Drive It Day is an annual event organised under the umbrella of the FBHVC – the Federation of Historic British Vehicle Clubs – which represents the interests of British classic car clubs and owners. To quote the Federation’s website:-
The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs exists to uphold the freedom to use historic vehicles on the road. It does this by representing the interests of owners of such vehicles to politicians, government officials, and legislators both in the UK and (through the Federation Internationale des Vehicules Anciens) in Europe.
It claims to have some 540 clubs representing a quarter of a million members under the aforementioned umbrella, and one of the many things it’s responsible for is the establishment of Drive It Day, a day dedicated to getting classic cars and other historic vehicles on the road on the fourth Sunday in April each year, which this year fell on the 24th. DID has been going since 2005 and has grown to the point where events and meetings are now held all over the UK to celebrate the ownership and driving of classic vehicles. The day is also used to raise funds for the NSPCC children’s charity, generating over £40,000 last year from the sale of DID rally plates.
The Spring Bicester Scramble was organised to coincide with DID and while it was initially scheduled to be held on the 24th only, demand for tickets was such that a second day was added, the 23rd. I had arranged to attend on the 24th with a fellow enthusiast and set off bright and early in the 911 to the former WW2 RAF bomber station that has become a mecca for many thousands of classic car and heritage engineering enthusiasts.
I parked up just after 8.30 following an hour’s drive, leaving the 911 between a white BMW M1 – one of two at Bicester that day and, well, a 2020 Ferrari of some kind that was clearly in the wrong place, but we’ll gloss over that, as my friend and I went about the first order of business – grabbing some breakfast – a German bockwurst, since you ask, and then set off to see what classic delights had been driven to Bicester that morning, and there were very many indeed.
I’ve been to a number of Bicester Scrambles over the past few years, all of them excellent events, but this one was probably the best yet, with classics modest and exotic, small and large, fast and slow, cheap and expensive scattered all around this most evocative of locations. Trying to decide which cars to mention and which to leave out, as well as editing down the photos, has proved a very demanding task – there are probably more photos accompanying this piece than I’ve ever included before, yet I’ve still left so much out.
Let’s start with the breath-taking BMW M1 – the white one (from 1980) alongside my 911, complete with bespoke luggage, had been with its owner for a decade, easily the most exciting car I’ve parked next to at any event, ever. The red 1981 M1 actually belongs to BMW, no doubt happy to fork out for the number plate, but what a rare treat – two M1’s in one day!
While on the subject of rare treats, how about not one, but two Porsche 959’s? One of the first so-called “hypercars”, with a top speed of 199mph, it’s hard to believe these are now over thirty years old. These were the two most extraordinary Porsche’s of the many on site this day.
Since I’ve started with two German marques, I’ll stick with that country for the moment. One of the most interesting groupings on the site included a 1968 Audi 80 Variant in green and a metallic blue 1975 NSU Ro80, split by an interloping ’77 Skoda S110R coupé. Around them, more classic Audi’s – a bright orange (not it’s original shade) ’75 Audi 80GT, a beige 1972 Audi 100GL and in amongst them, an early bright yellow Audi TT, surely a future classic.
Finally, for this (mostly) Teutonic section, one of the earliest VW Beetle’s I’ve seen, a 1955 car in a sandy beige with a split rear window, a characteristic it shared with the similarly attired and immaculate 1937 Lancia Aprilia parked a few yards along from me.
As we’ve moved seamlessly to Italy, a supercar that defies its age is the Lamborghini Countach, and there was a fine, slightly menacing black one from 1982 – exactly 40 years ago! – at Bicester. Still a tremendously dramatic-looking car. Also in black, but somewhat less linear, a 1990 512 Testarossa and an even curvier 1972 dark blue 365GTC4, one of my favourites from Maranello, and one of just 505 built.
There were three typically unconventional Zagato designs to enjoy – the fastback Lancia Fulvia Zagato coupé redesign of the pretty standard Fulvia, a tiny 1960 FIAT Abarth 750GT Zagato with its unusual rear air intakes and one of the ultimate wedges, a 1991 Alfa Romeo SZ, one of those cars that’s ugly yet somehow gorgeous at the same time. More conventionally beautiful, a red 1953 Lancia Aurelia B20 coupé shone brightly in the morning sun, and the most unexceptional of this group, a 1977 FIAT 128 1300CL – it’s a coincidence that all these and several other Italian cars pictured are red, honest…
Still in Italy, but going further back in time, a pair of spectacular Alfa Romeo’s – one a glorious red and black 6C – or at least, I think it was, as the DVLA lists it as being manufactured in 1951, so perhaps it’s a recreation? Could one of our knowledgeable readers help? It did look quite marvellous, though. The other was a maroon 8C 2300 (though the DVLA shows this as a 2600 – it’s increasingly difficult to rely on the DVLA as a source of accurate information, especially on older cars).
