Coffee & Chrome Collective at the Newspress Awards 2022

We’re quite sure it’s no secret that Coffee & Chrome Collective is brought to you all by Footman James (this website being the biggest clue!). But it doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to you. The idea is to build an inclusive community of classic car and motorcycle enthusiasts by supporting a series of events all over the UK – the ultimate shape of that community is up to its members.

Our main goal is to celebrate classic vehicles and their owners. We do it at our Coffee & Chrome meets with professional photographers and videographers – see our galleries from previous events or check out Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. At the British Motor Museum in September we’ve plans to feature more of your cars than ever before.

We’re also keen to support the industry we all love. That’s why Coffee & Chrome Collective took part in the recent Newspress Awards at Bicester Heritage, an event that honours the best in automotive media.

Lots of these people own classic cars. Some are members of our collective. So at this year’s event we created a parking area exclusively for classics owned by journalists and PR professionals – and Footman James sponsored an award for the vehicle with the best story.

Take a look at the gallery below and you’ll see the entrants represent a fantastic cross-section of cars, from Triumph TR7 and Mini Cooper to more modern metal including a Nissan 350Z and Lotus Elan. Brilliantly, the collection also featured some everyday classics – check out the Kia Pride and Ford Orion, each in immaculate condition.

Our winner, though, was a VW Polo G40 owned over decades by freelance writer Alex Grant. He’s no plans to sell, either, instead hoping it stays in the family for generations to come. You can’t help but want to reward a relationship with a car that lasts that long. Congrats, Alex.