Frazer Nash car a star at classic meet at Aldworth pub

Pictures by Geoff Fletcher

Some great and rare marques rolled into Aldworth on Sunday’s sunny afternoon at another of the popular informal meets of classic cars, motorbikes and tractors outside the award-winning village pub The Bell Inn.

Chatting about their restoration stories proved thirsty work as owners and enthusiasts alike queued out of the pub for several hours.

Among them, former Newbury mayor Margo Payne and her husband John arrived in the 1937 Daimler 15 they have owned for five years and drive “on and off”, while Aldworth villager George Bucknell had taken the Rolls Royce 20hp - of which he is current ‘custodian’ - out for a spin. Originally bought by his uncle, “It’s been in the family 60 years and been passed around.,” said Mr Bucknell. And it will eventually return to his cousin. “It was made as an open tourer, but in the late-1930s, this huge body was fitted to it as the 20HP was quite a small Rolls. They actually had to extend the chassis to get this body on.”

John and Lorna Holden’s 1934 Wolsley Hornet Special was bought as a “bag of bits 12 years ago and has been built up over several years". It now has 850 miles on the clock since the engine rebuild.

And while Tony Dines from Kintbury has owned his immaculate Triumph TR3A for 40 years, he only fully restored it four years ago.

Causing quite a stir was Oliver Penney’s silver 1935 Frazer Nash BMW 315 Special, its 315 sports specification engine being “the first sporty 6 cylinder BMW ever did. That tradition started in 1934 and this one is 1935.”

“My father worked At Frazer Nash for AFN briefly in the 60s and always had a soft spot for all things Frazer Nash. He bought the car in 1975 for £390 with money that should have been for repointing the house – instead he bought this. The house still hasn’t been repointed.”

Arriving on two wheels, Chris Lewis has had his 1923 Triumph SD since it came up from Cornwall about eight years ago. “It had obviously been buried for many years and I managed to get it going," he said. "I had to make several things for it and the tank had rusted out, but I managed to find another and I had to replace the rusted mudguards, but engine-wise I’ve not had it apart."

Local musician Keith Allen’s passion is his future classic Ducati 996. “I love it,” he said. “I fell in love his particular shape when it first came out in 1993, even though it hurts me to ride it. It took me 13 years to get a second hand one as they are so expensive but I absolutely love it.”

The meet was organised by Compton enthusiast George Simmons. The next, in June or July, will raise funds for the air ambulance.