foot down

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Published: 12:00am, 30 Oct 2004

We love receiving your letters, even when they're not necessarily favourable. Reader 'Richard H' says we didn't mention the prize for the best-presented car in last weeks' write-ups of the Chater Road Classic Car show.

'Did it have no significance?' he writes. 'I may be biased - I built the car that won that award [David Keattch's 1957 Austin Healey 100/6].' Richard H also points out that one of our photos of a side mount spare wheel did not in fact belong to a 1947 MG TC. Apologies, Richard, for the captioning error, but in our defence the model did come out a bit before our time.

A Pokfulam reader writes that our coverage failed to mention that the show, despite being in the middle of Central, was not open to the public, and that he was turned away.

'I observed many other would-be fans also turned away. Given the comments you've made about members-only Ferrari events in a previous column, I hope you'll have a few proverbial rotten eggs to throw in the direction of the Classic Car Club of Hong Kong.'

Again we apologise for the misunderstanding, however the club did tell us that the cars were on 'public display', and we were unaware of any restrictions to public access.

Foot Down was among those turned away from the Mandarin Hotel end of the inner section of the show, by an eagle-eyed and courteous teenage girl in uniform. But we weren't disappointed, because Chater Road is narrow - perhaps too tight for the show these days - and all the cars and bikes were enjoyable, a few feet away, behind railings. We saw the advantage of this barrier when Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen's walkabout drew a crowd around the classics that often seemed at risk from the casual scuff of a rucksack or, say, the swing of a camera lens on a dentable yet inaccessible wheel arch. Owners on Chater Road seemed happy enough to talk over the barrier to onlookers. The club's website has full contact details for its 400 members (www.classiccarclub hongkong. com).

So, apologies to any disappointed readers. Foot Down supports any Hong Kong motoring club that loves its wheels, shares its knowledge and models with the public for free in a fine, fun event, rolls out the financial secretary and raises $77,000 for the battered mums at Harmony House.