Parades & Displays
Some of our parades and displays include the All MG Day, Concours, Christmas and Australia Day Parades and others.
Coordinator: Lynden Burns email: lynden052@gmail.com
MG Car Club Display at Acacia Park, Brooklyn Park
On a gloomy Thursday morning in June the MG Car Club responded to a request by Bev Waters to show a small selection of MGs at the well appointed Acacia Park Retirement Village. We were welcomed by an enthusiastic group of residents who were participating in a village event to support Men’s Health Week. It wasn’t just the men interested in the display, but a number of ladies attended and surprised us all with requests to go for a “Run Around The Block” in the cars following lunch. To read the full report Click Here
VAILO Adelaide 500 Report 2024
One of the highlights of the Club’s celebration of the MG Centenary must surely be our participation in the VAILO Adelaide 500 Supercars event at Victoria Park in November.
We had 32 cars in the Driver’s Parade on the Wednesday, and nearly 40 on permanent display for the four days of the event, Thursday-Sunday.
Adelaide turned on perfect weather for the Driver’s Parade, with one Supercar driver as a passenger in each immaculately turned out members’ car. The route from Victoria Park took in Hutt Street, Wakefield Street (great to see those CBC kids on the footpath waving), Pulteney Street, North Terrace and Gawler Place to Rundle Mall for the traditional signing ceremony. With a police escort and synchronised green traffic lights the parade was a real head-turner, featuring a range of cars from Arthur’s 1934 ND through to moderns and racing vehicles. To view a YouTube video, Click Here
Thursday’s weather was . . . wet! Put a dampener on things but not the enthusiasm of the Club volunteers who engaged with the public, handing out our MG Centenary Stickers, information leaflets about the history of MGs and our club, MG Racing SA posters prepared by John Illingworth, and membership application forms.
Things brightened up for the remainder of the event and there was certainly strong interest from the public, ranging from those with no knowledge of the marque through to other current and former owners and one gent who once worked at Abingdon on the ZS assembly line.
Our location was between two main gates – Halifax Street and Angas Street – and while there were some comments that we could perhaps have negotiated a better position, that’s a lesson for next time and it was agreed that there was no shortage of foot traffic throughout the four days. We had a gazebo as our information hub and the display was enhanced by our teardrop banners and a variety of MG flags, all adding to the overall impact.
So what did we get out of it?
It cost us nothing – but that’s not the most important thing.
We celebrated the Centenary; we drew public attention to MGs by displaying a representative range of members’ cars across the years and representing both road and race vehicles; we met a lot of people who shared our love of our cars; we may have enticed some new members; we promoted MG Racing in SA; we attracted some media interest; in the planning phase we built up positive relationships with the VAILO Adelaide 500 organising team which will prove invaluable if we ever come to take part again; and we had fun as a group.
Yes, it rained a bit. Yes, it was a bit dusty. But it was a four-day motorsport event preceded by a parade through city streets and it was an appropriate and successful way to celebrate 100 years of MGs.
Congratulations and thanks to the organising committee, the volunteers who helped set up our presence, staff the position throughout the event, and pack it all up at the end – and, of course, to all the members whose cars featured in the parade and the display. Job well done.
Mike Greenwood’s comments on his experience of the driver’s parade:
The photo shows the MGC with me waiting for the V8 race driver, David Reynolds to join me as I was one of the 40 MG owners in the display at the Vailo 500 in Victoria Park over the weekend. The organisers had allowed the MG CC SA to have this display as part of the MG Centenary celebrations.
David was a very pleasant chap, very keen to wave to lots of waiting fans along the way as publicity is part of their contract. Rundle Mall was packed with a huge TV screen with media people telling the crowd each of the drivers names as they stepped out of the MG’s to do their publicity ‘meet and greet”. Apparently this is the only time this happens, none of the other cities or towns the V8s race do this, one of the reasons why they all like coming to race in Adelaide.
One of the points I asked David about when racing here was how do all like the notorious TURN 8, he said they all hate it but if they get their line through right, it’s great! I took David from Victoria Park into Rundle Mall under Police escort through the Streets of Adelaide with every set of lights green all the way. That never happened normally! Thank goodness the temperature was relatively cool and the MGGC coped quite well.
