Cars in the Park on August 4, 2019: The Annual Barn-Find Fest

By Stuart Johnston

 

It takes all sorts of classic cars to fill up the Zwartkops Raceway for Cars in the Park, held this year on Sunday, August 4. In this article we sing the praises of the rattier, unrestored variety of cars from yesteryear.

One of the most pleasurable aspects of the annual Cars in the Park festival, which takes place this year on Sunday August 4 at the Zwartkops Raceway, west of Pretoria, is the huge variety of rather ratty old cars that rock up. They look as if they haven’t seen the light of day since the previous Cars in the Park, held a year ago at the same venue.

These are the cars that lie mouldering in some old lock-up, maybe in Pretoria West or Capital Park or in nearby Erasmia, which haven’t been restored, or preserved for their increasing collectors’ value. They’re the obscure old Opel Kapitaans and Zephyrs and DKWs and Holdens that were passed on by uncles and aunties and grandfathers, used for decades as normal daily drivers, until the owners were shipped off to a retirement village or ultimately laid to rest.

Like the family dog, curled up next to the fireplace

And so young Jannie inherited the car, and because it didn’t fit the racy image he was after when he was out chasing girls, he let it lie for a while, like you’d let an old family dog curl up next to the fireplace. Loved, yes, but more as part of the furniture than prized as an heirloom.

In the case of these shabby old cars, bearing all the scars and rust bubbles of years of active service, they have probably seen out most of their retirement in a mouldy old garage or under a carport or a tarpaulin.

Free entry for the driver and one passenger of every classic

Thing is, the Pretoria Old  Motor Club, organisers of this year’s 39^th Cars in the Park, encourages these old-timers to their event by giving free entry for driver and one passenger to any recognised classic. This essentially means any car that is older than about 30 years, but in the case of the cars I’m talking about, these old machines are generally 50, 60 or even 70  years-old , and have been passed on through three or four generations in the family.

And so the old batteries are charged, and the cracked old balloon tyres pumped up once again

What I dig about these old un-restored family favourites is that, because they haven’t been restored or particularly well-cared for, they carry with them the untold stories of hundreds of thousands of kilometres, through their tatty upholstery, yellowed and cracked windscreens,  and odd period accessories that were fitted long before the mullet hair style even came into fashion!

Admission is R100 for spectators, kids under-12 free

The POMC doesn’t mind giving these part-time barn finds a piece of the Cars in the Park action, because usually the owners cram about six of their family members into each old Buick or Ford Fairlane.  And so the club ends up getting admission prices for at least four passengers (admission is R100 per adult, with kids under 12 free).

Of course, you get the bona fide barn finds too, the ones that arrive on the back of trailers shedding rust shards in the early morning as they queue up from just after 6 am on the first Sunday in August. These are the ones that the genuine classic collectors are interested in. They will join the lines of steaming muscle cars and bright sports cars, like the dozens of Cobras and Lotus Seven replicas that also pitch each year, their drivers wrapped up like polar bears for the open-topped pre-dawn drive to Zwartkops. For a selection of used Lotus sports cars on AutoTrader, click here.

If it’s perfectly-preserved classics you are after, you will be pleased to know that over 100 specialist clubs stake their patch at Cars in the Park each year. There are also dozens of vendors selling food, drink, clothing, old spare parts and just about anything else you can think of.

Scribante’s classic racers

Inside the pits you get the organisers’ Special Invites for the event, and this year there will be special displays by the likes of Franco Scribante Racing, which is showing off classic racers such as the Chevron B19 that competed in the Springbok Series in the early 1970s. The Scribante stable also boasts the fastest saloon car at this year’s Knysna Hillclimb, a Nissan GTR with a giant front spoiler that looks more like it should be used as a snow plough. This car develops in excess of 1 000 kW, and hopefully they’ll start it up for spectators at some stage during August 4.

But just in case you think this is a racing event, it should be noted that driving around the track is not permitted during the show.

Of course the other great part about Cars in the Park is bumping into old friends, who can discuss with you whether the Rostyle wheels on a Capri V8 should be widened by one inch or two inches. These are the guys who can still recall the 0-60 mph (roughly 100 km/h) time recorded by a Ford Cortina GT back in 1964 (it was 12,9 seconds, by the way, and yes, I happen to be one of those old anoraks who remember this type of thing!).

The misty-eyed Model T disciples

And then there are the even older guys who get misty-eyed about the Ford Model T, many of which will pitch at Cars in the Park, these old Tin Lizzies (the cars, not the enthusiasts) being over 100 years old by now!

The oldest car this year may well be a 1903 Peugeot, owned by Johannesburg collector Allie van Jaarsveld. She is one feisty lady, and is known to drive this old car to events herself, despite the extremely specialist knowledge it takes to pilot a car that is 115 years old! And apart from that Peugeot being so old, it is one of only four surviving examples in the world. For a selection of much younger pre-owned Peugeots listed for sale on Autotrader, click here.

The biggest car show in Africa

This is the biggest car show in Africa, and it started out as a gathering of about 15 members of the Pretoria Old Motor Club 39 years ago. Regularly the event attracts over 10 000 spectators, 3 000 classic and vintage  cars and more than a few historic motorcycles.

Gates open for old car exhibits at 6 am on Sunday August 4, and for paying spectators at 8 am. There will be acres of parking space just outside the venue for spectators’ modern road cars. Our advice is to make sure you get there early, and you should plan to stay for the whole day. No fires are permitted inside the venue, but gas braais are allowed, as are cooler boxes, so why not make a day of it?