Classic Cars at Speech Day

1 June 2016

Thanks to our ever-loyal Classic Car drivers, our annual display increases year on year, with our numbers far exceeding the 35 cars at our inaugural event in 2010. This year, we were delighted to welcome 113 Veteran, Vintage and Classic cars to our display on the North Front, along with some motor cycles and an 1875 Penny Farthing.

 Once again, we were extremely lucky to have some extra special cars in attendance, including the 1949 Crocus HRG Special, 1939 Citroen Light 15 Traction Avant, a 1947 MG TC Police Car and the 1959 Bristol Teardrop Special – the only one of its kind.

Our Classic Car owners were welcomed with coffee and bacon rolls to make up for their early start, followed by a delicious lunch in the State Dining Room.  Andrew Clarke (Bruce 77) kindly supplied wine from his Vineyard which went down very well with our guests. Following lunch, John Arkwright (Cobham 69) thanked our Sponsor, Hagerty International Limited, who are specialist classic car insurers, for their continued support of our event. Anna Semler (Nugent 05) then presented John with an Old Stoic Ambassador Award for his commitment and service to the Old Stoic Society.

We were extremely lucky to have a grand finale to our biggest and best display to date: The 24 Litre Napier-Railton Special 1933 and the 1912 15 litre Grand Prix Lorraine-Dietrich, known as Vieux Charles Trois, fired up their engines before completing a circuit around the North Front. Old Stoics, parents, guests and car enthusiasts were delighted to see such historic and magnificent vehicles driving at Stowe. It was a glorious sight to behold and will certainly not be forgotten. We are extremely grateful to The Brooklands Museum and Richard Nash (Chandos 66) for bringing these 2 cars.

We will be holding the display again next year, so please do save the date of Saturday 27 May 2017 and let us know if you would like to bring your Classic Car and take part.
Caroline Whitlock

Old Stoic Events Co-ordinator