Classic Car Culture in Waterloo
Classic Cars, Photos by David Turnbull
Take a stroll down Waterloo Road on the third Saturday of the month and you might just catch a glimpse of something rather unexpected. A gleaming vintage convertible glides past, its polished chrome catching the light like a scene lifted from a swinging 1960s film. Then another appears. And another. What is going on?
Follow their path and you will find yourself in Lower Marsh, where a rather special monthly gathering takes place. Come rain or shine, up to twenty classic cars line the street, their proud owners ready to chat, compare notes, and share stories. It is part car meet, part living museum—utterly unadvertised, but completely captivating.
Historic Emergency Service Vehicles
Vintage Ambulance outside London Ambulance Service Headquarters, Photos by David Turnbul
The brutalist building has been the HQ of the ambulance service since 1973. It had previously been based in former fire station on Waterloo Road which had originally opened in 1910. It’s now a gastro pub, so you can’t see any vintage fire engines there. However, the former fire brigade headquarters on Albert Embankment, near Lambeth Palace, is earmarked to become the museum of the London Fire Brigade. So if old fire engines are your thing, you won’t have far to go if you are in the Waterloo area.
Back to ambulances though. The vehicles on display in the forecourt of the HQ are not the only ones in possession of the service. Their full collection includes 26 vehicles, dating as far back as 1800 with corresponding equipment and uniforms. These can be hired out by film and television production companies making period dramas requiring a historically accurate ambulance.
Local Film and Television History
‘Call the Midwife’, for example, set in the 1950s and 1960s, has a regular need for vintage ambulances. Several episodes of the series have been filmed in Waterloo’s Roupell Street conservation area, where the streets and houses look exactly as they did over a century ago. Other examples of location filming in the area, featuring suitable period vehicles, include 60’s gangster move ‘Legend’ and 50’s who-dun-it ‘See How They Run.’ Many of the residents of the area compliment the nostalgic look of the streets with vintage cars of their own, which you can easily spot if you take a stroll along Roupell Street, Windmill Walk, and Whittlesey Street.
The area is also the birthplace of a vehicle of a futuristic rather than vintage design. The ‘Mark III Travel Device’ better known as the Dalek was conceived here for the Doctor Who by Lambeth born set designer, Raymond Cusick, at the BBC props workshop, which is now a private art gallery known as the Cello Factory. 🔊Listen Now: Doctor Who in London
Daleks returned here in 1988 for the four episode serial ‘Remembrance of the Daleks‘ starring Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred. Daleks trundled along Theed Street. One was blown up under the railway bridge on Windmill Walk, causing a panic when it set off shop alarms across Waterloo. Another Doctor Who serial, ‘Frontier in Space‘ was filmed nearby at the Southbank centre during the Jon Pertwee era. Pertwee’s Doctor had a connection to a classic car of his own. In the first series of his tenure the Time Lords have exiled the Doctor to Earth and deactivated his Tardis.
His earthbound mode of transport is ‘Bessie’ a canary yellow vintage roadster. In the series it’s said to have been built in the Edwardian era. In reality it was a 1954 replica with a fibreglass frame. It now belongs to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu.
If you go classic car and vintage vehicle hunting in Waterloo a great place to find something to eat is back on Lower Marsh, where the street food vendors serving cuisine from all four corners of the globe are sure to get your engine running.
Whether you’re a classic car buff, a television trivia fan, or just someone who loves discovering hidden stories in plain sight, this part of London offers something truly unique.
Step into the world of time-travelling adventures with me on our Doctor Who Walking Tour, where you’ll visit filming locations and uncover behind-the-scenes stories. Or, if gritty realism is more your speed, follow the In the Footsteps of Jack London Walking Tour and trace the remarkable journey of the American author through the streets of Edwardian London.
Whichever path you choose, it’s time to lace up your boots, book your ticket, and take a walk through history.
