Classic Car Run from Manchester to Blackpool cancelled after 60 years on the road

The Manchester to Blackpool Classic Car Run will depart from The Henry Boddington pub in Pendlebury on June 12 for its final 50 mile journey to the park’s Italian Gardens.

First staged in 1962 as the North of England’s version of the London to Brighton Car Run, the event is known for its impressive collection of unique and pre-war vehicles, drawing in hundreds of eager spectators each year.

READ: Vintage motors on show from city to Fylde coast

Now the event’s long legacy is coming to an end, as organisers at the Lancashire Automobile Club announced: “After 60 years it has run its course, and due to continued urban spread in Greater Manchester and Preston areas, we are finding interesting routes harder to find.”

Club vice president Chris Lee, who has been involved in the Classic Car Run since 1967, said: "Our first proper big car run took place in 1963 and there were 200 entries, a lot of them pre-war. In those days you were running down leafy lanes. We've run it ever since, and only missed one year – the year before last – due to Covid.

“It’s got increasingly difficult as Manchester has spread and Preston has spread and Chorley had spread, it’s harder to find a route that’s not simply roundabouts and traffic lights.

"We’re not able to put something on that people will appreciate, and we’re not seeing as many cars.

“We've taken people up Pendle Hill in the past, and Wrightington. The big problem is getting out of Manchester and through Preston is getting harder and harder.

“We decided we'd keep running until we got to 60, and by then it would have run its course.

“I’m so sad to see it go, we all are. But we do not want the event to slowly die. We want to run a great event and everybody will enjoy it, and that will be the end – we draw a line under it. I don’t want to get to the point where it’s running 20 cars and nobody is bothered about it.

“None ofus want to do this, but we all realise that it’s for the best and a way to finish things properly. We cant fault the support we've had from Blackpool over the years and its been terrific what has happened, but it just cannot go on.”

Mike Chadwick, who used to publicise the event, said: “I used to work in the Blackpool tourism department, and the very first event I worked on in 1972 was the Manchester to Blackpool Car Run. I was a 15-year-old junior clerk in the attractions department.

“It all started as the North’s answer to the London to Brighton Car Run. It used to be sponsored by the Daily Telegraph and by the Sunday Mirror, so it has had some pretty big sponsors over the years. Thousands used to line the route from Manchester to Blackpool to watch the cars go by.

“But the interest in vintage cars these days has diminished somewhat. Times have changed.

"It remains a big part of Blackpool’s history. Les Dawson used to take part in it, he was a big supporter of it, and in fact he died just a few days after the Car Run in 1993.

“It is a shame to see it go, it is sad, but life goes on.”

The Classic Car Run route

As a homage to the event’s long history, the final run will return to the original routes used in the 1960s, when two separate routes existed for ‘veteran’ and ‘vintage’ cars.

Mike said: “This year we have set off to recreate the very early route. We’ve got the original maps and eveything together, starting from Manchester just outside the city centre.

“The original start point was Albert Square, and that is a car-free zone now.”

Cars will depart from the The Henry Boddington in Pendlebury at 11am and head to Irlams o' th' Height in Salford, following the A6 to the Blackrod bypass.

There, the vintage route will turn off to Rivington and Belmont, while the shorter veteran route continues along the A6.

The vintage route will drive to Wheelton and the Lower Rivington Reservoir before returning to the A6 at Adlington and rejoining the veterans as they travel through Chorley, Bamber Bridge, and Lostock Hall.

The veterans will continue to Preston Dock, while the vintage route passes through Longton, Hutton and Penwortham before rejoining the veterans at the Dock. They will then travel though Freckleton and Warton, where the journey will diverge for the last time, with vintage vehicles passing through Wrea Green and Moss Side.

At around 2pm, the convoy will drive along the seafront from Lytham to St Annes and onto Blackpool Promenade, past the Pleasure Beach, before turning right towards Stanley Park. The first cars are expected to arrive at the Italian Gardens at around 3pm, where they will then be judged in a concours with awards for their originality and condition. The premier award, the Blackpool Trophy, will be presented by the Mayor of Blackpool, Amy Cross.

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