THE resurgence of rockabilly was plain to see as the Brunel Centre was invaded with vintage cars and motorcycles at the weekend.

The annual Vintage and Retro Festival saw the centre decorated with the stars and stripes as the town looked back to 1950s America.

With a host of fashion shows, live music and classic car displays, the undoubted crowd-puller was the wall of death, the Demon Drome.

The oldest of the death-defying tours still going, the drome sees motorcyclists risk life and limb riding horizontally in a ring.

Owned by bike enthusiast Dave Seymour, 50, the wall was built in 1927 in America and has been touring Europe ever since.

Dave and his 26-year-old son are the sole riders who wow crowds up to five shows a day.

“I bought it for the bikes, and I had no interest in taking it out on the road at first, but here we are,” said Dave.

“I taught myself to ride and took it out on the road. My son got involved when he was 14 and now he is 26 and is the other rider with me.”

Mike Bain, chairman of the Atwell Wilson motor museum, was raffling off a classic Mini Cooper as one of the Calne museum’s 300 motors.

The museum has been going since 1984 when two farmers started buying up old cars. When they died five years ago, it was passed to a charitable trust.

“We refurbish some of the cars, and the next one on our list will be the a Triumph Spitfire,” said Mike.

“Every year we raffle one car for the funds, and this year it is a Mini Cooper, which is obviously popular in Swindon.”

Plenty of stalls clustered the top floor of the Brunel, selling everything from clothes to memorabilia.

Andy Gleed, 50, of Park North, was selling off some of his vintage wares.

“Vintage is certainly coming back, and there is a much bigger demand for the clothing. It is better made and better quality. It’s actually going up in value, because people reminisce about it,” he said.

Paul Holmes, of Holmes Music, had a stall at the event for the first time.

“There is a big resurgence of interest in vinyl,” he said. “In particular the bowls we make from melted vinyl are going down well.”

Boswells cafe was transformed into an American diner and music included The Excellos, a vintage beat blues band, supported by rockabilly band Lew Lewis and The Twilight Trio.