With 2021 ending in almost Groundhog Day fashion as the UK and elsewhere experienced yet another wave of you-know-what, it began to look as if the classic car event calender would take another beating not dissimilar to 2020 and early 2021. Indeed, the initial signs did not look good, as Brooklands cancelled its excellent annual New Year’s Day gathering, although Stony Stratford’s annual event did take place – our own Dave Leadbetter was there.
Fortunately things didn’t get any worse, and the first Bicester Heritage Scramble of the year was able to take place as scheduled on Sunday, and yours truly was delighted to be able to attend, despite the January chill.
Bicester Heritage remains one of the most evocative venues for a classic car meeting, with its collection of renovated WW2 Bomber Station buildings and hangars now housing specialist heritage engineering businesses, many of which opened their doors to attendees on Sunday. The site has recently been expanded considerably and the new buildings – collectively known as the Command Works – have been sympathetically designed to integrate with the rest of the site.
This was a Scramble with some minor differences – to comply with the current Covid-safety requirements, there were limitations placed on the number of attendees, the hangars were not used to house any cars this time, and there were no specific car club displays, which resulted in a good old mix-and-match of marques around the site, which I quite liked.
I took die Tomate along for the day and after a drive on damp, dirty roads through fog – which made me glad I hadn’t bothered to spend time washing the car – and parked up alongside a pale blue 1976 Ford Granada Mk1 and a bronze metallic 1983 Porsche 911SC, good company for the day.
One of the consistent delights of the Scrambles is the huge variety of classics on display, either driven there by their owners or put on show by the on-site businesses, and despite the externally-imposed limitations and initially unappealing weather, Sunday did not disappoint, with a tremendous turnout of classics, more than I can cover in detail, so there will be a bonus gallery to follow this piece in a few days.
Classics were streaming in throughout the first hour, so to start with I made my way up the first line of early arrivals. Despite the gloomy and damp conditions, owners of some fairly delicate machinery had brought their treasured classics along. It’s always a joy to see an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint, and there were a healthy number of early Porsche 911’s and 912’s, including a couple of genuine 911 2.7RS’s (as well as some look-alikes).
A number of hardy owners who braved the gloomy, damp and chilly morning conditions ensured a good turn-out of pre-WW2 classics, my favourite being a 1934 Aston Martin drophead, an exceptionally precious machine. A handsome 1935 black and red Alvis Speed 20 sports saloon, an equally handsome red and black 1936 Austin 10 and a lovely blue 1936 Vauxhall Fourteen/Six DX drophead were among the pre-war stars of the day.
As always at Bicester, there were a few very welcome surprises and rarities. Some months ago we featured a SAAB 90 as our Prime Find, and lo and behold, there was one at Bicester; perhaps not as good as the one for sale in Malmo, but it looked decent enough, and was one of only ten in the UK. And when was the last time you saw a Lancia Beta Berlina? Infamous for their ability to rust in advance of a rain shower, there was a very smart blue 1400 on show on Sunday – one of fewer than 60 on the road here and this one was the sole 1400.
Sunbeam Rapier’s from Series 1 through V are reasonably regularly seen at events, especially ones as big as the Scramble. However, the later fastback models are few and far between, and the 1970 example at Bicester was in fact an Alpine-badged version – basically a cheaper Rapier. I think these are good-looking cars, even if you do need the H120 to get performance to match the looks. A white Volvo 122S and grey PV544 B10 parked together made a good pair, but more unusually, there was also a cream 1969 164 – the top of Volvo’s range back in the late ‘60’s and early 1970’s, there are just 60 left on our roads.
While many of the cars on display showed signs of having been driven some distance on the dirty winter roads – 100km in my case – which I liked seeing; proof of use. Some folk however either came from just around the corner or took the trouble to give their cars a quick wipe down. Two of these were a beautiful 1967 Pagoda SL in a dark red wearing very appropriate number plates parked next to an equally smart 1971 Mini. Another was a beautifully turned-out ’61 MG Midget in a contrasting blue interior. You have to admire their owners’ dedication.
Rather less well turned out, but deliberately so, were a number of – mainly American – deliberately distressed rat-rod types, or if I’m being generous, well-patinated classics. Among them were a 1960 Plymouth Fury sporting a Johnson/Kennedy campaign bumper sticker, a 1957 Buick Super 88, a 19.. Mercury Comet and a couple of BMW’s that as far as I was concerned, were just scruffy. There is a line between being over-restored and neglected; some of these crossed it in what for me is the wrong direction, but it’s still a reasonably free country…
Other interesting Americana included a pair of land yachts in the substantial shapes of a 1977 7-litre Cadillac Eldorado parked alongside an almost as massive 1964 Pontiac Parisienne with a mere 4.7-litres under it’s bonnet (one of my favourite American cars). There was also an earlier Eldorado, a ’66, that shared the Parisienne’s sharp stacked headlamp styling, a very nice burgundy Chevrolet Corvette C2 and the dark blue Plymouth Satellite seen at Stony Stratford a couple of weeks ago.
There was a cool selection of rather smarter BMW’s scattered around the site – a white 1980 E12 528i with subtle M-striping, a handful of ‘02’s including a very tidy Baur convertible from ’75, an E28 528 from 1983 and a 320 E21 were among them.
Moving away from the fields of cars brought in by visitors and over to the workshops there was much to enjoy. From the Sports Purpose people was an utterly fabulous 1951 Frazer-Nash (with a 1952 Targa Florio parked around the corner) and a number of Porsche’s including a spectacular 1958 718 RSK Spyder – with a race history that includes competing at Le Mans, Sebring and Daytona, where it won the inaugural 1,000km race; it’s for sale, but you’ll need deep pockets to acquire it. What a car, though!
Also on show in this area was a toolroom copy of the legendary but ill-fated BRM Type 15, complete with new V16 engine. Just three of these will be built, following the discovery of three original chassis numbers dating back to the 1950’s for cars that were never built. It looked and sounded astonishing and was constantly surrounded by admirers. And I can’t not mention the superb silver 1955 AC Aceca – gorgeous!
Other highlights to catch my eye included a stunning 1974 Opel Bitter CD – the only one in the UK, it had previously been the only one in South Africa – in midnight blue and with a huge rear glass tailgate, a ’70’s wedge in the shape of a 1974 Lamborghini Urraco in silver, and a second-generation Toyota Century, Japan’s answer to Rolls Royce.
Hard to miss was the Mercedes Benz 280TE decked out in Campagnolo cycle racing team livery, and complete with three racing bikes on the roof! Having seen a Jaguar XJS-based Lynx Eventer at the NEC in November, one of just 67 built, it was a surprise to see another one here – the XJS definitely makes a better-looking shooting brake than it does a coupé, to my eyes at least. Looking much older than it actually was, was an Indian-built black 1995 Hindustan Ambassador. There’s a reason for that, of course, in that although based on the Morris Oxford Series III built in the UK from 1956 to ’59, Ambassadors were built under licence until as recently as 2014 in India. Ubiquitous there, this was the first one I’ve seen over here.
By late morning the fog had lifted and the site was bathed in bright sunshine and blue skies, and of course everything looks better then. The year’s first Scramble was a great success, and the organisers have already announced the date of the Spring Scramble, to take place on April 24th  – it’ll take a major diary clash to stop me going again – I never get tired of going there.
