ONE of the biggest historic car shows in the South West has been cancelled due to coronavirus.

The Crash Box and Classic Car Club said that owing to the ongoing uncertainty and restrictions relating to the pandemic, they had decided to cancel their annual Historic Vehicle Gathering for this year.

It was due to have taken place at Powderham Castle over the weekend of July 11 and 12.

The main reasons given for the decision were to protect the wellbeing of the large number of volunteers involved in the preparations and running of the show, many of whom are in the ’at risk’ age bracket, and also to limit the financial effects on the club.

The Crash Box and Classic Car Club was established in 1964 and is open to all classic vehicle enthusiasts regardless of whether they own a vehicle or not.

And the Historic Vehicle Gathering is the group’s principal annual show. It has been running since 1975 and recently won the prestigious ’Outstanding Annual Show’ award at the National Car Club Awards.

This event is run entirely by hundreds of unpaid volunteers and attracts around 2,000 classic transport-related exhibits.

This has allowed the Crash Box and Classic Car Club to support hundreds of charities in the surrounding area and beyond.

Rally chairman Richard Nunn said: ’The Crash Box Club regrets the inconvenience and disappointment at the cancellation of this year’s Historic Vehicle Gathering which has been running for 47 years. Over the years we have raised in excess of £200,000 for mostly local charities.’

Exhibitors and others who have already applied to enter the show and paid will be given the option of either a full refund, to allow the club to use the entry fee for charitable donations or, alternatively, to ’roll forward’ the application to the next show in July 2021.

Exhibitors and others who have prepaid should contact the club representative to whom they applied originally in order to request a refund or make their option known by July1, 2020.

Further details can be found on the Historic Vehicle Gathering’s dedicated website.

The provisional date for next year’s Historic Vehicle Gathering is July 10-11, 2021. Further details and updates can be found by visiting https://historic-vehicle-gathering.info/ or the ’Historic Vehicle Gathering’ page on Facebook.