DRIVE IT DAY 2024

A few inches from my car was a Mini Pick-Up, a form of motoring life last encountered en mass when Bros were still in the charts. To my right was the metallic gold magnificence that was a Lancia Gamma Coupe. Ahead of my front bumper was a 1970-model Morris Minor 1000 police ‘Panda Car’ and a very handsome Rover R8 owned by Gavin Bushby. And, of course, there were Montegos aplenty, for BMW’s Mini plant in Cowley, was the venue for Drive It Day and the 40^th birthday party of this essential Austin-Rover product.

The day commenced with the usual concern - i.e., “Will it start?” This is no slur on the production workers of Cowley in 1960 and is related more to the fact that this is a 64-year-old Wolseley 6/99. But, after the usual shenanigans with the choke, it was time to embark on the trip through Oxfordshire.

We decided to avoid the motorway – although the Wolseley can keep up with modern traffic – and decided on the 6/99’s natural habitat: trunk roads and B-roads. The entire journey reminded me of my favourite passage in Stephen King’s Christine, where the narrator becomes aware of the ghosts of pre-1958 cars prowling through his town:

Long portholed Buicks. A DeSoto Firelite station wagon with a body-long blue inset that looked like a check-mark. A 57 Dodge Lancer four-door hardtop. Ford Fairlanes with their distinctive taillights, each like a big colon lying on its side. Pontiacs in which the grille had not yet been split. Ramblers, Packards, a few bullet-nosed Studebakers, and once, fantastical and new, an Edsel.

Now, I am not saying the spectres of Standard Vanguard Vignales and Ford Zodiac Mk. IIs assailed us throughout the journey (although that would have made an excellent Inside No. 9 episode). It was more a sense of the past becoming alive; ‘Fingerpoint’ signposts and the sound of the C-series engine will forever be associated with black and white crime films of a certain age. If there were a soundtrack to this image, it would be from Alma Cogan singing Just Couldn't Resist Her with Her Pocket Transistor.

At last, the Cowley factory came into view, and the line-up resembled the finest sweet shop available to humanity. How could anyone choose between the delights of a 1965 Triumph Vitesse and an Astral Blue Austin Allegro 1500 Special LE? Then there was the Austin ‘Seven’ Mini, complete with push-button floor starter, owned by the event organiser Tanya Field, and a group of purposeful-looking Rover SD1s.

In fact, the more you looked, the more gems were discovered, from Minis and BMC ADO16s to an exquisite H-registered Alfa Romeo 1750GTV. All were welcome – and all seemed to welcome the Montego’s 40^th birthday cake. But all too soon, it was time to return home, with the journey through Henley-on-Thames accompanied by points and cries of “What is it?”.

To which the answer was – a 1960 Wolseley 6/99 on Drive It Day.

With Thanks To Marian and Tanya Field and their father, Richard.