‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ was a slogan issued by the Government in 1939 when the world was a worrying place for different reasons than today. At that time, the UK faced the threat of what was to be the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. A rallying cry to stir the British people into action and stoic defence that we see as our way of life and rights as human beings domiciled on these Islands. 80 years after the Blitz, in my home city of Coventry, I am prompted to reflect on the link between this slogan and classic cars of today.
Back in 1940, they weren’t classic cars, they were just cars and we transitioned as a nation into making vehicles for the defence of our land, our friends in Europe, and around the world. My grandparents turned from building engines for road cars to engines for tanks, planes and war vehicles. When the Blitz of Coventry happened, they took shelter and then got up the next day to go back to work. Then in 1945, faced with a huge ‘debt’ as a nation, they seamlessly transitioned into making cars again. Ever resourceful, the British people rolled up their sleeves and we exported classic cars to the USA and around the world. Sound familiar?
My classic car of choice was designed in 1948. Originally to showcase a new jewel of an engine that would power Jaguar cars for a generation, the XK engine transitioned through to my personal ‘favourite of all time’ Jaguar XK120 and all the way through to saloon cars of the 1980’s.
In 1949, seeing a Jaguar XK120 driving down the Charter Avenue in Coventry would be like seeing the all new Lotus Evija 2000bhp electric car doing the same today. Both cars dramatic and a signal to the future. What is clear is that despite Covid-19’s devastating impact on our economy, the classic car world is very much keeping calm and carrying on. When the war finished in 1945, the airfields that had housed our fighter and bomber planes became ‘redundant’. This wasn’t for long though, as the ever-resourceful British people began racing cars around the airfields of Silverstone, Goodwood, Thruxton, Donington and the likes.
The classic car team have been just as busy in 2020 as we were in 2019, though there is a different emphasis to the cars we finance and maybe a different motivator to our customers financing their cars. Throughout 2020 we have been financing race cars, moderns, and classics. It would have been easier to cancel everything until 2021, but people depend on the mantra of ‘keep calm and carry on’ so we have.
We were also involved in the British GT Championship this year, as our sponsored driver Angus Fender competed this season in the very fine British built McLaren GT3. Going to the racetrack with no spectators was unusual, and whilst everybody would have preferred spectators to be present the ever-resourceful fans watched the races on YouTube and Sky. Angus will be back at the racetrack in 2021 and hopefully with fans present when it is safe to do so.
As we say an easy goodbye to 2020, I do believe that 2021 will be a fantastic year. The classic cars will be dusted off and readied for any chance to get back to normality. The sports and supercars will fill track days from spring to autumn. Race cars young and old will shatter the peace of lockdown at former airfields all over the country, and the XK120 will rub shoulders with the Lotus Evija at an event near you soon.
2021 sees my hometown of Coventry as the ‘city of culture’. Out of the Blitz a new heart of Coventry was born. Considered the height of modern thinking in the 1950’s, then concrete monstrosities in the 70’s and 80’s, the world is softening and appreciating the pedestrianised centre of Coventry surrounded by its inner and outer ring roads. Much the same can be said of classic cars. During the height of technological engineering, the Aston Martin Lagonda was dismissed as ‘ugly’ and potentially irrelevant. But as we soften and time passes by, cars like the Lagonda become ‘cool’ and ‘chic’. The same can be said for a lot of makes and models of car. As I’ve always said of classic cars ‘everybody has an opinion of their dream classic car’. So wide and varied are the opportunities that everybody can be right. Whether you invest £100k or £3m in your dream car for whatever purpose the classic car finance team at Cambridge & Counties Bank are ready and waiting to make 2021 a ‘classic’ year for the UK. In the meantime, keep calm and carry on…
