The deep throaty sound of raw horsepower rumbled in and around Montagu for two days in November, bringing traffic to a standstill and crowds of curious spectators to the hotels in Bath Street.

It was the second run of one the South African versions of the Cannonball Run. This was for ‘Muscle Cars’ - what they call beast machines that run with anything from 400 to 700 horsepower engines, chew petrol at the rate of 4km per litre, easily reach 280km per hour, and are worth from R300 000 to R1.5m each.

The cars were Ford Mustangs, Chev Camaros, Firebirds, and Dodge Challengers of the middle 60s era, but there were also older vanettes and at least one Ford Fairlane. They are all rebuilds, fascinating muscle make-overs so that, despite their age, they looked awesomely handsome.

The run through Montagu was organised by Custom Classics, a Cape Town company owned by Martyn and Debbie Davis. Other similarly-named events take place at different times of the year.

Martyn said that there were 35 cars and 65 people on this Muscle Car Run. They were on their favourite jolly, the chance to let their machines loose in the Karoo, where they have more freedom to reach the sort of speeds that they like to reach.

They were, he said, burning petrol, scorching tarmac and making music - and they left a fair portion of their collective wallet in Montagu, where they stayed overnight and enjoyed the town’s hospitality.

They were based mainly at the Victorian and Montagu Country Hotels, which meant that they were parked in and around that central portion of Bath Street.

Fantastic machinery, beautiful work, stunning colours, and the exploding chorus of metal with muscle.