By  Caroline Wilson

 

Hidden behind a garage door in the West Sussex village of Lavant is an extraordinary collection of motor racing and classic cars originating from the 1950s and 60s.


The vehicles, including two racing cars, a Mark 2 jaguar and a 1953 Connaught, belong to retired consultant gynaecologist Dr Michael “Spike” Milligan.

“The passion for cars started when my parents took me to motor races back in 1955,” he explains.

“That’s when I first saw the HWM Jaguar works car, which I was lucky enough to be able to purchase some years later.”


At the age of eight, Spike was able to watch the 1953 Connaught being built in a garage in Send, near Guildford, where he grew up, because one of the mechanics working on it was a patient of his father’s.

The iconic vehicle went on to become a world championship car driven by Roy Salvadori and Stirling Moss, and in 1990 Spike became the proud owner.


Throughout Spike’s racing years he competed in races such as the Historic Grand Prix at Monaco, every Goodwood Revival and recently in South Africa when he came 4th in the South African Tourist Trophy.

And while he has competed both locally and internationally with the Mark 2 jaguar and the 1953 Connaught, his favourite of the classics is his Morris 1000 Pick Up in British racing green.


The latest addition to Spike’s classic collection is a 1949 Bedford OB Bus, which originates from the town of Piddletrenthide, Dorset. The rare bus is one of only four of its kind left in the country.


“The bus was once used as a school bus and I plan to take it back to Piddletrenthide to park it up and see if anyone remembers it!” says Spike, who recently moved to Sussex with his wife Patricia from Kent,
a move prompted by childhood memories of family summer holidays in Bracklesham.


As chair of the West Sussex branch of the bereavement charity Cruse Bereavement Care, Spike uses his new bus for fundraising purposes to help raise awareness for the charity, which has recently stopped receiving government funding.

At the Lavant jubilee street party in Chichester in June Spike was decked in full busman’s uniform to take locals for rides around the town on the bus for a small donation to the charity.

He says, “Everyone loved the bus and we generated good support for Cruse.”


This month Spike, who is a big fan of Goodwood Revival, the world’s most popular historic motor race meeting
and staged entirely in the theme of the 1940s, 50s and 60s, has been invited to take part in the 90-minute Freddie March Memorial Trophy.

The race will mark the 60th anniversary of the first Goodwood Nine Hour race and Spike hopes to add some more awards to his already full-to-the-brim trophy cabinet!

The Goodwood Revival runs from September 14-16. Visit Goodwood.co.uk/revival for more information