VINTAGE cars from around the country converged on the North-East yesterday in an annual test of safety and reliability.

The 33rd Beamish Run featured 118 cars and motorcycles of 50 years old or more.

Its route, starting and finishing at Riverside Park, Chester-le-Street, County Durham, took participants through some of the most beautiful countryside in the region, including Weardale and Teesdale, County Dur-ham, and Arkengarthdale and Swaledale, North Yorkshire.

Honorary secretary George Jolley said: "It was a successful day, despite the weather.

"The weather did put a slight dampener on things, but it was not continuous rain. We even had some hailstones in Stanhope and Langthwaite.

"One benefit was that there were no radiator problems, as is normally experienced on hot days."

Only about ten vehicles failed to finish, through mechanical or other problems.

Competitors had to visit nine marshalled checkpoints to earn points, with the popular lunchtime stop on the village green at Bainbridge, in the Yorkshire Dales, now a fixture.

In a change to the route this year, a short stretch along the A66 was removed.

The oldest participant was 86-year-old Cyril Purvis, from Sunderland, riding his 1950 BSA 123cc. He was given number one and set off at dawn. The oldest vehicle was a 1905 Brown Brothers car.