There were many more wonderful pre-WW2 classics on display this day, ranging from spectacular Blower Bentleys, stately Rolls-Royces, humble Austin Sevens and more – you’ll see some of them in the photo gallery here and at the foot of this piece.
Usually, whenever I see what looks like a Bugatti Type 35 or Type 37 at an event, it turns out to be a Teal, which is to the marque as Hawk is to Lancia Stratos’s and AC Cobra’s and Chesil is to the Porsche 356, so when I saw a trio of what looked like Bugatti’s, I was sceptical. However, a check with the DVLA proved (or at least indicated, since I no longer trust the DVLA entirely) that all three – a Type 35, a Type 35T and a Type 37 – were the real deal, and all three had been driven, not trailered, to the event, and this extremely valuable line up was left unattended…though I’m sure the owners were never far away; I know I wouldn’t have been.
These were not the oldest cars on site on the day – that distinction belonged to a 1902 Oldsmobile (mid-engined!) – but others included a huge 1914 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost in grey, an even bigger 1914 14.5-litre (!) American LaFrance Type 10, which had actually started life as an AMV flatbed firetruck in Ohio before being rebuilt as it is today in the 1960’s, and the oldest Italian classic on site was a red 1906 7-litre Bianchi, which has seen racing action at Goodwood in recent years.
Checking out some Americana, a 1965 Chrysler 300L land yacht and a 1958 Pontiac Bonneville had their own postcodes, while a 1965 7.3-litre red Pontiac Catalina dwarfed a pair of yellow classics either side of it – a Mk1Ford Escort 1300 and a Porsche 911S. Also noteworthy, a couple of Chevrolet Camaro SS’s and a 1970 Dodge Challenger, the latter finished in a smart bright orange. There were a few orange cars on show, and all of them looked great; it’s now my second favourite colour on a classic. The letters GTO for Europeans usually follow the word “Ferrari”, but for our Transatlantic friends, it means muscle in the intimidating shape of the Pontiac GTO, and there was a fine dark blue ’66 model at Bicester.
Moving back across the Atlantic, lots of delightful British classics were on show, as you would expect – I’ve mentioned a few already. Traditional small sports cars in a lovely pale blue were clearly a thing – a 1961 MG Midget, an early Triumph TR3, a TR4 and a ’61 MGA all looked resplendent in the sun, and this shade of blue appeared on a few other cars as you’ll see in the photo gallery at the bottom, but perhaps the most spectacular group of British sports cars was the trio of 1952 Aston Martin DB2, it’s stablemate 1960 DB4 and a 1965 Jaguar E-Type 4.2 which lined up before departure to create a memorable photograph.
Two of the benighted BL cars I used to sell back in the 1980’s were at Bicester – a Montego 1.6L with the world’s most boring wheels (just three Montego 1.6’s remain on our roads) and a base 1983 Metro 1.0 with a front spoiler, which no doubt helped keep the nose from lifting when travelling at extreme speeds…More uplifting times were recalled by the presence of a Rover 3500 V8 P6 alongside a Stag – both in white.
Heading out east to Japan, there weren’t many notable Nippon classics, although a Toyota Century Limousine made quite an impression on visitors. There was another curio in the shape of a 1988 Mitsubishi Colt Starion, looking not a little like an ironed Porsche 924GTS and now old enough to qualify as a classic. It’s an uncommon sight here in the UK, and this one hasn’t even registered with howmanyleft.com, which shows none licensed for the road, but 20 SORN; perhaps this one, which was in excellent condition, has only recently gone back on the road. One other cool Japanese classic that caught the eye was a 1965 Datsun Fairlady 1600 – Japan’s MGB-alike – looking very smart in white with red soft-top.
There was so much more that it would take me another 1500 words to mention everything, but hopefully the photographs will give you an idea – it’s not often that a BMW 3.0CSL, an Iso Grifo or Alfa Romeo Giulia SS barely warrant a mention…for me, the variety and breadth of classics that show up at Bicester is unequalled by other similar events that I’ve been to; not even the bigger Brooklands events match it. Possibly the Goodwood Revival car park compares, but that is of course part of an altogether bigger occasion; ditto the Silverstone Classic.
Another of the beauties of the Scrambles is that the visitors’ cars are all, with very few exceptions, driven there and back home again, some of them, considerable distances. I shall unfortunately miss the next one, but hope to return at least once more this year.
