50th Scottish Transport Extravaganza (AKA Glamis) - 11th / 12th July
I guess it must be a sign of getting older, but events seem to come round increasingly quickly every year and one of the highlights of the classic car calendar up here in the Northeast of Scotland - Glamis – seemed to sneak up on us when we weren’t looking!
This year marked the 50th Scottish Transport Extravaganza, brilliantly organised as ever by the Strathmore Vintage Vehicle Club over the weekend of 11th and 12th July 2026. It never ceases to amaze us how many vehicles and stands there are and this year was no exception. The programme, which was presumably written sometime in advance, said there were over 2000 exhibits but reports on the day increased this to an amazing 3000+; add to this 3 sides of the large top field jam-packed with traders selling pretty much anything you could possibly want, and it was clear that this was going to be an outstanding weekend!
We were once again invited by Mike and Kay Dennis to join them on the Tayside MGOC stand which frequently wins the prize for the best stand at the show. We started making arrangements as early as last November and Club members had to register no later than December 20th to ensure a space on the stand, with around half a dozen members signing up.
The event unfortunately clashed with the popular Moray Miglia which a few members elected to do instead.
Mike and Kay put an enormous amount of work into getting the stand ready and they started around a week ahead of the event by cutting the grass; this was followed by a few trips to get rid of the grass cuttings and then a couple of days putting up fences, flags, banners and marquees etc. all to make the stand very welcoming for us visitors. Thanks!!
Glamis has traditionally featured exceptionally hot weather for the past few years and after a bout of extremely hot weather this year, we expected the same. However, Saturday was overcast and a bit cooler but thankfully dry, and Sunday, the day that most members attended, was again overcast and thankfully slightly cooler than recent times but it gradually brightened up and turned into a fabulous day.
There was so much to see and do that in all honesty, one day isn’t enough to see it all. All the exhibits were to a very high standard and there was some rare and wonderful machinery on display.
One of the highlights was a Rolls Royce which had been modified to take a Rolls Royce Merlin engine from a 1944 Spitfire; this was de-tuned from 2200 bhp to 1200bhp!! When I was young (yes, a LONG time ago!) in the mid-70s a chap called John Dodds carried out a similar exercise and created ‘The Beast’ which was a Merlin engined car which, to my teenage eyes, looked not dissimilar to a very stretched Scimitar (see first image below). He evolved the car over a number of years and it is perhaps most famous for a lengthy court battle with RR over his use of the RR grille – which he lost! I guess it’s a sign of different attitudes that the car at Glamis was based on a RR and boasted the famous grille!
So, another brilliant but tiring day and huge thanks once again to Mike and Kay for all their hard work on our behalf.
