The country’s largest annual gathering of classic cars will take place at this Sunday’s 2026 Cars in the Park at Zwartkops raceway near Pretoria.Organised by the Pretoria Old Motor Club (POMC), it is the 44th running of an event which every year draws thousands of classic-car owners and enthusiasts. More than 120 clubs will display their vehicles at the family-friendly event which includes food stalls and a market selling motoring memorabilia.Cars that show up every year range from vintage machines dating back to the early 1900s to classics from the 1950s and 1960s, hot rods, muscle cars, custom cars, rat rods and turbocharged street machines. It is this varied mix of motorised adoration that makes the event so special.A special exhibit will be a selection of iconic racing cars from the Saloon Car and Group N championships that competed on South African tracks from the 1960s to the 1990s. The lineup includes the BMW 325iS and 333i, Opel Superboss, Ford Sierra XR8, Renault Gordini R8, Alfa Romeo GTV 3.0 and Ford Capri Perana V8 Basil Green — cars that made household names of drivers such as Jody Scheckter, Mike Briggs, Grant McCleery, Serge Damseaux and Tony Viana. Sarel van der Merwe's championship-winning Ford Escort will be a highlight of the motorsport display. (NICO VAN STADEN) A five-decade-old Ford Escort rally car driven by motorsport legend Sarel van der Merwe will be one of the highlights too. The Southern Sun-branded Escort took Van der Merwe to one of his record 11 South African Rally Drivers Championships.Another special commemoration will be the Mercedes-Benz classic club celebrating 140 years of the German brand, and the birth of the car. It was in January 1886 that Carl Benz filed the patent for the first motorised automobile.Spectator admission to Sunday’s Cars in the Park for adults costs R150 at the gate or R130 on itickets, and is free for children under 12. Gates open for spectators at 8.30am.Exhibitor entry is free for two people per car, and they will arrive from 6am.Business Day