Calling all classic cars connoisseurs!
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Calling all classic cars connoisseurs!
The Old Motors Club of Malta (OMC) was formed in October 1989. It is an offshoot of the former Collectors' Vehicles Club (CVC), which also catered for vintage motorcycles and military vehicles. Today, there are three clubs: the Old Motors Club, the Historic Motorcycle Club (HMC), and the Military Vehicles Collectors Club (MVCC). Together, they form the FMVA (Federazzjoni Maltija Vetturi Antiki) but are autonomous from each other.
The OMC is today the most significant vintage and classic car club in Malta, with some 300 local and overseas members and close to 1,000 cars. The oldest car in the club is a 1904 Cadillac, one of the first to come to Malta. The OMC accepts all cars on a 25-year rolling basis.
The aims of the club are the restoration, preservation and enjoyment of vintage and classic vehicles. Various popular makes are represented, the majority of which are British. However, to a lesser extent, Italian, French, German, and other Continental makes are also keenly sought.
Obscure makes such as DKW, Marmon, or Goggomobil may raise an eyebrow, but they are also present on the Island. American vehicles, known for their fins and petrol-guzzling qualities, are also quite popular. Lately, we have also experienced an awakening of interest in relatively rare Japanese cars.
The committee and members of the OMC are passionate about old cars and regularly help other members. This assistance may vary from searching for parts or vehicles to advice and practical help during a restoration. The OMC also assists members when difficulties arise from time to time with the authorities regarding new legislation, etc., that may affect the classic car hobby.
In its younger years, Old Motors Club meetings were held at the houses and garages of the founder members. Following that, meetings started to be held at hotels. The first proper small clubhouse was situated at Narrow Street in Lija.
In 2012, former club Chairman, the late Dr Lino Gauci Borda, negotiated and acquired the current clubhouse at Hope Street in Mosta.
Researched and written by our newsletter editor - Chris Scicluna
A club born out of charitable events.
This year, the Old Motors Club celebrates 35 years since it was born out of a charity event and the love of five men for history on Wheels.
The club was formally established in November 1989, rising from Collectors' Vehicles Club (CVC) ashes. Five former members of the CVC, Lino Debono, Joe Cucciardi, Godwin Hampton, Francesco Depasquale, and Clive Micallef, banded together to hold a car show at the Oratory in Birkirkara, followed by another in Gozo, all to raise funds for charity.
Such was their success that as the CVC was relegated to history, they formed the Old Motors Club, with Mr Debono as chairman.
Whereas the CVC catered to every sort of vehicle—a situation that caused the skirmishes that eventually led to its demise—the Old Motors Club was initially meant to cater only for pre-war and wartime military vehicles.
Within a short time, however, membership was opened to owners of all vintage vehicles (now set at over 25 years) while owners of military vehicles branched out into their club.
As was the case for the CVC, the Old Motors Club aims to promote the preservation, restoration, use, and enjoyment of veteran, vintage, and classic cars as an integral part of Malta's heritage.
It has succeeded in achieving this purpose. One only needs to remember how, years ago, Malta's countryside, particularly the valleys and the bottom of Dingli Cliffs, was a veritable graveyard of old cars.
And those cars which did not meet that end and also survived the scrapheap often became old bangers, puffing their smelly way along Malta's streets, usually powered by totally unsuitable diesel engines, to the disgust of most and the sheer dismay of those who could see history in those rust buckets.
Happily, that was a time when 'barn finds' still happened. Club members became 'car detectives' as they sought out, salvaged and then lovingly restored fine examples of Malta's history on wheels.
The club has never strayed from the social responsibility at the heart of its founding.
Thanks to them, several cars held by the club's members are now over 100 years old and pristine.
Club members also bought several old cars originally imported by senior officers of the British services and left here when the forces departed, ten years before the club was formed.
The club's activities calendar filled up quickly, with a range of classic car shows, runs and rallies all over Malta and occasionally in Gozo, whetting the appetite of people unfamiliar with old cars.
The club also increasingly proved its worth in helping members access technical expertise and spare parts – in an age when there was no internet – and tours were made abroad, notably to the popular Beaulieu auto jumble in the UK. The club now organises its own 'meet and swap' events.
As early as 1991, the club's committee bound itself to start talks with the government to achieve lower road licences, registration fees and customs duties for historic vehicles. The talks were started by Mr Debono and carried on by his successors at the wheel, Chris Fenech and Godwin Hampton. They dragged on for many years, and the crusade was eventually taken up by the Federazzjoni Maltija Vetturi Antiki, which was set up in 1998 on a suggestion of the club, also roping in the owners of historic motorcycles and military vehicles in a united front.
Thanks to their work, the owners of genuine old vehicles in pristine condition now enjoy advantageous licensing and registration fees—a milestone in the club's aim to save and preserve old cars. This arrangement has also boosted the importation of historic vehicles.
Some members' collections are now the envy of enthusiasts abroad, and their garages are veritable museums and joys to behold.
While achieving advantages for its members, the club never strayed from the social responsibility at the heart of its founding. Its members' cars still frequently grace events held to raise funds for charity. The club also regularly raises funds for charity from its events. The fund-raising show at Dar tal-Providenza is among the most popular events.
The club's first 'home' was an old house in Triq id-Dejqa, Lija, which club members restored in 2002. This made it easier for them to host social events, particularly popular rooftop barbecues.
But the club quickly outgrew the premises, and within a decade, the committee was on the hunt for new ones.
Hard work, notably by then chairman Lino Gauci Borda, paid off, and the government eventually granted the club an old, long-abandoned former services communications site in Hope Street, Mosta.
The buildings, well over 100 years old, were painstakingly restored in line with their original character for use as a meeting hall, a committee room and a bar where members often meet to discuss their car issues over a drink.
The overgrown rat-infested surroundings became a much-needed, surfaced car park. The premises were inaugurated on July 3, 2015. More recently, a field at the back of the premises was transformed into a grove.
Meanwhile, the club continued to develop as the 'go-to' authority on old motors. It protected members' interests as VRT legislation was enacted in the 1990s and is now similarly monitoring regulations planned for electric vehicles and ethanol-mixed fuel.
The newsletter started in the club's early years and has developed into a monthly English-language magazine. The pictures in the club's large-format, high-quality calendar now adorn many garages. More recently, the club set up its Internet and Facebook pages.
Activities have also become more varied, including an annual run in Sicily, treasure hunts, timed runs, shows focused on individual marques and social and family events. A ladies' section, set up by the club last year, now handles the social events, which have grown in popularity.
Dr Gauci Borda passed away six years ago, casting a shadow on the club's 30th anniversary celebrations. Current chairman Judge Michael Mallia observed at the time that what Dr Gauci Borg wrote when the club turned 15 years old still rings true:
"Great things beckon for the club in the future as long as members keep high their common love for old vehicles, their comradeship, with no social barriers getting in between them, and their pride of belonging to the Old Motors Club."
A small taste of what our events look like.
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