Best days out for motor enthusiasts

The classic car community is so welcoming to new owners. So if you’re looking to share your passion with like-minded folk this year, try one of these top days out for motoring enthusiasts. We’re sure you’ll make new friends, pick up some top tips, or at the very least, come away with some new classic car trivia that you didn’t know before!

Whether they're revered national motor museums or friendly regional classic car meetups, here are a few car-themed days out that you should consider adding to your diary in 2022.

Caffeine and Machine

Ettington, Warwickshire

This Warwickshire coffee house, bar, restaurant, B&B and 'living art gallery' has become quite the destination for petrolheads since opening in 2015. You can drop in any time of day for a meal or a coffee, and chances are there will be some interesting motors in the car park. From classics to supercars, all manner of intriguing vehicles and their owners look in. It’s also a favourite with motoring celebrities – Wheeler Dealers' Mike Brewer is known to pop in fairly regularly.

Behind the main building are the Outbuildings, home to suspension alignment specialists String Theory – plus a pop-up valeting service on weekends. Further ahead, C&M's ambition is to host builders and fabricators on site, so that visitors can watch and learn some good old-fashioned practical skills. This is also where they plan to keep a fleet of project cars, so that visiting auto enthusiasts can come and admire them in the metal and learn about the restoration skills being deployed.

Here at Lancaster Classic Car Insurance, we're always very pleased to hear about anyone getting stuck into classic car restoration, so we wish C&M all the very best with their future plans.

Classic Motor Hub

RAF Bibury, Ablington, Gloucestershire

Based at a former WW2 RAF Fighter Command base, Gloucestershire's Classic Motor Hub has taken a fascinating historic location and written a great new chapter for it.

The five-acre site is a shrine to classic motoring in all its forms. The CMH team are experts in the sale, storage and transport of classic cars, bikes and modern high-performance machines. They also regularly host their own classic motoring events, with the monthly Coffee and Classics get-togethers particularly popular.

They’ve also got some wonderful classics for sale – including, last time we looked, a frankly gorgeous 1965 Ferrari 275 GTS and an immaculate 1970 Aston Martin DBS. (Ah, the DBS – one of our favourite cars from a beautiful era in car design. We waxed lyrical about its charms here).

The Motorist

Sherburn in Elmet, North Yorkshire

Like the venues we've mentioned above, Yorkshire's The Motorist has hit upon a brilliant combination of café, workshop, vehicle sales, and regular petrolhead events. There are always some tempting classic cars and bikes for sale, while the garage specialises in both classic and modern vehicles and can provide all you require to keep your treasured classic (or daily runabout) in tip-top condition. Servicing, MOTs, winter health checks and full restorations are all performed on site.

It goes without saying that keeping your vehicle in good condition all year round is a wise choice, like taking out specialist classic car insurance. We've got some useful advice, elsewhere on the blog, on prepping your classic car for winter.

Bicester Heritage

near Bicester, Oxfordshire

Bicester Heritage is an incredible place that, frankly, no lover of classic cars or of historic machinery in general should miss out on.

Founded in 2013 on a former RAF Bomber base, there is just so much to do here for motoring fans. For one thing, it's home to more than 40 specialist businesses, covering everything from car sales to long-term restoration projects. Businesses on-site include Blue Diamond Riley Services, dedicated to the preservation of pre-war specimens of the revered British marque.

Then there's Harry Fraser Vehicle Upholstery, who uses its knowledge of historic techniques and materials to lovingly restore the interiors of a wealth of classic and vintage vehicles. Or why not look in at Legends Automotive, dealers in racing and collectors' cars? There's a busy event calendar here, too. Bicester's Sunday Scramble events, which welcome all pre-1990s vehicles, are hugely popular. Other events include Bonhams MPH auctions, The Classic Car Drive In Weekend and the live restoration workshops, Build It Live.

Most of all, though, this is a place to just drink in the atmosphere of it all – both the lovingly restored 1920s and 1930s buildings, and the rumble of rare historic cars and aircraft.

Ace Café

Ace Corner, North Circular Road, London

One of the world's oldest and most famous motoring hangouts, London's Ace Café can trace its history back to 1938. A transport café next to the North Circular Road, it was traditionally most famous for its place at the heart of UK motorcycle culture. Bikers, rockers and that emerging breed, the teenager, would congregate here during the 1950s and 1960s – until the Ace closed for the first time in 1969.

Since reopening on the same site in 1997, the Ace has become one of the UK's liveliest car- and bike-themed café/event spaces. Check their What's On page to find out what's coming up – there's an impressive and eclectic array of events, rides and meets, spanning all groups from classic Audis to all-American 4x4s. Mike Brewer and Edd China even filmed an episode of Wheeler Dealers here, too, involving the restoration of a lovely old Chevrolet Camaro.

