On a very pleasant Aberdeenshire May Sunday a good crowd gathered to enjoy some very interesting rarities on show at Grampian Transport Museum’s How Many Left?, an annual event for vehicles which were once a common sight on our roads but are increasingly rare,
With the only criteria being over 25 years old or fewer than 500 on the DVLA database, this year’s fascinating display of around 150 vehicles included what is believed to be the sole surviving Opel Commodore B GSE Coupe in the UK, the only Alfa Romeo Arna and the unique original Austin 1800 Vanden Plas prototype.
Enthusiast Lewis Buchan’s impressive collection of Reliant 3 wheelers was out in force, whilst other eye-catching cars included a VW Bora, a 1967 Mini Cooper S, a 1960 Auto Union/DKW 1000, a very unusual 1978 Ranger Cub (a three wheeled vehicle with BMC Mini running gear) and an equally rare 1924 Cluley.
How Many Left? this year also celebrated two significant anniversaries - 50 years of the VW Golf and 40 years of the Toyota MR2, with a good selection of both marques on show.
Interesting reminders of days when ‘hot’ cars had their rear axles driven included the Holbay tuned Sunbeam Rapier H120 and Vauxhall Viva HB Brabham with an immaculate MG Magnette reminding the crowds of the ‘hotter’ version of the BMC Farina range, the one to which drivers of the Austin A60 aspired in its day! With over a million Farinas built good ones like this are increasingly scarce.
Entertainment this year was provided the ‘Specsavers Pointless Driving Skills Challenge’, a fun event with the aim of scoring as few points as possible. This was a real crowd pleaser and saw a diverse range of three, four and six wheeled participants testing their driving skills and knowledge of the highway code.
After a tie break, decided by the tricky ‘safely passing a cyclist’ test, the Bond Bug and Lewis Buchan prevailed whilst the ‘booby prize’ for the highest number of points collected went to local radio presenter Jeff Diack guesting in one of Lewis’ Reliant Super Van for the occasion. The crowd knew where he should have gone to!
Awards for the day included ‘The Longest Owned’ to Ted Cottrell who bought his 1986 Renault 5GT Turbo new, whilst Ross Hutchison from North Berwick was ‘The Furthest Travelled’ in his Rover Maestro 1.3 Clubman.
