6th Britwell Salome Classic Car Run Raises £4,906 For Local Charities

Despite a change in the weather, 36 classic, interesting and very valuable cars (over £2,000,000 worth) turned up for the 2018 Britwell Salome Classic Car run in aid of Cystic Fibrosis, Daisy’s Dream and the Rennie Grove Hospice.

After assembling on Chris Bidgood’s extensive lawn, the cars all set off to Dick and Carol Skipworth’s car barns where guests were able to gaze enviously at Dick’s jaw dropping collection of Jaguars, Aston Martins and Raymond Mays ERA.

Further entertainment was provided upstairs in the form of a video of a fantastic dice between two Sebring Sprite that ended as these things inevitably do. (A Sprite was being rebuilt downstairs.)

Many of the assembled company then sped off back to Monument Cottage at Britwell Salome, though some of us to whom the necessary speed was not available were unable to follow at the same pace, and others just went home.

Back at Monument Cottage, guests were invited to come up with a total valuation for the cars that returned, with the exception of an Aston Martin DB5 that took £600,000 off the total.

Hilly Harris got closest with an estimate of £1,400,000, just £8,000 short of the so-called ‘expert’ valuation and won a bottle of Alfa Romeo spumante.

All that remained was for the guests to vote for their favourite car of the day, which turned out to be Dominic Taylor Lane’s exquisite Alvis TD21 DHC.

Cash raised added up to £2,453 with some donations still to come, and, with Santander Bank offering to match that up to £2,500, the final target of £5,000 is sure to be met.

HJ’s transport of the day was a 1979 Mitsubishi CJ-3B Type 27 Jeep, one of only 8 imported to the UK by The Colt Car Company, that had undergone a 5,000 man hour nut and bolt restoration.

The engine is a 2,555cc four-cylinder 4G54 petrol, with 4-speed manual gearshift, selectable 2 or 4 wheel drive and high or low range.

It never missed a beat, though with a usable cruising speed of only 80kmh (50mph) it couldn’t compete with the Ferraris on the run.

Many thanks to Mitsubishi Motors for their generosity in lending it to us for the day.