A dedicated arena at the show will celebrate the heritage and legacy of the machines that have laid the foundation for today’s industry.
The classic plant exhibition will be fully operational, with vintage dump trucks, excavators and loading shovels. And there's space for more, if you have somethign suitable to show.
The classic plant display is being organised by Jeff Schofield, the former Hewden marketing chief whose client portfolio these days includes Plantworx. “We are all rightly proud of our industry’s heritage and history,” he says. “The Plantworx team is very much looking forward to paying tribute to these machines at this year’s event. Visitors will be able to walk around the exhibits and chat to the manufacturers, owners and enthusiasts, who in many cases have via a labour of love, painstakingly restored the machines to their former glory.
“We envisage that the classic plant arena will be a valuable addition to the show complementing the cutting-edge industry innovations our exhibitors will have on display on their stands around the show.”
Each of the classic machines will be a working exhibit. Most visitors are unlikely to remember the days before hydraulics when it took muscle to work the controls. Many may not even by old enough to remember when the operator’s skill and judgement was all that stood between success and disaster, with no electronics or safety monitors to prevent or warn of impending doom. This should be a real eye-opener for such folk.
Each day of the show a Vintage Pageant is planned – where the machines will be shown working. There will be running commentary from classic plant enthusiasts to take visitors on a nostalgic journey through time.
Dehane Rhodes and his son Will Rhodes, from Bridgwater Somerset, have confirmed that they will be bringing three of their working classic machines to Plantworx. They are both keen classic plant enthusiasts and their machines feature regularly in classic plant magazines and vintage plant exhibitions around the country.
The Rhodes family will be showing a 1982 International TD-15C, which is a diesel engine crawler tractor (above), built by the International Harvester company in the USA, along with a 1979 International 100B series 2 Drott crawler loader (below) and a 1968 Ford 13-6 Auto-Dig wheeled backhoe (bottom).
Will says: “We are really pleased to be the first classic plant exhibitor to confirm our attendance in the classic plant arena at Plantworx. I think it’s a really good idea to show not only the very latest technology in machinery – but also to show visitors where these modern-day machines originated from.
He adds: “It was these machines that helped build our motorways and much of the infrastructure we see today. It’s important to remember where our heritage began and keep the interest alive. I think that the classic plant arena will be a big draw for visitors.”
Any other vintage plant enthusiasts, manufacturers or owners who have working classic machines they would like to showcase at Plantworx are invited to contact Jeff (jeff.schofield@plantworx.co.uk) with details of your machine.
