40th British Car Day - Sunday 21st September 2025

For a review of the 2024 British Car Day® please scroll down to the bottom of the page.   You will find lots of photos in the Gallery from some of our epic photographers.   A couple of video clips can be viewed by clicking onto the pictures on each side of this banner.  For a list of Participants’ Choice winners scroll down this page and you’ll see them on the right hand side. 
Our Facebook address is https://www.facebook.com/BritishCarDay/

Eligible Cars

Participation at BCD is open to any British manufactured vehicle regardless of membership in a British car club. Owners are encouraged to bring along their British cars, whether they be current model cars, daily drivers, partially restored cars, projects-in-progress or concours level models. The only stipulation is that your car is British or that is was manufactured and/or designed in the UK.

Event Flyer

2024 Poster
A limited number of full sized 18″ x 24″ 2022 posters will be available for $5 at the Toronto Triumph Club tent at British Car Day® on 15th September 2024.

Fast Lane Registration

Fast Lane Registration
Fast Lane registration has CLOSED and will reopen in spring 2025.

Registration

2024 Car Show Entry Form
On-line registration is CLOSED however you can still pay on the day. Here’s the registration form which you can complete and bring with you to British Car Day. Cost at the gate will be $25 for a car and $15 for a motorcycle.

Field Map

Click Here Field Map 2024  to see an overview of where each make of car is located together with a listing of the 56 classes.

Vendor Registration

VENDOR REGISTRATION FOR 2024 IS NOW CLOSED

For further information on being a Vendor at British Car Day please contact Warren Beech

Online Vendor Registration

Vendor Listing

To view a listing of this year’s Vendors go to: Vendor Listing

Volunteering

For further information on volunteering at British Car Day in 2024 please contact Rob Ragsdale

Spectators

Here’s a link to the  Bronte Creek Provincial Park web site.  In summary Vendors arrive at 7 a.m., Show Cars at 8 a.m. and Spectators at 9 a.m. The Awards Ceremonies are at 2 p.m. and cars start leaving at 3 p.m. for the long trek home. Spectators should enter the park via the main park entrance on Burloak Drive, please follow the signs. The entry fee to the park for spectators is $18 per car (or you can use a Parks Ontario season pass). Seniors are $14.50 and Disabled $9.00. There is no limit on the number of people in the car. To save time you can purchase an  Advance Permit  Please pay using cash if possible, as use of credit/debit cards really slows down entry to the park and causes long line-ups. Arriving early will help alleviate any delays. There is no entry charge for pedestrians and bicycles and dogs on a leash are welcome.

NOTE: The Toronto Triumph Club, organizers of British Car Day, have no financial connection with Parks Ontario and Bronte Creek Provincial Park. All fees collected by them at the main park entrance remain theirs and they do not offer refunds.

If you are driving a car for display at British Car Day, please follow the signs carefully and use the north maintenance entrance at the corner of Burloak Drive, where it turns into Upper Middle Road. Money collected at the show car entrance goes towards putting on the show and supporting the Toronto Triumph Club, a not-for-profit organization.

Location Map

Want to Stay in the Oakville Area?

Here are 2 hotels that visit Oakville recommend you call first:

Staybridge Suites, Oakville. To book call 905-847-2600, for Online reservations click here

Sandman Hotel, Oakville.  To book, call 289-881-7263 or for Online Reservations click here

BCD Regalia

British Car Day Posters and a limited number of T-shirts will be available at the Toronto Triumph Club tent on Sponsor Street.

Email Addresses

BCD Event Information
The latest information for the 40th running of British Car Day will continue to be updated in 2025. Links to our sponsors are on the right-hand column. Further enquiries should be directed to the event Chair Dave Sims

Vendor & Exhibitor Information
For 2025 Vendor and Exhibitor information, please contact  Warren Beech

BCD Programme Advertising and Editorial Submissions
Please contact the Editor of Ragtop Magazine at  Terence McKillen  for information on submitting articles and advertising in the 2025 BCD Official Show Programme.

Oakville Visitor Guide

For those of you visiting Oakville for the first time – or even after many times click on this link visit Oakville Visitor Guide

Some Background

British Car Day® is hosted annually by the Toronto Triumph Club, on the third Sunday of September.   Since its inaugural event in 1984 it has grown in leaps and bounds and now draws more than 1,000 British cars and over 9,000 spectators, with room to grow even bigger.   British Car Day® is open to vintage, classic and current British-manufactured vehicles, including motorcycles.  The event is the largest, one-day, all-British car event in North America, with car owners and visitors travelling from Ontario, the northeast United States, the Maritime provinces, Quebec and Manitoba.   Over the years, we have even had visitors from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Texas, the UK, and New Zealand.

