Ford100e.com leads the way at C&SC Club Awards 2018

By Lizzie Pope

| 9 Nov 2018

The waiting is over, the voting is done… and we’re delighted to announce that our 2018 Club of the Year is Ford100e.com.

The prestigious trophy was presented to the Ford100e.com team earlier tonight at our annual awards ceremony, which took place at the Hilton Metropole, Birmingham with C&SC’s Editor at Large Simon Taylor handling compère duties.

The event was another wonderful celebration of the best of the British classic car community. And with record numbers of nominations this year, all of 2018’s winners have a lot to be proud of.

Scroll down for the full results – and congratulations to all of those who were nominated.

Club of the Year: Ford 100e.com

The judges were won over by the affection members clearly feel for Ford100e.com and the strong sense of camaraderie, with countless tales of friendship and assistance.

“There is no comparison to this club for its togetherness and mutual respect, whether you have a £10 budget or a £1m, everyone is equal,” said one nomination.

And that’s not all. We’ve also learnt of a heart-warming tale: members clubbed together to buy a 100E for founder Graham Carr, restoring it and presenting it to him at the Ace Cafe. “I love the club, they’re more like family than friends,” added another member.

Also receiving mentions onstage from Simon Taylor were the Rover Sports Register in its 65th-anniversary year, as well as the brilliantly inclusive H-town Classic & Dub Club, which in just a year has amassed 1000 members.

Club Personality of the Year: Peter Lee

Peter Lee from the Transit Van Club scooped 2018’s Club Personality of the Year prize, with honourable mentions for Terry Dye of the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club and the Maestro and Montego Owners’ Club’s Andrew Stokell.

Lee founded the club with the aim of saving classic Transits the world over, while raising money for children’s charities – and this year the club rescued its 50th vehicle. He still runs many aspects of the club and was even asked by Ford to go to the USA to speak to employees about Transits.

Best Contribution to Charity: Supercar Driver

The Supercar Driver team took the award thanks to its Secret Supercar Meet event. The judges were impressed by the fact that 300 supercars came together in the rain, and in two hours raised in excess of £22,000 for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, taking the club’s total since 2010 to £117,000.

Taylor also commended Club Triumph for the Round Britain Reliability Run, and the Daimler SP250 Owners’ Club for Frankie’s Classic Car & Bike Fest, which has made more than £125,000 since 2012, a fantastic effort for such a small club.

Best Contribution by a Youngster: Katrina Forey

This was a hard-fought category with excellent nominees, but after much deliberation the judges went for the TR Register’s Katrina Forey.

Our judges were impressed not just by what 28-year-old Katrina does, but also the impact it has on others in nurturing the classic-car culture in younger enthusiasts in the two years she’s been leading the TR Register’s Youth Group.

“She has not only made an impression on the whole club with her boundless enthusiasm, but also grown the Youth Group by increasing the events and activities on offer, engaging younger generations through managing their dedicated Facebook pages,” says the club’s Wayne Scott.

“When they do reach the point at which they can purchase a TR, she is able to hook them up with older, more experienced members,” he adds. “It is building this link where she excels.”

We also want to pay tribute to 19-year-old Darby Harris from the Honda S800 Sports Car Club and Matthew John of the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club, who’s 18.

Lancaster Insurance Club Initiative of the Year: The Rover P6 Club

An intriguing category saw several really impressive entries, including the launch of the Rootes Archive Centre Trust’s archive and the foundation of the Sharknose Collection by the BMW Car Club GB.

Ultimately, though, the judging panel decided that The Rover P6 Club’s superb ‘Crossmember’ membership system should take the award.

The brainchild of Membership Secretary Brian Humphreys, who’s invested a colossal amount of time on the project, it features automated membership payment by PayPal, committee-level login access, member access, membership records, vehicle records and automated renewal reminders.

In fact, so successful has it been that several other clubs have now also started using the system – and indeed nominated it for the award – proof, if it were needed, of just how innovative and ingenious it is.

Most Improved Club Magazine: Talbot Owners’ Club

Our judges were charmed by the brilliantly named Droop Snoot Noos, the pocket-sized, all-colour magazine produced by the Droop Snoot Group, while the TR Register’s TR Action also impressed, but these two fine publications lost out to the Talbot Owners’ Club Magazine in the Most Improved category.

Recently redesigned, with the first new-look edition being published in January, this substantial read has a high-quality feel and an easy-to-read layout – no mean feat for an in-house title produced by volunteers.

Club Magazine of the Year: The 1100 Club

Another difficult decision for the C&SC Club Awards judges, with huge numbers of entries and the kind of editorial quality we aim for in our own publication.

The strong, consistent design and great value of the Maestro & Montego Owners Club’s Monstro and the sleek, undeniably impressive Spirit & Speed from the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club were both excellent contenders.

However 2018’s Club Magazine of the Year is The 1100 Club’s Idle Chatter. A smart publication with high production values that doesn’t forget its traditional club magazine format, it’s a fantastic effort from a small club, produced under Magazine Editor Dave Wilkins.

