On a sunny August Saturday, accompanied by Colin and Denise Metcalfe in their black Barchetta, we made the short trip (4 miles!) up the road to the British Motor Museum at Gaydon for this event. It was a celebration of the company’s 125^th anniversary and all Italian cars, not just Fiats, were invited.

We arrived to find a host of different models – many 500s old and new, various 850s, 124s, 127s, 128s, Coupes, more recent Cinquecentos, Puntos etc and even a total of 7 Barchettas. There were also a few rarities, remember the original Topolino, the Cronos estate (I didn’t) or the Ferrari-engined Thema  8-32 saloon? Also two Fiat Dinos, one Spider and one coupe. My own favourite was a very elegant 1969 124 Sport Coupe.

Among the non-Fiats was one 1980s Ferrari 328, several Maserati 3200GTs, two examples of Lancia’s beautiful Stratos, one Lancia Fulvia, a very original Beta coupe and assorted Alfa Romeos, my favourite being a much-loved and well-travelled 1958 Spider, recently home from an Italian rally!

We had the opportunity to chat with many other owners, including the Barchetta owners over a fun few hours.

We then enjoyed a tour of the large museum, a chance to reminisce over ‘my dad had one of those…..’  After a picnic lunch on the grass, the ladies adjourned to visit the nearby National Herb Centre while Colin and I had a second dose of the museum.

On the following morning, we repeated some of the Cotswold drives of our 2019 annual event, but this time in sunshine rather than the miserable weather which had unfortunately blighted that weekend. Colin had said for the last several years this was something he wanted to do. It was a treat to travel those roads again and was topped off with a super Sunday lunch at the Mount pub with its great views.

Dave Skelding