Winchester Auto Barn

Sutton Scotney, near Winchester, Hampshire

Green, quintessentially English, and genuinely bucolic for miles at a stretch, the Hampshire countryside makes a wonderful landscape for pootling around in a classic car. And, if you do find yourself down this way, you should definitely make a beeline for the Winchester Auto Barn, which is something of a mecca for classic car fans.

This is another place with a fascinating history: standing at a remote former Roman crossroads just west of the village of Sutton Scotney, the garage was a filling station for decades from the 1940s onwards. The thatched cottage that houses the offices dates from the 18th Century.

The current team have a passion for cars from the 1960s through to the 1980s, and have set out to create a welcoming hub for fellow classics enthusiasts: a place where you can get your next MOT done, have your classic serviced, browse the range of classics on sale or just soak up the atmosphere.

They've got some lovely cars on sale, too: at the time of writing, the offerings included a beautiful BMW 3.0 CSL from 1972, and a lovely '73, midnight blue Alfa Romeo 1600 GT Junior. By the way, exotic though these classics of yesteryear might sound, they are just two of the many hundreds of classics for which we can help you to find classic auto insurance here at Lancaster.

Haynes International Motor Museum

Sparkford, near Yeovil, Somerset

Deep in the south Somerset countryside, the Haynes Motor Museum was the brainchild of John Haynes, head of the publishing company that brought us those indispensable Haynes Motor Manuals. Once again, the site has military / Second World War history: it was the site of an American munitions dump during the last war.

The museum itself was opened some time later, in 1985, by the then land speed record holder Richard Noble, with a collection of 29 vehicles on view. In the decades since, that collection has grown steadily, and the museum now features nearly 400 vehicles from around the globe. And the emphasis is very much on these wonderful cars and bikes as living pieces of engineering, rather than dusty museum curios. So, at the museum's special visitor events, a fascinating and eclectic variety of the resident vehicles are wheeled out and put through their paces.

As to the automobile collection, it's so huge that singling out highlights is hard. Instead, we'd urge you to peruse the full list on the museum website. As an example, though, they have no fewer than 15 Austins (including Austin Healey joint efforts) and seven majestic Bentleys. A lot of valuable metal on view, in short.

Don’t forget to check out their brilliant breakfast club meetups - you’ll be walking around the car park admiring the motors for hours!

British Motor Museum

Gaydon, Warwickshire

The British Motor Museum's USP is really quite simple: it holds the world's largest collection of historic British (as opposed to world) cars. Yes, there are over 400 vehicles from our storied automotive history at the museum, spanning the classic, vintage and veteran eras.

Opened in 1993, the museum is a fascinating and wonderful place to visit, with the huge car collection divided into various themed areas. More than that, over a million historical items add immeasurable colour and interest to our national car manufacturing story.

Once again, the museum also functions as a place for classic car fans to meet – specifically, for the Gaydon Gathering, which takes place on the second Tuesday of each month. Cars, vans, commercials, military vehicles, buses, motorbikes and more are welcome – from any era and any country of origin.

The British Motor Show

18-21 Aug, Farnborough, Hampshire

This big annual event is a major destination for anyone interested in the current state of the automobile industry – or indeed, any interested car buyer planning their next purchase.

Yes, if you are considering your next car, the British Motor Show makes a great destination. Over the four days, you can check out a lot of the very latest offerings and chat to experts who can answer all your questions, on both the latest motors and the technology inside them.

We're not quite sure yet which marques will be present at the 2022 show, but the list of attendees at the 2021 event was suitably impressive, including Alpine, Caterham, Ford, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, MG, Renault, Tesla, Volvo and Volkswagen.

There's plenty more to do here, though, including Go Karting experiences, Under 17 driving lessons, slot car racing and much more. We also love the Family Zone, where you'll find a giant Scalextric, plus car maintenance workshops for kids. Get them learning young – maybe you can work on future projects together?

And, of course, the supercars are out in force in the Premier GT Owners Paddock. This is the place to get your fix of Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini and other top-end car makers.
There is also a strong classic car presence – centred on the classics parade.

The Great British Car Journey

near Belper, Derbyshire

A recent and very welcome arrival to the British motoring museum family, Derbyshire's Great British Car Journey is built around our collective memories of the cars our dads (and mums) drove in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Want to sit behind the wheel of an Austin Maestro, Ford Cortina or Morris Marina, and relive those vintage summer holiday memories? This is the place for you.

Situated in an old industrial complex along the banks of the river Derwent, the Great British Car Journey is home to dozens of classics from our car-building past, including the Morris Minor, Ford Capri, Vauxhall Cavalier, Hillman Imp, Triumph TR7 and many more. Alongside this list of fondly remembered everyday cars, they've also got a few wild cards. These include the Jensen Interceptor, a rival to the E-Type as one of the most handsome British-built grand tourers. There's also a Gilbern Invader, the Welsh marque's final car before its dissolution in 1973. The rarest machine on view, meanwhile, is a Daimler Straight 8 limousine, one of only 16 produced.

