
2024 Old Town Motorama 5/18
Old Town Motorama
Clovis,CA
May, 18, 2024
By: Jon Brothers
An absolutely gorgeous Saturday morning in Old Town Clovis was enjoyed by huge crowds of car enthusiasts from nearly every aspect of the motor vehicle spectrum. This third day, of four, of the Old Town Motorama, saw
its gates open at 5:30am to an estimated 400-500 Hotrods, Ratrods, vintage HardTop (Super Modified) race cars, Motorcycles and Classic automobiles.
These machines proudly adorned the streets of Old Town, while bands entertained on the street corners. These car enthusiasts and their families were treated to an absolutely awesome display of mostly American muscle, with a few brilliant examples of European automotive design spread amongst the field. Several great food vendors were on hand, serving up all the local Clovis favorites, along with automotive related merchants who were there to meet most anyone’s needs.
Our VBAC members (Dan, Daniel, Jay, Steve and Jon) displayed five cars at the event. They included a Jaguar E-Type, Jaguar 420 Saloon, MG-A and two Austin Mini Cooper S Saloons.
As many folks have come to know, VBAC annually takes to the streets of Old Town the last weekend in March, to host our annual Clovis Auto Roundup car show. While our show may only draw upwards of eighty British automobiles, we truly understand and appreciate all the hard work that goes in to developing a successful event. A huge word of thanks goes out to B.O.O.T. and the Hotrod Coalition, for putting together a very enjoyable, well organized and extremely well attended event. We lookforward to returning in the future, with an even larger contingent of British cars, to enjoy another great day in Old Town Clovis.
NIGEL’S ADDENDUM TO JON’S REPORT
Jon had wanted the British car contingent to arrive and park together. Arrival timings got messed up but by happenstance five British autos arrived at the point of entry almost simultaneously.
Check in was swift and sure. Things changed about fifty feet inside the perimeter of the street barricades. Chaos, absolute chaos. The parking slots were nearly filled and this was at least an hour before the “grand opening of the show! There were crowds of people milling about. The two Minis at the head of our little convoy were immediately lost in the crowd. We didn’t see the Minis turn right at the “T” in the street. When given a choice of direction at a “T”; jackrabbits and Jaguars just naturally turn left.
Wending our way to the end of the show perimeter and not finding a single open slot, we were ejected from the show area and told to circle around and re-enter the show from the south. Heading north into the maelstrom, not seeing any open slots, we turned left at the first opportunity and found the last three slots available. Not only were we able to park together; there was shade available!
So, here we are two Jags and an MGA, nestled in a mass of horsepower, metallic paint and chrome. Oh, the chrome! Nigel has never seen so much chrome in one place in his life! On a lot of these cars, if it wasn’t painted it was chromed.
Nigel’s other observation was that there were enough small & big block Chevy motors in attendance to keep a General Motors truck production line in engines for at least half a day. The question arises: How many ways can you take an old car, stuff a large V8 under the hood, lovingly apply several coats of metallic paint, upholster and accessorize to your own taste? The answer is: Judging from the attendance numbers, at least five hundred.
So where did we fit in? People would arrive at our three autos, all with less than eight cylinders under the hood and sparse chrome. Nigel thinks for a lot of attendants; we were a breath of fresh air. They would arrive with eyes glazed over and say: “Now here’s something different”. They were really interested. A lot of questions were asked and answered.
A day well spent and enjoyed.
Nigel