Sunday 11th July was an important day for vintage vehicle enthusiasts, being the day of the 2004 Black Country Vehicle Rally at the Black Country Living Museum, Dudley. Even though the weather forecast was gloomy, the rain held off and lots of people came along and enjoyed a marvellous day.


Some of the cars that were present.

 There were 104 entries in the rally plus a few late arrivals. Wolverhampton's vehicle manufacturers were well represented. A good selection of Guy vehicles were brought along including lorries, vans, buses and coaches. One of the highlights was Mat Davies' ex-City of Chester Guy Arab V bus. It is in showroom condition, as is the Guy Otter furniture van that is owned by Brian Carlos.
Amongst the cars were Stars, Clynos, Sunbeams, a Little Briton and a Frisky Sport. Brian Rollings was there with his Star Jason, the only 4 door version still in existence. James Thomas was also there with his lovely Clyno Royal Tourer from 1928, which looked very impressive in the cavalcade. Roy Surman who runs the Clyno Register was also there with his Clyno Tourer.

Amongst the motorcycles were Sunbeams, Clynos, D.M.W.s and A.J.S. machines, and George Broadly's splendid HRD Super 90 from 1926. Arthur Stubbs was there with two D.M.W.s from his collection and Steve Mills came along with his immaculate A.J.S. K1 from 1928.


The replica steam carriage.

 Although not entered in the rally, an interesting visitor to the museum was the replica of Richard Trevithick's steam carriage.

It was an appropriate weekend for it to be there, especially as the original, built in 1803 was the world's first self-propelled passenger carrying vehicle.
As usual we put on a display about local vehicle manufacturers and their products and we also brought along a computer running this website. We are pleased to say that a lot of people came in to have a look at the display and the computer.

Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies also put on a display, courtesy of Leslie, their Outreach Officer, and David Evans put on a display about the Star Engineering Company’s factories.


Our display.


David Evans' display.

 There were cavalcades for motorcycles and cars and many visitors inspected the vehicles. The Rally was well organised by Trevor Davies, Ray Jones and Brian Rollings.

It was well attended and everyone who came along seemed to have enjoyed themselves. 

Next year's rally will be held at the same venue on Sunday 31st July, 2005.
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