I’ve been to a few events at the Classic Motor Hub but thanks to the pandemic and some date clashes, I’ve not been back for a couple of years, so I was looking forward to attending their season-ending Coffee and Classics event last Sunday. Thankfully the Autumn morning started on the right side of classic-friendly, dry if not exactly warm, but then it is October.
The Hub (as they call it) combines classic car sales, restoration, storage and events under one banner. It also sells a range of merchandise and operates a small but welcoming café. We featured it in a piece a couple of years back, so if you want to know more about the background to the Hub, you can do so here.
Their Sunday morning Coffee and Classics events have been running for a few years now – less the pandemic-caused gap – and as usual, this one was sold out and attracted a diverse selection of some 250 classics, from the mundane to the exotic and all stops in between.
The route from our house to the Hub includes some lovely country roads through the spectacular Cotswold landscape and as we – me, my other half and two friends – arrived at the former RAF Fighter Command base just before 10.00am in die Zitrone, we were given a prominent spot at the front of the hub and parked up next to a 1959 Austin Healey 3000 and a very lovely black 1934 Lagonda 4 ½ litre, and attended to the first order of business, a coffee. Our row was further augmented by a lovely 1971 tangerine Porsche 911T, a smart Lotus Elan and an E-Type roadster among others– not bad company!
Part of the morning was spent just watching classics arrive as we supped our coffees on the deck outside – a charming dark blue 1970 MG 1300 was followed by a white Lagonda drophead and a very elegant pale blue 250SL Pagoda, as well as a cute white 1964 BMW 700LS and a 1976 Ferrari 308GT4 in Giallo Fly – I like these Bertone-designed wedges more and more, especially in this colour – just a small sample of the variety of classics that morning.
Coffees consumed, it was time to wander around the parking areas which were filling up nicely, with sounds courtesy of an excellent trio, New Rules, accompanying us. My enthusiasm for Porsche 911’s was nicely catered for – besides the tangerine 911T, a 1971 911S 2.2 Targa in the same shade, two 1993 911 C4’s – one in blue, the other in silver and a third from 1990 in red, as well as a 1976 911. 2.7 were dotted around the site. What looked like a pale blue Carrera 2.7RS however turned out to be a look-alike, having originally been a 1985 Carrera. Looked good, though.
Another long-standing favourite of mine – and most of the team here at ViaRETRO – is the Opel Manta A, and I was very pleased to see a yellow ’73 Manta 1900SR arrive. It took it’s place in a delightful row that included a white Mercedes 300SL W107, the aforementioned 911S Targa and a 1973 Stag, later replaced by another 911, this time a 1979 3.6 – I would have happily driven home in any of them. I was also very pleased to find another ‘02, this time a very tidy 1975 1602 in what I think is Taiga Green, though my old eyes find it hard to differentiate between that and Mint Green.
Tucked away round the back of the main building was a stunning red 1969 275GTS Spyder; I’m not clear whether it was a visitor’s car (I didn’t see it arrive) or part of the Hub’s stock, but what a motor car…
There was some cool Americana among the visitor cars – a purposeful red 1965 4.7-litre Mustang Fastback, a gold 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible, a black 1941 Cadillac and most unusually, a copper red ’63 Chevrolet Corvair had also found their way to this lovely Cotswolds location. Manoeuvring some of these bigger beasts around the narrow local roads must have been interesting, especially when something came from the opposite direction…
The Hub also throws its showrooms open for these events – it is a business, after all, and these events are a marketing exercise as much as they are a gathering of classic car enthusiasts – and here there were some absolutely mouthwatering classics available, some at jaw-dropping prices for those with very deep pockets. A Ferrari Daytona? Yours for £475,000 (quite a bit less than it would have been a few years ago, it must be said). A stunning Frazer-Nash BMW 328 was available for a mere £650,000, and these were far from the most expensive classics available. There was no price displayed in the window of the 1956 Jaguar D-Type, but if previous auction prices are any guide, it would be a safe bet to assume it would require somewhere around £4-5m to take it home.
There were fabulous cars everywhere you looked – a majestic 1939 Bentley 4 ¼ litre, the last Vanden Plas bodied four-seater in a sumptuous gold finish, and the first TVR, or to be more precise, one of just four TVR Trident prototypes by Fissore from 1965, fully restored just a couple of years ago carrying a price rag of £109,000. For sale in a separate showroom, some astonishing between-the-wars machines such as a pair of Vauxhall 30/98’s at £265,000 and £275,000 respectively – can you imagine any more recent Vauxhall being deemed so desirable? And I’ve just scratched the surface.
Not everything costs an arm and both legs at the Hub; for less than £10,000 you could buy a little – and I mean little – 1965 Autobianchi Bianchina. Put a 5 in front of that £9,500 and a very pretty 1962 OSCA 1500S Spyder in pale blue could be yours, or an immaculate 1989 BMW 635CSi for £39,500 – admittedly hardly inexpensive but these things are all relative!
Some of the most intriguing cars at the Hub are those stored for private clients. Not one, but three 1930’s Bentley’s – according to Ettore Bugatti, the world’s fastest lorries – could be found in a room that also contained a pair of Ferrari 275GTBs, a Ferrari 166, a 1969 Porsche 911S, as well as an exquisite 1954 OSCA MT4 and a gorgeous Maserati 300S with engine cover off. One of the most striking cars in this room is a 1918 Straker-Squire in zebra-style black-and-white stripes with a dramatic side exhaust set up featuring no fewer than six black pipes extending to the rear of the car.
Back outside, the early morning sunshine had been replaced with a rain shower, resulting in many owners rushing to put up the hoods of their convertibles. It passed over in about 30 minutes and failed to take the edge off what had been a super morning. A quick walk around to check on a couple of late arrivals – a Dino 246 and a Lotus Esprit were just two – and it was time to head out for a delightful Sunday lunch at the Swan Inn in Swinbrook. The rain threatened to return but held off until one minute – literally – after I’d parked die Zitrone back in the garage, a well-timed end to what had been an excellent end to the outdoor season. Hopefully the photos will give you an idea of just what a cornucopia of delights was to be seen that day.
