Break for the Border Rally

On Saturday July 2nd at Great Escape Classic Car Hire we’re off to frighten the wildlife on our first ever Great Escape Welsh Borders rally. We’ve assembled a fleet of our favourite classic cars for a 180 mile circuit of the Welsh Borders, taking in some of our favourite roads in the region. You can join us on our brand new Break for the Border rally. Places are limited and selling fast (we filled 30% in 24 hours) but if you book before the end of April you will save up to £120 on the normal price. You can book either yourself or bring a co-driver (or non-driving partner) and receive a further discount. The cars we’ve lined up for the trip are:

• HMC Healey Jaguar E Type convertible


• Ariel Atom


• MGB V8 roadster


• Jensen Interceptor


• TVR Tuscan


• Alfa Romeo Spider

But if there is a car you’d love to drive, just let us know and we’ll do our best to include it. The day will start at 9am and finish at about 5pm. Every driver will have the chance to drive each car during the day. The day includes breakfast, lunch, insurance, fuel and route maps and notes. Book by the end of April to get the special rate of £295 for 1 driver or £575 for 2 people. After April the normal price is £345 and £695. We can also arrange local overnight accommodation at special rates. To find out more email Jamie@greatescapecars.co.uk or call 01527 893733.

Wales in a classic car

When my wife Janine and I decided to organise an 'away day' to plan 2011 for our classic car hire business Great Escape, Wales was the obvious destination. Although many of our customers head towards the Cotswolds from our Worcestershire HQ, the few that venture westwards come back with tales that have often tempted us.

So we booked ourselves into the superb The Drawing Room near Builth Wells for dinner bed and breakfast. This B&B is a real find, located just 90 minutes from our Worcestershire base in the heart of the Welsh Borders, it offers real home comfort and superb food in its small restaurant.

With the easy part done - choosing the B&B - I was left with the hard job of selecting a classic car to take. Strange as it may seem for someone who is in and out of classic cars all day, I very rarely get to drive the cars in my leisure time. We are usually hurrying from location to location to deliver cars or organise repairs, hardly the stuff of classic drives.

So I was faced with an unusually tough choice. In the end it came down to two cars - either my mint Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti or my equally good Daimler Sovereign Coupe. With poor weather forecast and feeling knackered from another week hussling classic cars, I chose the Daimler.

The Daimler Sovereign is essentially a Jaguar XJ6 coupe with nicer seats. One of 1,500 4.2 Sovereigns made, this car is Regency Red (memorably described by Jeremy Clarkson as 'the colour of a vet's arm') with a tan interior. Many customers tend to overlook this car, favouring instead the Jaguar Mk2 and E Type, but anyone who does chance upon it absolutely loves it. The Daimler is quite easily the nicest riding car I have ever driven and is effortlessly stylish - there is something novel and entertaining that never quite wears off about dropping all four windows and experiencing the 'pillarless effect.'

So we packed up the Daimler and hit the road, travelling to Builth Wells via Witney, Leominster, Ludlow and Brecon and arriving a couple of hours later. The road were quiet but endlessly entertaining, even in a big old barge like the Daimler, Despite featherlight steering, the car handles beautifully. The roads around Herefordshire and the Welsh Borders are generally quiet but constantly amaze with oustanding scenery and an endless variety of dips, turns and straights.

Suitably rested and planned-out we hit the road the next day, stopping at Hay on Wye and then on to Symonds Yat before returning home to meet some customers.

All in all, a very relaxing and hugely rewarding journey of just a couple of hundred miles. So if you're planning a trip in one of Great Escape's classic cars, go West!

Make your Great Escape in Shropshire too

With some of the best driving roads in the UK on their doorsteps, it’s a surprise that until now Shropshire residents have been denied the chance to hire a cool classic car and hit the road. All that has changed now with the launch of Great Escape Classic Car Hire’s new Shropshire fleet.
Now locals and tourists can choose from some of the greatest classic cars of the 1970s to 1990s, including convertibles, coupes and saloons. The cars are available to hire to virtually anyone with a driving licence aged between 25 and 75 and prices start at just £195 for 24 hours use. The cars are conveniently based in picturesque Ryton XI Towns, just off the A5.
The new site in Shropshire is the first of its kind in the area, despite the preponderance of fantastic scenery and driving roads within a short drive from Shrewsbury and Telford. It is part of the growing Great Escape Classic Car Hire network, which operates a fleet of 40 classic cars from sites in Worcestershire, Yorkshire, Suffolk, Dorset and now Shropshire. Each local site is generally operated by classic car enthusiasts who want to share their cars with local car fans. The cars are generally hired for weekends away, birthdays, weddings and anniversaries on a self drive basis.
“Shropshire is one of the loveliest counties in England and is a great jumping off point to visit the Welsh Borders, Snowdonia and the Welsh coast,” explains Graham Eason of Great Escape Classic Car Hire. “It is surprising that nobody has offered classic cars for hire before. We have introduced a range of cars that provide a cross-section of coupes, convertibles and saloons with good value, all-inclusive pricing.”
The Great Escape fleet is available to hire by the day, weekend or week. All prices include a full 24 hours use for every day booked, unlimited mileage, comprehensive insurance for one driver (extra drivers can be added at low cost) and full UK AA breakdown service.
Great Escape has a fleet of self drive and chauffeur hire classic cars from the 1930s to the 1990s including coupes, convertibles and saloons from Bentley, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, Jensen, Rolls Royce and Morris as well as Porsche. The company was founded four years ago by Graham Eason and is now the largest classic car hire company in the UK. Classic car hire starts at £125 for 24 hours and every hire day includes a full 24 hours use, unlimited mileage, insurance and breakdown cover. For more details visit http://www.greatescapecars.co.uk/, call 01527 893733 or email info@greatescapecars.co.uk.