York 2006

Story, pics: T Walker

Sunny weather, and a large crowd, marked the 2006 York Festival of Motoring, held on Sunday 17 July 2006 in this handsome heritage town some 100 km east of Perth.

The park by the Avon was well crowded, but the Club successfully squeezed into an odd-shaped area close to the river. Under the shade of towering gums (and very wary of the Twenty-Eight ring-necks in the branches directly overhead), Club members settled down for a pleasant day of picnicking and admiring the dazzling array of enthusiast cars on show, from a quaint 20s Citroen to a Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible, with numerous Cadillacs, Ford Falcon GTs, Valiants and others that we don't see at Gingin's British Car Day.

The day was not complete without icecream for dessert in any one of the shops in the main street, which in turn was choked by the youthful pedal car racers running in all directions including into each other, and crowds of spectators. Cars from the extensive Briggs collection paraded around the streets, and the vast vintage tourist bus did landoffice business.

Some welcome faces from the past re-appeared. Mike and Brenda Dixon, members some years ago, have now retired from their wedding car business and finally have weekends free enough to return to Club runs - in this case in their immaculate Silver Spirit, leaving the Bentley Mk 6 and Phantom V at home alongside the 1934 Dennis fire engine.

TOP: Time for a reflective sip of presidential red, and then lunch. BOTTOM LEFT: Tranquil picnic setting by the Avon. BOTTOM RIGHT: The boot-blind in the back of the presidential Mk 6 revealed. Sort of like a leather rollerdoor.
LEFT: A fine automotive burglar alarm, with fur and teeth. (No no, I mean the dog!). RIGHT: "I should have read the sign behind me before I went for that swim..."
LEFT: In the foreground, Cleopatra; in the background, the Dixon Spirit. RIGHT: Mike and Brenda Dixon make a welcome return to the Club, arriving in a 1989 Silver Spirit.