A Day Out at Vintage & Prestige Cars….

As with many of our jaunts ‘on tour’ they usually start with a client meeting at their house, coffee and a chat, this jaunt was no exception to the rule. This one started with the opening of a door………..a garage door!  Lo and behold beyond, a vision of dreams, indeed not a garage a veritable showroom of just pure mechanical heaven for me, a collection of some of the finest motor car engineering in the world. Yes, sadly I am a petrolhead of vintage, veteran, classic and all that goes vroom, vroom. I have an old banger, I have done many rallies, I have been to every show and meeting, I even went to India on the very first car rally to view collections of Maharajahs to quench my thirst. So, 4 hours later a bored client waved me away but not before I left with the name of his ‘go to’ supplier and confidante of these magnificent horseless carriages.

So, my ‘stop off’ on tour was to again satisfy my never ending need to be around those incredible beasts, the showroom of the leading global classic car specialist ‘Vintage & Prestige Classic Cars’. This empire is the pride and joy of Richard Biddulph who has likewise had a dedicated and lifelong love of these automotive giants.

Images below kindly provided by Richard.

 

Tucked away in Northamptonshire, mid country, sits ‘Vintage and Prestige Classic Cars’ the custodians and purveyors of some of the world’s finest examples of Rolls Royce and Bentley vehicles available today. Richard explains mid country as the ideal location for his foraging ‘Gulliver travels’ all over the UK and Europe sourcing stock and attending to client’s needs far and wide.

   

Visiting the showroom, even those that are not junkies, could not be anything but in awe of the vast selection of pre and vintage, veteran, post war classic cars. The endless list of beautiful examples reminds you of reading from the ‘Who’s Who’ of Classic Cars, they even range alphabetically from the A’s of Alvis to the Z’s of Zagato’s and literally everything in between.

1927 HRH Rolls Royce Phantom – King Edwards Rolls Royce

Vintage and Prestige Classic Cars focus on the supply of classic and vintage Rolls Royce and Bentley motor cars satisfying the appetite for these acclaimed beauties to a worldwide and hungry audience of buyers. We walk, we touch, we swap bragging rights of knowledge of engines, ages, coachbuilders, we sit in seats, we start engines and reminisce, we comment, ………..when I win the lottery!

Richard is a walking talking encyclopaedia of probably every car built since the very first. Richard explains, production cars started to evolve in 1885 when Karl Benz developed a petrol or gasoline powered vehicle. This machine hit the streets on July 3^rd, 1886 in Germany and approximately 25 were built at a price of $150. And then, as if by Biddulph magic and a wave of his hand and removal of a cover, before me stood indeed an unbelievable true replica of the vehicle itself. Apparently, these are the’ ‘must haves’ for the dedicated collector and car enthusiast, hand crafted and built to the finest of original detail and in full running order.

1885 Karl Benz developed the first petrol or gasoline powered vehicle

I sit nervously in King George V’s Bentley he attended the 1937 Epsom Derby in, I sit in the Maharajah of Gwalior’s Rolls Royce, the only one ever made, which is next door to the The Duke of Kent’s 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom 33–AZ-43.  I gingerly open the door of a Fastback only to be told that I can buy it at £1,100,000 – I close the door so gently and carefully. I spot a yellow Chitty Chitty Bang Bang a one-off Jeffrey, just arrived in and already had a telephone bid from a client in Manhattan.

1915 27 hp Jeffrey aka Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Indeed, Richard is recognised as one of the world’s leading classic and vintage car specialists and modestly comments that he has sold some of the finest Rolls Royce and Bentleys from their photographs alone, a real testament to the solid reputation and reliable ethos attached to Richard and his much-loved company.

1937 Rolls Royce Phantom 33–AZ-43 – Duke of Kent’s Rolls Royce

Time to drill down over coffee with Mr Petrolhead and discover Richard:

Ok, what age did all this start Mr B?  From knee high to a grasshopper I always loved cars, bikes, anything mechanical, at school it was all about engineering, engineering !

What next?  I thought I was a computer genius living in Silicon Valley in the US of A and had gently built up a small collection of Rolls Royce cars which I sold handsomely. This triggered a menopausal world tour for 2 years on a motorcycle, after that, Bingo, the world of Vintage & Prestige Classic Cars was born.

When and where was that? 2006 and in Berkshire.

Best and worst cars? Best, literally too many wonderful cars owned to choose but one, worst would probably be a Vauxhall Viva estate in my impecunious youth, absolutely nothing going for it.

What is the Holy Grail of cars? Anything wonderfully original and in decent running order.

Which car event gets you excited Mr B? London to Brighton and The Goodwood Revival here in UK and to spice things up, The Cartier Concours in India for a more exotic flavour.

Best road trip? The Via Iberica Rally round Greece in a Cockshoot Rolls Royce 20bhp was pretty hard to beat.

Anything quirky or interesting? If you can ride it, fly it or drive it then that is interesting and the older the better, currently restoring a Percival Proctor war time aircraft.

Awards, TV, Knighthoods?  Proudly but modestly admit to Essen, Schewetzingen, Milano Classic, London to Brighton, Automobile magazine, Channel 4-Million-pound cars, Amazon Prime, The Dapper Dealer – would you like me to give you an autograph ????!!

Away from the showroom and engines? A touch of fly fishing, motorcycling on a smelly, noisy old Norton or similar and believe it or not, leg power on my pedal bike – I love cycling.

Dare I say ‘electric’? When in a city, if I can press a button on my phone, up arrives immediately an electric thingy, takes me to where I want, no hassle, no parking problems, no Sat nav problems, no congestion and then vanishes, electric has its place. Please do not mention that word again.

Time to leave, we nudge elbows, in fact I fall to the ground and bow, I grovel for a second visit or a promise to work for him free of charge, next stop the corner shop for the lottery ticket!