East Anglian Practical Classics are helping Woodbridge Methodist Church celebrate its 150th anniversary.
This is particularly apt as, in the same year that the church was founded, Dr John Wesley Carhart, an American Methodist Minister, began constructing a steam-powered cart that laid the foundations of early mechanised personal transport. His machine, named “The Spark”, was so successful it earned its inventor the title “Father of the Automobile”.
In recognition of this ‘double event’ East Anglian Practical Classics will be displaying a selection of heritage vehicles at the church, of the types that would have been seen in 1971, marking 100 years from the beginnings of both the Woodbridge Methodist Church in 1871 and the car as we know it today.
This unique display event will take place on Bank Holiday Monday 30th August on the forecourt of the church in St John’s Street, Woodbridge.
On display, we hope to have two extremely rare cars, a 1966 Gordon-Keeble (no.94 of the 99 made) and a 1950s Paramount, one of only 72 examples originally made, of which less than half a dozen still exist. Also one car that was brand new in 1971, a Toyota Carina, representing the fashion for fins in the 1950s, a Vauxhall Cresta and a venerable Austin Seven Ruby from the 1930s – there would still have been a few of these being used in 1971.
1966 Gordon-Keeble 
1950’s Paramount
Father of the Automobile: In 1873 the Rev Dr. John Wesley Carhart of Racine, Wisconsin designed and operated the first light self-propelled highway vehicle in the United States and probably the first in the world. He named it “the Spark.” It was driven by a two-cylinder steam engine, steered by a lever, and had a speed of five miles per hour. When his “infernal machine” first appeared, the hideous noise created by its operation caused the people of Racine to threaten to run Carhart out of town. Carhart seems to have agreed with the general opinion of his invention but added, “It must be remembered that at the time there was no liquid fuel, ball bearings or rubber tires.” At the 1908 International Automobile Exposition held in Paris, France, Carhart was addressed as the “Father of Automobiles” and received a cash award and a certificate of honour for his invention.
For any further information please email Mr R Monty Guest, rmguest74@gmail.com
There is also a website: http://wmc150.methodistic.org.uk