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Some unkind souls in the CCB office reckon the photograph opening this week’s issue looks like I was waiting for a Stan Laurel lookalike to plonk himself next to me in this charming 1904 Model A Ford, prior to driving off into the sunset and getting involved in another fine old mess. How unkind! Rather than attempting a very bad ‘Ollie’ impersonation, I had been invited to climb aboard this fine old veteran by its owner at the recent Old Ford Rally at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon to try and fathom out the controls. With a hand throttle, a brake pedal where the accelerator should be and a reversing pedal in the place where I would expect to find the brakes, it would have been an interesting challenge to try and master this veteran Ford’s unconventional controls. With this in mind, I take my (bowler) hat off to those brave enthusiasts who will be piloting similarly early machinery down the A23 in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run this coming November, especially if it’s pouring down with rain. In this issue we report on how the organisers of the world’s longest running motoring event are going to introduce a competitive edge to this year’s Run to spice things up a bit. Six hours behind the wheel of this 109-year old Ford would be enough spice for me thank you very much, without worrying about who’s about to overtake on the downhill parts of the route! It’s certainly been great weather for classic car shows this month and far too warm to start seriously thinking about an event that’s due to take place in the late autumn. So let’s just hope the fine weather continues for a few more weeks, especially as the event calendar is full to bursting with some excellent shows. While on the subject of shows, I’m constantly amazed to see so many cars displayed at events without any information – year built, model, etc. It can be very frustrating listening to interested visitors trying to work out what model of Austin, Ford or Morris they’re looking at.