AN ICON of the 1960s will have star billing at this year’s Stratford Festival of Motoring.
The last known surviving vintage mobile cinema, known as Audrey, will be rolling into the town over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend.
Audrey has featured in George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces TV show and was described as ‘the most amazing cinema bus in the world.’
And it will be something of a homecoming for the 50 year-old whose Bedford SB chassis was fitted with coachwork by Coventry Steel Caravans.
Audrey was one of seven custom-built mobile cinemas built by the Government in 1967 to tour engineering companies around the country promoting modern production techniques in an effort to help improve UK productivity.
Auctioned off in 1974 at the end of the project, she is believed to be the only survivor of the seven and various owners have completely restored her including upgrades to the engine, gearbox and brakes to handle modern traffic conditions, enabling her to tour events around the country.
Current owner Ben Moorhouse bought Audrey in 2015.
He said: “Stratford sounds like the perfect event that Audrey is great for, and the kind of audience that will be there will be incredibly excited about it I think.”
People will be able to watch Pathe archive newsreels dating back to the early 1890s, as well as material provided by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust and hear about the plans for the trailer which Ben is hoping to turn into a cocktail bar to accompany Audrey to functions.
The Festival of Motoring – which last year attracted 60,000 visitors – will include some 300 classic cars parked throughout Stratford town centre on Sunday April 30 and Monday May 1.
