Our club is called "Vaal Old Wheels" and this is our annual show. As usual it was held on the beautiful  Vaal river bank campus of the Northwest University in Vanderbijlpark. This site is really ideal for a show of this type with ample exhibition as well as parking space. Exhibitors are also allowed free camping or caravan sites for the weekend with all amenities and ablutions available. As usual the university administration spared no effort in ensuring that everything was just right - they do get a large share of the profits after all.

The show lasts for 2 days and this years visitors were treated to a bigger and better show than ever before. Attractions included the vintage stationary engine display area (always one of the most popular with the public), vintage tractors and agricultural equipment and machines. Displays of mealie (corn) grinding (Neville Botha's team ground approximately 400 Kg's mealie meal over the 2 days), a working Blacksmiths shop, sheep shearing displays every hour, stationary and traction steam engines, tractor rides, flea market and food stalls,
a dazzling array of vintage (and some not so vintage) motor vehicles. Also exhibiting were a number of commercial
undertakings (Bobcat equipment - various motor vehicle dealerships - boat builders and water sport dealers and the like). Of course the Bobcat guys were a great help to us engine guys when it came to loading and unloading engines.

To add to the attractions there were Formula One boat races being held on the river adjacent to the show area and the Vereeniging Air Show was being held at the same time. A team of Harvards gave us a very good aerobatic demonstration on Sunday. The local fire and traffic departments also had stands and gave demonstrations.

Enjoy the following pages of photographs. My interest, being mainly for stationary engines, most of these pics are of the engines but I have included a few of others as well. I apologise for some of the pics not being of the best quality but many engines were displayed under trees and the harsh shadows made perfect exposures difficult.

******** Note re. the importance of "information boards" on engines  ********

(This is mainly for my South African friends but applies equally elsewhere)

Something discussed recently on the Old Engine list was the lack of "information boards" on engines. South Africa is no exception here and many engines lacked information boards (we call them "Brag Boards"). Even guys that I do know to own "Brag Boards" for their engines (I KNOW because I've made boards for them at no charge) did not bother to use them.

My experience this weekend showed just how important these boards are.  My 1928 Wolseley R was "parked" between my daughter's and my Wolseley WD9's (both 1960 something models). In the rush of loading everything for the show I forgot the board for the 1928 Wolseley (guilty as charged) and was really surprised at the number of spectators (and even a television crew) who would read one of the boards on the 1960's engines, walk right past the 1928 model and read the board on the other 1960 model - many took photographs and even made comments about "how nice they were" but ignored the far more collectible 1928 model. Of course I'm talking about the general public here, engine collectors know better and they admired the older engine.
C'mon guys - use your boards - they enhance the display and the experience for spectators. Many spectators are too shy or lack the confidence to ask questions (many are even too scared to show their ignorance) so they just ignore the engine and move on. You'd be surprised at how many people will show interest and strike up a conversation with you if they just had "a bit of info" on the engine first - it seems to make them "more qualified" to talk to you or to compliment you on the engine (hey, we all like compliments). Remember also that the more discussions you have with spectators the more will you increase the chances that one of them may call you one day to say that they have found an old engine that you may be interested in.