On May 9th the South Wales section of the
Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club held their first Motorcycle Show. This was not
just a classic show but included modern machines as well. It was well
represented by the dealers and we had most of the models on show, including
Victorys and Royal Enfields. There were about 300 individual, shop and club
entrants, all to a high standard. The bikes ranged from 1904 to 2010 and
included scooters and race machines. Even Wallace and Grommet put in an
appearance.
There were some nice displays, Moto Guzzis from the 90s,
Suzuki GTs (the full range) and the Race Bike section with a lovely original
Marawaki Kawasaki. For a lot of people the star of the show was the very rare
(try googling for info) Cosworth Quantrel, not shown to the public for about 15
yrs.
Outside there were auto jumblers and a few clothes dealers
who had come from as far away as London.
The local police, fire service and training schools were
also on display. For the children amongst us we had the ‘Bird Man’ and his birds
of prey.
There was an ice cream van, the local café had opened
especially for breakfast and the school was supplying tea, coffee and hot food.
Free refreshments were supplied to the entrants, all home baked by the wives and
girlfriends of the organisers.
10:00 and the public arrived. Some straight to the bikes,
others to the food.
The show was split between two halls, the main one with the
bikes and the second one with the catering, stalls and Goldwings.
Outside the main hall there were 3 police bikes guarding
the entrance, 1 RAF (BMW) and 2 CHiPs (Kawasaki Z1000P)
After speaking to some of the punters it appears that the
show appeared to be a success. Comments ranged from ‘good’ to ‘better than
Stafford’. Some recommended that it was turned into a two day event.
The number of attendees was completely unexpected, it was
hoped that a thousand would turn up but the final figure was nearer two
thousand. Two problems raised their heads, one was only having one pay point and
the other was the lack of parking.
There were nine prizes awarded and the judging was carried
out by Treasurer of the VJMC, for the Japanese, and one of the engineers from a
respected British Bike garage.
Finally, a very big thank you, from the show committee, to all those who exhibited their machines and to the general public who attended.
Best in show & best Scooter with a picture of some of the detailing
Best Japanese in show, 1st, 2nd & 3rd
Best Non-Japanese in show, 1st, 2nd & 3rd
Some rare/ special metal
More rare/ special metal
Hall 1 of the show
Hall 2
'Hall Guard' and a few outside stalls
Best Club Stand
Helpers & trophies
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