Concours d’Elegance at Mdina

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

October 12, 2018 “Do you think we should take an umbrella?” asked my wife as we walked out of our hotel past the full umbrella stand located by the door. “No,” says I. “The sun is shining and the sky is blue, we’ll be OK.” We caught the bus for Mdina and then walked into the silent city through the ancient gate.

The history of Mdina dates back over 4000 years and tradition says that the Apostle St. Paul stayed in Mdina after being shipwrecked on Malta Island. The bastion walls which surround the city were constructed by the Normans. Following an earthquake in 1693 the interior of the city was rebuilt to a baroque design, and the Cathedral of the Conversion of St Paul, located in the center of the city, was rebuilt by the Knights of Malta.

But enough of the history, we made our way through the beautiful golden-hued, sunlit-narrow streets to the square in front of the Cathedral, as this was where the Mdina Concours was being held. The concours is the second event of the four-day Malta Classic Festival, now in its eleventh year. A hill climb was held the day before at Mitahleb a short distance away on the coast but we missed that. The Grand Prix would be run tomorrow and we hoped to take that in.

At the concours, a good cross section of cars were on display ranging from popular classics of the sort you hardly ever see these days right up to David Stevenson’s Bugatti T35 and Egon Hofer’s recently reacquired 1969 Ferrari 212E Hill climb car. My wife and I were rather taken with Joe Catania’s Fiat Topolino, complete with its Ragusa car club sticker from 1971/72 still proudly displayed in the windscreen, and the dark blue Bentley T1 opposite looked fantastic in the early autumn Mediterranean sun. Fans of Harry Potter were well catered for with two amazing Ford Anglia’s on display. It was also nice to see two totally immaculate Mk1 Escort 2 doors that had not been turned into historic rally cars.

After taking a tour of the cars as a couple my wife went and found a place to sit whilst I went off and took endless photographs. By this time the sky was turning dark and the sound of thunder in the distance could be heard. I made one final round of the display cars, and then the heavens opened and the Medieval streets of the silent city echoed to the sound of a major thunderstorm overhead. It rarely rains in Malta but when it does it pours down. The water pouring off the drain pipes on the roof of the Cathedral was something to be seen and a river was fast forming down the center of the square. Some shelter for us was provided by the baroque doorway of the Magistrates palace and the doorways of the Cathedral opposite offered some shelter to the crowds. After about 30 minutes the storm had subsided but by then many of the cars had left, most of them having not been taken out in the rain by their proud owners for years. OK, who said we would not need an umbrella as we waded back into the square?

Website: https://maltaclassic.com/