Silverstone Festival – Three days of on and off track action with headline artists
• Special display of once unexceptional – and now scarce – everyday car models
• Showcase in association with The Telegraph and MotorEasy
• Now rarely seen Austin Ambassadors, Morris Itals mad Vauxhall Royales
• Wide range of tickets on sale – kids under 16 go free!
Get in pole position for Silverstone Festival weekend - showcasing world class Formula 1 cars from past to present, all day racing, over 100 car clubs and a host of entertainment culminating with live music from ABC, McFly and Sugarbabes over the August bank holiday weekend - 25-27th August 2023.
Along with the epic weekend package of on and off-track action will be a special car display, Telegraph UK Rarest Car Display - curated to bring back long lost memories, this is a captivating collection of 25 models, almost all dating from the 1970s to the 1990s. In a curious twist of fate, it turns out that Britain’s rarest cars may not be limited production supercars but once popular mainstream models that have not survived the test of time. The Telegraph have curated a special display of 25 of the scarcest and once so familiar cars for Silverstone Festival 2023.
The idea for the Telegraph UK Rarest Car Display began in 2018, when Motoring Editor, Paul Hudson, discussed various types of cars that had seemingly vanished from our roads with his contributor Andrew Roberts. The result was a series of articles under ‘The UK’s Rarest Cars’ banner followed by a special display at Silverstone in 2021 where a bright green Hillman Hunter GLS and a Signal Amber Ford Cortina Mk. IV distracted the visitors' attention from many a classic Formula One icon.
Over the years, the numbers of Austin Allegros, Citroën BXs and Ford Sierras have dwindled at alarming rates, meaning that few of those old favourites live on today, many have fallen prey to various scrappage schemes, rust or merely neglect.
All 25 cars will be on show over the weekend, with a special track parade among the car club cavalcades on Saturday and hopefully each exhibit will convey a priceless memory and flashback to a lost time when Adam & The Ants ruled the charts and Crossroads was the soap on TV.
Curator Andrew Roberts comments, "We were delighted to be invited back, and it will possibly be the only time a Vauxhall Cresta PC 'Standard', a Citroën Ami Super Estate and a police Wolseley 6/99 have ever graced the track! This year's line-up will feature a cross-section of machinery. The velour-upholstered decadence of the Toyota Crown saloon and the Vauxhall Royale will appeal to those with a taste for the early 1980s 'executive' life, a time when ownership of a Sony C7 video recorder was a hallmark of success in outer suburbia” explained Roberts. “On the other hand, the Morris Ital and Ford Sierra somewhat less managerial and were once virtually street furniture, as commonly sighted as Wimpy Bars”.
Some exhibits, such as the early Peugeot 205 and the Fiat Uno, helped redefine an entire market sector, while others never caught the motorist's imagination in this country. Above all, the 25 cars all tell a story – of their manufacturer, of their commercial success (or not) and of their owners' reasons for buying them. Some wished to own the sort of vehicle their parents once drove; some could not resist buying an incredibly rare machine, while others fell prey to the lure of beige paintwork.
The Telegraph's display returns for its third showcase at Silverstone with MotorEasy, the one stop shop for improving the ownership lifecycle of motorists - fuelling further nostalgia. Duncan McClure Fisher, CEO of MotorEasy, comments, "The MotorEasy team is proud to be back again at Silverstone Festival, sponsoring the Telegraph’s carefully curated exhibit of the UK’s 25 rarest cars. We are all huge car fans and are excited to review the vehicles selected this year, but we are equally thrilled to be amongst the many enthusiasts attending the event to showcase our Digital Garage. The free to use MotorEasy Digital Garage enables car owners to manage all their vehicle needs in one place, including storing documents, building vehicle service history, receiving reminders on important dates like MOT and Tax renewals, as well as access a fantastic range of savings on motoring products and services. Since its launch in 2016, some 850,000 motorists have added their cars to the garage, including a fair share of exotic vehicle owners."
Telegraph UK Rarest Car Display have earnt their enduring place in many family histories, each of these cars is now a more unusual sight than many of the expensive marques at Silverstone Festival – “To quote the owner of an extremely unusual Lancia: ‘Anyone can have a Ferrari, Maserati or Lamborghini; all one needs is money. But nobody else can have a UK-registered, right-hand-drive Trevi automatic because there's only one. And it's mine".
Find us at the heart of the event (Blue Zone 6) - Telegraph UK Rarest Car Display at Silverstone 25-27th August 2023
