#gb interview

As with many historic car enthusiasts, for Guy Berryman this love has its roots in his childhood. In the garage of his home at Kirkcaldy, where the Coldplay bass player grew up, there was a 1950s British car. Guy's father kept it parked here, a motionless reminder of a long-ago era. The shapes and lines, so different from contemporary cars, and that old-fashioned, demure air... it was easy for Guy to fall in love. "I nagged my father to get it restored," he explains. "Classic cars, like music, have a story to tell. They are genuine art forms." Classic cars and music also often come together in the passions of musicians themselves. In fact, many famous stars are keen followers of the vintage car world, including the great Nick Mason, drummer of Pink Floyd: "We're neighbours, and he's also been collecting amazing classic cars for many years." Guy himself has a very impressive garage, and actually admits he has too many cars: "My aim is to have just a few cars of value, and to look after them well." He prefers European cars from the '50s, '60s and '70s, when there were fewer constraints on designers, leaving them freer to express themselves. One of the cars he's most fond of is an Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Villa d'Este, just a few of which were built in the early Fifties. "It's a lovely sports car, with coachwork by Touring of Milan. One of the most incredible ever built." Its history is incredible, too. It comes from America, where its previous owner kept it parked in his back yard, unused for 50 years "From the look of it, you'd have said it might as well be demolished. But I like buying cars that have an interesting history and are in a very bad state, so I handed it over to a group of talented Italian mechanics for restoration. I sometimes do some work on my cars myself: I clean them, I take a few pieces apart .... it really helps me to relax. But when it comes to bodywork and mechanical parts, I call in the professionals."

At the Museo Storico in Arese, where we caught up with him, Guy was able to breathe in Alfa Romeo's history and savour a foretaste of the Mille Miglia, where he will compete for the first time partnered by Derek Hill, son of great Formula 1 champion Phil.