Baby, You Can Drive My Oldsmobile

The Garden Of Ireland Vintage Car Club MON21APR25

aturally, when the Garden Of Ireland Vintage Car Club tells its members that they’ll be leaving The Grove Bar at 11am sharp, half of them won’t actually have arrived by then.

And on this Bank Holiday Monday, it seems like the other half aren’t in all that much of a hurry either.

Which is perhaps understandable when you’re dealing with classic cars, these beautiful old motors that were built more for elegance and comfort than speed.

“That said, some of these cars can really rip,” smiles Mick Nolan, one of the founders of the club, and the owner of such traffic-stoppers as a gleaming yellow Rolls Royce and a time-travelling DMC DeLorean. “It’s just that none of these cars have anything left to prove. They’ve been around for many decades, and they’re still going strong…

“That’s the real beauty of a classic car.”

Today is the annual Easter Bunny Run, a convoy of classic cars heading off on a 25-mile spin, leaving and returning to the club’s unofficial headquarters, The Grove. Other popular get-togethers include The Annual Tom Kennedy Memorial & Classic Vehicle Show at St Mary’s GAA in Enniskerry on July 13th and The Annual Liam Kelly Memorial Run in September.

There’s also the monthly Third Monday meetings at The Grove, 9pm. You can find out more about any of the above by contacting the bould Charlotte on email here or by phone here.

In the meantime, we spoke to Mick about the origins of The Garden Of Ireland Vintage Car Club, remembering old friends, and the ever-growing love out there for classic cars…