Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2020 i Classic Car Mart

Welcome… NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH It’s probably a peculiarly British trait to live on the same street for a lifetime and never speak to your neighbours but I reckon I’ve found something which fosters community spirit even better than a government-enforced shutdown of society:the 1984 Ford Escort XR3i. My immediate neighbours are used to a stream of oddball cars appearing on the drive and then disappearing as quickly as they arrived, but having our XR3i project car at home recently saw me introduced to a whole string of old car fans locally I’d never even met before. Everyone of a certain age, it seems, has an anecdote about an escapade in a hot Ford of mid-’80s vintage and I’ve only just realised how far out of pocket I am funding the fuel…

ALL CHANGE… AGAIN Just as we all get used to buying old cars on screen, it looks like face-to-face action is beginning to make a return. Or is it? It won’t be news to many readers to hear that it looks like the creative solutions employed by many of the auction houses to keep going through the Covid-19 crisis will change the classic car buying world permanently. The use of new technology has been a big part of managing the unpredictable and changing business landscape, but auction houses have successfully maintained their allimportant personal touch despite conducting business online. Once the initial lockdown measures had been eased, many auction houses managed to reintroduce an element of the personal touch by offering pre-sale viewing, usually by appointment only, while others invested…

CHECK OUT LOADS MORE NEWS AT WWW.CLASSICSWORLD.CO.UK OFF-ROADER BAN DISMISSED Abid to ban green laning in the Lake District has been dismissed on all counts by a High Court judge. Campaigners challenged a 2019 decision by the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) to continue allowing off-roaders to use farm and quarry tracks in the Langdale and Coniston valleys. The campaigners argued vehicles were polluting the national park and endangering cyclists and ramblers. Legal action was crowdfunded by the Green Lanes Environmental Action Movement (GLEAM), with more than 2000 people donating £64,000 toward the cause and over 374,000 people signing a petition. The LDNPA responded by saying that most walkers and cyclists had driven to the park and so were contributing to air pollution just as much as 4×4 drivers.…

CHECK OUT LOADS MORE NEWS AT WWW.CLASSICSWORLD.CO.UK BANGERS AND CASH RETURNS Bangers and Cash, the fly-on-the-wall TV series covering the exploits of North Yorkshire classic car auctioneer Mathewsons, is returning for a brand-new series next month. The upcoming third season will see the Mathewson family get their hands on soughtafter classics including a Jenson Interceptor, a rare Aston Martin DB6 and a trio of Ford Capris. The episodes will air from October on UKTV’s Yesterday channel. But that’s not all. UKTV has also announced that two further seasons of the hit show have been commissioned, meaning we’ve got plenty of classic car TV to look forward to.…

MARKET TRENDS 1970s LOTUS The 1970s were a pivotal time for Lotus, with a product programme that echoed the times and shaped Hethel’s future. We take a look at the key models of the time, and where they are now Words:Aaron McKay Lotus Europa (1966-1975) The early to mid-1960s was a time of upheaval in the racing scene, and one major feature at the forefront was the mid-mounted engine. The Europa was an early reflection of this on the road and has therefore since held a special place in automotive history. However, values haven’t tended to match its historical significance, only ever maintaining a cult following. The later Twin Cam models from 1971 are recognised as the ones to have, with over 100bhp from the now iconic Lotus-Ford engine. They still…

DATABASE:MG MGF/TF (1995-2010) Look past the Metro bits and the MGF was an impressive feat of engineering ingenuity which carried the MG marque into a new century. Words:Paul Wager THE MARKETPLACE THE CARS THE BEGINNING We’ve often commented before in CCM on the inventiveness of the British motor industry when budgets were tight and new models were needed:the Discovery was a rebodied classic Range Rover, Jaguar made the XJ40 last until 2001 and even Rolls-Royce carried the guts of the Silver Shadow through to the very last Spirit-based cars. The MGF is no exception:born from a need to revitalise the MG brand and developed without the lavish budget enjoyed by its competitors, the car not only employed some innovative engineering thinking which allowed it to maximise existing componentry but also…

BUYING GUIDE:BMW Z3 THE OTHER Z-CAR BMW’s contribution to the back-to-basics roadster revolution of the late ’90s, the Z3 now makes an appealing step up from the ubiquitous Mazda. Words: Andrew Everett When the MGB left production in 1980, it had been in production for 18 years and was already touted as a classic. It’s now 25 years since the launch of the BMW Z3 yet that car is still only just on the cusp on being a classic with the faintest shoots of values rising – now is the time to buy one though. The previous Z1 from 1989 had been a technological marvel, introducing the all new Z axle and composite construction but the Z3 was designed to be built cheaply in volume and the floorpan, suspension and…

LIVING WITH THE MODERN MINI A MINI ADVENTURE Buy cheap, buy twice is the old adage, but the resilience of a bargain-priced MINI might surprise you. Words: Jeff Ruggles As the debates surrounding the new Land Rover Defender will testify, replacing a timehonoured British icon is not an easy task. Doing it while dispensing with the British parent brand in favour of a German one sounds nigh-on impossible, but that’s exactly what BMW did when it rebooted the Mini almost 20 years ago. And given that you’ll now see a modern MINI on virtually every street in the UK, few would argue that they made a remarkable success of it. In any case, with its ‘R for Rover’ R50 model designation, the new MINI was genuinely a British creation… or…

