TEAM ADVENTURE
Craig and James said we would be in the car park. But would anyone turn up?
We’ve enjoyed plenty of epic jaunts in our classics here at PC. From our famous ‘Grand Day Out’ features of the Nineties and Noughties, to classic European adventures, our annual ‘Beaulieu or Bust’ bash to the south coast or our legendary ‘Winter Warmers’ features that take us to extreme places in inappropriate weather. All great fun and, to our minds, all part of the point of having a classic car in the first place.
But there’s one thing that makes these trips really worth it, and that is the people and the cars we meet along the way. You lot, in other words. Our recent trip to the Highlands was a case in point. We had completed and photographed a new classic driving route (The PC 200 – see PC, March 2024 issue) and wanted to link up with local car idiots like ourselves.
James Walshe and Craig Cheetham put a call out on the magazine’s social media channels, and through the local grapevine. We also called the Highland Classic Motor Club. Then we crossed our fingers – as you can see, things didn’t go too badly.
A cold mid-November dawn broke over Beauly and four classic car journalists stood in an empty car park waiting with their cars. We had planned to gather a few like-minded friends together for a run. But would anyone come for the drive out to Cannick Loch Ness? We were aiming to finish at Dolgarroch Lock… the Mieles at An Talla Café, to be precise, where we’d been informed there might be cake. The bait was set. Surely they would come if there was cake?
For a while no one turned up, it was a Wednesday in November after all. I can’t lie, we were beginning to feel a bit foolish. Then suddenly, engines could be heard.
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Not the quiet whisperings of the modern lump, or an electric whine, oh no, these engines were of the proper sort. A distant snarling, a gentle puttering and the odd missed beat. The unseen cacophony grew in volume until suddenly a convoy of classics entered the car park.
Over the next half an hour we were treated to a vast confection of old tin, from a Riley RM to a 400k-mile Alfa Romeo 156. Colin McRae’s old rallying Cosworth joined us (see Car of the Month, p44) and a bevy of MGs, Triumphs and Fords filled the parking place with noise and colour. We had asked, they had come. It was emotional.
We got stuck into the international language of car. Most attendees were members of the club. Hardly surprising given its long and active history, it has been going for 44 years and is still a fun place to be. ‘The birth of the club was modest,’ original member, Ranald W. Smith, told PC. ‘A notice placed in the local press in late 1979 gathered six local enthusiasts together at the Shandwick Inn between
