As the bi-annual British Motor Show opens its doors to the public at Excel in London’s Docklands, Goodwood announces today (25 July) the recreation of the classic London Motor Show, as held immediately post-War at Earls Court.  Goodwood’s Earls Court facility will add an exciting new element to the annual Goodwood Revival meeting, the world’s most authentic historic motor race meeting.

The Goodwood Earls Court Motor Show exhibition area will take its inspiration from the celebrated London Motor Shows, with an original Art Deco frontage reminiscent of the glory days of exhibitions of the past.  This spacious new area will give the expected 115,000 Goodwood Revival visitors an insight into how motoring of the future might look from a pre-1966 perspective, with a display of ‘futuristic’ 21st  century cars.

Externally Earls Court looks like the entrance to a 1950s Motor Show, promising to display ‘cars of the future’ inside.  As no post-1966 vehicles are ordinarily allowed on site during the Goodwood Revival, the Earls Court Motor Show will enable the event to break out of its ‘period’ timeframe and display post-1966 vehicles.  The effect will be like walking into a Tardis, offering other-worldly futuristic new cars to see, right up to and including manufacturers’ latest products.

Each stand will be presented in the style of a traditional Motor Show of the 1950s or 1960s.  As with the rest of the Revival, the overall display will not be set in a specific timeframe, but rather at some unidentified point prior to 1966.  Manufacturer displays are therefore expected to include contemporary cars of the 1950s or 1960s, as well as some ‘concept’ cars showing each company’s visions of what production cars might look like in the early 21st Century.  Car manufacturers confirmed to be exhibiting at this ‘motor show of the future’ will include Maserati, Jaguar, BMW, Ford and Rolls-Royce.

In addition to the manufacturers’ stands, there will be a central ‘concours d’elegance’ exhibition staged in association with BGC, the voice and electronic brokerage specialists.  This display will commemorate ‘the Fastest Car in the World’, featuring around 25 performance cars from the 1920s, right through to the present day, all of which were the most rapid cars in production at the time.

Goodwood’s historic links with Earls Court are very strong.  The famous London Earls Court exhibition site was built on land once owned by the Duke of Richmond; the Earl in the name referring to the Earl of March, from which the present 10th Duke of Richmond, and his son Lord March, are directly descended.

To assist in the unveiling of the Goodwood Revival Earls Court building, a number of Oil Exco models were on hand to pose with some iconic Motor Show cars of the past to provide some traditional Motor Show glamour.

Goodwood Revival founder, Lord March, says, “The challenging sweeps and bends of the historic Goodwood track will not be the only curves to watch at this year’s Revival.  It’s great to see such nice bodywork on the cars, and the girls!”

The historic Goodwood Motor Circuit celebrates two significant anniversaries in 2008.  Foremost is the 60th anniversary of the now legendary circuit, which opened its gates to the public in September 1948 to host Britain’s very first post-War motor race meeting at a permanent venue.  The Goodwood Revival, devised to celebrate those early halcyon days of motor racing at the famous West Sussex-based circuit, also marks its own 10th landmark anniversary this year, and many special features are planned to mark the occasion, in addition to Earls Court.