Bicester Heritage is a beautiful industrial park for vintage cars, bikes an planes.
Roy Smith returned from Bicester with hundreds of photos; we chose enough to allow the reader to get a sense of this incredible and historic “industrial park”. When finished, the Bicester Heritage Park will be stunning and a fitting place to store and restore vehicles and airplanes. [Ed.]
Story and photos by Roy P. Smith
Here is news of an event that is rapidly gaining in popularity in the UK. I had the good fortune to be invited to take one of my cars along to the October 5th Edition of the Bicester Heritage Sunday Brunch Scramble. Maybe the word egg should go after scramble, because it’s “the” place to go for breakfast on one of these open days.
Bicester Heritage is the UK’s first industrial park for the restoration and storage of vintage and classic cars, motorcycles and aeroplanes. It is already a hub of a great deal of activity on all three fronts. The location is iconic, being 348 acres of a historic RAF bomber station first established in the First World War. It is situated just to the north side of Bicester in Oxfordshire, close to the M40 London to Birmingham motorway.
Experience a classic Mini. See for yourself how much better the originals were!
There, the owners of the company who acquired the site are in the process of refurbishing and restoring the many redbrick buildings, old aircraft hangars, tree-lined avenues and the airfield itself, to provide an authentic period setting for specialists, vehicle owners, enthusiasts and visitors to meet, share their passions and immerse themselves in a classic age. The layout and atmosphere oozes pre-1930s military aviation. Its flying history, though, predates the bomber base: a Bristol Boxkite flew from Bicester as early as 1911. The first military occupiers of the airfield became the Royal Flying Corps in 1916, which became part of the newly formed Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918 when RAF Bicester, as it then was, became a Training Depot. It expanded with the outbreak of war with Germany in the 1940s. Following the war, RAF Bicester was transformed into a busy maintenance unit dealing with both aeroplanes and motor transport.
Now it is to be the home of the Bicester Heritage Company. In 2017 they will celebrate the centenary of powered military flight. Big plans are being activated, as they have some 50 units housed in 40 refurbished buildings, some of which will provide space for around 500 vehicles to be stored on site. Soon there will be self-contained accommodation for overnight visitors. On-site catering facilities and an ongoing calendar of events run by the leading names in the classic car world are already a feature.
Bentley Restoration is just one of the on site activities.
The October 5th Edition of the Sunday Brunch Scramble saw European, British, Japanese and American, in attendance by the dozens.
This was truly an amazing event, utilising the roads around the buildings and the avenues of the airfield perimeter. The sight of so many very rarely seen cars dating from the early turn of the century right up to the latest Porsche 991 GT3 supercar, provides an experience not to be missed; a few images here tell the story. We will not attempt to identify them; just enjoy the pictorial atmosphere and know that everyone, no matter what they drove, had a great time.
Building a replica Verdon Roe 1909 Tri-plane in one of the hangars.
I will certainly be at the next one on 4th January to see 2015 off to a great start. This looks like becoming the Brooklands of Oxfordshire and a non-racing edition of Goodwood revival and FOS combined, a real eye-opener and they promise more for the future. It is open to all, all one has to do is go on the web site at www.bicesterheritage.co.uk and apply. Free to visitors, Free to park; be there. Roy’s apologies for not naming everything; he lost his notebook following the visit.
Road going Stratos parked during the October Edition.
Austin A30 delivery van.
Alpine in front of an area where they are restoring some of the buildings.
Not too many Italian cars were in attendance, but here's a GTA.
An intriguing Hillman Aero Minx.
When is the last time you saw one of these thought to be a Berkeley, Roy can't remember!!
C type Jag in front of some of the stalls at the park.
Our guess is a special bodied Alvis Red Label.
Whatever it is, we like it.
Vintage tractors are welcome to the shady park.
Steam powered tractors too.
Stumped on this one.
Aston Martin DB2 with ambulance.
Pre war Aston Martin.
Alpine and Renault Turbo in an idyllic setting.
Austin 7 racer.
Jeeps and military ambulances.
A very attractive Singer..we hope!
And a Frazer Nash, hyphen or not?
Another view of the stalls. Nice place to spend a weekend working on one's classic.
“…Whatever it is, we like it….” looks like a Riley with non-standard nose piece.
Re.: Berkeley, I last saw one in 1956 or 7 when they were new and in the showroom next to a mortuary in Westwood Village, CA. Cute,flimsy and unsellable in the U.S.
I actually knew a fellow several decades ago who had a Berleley or two. I had a ride in it on an autocross course! I’ll stick to my Abarth and Alfas of the past! Great photos!
The Riley grille is correct for an MPH
The Singer is a Triumph
The Alvis is a 12/50 Ducks Back (origional body style)
The white tipo 105 Alfa with green trim and bulgy fenders (wings ) is not a GTA.
Note the rectangular door handle. It is either a racerized GTV or – perhaps, maybe, a GTAm
The “stumped on this one” speedster is an Overland from about 1911 give or take a year. The Singer that is really a Triumph is a Triumph Gloria Six from about 1934 and the current incarnation of the Frazer-Nash company uses a hyphen, but the original car maker did not in any of its period literature or on the badges on the cars.
I used to drive through Bicester in the ’90s and this site was becoming increasingly derelict as the military operations were scaled down. I seem to remember reading the local council were involved in the plans to use it as the ‘Heritage’ park, and if so it shows a remarkable imagination for such an administrative body, where normally they would have opted to use the land for yet another anonymous grey concrete industrial/warehousing complex.
Over the last ten or so years it has grown from the first few small businesses to move in to what has become almost a self contained centre for all engineering and restoration specialities. I am glad to see it thriving.
The Riley is a Sprite.
I wonder how working at this Park is in winter!