1-4 June 2011 – Three Castles Welsh Classic Trial, a three day classic car event with regular rally, driving tests and concours taking part in the ancient landscapes of Angelsey, Gwynedd and Clwyd in North West Wales. More information here.

3-5 June 2011 – Alvis International Weekend at Brooklands, Surrey,  the birthplace of British Motor Racing with Alvis racing cars, featuring every one of the Alvis models manufactured during the years of production, with concours and driving tests. http://www.alvisoc.org

4-5 June 2011 – Klondyke Steam and Vintage Show at Draycott in the Clay, Staffordshire, engines in steam, open workshop, tractors stalls, hot and cold refreshments and more for a day out with the family. http://nsctec.co.uk

5 June 2011 – Bude Cornwall Motor Classic, the 2nd Classic Motor Show at the rugby ground of Bude, Cornwall for all classic cars and free to all entrants and visitors, with full bar and food facilities, situated next to the River Neat and close to the town centre, camping for entrants available if required. More information on the website.

5 June 2011 – 22nd Classic London to Brighton Run, start at the Mercedes-Benz Museum, Brooklands, Surrey with Sir Stirling Moss flagging the cars off, stopping point: Bluebell Railway, finish: Madeira Drive, Brighton, more information on http://www.classicmotorshow.com

7-8 August, 2010 – Woodvale Rally, more than 1200 vintage and classic cars and motorcycles and 70 clubs are part of a large weekend event for the entire family taking place at Woodvale Airfield near Southport, Merseyside, L37 7AD. There will be a model flying display, model boats and railways, children’s entertainments, a fair, live Music and a car boot.
Website: http://www.woodvale-rally.org.uk

Classic car © flickr/Draco2008

8 Aug, 2010 – Faversham Charity Car Show & Bootfair in support for Help of Heroes is a car show with classic and sports cars, bikes and military vehicles and a giant bootfair. There will also be life music and a children’s fun fair. Abbey School Field, London Rd (A2), Faversham ME13 8RZ, Kent, England Email: Ian.tarrant@dsl.pipex.com

8 August, 2010 – Locke Park Classic Car Rally & Summer Fair, all classic and modern classic vehicles are welcome at Locke Park, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK.
Website: http://www.ytcc.co.uk

14-15 August, 2010 – Motormania 2010, a new car show to be held at Wicksteed Park, Kettering, Northants, NN15 6NJ, UK.
More information: http://www.motormania2010.webs.com/

14-15 August, 2010 – Classic Motorshow with classic cars, bikes, vans being part of the charity motorshow. A family day out with stalls amusements, entertainment, and refreshments at Old Forde House, Newton Abbot, Devon.
Website: http://www.classicmotorshow.org

15 August, 2010 – Cranleigh Lions Classic Car Show & Autojumble, classic car show and autojumble to be held at Cranleigh Showground. With Mark Evans and Ian Wren running arena events.
Website: http://www.cranleighlions.org/classiccarshow

21 August, 2010 – the 5th Annual Blast To The Past Car & Truck Show is a free registration classic car and truck show  with live music and food & fun.
Located on Hwys 412 & 59S on the stateline of Oklahoma & Arkansas, USA
For more information: gale.bushyheadrowley@cnent.com

22-25 August, 2010 – Disneyland Paris Car Rally, there you can combine the wonders of Disneyland Paris and your love of cars on a 4 day trip.
Website: http://www.southquaytravel.com/rally
Email: Rhubbard@ictsqt.co.uk

30 August, 2010 – Kent Chrome n Cruisers is a  classic car and bike show with auto jumble and will be held at Central Park Stradium, Sittingbourne, Kent, England.
Email: maggsian@hotmail.com

And shade they find mostly under trees and that is where more danger for the paint is waiting. It’s droppings from our friends the birds.

Droppings © flickr/Hong Ray

The bird droppings are highly acid, which is bad enough for the paint of your classic car, but when you try to remove it with a wet towel, you will notice that it leaves scratch marks. Bird’s droppings are not only acid; they also contain gravel that birds use to digest their food.

The best you can do is to carry a bottle of water mixed with carbon dioxide with you in your classic car. Just water and carbon dioxide without any salt. The water won’t do any damage to the paint and when you shake it well when having a thumb on the spout, after having removed the lid, you can create a blast with which you can easily wash off the substance some bird left on your classic car. You should also wash away insect splatters as soon as possible by the way because the bodies of the insects also contain acid.

If you are worried about the effect that this can have on your cars, perhaps it might be a good time to have a look at your car insurance and see if you can get some good multi car insurance for your collection.

If you leave the droppings on the paint for too long you might have to polish your car to fix the damage.

For the motorcycle tour on 21st August pre-1939 motorcycles with or without sidecar are allowed, and for the classic car tour on 22nd August pre-1970 cars are permitted.

Classic Car©flickr/kathrin_gaisser

Starting point for both tours is Augustusburg Palace located in the German Erz Mountains.

