steam_rally

Every year, enthusiasts and collectors of old steam engines and other antique vehicles gather at Old Warden Park in Bedfordshire for the annual Steam Rally. Many of the engines date back well over 100 years, and most are lovingly maintained in perfect working order by their dedicated owners. It is marvellous to see these examples of our historical heritage still working, many looking as though they had only been made this year.

Old Warden park is the country house of the Shuttleworth family, of the Clayton & Shuttleworth Agricultural Machinery firm. Thus a most fitting venue. Punitive taxes have combined with ever-rising wages to make it unviable as a private residence, so it is now run as one of Britain's foremost agricultural colleges.

The Trojan bubble-car was designed by Ernest Heinkel in the 1950s. In the Second World War, he had built bombers!	Baby Austin	Austin Healey Sprite - once one of the most sought-after small sports cars, now a rare collectors item,	Maserati!	A pristine Jaguar Mark 2.	An early MGB	The Triumph 2000 was an excellent car in the 1960s, but sadly was not developed.
Another MGB	Alfa Spider	Ford Consul Capri, forerunner of the Ford sports saloons which were popular from the 1960s and 70s.	Ford Prefect, well known to readers of the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy!	The once ubiquitous Morris Minor	A 1933 Morris 10-4 Saloon	A 1934 Daimler cabriolet.