| The Black Country’s premier
vehicle rally, the Black Country Vehicle Rally took
place on Sunday 30th July at the Black
Country Living Museum, Dudley. As usual, many locally
made vehicles were on display, ranging from bicycles,
motorcycles, and cars, to buses, lorries and vans. The
weather was good and many visitors admired the large
collection of vehicles that were there and enjoyed
seeing some of them in action in the cavalcades. |
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There were also several indoor
exhibits. Ray Jones put on an excellent display about
the land speed record-breaking cars that were made in
the Black Country, featuring three of his marvellous
models. David Evans who runs
the Star Register displayed a collection of photographs
of the inside of the Star works and articles about the
company and Star’s products, and Wolverhampton Archives
and Local Studies provided a display about
Wolverhampton’s vehicle makers. |
| There was also a display by the
Motorcycle Association, and Frank Sharman and myself put
on a display about the late Jim Boulton and allowed
visitors to look at this website.
The event was ably organised by
Trevor Davies, Ray Jones, Brian Rollings and Brian
Watton. They were assisted on the day by Stephen Howard
and Hamish Wood, who work for the museum, and a small
army of enthusiastic volunteers, who made the event
possible. We must thank all of them for their hard work
behind the scenes. |
| There were many interesting
motorcycles on display. Amongst them was Bill Barton’s
immaculate Clyno 2.5h.p. lightweight from 1920, Steve
Mills’ superb A.J.S. K1 from 1928 and several DMWs from
Arthur Stubbs’ collection.
The cars included two Frisky
Sports, an unusual sight these days, and Brian Shaw's
Turner Mk2 sports car. |
 |
| Brian Rollings displayed his Star
Jason 4 door coupe from 1930, the only survivor,
Christopher Habgood brought along his impressive Star
Torpedo Tourer from 1914 and James Thomas was there with
his Clyno Royal from 1928. The commercial vehicles
included two furniture vans; a Guy Otter and a Guy
Vixen, and three Guy Arab buses. |
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The prizes were given in honour
of the late Jim Boulton, who started it all in 1992. He
laid down the ground rules that except in special
circumstances, are still followed today. All the entries
must be made in the Black Country.
The winners were chosen by the
exhibitors, who each had a voting slip and prizes were
awarded for the following categories: |
|
Motorcars: pre 1920, 1920
to 1940, and post 1940. |
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Motorcycles: pre 1930,
1930 to 1945, and post 1945. |
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The best commercial
vehicle of any age. |
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The best bicycle of any
age. |
The prizes each
consisted of an engraved Jim Boulton trophy and a copy
of my Jim Boulton Appreciation. They were presented by
David Evans. It was fitting that one of the visitors was
Jim’s second cousin from London.
A warm and
friendly atmosphere prevailed with many people meeting
old friends and catching up on news etc. Both exhibitors
and visitors alike seemed to thoroughly enjoy their day
at the rally and I’m sure they will look forward to next
year’s event.
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Return to the
rallies section |
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