Bicester Heritage Sunday Brunch Scramble

[quicksilver]

Heard about this event through the university's photographic society so I thought I'd pop along for a look. The old RAF Bicester site is being redeveloped into a business park for classic car and aeroplane specialists and it's a really fascinating place with serious money being invested in its restoration. I feared it might be a bit hoity-toity and yes there was a lot of valuable pre-war exotica and supercars but I was reassured when I saw a Mk2 Cavalier directed to the show area and a modern Maserati rejected Here's some of the stuff that should appeal to this place.

 

Late Capri, no doubt worth eleventy thousand pounds due to OMGOSFTAX

 

Mmmm, M5

 

Hadn't seen an Alpine GTA for ages but there were 5 of them here (you can see two in this pic)!

 

Sweet pair of A35 vans

 

This old LT was on vintage tractor transport duty

 

There was a Ferrari F40 near this. Sod that, a 4x4 Bedford CF!!

 

Typical American understatement*

 

Beige over beige with opera windows. Megawin.

 

Groovy man!

 

Asquith pseudo-vintage vanshite

 

Just to show how big the hangars are - you could stack another bus on top of this one

 

Not sure I've ever seen a roadgoing one of these before.

 

Ex Pressed Steel works ambulance

 

Like the Reeves & Mortimer remake of Randall & Hopkirk

 

This little Innocenti was my favourite

 

Late registration madness!

 

I reckon these Tomcats deserve classic status

 

One for Dugong

 

Z1 with awesome doors

 

Volvo lowrider! SVM opinions welcome

 

OMGRATLUK

 

Anyone know what this is? I had to look it up

 

This looked like it'd had a very bad respray

 

Land Rover at one with its surroundings

 

Sadly no photo of the aforementioned Cavalier as it had gone before I reached where it was parked

[Sigmund Fraud]

A marvellous selection, my personal favourite being that GTA Le Mans. Those used to be near shite money a few years back, but prices are creeping up. They still are a bargain compared to 930s/964s, because they totally lack the ever-bragging Nordschleife helmsmith* seal of approval.

[twosmoke300]

Oooof , Bedford cf ! Love the little Austin too . Used for road trials I would say.

[Owain71]

My apologies for leaving early (12:30-ish) - there was roast chicken with all the trimmings waiting a couple of miles away Here's a shot of Ron the Cavalier to make up for it.

 

 

We popped along to this as it got a mention in Classic Car Weekly & it was free to get in, plus I've lived in the vicinity of the former RAF Bicester for 15 years and had never before set foot inside.

 

I'll admit to feeling rather pleased at the welcome the Cavalier received, especially amongst such rarified company such as a Hispano-Suiza, numerous 1920s Bentleys, Alvises etc. A thoroughly enjoyable morning without a hint of elitism (they'd even laid on free tea, coffee & bacon butties - as you can imagine there was a big queue!)

 

What they're doing at Bicester Heritage is fantastic - it won't be long until it's "on the map" as a go-to centre for classic car & plane specialists, and with plenty of dry hangar storage, it will become a destination in its own right for lovers of old stuff.

 

I parked close to that lowrider Volvo & was admiring its metalflake (and had noted the "remote control" for its suspension on the passenger seat) when the owner appeared at my shoulder.

 

A silver-haired Volvo-loving gent in his '70s. My hero of the day! :-D

[quicksilver]

Nice Cavalier and great to hear you were made so welcome - shame I didn't get a proper look but you had a good reason for leaving I agree entirely with your sentiments, it's a hell of a place and they've certainly got a lot of ambition. They clearly have a very loose definition of what is a classic and I liked the informality of the event, vehicles everywhere and you never knew what you'd see next - 1920s Bentleys rubbing shoulders with Morris Minors and Nissan Skylines! Turns out the operations manager is a former colleague of my dad so I'm sure we'll be back again soon.