Life in the Slow Lane (From Free Press Series)

Life in the Slow Lane

Members of the Border Counties Vintage Club devote endless hours to restoring, driving and exhibiting old vehicles which most of us would only otherwise see in films or books or transport museums.

The club, which last year celebrated its 30th anniversary, has 100 members spread around Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.

Michael Price, whose wife Yvonne is club secretary, is particularly interested in military vehicles. "I started off collecting vintage tractors - and still use them for ploughing matches. But I got fed up with the work involved in transporting them to shows on the back of a lorry. Military vehicles are much easier to move around. "Twenty years ago I bought a 1942 Dodge weapon carrier from a dealer in Kent and restored it to roadworthy condition. It had been used by the Greek army until 1980 but was originally delivered to the US Army for use in the Second World War. "In 1999 I took it to France with two friends for the 55th anniversary of D-Day. "We stayed in a hotel in Caen for 10 days and travelled over 1,000 miles. "We drove along the beaches at Arramanches (Omaha) and had a barbecue at Utah. We also visited many cemeteries and battle grounds. "At Omaha they played the Last Post with war veterans in attendance. We laid a wreath on the grave of a glider pilot who was buried at a cemetery near Pegasus Bridge."

As well as the Dodge, Michael owns a former US army Jeep which he bought in very poor condition from a heavy haulage company in Newport and over many months restored to its original state.

Michael also collects militaria, including weapons, helmets, radios and ammunition. One of his latest finds was a Tilley aerodrome floodlight which had been languishing in a scrapyard.

Michael regularly visits military sales in northern France to add items to his collection. "Once, while we were staying at a farmhouse bed and breakfast, we decided to visit a small war cemetery just up the road. Opposite was a ploughed field where we noticed some odd-looking round clods of earth. On closer inspection they turned out to be live Mills and Boon hand grenades from the First World War - 14 of them! "When French farmers plough up old shells they put them in stack by the side of the road for the bomb disposal people to pick up - so we did the same." As well as the Border Counties Vintage Club, Michael also belongs to Chepstow Vintage Club and Llangattock Ploughing Society. "I have a Standard Fordson, the kind used by the Land Army girls in the Second World War, which has spiked iron wheels and no tyres. I use it in ploughing matches. "I think it's interesting for people to see how farming was carried on years ago. At Llangattock Ploughing Show last year, for example, there was a demonstration of an old threshing drum and binder for cutting barley."

A fellow member of the Border Counties Vintage Club, Ian Harper, started his collection by acquiring a 1942 Standard Fordson.

Having spent eight months restoring it to working order, he bought another, and then another...

Ian, fleet manager for Abergavenny builders' merchants Robert Price, also runs a 1949 Bedford tipper lorry belonging to his boss which, until 1972, had been used at quarries by Wiltshire County Council.

The lorry, with Ian behind the wheel, has featured in several period films. "I drove it around Newport Docks in Intimate Relations, starring Les Dennis and Julie Walters, which was set in the 1940s. I also drove it on several locations in The Child Eater, doubling for the actor Alan Armstrong. I had to have my head shaved to look the part!" The restored lorry is filled with mock sand made out of fibreglass - an authentic finishing touch which once threatened to land him in trouble with the Department for Transport. "I was heading for a show in Dorset with the lorry and two tractors on the back of a low-loader," Ian explained. "Just off the M4 on the way to Bath police directed me to the weighbridge. The ministry official obviously thought the lorry I was transporting was carrying about 10 tons of sand and that I was going to be way over the legal limit. When I drove on to the weighbridge he just couldn't work out why my load was so light!" Ian's collection of vintage vehicles also includes a 1938 Pattisson based on a Model B Ford, which in a previous life carried equipment around private estates and golf courses, a 1952 Fordson Dexter, which he uses for road runs, a 1958 Ferguson T20 tractor and a Colt miniature garden tractor with a single plough.

"I suppose the Ferguson T20 is the best starting point for someone wanting to get involved in collecting because the mechanics are very basic and it's easy to get spare parts. You might find one under a hedge in need of renovation for £100 or you could pay 10 times that for one in working order from a cricket club or a farm."

Last year Ian took part in a road run in Lanarkshire which included about 900 vintage vehicles from all over the world

With other members of the Border Counties Vintage Club he also took part in a local 25-mile road run to celebrate the club's 30th anniversary.

Every spring and summer he exhibits his vehicles at about 20 shows around the country. "My daughters Laura, who's 15 and Katherine, seven, enjoy coming with me - in fact Laura's been involved since she was three. "Showing vintage machinery is a good way of raising money for charity. It's also nice for young people to see a bit of 'history'. "There are some amazing vehicles at the shows. I suppose the rarest thing I've seen is a 1920s motorised car that runs on steam, the kind you'd see in silent films."

The Border Counties Vintage Club stages its annual show at Vauxhall Fields, Monmouth on April 30.

Among several hundred exhibits will be steam-driven road rollers, tractors, cars, motorbikes, commercial and military vehicles as well as a range of stationary engines once used to drive farm equipment such as milk coolers.