For more than a year SGMW members, along with the rest of the world, have been looking forward to a future that involves some sense of normality when Covid-19 is becoming a bad memory.
But we are gearing up to wallow in nostalgia at our Heritage Day at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in Hampshire on Wednesday, August 18.
It is traditionally a major annual event in our busy SGMW diary but there is even more excitement about this year’s event because it is making a welcome return, with both members, manufacturers and PR teams, after coronavirus forced its cancellation in 2020.
Ten brands are currently lined up for the event – BMW, Dacia, Ford, Jeep, Kia, Lexus, Mazda, Renault, Suzuki and Toyota.
- BMW has confirmed it will bring a new M440i Convertible and an old 1M Coupe.
- Ford will be represented with a Mustang V8 and an all-electric Mustang Mach-E.
- Kia, which has kindly sponsored our event to mark its 30th anniversary in the UK, will be bringing an original Pride city car, Ceed and Sorento.
- Renault’s heritage car is a Clio RT automatic from 1991, the year it launched the iconic supermini in the UK, and an all-new Dacia Sandero.
- Toyota’s old-and-new combinations are a Mark 1 Yaris supermini paired with the rally-inspired GR Yaris hot-hatchback and an original RAV4 alongside the current model.
Chris Rees, our secretary and Heritage Day head honcho, said other manufacturers were still to decide which cars to bring from their heritage garages and current fleets.
And there may also be other surprises on the day.
“Many of our members have some interesting cars and I hope they will bring them along,” he said.
And Tyler Heatley has created another of his popular film-clip compilation competitions.
We have 14 members, and photographer Simon Thompson, going to Bartley Lodge Hotel at Cadnam, near Lyndhurst, the day before the Heritage Day. We will be joined there by members of the Kia UK PR team.
We will also finally hold our postponed AGM ahead of a drinks reception, hosted by Kia UK, and dinner.
So this blast from the past really is a case of mixing business with pleasure.
