Classic Car Club’s annual event attracts good crowd

A classic car show is about much more than the vehicles themselves; it is about the stories they represent and this 1973 Humber Sceptre owned by Joe Flanagan of Marlinstown is a great example of that.

Speaking at the Mullingar Classic and Vintage Car Club annual event at Forest Park on Sunday week last, Joe told the Westmeath Examiner that his father had originally sold the car when it was new to the owner of a shoe shop in Navan. Tony Flanagan ran a motor dealership at Hill of Down, and he later took the Humber back as a trade-in, and sold it to the foreman at the garage. Some years later, he took it back in again as a trade-in and then sold it to Joe's neighbour, Felim Brady.

Joe later ran the dealership, and in 1999 the Humber was back in his hands, when he took it as a trade-in from Felim. Following that, he kept it with the ambition of restoring it - a major job that is now complete.

The car has that long a connection to Joe's family; he even remembers that the foreman "slapped the ears" off him, when he was about 10 years old after he scraped the side of the car with his bicycle.

The condition the Humber is in now is entirely due to Joe's expertise and craftsmanship. When he started the restoration "it was a basket case". The bodywork "was rotten, the sills, floors, all around the back end - the front end was not too bad".

"It was a project that was hardly worth doing but at the same time, because of the history and because of how many times it was with us, I couldn't bear to let it go."

The Humber still carries its original Meath registration, and it now serves as a reminder for Joe of the family connection to the motor trade, and as an example of the standard of work he does.

The family business at Hill of Down closed down in 2019, but Joe is still active, and is currently working on the restoration of a 1951 MG YA. That is another major job, he said: "Again, everything has to be built by hand; I have to make all the parts myself."

Joe's 1973 Humber Sceptre was awarded second best in show.

Among the many other enthusiastic owners at this year's event were Colm Smullen, his sons and nephew, who had a classic Land Rover and an early Morris Minor there. Daragh Smullen said they had bought the 1954 Morris Minor in Cavan and had it restored in Athlone by an expert in vintage cars, who rebuilt the engine and gave it an overhaul. Daragh is starting to learn to drive now, and though he says it is driving well, he didn't commit to doing his lessons behind the wheel of the Minor.

While the vehicle side of the show went as planned, the weather did have an effect on the day. John Gavin, president of Mullingar Classic and Vintage Car Club, wanted to apologise to the people of Mullingar that the family fun part of the day didn't go ahead. He said the firm that were to provide the family activities decided to exercise caution because of the weather, and though the club were disappointed about that, they were pleased at the turnout of cars and other vintage vehicles, the number of autojumble and other stalls and the number of visitors: "I have to apologise to the public for letting them down - but thank you to everyone that supported us today," John said.