'Twas the night before Brighton...

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When you're a child, nothing is as exciting as getting up early on Christmas morning to go and unwrap your presents. Then you reach that age when you discover veteran cars, and you find you've got a better reason for rising at some obscene hour on a freezing morning when everybody else is comfortably wrapped up in bed...

There are 364 other nights of the year when we get to sleep soundly, and the annual commemoration of the Emancipation Run is an occasion well worth getting out of bed for, so we enthusiasts aren't as mad as the general populace might think us to be. The dawn breaking over Hyde Park, bringing to life the autumnal tints of the trees and the jaunty colour schemes of 400 or so early cars, is exactly the sort of thing that warms our hearts, no matter how damp or frost-bitten the morning may be.

Yes, we're looking forward to the London to Brighton Run, and if you're taking part or spectating then we hope you are, too. And if you can't make the run for whatever reason, don't forget that around 100 or so veterans will be on display in the St. James's Concours on Marlborough Road tomorrow.

Veteran cars make for a fine sight on London's historic streets, as this photograph shows. We see the 1903 Thornycroft 10hp of W. Vaux. It's 3.00 p.m. on the afternoon before the Brighton Run, and the car is parked by the pretty shop fronts opposite Bailey's Hotel and Gloucester Road Station in South Kensington. Pedestrian traffic looks quieter than it probably would be nowadays, but it's clear what the centre of attention is; there are six people in the shot and all look full of admiration for the Thornycroft. The early Jaguar Mk. II pulling it along is a most attractive piece of design in its own right, but they were ten a penny then, of course.

If you fancy seeing early examples of everything from Albion to Wolseley, you know where you need to be. Find yourself a spot in Hyde Park or on Madeira Drive, or anywhere in between, on Sunday 5th November, and perhaps we'll see you somewhere along the way.

Words: Zack Stiling; photograph: Stiling Collection

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