CLASSIC MOTOR CARS BIRTHDAY PARTY ATTRACTS THOUSANDS

CLASSIC CHATTER

EVENT NEWS

CLASSIC MOTOR CARS BIRTHDAY PARTY ATTRACTS THOUSANDS

Norman Dewis signing CMC;’s Birthday poster

More than two thousand people, one hundred jaguars and dozens of other classic cars turned up to celebrate Classic Motor Cars 25th-anniversary party in Bridgnorth Shropshire on Saturday.

‘We expected a few hundred to turn up but members of the public and cars just kept on coming throughout the day. We were totally blown away by the support not only from the Jaguar and classic car world but also from the local community who came with their families to celebrate’ Said Nigel Woodward, Managing Director of Classic Motor Cars.

Guest of honour at the event was Jaguar legend and chief test driver for more than 50 years, Norman Dewis, who had just celebrated his 98th birthday who added: “ I have watched CMC since its inception and seen it grow into one of the worlds top restoration companies. The Chairman of the company, Peter Neumark who set it up and the staff have done a fantastic job.”

The company was founded in 1993 and over the ensuing years has built a global reputation for restoring cars to world-class standards. It is the only company to have won restoration of the year twice.

CMC has been responsible for restoring some of the most important Jaguar cars of all time and many of them were featured in a circular display of 25 cars outside the company’s headquarters to mark the birthday.

They included the oldest and most famous E-Type in existence, 9600 HP which was one of Jaguar’s prototypes, used as the launch car at the Geneva Motor show.

D-Type OKV1 which finished second at Le Mans in 1954, E-Type 1 VHP the first right hand drive production fixed head coupe, the Lindner-Nocker Lightweight E-Type which CMC spent over 7,000 hours bringing back to life and many more including the Daily Mail E-type chassis number 4 and the centrepiece, the Pininfarina XK 120 – A one of a kind Jaguar XK120 SE Roadster that in 1954 was coach built by the Italian Styling house Pininfarina.

A number of artists were on hand showing their work, including Curd Achim Deich displaying massive Jaguar artworks in the company’s showroom, while Rene De Goede was painting an oil of 1 VHP outside and 22-year-old Lucy Smith who recently graduated from Loughborough University was showing her motoring art in the CMC Market Place.

Another artist Louise Griffin, wife of the companies’ production director Tim Griffin produced a special piece of artwork that was used as a poster for the event, which was sold to raise money for charities supported by Norman Dewis, and as the label for CMC Series 1 4.2 a special golden ale brewed by local brewery Hobsons for the event.

The Marches Academy was open to visitors, there was a toy and automobilia fair inside the workshops, a classic car concourse that was won by Mr Harry Medcalf with his fantastic Aston Martin DB5 Saloon, a massive Scalextric track provided by local engineering company Grainger and Worrall, a classic car club display area and much more.

CMC also used the day to launch their new-to-the-classic-market ceramic nanotechnology coating range in collaboration with the products manufacturers Alpha Nano. “This is an important new application of this innovative technology and offers tremendous benefits to the classic car owner in their quest to preserve and protect their precious investment,” said Nigel Woodward.

Chairman of the Company Peter Neumark said: “ Little did I think when I set up the company 25 years ago that it would grow to the size that it has now and would have the stature of a world-class business with numerous awards. The Business is now an employee-owned trust and I am immensely proud of the staff, of all they have done and continue to do.

Nigel Woodward added: “ The response to the event has been phenomenal and we are now considering holding a similar event every year.”

An aerial shot of the birthday festivities and 25-year car display