Festival of Black Country Vehicles

We are pleased to announce the coming of the 2012 Festival of Black Country Vehicles, which will be held at the Black Country Living Museum, on 29th July, 2012.

	This is the only vehicle rally which celebrates the once important vehicle manufacturing industry in the Black Country, and features many of the locally made vehicles. On display will be cars, motorcycles, commercial vehicles, buses, and bicycles, all produced by local manufacturers such as A.J.S., Bean, Clyno, D.M.W., D.K.R., Frisky, Guy Motors, HRD, Jensen, Star, Swallow, Sunbeam, and Turner. This year we are celebrating the centenary of the Sunbeam motorcycle, and commemorating the end of Guy Motors, which closed 30 years ago. Sunbeam motorcycles went into production in the middle of 1912, and were initially based on a design by Harry Stevens of A.J.S. They continued to be produced in Wolverhampton until August 1937. Guy Motors was the largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles, buses, and coaches in the Black Country. The company was well known throughout much of the world. Production started in 1914, and continued until August 1982. Owners, who enter their vehicles in the event, will have the opportunity to take part in a unique series of cavalcades, during which the vehicles will 'drive into the past' around the museum's 26 acre site. This year we are hoping to include a bicycle cavalcade, assuming there are sufficient entries. This unique spectacle allows visitors to re-live our Black Country motoring past. Also on display is the museum's collection of rare Black Country-made cars, motorcycles, and commercial vehicles, the largest of its kind. They can be seen in two garages; the Bradburn and Wedge Garage, and Conway Garage, and also in Hartill's motorcycle shop.

There will be an indoor display telling the story of the vehicle manufacturers and their products, a book sale, a sale of tools, and some vehicle spares. Background music will be provided by a dixieland jazz band. This friendly event is ideal for the whole family. If you are interested in motoring, and want to discover what it was like in the past, please come along and join us, you will be most welcome. Everyone can also enjoy the many attractions at the museum, including the Black Country village and shops, the traditional fairground, the coal mine, the schoolroom, the canal, the industrial exhibits, the replica Newcomen engine, the exhibition rooms, the Cradley Heath Worker's Institute, and much more. There is plenty to see and do. Excellent food is available at the café, and Hobbs and Sons Fish and Chip Shop in the Black Country village. Traditional sweets can be purchased at Cook's sweet shop, and the gift shop is always worth a visit. Food can be washed down with a pint of real ale in the Bottle and Glass Inn. Everything is at hand for a wonderful day out.