If car shows didn’t get a little weird every now and then, we would be stuck looking at the same stuff over and over again.
Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing a Honda S2000 or a BMW M3 as much as the next bloke with a camera at a car show, but too much of anything in life is never good for you.
As I covered in my initial Retro Rides report, focusing on the standout cars, this is a multifaceted event with a lot going for it. While the shiny show cars definitely deserve and got their own article, they’re not the only thing keeping the Retro Rides ecosystem in equilibrium.
If anything, I would actually argue that the beating heart of the Retro Rides community comes from the folks who get a kick out of putting together cars that simply don’t have a huge fanbase, or shouldn’t be seen going round a racetrack at 100mph.
It’s here where things get weird at Retro Rides, but awfully fun. Let’s jump into it where we left off last time, with that green thing next to the Suzuki Cappuccino…
For our American readers who might not know, this is a Mk3 Fiat Panda. The Panda has it roots in the world of reliable superminis, often associated with the car your grandmother would own as her choice of reliable and relaxing transportation for drives to church on Sunday.
This one is a touch different.
Set up more for track excursions rather than the morning paper run, this little Panda spent the morning flying around Mallory Park Circuit chasing down bigger and faster cars. Helped by a set of Nankang NS-2Rs and what looked like a 1.4L 16-valve T-Jet engine swap from the Panda’s bigger brother, the Grande Punto, this thing will be good for around 160hp.
Small cars like the Panda were out in full force at Retro Rides. If the little Fiat wasn’t niche and Italian enough, how about an Autobianchi Y10? Marketed and sold under the Lancia brand throughout the late ’80s and early ’90s, these cars were never really that popular back in their heyday, let alone today. And yet here at Retro Rides, we have one laid out on the grass.
Okay, not weird enough? Time to get the three-wheeler out. Again, our international readers are likely unfamiliar with this, so allow me to introduce the Reliant Rialto – the spiritual successor to the (virtually identical) Reliant Robin. This is an English-made, fibreglass-bodied economy car known for its… general shoddiness and its unique ability to fall over. Who’d have guessed?
The car famously became the butt of all jokes in UK pop media, most famously by playing the role of the disabled vehicle in the Mr. Bean series where it kept falling over, and then decades later in Top Gear episodes where Jeremy Clarkson kept rolling one. Gaining meme status did however give it a personality that people seemed to get on board with today, so much so that one maniac decided to slam one on the floor.
See? This is what I mean. Retro Rides is far more than a standard modified classic car event. People think outside the box here, and it’s amazing to see.
Some significant examples of outside the box thinking came in the form of engine swaps. There were plenty at Retro Rides, with two of them standing out to me most. Firstly, the Lada on The Late Brake Show stand packing a 2.3L Cosworth Duratec punch under the bonnet. This is the sort of thing you’d build on a video game out of pure curiosity before wracking havoc in a multiplayer lobby.
Side note, in the comments section of Mark’s Retro Rides intro article someone said they wanted a proper photo of the little Fiat 850, which was also on display in this area. Your wish is my command!
The second engine swap that stood out to me was this Reliant Scimitar (yup, they built a convertible sports car alongside the wonky three-wheeler!). Again, this one has a Ford lump under the bonnet, but this time it’s a 2.5L Duratec from a second-generation Focus ST.
But my favourite oddball from the show was this 1985 MG Maestro. You just never see these cars out and about anymore, and that’s not at all surprising. They were made during a period of time when British Leyland owned MG, and if you know anything about that operation you’d know that the build quality of the Maestro is simply forgettable. If these cars haven’t rotted away, they’ve most likely been scrapped.
And yet this one has somehow survived. It’s not only in immaculate condition, sporting a colour scheme that would make Porsche’s PTS division jealous, but is also lowered on a set of wheels I’ve never seen before.
This article really could really go on forever. I’ve still not spoken about the Fiat 126 track car with a Suzuki Hayabusa engine in the back…
…or the absolutely medieval looking Little Tikes Cozy Coupe strapped onto a lawnmower engine.
But that’s the beauty of Retro Rides, alongside the good, you also get the genuinely weird and infinitely interesting stuff. More than often, you can’t even tell the difference between the two, and that’s probably my favourite thing about the event. I’m sure this won’t be changing any time soon either. Until next year, Retro Rides.
Michał Fidowicz
Instagram: candyshowroom
Keyword: Where Things Got Weird At Retro Rides…