collection of Zundapp and Kreidler 50 cc bikes that were the toast of the town in the early 1970s. And in the early 1960s, the hot tickets were the Italian bikes from Garelli and Maserati (a sister company to the famous sports car maker). These mini-Italian stallions will be travelling to George from Port Alfred.
Mercedes-Benz will have a massive representation at George Old Car Show 2024, headlined by no less than eight original 300SL machines, the all-time classics sports cars built between 1954 and 1963. The Mercedes-Benz Car Club stand will have iconic examples of these famous German machines harking back to 1913, whilst including examples of modern Mercs, such as the SLS Gullwing and AMG GT supercars.
BMW, too, will be well represented, by some unusual examples of the Bavarian marque, including a Bauer Cabriolet version of the 323 model from the 1980s, a highly desirable 325iS ‘Shadowline’ from the 1990s and more modern examples of M3 and M5 performance sedans.
American makes from the likes of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler will also be represented through many eras, including those of the Fabulous Fins decade from the 1950s.
Tickets are now available through iTickets. Log on to the iTickets website using this link: https://itickets.co.za/events/475607
Colin Windell
proudly CHANGECARS