Both tours go through the magnificent landscape of the Erz Mountains to Klösterle Palace in the Czech Republic located on the Eger River. After a meal you drive back to Augustusburg Palace where you can enjoy yourself in one of the restaurants or beer gardens.

Register before 9 am for a 9:15 am start. The entry fee is 10 Euros.

There is a youth hostel in the palace and on reaped areas around the palace camping  is possible. In the lido in Erdmannsdorf, about 4 km form Augustusburg, camping is also possible.

You have to get registered before 23rd July, 2010, more information for the motorcycle tour and the classic car tour you get here: Motorcycle, Classic Car.

The Spring VETERAMA in Ludwigshafen will be held on 17 + 18 April, 2010 and on 24 + 25 April, 2010 (motorcycles only).

Vintage Car©flickr/infomatique

On the VETERAMA visitors will not only find spare parts, accessories, tools and literature, but also entire vehicles. Among insiders the fair is well known for its affordable prices.
On the show arena visitors can present their classic car and let it be rated by the public.

No matter whether you are looking for spare part for your veteran motor bike or if you are looking for a high-powered racing cycle, on the Spring VETERAMA you can find all.

You can easily get to the VETERAMA by car via motorway (Autobahn). In Ludwigshafen just follow the signs.

Opening hours:

• Saturday:      08:30 am – 18:00 pm
• Sunday:     08:30 am – 16:00 pm

Entrance fees:

• Daily ticket:      8.00 € (only on Saturday or Sunday), 5.00 € reduced price, only available with adequate document (student ID etc.) or on Sunday after 2 pm
• Family ticket:     10.00 € (only on Sunday) parents with two children up to 15 years
• Insider ticket:     20.00 € (valid for three days: Fri/Sat/Sun) Please note that only the insider ticket allows you to visit the exhibition on Friday.

The event begins on Friday with the registration and on Saturday there will be a classic car contest,  but also enough time for coffee and lunch. The tour ends at about 3 pm in Nes where the participants are welcomed with music and drinks.

Classic Car©flickr/Martin Pettitt

In the evening there will be a buffet with music and the winner of the contest will be announced.

On Sunday there is no program but you will have time to enjoy beautiful Ameland. You can go on a cycle tour or just walk on the sandy beaches.

You can take part in the Classic Car Weekend if you are the owner of a classic car built between 1948 and 1977.

Unfortunately the number of participants is limited so that no more drivers can participate this year. But you are of course welcome to watch the event. If you send your name and address to info@vvvameland.nl you will get next year’s registration form in January 2011.

Besides several exhibitions like 100 Years of Alfa Romeo or 200 Years of Peugeot, you can see presentations of the Schörghuber Group, Mercedes-Benz Design Center, Prototypenmuseum (the Museum of Prototypes) in Hamburg. On different auctions classic cars will be sold and you can of course also see motorcycles and trucks and you can learn about electric engines during the last 150 years.

There will of course be an international car parts market too on the Retro Classics and lots of entertainment like fashion shows and music.

Lovers of Porsche sports cars can not only see the latest model, the Porsche Boxster Spyder, but also its predecessors, the  Rometsch Spyder, the Mathé Porsche and the Porsche Typ 64.

Classic Car©flickr-bslmmrs

• Motorrad-Museum in Augustusburg – Schloss (Palace), Saxony: Here you can see a collection of classic DKW and MZ motorcycles. On October 3, 2010 there will be a vintage car meeting. www.die-sehenswerten-drei.de
• August Horch Museum in Zwickau, Saxony: The museum is the place where August Horch had his car factory for decades. Here the Horch, later the Audi and the East German Trabant were produced. www.horch-museum.de
• Autostadt Wolfsburg in Wolfsburg, Lower-Saxony: In the Autostadt you do not only see new Volkswagen cars but classic cars too. This is a place for lovers of old and new cars. www.autostadt.de
• Feuerwehr- und Technikmuseum in Eisenhüttenstadt, Brandenburg: Firefighting from the 16th to the 20th century, with old fire engines and tools, is what you can see here. www.museen-brandenburg.de
• Fahrzeugmuseum Suhl in Suhl, Thuringia: Here you can see the legendary “Greifzu” racing car. And you can learn about the long vehicle manufacturing tradition of the town. www.fahrzeug-museum-suhl.de
• Auto- und Technik-Museum in Sinsheim, Baden-Württemberg: Here you can not only see the old Concorde but also classic cars from different countries, racing cars, vintage race cars, and much more. A visit will really be worth it. www.technik-museum.de
• Porsche-Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Baden-Württemberg: Here you can see 80 Porsche cars and learn about the history of Porsche car manufacturing. www.porsche.com
• Deutsches Museum in Munich, Bavaria: In the Verkehrszentrum (traffic centre) local branch of Deutsches Museum, you can see lots of vintage cars, motorcycles, and more. Also see the main museum and the Oberschleissheim airfield. www.deusches-museum.de