'Perfect Rust Bucket Rally' raises thousands for Northamptonshire charity as convoy returns to 'spectacular' home-coming

Carlos Baldry is a Rust Bucket Rally organiser who took his Mercedes CLK on its ninth rally and was pleased with the trip.

He said: “It was epic, just what a Rust Bucket Rally should be.

“Some cars are still there, some have come back, it’s all part of the plan to get them home. Some people had to jump into the back of other teams’ cars to make sure they got home okay, but it’s what makes the Rust Bucket one big family.

"It was the perfect Rust Bucket Rally, it had everything we think a rally should have.

"Everybody has come back absolutely buzzing and ready to sign up for next year.”

Though the convoy faces adverse weather conditions along the route, the views stretching through the Alps, including the famous Stelvio Pass in northern Italy and the snow-capped mountains were ‘the pinnacle of the trip.’

So far, those who took part in the Rust Bucket Rally have raised a total of more than £80,000 for the Northampton-based charity Cynthia Spencer Hospice, which provides inpatient care and outpatient specialist care to those with long-term illnesses.

The rally returned to Wellingborough’s Old Grammarians to a heroes’ welcome with hundreds of people including friends and family, confetti canons and community spirit, which Carlos called ‘spectacular.’

He added: “The noise and fun that was being had was amazing.

"The teams that took part go and do the fundraising, and they deserve a massive round of applause because they’ve done an amazing job.

“I host the event and do a bit of fundraising when I can but as the years go by I can only hit the same people, these new teams go above and beyond, they excel themselves, and they’ve done an amazing job in raising £80,000 for Cynthia Spencer this year.”

The Rust Bucket rally has big plans for next year, with the rally in June 2026 set to take place over five days instead of the usual four and take travellers through Scandinavia, and around Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Another is planned to take place in September 2026 down to Lake Como in Italy, giving people a chance to experience radically different roads and scenes in Europe.

More information about the Rust Bucket Rally can be found here.