Best Club Website: Honda S800 Sports Car Club

This was another strongly supported category with many high-quality entries. While the judges wanted to praise the work of the Maserati Club UK and the Lotus Drivers Club, there can only be one winner: the Honda S800 Sports Car Club.

This might be a small club with only around 120 members, but hondas800sportscarclub.co.uk is an easy-to-use, responsive website that doesn’t overwhelm you with information, yet still gives you everything you need in a polished package.

Best Club Run/Rally: The Veteran Car Club of Great Britain

At the risk of repeating ourselves, we again saw dozens of high-quality entries in this category.

The Honda S800 Sports Car Club’s 40th-anniversary celebration was one such example, as was the Jensen Owners’ Club’s East Coast Tour.

In the end, though, the judges went for the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain’s ‘The Long, Long Trail’, a tour visiting Belgium and France to commemorate the centenary of the Great War and tracing the story from 1914 to 1918.

Together with a tour in 2014 and a ‘Crimson Field’ stand at that year’s NEC show, plus the ‘Coming Home’ stand at this weekend’s show, this creative interpretation of a poignant narrative really stood out, particularly given the dates of the 2018 NEC show.

Best Club Show/Event: Alvis Owner Club

The Alvis Owner Club’s International Alvis Weekend 2018 was our winner here, thanks to a fantastic event which saw an incredible 106 cars descend on the Cumbrian town of Kendal from as far afield as Jersey, Germany, Norway, France and even Australia!

But there were two other entries that the judges wanted to highlight. First, was the event held by the Morris Minor Owners’ Club and the Morris Vehicles Association to mark the 70th anniversary of the launch of the Morris Minor, Morris Oxford MO and Morris Six.

The other was another birthday party as the Ginetta Owners’ Club celebrated the marque’s 60th anniversary, a large undertaking for a small club.

Best Small Club Stand: Fiat 500 Enthusiasts Club

Our main stand awards are split into three categories by size, and for the Best Small Club Stand category we were charmed by both The Bug Club and the Landcrab Owners’ Club International.

We were blown away, however, by the Fiat 500 Enthusiasts Club and its presentation of a Fiat 500: the car is starting off in completely knocked-down form and is being assembled during the show.

Best Medium Club Stand: Wolseley Register

Over to the Best Medium Club Stand award, and our judges were impressed by the Retro Caravan Club, the most colourful entry in the new Hall 8, and the anniversary celebration from the Ginetta Owners’ Club.

Our winner, however, featured some truly wonderful machinery from across the eras. It is, of course, the Wolseley Register.

Best Large Club Stand: The Veteran Car Club of Great Britain

There was yet more strong competition here, with plenty of past winners returning to the NEC with some fine displays.

We particularly liked the extraordinarily valuable yet completely accessible Bugatti Owners’ Club stand and the trip through history offered by the Standard-Triumph Forum, but our judges were unanimous in choosing the beautiful, fascinating and highly appropriate Great War commemoration from The Veteran Car Club of Great Britain.

Best Themed Club Stand: Austin Counties Car Club

The Classic Motor Show’s overall theme this year is ‘Built to last’, and that provided plenty of opportunity for stand designers to stretch their imaginations; the result was some superb displays.

We liked The Capri Club International’s interpretation, and the recreation of the 1949 Motor Show by the Jowett Car Club, but in the final reckoning, the judges chose the brilliant celebration of the A40’s longevity by the Austin Counties Car Club.

Most Interesting Selection of Cars: Historic Lotus Register

Always a tough one to judge due to the phenomenal variety of vehicles on display at the NEC, but our team eventually selected the Gay Classic Car Group’s display and the Pre-1940 Triumph Motor Club for honourable mentions.

The winner, though, thanks to a breathtaking line-up of sports and racing cars, is the Historic Lotus Register.

Classic & Sports Car Special Award: 1968 Ford Cortina GT, Historic Marathon Rally Group

As we walk the halls we always spot a few vehicles that might not be entirely appropriate for Car of the Show, but which we feel are deserving of a mention. That’s why we created the C&SC Special Award, for the car that captures the judges’ hearts.

Shortlisted this year were the mighty 1911 Daimler 25hp Landaulette from the Daimler & Lanchester Owners’ Club and ‘Valerie’, the wonderful signwritten Morris van from the J-type Register, but our winner, for thoroughly charming our socks off, is Theo Bengry’s Ford Cortina GT, as driven by his father Bill on the 1968 London to Sydney Rally and one of the stars of the Historic Marathon Rally Group.

Car of the Show: 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Vanvooren Cabriolet, Bugatti Owners’ Club

And finally, our prestigious Car of the Show trophy.

Every hall featured at least one classic that could easily have walked off with this award, but in the final reckoning we have honourable mentions for just two: the gorgeous Toyota 2000GT on the Toyota Enthusiasts’ Club display, and the Rochdale Owners Club’s superb Bristol Barb.

In the end though, we knew which stand our winner would come from – the hard part was narrowing it down to just one.

But as the car we’d most like to drive home, our winner is Andrew Pisker’s magnificent Bugatti Type 57S Vanvooren Cabriolet from the Bugatti Owners’ Club.

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