The London Classic Car Show is less than a week away, but still the organizers are lining up rare and exciting cars guaranteed to thrill the thousands of visitors preparing to make the trip to ExCeL, London for the four-day show (23-26 February).
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]mong the latest to be confirmed at the show, which opens to the public from Thursday are a clutch of rare Aston Martins, the ‘Holy Trinity’ – hypercars from Ferrari, Porsche and McLaren – and a unique mobile cinema built in the late 1960s by the Ministry of Technology.
The star marque at this year’s show is Ferrari. As well as an incredible Tribute collection of 20 Ferrari road cars together worth a cool £120 million, there will be Ferraris in action on The Grand Avenue, and on static display on club and dealer stands.
Numerically the Prancing Horse will be in the lead, but Aston Martin won’t be far behind. Corgi Toys is launching its new range of James Bond model cars at the show with two very special full size Astons on show: the movie-only DB10 from Spectre and the DBS as seen in Casino Royale.
The Aston Martin Owner’s Club, meanwhile, will have an example of the stunning Vulcan track day hypercar on its stand, along with a DB5, a V8 Zagato, a Lagonda and one of only six Anniversary Vanquish models made. JBR Capital, meanwhile, will be displaying one of the four Sanction II DB4 Zagato models produced while the famous Brooklands single seater, the Razor Blade, will be in Grand Avenue action.
Underlining Aston’s long pedigree, the AMOC stand will also have the pre-war Aston Red Dragon racer on show while specialist auction company The Market will be offering a 1937 Aston 15/98 DHC for sale.
A car doesn’t have to be old to be considered a classic, however. No-one will disagree that the unbelievable Porsche 918 Spyder, McLaren P1 or Ferrari LaFerrari are anything but instant classics. The three hypercars – dubbed the Holy Trinity and together producing 2,740bhp – will be seen together, possibly for the first time in London, on the stand of luxury car dealers Prindiville.
From some of the fastest production machines ever made to one of the slowest, the 1967 Bedford/Plaxton coach converted by the government into a Mobile Cinema. The only survivor of the seven
built, the cinema was used by the Ministry of Technology to show films promoting modern production techniques to engineering firms. The team behind its restoration have started a crowdfunding scheme to raise funds to restore the cinema’s recently discovered trailer.
All this is in addition to an already packed show programme. Special features include The Perfect Ten – 60 iconic classic cars split into ten body-type categories – which will be driven along The Grand Avenue and showcased in the Open Paddock where visitors can get up close to their favourites. Genuine rarities include the Mazda Cosmo, Tatra T97, 1955 Alfa Romeo 6C Aerodinamica Spider, Hispano Suiza ‘Tulipwood’, Alvis Graber TF21 and the mammoth aero-engined 9.6-litre Maudsley.
Guest of honour Jacky Ickx will be fêted with a display of six significant cars from his remarkable career – Grand Prix single-seaters and endurance sports cars will rub shoulders with a Porsche 959 of Paris-Dakar fame – while a new feature of Car Club Square will be the unique pop-up Beaulieu Autojumble.
Ickx is one of the stars at the show’s Gala Evening (Thursday 23 February) along with his old team-mate Derek Bell and other Le Mans winners Emanuele Pirro, Jürgen Barth and Jackie Oliver. Flying Scot Dario Franchitti is another guest while TV’s Quentin Willson will be a regular visitor to the Classic Car magazine stand on all four days of the show where he will advise on how to spot a sleeper, a classic car that’s about to jump in value.
“With so much to see and do, we have made sure that visitors can enjoy some great refreshments, too. We have imported the famous Scarf and Goggles pub from the Silverstone Classic while Bennies Fifties Diner will take you back to a world of Elvis and ’57 Chevys” said Bas Bungish, show director.
“With tickets to the London Classic Car Show also giving entry to
our new sister show, Historic Motorsport International, visitors might need all four days to make sure they don’t miss anything!”
Admission to the London Classic Car Show incorporates free entry to HMI. Historic Motorsport International will open its doors at 12 noon on Thursday, 23 February while the London Classic Car Show will burst into life at 3pm that afternoon. The LCCS closes at 9.30pm on the opening Thursday, runs from 10am to 6pm on Friday and Saturday and from 10am to 5pm on Sunday.
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