Wiltshire Steam & Vintage Rally 8th & 9th June

This show we, that is myself, Philip and family have been going to for a good number of years.

This year the weather and conditions were very good as last year the show was cancelled before we even set off due to bad weather and the year before that, the show was called of early Sunday morning. This year we were lucky! We arrived a bit later than planned due to a traffic hold up near the A34 junction and as soon as we got there we were directed by marshals to set-up and unload our exhibits.

The show is organised by the Wiltshire Agriculture Preservation Group and gets a good show of all types of exhibits. A lot of tractors, some very unusual one’s, traction engines, not many large ones but quite a few small steam engines, a good display of commercial vehicles including 3 Bedford CA vans, a nice 1955 Seddon lorry, several Scammell trucks and a few other rare types.

The cars section had a good cross section like Austin and Morris, MGB and Fords. A couple were a bit unusual, one a 1917 American La France had a 14.5 litre supercharged engine, rear brakes only and could do over 100mph! Also there was a 1905 Fiat land speed record car. They were driven in both days on the road too! A good number of collections were on show. The stationary engine section was down on numbers this year but a nice display of engines.

A very nice, first time out 1924 Ruston Hornsby 3.5hp AP, two very nice Lister D type lighting sets, a 1917 Lister K 2.5hp with large vaporiser, 1905 Petter Handyman 2.5hp, 1916 Victoria paraffin 5hp and some other very nice engines. We had a good time both days although the wind was a little strong for comfort as coats were often needed.

The show all to soon came to an end and we had decided to stay till Monday morning before we came home. We left about 9am and were home by lunchtime.

A highly recommend show and we will go again next year.

Ian Sampson