A RARE 1925 Ford Model T known as a Tin Lizzie will be a highlight of this year’s Classics on Show event organised by the Rotary Club of Stokesley.

The classic vehicle show at Stokesley Showfield will celebrates its tenth anniversary on Saturday, June 18.

The Model T’s owner Chris Dunne is bringing the car from Derby for his Classics on Show debut. This particular Tin Lizzie, which can reach a top speed of 70mph, was built for racing and competed across dirt tracks in America and France until 1960 when it was dispatched back across the pond to be restored and race at USA T Rallies with great success.

She ran her last race in France in 1993 before being brought to England by an enthusiast. She was bought by Chris two years ago after languishing in the garage of her late UK owner for 15 years.

“I have kept her much as she was as the body work was okay, though the engine did need freeing off,” said Chris. “While her racing days are long over, she still cuts a dash when seen on the road.”

Chris Mayes, Classic on Show spokesman, said the Tin Lizzie is a very apt 2022 showstopper. “It is the show’s tenth anniversary, aptly our tin anniversary, and also an occasion to celebrate the jubilee of the country’s own much-loved Lizzie, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”

Stokesley Rotary Club has high hopes for this year’s event following last year’s record Classics on Show, which brought in £11,140 - more than double the £5,320 income from the inaugural 2012 event. Visitors in 2021 soared to 2,500 with an exhibiting fleet of about 500 cars, tractors, buses, Army trucks and motorbikes, taking to the showfield. 

It featured its first dedicated motorcycle arena with models dating back to 1919 and a display by the Eden Camp Second World War museum at Malton and its re-enactment troupe. The results were a long way from the launch event which attracted 150 vehicles and 1,800 visitors.

Chris said: "We’ve managed to grow the show in terms of exhibitors, visitors and revenue generated every year apart from 2015 when the weather let us down and a torrential downpour kept exhibitors and visitors away and our takings sank to their lowest. Other than that, we’ve really motored along with our total revenue to date amounting to £54,907."

For 2022, the club is rerunning its dedicated motorcycle arena which proved a big draw. “We are also investigating the possibility of other dedicated vehicle arenas,” added Chris.

This year’s entertainment line-up features the show’s stalwarts the Bilsdale Silver Band and there will be a NAAFI Café run by Chapters Bistro of Stokesley with the showground sporting bunting throughout to mark jubilee month.

Exhibitors to the show, which this year will raise funds for the Samaritans, Great North Air Ambulance and Blood Bikes as well as other Rotary charities, enter for free, though are encouraged to make donations. Visitors pay £6 or £14 for a family ticket while auto jumble traders pay £15 for a standard pitch. Classics on Show 2021 is sponsored by Mathewson’s classic vehicle auctions of Thornton-le-Dale, SG Petch, the family run multi franchised car dealership, and Lexus Teesside.