Road Trip Inspiration

At Windrush Car Storage, our clients run the gamut. Of course, we welcome plenty of monogamous owners who trust our classic car storage in London and the Cotswolds to keep a cherished vintage in the form of its life. But then there are those clients whose turnover of vehicles is a little faster, using our prestige car storage to keep investment vehicles primed for resale – and enjoying all the benefits of our status as an HMRC Customs Warehouse. Investor or enthusiast, you’ll want to hear about recent developments in the car market. Of course, vehicle valuations are notoriously hard to call, but last month, the experts at Hagerty noted an unmistakable trend in their latest market report. If you were driving in the ’80s and ’90s, you’ll remember the homologation specials: road-going versions of the era’s competition cars, complete with fearsome turbocharged performance, stripped interiors and box-arched attitude unlike anything else on the road. Recently, we’ve been able to enjoy a modern interpretation of the homologation car in the acclaimed Toyota Yaris GR, but with buyers in the 45-65 bracket rediscovering the cars of their youth, it’s the rise of the classic homologation specials that we’re focused on here. “Hagerty Price Guide values of many high-performance ’80s and ’90s modern classics have been rising quickly,” says John Mayhead, Head of Automotive Intelligence UK. “Hagerty believes the combination of low production numbers, high performance and solid motorsport credentials gives these cars exactly what the market wants.” If you’re lucky enough to own a homologation special, be sure to enhance its lifespan and protect its value with our classic car storage. Meanwhile, if you’re an auction regular, keep your eyes peeled for these five investments.     Ford Sierra RS Cosworth Produced from ’86 to ’92, the Cossie’s stock is rising fast, with values up by an average of £20,200 over the past year and pristine examples commanding up to £75,000 at auction houses like Bonhams. Unmodified models are rare and highly sought-after, but even if your ’86 is showing wear and tear, you might be surprised by the return: in February, ACA sold a Cossie that Hagerty rated just #3 (good) for £59,400. If you own one, don’t mess with the spec – and protect it with long term car storage whenever you’re not driving. Audi Quattro Sport Launched in 1980 and achieving instant rally glory, Audi’s four-wheel-drive icon has climbed the valuations almost as fast. Just a year ago, an ‘excellent’ example would change hands for £265,000: today Hagery values the same model at £284,000, with concours examples rocketing to £404,000. That’s not just ‘in theory’, either: in February, Artcurial sold a motorsport-prepared, ex-Race of Champions Sport Quattro S1 for a staggering €2.016m, more than twice its pre-sale low estimate. Lancia Delta HF Integrale Rewind 15 years and the Lancia Delta HF Integrale was a slow mover with a top guide price of £7,500. But what a difference a decade makes. By 2015, Hagerty valued an ‘excellent’ example at £40,300, rising (a little slower) to £50,200 by late 2019, then spiking in the past year to £64,500 for the same model, and up to £85,400 for the very best. If you secure one, keep that valuation ticking steadily upwards with prestige car storage. BMW M3 Debuting in ’86 with a mighty (and non-turbocharged) 200hp, the M3’s cultural impact is reflected in its modern valuation. The standard coupe will give solid return on investment – but the real prizes are the special editions, with average values of the Evo II rising from £57,575 to £64,025 over the past year. At Windrush, we’ve welcomed countless M3s to our long term car storage in London and the Cotswolds, so you’re in safe hands. Renault Clio Williams It snatched the hot hatch crown from Peugeot back in ’93, but for many years, valuations of the Clio Williams remained frustratingly static. No longer: a surge of interest over the last year now sees the Hagerty Price Guide pegging an ‘excellent’ example at £18,100 and noting that values across the board are up by an average of £5,700 in the year. Windrush classic car storage – the home of homologation specials With the homologation specials of yesteryear now commanding top prices – and the Toyota Yaris GR joining the pantheon – you’ll want to keep your example in perfect running order, whether it’s for investment or enjoyment. Come to Windrush. Our classic car storage is run by experts and enthusiasts who know your cherished model inside-out. From our famous 12-step induction programme to our ongoing mechanical checkovers, we’ll provide long term car storage that’s tailored to you. And remember: thanks to our new status as an HMRC Customs Warehouse, our prestige car storage sites can offer a host of tax breaks on imported cars. Windrush’s expert team is ready to safeguard your vehicle at our long term car storage in London and the Cotswolds. Drop us a line today on info@windrushcarstorage.co.uk

