ORCHARD COUNTY VINTAGE VEHICLE RALLY - 5TH MAY 2012

Billy Martin’s Farm, on the Portadown Road, between Portadown and Armagh was the venue for this charity event, with the monies raised being donated to Marie Curie Cancer Care, Diabetes and Chest, Heart & Stroke.

Although this show has been running for 22 years this was the first time that we have attended it.  My husband, son and I meet up with a friend at the BP station on the Glenavy Road at 9.30am before travelling to the venue.  When we arrived at just after 10.00am we were the 5th  and  6th  cars into the field.

As the morning wore on cars and tractors filtered into the field and despite the overcast morning and the chilly breeze (given that it’s May) there was a good turnout.  With 150 plus vehicles on display including lorries, bikes, cars and tractors. 

FORDSON

 

ALLIS-CHALMERS

A SMALL SELECTION OF THE TRACTORS THAT WERE ON DISPLAY

As expected at a country show, there was a large display of tractors including Massey Ferguson's, Fords, a Fordson and an Allis-Chalmers.  Cars on display included a selection of Minis, Reliant Robins, Fords, Austin Maxi’s, Triumphs, Austin Healy’s, Humber's, Morris’s and a DeLorean.    

 A SELECTION OF LORRIES THAT WERE ON DISPLAY

Apart from our SD1 and our friends Rover 100 there was only two other Rovers on display, a Rover 213 and a Rover 216.

A couple of cars stood out at this show, a Panter Rio Especial and a Mark 2 Ford Escort.


The Escort was immaculate with a very clean engine, the owner said that it had been restored but that the engine had not been touched as he wanted to see how many miles it would do without needing rebuilt, currently it has 145,000 miles on the clock.

The Panter Rio Especial is a very rare car.  The Rio was designed and built after the 1973 energy crisis.  The Rio was based on the Triumph Dolimite and the Rio Especial was based on the Dolomite Sprint.   Launched in  1975, these cars didn't sell very well due to their high price compared to other cars on the market at the time, I believe that only 38 were sold .

Away from the vehicle display area there was a blacksmith demonstration, bouncy castle, car boot sale, bric-a-brac stalls, horse and carriage rides and an auction.

We got talking to a lovely couple from England, who really enthused over the SD1.   They own a SD1 3500 Vandem Plas, in showroom condition, which he bought new in 1985 for just under £16,000.  It has only 13,000 miles on the clock and has never been out in the rain and has been in dry storage for quite a few years.

The £4 entry fee was a nominal, given that you got a lunch, consisting of a large salad, with a meat of your choice and unlimited wheaten bread and a mug of tea or coffee and a finisher’s award (a china plate).

This was a lovely show, in the County Armagh countryside, with a really friendly atmosphere.  It would be nice to see more member of the Classic Rover Club (NI) attend next year.