The Silverstone Festival – Part Two: The road cars

Sometimes one can forget that people attending a historic motorsport meeting often do so in a classic car – making also parking lots and club stands an atraction.

Each year, the Silverstone Classic, or Festival as it is now called, is said to attract some 10,000 classics over the 3-day weekend, and it’s a number that has been easy to believe in past visits. This time around, however, I couldn’t help but think there was nothing like that number on show, and I’ll come back to that later.

This year, I went as a member of the Porsche Club for the first time, having previously gone as a BMW Club member in die Zitrone, but while my 2002 was present again, this time things were different – it was one of the lots in the Silverstone Auction. I’ve had a poor history trying to sell my classics over the past 12 months or so – nothing but time-wasters when I put the BMW up last year, and minimal interest in my 280CE earlier this year with Historics, so I was pretty apprehensive about this, and in the event, I was right to be – it sold, but I was pretty disappointed with the price, close to the reserve but short of what I had hoped for. Still, I made a decision and it has now gone to a new home and I wish the new owner much joy with it.

The Porsche Club was one of those with a substantial presence over the weekend, and between 8.00 and 9.00 each morning I parked my 1972 911T among what was probably more than a hundred air-cooled Porsches near Stowe Corner (a new location), along with another several hundred examples of the Stuttgart marque, old and new, and they made a magnificent sight. Like Silverstone, Porsche is also celebrating 75 years this year, and 60 for the 911, so it’s been a pretty special year for the marque.

While the site was excellent, the location was less so, being at the far end of the circuit and away from pretty much everything, so the buggies laid on by the club proved very popular. It’ll be interesting to see whether they change it for next year.

I’ve always found the Aston Martin and Ferrari Club sections disappointing, mainly because the vast majority of the cars their members bring along are post 1990 or newer but of course there were some glittering classic diamonds in amongst them, such as a superb deep blue 1933 Le Mans – one of 85 built – alongside a lovely pale metallic green DB6 Vantage Volante and a silver 1959 DB 2/4 Mark III with red hood, as well as a DB4 with a pretty aggressive number plate…

As for Ferrari, well who doesn’t love a deep blue 1972 365GTC/4, or a stunning pale metallic blue 1960 250GTE? And three F40’s parked with an F50 made for an undeniably impressive sight, next to a trio of Dino 246’s?  Interestingly, while it was still the case that 21^st century cars far outnumbered classics of either badge, there were also significantly fewer representatives in total of either manufacturer than in years gone by, one of several indications of a decline in interest among car clubs at this event.

In fact, let’s briefly discuss that. Some 100 clubs registered for the event, yet many had fewer than a handful of cars present. On Sunday, I saw just one solitary and lonely Lancia, albeit that one was a very beautiful 1958 Aurelia GT 2500 coupé. There was also a Trevi, but this was part of the UK’s Rarest Cars section. Opels were practically invisible – I only saw one, a fine Commodore B that I have seen before, and I didn’t see more than three Lamborghini’s at any point – the only classic being a smart 1973 Jarama. Even bigger clubs such as the MG and Triumph clubs had dozens rather than a couple of hundred cars on show.

The crowds seemed thinner, too, at least around the cars, despite the organisers’ claims of record ticket sales. Why would this be? For what it’s worth, I believe the date change to the August Bank Holiday was a mistake – this is usually a weekend when many Brits and their families are away. Add to that the unfavourable economic situation in the UK… being a more family-oriented event, Silverstone is more vulnerable to such circumstances, unlike say the more upmarket Goodwood events. While I enjoyed the weekend, it still felt very slightly flat away from the track.

Right, back to the cars: In a recent Weekend Matinée we featured the VW Corrado, effectively a Golf coupé, like the Scirocco before it, and a quartet that spanned the various engines made a very cool line-up. While Ford tried to compete with the Probe, Vauxhall’s riposte was the Cavalier-based Calibra which, like the Corrado, I view as a genuine classic, with sharp tailoring that has worn very well, in my humble opinion, and I found the model was better represented than I have seen at a show for quite some time.

The Mercedes-Benz Club had a decent turnout, especially on Friday, when they celebrated the 60^th anniversary of one of the most elegant of all cars, the SL or “Pagoda”, and there were a couple of dozen at Silverstone that day – as well as examples of the cars that came before and after the Pagoda such as the 190SL and the W107.

The third prestige German marque, BMW, also had a decent turnout, but still down on previous years according to club officials. Still, examples of the 2002 Turbo, the always gorgeous E9, a trio of Z1’s and a sublime 328 would be enough to brighten the gloomiest of days.

Some of the other bigger clubs, such as the Jaguar Owners’ Club, Lotus Drivers’ Club and TVR Club – also had respectable, if not overly impressive numbers on show. I particularly like the cream XJC, as well as the contrasting pair of Elans, not least in terms of size.

I also want to mention the handful of utterly exquisite Maseratis on show, especially the fabulous 3500 GT. While none of these are cheap, they seem good value compared to their Maranello equivalents – not that my bank balance extends to any of them…

Motor Easy sponsored a section based on everyday models that were now among the UK’s Rarest Cars, ordinary cars that used to be everywhere, and now are almost nowhere. I was particularly surprised to see a Vauxhall Royale saloon – it’s been literally years since I last saw one – and it was a treat to see a 1972 Audi 100GL alongside a ’68 Wartburg Knight as well as a Renault 20 and a pair of Toyotas. And can you remember the last time you saw a VW Santana? Me neither. These unexceptional classics are now very exceptional and exemplify the ViaRETRO motto of “Any classic is better than no classic”.

Heading over to the auction, held by the newly-named Iconic Auctioneers, formerly Silverstone Auctions, there were some other delectable lots on offer besides die Zitrone. Comprising automobilia, competition and road cars, the sale was held over two days, with the road cars going under the hammer on the Saturday.

Most of the lots were sub-£100k and there were a decent number of reasonably priced cars and for me, the one I would have come closest to taking home – other than one of the three superb Pagoda’s on sale – was the lovely 1973 Porsche 914 2.0-litre in Ravenna Green that found a new home for a very reasonable £21,500 before commission (its estimate was £25 – 30k).  Intriguingly, a very interesting pair of Ford Capri MkIII 3.0S’s that were featured in the seminal UK TV series The Professionals and driven by two of the stars also came under the auctioneer’s gavel. I have to say that I thought the £200-230k estimate for the pair ambitious, not least since I doubt many outside the UK would be familiar with either the series or the actors. In the event they went for £166k net of commission, some way short of expectations.  

Indeed, a good number of cars sold for quite a bit below their estimate ranges, so I wasn’t the only seller who took a bath. Not so long ago a BMW 3.0CSL would have been a £100k-plus car, yet the fine example on offer went under the hammer at just £80,000 against an estimate range of £85 – 105k. An exceptionally pretty 1962 Lotus Elite in red and white fell £10,000 short of its low estimate of £52,000. All is not well in classic auction land at the moment, it seems to me.

Back out and about, it was pleasing to see displays of lower profile classics such as Jowetts, Bristols (with a randomly parked Zagato model, last seen at the NEC, also present but not with the club) and Japan’s supercar, the Honda NSX (and yes, the NSX does have a soul!).

There was a great deal more to take in, but enough words: Instead, I’ll let this end gallery speak for itself. Despite my misgivings, it was still a fine weekend, and I hope the decline in numbers – certainly of club classics –  is just a blip rather than a trend.