Five years ago Bob Wilkinson struggled to get anyone to listen to him. He was a crank and a crackpot, with pie-in-the-sky ideas about classic car owners lending their precious assets to young enthusiasts – for free – in the hope that it might inspire those youngsters to buy an old car of their own. Bob approached large numbers of clubs asking them to support his project, and most of them turned him away, seeing very little merit in the scheme.
But thankfully not everyone showed him the door, and one by one some of those clubs decided that maybe it wasn’t such a hare-brained idea after all. Nowadays the Classic Car Loan Project is ticking over very nicely, with some clubs providing more than one car. It’s easy to understand their initial reticence, but speak to anyone now involved in the Classic Car Loan Project (CCLP) and there’s no dissent at all: Bob is a genius who has worked miracles.
In this issue you can discover what makes Bob tick, and it was a pleasure spending
a day with him, talking about classic cars and the future of our scene. An inspirational man with a great sense of humour, many – perhaps even most – enthusiasts would have
thrown in the towel at the first sign of apathy.
But not Bob, and the classic car movement is in his debt for his vision as well as his tenacity. With the CCLP gaining momentum each year, now might be the perfect time for you or your club to get involved. Hopefully the interview on page 30 will inspire you to do just that. So why not drop Bob a line? It’s unlikely that you’ll regret it.

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NitroFlare

• delicious UK – February 2022
• Classic Rock UK – March 2022