If you are lucky enough to own a supercar, we encourage you to make sure you extract maximum excitement from your investment. From track days to supercar storage, here are five ways to make living the supercar dream even sweeter. Join An Owners Club Owning a supercar should be sociable, not a twilight existence of solitary polishing – so find out what owners clubs are out there for your marque and model. Famously friendly, an owners club will welcome you into a community of like-minded folks, who all share your obsession. Clubs can advise on the best specialists, recommend upgrades and suggest motoring events you never even knew existed, you’ll wonder how you managed without them.         Try A Track Day There comes a time in the life of every supercar owner when they realise they’ve never actually got close to realising their cars potential. To unclip your supercar’s leash in style, why not book a track day? From Silverstone to Goodwood, the nation’s most fabled racetracks are at your fingertips for as little as £99, letting you put all the technical engineering to the ultimate test, in a safe environment…with no lampposts. Book Professional Driving Tuition There’s no shame in admitting your supercar is more capable than you, but drivers can awaken their inner Lewis Hamilton with a high-performance driving lesson. Don’t come expecting to brush up on parallel parking: this sort of dynamic driver training typically takes place at a proving ground where speed is no object, placing you in the hands of a hardened coach who’ll tear apart your bad habits then rebuild you as a driver worthy of the marque. By the end, you won’t just drive the Lamborghini. You will be the Lamborghini… Take A Road Trip Every time you use it your car for a cruise down the High Street, your Ferrari dies a little inside. Supercars were born to eat tarmac, so treat yours to the best roads in the world. From the isolated majesty of Snowdonia’s, A-roads to the heaven-scraping heights of Austria’s Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, there’s a whole world out there to roam at high speed – and of course, friends at your owners club will know every hairpin and drinking hole along the way. Choose Professional Supercar Storage We’ve covered the instant gratification of supercar ownership. But when it comes to enjoying your dream machine in the long-term, the best advice of all is to treat it to professional supercar storage. With car theft rising during lockdown and incorrect storage jeopardising everything from paintwork to mechanics, it’s vital to find a supercar storage facility that understands what your model needs to stay in optimum working order. At Windrush, we’re proud to offer the complete supercar storage solution. Following a thorough twelve-step induction, we’ll settle your supercar in a dehumidified, climate-controlled indoor storage bay, maintained with 24/7 security, twice-daily checks and weekly battery and drip tray inspections. Plus, every 60 days, we’ll give your supercar an expert maintenance checkover and run it up to temperature on our internal rolling road. Whether you’re based in the countryside, or need London supercar storage, your pride and joy couldn’t be in safer hands. To discover how Windrush supercar storage can help, get in touch today.

Windrush’s classic car storage facility in the Cotswolds couldn’t be better-placed. Our location in Lower Slaughter not only allows us to serve motorists across the region, from Cheltenham to Oxford and beyond. It also sits right on the doorstep of the some of the UK’s best driving roads. At Windrush long term car storage, we keep your vehicle in an ‘always ready’ state and pride ourselves on flexible collection that means it’s no issue when you fancy a day out on impulse. In our recent blog, we’ve already recommended some great Oxfordshire roads to warm your classic’s tyres. Now, here are five more self-contained road trips in Wales, as chosen by the Windrush prestige car storage team. Just remember: while the routes listed below are some of the greatest driving roads in the country, Windrush reminds you to drive within the legal speed limits at all times. A4069 (The Black Mountain Pass) Stray west past Cheltenham and don’t stop until you reach Brecon Beacons National Park: a playground for motorists seeking catharsis, offering both horizons to snatch your breath and roads to test your hardware. While you can’t go wrong with any of the b-routes that spiderweb across this ancient heather-dusted moorland, the A4069 is the pick, sprawling 19 miles between Llandovery and Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, and testing your mettle just enough. A487 to Whitesands Bay Extending your journey to one of Wales’ most westerly points is well worth the petrol. Whitesands Bay might be the money-shot destination, but the journey is all part and parcel, especially if you time your trek to skirt the coast just as the sky melts into almost unnatural tints of purple, pink and orange. With experts glumly predicting that the fabled A487 might soon be reclaimed by the sea, it’s a drive to take without delay.      The Abergwesyn Pass If you’d prefer to focus on South Wales, take this narrow strip across the Cambrian Mountains. It weren’t for the gleaming machinery bearing you along, you’d swear you’d stepped back in time as you slice through this untainted kingdom of moorland and babbling streams that ties Llanwrtyd Wells with Tregaron. Motorists are scarce, sheep more plentiful, and though the route is more about spectacle than speed, you’ll want your wits about you as you tackle the aptly named Devil’s Staircase: a run of high-gradient hairpins halfway along the twenty-mile stretch. Aberystwyth to Rhayader We’re not done with the Cambrians quite yet. The so-called ‘green desert of Wales’ demands a little more exploration, and one of the best routes reveals itself when you take the B4574 to Cwmystwyth, then segue onto the spellbinding mountain road that treats you to both the natural peaks and the chain of man-made Elan Valley reservoirs created back in Victorian times. A4085/A498 around Snowdon If you’ve got time to roam, head north