Perhaps the oldest car in the world?

By Kathy Ahrendt

Car show season is in full swing in the South. There are five or six shows to pick from each weekend now so it's always fun to head out to one of the selections.

The last weekend of April the British car club in Shelby, NC sponsors a show that is held in the downtown area. It is held in conjunction with a craft fair and farmers market so there is lots to look at and buy if the mood strikes.

We headed to the show solo since we hadn't gotten our act together to caravan with others. As we zipped along we noticed that some of our other club members were parked in a gas station. So we tagged along at the end of their caravan since there is always safety in numbers.

As we traveled we notice that one of the cars was having a bit of difficulty so we pulled over and it was all hands to remedy the problem. Unfortunately, the problem reoccurred three more times so we bid farewell to the owners -- at their insistence (a flat bed was called to take them back home) and headed on to the show.

Once parked at the show we got busy getting the car dusted off and all of the picnic gear set up on the sidewalk. The town is really "car show friendly" and the stores are open with great deals. While placing the car show card on the window we noticed that our car's date of manufacture looked a bit off. Upon further inspection we saw that we now have a car made in 1046 (not 1946). We've always known that we had an early model, but not quite this early. And we can still get parts!

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the town and craft fair and all of the wonderful European cars that were on display. Our winning streak is still in tact... one raffle prize and one car award.