THE rain stayed away and the crowds came.
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That was the short version of yesterday's inaugural Classic Cars at Clarendon, which attracted about 250 cars and a dozen or so vintage motorcycles to the historic property at Nile.
National Trust events and special promotions manager Hilary Keeley said that yesterday's event was part of the National Trust's month-long Tasmanian Heritage Festival and funds raised would go towards restoration of the Clarendon House roof.
``The roll-up from the public surpassed our expectations - I'd say we had about 900 people spread throughout the whole of the grounds and the house,'' a delighted Ms Keeley said.
``And although we had a bit of a ceiling collapse on Thursday, it was a fantastic way to explain to people why we were fund-raising for the roof.''
Ms Keeley said that the cars, motorcycles and Tasmanian Horse Drawn Vehicle Federation display fitted in well with this year's festival theme, Journeys.
And while classic cars from marques such as Jaguar, Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce graced the Clarendon lawns, motorcycles had pride of place on the stately home's gravel driveway.
Launceston riders Mark French and Shon McIntee were among the motorcyclists who brought their bikes along to display.
Mr French said that he had bought his 1950 BSA B31 ``a good 10 years ago''.
Mr McIntee said that his 1957 BSA Road Rocket was in pretty good condition when he bought it ``not very long ago'', but he also had three other bikes that he'd owned for up to 40 years.
Mr French said that the bike was ``in a bit of a mess'' when he bought it.
``I got the wheels restored and they looked fantastic, so I had to do the rest of the bike to the same standard,'' he said.
Both said that they were delighted to hear about the Clarendon event, as it gave them a good reason to go for a Sunday ride.