The Circle of Classic Car Life

Pop icon and classic car aficionado Elton John wrote the Lion King song ‘The Circle of Life’ which got me thinking about the circle of classic car life, every year.

January 1^st, New Year’s Day. For many a day to sleep off a hangover, but for petrolheads around the country, a day to celebrate as the New Year’s classic car runs all over the country hit the road. We all check the weather, hoping for rain, not ice so no salt on the road, we dust off the cars that have been in garages and under covers since October and go and enjoy a few hours in our coats and hats walking amongst classic machines that lift our mood and relight the fire of our passion.

By the end of February, we are counting the days until April with March spent fettling and prepping the cars whilst constantly planning for the show season just around the corner.

Club event co-ordinators are chasing members to book in for their events and finalising calendars for the coming events.

April rolls around, the days are longer and we find ourselves out most weekends and some weekday evenings enjoying our cars. This is our payoff for the rain, short days, and lack of car events through the winter!

May and June, prime car show months as it’s light until 10pm, and there is always something on locally. We plan our events hoping that wedding invitations and family events don’t clash with our important shows. The marque-specific shows, the multi-marque events, the village fates you attend full of hope but often turn out to be less than stellar, but you go anyway and you’ll go again next time.

July and your year is already the best one you can remember! The big shows continue and it’s still light until 21:30pm.

August, the shops are full of ‘Back to School’ signs and the Hawaiian shirts that Tesco were flogging are replaced with jumpers! You realise that next month is the first month ending in ‘ber’.

But you carry on, we still have a couple of months to go. You look at the show planner and most have now happened.

September and you’re back in jeans rather than shorts, the car is under cover more than previously. You start wishing it was June again.

October rolls around and the winter plans for servicing, bodywork and the like are finalised.

November and December spent on Auto Trader and Car & Classic websites looking at the prices. Our cars in garages, occasionally exercised, but never with salt on the road. Car club Christmas gatherings where we reminisce about the great year and laugh at the mishaps that happened through the summer. We’re back to checking the weather for ice and snow that we don’t want over Christmas as January 1^st we want to be out for the annual New Year’s Day classic car drive out.

That’s the circle of classic car life.

The second verse of the song that inspired this article seems very apt.

Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with the (s)cars
There's far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found
But the sun rollin' high through the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round

Sir Elton, I couldn’t have put it any better……

Maximillian James