Auto-Social – Hanging Out at Hangar 136

We continued our string of Car & Classic Auto Socials at the weekend with a visit to Hangar 136 at Bicester Heritage on Saturday where the ever gracious and accommodating Oliver Gatland-Pendleton and Laurence Pawson (the dynamic duo of enthusiasts who run the show) opened up their doors, as well as their arms, and welcomed us (along with a whole bunch of you lot) to their showroom next to those iconic rusty hangar doors.

Hangar 136 was the perfect venue for another fantastic morning of cars, coffee and conversation as well as the inaugural Car & Classic Car Park Concours, which we’ll get to later. Oli and Laurence have built something truly special in their little corner of Bicester. Passionate about the idea of offering something for everyone – whether you’re a high-end collector or simply a young person looking to get into their first ‘old car’ the pair clearly have a love for classics. Not only are they supporting the classic car community of today, but they’re also keen to continue to encourage and inspire going into the future.

With the location sorted we were able to set up and get the coffees brewing care of Carburettor Coffee who kept people’s back necks suitably wet throughout proceedings. They also provided some delicious tasty treats, from cakes and flapjacks to vegan brownies as well as ‘blondies’. But this isn’t Cake & Classic (although we may have to bagsy the domain name now for future endeavours), this is Car & Classic so let’s talk about the wonderfully diverse smorgasbord of classic (and some modern) metal that you lovely lot brought along.

The area outside Hangar 136 quickly began filling up early doors with various stunning examples. A particularly lovely 1955 Austin Healey 100/4 BN1 took pride of place, having arrived early and we’re told that this original UK car received an extensive refurbishment in 2007 with photographic documentation of the work carried out. Having been with its previous owner for 30 years it is fitted with the later BN2 gearbox with overdrive making it a dream to drive. It just so happens to be for sale with no reserve via our auctions platform too.

But it wasn’t just British beauties that made the trip to Hangar 136. There was again a great mix with everything from American muscle and JDM heroes to one-of-a-kind builds and an especially fabulous formation of Ferraris. One particular owner who came to investigate in his daily VW estate immediately went home to fetch his own Ferrari when he found out there was a car meet in full swing, such is the draw of the Car & Classic Auto Socials!

Such a large and diverse collection of classics made judging the aforementioned Car Park Concours quite the task. Not that we’re complaining of course. It was a lot of fun to pick our four winners with each lucky owner taking home a highly coveted Car & Classic goody bag. Our first award for Best Classic went to Tom and his 1965 Chevy Nova Wagon. When this thing fires up, everyone takes notice, but then that’s standard operating procedure for a car that’s powered by an LQ4 V8 with AFR heads, K1 crank and rods, and Wiesco pistons. Mated to a built 4L60E four-speed automatic transmission the car will run 11second quarter miles all day long whilst happily making its own way to the track. Tom plans on fitting an improved torque converter in the near future and will be taking the Nova to Street Weekend next month – a rather more British nod to the famous Hot Rod Drag Week that takes place in the US. Good luck Tom!

Next up was the award for Best Spec and this prize went to Bobby and his 2021 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 that he’d been patiently waiting for with baited breath for a couple of years. Yes, we know this isn’t strictly a classic but boy what a machine. With adaptive sports suspension, GT brakes and that wonderfully sonorous 4.0-litre six-cylinder producing 420bhp Bobby can launch to 60mph from a car show photo shoot in 4seconds. And that colour… Envious? Us? Yes, yes we are.

The Best Modern Classic on the day, in our humble opinion, was Jon’s BMW E39 M5. It’s no secret that we have a soft soft for The Beast here at Car & Classic having owned one in the past but Jon’s beautifully original E39 is one of the best we’ve seen. Jon is keen to keep his M5 stock stating “I have other cars with loud exhausts and various modifications but I wanted to keep the M5 100% original”. Fair play Jon, we respect that and it really is a stunning example.

Finally the Best Overall Classic award went to Adrian and his blue over crema 1997 Ferrari 355 GTS. With its 3.5-litre, normally aspirated V8 the 355 is still in the upper echelons of Ferrari models as far as we’re concerned. 380bhp, a top speed of over 180mph and a 0-60 dash in under 5seconds? Yes. Please. Unfortunately Adrian had to leave early and so we missed our photo opportunity but suffice to say pickles were indeed tickled all round.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to those of you that came out to see us. For those that missed it our next Auto-Social is on the 10th of June at West London classic and supercar hub, Duke of London, so if you want to be in with a chance of picking up a coveted Car & Classic award or you simply want to come and hang out with like-minded enthusiasts and chat all things Car and all things Classic while ogling each other’s rides then get yourself a ticket here. They’re FREE but are available on a first come, first served basis so get involved now. We hope to see you there!