South Central All Italian Breakfast Meet - The Departure Lounge Café, GU34 4BH

[solaris9988]

The First All Italian Car Breakfast Meet of 2023 will be held Saturday the 1st April.
As with the previous meets, it will be at The Departure Lounge Café, GU34 4BH, just outside Alton in northern Hampshire.

The café is a great venue for a breakfast meet, as it has a large solid field on which the owner lets us park so as to be able to display our cars all together and out of the main public car park.

The meet starts at 1000hrs, which is when the café opens, and is not a formal event so no booking is necessary, and entry is free, so just come along if you fancy it.

It is open to any Italian car of any age, and we have had classics and supercars through to modern Alfas and Fiats and everything in between. Attendees have come from across the southern counties and as far afield as London, Kent, and Dorset, with many clubs supporting the event.

The format is simple, we park up, chat to other owners and look at the cars on show, and have some breakfast if you want to. People usually drift away after lunch. We have had close to 200 cars at some of last years' events, so there is plenty to see, and always lots of Alfas.

It would be great to see you there!!

 

[The Panda Nut]

Ha... Not falling for that one! Whats the real date?

 

[solaris9988]

Ha... Not falling for that one! Whats the real date?

Hi

It really is the 1st April is the date, look at attached flyer

 

[Barchetta Bloke 440]

I might be coming to this ,though I've been saying that since before Covid and when I had a Barchetta .
I will REALLY try this time .

 

[s130]

I might be coming to this ,though I've been saying that since before Covid and when I had a Barchetta .
I will REALLY try this time .

Suggest you do really try.

Lovely country to drive through (depending on your route)
Excelent friendly meet!
Nice Cafe
Relaxed and very informal
Generally models and makes of cars are "mixed up" unless you choose to link up with someone else on or before arrival.

 

[Noah500]

I should be there (unless the weather is cr*p on the day...)

 

[Richard Morris]

I’ll try and come down again.

 

[lukmek]

The First All Italian Car Breakfast Meet of 2023 will be held Saturday the 1st April.
As with the previous meets, it will be at The Departure Lounge Café, GU34 4BH, just outside Alton in northern Hampshire.

The café is a great venue for a breakfast meet, as it has a large solid field on which the owner lets us park so as to be able to display our cars all together and out of the main public car park.

The meet starts at 1000hrs, which is when the café opens, and is not a formal event so no booking is necessary, and entry is free, so just come along if you fancy it.

It is open to any Italian car of any age, and we have had classics and supercars through to modern Alfas and Fiats and everything in between. Attendees have come from across the southern counties and as far afield as London, Kent, and Dorset, with many clubs supporting the event.

The format is simple, we park up, chat to other owners and look at the cars on show, and have some breakfast if you want to. People usually drift away after lunch. We have had close to 200 cars at some of last years' events, so there is plenty to see, and always lots of Alfas.

It would be great to see you there!!

Coming

 

[Barchetta Bloke 440]

Despite dodgy looking weather , I made it to this , a decent morning out ,about 30-40 cars I guess and it brightened up by late morning .

1992 Panda was the 3rd oldest car there ,beaten only by a K reg 500 original and a J reg Lancia Fulvia coupe . 3 replica Stratos there too ,1 came over from Isle of Wight ,well done sir.....

 

[Richard Morris]

Sorry, very wet and had to go to work to sort out things after a power cut. Can’t make the 23rd, YouTuber jack @no27 has asked for my x1/9 for display at Bicester heritage.

 

[lukmek]

 

[lukmek]

 

[s130]

As summer progresses there will be more cars tuning up I can assure you.

 

[Barchetta Bloke 440]

As summer progresses there will be more cars tuning up I can assure you.

I was actually pleasantly surprised they got as many as I mentioned with the weather so pants .
One person with the new 124 Spider arrived top down ,but it wasn't actually raining at the time .

Nice pic of my Panda above too ,I'm glad people appreciate the silly old shoebox .

 

[s130]

reciate the silly old shoebox .

I've never had but have always admired the Panda especially the 4x4.

I remeber it was one if not the first Fiat to use those big plastic bumper all round. They were not a hard plastic so took heavy knocks and scrapes with easy. Rust being a early Fiat problem I though why don't Fiat make the bodyshell, doors, etc all out of this material. No rust, no need to wash and polish (just hope pipe and garden broom), now worrying who is going to ding of scratch your car etc.

If you go to Italy and more rural / mountain / off main roads then everyone / house has a Panda for obvious reasons. Small (especially narrow), utility, economical, reliable, cheap and with 4x4 option.

 

[Barchetta Bloke 440]

I've never had but have always admired the Panda especially the 4x4.

I remeber it was one if not the first Fiat to use those big plastic bumper all round. They were not a hard plastic so took heavy knocks and scrapes with easy. Rust being a early Fiat problem I though why don't Fiat make the bodyshell, doors, etc all out of this material. No rust, no need to wash and polish (just hope pipe and garden broom), now worrying who is going to ding of scratch your car etc.

If you go to Italy and more rural / mountain / off main roads then everyone / house has a Panda for obvious reasons. Small (especially narrow), utility, economical, reliable, cheap and with 4x4 option.

You must remember the trips I made in the Barchetta which I told of in my rather jumbled up thread of the much travelled Barchetta . On my last trip in 2019 I went a bit bonkers and started taking pics of Pandas ,it didn't take long to amass dozens of them .of all sorts , except the MK1 [141] as they seem to be quite scarce but there's still many MK2s like mine in daily use .

 

[Richard Morris]

Planning on bringing the x1/9 along on Saturday.

 

[Toshi 975]

Planning on bringing the x1/9 along on Saturday.View attachment 424380

Is that the X19 that was at the Chesham show last Sunday ?

 

[Richard Morris]

No. This sunday was when i took the photo at a friends field near buckingham.

 

[Richard Morris]