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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Alfa Sud Sprint

Italians at the Birmingham NEC Classic

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Star of the Lancia Motor Club stand and voted best car at the show, The Lancia Stratos Zero Concept car which is currently in the UK being lightly recommissioned by Classic Motor Cars (CMC).

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

I had not visited the Classic Motor Show held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham for a few years, and to be honest I had no plans to attend this year. It is far away from my home and often badly lit for photographs, it is huge, and being that it is a UK show, it will contain lots of British cars. If it’s Fords and Vauxhalls you want, then this is your show.

But out of the blue I received a press release from the Lancia Motor Club UK about the show, to be held November 11-13. The center piece of their stand this year was to me the Bertone Lancia Stratos Zero concept car currently in the UK being fettled for the road, so it was straight onto the internet to find a hotel near the show and away I went. Plus the Alfa Club had a showing of AlfaSuds. So were there lots of Fords and Vauxhalls? Of course, plus plenty of Austins and Rovers but I am pleased to say I did manage to find lots of stuff to interest me. Yes, it was big and it was often badly lit and one day was not long enough to see it all!

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Brooklands Italian Car Day

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Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

A huge thank you to our friends at Auto Italia magazine for making the Brooklands Italian Car Day happen, and for the loan of a hi viz tabard (high level photo pass) to allow me to take shots during the lunch time demo sessions on the Mercedes Benz World test track.

As the Editor pointed out last week, there are three or events that attract rare Italian cars; Concorso Italiano in the US, Milano AutoClassica in Italy, the even larger Auto Moto d Epoca in Padua, and the Brooklands Italian Car Day in the UK. I have covered the UK event now for many years, and it is always a joy.

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Brooklands Italian Car Day, April 29, 2017

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The Brooklands Memorial stands behind this Fiat 850 Coupe. Built by Vickers Armstrong to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Motor Course, it was unveiled by Lord Brabazon of Tara in July 1957.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

This is the fifth year in a row that Jonathan Sharp has covered the Italian Car Day at Brooklands. And despite the narrow focus, there are very few repeats, as can be seen by Sharp’s photo selections over the years.

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As Pete has said, I have covered the Italian Car Day at Brooklands for VeloceToday for the past 5 years but I have been attending the Italian Car Day in its various guises and locations for over 30 years. This year, as usual, Brooklands was groaning under the weight of Italian cars. But there seemed to be a higher percentage of newer cars, which would seem to indicate to me that those who currently buy new Italian cars also embrace the Italian life style and motoring heritage. Walking around the site I kept coming upon cars that I once owned, or have wanted to own – and I am not talking about the Ferraris and Lamborghini’s that were present in reasonable numbers. I get more of a buzz coming across an immaculate Alfa Sud or a Fiat 130 than I do finding a paddock full of 458’s and Aventadores. And, therefore, it is those types of cars that we present in this article.

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