Friends of LRM on the list of finalists for the 2023 Royal Automobile Club Historic Awards

EVERY year the Royal Automobile Club goes on the hunt for the best of the best in the British historic motoring and motorsport world. These awards give those professionally involved in this industry and classic motoring enthusiasts alike, the opportunity to nominate truly exceptional people, companies, events, and achievements.

After some careful deliberation, the specialist judging panels have selected their finalists for the fifth annual Historic Awards, and LRM is delighted to report that the Dunsfold Collection is one of three nominees for Best Collection (with Philip Bashall also nominated for Personal Endeavour), while REVS Restore is a finalist in the Innovation category. The awards are a continuation of the RAC’S 126-year pedigree in recognising accomplishments.

As most of you know, the Dunsfold Collection boasts the largest collection of Land Rovers in the world. Over the years it has expanded to include not only prototype and pre-production vehicles, but examples of almost every model made by Land Rover from 1947 to the present day, including military vehicles, royal cars, record-breakers and limited editions.

It turns out that 2023 has been a very special year for the Dunsfold Collection, with the opening of a permanent museum building in June – which also coincided with its 55th anniversary. Philip has been the driving force behind the museum project, overseeing the design and layout and overcoming many obstacles on the way. And it’s not put him off – he’s planning a new library annexe to the museum and working on a schedule of activity for 2024 (see right).

Introduced in our April 2023 issue, the fantastic REVS Restore project is a very worthy finalist. Editor Martin has attended some of the sessions and loves their warm and inclusive welcoming and the strong sense of community they’ve established. Whatever mental challenges you may face, it encourages people to come together via a shared passion: classic cars. It doesn’t matter how old you are, your gender or background, or whether you have experience of tinkering with cars, there’s just one goal: to have fun and restore a Series III in the process.

The winners will be announced at an awards evening at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall on 23 November.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed.