The scene was stupendous. On a sloping hillside next to shimmering Lake Balaton in western Hungary, acre after acre of multicolored tents stood next to row after row of brightly painted caravans. And above them all, like so many regimental battle flags, pennants fluttered in the summer breeze. Said one slightly awed Western European visitor: "I feel that Charlton Heston should step out of that big blue tent and tell us all to charge."
The setting was not the location of a film spectacular. Instead, it was the 27th annual rally of the world's oldest (34 years) and biggest (about...