Classic car events in Perth 2015

14 February 2015 Big Al's 35th Annual Poker Run


22 February 2015 - Triple Treat Motorsport Day


28 February 2015 Hot Summer Nights 5


15 March 2015 Vintage Collective Markets Show and Shine

Link to photos from the January event - http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/classic-car-events-in-perth-2015.html

22 March 2015 German Car Day

Photos and report - http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/german-car-day-2015.html

28-29 March 2015 Northam Two Day Festival of Speed

http://www.vsccwa.com.au/cms/index.php?page=northam-flying-fifty-and-hillclimb

19 April 2015 "Orient Express" Asian Classic Car and Bike Show

http://www.teccwa.com/orient

3 May 2015 Classic Car Show, Whiteman Park


9 May 2015 Arthur Grady Day (Fremantle Heritage Festival)

http://www.fremantlestory.com.au/your-story/event-festivals/festivals/2015-fremantle-heritage-festival/2015-fremantle-heritage-festival.html

24 May 2015 Vintage Collective Markets - Cafe Racer Show

http://thevintagecollectivemarkets.net/perth-cafe-racers-at-vcmperth/

16 August 2015 Shannons Classic in the Park


28 September 2015 Rear-engine Car Day

Event report and photos http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/rear-engine-car-day-photos.html

4 October 2015 Rotary Club of Como Car Show

http://comorotarycarshow.com/ Photos here http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/rotary-club-of-como-car-show-photos.html

24 October 2015 French Car Festival

This year's show was a full on celebration of French culture. Here's a link to photos from the show http://www.heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/french-car-day-perth-2015.html

1 November 2015 Italian Car Day


rotary-northbridge.org/rotary-italian-car-day/

8 November 2015 Brockwell Run


22 November 2015 Celebration of the Motorcar

Celebration of the Motorcar will be held in Perth on Sunday, November 22nd 2015. The venue will be the beautiful grounds of the Cottesloe Civic Centre again. We anticipate 130 cars this year. Early confirmations of display cars include: An Alvis TE21, which has recently arrived and is the sole example in WA. A spectacular Lamborghini Countach and an equally dramatic Ferrari F40. A pair of glamorous 1953 Cadillac Eldorado Convertibles fresh from extensive restorations. The 1923 Bentley which was the first of the marque to compete in the Le Mans 24-Hour race. A sporty AMG SLS Coupe. A unique Puma GT coupe. A glamorous 1963 Ferrari 250 GTE. A very rare Marcos sports car. A Panhard PL17 being shown for the first time since arriving in WA. The 1958 Corvette originally owned by Hollywood tars Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood.

There will also be a special display to celebrate 60 Years of the Citroen DS.

For more details, check in the website http://celebration.org.au/

6 December 2015 Day of the Volkswagen

http://vwclubwa.com/

Percy Markham's Antique Auto Museum

I thought I'd finish what has been an exciting and interesting year with a post about my great-uncle Percy Markham. Percy started collecting vintage cars in the early 1950s, initially just as an exercise to give his sons some mechanical experience. However, in those days vintage cars could be picked up for next to nothing and collection quickly grew. In the late 1960s Percy established the Antique Auto Museum in Wembley. It was a small private museum which was open to the public and includes two full-time mechanics who worked on the restorations. After a time Percy found the cost of maintaining the museum uneconomical and in the late 1970s he donated the collection to the WA Museum on the understanding that the cars would be displayed for the people of Western Australia. In the 1980s however, a particularly dishonest administration sold off a large portion of the collection, despite protests. Several of the individuals involved in that administration ended up in prison on corruption charges later.

I had heard about the museum but never saw it. I only ever saw the cars when they were in the Perth Museum. However, a witness to those times, Andrew Brownell, sent me these photos from the late 1960s.  He writes:

Hi Paul,

Back in the sixties I was a student of Architecture living with my parents in Mount Pleasant on the banks of the Canning River opposite Aquinas College. Needless to say as a student I had little money but somehow I met Percival Wynyard Markham and his wife who lived in Floreat Park. I do not remember how we met but chance had it and in discussion with 'Mr Markham' he offered me a Saturday job to keep his car collection clean and to drive occasionally for weddings. The attached shows most of the cars as they were in the Museum. As a result of meeting Percy in 1965 I joined the then very new Rolls-Royce Owners' Club, West Australian Branch and became the editor of the Newsletter and later editor of the National Magazine 'Praeclarum' and then many other positions in the Club at both State and Federal levels including that of Federal President.

I am not sure how you 'fit' into the Markham clan but I would be most pleased to hear. I have always enjoyed the Club and, of course the cars. I have had the pleasure of owning a total of 5 MkVI Bentleys, a 1921 Silver Ghost Tourer and a couple of 20/25's but also had the fortune to ride in and drive many more.

I hope that you find these of interest and would be pleased to assist you with identification of others if you need.

Sadly, Percy's son and fellow car enthusiast, John Markham, passed away a month before I received the email so I didn't get to see them. I'm sure he would have appreciated them. Nevertheless, I present here Andrew's photos to commemorate this lost era.

The 1913 Nazzaro



Detroit Electric

1908 Renault

Andrew and the Morris Cowley, Percy's first vintage car.

Stanley Steamer

Light the boiler!

The 1898 Star

Sizaire-Naudin (right)

1908 Star

The Rollers

1908 Minerva

One of the cars awaiting restoration at the rear of the museum



Rolls-Royce Club of WA day


After several years of operating the museum, Percy decided to sell the most significant part of the collection to the WA museum. Not only did he sell the vehicles at a bargain price (interest free in installments over ten years), but he also funded to construction of the new museum buildings to house the collection. This cost several million dollars. The museum building itself has been demolished.

Video presentation by Beata Dawson:


More links:
1. The Percy Markham Collection based on John Markham's records and the WA Museum postcards. http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2011/06/percy-markham-collection.html
2. The Percy Markham Collection auction catalogue. http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/percy-markham-collection-auction.html
3. The surviving Percy Markham Collection at the WA Motor Museum. http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2010/04/whiteman-park-motor-museum.html
4. John Markham's Nazzaro, which was part of the collection. http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/felice-nazzaro.html