The Kingdom Veteran Vintage and Classic Car Club will remember one of its most popular members during the Annual Autumn Run this weekend.
Dick Mason, from, Caherleaheen just outside Tralee passed away in September 2019. He was one of the club’s most active members and he and his wife Anne put a lot of work into the social side of the club.
Dick’s family have commissioned a special trophy in his honour. The Dick Mason Memorial Perpetual Trophy will be presented at this weekend’s Autumn Run in Kenmare.
It will be presented to the member who has made the biggest contribution to classic motoring in County Kerry - the Sprit of the Club - in the last year as decided by Dick’s family.
The Mason Family and members of the KVVCC unveiled the new trophy at a special event at the Ballygarry Estate on Friday last.
“This is a great way to honour him,” said his wife, Anne. “The vintage club was his life.”
KVVCCC’s chairman Tony Hehir said: “Dick was a friend to everyone in the club. No matter what time of day or night you called him he was happy to help you.”
His friend Tom Slattery became a member of the KVVCCC in 2000 after Dick persuaded him to join.
“He gave me a loan of an Austin A40 for a few road runs to see if I would like the scene,” said the Monavalley man .”Here I am 23 years later still involved. We helped each other out with a lot of restoration projects.”
The club’s Autumn Run gets underway from the Kenmare Bay Hotel next Saturday morning.
Over 100 cars will take part in a road run along the Beara Peninsula and the Healy Pass before returning to the hotel for a night of celebration.
Among them is Dick’s son Alan who will drive the family’s 1966 Austin Mini.
The oldest car on the run is a 1933 Rolls Royce. Three cars from the 1940s will participate: a 1946 Austin, a 1947 Bentley and a 1949 Riley.
Every decade of motoring from the 1930s to the 1990s is represented on the entry list.
Other interesting cars include a 1956 Ford Anglia, a 1966 Mercedes W110 Fin Tail, a 1973 Triumph Stag, a 1984 Jaguar XJ6 and a 1999 Toyota Celica.
