Visitors to Victoria Park in Southport - better known for the town's annual flower show - might have been offered a physically smaller venue than the Rally's traditional home at RAF Woodvale, but fans of classic cars and bikes were still treated to an eclectic variety of vehicles from decades gone by.
Scarisbrick couple John and Jean Fagan, whose lovingly-restored Morris Minor was featured on Life On Cars last month, won second prize in the show's concours competition.
John told Life On Cars: "It's the first time we've been to the Rally, but it's an absolute delight seeing all the old cars here - they're all absolutely beautiful.
"It really is a nice place to be and a great show to go, so I'm sure we'll be making a point of visiting each year from now on."
Alongside the scores of classic cars and bikes which made the trip to Southport for the show, visitors could also check out a World War Two Spitfire with regional connections, trade stalls, dance and music displays and specialist shops at the Victoria Park venue.
Life On Cars, as ever, has paid a visit to the Woodvale Rally and took these pictures at the event:
The event continues tomorrow (Sunday, July 29), so there's still time to catch up on the attractions. For more on the Woodvale Rally see next week's edition of The Champion, published Wednesday, August 1.
Happy birthday Life On Cars! Eagle-eyed readers might have spotted that it's exactly three years since this blog went live (even if it was a couple of weeks later before the column got printed in The Champion). The anniversary hasn't gone unnoticed, but seeing as the blog is also verging on publishing its 500th article I'm working on something a bit special for article number 500. Watch this space in a couple of days...
What a disappointment the Woodvale Rally was for us this year!!! After thoroughly enjoying previous years shows on the airfield and even usually taking advantage of staying over and using the tickets for the whole two days in order to see everything, this year we felt like we'd seen all we wanted to see in a couple of hours. Where were the planes? where were the show kites? Where were all the display cars? etc etc etc. The ticket prices were the same for much less than half the usual show, AND, to rub salt into the wound, we had to pay a £5 car parking fee [which is usually free]. I'm afraid we'll not be bothering travelling to see the show again next year.
ReplyDeleteWe also went to Woodvale rally this year and will not be going again. We also only stayed two hours and had our dinner in tha time. We had made a 140mile round trip to the venue and were very disappointed like you we expected to see the planes. We did complain to the event manager but every time we said it doesnt say on the web site the planes arent flying his reply was that it doesnt say they are. He also said we should have known from the size of the venue that the planes wouldnt be flying, but as we are not local how are we supposed to know that. We will not be wasting our money next year.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments about this year's Woodvale Rally. From the feedback both on Life On Cars and at The Champion, the Victoria Park event has definitely had a mixed reaction from visitors - some loved it, others, like yourself, didn't find it as impressive as previous years.
ReplyDeleteThe organisers have, however, told me since the event that they are 'confident' this year's Woodvale Rally will return to RAF Woodvale for the 2013 event, although probably the best bet is to check with the official website at www.woodvalerally.com for any official announcements about next year's show. If I hear anything, however, I'll post it on Life On Cars as soon as I can.
For more info see my Champion article on this year's Woodvale Rally at http://www.champnews.com/newsstory.aspx?story=3029089. Hope that helps!