The Goodwood Revival is primarily a celebration of vintage racing. Various race cars from the earliest days of motorsport through the 1960s are invited to compete throughout three days at the Goodwood circuit in southern England. Attendees are encouraged to and, in some cases, required to wear vintage clothing from the 1940s, ’50 and ‘60s to create a more immersive experience. And to match the circuit itself, whose grandstands and paddocks were painstakingly restored and recreated to match their mid-century glory years.
I’ve attended an awful lot of incredible car events in my life, so it’s not hyperbole when I say this is one of the best things any car enthusiast can do. It’s certainly true if you’re a racing aficionado, but even if, like me, you have only a passing interest, that’s totally OK. That’s because there’s so much more to the Goodwood Revival than the racing and people/fashion watching. There’s also the parking lot. That’s right, that place you’re usually trying to get the hell out of as quickly as possible could very easily be your star of the show.
Simply put, the Goodwood Revival parking lot is the most interesting car show I have ever attended. And I’ve attended multiple Pebble Beach Concours where the crème de la crème of automotive history is on display. While the Pierce Arrows, Delahayes and I Can’t Even Identifies there are certainly interesting in their own right, the Goodwood Revival parking lot features cars you’ve actually heard of before, from the humble to high-six-digit masterpieces. And a lot of them. Like a giant parking lot in a field a lot. This attached gallery, as you can probably tell, is just the tip of the iceberg.
If they’d allow it, I’d be perfectly content to just pay for parking in the back (the cars are grouped into a pre-1970 area, a pre-1990 area and then all that newfangled stuff) and spend the day walking around the lot. So, I invite you to do just that with me, in a way, and check out the pics of what caught my eye. I did my best to identify everything in the captions, but without labels, I’m merely relying on my own knowledge and some basic internet research.
Enjoy!