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Knysna - The seventh Knysna Motor Show will host some of the most collectable cars on the African continent when it is held at the Knysna high school sports grounds.
Here are some of the attractions scheduled for the 2018 event:
The Corvette’s finest hour
Back in 1963, Ford Motor Company was enjoying unprecedented success in motor racing, in Europe and in America, thanks to the indecent speed of the Shelby AC Cobra sports car, which ran a small-block Ford V8.
But at the end of that year, Carroll Shelby’s party was spoiled by the emergence of the most famous Chevrolet Corvette racer of all time.
Developed in secret by General Motors employees, the Corvette Grand Sports whipped the Cobras into submission at Nassau, being 10 seconds a lap quicker than the Shelby snakes!
GM management got to hear about this and came down heavily on the ‘rogue’ team in the GM development department, and the five Grand Sports were sold off to privateer racers. And that was pretty much the end of the Grand Sport’s fairy-tale track record.
Corvette Grand Sport
But in South Africa, Port-Elizabeth-based Hi-Tech Automotive, which builds Cobra continuation and Daytona Coupe continuation cars for the American market, has scored a global coup by being awarded the rights to build continuation series Corvette Grand Sport cars, and selling them in the US under its Superformance banner.
One of the 30 or so Grand Sports built to date (all of them destined for the left-hand-drive American market), will be at the 2018 Knysna Motor Show.
Alongside the Corvette Grand Sport will be a Hi-Tech-built special Dan Gurney tribute version of the Shelby AC Cobra, in the colours run by the All- American motorsports hero, who passed away in 2017. Hi-Tech will also be showcasing its brand-new mid-engined sports car destined for the European market, the AC Zenos E10: a car similar in spirit to the track-day car, Lotus Elise.
40 Years of Lindenberg
Peter Lindenberg, multiple South African powerboat champion and veteran circuit racer, will celebrate 40 years in motorsport at the Knysna Motor Show. Lindenberg, now based in the Malmesbury area, has raced everything from Group N sedans to Wesbank V8 racers to oval circuit V8s in a long career. More recently he has been a major player in the burgeoning Historic Racing Car scene in South Africa, backed up by his daughter Paige, who races a thundering 1968 Ford Fairlane.
Lindenberg Racing will showcase Paige’s 1968 Fairlane at the Motor Show, as well as a 1965 Ford Mustang GT350, and one of Peter’s famous 1972 Ford Capri Perana race cars. Under the Shelby SA banner, the team will also be showing the latest 50th Anniversary Shelby Mustang Super Snake, a car marketed here by Lindenberg.
Great Britons
Admirers of British sports cars will not be denied at the Knysna Motor Show, as some of the best collections of these cars in South Africa reside in the Garden Route area. A special Jaguar Jamboree is being held at the show, with cars ranging from the 1930s masterpiece, the SS100 (this was before the Jaguar name was even coined) through the graceful 1950s era represented by the Jaguar XK150, to the car that was tagged “sex on wheels” - the immortal Jaguar E Type. More modern examples of Jaguars will also be on display.
As usual, there will be plenty of Austin Healey’s, MGs and Triumphs, as well as an impressive selection of classic, early era Porsches dating from the 356 versions from the 1950s through to the modern era of 911s.
Another intriguing Great Briton is the 1953 Bentley Type R, which recently competed in the 9 500 km Inca Rally in South America, owned by enthusiast Richard Everingham.
Peter Pretorius, on behalf of the organising club, the Garden Route Motor Club, said: “I have been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and commitment shown by enthusiasts far and wide for the 2018 Knysna Motor Show. We are blessed with some very special collectable cars from all the classic and vintage eras in this country, and some 400 cars and motorcycles will be making the trip to our 2018 event. And we will show modern supercars and an extensive classic motorcycle display too.
The show runs from 9am to 4pm on Sunday, 29 April 2018. Admission prices are: Adults R50, Children 12-18-years R10, and children under 12 free!
