This is a classic car website, so our focus is obviously on matters pertaining to old cars and the wide variety of events organised for such cars, be they historic motor-sport meetings, static displays in fields or halls, large or small, local, national or international – it’s what we love and enjoy. Here in the UK, we are fortunate to have a thriving classic car scene, and now that the Spring is waking up, the classic car “season” is also starting to stir.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to ignore that the world – and Europe in particular – has also recently woken up to something altogether uglier; the invasion of one sovereign country by another within just a three hour flight from where I’m sitting. The country being invaded is my father’s homeland, and I have friends and colleagues in the Ukraine as well as all across Central and Eastern Europe, where nerves are now on edge. I mention this not to start a political debate – there is surely only one acceptable point of view – but to say that even our niche hobby does not operate in a vacuum, and the organisers of the event I attended on Sunday, a Wheels on Wednesday (yes, I know!) breakfast meeting held in the car park of Sixways Stadium, home of Worcester Warriors Rugby Club, added to their ticket price an option to contribute to the British Red Cross’s efforts to support Ukrainian refugees, which I obviously ticked. I think we’ll see a lot more of this over the coming months – I shall be attending the Practical Classics Classic Car and Restoration Show as well as a Shelsley Walsh Breakfast Meeting over the coming weekend and I’ll not be surprised if there is a similar fund-raising element at both these and other classic car events – many of which are organised precisely to support good causes – around the country.
On to the cars…Wheels on Wednesday events are not limited to classic cars; rather, they are a free-for-all for anyone interested in cars, old, new and in between. As a result the events attract an exceptionally eclectic mix of several hundred cars, with a relatively small proportion of them of interest to most of us who read ViaRETRO, but still enough to make it worth spending a couple of hours wandering up and down the lines of cars.
Sunday morning dawned bright, clear and chilly although the roads were still wet due to overnight rain, and I set off on the very short drive – about 20km – to the venue in my 911T, making its public event debut. On arrival I found myself parked next to a 2017 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS, and the contrast was quite something, attracting a fair amount of spectator interest. The differences between the two are most marked at the back, thanks to the huge rear wheels on a modern 911 – basically, it’s got a much bigger arse.
One of the most interesting cars on show was a cheerful 1961 Renault 4CV, rear-engined like its inspiration, the VW Beetle, but in this case, not with its original 750cc engine but a 1.4-litre unit from a Renault 5 mated to a gearbox from a Renault 8. This Renault is the kind of car that divides opinion among classic car enthusiasts as the restoration has resulted in a car that deviates quite a lot from its original spec. Besides the R5 engine and R8 transmission it’s been repainted from its original grey in Ferrari Rosso Red, and given a luxurious interior refit using Triumph TR6 front seats finished in Connolly leather and the roof lining came from Jaguar. The body itself however is pretty much factory standard, and the owner now has what is probably a more practical and driveable classic that can easily keep up with modern traffic. Another interesting fact about this car is that in order to get around the existing UK import quotas at the time, Renault built some 4CV’s in Acton, London, and this particular car was the last 4CV to leave that factory.
There were a number of American classics to enjoy, including two generations of Ford Thunderbird, one a white 1962 car with the round jet-age influenced rear lights and it’s successor, a turquoise 1965 example which dwarfed the tidy MGB GT alongside it. Probably the biggest car – as opposed to pick-up or van – was a maroon 1975 7.2-litre (440cu in) Chrysler Imperial Le Baron, though a ’79 Lincoln Continental ran it close.
From Japan, a very smart metallic blue 1973 Datsun 240Z, which I liked a lot, and a couple of tiny Japanese cars could be found among the bigger machinery – a dainty little red 1992 Honda Beat and a Suzuki Alto IFX from 1982. A mid-engined “kei car”, it’s design was originally by Pininfarina and it was the last car to be approved for production by Soichiro Honda. I don’t think the Honda was ever officially imported into the UK; perhaps one of our ever-knowledgeable readers could confirm?
Other gems included some lovely British classics that caught the eye, one being a superb 1965 Ford Zodiac finished in a beautiful deep red and an immaculate mid-brown 1979 Vauxhall Cavalier GLS Sportshatch – there are fewer than 25 still on the roads in the UK, so to see this one was a rare treat. Two other Brits I enjoyed seeing were a charming pair of unmolested Triumph Herald 12/50’s – I particularly liked the two-tone green example.
The Brits also provided the brightest quartet of the day in the forms of four two-seater sports cars all in my favourite colour, yellow. Other than their paintwork and country of origin, however, they were very different, particularly in terms of performance but also appearance. A Triumph Spitfire 1500 from 1979 – the penultimate year of the Spitfire’s production – was a fine example of a traditional small British sports car, and a 1973 Jensen Healey – despite being older, was actually a more modern take on the same theme – after all, the Spitfire dates back to 1962. By contrast, the flamboyant 1981 Marcos 3-litre GT convertible provided E-Type looks and decent performance for a fraction of the Jaguar’s price and the dramatic mid-engined wedge from Hethel, the Lotus Esprit S4, was even more potent. All four certainly brightened up the day.
There were a number of other interesting classics scattered around the car park that morning, some of which are featured in the gallery below – more than enough to spend an enjoyable couple of hours on this early Spring Sunday.
