Classic Ford – August 2019

20 August 2019

Celebrating 15 years in 2019, the community

has big plans, as David Murphy reveals.

Club Essentials

Membership costs: Free

Club contact details: http://www.retro-rides.org

hen and why was Retro Rides formed?

We started Retro Rides in 2004 — March

16 to be precise. Inspired by the recently launched

Retro Cars magazine and fi nding ourselves

discussing a lot of non-VW cars on a large VW

forum we set up our own little bit of the internet to

discuss the type of cars we wanted to talk about.

We then set off to Ford, Mini and Vauxhall forums

to see if there were any likeminded folk hanging

out there, too.

Is it open to all types of cars?

Yes, as long as they are retro. In fact, it is the very

beating heart of Retro Rides, the embracing of all

types of cars.

Do classic Ford owners make up much of the

community?

The four main strands of the retro scene are

classic Fords, VWs, Vauxhalls and Japanese cars.

Our events and forum are often populated with a

good share of Blue Oval representation.

What does Retro Rides offer to new members?

For a lot of people, it is a place to belong to a

community that is perhaps a bit freer than some

clubs and other communities. Cars that may get

sidelined elsewhere are often admired, but

equally cars that are super central to some

scenes, a South London look Escort for example,

are also appreciated. We are enthusiastic and just

want to help people build and drive their cars.

How many forum members do you have?

The member count says 47,000, realistically

though we probably have 8000 active members.

Can you describe a typical member?

Absolutely not — we’ve got members from

across all social spectrums, race, colours, creeds,

sexual preference, you name it, it is probably

represented in our membership somewhere.

We’re all here for the cars.

Do you have members from overseas?

Yes from New Zealand to Russia, to Malaysia, to

Iran, and everywhere in between pretty much.

Do you host your own shows or meets?

We host a couple of modestly-sized shows. The

Retro Rides Gathering at Shelsley Walsh is our

longest running event having been going for the

last 11 years, this year it is on August 18. Last year

we launched the Retro Rides Weekender which

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takes over Goodwood Circuit for two days — that

happened in May.

What other shows does Retro Rides have a

presence at?

We’re often at Retro Show as a club. It is

something we intend to do more of, given the size

of the community we could fi eld stands at various

one make shows, too. At just about any show in

the country you are like to fi nd a Retro Rides car or

two lurking around.

Any funny stories about the community?

I’m not sure how funny it was at the time, but we

managed to lose our original domain name. I was

on holiday and didn’t see the increasingly urgent

emails to renew it. Or maybe looking back at the

little feature we had in Retro Cars magazine in late

2004 where we were very proud of ‘over 700’

members. We’ve come a long way.

What are Retro Ride’s plans for the future?

So many plans, so little time! We’re looking to run

a competitive hillclimb event on the Saturday of

the Gathering in 2020, and possibly publishing a

high-quality quarterly magazine. On top of which

we have big plans for our online community!

Retro Rides

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