The (classic) New Year starts here

While the VSCC and various other clubs held New Year’s Day meetings, for many people their classic year began at the January Bicester Scramble. And clearly plenty of enthusiasts are a hardy bunch, undeterred by the snow underfoot and the attendant mist and slush.

As always the location makes the event – or at the very least plays a big part – and the Bicester backdrop, with some snow underfoot and the mystical greyness in the air, was just right. Doubters who weren’t there: well, you should have been.

And for those who coated their car’s wheelarches in salt and dirty water in their trip to Oxfordshire such dirt-encrusting was more than worth it: from an early Royce chassis out in the elements to a 2009 Kia Sportage, early Range Rovers to some 1960s Aston Martins, all was there.

Yes, there are ‘regular’ classics dotted around the site but it doesn’t take long to find the rare, the pleasingly different or the just plain bonkers. Oh, and all points in between. Whether an early-’80s Toyota Land Cruiser (ideal considering the road conditions) to a slammed W140 S-class Benz, all life was there.

Too modern? Well, there was the afore-mentioned ‘Royce chassis plus a smattering of other pre-war Royces, whose generous dimensions comfortably dwarfed any Austin Sevens showed. We spotted an early Bentley too and a Ford Model T van, which was enjoying a decent amount of attention.

But don’t take our word for it: As our pictures show what a great start to the 2025 classic year this really was.