The Oliver Winterbottom Diaries – Hinckley Classic Show

If you have been following our blog recently, you will be aware that Oliver Winterbottom has been gearing-up to make an appearance at this year's Hinckley Classic Show. To say the event was a roaring success would be an understatement, and Oliver documented his time there, which we now share with you. 

Hinkley, Leicestershire, is a town dating from the earliest times and which was the centre of hosiery manufacturing until recently. As that industry shrank, Hinckley started to decline, but thanks to the efforts of the Business Improvement Development and a team of local volunteers, much is being done to reinvigorate the town. I am sure many would not expect it to have the remains of a medieval castle, a fine parish church standing in parkland, and a traditional Market Square (traditional, as all the Market Squares that I know, are triangular).

Thus it was that I arrived at Hinckley Market Square on the morning of 16 September. There were 800 plus vehicles also filling the town centre, all interesting. Two Lotus Elites graced the middle of the area, with the organisers' gazebo alongside. It was here I set-up to supply and sign my book, A Life in Car Design, to those that requested it. The Steward, Stuart Elliott had cleverly arranged them as the Elites were a past design of mine. It was Stuart who got me into this in the first place!

As my sister lives near Hinckley, I visit her and her local pub, The Heathcote Arms, Croft. Stuart and Sue Elliott also visit occasionally and earlier this year we discussed my presence at the Classic Motorshow. I agreed to bring some of my books, a pen and a cheery smile – not sure about that – and support this massive event. It is possibly the largest town Classic show in the country. In advance, I had contacted various clubs, and Stuart had landlady Hannah's permission to post a poster in the back bar. To the left, myself and poster in The Heathcote Arms.

Many folk assisted me being able to be ready. These included Emma and Kevin Atkins at my publishers Veloce, who not only supplied some books but also a large poster. 

Stuart organised my transport via an original Mini 1000, driven with enthusiasm by Rob Milne, an enthusiastic member of the Leicester Sturgess motor business. 

I had huge moral support from the members of the LotusExcel.net club, with Richard Wollaston bringing his Lotus Elite, resplendent with an emblem incorporating my signature. Embarrassed to proud – well a bit of both!

Another vehicle that was part of my past was the "wedge" TVR and I was happy that Andy Hutcheson ("andytank") had passed on details at the annual meeting, so we had one of those cars present. Unfortunately it was not possible to completely take over Hinckley, so they were parked down streets nearby.

The other members of my book title trio, Jaguar, were surprisingly short in supply. A red E-Type convertible was a couple of car spaces beyond the Lotuses. 

For me, what made the event so interesting was the diversity of the exhibits. They were not parked as a group but scattered around, so one went from say, a Ferrari, to a Triumph TR7 to an Austin 7 to a DeLorean. There were many forms of transport, the steam roller winning Special Vehicle of the show! Prizes were awarded for scooters, motorcycles, classic cars and commercial vehicles. There were pre-war and post-war machines, stock cars, modified saloons, American cars – you name it, it was probably there. As were an awful lot of people!

All the pubs and cafes were open and doing a roaring trade all day as literally thousands of people strolled the streets – all free of charge – enjoying the day. 

My pitch on Hinckley Market Square, alongside a lovely Lotus Elite

The two Lotuses, with the gazebo behind

A TVR 350i enjoying the double yellow lines in Regent Street

This beautiful Rover 3.5 litre Coupé was brought by Coventry Transport Museum

Not only did we have a DeLorean, but also an ex-senior executive of the marque present. The bar across the door opening was to prevent unwanted passengers entering!

This Ford Mustang dated from 1971 – they still look the same!

The two Lotus Elites had an Excel for company. There was also an Eclat elsewhere

Here I am being interviewed live on local radio

Sue and Stuart Elliott on the left, receiving a much deserved award in recognition of their efforts organising this wonderful event

We all retired to the Heathcote for a well deserved pint after a wonderful day. Hinckley hopefully will continue to thrive – it deserves to!

You can purchase your own copy of A Life in Car Design here, and make sure to keep checking the Veloce blog for the next instalment of Winterbottom's diary!

Great Scott! Look at our new release!

We have a number of new Essential Buyer's Guides out this month, including the Range Rover First Generation, Mercedes Benz W123 and Mercedes Benz 190, but one in particular can be linked to an iconic movie ... 

Of course, I'm talking about the DeLorean DMC-12! The only model ever made by the DeLorean company, roughly 9000 DMC-12s were manufacturered between 1981 and 1983. Featuring a number of unusual construction details, such as gull-wing doors, a rear-mounted engine and unpainted, stainless-steel body panels, this car, though made in Ireland, was intended primarily for the US car market – though a small number were later converted post-production to be right-hand-drive, so they could be sold in other parts of the world. 

As of 2007, there were thought to be around 6500 left, and if you fancy trying to obtain one for yourself, Chris Williams' Essential Buyer's Guide is the perfect tool to help you get the best possible DMC-12 for the best possible price! Packed with good advice on everything you need to know when purchasing a second-hand DeLorean, from running costs, paperwork, vital statistics and valuation, to information on the DeLorean community, this is the complete guide to choosing, assessing, and buying the DeLorean of your dreams. 

"The way I see it, if you're going to build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?" – Doc Brown, Back To The Future, 1985.

Now, I may not have grown up in the '80s, but I love the Back To The Future film series! Though their prediction of the year 2015 wasn't exactly what we experienced, these films are still classics, and that is in part down to the futuristic car that made time travel possible!

As the most anticipated car of the decade, the DeLorean was gaining a lot of media attention, and teamed with its sleek, futuristic silver look, it seemed the obvious choice for Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale to have the car as the star in their time travel film.

Three models were purchased for modification, for each film in the trilogy, with a complete fibreglass replica being built for the flying scenes in Back To The Future Part II. Of these nine in total, only three survive: the original one can be seen at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angles, California; the remaining two are owned by Universal Studios, with one on display in their Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando, Florida.

Now, I've got a couple of behind-the-scenes mechanical facts about these iconic cars. The DeLoreans used in filming retained their original V6 engines, however the sound effects artists changed the sound in post-production to the sound of a Porsche 928 V8 engine. For the American West scenes seen in Back To The Future Part III, two DeLoreans were fitted with a special dune buggy chassis, and high performance Volkswagen engines, in order to help the cars navigate the Western terrain with ease.

Whether you want to fulfil your dream of owning a time machine – in style, not in essence! – or you just always fancied owning a rare and iconic car, then you need to get a copy of Chris Williams' guide to help you find the right DeLorean! This book, and many other Essential Buyer's Guides, are available to buy from our online store now. – Siân