A Return to the Swinging ’60s for Chelsea Auto Legends 2011

One of London’s most fashionable neighbourhoods will swing back to one of the most fashionable decades on September 4.

Chelsea Auto Legends will be held for the second time and this year’s swinging ’60s theme means that there will be plenty of classic cars on show from that era, as well as ’60s music playing and fashions on parade.

The serious classic car lovers will be pleased to know that British motor sport legend Sir Stirling Moss is the patron of the event – at an exclusive media preview, he was on hand to reminisce about the 60s.

“Mini Coopers, mini skirts, E-Types, the Beatles, those really were the days,” he said.

The stunning dark blue Ferrari GTB SWB in which Sir Stirling won one of the biggest races of his career back in 1961 was on show at the media preview and he was delighted to drive it, if only for a short distance for a photo shoot.

“I really love that car,” he said after he parked it alongside a line-up of other classics from the 1960s which will also be on show in September.

There was an elegant grey E-Type Jaguar, a lean and low Ford GT, a Mini Cooper police car with the original radio and blue lights and a battered but still brilliant C-Type Jaguar. Also on show was a somewhat newer car – an electric blue Pagani Zonda, but it was the old classics that caught everyone’s attention.

As well as being a great opportunity to see some of the finest cars ever produced, Chelsea AutoLegends, held in the sweeping South Grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, will also be raising money for a great cause – the Chelsea Pensioners, the former members of the British Army who live at the hospital.

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