While you're there, we bet you'll want a go at the brilliant Drive Dad's Car experience, where you can choose from a further 32 British classic cars parked outside, and pilot them around the museum's own track. You can even try taking the Museum's resident Reliant Robin around a bend! Drives cost £49, which includes your £15 admission to the main Museum.

Lakeland Motor Museum

Backbarrow, near Ulverston, Cumbria

The Lakeland Motor Museum has many strings to its bow – and its stunning setting is surely one of them. This gem of a motor museum is tucked away in the beautiful Leven Valley, just a few miles south-west of Lake Windermere. Your drive to the Museum, through stunning Lakeland scenery, is practically a day out in itself.

Once you get there, you can feast your eyes on no fewer than 30,000 transport-related exhibits. That impressive total includes 140 classic cars and motorbikes, spanning a half-century of manufacturing.

What we also love about this museum is how well curated it is. It's much more than a selection of vehicles in a large building. No, the whole collection is presented in a broader social context, with the cars and bikes used as a jumping-off point to explore broader trends in British social history – what we drove, where we holidayed, and more.

There are, specifically, some wonderful classic cars on show, from some 1930s Bentleys to a 1982 Mk3 Ford Capri. They also have a Scootacar, the brilliantly individual, three-wheeled microcar built by the Hunslet Engine Company from 1957 to 1964. This ingenious little runabout was invented, allegedly, because one of the directors' wives wanted something easier to park than her opulent but unwieldy Jaguar!

Elsewhere, you can head back in time by visiting the museum's 1920s garage and 1950s café, plus an exhibition on the early days of motoring around the Lake District.

We've discussed the Lakeland Motor Museum, one of our favourite UK motor museums, at more length in this article.

National Motor Museum

Beaulieu, Brockenhurst, Hampshire

Deep in the New Forest, the National Motor Museum has a brilliant collection of classic and vintage vehicles (and much more). We love the feature in the Collections page of their website, which allows you to search their collection by decade. So, for example, we can see at a glance that their stock of '80s cars includes a Mk1 VW Golf GTI, a Lotus Esprit and a late Citroen 2CV – plus three halo cars from that decade's rallying scene, the Audi Quattro, Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and Ford Escort RS1800. The 1960s are particularly well represented, with highlights including a Lotus Elite Series II, a Mk1 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow – and the remarkable BMW Isetta 300, which we discussed at length in this article.

They've got some fascinatingly eclectic vehicles here, too, with some brilliant stories behind them. Head to the Film & TV cars area to clap eyes on a DeLorean just like the car used so memorably in Back to the Future. Or feast your eyes on a selection of Royal Family cars past and present – including the specially designed Land Rover that Queen Elizabeth used on her first Commonwealth Tour, back in 1954.

The meticulously presented period displays, meanwhile, include John Carter’s Garage, decked out like a 1920s garage with all the relevant tools and fittings. You can even step into the office of William Morris, founder of the car company that bears his surname: the 'office' is shown as it would have been in 1963, on Morris' final day working for the company.

Here are more of our top tips on getting the most out of your visit to the British Motor Museum.

Coventry Transport Museum

Coventry city centre

Few other cities are as inextricably linked to our motor manufacturing past as Coventry. Indeed, by the time World War 1 came around, more than 50 car manufacturers were based in the city.

Given all this, it's only fitting that Coventry should dedicate a museum to its distinguished car-making past. And the Coventry Transport Museum certainly doesn't disappoint. The museum sets out to tell the story of how this medium-sized Midland city changed the motoring landscape forever, and the sense you come away with is that Coventry achieved just that.

It has some 300 cycles (another vehicle at which Coventry excelled), 120 motorcycles, and 250 cars and commercial vehicles on display. That impressive total contains some truly iconic vehicles from down the decades. These range from the 1935 Daimler Limousine driven by Queen Mary, wife of George V, on through a 1975 Jaguar E-Type (arguably Coventry's most revered contribution to the automotive landscape?), to the World Land Speed Record Breaker itself, Thrust SSC.

Fans of commercial and military vehicles are also well catered for here: the Museum has a truly impressive collection of army vehicles, lorries, Coventry Corporation buses and more.

Get there safely with Lancaster Classic Car Insurance

Plenty of inspiration there, we hope, for some great classic-themed days out in 2022 and beyond. Why not take your own classic car along to some of these great museums and meetups? It'll be a great way to connect with other enthusiasts, and maybe swap stories and key technical know-how.

Make sure your classic is covered for wherever you're planning to take it this year, with specialist insurance for classic cars.

And if you’re thinking of displaying your own vehicle, our policies can include cover for static shows and displays.

Get a quick quote for classic car insurance today.

Policy benefits, features and discounts offered may very between insurance schemes or cover selected and are subject to underwriting criteria. Information contained within this article is accurate at the time of publishing but may be subject to change.