South Australia’s iconic Bay to Birdwood, one of the world’s great historic motoring events, hits the wide-open road on Sunday, October 20 with a parade of more than 1500 historic vehicles cheered on by tens of thousands of spectators.


A feature of the major events calendar since 1980, this unique motoring event attracts car enthusiasts from all over Australia parading their veteran, vintage and classic vehicles on the streets and roads of Adelaide and surrounding suburbs.


“There is no event in the world like the Bay to Birdwood,” Bay to Birdwood Chair Michael Neale said.


“We regularly get 90,000 people lining the route between West Beach and the National Motor Museum in Birdwood – that’s about 7% of the population of Adelaide, enough to fill Adelaide Oval twice over.


“South Australians are immensely proud of the Bay to Birdwood and multiple generations return year after year to watch the historic cars and bikes wind their way through the city and up the rolling Adelaide Hills.”


A popular feature of the event is the internationally recognised awards for vehicles in the


Concours d’Elegance, Preservation and the EV Conversion categories.


“A unique feature of some of the Bay to Birdwood awards is the allocation of points for period- correct clothing, attire and accoutrements,” Event Director Dane Wilden said.


“Over the years, this has created a cosplay-like element to the whole event with many people dressing up regardless of whether they are in the awards or not and it influences the whole event.”


Spectators can catch their first glimpse of the gathering of the historic vehicles and the colourful participants at Barratt Reserve in West Beach, with the first vehicles departing from 8am and arriving at the National Motor Museum in Birdwood in the Adelaide Hills from 10am onwards.


Motoring enthusiasts can watch the parade wind its way from Anzac Highway up Greenhill, Fullarton and North East Roads through Tea Tree Gully and the townships of Inglewood, Gumeracha before finishing in Birdwood.


“At the National Motor Museum, thousands more enjoy the wonderful atmosphere provided by great entertainment for all ages, a close-up look at some rarely seen historic vehicles, a stroll through the museum, some lush local food and drinks and the gathering of an enthusiastic community. It brings a lot of joy as we celebrate spring,” Mr Wilden said.