Author: PJS (Page 1 of 3)

It’s that time of year again – Club membership renewals are due at the end of December.

To join or renew, simply go to our Membership Page and follow the instructions there. It’s easier for the Club if you can pay online – payment is fully encrypted and secure, and we neither see or retain any of your card details (payments are handled by Worldpay).

Membership fees have not risen, despite increasing postage posts, so membership still represents excellent value compared with many similar clubs. If you join or renew now, your membership will be valid until 31st December 2025.

If you are joining us – welcome! And if you are renewing, many thanks for your continuing and loyal support!

Well-known club member and restorer David Whyley has clinched the 2024 RAC Motoring Book of the Year Award, with his book ‘The Austin Pedal Car Story’, which details the history of the famous pedal cars produced by Austin at its specially-created factory at Bargoed in Wales.

David has this to say about the book, which was produced and published in conjunction with Austin Pedal Cars Ltd :
“On Wednesday night at the RAC club in Pall Mall ‘The Austin Pedal Car Story’ was voted overall Motoring book of the year for 2024. My name joined the others engraved on the award including the late John Surtees, Damon Hill and Adrian Newey.

The RAC Motoring Book Awards are like the Motoring Oscars, and I am proud to have been awarded this overall Award. This is a great honour for me personally, and for the team at Austin Pedal Cars Ltd and Porter Press.

It is recognition of the importance of the ‘little’ Austin J40 pedal car that is now such an important and integral part of the Goodwood Revival via the Settrington Cup race”.

The Austin Pedal Car Story is still available, with an RRP of £85, from its publisher and other booksellers.
Many congratulations to David on his success, which is the culmination of many years of dedicated research into the topic. You can also read the full press release from the RAC and watch a short YouTube video of the presentation.

Members who access the archive of ‘County Counsel‘ issues online will be pleased to know that another year’s worth of magazines has now been added to the archive. You can now access all issues up to and including issue 284 (Nov/Dec 2022).

If you’re a current member and would like access to the archive, please email the editor and you will be issued a password.

You can now buy your 2024 club membership online here The cost has been held at £30 per annum.

If you are a new member and join in November, you’ll get six copies of ‘County Counsel’, during 2024 and, as with all members , you’ll qualify for a discount with our preferred supplier of new parts, Longbridge Motor Spares.

The organisers of the November NEC Classic Car Show have released the code via which club members can access discounted tickets. Unfortunately this came just after the latest magazine had been sent for printing, but it has been included with the copy of the magazine emailed to members.

If you need to see a copy of it, it’s been added to the ‘Members Only‘ area as an item in the ‘County Counsel’ archive. If you haven’t yet requested your member’s password for the archive, please email me and I’ll send it to you.

I’ll also include a copy of the flyer with the Sept/Oct ‘County Counsel’ due out in late October.

The ACCC Annual Rally will take place on Sunday 16th June 2024, and will be held in the New Forest area of Hampshire.

As with previous rallies there will be activities, including a club meal on Saturday 15th, throughout the weekend.

Further details will be published in ‘County Counsel‘ nearer to the date.

Member Peter Harrison has kindly sent some video footage of some of our cars leaving the Makeney Hall Hotel during the Rally weekend, with some footage of them in situ at the Crich Tramway Village.

You can view the footage here .

As members will be aware, the club has made new arrangements for the supply of new and used spares.

These are detailed here or can be found by looking under the ‘Spares’ menu link