Auto Brunch St Ives October 2026

Yesterday was the October St Ives cars and coffee event.  I was free on the day and went along in my Citroen DS.   After rain and showers for the last few days, the weather was really nice and the ground wasn’t wet or muddy.

The previous weather may have kept people away as numbers were a bit down compared to last time I went.  I was able to pretty much drive right in, whereas on some days there is a bit of a line.   As well as my car, there were two other Ds on display – a DS23 and a late D Special.   There was also a 2CV, an XM and a C6.   The DS23 was parked next to a massive Lincoln Continental coupe.  It was an interesting comparison with the French idea of luxury vs American in the 1970s.

As I’ve mentioned before, the best thing about St Ives is the variety that turns up and that theme continued today.   Some of the highlights for me were:

• A good turn out of Datsun/Nissan Z Cars, from early ones to later.  I was parked beside one that was quite nice, with a manual transmission.   Those cars seem to be owned by a younger crowd, which is good to see in the car hobby.
• There was quite a good selection of 80s Ferraris, for example 328, 308 etc.  I’ve always liked that era.   There was also a much older Ferrari in a lovely metallic brown.  Its good to see one that is not red.
• I liked the dark green BMW E23 730 with a manual transmission and velour interior.
• The Studebaker Golden Hawk was in great shape.   I know Studebakers from that era were made in Australia, although I don’t know if that particular model was.
• The Mazda Cosmo Turbo.
• Volvo 260 Bertone Coupe and the 144 with the red interior.   While I wasn’t a huge fan of the wheels or seat covers on the Bertone coupe, the car is such an interesting oddity and great to see.
• There were a couple of early commodores in very nice shape.

There was also a very nice Thistle green Mercedes 280TE with 630,000km on the clock.  It was parked next to a 1991 S124 300TE wagon.   Having the first and second generation of wagons together was a good comparison.   The S123 had been donated to the MBCV around covid time and used for some garage day demonstrations in their excellent club rooms, before being sold off by the club.   It was in excellent condition and the current owner has only had it a few months.   He plans to make an AMG tribute car.