Meeting in the proper spirit

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Vintage: lunch

I hope it does not sound invidious but as the older cars have been encouraged to show themselves in use, I cannot resist telling you how a few enthusiasts met recently for old times’ sake, in proper cars. We had intended to meet at a former VSCC venue but muddy rallyists’ boots and their trailers had put that out of bounds. So we used the Chase Motel in Ross-on-Wye. A good choice — we had an annexe to ourselves, the food was excellent, we were allowed to remain undisturbed until late afternoon, and the bill was a surprise, of the pleasant kind.

Ronald ‘Steady’ Barker brought Charles Bulmer and Jonathan Rishton, who edits the Bugatti Trust’s Newsletter, from the Swindon area in his left-hand drive 1921 Model-T Ford sedan. Lord Raglan came in hisType 46 Bugatti with Mark Garfitt, editor of the BMW Car Club’s Bulletin, and my daughter and I arrived in my 1929 Sunbeam Sixteen two-seater, with Bunty Moffatt as our guest. I don’t know if it was ‘going green’ but it was very enjoyable and in the spirit of vintage-car motoring.