We had had a few short trips around the district, getting a little practice at driving our car. It was getting time to show off to people other than those who saw us on the road, or in the car park of the farm shop. The local paper reminded us that Leyland Transport Festival was to take place over the weekend.
A call to the British Commercial Vehicle Museum gave us the information we needed. Just turn up at Centurion Way, outside the old Leyland Motors works, and report to be registered.
We duly drove though Leyland - with lots of people looking - found the right people and filled in a registration card.
The organisers reshuffled the various vehicles into rough "classes" and lined us up ready for the parade. At the appointed time, the convoy set off towards the town centre, led by a traction engine. This allowed the parade to be proceed as "ordinary traffic" in its wake, because the powers-that-be had decreed a huge fee per minute for the closure of Hough Lane, the main street of Leyland.
The public, however, were in no doubt about the status of the vehicles travelling before them.
They cheered. They clapped. They took photographs. They cheered again. We sounded our Klaxon horn. They cheered louder. It is quite wonderful to drive down the middle of the main street of a town with thousands cheering you.
From the far end of Hough Lane, we were directed to a car park opposite the museum. We spent the rest of the afternoon showing our Daimler in close-up to the many people visiting Leyland that day. Everyone seemed to want to know how the engine worked, how much it cost in 1927, how the windows magically close on demand without electric motors to raise them......
