Pretoria - The most amazing sights and sounds will be shattering the pre-dawn calm at the Zwartkops Raceway on Sunday.
It will be the 38th running of the Pretoria Old Motor Club’s annual Cars in the Park extravaganza, a motoring tour-de-force that has seen this event become the biggest car show of any type in Africa. For this year’s event close to 10 000 spectators are expected.
The gates open to admit the classics from 6am, and POMC organiser Frik Kraamwinkel is hoping to have most of the 2 500 classics parked around the race track by 8am.
As for what defines a “classic” The POMC crew are instructed to admit any cars older than 1985 models, while special concessions will be made for newer exotics like Ferraris.
The driver of a classic car will be admitted free of charge, along with one passenger. Any additional adult passengers loaded in an old Zephyr or Pontiac or what-have-you, will pay the full admission price of R100, while children under 12 will be admitted free of charge.
The cubs displaying the members’ cars range from the genteel, like the Mercedes-Benz, Lancia and Alfa Romeo clubs, to the imposing, such as the Buick and Cadillac club, to the rough and ready, like the stock-car-racing banger display from the nearby Mahem raceway. Garishly-painted hot rods mingle with cars in muted pastel colours from the dawn of motoring, and it is expected that in the Special Invites section in the pits will include some of the earliest Fords seen in South Africa from 1903 onwards.
There will be well over 100 stalls selling motor-related paraphernalia, food and drinks, and there will be special entertainment for children as well as adults.
The gates to the public open at 8am, and the show will run through until 4pm.
For more information visit the Pretoria Old Motor Club website on www.pomccitp.co.za.