CHECK OUT LOADS MORE NEWS AT WWW.CLASSICSWORLD.CO.UK PLUGS&LEADS WHY A BACKTRACK ON CLEAN AIR ZONES COULD MEAN NEW FREEDOMS FOR OUR VEHICLES For several years, we’ve been covering the introduction of clean air zones and their impact on our motoring freedoms. Up until now, vehicles of a certain age have looked set to be forced out of UK city centres via outright bans or hefty tolls, but now they might get a stay of execution as councils backtrack on their plans in light of the Covid-19 impact. At the beginning of the pandemic, it was announced that Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ) – which would have left Pre-2016 diesel cars and most pre-2004 petrol cars facing charges to enter – was to be delayed until at least 2021. It was also…

AJ-V8 COMES HOME Jaguar Land Rover will move production of its ‘AJ’ petrol V8 to the West Midlands after Ford shuts its Bridgend plant next month. Built in South Wales since 1996, the engine faced an uncertain future after Ford announced it would close the plant last summer. Bridgend is understood to have been building the AJ-V8 at a higher rate than required in order to build up buffer supplies while the production line is moved. It will then be built at the JLR Engine Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton. The AJ-V8 was the first production V8 from Jaguar, replacing both the six-cylinder AJ16 evolution of the AJ6 and the V12 engines following its launch with the XK8 in 1996. Now in its third generation, it’s used to power the F-Type…

HOT HATCHES AT AUCTION SWVA’s Autumn Classic Car Auction is shaping up to be a cracking sale when it takes place behind closed doors on October 30. The catalogue features the usual great variety, but a couple of rare five-door hot hatches rally caught our eye. One is a 1991 Lancia Delta HF Integrale, which spent almost half its life in Japan and is described as an excellent example. The body, interior and wheels are still to factory spec, but the engine now puts out an impressive 261bhp. It’s estimated at £16,000-£17,500. Not as fast but arguably just as intriguing is a MG Maestro 2.0 EFIfrom 1986, which shows 56,000 miles. Estimated at £2200-£2950, this early example of the O-Seriespowered EFImodel presents well in silver and includes power steering, a…

H&H, ONLINE, AUGUST 19 H&H has been holding online sales auctions since February 2019, so has been able to make the transition to behind-closed-doors sales amid the Covid-19 pandemic with the minimum of fuss. The firm is due to return to a more regular physical sale at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, on October 14, but its monthly ABC sales combining automobilia, bikes and cars will continue through 2020 and 2021. The latest of these took place on August 19 with a typically eclectic entry list. There were 68 cars in all, spanning everything from a pre-WW1 Renault Type AZ from 1909 to a host of modern classics. The Renault attracted a provisional £36,000 bid, but the second oldest car in the sale, a 1915 Hupmobile Model HA Tourer, is…

CLASSIC ROAD TEST:VOLVO 340 BOXING CLEVER The 340 introduced Volvo to a new market sector, challenging the likes of the Golf. Words:Joe Miller Photography:Simon Goldsworthy Four decades ago, the Volvo 340 won the European Rallycross Championship. Sporting a bored-out Gordini 1770cc engine, the little Volvo was piloted by Per-Inge Walfridsson to overall victory in the 1980 season. A quick YouTube search finds footage of the family runaround dominating the pack in what can only be described as unlikely brilliance. That perfectly sums up the 340 story on the whole, actually. DAF was looking to replace its worthy but ageing 66 with what would be the 77, but lacked necessary funds to complete the project. The Dutch maker sought another company to partner up with, approaching Audi, BMW and Volvo. The…

ROUND UP:A-SERIES CARS FOR THE MASSES A difficult act to follow, the BMC A-Series engine worked its magic for almost half a century in a vast variety of guises. WORDS:JEFF RUGGLES There’s always a strong argument for not fixing something that isn’t broken, but back in 1980, anyone excitedly peering under the bonnet of the newly released Austin Metro might’ve been rather disappointed to see the familiar A-Series rocker cover staring back at them. Never mind that it had been heavily tweaked; British Leyland’s brand-new hope to beat the world was still fitted with an engine that made its debut in the A30 of 1951. But some things can transcend the desire for the new-fangled technology, and the venerable A-Series has proven to be one of them. It has been…

DATABASE:MG MGF/TF SPECIAL EDITIONS THE CARS The first special edition MGF was the 1996 Abingdon, finished in Brooklands Green with beige hood, leather seats and 16-inch wheels. In April 1999, a special edition was launched to commemmorate MG’s 75th anniversary, available as either 1.8i or1.8i VVC and available in Mulberry Red or black, with black hood, leather seats and red tonneau cover. In 2000, the SE specification was introduced, available as either 1.8i or 1.8i VVC in Wedgwood Blue metallic and featuring black leather seats and 16-inch wheels. 2001 saw the 160 bhp Trophy in blue or yellow, complete with red-painted four-pot front calipers, bigger brake discs, front and rear spoilers and different headlights. Inside were body-coloured console, door card inserts and seat flashes. Later in 2001 the MGF Freestyle…

