The Veteran Car Run

There is a new tradition in England now. Every year a large number of veteran cars drive from London to Brighton. Veteran cars are those which were made before 1904. The run takes place on the first Sunday in November. In November, 1896, a law was published. It said that a man with a red flag must walk in front of every car when it moved in the streets. In those days people were afraid of the cars.

The run begins at eight o’clock in the morning from Hyde Park. Some cars look very funny. The drivers are dressed in the clothes of those times. The oldest cars move in front. The run is not a competition but a demonstration. Some cars reach Brighton, which is about a hundred kilometers from London, only late in the evening. Others don’t get there; they have to stop on the way.