SCRAMBLE GOOD EGGS

SIMON HINSON 1932 BUICK SERIES 50

This 3.7-litre straight-eight tourer caused a real stir as it rumbled into the vintage and veteran display in the C-type hangar, because so few onlookers knew what it was. And that’s no great surprise when you hear about its history, as Hinson explained: “It was built in Canada and shipped over as a chassis, then bodied by the Carlton Carriage Company in Willesden, London, as a three-position drophead.

“My dad bought the car from a scrapyard in 1962, but never got it on the road. He did the chassis in the 1960s and was away in Birmingham buying springs on the day I was born – I still have the receipt! The body was painted in the ’90s and the trim and engine were done by the time I took it over in 2009, but it had lived in various sheds and had never come together.

“Lots of people helped to get it running, but Dad died before it was finished so he never drove the car – despite owning it for 50 years.”

ALUN PARRY 1981 ALPINA B6 2.8

Long-serving automotive PR man Parry has owned his M30powered E21, the original big-engined 3 Series, since 1995. “It was my first Alpina and I’ve since owned eight other models, but this is the only one I have left,” said Parry. “I also have a rare E23 745i turbo that lived on Tenerife for 28 years so is completely rust-free.”

Parry rebuilt the Alpina over three years in the late ’90s, and its superb condition today is testament to the quality of that rebuild: “I was with BMW from 1980 to 2000, starting out at a dealership in London. I worked on these cars as a technician and liked that they took an already good BMW and made it even better. I admired the engineering and the ride quality – I don’t like a car that’s too firm – and eventually found this car in Stuttgart.

“It is number 278 of 536 built from 1978-’82 and has 200bhp – later cars had 218 – but is very torquey and quite high-geared.”

JODY BOWMAN 1964 RENÉ BONNET DJET

“It’s been in the family in various states of disrepair since 1980,” said Bowman of his rare French coupé, which lined up alongside a pair of Matra descendents in a Murena and Renault Avantime. “My grandad bought it at auction – it was this, a Dino or a Landrover V8 special and he chose this! Over the past nine years my brothers and I have carried out a complete nut-and-bolt restoration of the car to make it roadworthy again.”

Any Djet is a rare beast, particularly the earlier René Bonnet car, but Bowman’s example is thought to be unique: “There were 198 built and only three of them were right-hand drive; this one was a special build for an English customer. One of those three was later rolled and the other is lost, so we think that this is the only RHD Djet in the world.

“It’s only an 1100, but with the twin Solex carbs it really doesn’t want to go slowly – the closest comparison I can make is with a Formula Three car.”