The 45th Enfield Pageant of Motoring

Mike Neale reports on the interesting commercial and light-commercial vehicles being shown at the 45th Enfield Pageant of Motoring in May.

The 45th Enfield Pageant of Motoring was held on its traditional end of May Bank Holiday weekend at the usual venue of Enfield Playing Fields. Fortunately, this site, being within the newly-extended ULEZ, didn’t seem to impact things.  There were around 9,000 public visitors over the two days, with approximately 1,000 display vehicles. Attendance on the Sunday was impacted slightly by poor weather forecasts and by two nearby railway stations being closed.

While classic cars were the mainstay of the displays, there was a decent turnout of classic commercials, Bedfords in particular.  Many of these were, as ever, brought along by Bob Alderman, including his traditional line-up of Bedford CA vans and pick-ups, two of the pick-ups having recently appeared on TV as rival bakers’ trucks in the comedy drama, Murder, They Hope, starring Johnny Vegas.  Bob also displayed a new acquisition, an Austin Loadstar Luton van, as well as his Ford E83W Gown Van.

The vehicle voted as Best in Show was another Bedford CA, a 1960 Kenex Carefree camper van in turquoise and white with a full width rising roof, owned by Edward Payne who had named it Little Jem after his wife who sadly passed away in March.

A Bedford A Type lorry was brought along by Fred Smith, who had owned it for around 40 years, but hadn’t used it for several years.  After connecting a new battery it had started and ran well.  Fred plans to respray the cab later this year.

There was an immaculate Bedford HA 130 van in bright yellow British Rail livery, one of the last built in 1984 on an A-reg.

Also striking in yellow was a British-built 1939 Ford 81C V8 Ambulance which had served in the Western Desert campaign during World War Two, later being on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovil.  A replacement 3.6-litre flathead V8 engine from France had been fitted.

A later Ford was the 1962 Thames Trader Tipper, one of two lorries in the red and white livery of DJ O’Donovan.  The family firm was set up in 1959, now called O’Donovan Waste Disposal Ltd., based in Tottenham, North London.

Among the vehicles brought along by Whitewebbs Museum was Wendy, the 1939 Morris Commercial CV11/30 Ambulance, originally built as a utility fire engine, re-bodied after the war and later restored from a wreck by Mark Bailey, who drove it in service.  Mark has since donated the vehicle to the museum.

Dates are not confirmed for next year but are expected to be the Saturday and Sunday at the end of May Bank Holiday again.  It is the key annual fundraising event for Whitewebbs Museum of Transport.  See https://www.whitewebbsmuseum.co.uk/.

This feature comes from the latest issue of Classic & Vintage Commercials, and you can get a money saving subscription to this magazine simply by clicking HERE