So how come I happen to be accompanying JWarthog to this Guild event? Well, my association with JW goes back a long way - to 1968 in fact when he and I both worked for Cars & Car Conversions magazine (or Triple C as it was commonly known), along with another who has graced the pages of this website, Mike Black (read his story on buying his first BMW here).
Although I later drifted away from the world of automotive wonders, I returned to the fold when I purchased a Westfield in kit form and am now the editor of Westfield World, the magazine of the Westfield Sports Car Club. I'd done a previous Classic run with JW in his BMW in 2008 so, when he asked if I'd like to come out again and play with some other boys (and girls) with their old cars (and bikes); but this time in the Sprite, I jumped at the chance.

What is it about old cars that we find increasingly attractive? Is it that as we get older we get nostalgic for the cars that we used to own when younger? I don't think so - as I remember most of mine were pretty dire and I don't think I'd want to own any of them again. Although I do have fond memories of a couple of Renault 4s (sod-all performance, but pretty good fun nonetheless). No, I think it's that as cars have become ever more competent in the dynamics department, they have also - with a few exceptions - become increasingly anodyne visually. In other words - boring!

Just look at the collection of older cars in the panorama shot at the head of this page. Nothing boring there, nothing you could mistake for another vehicle bearing the visual signature of the same manufacturing group.

Anyway, I digress - JW having driven up from his Witshire hideaway to Osborne Towers in Oxfordshire, we have a fun back-road half hour jaunt to Whitchurch where we meet up with the others at a rather swish office complex bearing a plaque identifying the building as 'Winston Churchil's Toy Shop'. Apparently it was an ultra-top-secret establishment in WW2 where boffins developed all sorts of wizard stuff to defeat the enemy.

Thirst slaked with coffee (and croissants), and armed with our Tulip-style roadbooks - and list of questions to answer around the route - we set off at intervals.
We pass the 1942 Harley ridden by the suitably-attired Sarah Bradley accompanied by Jake Turner on a 1963 Triumph Bonnevile (my cousin and JW both had big Triumph twins!) at the first corner. I'm not sure how they managed to read the roadbook, let alone answer the clues...

We didn't see many of the others until just before the lunch stop when we caught up with the enthusiastically driven Jaguar 420 of the McKay family after we'd sort of wrong-slotted a bit. (I blame the signposts, don't think they put them back correctly after the war!).

The Bell at Waddesdon did us proud with some tasty fishcakes, and afterwards we had another superb run through the Buckinghamshire countryside to a stop at the cafe in Wendover Woods. On the way we drove along the routes of two historic motorsport venues: Kop Hill at Princes Risborough, and the Aston Clinton hillclimb course after which Lionel Martin named his company - Aston Martin.

Another 20 mile run (no questions to answer this time) brought us to our finishing point where a hog roast and other refreshments were laid on. Balloon flights were planned but sadly cancelled as the wind was too gusty; however the Warthog and I were amazed to discover that we'd got the most questions right on the second half and were presented with our prize - a box of chocolates, which went down very well with Kath & Kim (no, not the Aussie ones!) on our return to the Osborne homestead.

A fun day, with superb cars, interesting people, (almost) empty roads, good weather and probably more fun than is good for two old blokes in a little old car! I'd like to thank JW for asking me along, and we'd both like to thank Paul Burgess, Chris Mann and Sha Carter-Allison for such a superb event. When's the next one?

Click pictures to enlarge