October Bicester Scramble: A fine end to the classic season

Our British reporter found his Mercedes 280CE in great company between a Corniche and a Golf GTI.

Readers of the international edition of ViaRETRO may remember a few reports from some of the past Sunday Scrambles held at Bicester Heritage, one of the UK’s most evocative locations for classic car events. The Scrambles are one of the biggest events, with some 1500 classics – and increasingly, supercars – showing up for each event, usually sold out well in advance, as this one was. The former World War Two RAF Bomber Training Station had been neglected for decades but in 2013 a restoration and rebuilding programme was started that resulted in all the original buildings being revived and occupied by heritage engineering businesses related to cars and aircraft. This programme has been so successful that new buildings – in keeping with the original ones – have resulted in a substantial expansion of the site.

On a damp autumn morning I rolled into the site just before 9.00a.m in my 280CE, the marshalls parking me between a Rolls Royce Corniche and a Golf GTI. First order of business on a chilly – but thankfully largely dry – October morning was to grab a coffee and then start checking out the arrivals.
Classics – considered to be pre-1990 by the organisers – are parked very randomly at Bicester Scrambles, which makes an unplanned wander around the site one where delights can emerge at any point. One such was the white 1972 Alpine 110 1300 – an unusual colour for one of these cool French sports coupés. I’ve always liked them, even though I can’t actually get in one…Just as low but in a retina-scorching bright green was a 1972 Lotus Europa; I’ve yet to try to get into one of these, but these two very focused coupés are of course linked not just by their proximity to the ground but their Renault engines, although this particular Europa was one of the minority powered by Ford.

Since we’re on the subject – sort of – of bright colours, most readers will be aware that yellow is just about my favourite colour on many classics, but it always looks great on Ferraris, and there were several examples of the prancing horse in Giallo Fly around the site to prove it.

However, it was another Ferrari not in yellow that was one of my cars of the day, a beautiful 1970 365GT 2+2 in dark blue; the company’s biggest seller back in the day with some 800 built, this one was one of just 52 RHD examples. Lastly, with regard to Ferrari’s, there was also a Daytona and perhaps the most valuable car on show on the day, a 1989 F40. Unlike the other, more elegantly styled Ferrari’s, the F40 is an expression of outright performance, and while not as beautiful as the others, there’s no doubting it’s purity of purpose.

Another favourite was a very lovely bright orange (I love ‘70’s colours!) 1971 Lancia Fulvia 1600HF, probably the most desirable version of what is one of the prettiest cars ever produced; one day I have to have one. It was in a line that included a black Citroën BX19 GTi (one of eight on UK roads) and a fine grey 1961 Lancia Flaminia GT. These were reminders of what great cars Lancia and Citroën used to make.

One of the day’s great surprises, and the ultimate winner of my Car of the Day award, was an exquisite 1938 Triumph Vitesse 2-door in cream that drew admirers every time I passed by it, but it was gorgeous, and unique, as a little internet research established. The “Flow-Free” streamlined bodywork was originally created for the Triumph Gloria, but only eleven were built and none survive. The body on this one was originally adapted to fit a Bentley 4 ½ litre in 1936, where it remained until that car was re-bodied in 1971, when Triumph restorer Rob Green re-adapted it, this time to sit on a 1938 Vitesse. No Vitesse’s were originally fitted with this coachwork, so this stunning car is a kind of cross-breed of a Vitesse with Gloria “Flow-Free” bodywork. While therefore not an original car, it is period-correct, with the body and chassis dating back to the pre-war Triumph era, just two different models. The result is one absolutely stunning motor car, and while I am generally one who prefers classics to be original, in this case, I think I can live with it.

Moving on to other parts of the world…there were some great examples of Americana scattered around Bicester Heritage, most of them considerably bigger than the average European classic. How about the 5.3-litre (or “liter”, as the Americans would have it, incorrectly, of course) 1964 Corvette Stingray C2 convertible, the huge 7.4-litre 1969 Buick Riviera Gran Sport 455 with it’s “boat-tail”, or it’s even bigger-engined 1972 stablemate, a white 7.5-litre Centurion – I have to say that when the owner closed the boot and doors, it made a very tinny “clank”…
I also liked the grand and imposing 1934 Packard Convertible Victoria in red, and the orange Dodge Challenger R/T – a cooler alternative to an equivalent Mustang or Camaro in my eyes, while the 7.2-litre ‘69 Plymouth Sport Satellite seems to me to be a reasonable, and less expensive, alternative to a Dodge Charger, though I’m prepared to be corrected by those with more knowledge of US classics.

There were also some cool Nippon classics, including an immaculate 1977 Mazda 323 1300 parked near it’s 1994 MX-3 sibling, this one equipped with the small 1.8-litre V6, which pushed out 130bhp, and must have given this small coupé quite a turn of speed. Elsewhere, it’s been quite a while since I last saw a Mitsubishi Colt Starion, and the silver 1988 wide-body car at Bicester was a very good example. I’ll never be convinced that the name didn’t come from the difficulty the Japanese have saying the letter “L”. These were never a common sight here and there are just 28 on UK roads now.

A stroll around Bicester Scrambles always throws up a cornucopia of delights such as a silver 1974 Zagato-bodied Alfa Romeo Junior 1600, a 1951 Jowett Jupiter in red with tan soft-top, a superb 1955 AC Aceca in dark blue with twin white centre stripes and it’s direct rival, an Aston Martin DB2 from the same year (the Aceca edges it for me). A mint-condition 1976 Citroën Ami Super in blue caught the eye, and two German interpretations of luxury executive saloons in the shapes of a 1975 Mercedes-Benz 280SE and a ’96 BMW 728i – despite the 21-year difference between the two, I think I’d still take the Stuttgart car over the Munich one.

What else? Well, among all the other eye-candy, a 1982 Talbot Sunbeam Lotus in red with silver side stripe, a pair of classic British wedges in the dramatic shapes of a 1988 TVR Tasmin 350i and smart red Lotus Esprit, and a pair of classic track heroes, a mighty Jaguar XJC and, less familiar – to me, at least – what turned out to be a tribute car to what is claimed to be the race that kick-started AMG. The original 1971 car – a W109 300SEL unflatteringly known as Die Rote Sau (The Red Pig), which came second in the 1971 Spa 24 Hours. Since the original was destroyed, this is another instance where I’m OK with a recreation.

This was a fine way to end the outdoor classic car season, though I can’t help thinking that there were more modern supercars and fewer classics than previous Scrambles, which I hope is not going to be a trend. Nevertheless, as always, with so many classics on show – visitor as well as dealer cars – there’s far too much to include even in the expanded space ViaRETRO allows, but below is a selection of the best of the rest: