It's

This is the worldwide club for all owners and enthusiasts of Standard Cars

"Dedicated to the preservation of Standard Cars 1903-1963"

Ian and Margaret Milburn with the SMC Chiltern Cup

This year's Chiltern Roadrun reverted to the familiar format that we have followed for well over 20 years now. We meet for lunch at a suitable pub/restaurant in the Chiltern area. The choice this year fell on the Pré Hotel near St. Albans. This has recently been run down by Whitbread and then involved in a pub swap with M&B. We hope the new owners will take on the scruffy building and gardens and spend the money it needs to get it up to scratch. In the meantime they are doing a superb carvery which everyone tucked into and thoroughly enjoyed.

This event is organised by the SMC and also the Vauxhall Convertible Car Club. We invite other owners of Classic Cars that we know who live locally in St. Albans. This year our guest owners arrived in a diverse set of cars, including an early Ford Cortina, Porsche 924,TR2 and a Prewar Riley Imp. 

At precisely 2.00pm, we set off at the head of a line of 16 cars for our short Roadrun. For only one of very few Sundays this year the sun was shining and every Convertible had it's roof down. The route started on a couple of major roads but then dived off into some narrow lanes and woods that still exist as part of the green belt. In fact we were never more than a couple of miles from busy St. Albans. In the area we travelled there are currently well developed and well supported plans by the Woodlands Trust to plant a huge new Forest of 850 acres.

After 50 minutes we arrived at the DeHavilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, which is a collection of De Havilland Aircraft and Memorabilia also just outside St. Albans. There was a short prizegiving with three awards, indicating the judges favourites in 3 categories:

• Favourite Standard, for being the oldest car present, the 1926 Standard Wellesbourne belonging to Ian and Margaret Milburn

• Favourite VCCC Car, the very shiny Vauxhall Corsa Convertible belonging to Beryl Johnson

• Best Guest, the Triumph TR2 driven by Tim and Bruce from the "Lower Red Lion Classic Car Club"

There was then a short introductory talk, given by the Director of the De Havilland Centre, Ralph Steiner who enthused about De Havilland products and the work they are doing to raise Lottery funding. After that we were all free to examine the exhibits and a fascinating tour it made.

Click on the cars to see an enlargement:

If you like to use your Standard on the Road rather than stand in a chilly field, the Chiltern Rally is for you. Keep an eye on the Events list for next years event which will also be in September

Report and photos by Phil Homer

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