The venue for British Car Day® is Bronte Creek Provincial Park in Oakville, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of downtown Toronto, conveniently located at the Burloak Drive exit off the Queen Elizabeth Way. The south entrance is for non-British cars & spectators, while the north entrance is reserved for British car exhibitors and vendors.

Every year one of the most popular destinations at British Car Day® is the Vendor Village area. Over 40 British-related vendors offer their new and used goods for sale, including car parts, complete cars, t-shirts, hats, tools, books, supplies and so on. Many vendors offer end-of-season specials, so there are lots of bargains to be had and great food is available from the many food vendors on site.  If you are interested in becoming a vendor please contact us.

BCD comprises 56 classes of cars and motorcycles running the whole range of British automobile marques from Austin to Westfield with model names from Anglia to Zephyr and everything in between. The organizers encourage everyone to bring along their British cars whether they be current model cars, daily drivers, partially restored cars or projects-in-progress, to line up with the many classic and concours-class cars in the appropriate marque and model class.   British Car Day® is the opportunity everyone anticipates to chat, to scrutinize, and to plan for next year.   It’s a car show but it is also a big, end of season, social event.

Notable British car anniversaries in 2024 included:

  • 70 years; Jensen 541, MG Magnette.
  • 60 Years; Sunbeam Tiger, Mini Moke, Ford Corsair.
  • 50 Years; Caterham Super 7

Examples of these fine British makes were located on Sponsor Street.

What Happened in 2024

British Car Day® has been organized annually by our Club since 1984, apart from two COVID-related years, and is unquestionably the flagship event of the British classic car season in southern Ontario. The event was held as usual at Bronte Creek Provincial Park on Sunday, September 15. BCD has long been accepted as North America’s largest one-day British car show and it is a tribute to the BCD Planning Committee, that a club like ours can continue to present such a great showcase of classic and modern British cars and motorcycles year after year, and unlike many similar car shows, operates without auto manufacturer or dealership support. This year the event celebrated six anniversary cars which included MG Magnette and Jensen 541 (70 years), Sunbeam Tiger, Mini Moke, and Ford Corsair (60 years) and Caterham Super 7 (50 years).

Due to the auspices of our good friend Keith Smout who has been sponsoring BCD for over a decade and who recently joined Lola Cars as Chief Commercial Officer, we were delighted to welcome Lola as a joint Platinum sponsor along with Moss Motors. Our other sponsors, all at the Gold level, included visit Oakville, Silverwax, Morris Insurance, and Mackay Group Wealth Management.

The day of the show dawned bright and sunny with a cloudless sky. Midday temperatures were in the upper 20s or low 30s making shaded areas at a premium. There were 898 cars and motorcycles on the field which has a maximum capacity for 1,150 cars. This is a 5% increase on last year’s participation. This year BCD hosted 27 representatives of the Triumph Six-Pack Club who started their TRials 2024 in the Oakville area on September 14, before moving south to the Finger Lakes, NY after the show.

Participants started arriving at the park at 8:00 a.m., and by 10 o’clock the field was pretty full, although stragglers were still arriving up to noon time, while at the same time some cars were already starting to depart. The final figures for spectators and participants were estimated at just over 9,000.

An unscientific observation as one wandered around the show field suggested that modern Jaguars are in a growth position when compared to the classic Jaguars. It is good to see the number of XK8/XKs on the increase as they become the new Jaguar classic of choice. Triumph and MG followed the predictable relative numbers while it was interesting to note a sharp uptick in Land Rovers, both classic as well as modern. Going forward it is likely that Jaguar, MINI, Land Rover and Lotus will be the growth sectors.

There were 184 Triumphs present on the field (185 in 2023). The Triumph participants included 5 GT6s; 25 Spitfires; 18 Stags; 10 TR2-TR3Bs; 19 TR4-TR250s; 88 TR6s; 9 TR7s; and 6 TR8s together with 4 Triumph Others.  MGs came in second place at 180 (165 in 2023); Jaguar 130 (127 in 2023) in third place; followed by Mini 102 (111 in 2023); Lotus 49 (39 in 2023) in fourth place and Land Rover 31 (24 in 2023) in fifth place. But where were the motorcycles this year – only 6, four of which were Triumphs.

