Anyone who follows us on Facebook or Instagram will soon see that we are lovers of vintage bikes and old cars…in fact anything that is pre-computerised motors and can be tinkered with and fixed by a humble mechanic. So, we were more than happy to find that in Estremoz, and practically in all small towns and larger villages of the Alentejo, there are motor enthusiast clubs that are going strong…
Vintage car club Estremoz
Estremoz has its own classic car association, AVCE – Associação de Veículos Clássicos de Estremoz, which hosts an annual car show and collectibles fair in March in the exhibition centre on the industrial estate with around 30-40 classic bikes and cars taking part. It also organises several charity road runs and displays throughout the year, trips to Spain and club lunches. The association is pretty inexpensive to join if you own a vehicle over 30 years, and is family friendly. The vehicles range in age from 1920s models right up to the 1980s, so something for everyone.
Contact AVCE via their Facebook page or website.
Classic vehicles in Evora
A really great thing to do on a Sunday morning is to make your way to Evora. In the market square close to the Chapel of Bones, the Evóra Clássicos group meets on the last Sunday of each month. They start arriving from around 10:00hrs with a really mixed selection of oldies but also admitting ‘special interest’ and ‘sports tuned’ vehicles to take part. Some are for sale, but most are beloved members of the family, prized and mimados (pampered) for years. This is a quite laid-back gathering, one of our personal favourites, with some arriving late and everyone meeting up at the café for a late breakfast or early beer. The main municipal park is right there too, so even if you are only mildly interested in classic vehicles, the wander through the park and great coffee makes it worth dropping by.
Contact Evóra Clássicos via their Facebook page.
Motorbikes in Borba
The Moto Clube de Borba is for a little more hard-core bikers, although most of the bikes are are fairly old skool and small-engined. We went along to a display of grafitti and bikes that they hosted in August as part of the town’s annual festas, which showed mostly Famels, Casals, Sachs and Zundapps, but all lovingly taken care of and still ridden today. As part of the event, the club organised a fun street circuit race against the clock for little cut-off minis and similar cars – lots of doughnuts and handbrake turns, even a stoppie or two! Great family fun and a flowing beer tent. Looking forward to going to more events from these guys.
Contact Moto Clube de Borba via their Facebook page.
Putt putts in Gloria
Newly regenerated, the Capacetes Cerejal, is a group of youngsters based in Gloria, Estremoz, who love nothing more than getting together with their bikes and taking a group ride out on the weekend. The meeting place is the stunning church in Gloria with fantastic views out to the Serra d’ossa, and we went along recently to check out their first large-scale event to celebrate the village festas in honour of Our Lady of Gloria. 120 owners of ‘motorizdas antigas’ (old motorbikes) signed up and enjoyed breakfast, a drive out, second breakfast and finally a return for lunch – yes, the Portuguese know how to do these things properly! Among the bikes taking part were a couple of Vespas (one classic and one newer), a Yamaha DT125 and a Sachs (cross).
Contact Capacetes Cerejal via their Facebook page.
So now the dilemma for us is which group to become part of…we’re leaning towards taking our classic Triumph motorbike (at the moment still a project) to Evóra Clássicos one Sunday morning…