to Snowdon. The 1,085-metre-high mountain isn’t just the preserve of the waterproof trouser brigade: you’ll get views almost as spectacular when you skirt the base of the main massif anti-clockwise. The A4085 will lead you into the foothills, then turn at Beddgelert to take the A498. From this point on, it’s strictly eyes left for Snowdon’s summit: a mighty crag whose heaven-scraping physicality pulls you up short, no matter how many times you’ve seen it. Windrush classic car storage – always your final destination Once you’ve cured your itchy feet, make sure you come home to Windrush, for luxury term car storage that ensures your classic stays fighting fit. Both in the Cotswolds and at our central London facility, we make a point of treating each car with unrivalled care and attention, right from the moment it arrives for our exhaustive twelve-step induction process. Meanwhile, with Windrush’s ongoing maintenance programme factoring in every quirk of your model, our long term car storage is simply the safest place for your pride and joy during downtime. For prestige car storage with the personal touch, it has to be Windrush. We’re looking forward to hearing from you on info@windrushcarstorage.co.uk

Here at Windrush, we’re firm believers in long term car storage done right. But to borrow a line from Steppenwolf’s 1968 anthem, Born To Be Wild, there’s also a time to get your motor running and head out on the highway – preferably with our ultimate driving playlist on the speakers. From slow-burn anthems for the scenic route, to hard rockers sure to put points on your licence, here are ten classics chosen by our prestige car storage team. Bruce Springsteen Born To Run (1975) Springsteen had never been more eloquent than on this ode to small-town dreamers seeking a better life – but the genius of Born To Run is how the Boss captures that wide-eyed escapism in the music. From the opening drum roll to the eternally optimistic guitar riff, it’s hard to imagine a song with greater momentum. Hear it The Killers Mr Brightside (2003) Research suggests the debut single from the Las Vegas dandies has featured on more driving-themed Spotify playlists than any other song – and you can see why. Guitarist Dave Keuning’s tingling riff puts the magic in the air – but it’s the moment when the bass drops in that turns your right foot into a brick. Hear it Fleetwood Mac Go Your Own Way (1976) Lindsey Buckingham was crawling from the wreckage of his relationship with bandmate Stevie Nicks when he wrote this escapist classic from 1977’s Rumours. With its wide-open highway of a chorus, it’s the perfect soundtrack for turning the key and gunning it to the horizon in search of redemption. Hear it Gary Numan Cars (1979) Despite being released in 1979, the synth king’s icy signature tune still feels like it’s been beamed from the future: the kind of thing that Harrison Ford might have on the car stereo while hunting replicants in Blade Runner. Hear it Pink Floyd Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V) (1975) Written in salute to the Floyd’s unravelling former bandleader Syd Barrett, prog’s ultimate slow-burner demands your total focus for a full 14 minutes. As such, it’s perfect for ghosting through a mist-shrouded Lake District landscape at sunrise, not the bumper-to-bumper of the M25 at rush hour. Hear it Daft Punk Get Lucky (2013) Every driving playlist needs one top-down moment, and it falls to the robot-headed Frenchmen (with a little help from Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers). From the clickety-clack funk guitar to the instant-classic chorus, it’s a song to be enjoyed with roof off and sunglasses on, preferably while cruising Miami’s Ocean Drive. Hear it Antonio Vivaldi The Four Seasons (1725) It might feel like the sort of thing that Hannibal Lecter would put on a car playlist, but match the great Italian composer’s immortal four-part violin concerto with the right landscape and you’ll feel like you’re driving on air. Hear it Led Zeppelin Ramble On (1969) For the first minute, this highlight from Led Zeppelin II fools you into thinking it’s a blissed-out, barefooted folk strummer. Then Jimmy Page’s riff comes crashing in, Robert Plant yelps the chorus hook like a scalded banshee and the fast lane becomes irresistible. Hear it Hans Zimmer You’re So Cool (1993) The song title might be unfamiliar, but you’ll immediately recognise that addictive xylophone hook from not one but two classic road movies, with Carl Orff’s original version, Gassenhauer, featured in 1973’s Badlands, and Zimmer’s updated cover plink-plonking throughout 1993’s True Romance. Hear it Blue Öyster Cult (Don’t Fear) The Reaper (1976) Like the theme to the greatest road movie never made, Donald Roeser’s hypnotic guitar riff evokes vast, unknowable, tumbleweed-blown American plains. Even when you play it on Wandsworth High Street. Hear it Classic car storage that always hits the right note Your car was born to run – but be sure to come home to the best prestige car storage in the business. Windrush’s long term car storage offers state-of-the-art facilities in London and the Cotswolds, including climate control, individual bays and an internal rolling road. But at the heart of our prestige car storage service is the human touch, with friendly experts guiding your vehicle through our famous twelve-step induction process, and overseeing an ongoing maintenance programme that helps your car hold its value for longer. For more information on Windrush’s long term car storage, get in touch on info@windrushcarstorage.co.uk