Gladwins specialist car show success

Fast, exotic and rare vehicles were all on show at Gladwins Car Show last weekend, and The Moment’s RICHARD GUNN was in petrolhead heaven…

A brand new specialist vehicle event for Peterborough, last weekend’s Gladwins Car Show offered fascinating novelties and a satisfying amount of diversity: from Minis to Rolls-Royces, British family saloons to leviathan American muscle cars and flamboyant European supercars, with some very potent modified racing machines – 162mph Mini, anyone? – thrown in for good measure, there was plenty to see.

All the proceeds from the show went towards aiding the East Anglian Air Ambulance charity, meaning that visitors went away not just having browsed some fascinating cars but also benefitted a very worthy local cause, too.

“This is the only car I’ve ever bought that is now worth more than I paid for it,” said Richard Jennings, here with wife George, of his 1968 MGC automatic. Richard used to deliver press and publicity vehicles, and was so taken by the MGC when brand new that he bought this one. Albeit not until 1985

Gladwins managing director Harvey Death with his very potent Mini-Cooper S, which was built for ‘The Fastest Mini in the World’ race in 2009. With a 2.6-litre V8 engine developing 380bhp and a top speed of 162mph, it was definitely a contender for that accolade. “In one all-Mini race, it managed to lap 12 seconds ahead of its nearest rival. And that was while stuck in sixth gear,” recalled Harvey