A panel of four judges representing the British Saloon Car Club of Canada, MG Car Club of Toronto, Ontario Jaguar Owners Association, Toronto Triumph Club and the Triumph Stag Club of the Americas, selected two Best of Show cars – one award was for a car up to and including 1980 and the other for 1981 to present. The Best of Show winner in the classic category was a beautifully restored and maintained 1937 Rolls Royce 25/30 Wraith owned by Steve Sherriff – decked out as a celebration model for the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. For the modern category, and totally at the other end of the spectrum, the award went to a 550 bhp 2014 limited edition Jaguar XKR-S Cabriolet (only 250 manufactured) owned by Cyril Steinsky.

Congratulations to Steve and Cyril on their respective wins and many thanks to John Burrows (MGCCT), Tony Fox (BSCCoC, TTC), Alan Lingelbach (OJOA) and Terence McKillen (TSCoA) for selecting the winning cars from the many fantastic vehicles on the field.

The Charlie Conquergood Memorial Award which is presented to a Club member who has exhibited long-term dedication to the Toronto Triumph Club, was awarded this year to Tony Fox.  Tony is a longtime member of Toronto Triumph Club and is an expert on all-things related to Triumph Stags.   He has even published a book on this very subject.   Tony is also a key member of the Triumph Stag Club of the Americas and active in the British Saloon Car Club of Canada.

There were two winners of the long-distance award this year for pre-registered cars driven to the show.  They both drove their 1973 Triumphs from California – in the case of Mel Hildebrandt from Escondido in his 1973 Mimosa Stag, and Jon Korbin from Ventura in his 1973 Magenta TR6, both covering a distance of about 4,700 km (2,900 miles) each way.  Mel and Jon are intrepid long-distance drivers, often clocking up 3,000 to 6,000 miles in a single outing.   We are delighted to report that our Long Distance Award winners made it to Bronte and home again without any issues.  You can find out more on these two by reading the article in this years BCD magazine. 

A full list of 2024 Participants’ Choice winners can be found on the right hand side of this page.

Of course, BCD doesn’t just happen; it takes the best part of a year in pre-planning, countless volunteer hours by the members of the BCD Planning Committee who met regularly from January through to September as well as members of our Club Executive. More than 100 volunteers were supervised by Volunteer Director Rob Ragsdale, who did an exceptional job ensuring that volunteers were assigned to all the necessary tasks over the two days preparing for, running the event, and cleaning up afterwards. We also acknowledge the volunteer help from other car clubs, along with students and others finding us through the website or by word of mouth. Thanks to all who supported BCD this year, including the sponsors, advertisers, participants, volunteers, committee members, and Bronte Park staff.

See you next year on Sunday, September 21, 2025, to celebrate the 40th running of BCD.4

The Charlie Conquergood Memorial Award

  1. Charlie Conquergood was a friend to all and a staunch supporter of the Toronto Triumph Club and British Car Day. Charlie passed away on March 9, 2009 from cancer.  He was always there to help and happy to do so. He never complained and most of all was well known and loved by many people throughout our hobby. Over the years he touched the hearts – and cars – of many.

Charlie took on many roles within the TTC including a term as President. He was instrumental in developing and computerising the master plan for the lay out of the various marques and models and vendor stalls at British Car Day and for many years would personally be involved in the laying out of the field on the Saturday morning before BCD.

Each year, his friends at the Toronto Triumph Club award a special commemorative plaque in recognition of Charlie’s passing and his unreserved devotion to his wife Sandy, his family and faithful Triumph Spitfire ‘Gumby’.

The recipient of the award is decided by the Executive Committee of the TTC and their decision is based on members who have demonstrated a similar devotion and dedication to the Club and as a reflection of the life values and spirit of friendship, which Charlie Conquergood always shared with us.

British Car Day Jewellery

Photos graciously provided by the photographer, Ian Grant.

 

Presented By

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Results by Year

Volunteers Needed

We are always looking for volunteers to help out at British Car Day. Please follow the link to find out what roles are available, then contact our Membership Director, Rob Ragsdale at either rob.ragsdale@bell.net or 416-303-4035. Thanks!