Visitors to Wiltshire’s only motor museum were treated to one of the biggest line-ups of classic vehicles during its 21st open day at last weekend
Atwell and Wilson Motor Museum at Calne is home to over a hundred cars of interest but attracted over 400 more on Sunday, with classic car owners attending an annual open day lining up on the top field .
And alongside gleaming examples of these classics were some weird and wonderful vehicles.
In the main hall, the Motorcycle and sidecar of Wallice and Gromit was on show after being lent to the museum by the Grand Appeal, which is the Bristol Children’s Hospital charity .
This exhibit, a model of which is featured in the Aardman Animations, attracted people of all ages as they viewed the outfit and cockpit that included low cheese warning lights and porridge controls.
Classic cars on display in Wiltshire (Image: Trevor Porter)
Back out on the field, a rather unique Morris van was on show.
This belonged to Steve Knight of Box, and was a beaten up truck built from parts left over when restoring a 1936 Morris Eight.
Steve said he decided to put the leftover parts to good use instead of leaving them to collect dust in storage.
He said: “Rather than store the left-over parts I decided to make them into a vehicle which I call my very own beaten-up van.”
Another exhibit which is easily recognised from the classic TV series Only Fools and Horses was a replica of Del Boys van.
Owner Duncan Sterling, of Melksham, brought his 1976 Reliant to the show.
These glass fibre Reliant vans are becoming quite rare now with only about a dozen left.
Among the other vehicles of note at the show was Winston, a 1932 Austin Six belonging to Richard France from Derry Hill.
Richard explained why his car was named Winston.
This Austin Six was leased to the House of Commons to be used by government ministers and, noticing it had a cigar burn in the back seat, Richard decided to name the car after former Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Making its debut at the show was a fully restored 1968 MG Midget that spent 22 years in a barn before car enthusiast Tony Green took it on as a restoration project.
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