The first John Haynes Classic on Sunday 7 September was a roaring, if soggy, success, attracting hundreds of classics to the Haynes Motor Museum in Sparkford, near Yeovil. The event was set up by Chris Haynes in honour of his father who with wife Annette set up the workshop manual empire and later the world-class museum.
The core of the event was the rows of displays of owner cars from individuals and clubs. These represented every niche of the hobby from vintage people’s cars to modern hypercard. As well as superb group turn outs of Aston Martins, MGBs, Porsche 911s and notably MG XPower SVs, plus the Yeovil Car Club, there was an excellent showing of Americana and a good few exotics, too.
Dotted among the aisles of the car park were everything from a delicious Fiat Dino Coupé and Aston Martin DB MkIII to Lada Niva and Volvo 66 GL Estate. Outside the front of the Museum was a special selection of cars that had famously featured in the Haynes manuals.
Tucked around the back, visitors could go into the workshops and talk to the staff and also see a few more exotics such as a Lamborghini Miura and prewar Aston racer. There were 20 of so stands from food vendors to Bath University and the Spitfire AA810 Restoration. Being just down the road, there was a pair of Ariels, too.
The live stage was populated by a wide range of experts and ‘faces’ from the classic car world including Iain Tyrell, Edd China and Ralph Hosier but the most moving segment was when Chris Haynes and his mother Annette reminisced about John Haynes OBE, who passed away in 2019 and building his company from a pamphlet on building a 750 Special while at school to the global Haynes Publishing Group and founding the museum in 1985.
