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02
Aug
Why is the area seeing a growing number of vintage and classic cars shows?
Now is a very good time to be a classic car enthusiast in the Harrogate area. Hardly a week goes by without an event that feeds your passion.
Last month, Grantley Hall Hotel hosted the Yorkshire Elegance concours and Supercar Sunday. On Thursday, Bowcliffe Hall near Wetherby saw the Masters of Motoring show. Tomorrow Patelely Bridge will see an MG and classic car show as our Lifestyle editor, Francesca, has pointed out in her Five Things to Do this Weekend article.
Want something a bit more high end? Also tomorrow, Harewood House will be holding a meeting of the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club North of England meeting.
Hosting classic car events it seems is good business with a widening number of local people getting involved and a growing number of events to enjoy.
The Stray Ferret caught up with Paul Russell Swift at the recent Yorkshire Elegance event.
Russ, as he is known, was a stunt driver for 50 years, and is now enjoying the local car scene. He showed us a list he'd compiled of car events in North Yorkshire this year - it runs to more than 200:
There’s new people coming onto the scene all the time. In classic cars there are getting more and more and more because there are new generations of people who see classic cars that were, when I was a boy, brand new cars...
There are lots of different events for different genres of cars. There’s an event at Newby Hall twice a year called Sports Cars in the Park and that's for supercars and they get 1,500 cars every time.
Russ Swift showing his 1962 AC Cobra at Grantley last month
Russ' list of 2025 events..page 2!
Andy King of Apollo Capital , which finances high-end cars and is based at Hornbeam Park in Harrogate, says covid had something to do with the rise in local events:
Cars events now are literally every weekend, probably since covid.
During covid, when everyone was meeting outside, it was all about cars and coffee. It was about meeting outside, going for drives..since then the car event market has absolutely boomed.
We are a car finance company, we finance cars all over the UK and one of the big things we push is 'don’t leave your car in the garage, get it out, come to an event, enjoy the car'.
Cars can be a way of bringing people into towns and cities to increase footfall. The recent James Street Concours attracted large crowds. The street was shut with dozens of pre-1914 cars lining the road.
Its aim was to bring people into the centre of Harrogate, increase footfall and promote the town. A similar type of event is held in Savile Row in London to promote the bespoke tailors and attract new customers.
A 1898 Mors that took part in the James Street Concours
At the top level, there are new events that aim to engage more car collectors in the North and provide them with reasons not to head south. There are also organisations coming up from the south.
At Bowcliffe Hall this week, the Masters of Motoring concours was held in collaboration with the National Motor Museum based in Hampshire.
Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, president of the National Motor Museum, told the Stray Ferret that the aim is to engage car owners in the north who know little about the museum:
This year we've brought two rather unusual cars but both eye-catchers. One is a 1935 Auburn Speedster, the epitomé of 1930's American opulence.
The other car is a 1961 Allard Chrysler which is the first car built in Britain for drag racing - it gave rise to British drag racing. It's an amazing looking thing.
We are keen to get our collection out of the musuem and around the country - this is a great way of doing it.
We are aware that there are many passionate car collectors in Yorkshire and the north of England and I'm conscious they can't all come south so we can bring part of the museum to them.
Lord Montagu of Beaulieu with the museum's Silver Ghost Rolls Royce
For companies like the Fast Lane Club, which is based in Leeds and held the Yorkshire Elegance concours at Grantley, there's a gap in the market in the north which they are keen to fill. Smith Smith, the MD, told the Stray Ferret:
From a business point of view, the inspiration for Yorkshire Elegance came because all the big fancy events are in the south of England...
We bring in a number of good partners and exhibitors, Boodles for example, Chubb Insurance, they pay to be here. We charge a premium price for tickets but nothing to compared with what you would pay at London concours events.
Is there a market for a great prestige car event in the Norht of England? Yes I think there is. We’re on the way up there and we’ve pulled together a magnificent collection of cars this year. Fingers crossed we can keep moving onwards and upwards.
Taking a vintage or classic car to an event and enjoying the social aspect of the occasion is what it's really all about for many enthusiasts.
If you want to see just how thriving the Yorkshire car scene is, take a road trip out to The Motorist based at Sherburn in Elmet near Leeds one weekend. It is quite extraordinary.
The café, shop and workshop has become to go-to place for pretty much anyone who loves cars and bikes, with more than 800 vehicles turning up every day so their owners can share their passion with like minded people and check out what others have arrived in.
Its success demonstrates how the car hobby in the north shows no signs of slowing down..
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