The event attracted record numbers of classic and performance cars and other vehicles to the seaside town. Around 450 visiting vehicles turned up from an Aston Martin DB 6 to a double decker from Birmingham. After a week of some rather wet weather a dull start developed into sunshine at the seaside rally site. The free heritage bus service operated with its most intensive timetable with a bus every ten minutes.
Mike Taylor after the show said
“We had a busy event and we had a lots of people travelling on our heritage buses. In the past we ran a 15-minute service, but this year our free heritage service operating every 10 minutes between the rally site and our restoration centre at The Bus Depot on Broad Street. Right from the start the buses were operating with good loads and we added in some extras. This was on top of the Park and Ride link, an open top bus service and some trips out to into the Vale of Glamorgan with preserved coaches. The classic car side was phenomenally well attended with many more car clubs attending than in past years.
We had a lot of first time visitors and amazingly eight people from Hong Kong, two a husband and wife travelling independently, who visited Wales today especially for our event. We are a charity and the funds raised will go to restoring our collection of old Welsh buses and we can always welcome new members able to work on restoration projects. I want to thank all our members who volunteered on the day, the Vale of Glamorgan Council and all the exhibitors making the day possible”.
Heritage buses operating included four former Cardiff buses including 434 an open top 1964 Guy Arab V; 360 a 1979 open top Bristol VR; single decker 267 a 1991 Leyland Lynx II, and 143 a 1996
Optare Metrorider. Others included: Newport Corporation 68 a 1966 Leyland Atlantean; Caerphilly Urban District Council 36 a 1966 Leyland Titan PD2, Bedwas & Machen Urban District Council 6 a 1968 Leyland Titan PD3, Pontypridd Urban District Council 8 a 1969 AEC Regent V, and National Welsh HR8215 a 1982 Leyland Olympian. On the Park & Ride service Rhondda Buses 91 a 1996 Mercedes 711D operated almost continuously all day, whilst a 1976 AEC Reliance and a 1990 Duple 425 coach were used on the Vale of Glamorgan Rhoose circular tour. Visiting buses that operated included the 1979 Bristol RE from New Zealand and a 1981 United Counties 952 a Bristol VR which had visited Barry from Bleanau Ffestiniog.
Visiting buses and coaches included modern vehicles from Cardiff Bus, Stagecoach in South Wales Edwards Coaches and Henleys of Abertillery, whilst on the heritage side buses came from Newport Swansea Bus Museum, Cheltenham, Birmingham, Bristol and the South West.
Amongst the many cars that came it is hard to pick stars as each had their admirers, some stood out like the 1956 white Jaguar SS saloon and a two-tone green and black 1936 Wolseley 10-40. That’s not to discount the humble black 1936 Morris 8; the red and white 1956 Standard 8, the German turquoise and white microcar a 1958 Zundapp Janus or the newly restored chocolate and cream 1964 small Volkswagen crew bus.
Amongst the displays a 1990’s London Taxi could be seen. This is owned by a group memeber and did great work helping to shuttle drivers between sites. Two cold war Bedford Green Goddess emergency tenders we also present along with a number of lorries. Car clubs attending included the South Wales Classic & Performance; the Glamorgan; the Ryland, Range Rover Cymru; South Wales XR Owners, the Welsh Mini Group; Vale Ford and the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club.
The preservation groups’ next big heritage bus and classic car event will be in Merthyr Tydfil on Sunday September 10th.
