A new event, celebrating the ‘not quite classics’ of the motoring world, will take place at the Grampian Transport Museum on Sunday 24th May. With thanks to Martyn Smith.
‘How Many Left?’ is open to any mass-produced car from the 1960s onwards, which has less than 500 licensed examples left.
The criteria relate to any given vehicle model – taking, for example, the humble Austin Allegro.
The 1100DL model had around 3,000 examples on the roads as recently as 1994, today however that number has reduced considerably to just 18!
Vehicle owners can check eligibility of their pride and joy online, using the How Many Left website, www.howmanyleft.co.uk.
The website is an independently run database and search engine of vehicle statistics, created by web developer Olly Smith, and provides information on cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles registered with the DVLA.
How Many Left? will feature static displays, allowing owners to display these forgotten gems for the public to see. There will also be a number of track based activities taking place, including parades and demonstrations, auto tests and the ever popular public passenger rides. Prizes will be awarded on the day to the rarest vehicles on show, taking initial production numbers into account.
Museum curator, Mike Ward, is looking forward to the May event.
“Some cars are considered rare because few were produced initially. These may be technically and socially interesting but affect few people’s lives. Others are rare because they were expensive and aimed at a small elite market. These too did not affect many people’s lives. Genuinely rare are those cars that were made for every day use in large numbers but few have been saved or preserved.
“These affected many people’s lives. ‘How Many Left’ will consider the rarity of cars using a special formula that compares the production run with how many there are left and we will award prizes accordingly. This way we can recognised the role fondly (or not so fondly!) remembered popular classics had in peoples lives. It promises to be a really interesting exercise!”
Entry forms for How Many Left? can now be downloaded from the museums website – www.gtm.org.uk. There is no entry charge for vehicles, public admission on the day is £5 for adults with children under 16 and gtm+ members admitted free of charge.