RETRO CARS MARKET TRENDS NEW ERA BENTLEYS The first modern Bentleys are rapidly becoming collectable, meaning now could well be the time to buy. Words: Craig Cheetham In 1998 there was one automotive story that attracted the attentions of not just the business media, but of the world at large. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars was in trouble. The maker of the world’s finest automobiles was staring down the barrel of an unsustainable future and the only way out was external investment. So up for sale it went. At the same time, there was a huge resurgence in demand for luxury vehicles in the Far East, and it was the German manufacturers that took note. The resultant messy takeover battle between BMW and Volkswagen is a story for another day, but let’s…

RETRO RIVALS:JAGUAR XK8 v PORSCHE BOXSTER FIVE ON IT Who knew that you would be able to buy these two so cheaply when they were introduced in 1996? Today, the lucky someone with £5000 might consider either one Words: Aaron McKay Photos: Gregory Evans You’re right, these two are very different cars. The Jaguar is very much a GT car while the Boxster is squarely of the sports car camp. There’s a 4-litre V8 against a 2.5-litre flatsix, and while the power-to-weight ratio is similar, the way it feels to push the throttle in each is distinctly of its own character. Most obviously, the Jaguar is just much bigger than the Boxster – there’s 400kg of weight and 400mm of length between them. On paper, they just really aren’t rivals.…

Classic Crossword 176 Clues Across 5 The name behind the Fulvia (6) 6 & 12 across Vehicles like the Renault Espace (6,8) 9 Body style of the Riley RMD (8,5) 10 Mercedes-Benz 300 _, famous 1955 race car (3) 12 See 6 across 14 Former Auto Union marque (8) 15 _ Snail, the Citroen 2CV’s nickname (3) 18 A post-war release together with the Wyvern (8,5) 20 Like the NSU Ro80’s Wankel engine (6) 21 Ford replaced it with the Escort (6) Clues Down 1 Mr Ferrari, the founder (4) 2 _ Fifteen, noted Citroen model (5) 3 Small Japanese vehicles like the Suzuki Cappuccino (3,4) 4 Renault 12 clones from Dacia (6) 5 Rivas and Nivas (5) 7 Makers of the 604 (7) 8 See 11 down 11 &…

ANGLIA CAR AUCTIONS, ONLINE, AUGUST 22-23 Anglia Car Auctions returned to the rostrum for another bumper post-lockdown sale on August 22-23, with over 300 lots going under the hammer over the two days. Although the sale was held behind closed doors, a superbly presented live video stream transported viewers into the thick of the action as the cars were started up and driven through in front of the auctioneer as normal. The sale was an intriguing one whatever your budget, ranging from sub-£500 bargains through to a stunning Jaguar XK150 DHC that topped the £100,000 mark (with premium). Indeed, it was a good sale for established British classics, both tintopped and open. A GT6-powered Triumph Spitfire beat its upper estimate by more than £3000 to sell for a hammer price…

TWIN TEST:BMW 6-SERIES v JAGUAR XJR-S BIG GUNS The extravagance of the V12-powered Jaguar XJS and the equally pricey BMW 6-Series were the ultimate way to show you’d made it in the ’80s. We revisit the duo as classics courtesy of the range-topping M6 and XJR-S. WORDS:PAUL WAGER Despite coming from very different backgrounds, the Jaguar XJ-S and the BMW 6-Series have more than you might think in common. Both are derived from their maker’s mainstream saloon car of the time – in Jaguar’s case its only saloon car – and both replaced a very different and far more classically styled predecessor to varying reception from the brand faithful. They were both also outrageously expensive:launched just a year apart, the Jaguar in 1975 and the BMW in 1976, by 1980…

ENDANGERED SPECIES:RENAULTSPORT CLIOS THE HOTTER HATCH The injected Golf, Escort and Peugeot may be the current star performers at auction, making the rarer Renault an intriguing alternative. Words: Jeff Ruggles Remarkably, it’s now 30 years since the Renault Clio was first introduced, but although its chic styling and neat packaging had Nicole and Papa hooked, hot hatch fans were left wondering what would replace the outgoing Renault 5 GT Turbo they’d taken to their hearts. Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait too long. Launched in France in 1990, the Clio arrived on UK shores in March 1991. Initially, the range-topper was the plush RT, but later that year the Renault 5 GT Turbo was finally succeeded by the new Renault Clio 16V. You didn’t get boost, but you did get…

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TAILGATE SHIP SHAPE Sam considers the demise of Bristol. I write this in the small hours, the morning after the final sale of Bristol Cars’ assets. And for me it’s a sad moment – I like Bristols, and though I know I’ll never own the 412 I so deeply desire, it feels sad to know that one of the most eccentric bastions of the world of motoring has slipped away almost without a whimper. Bristol made cars for people for whom the mainstream wasn’t enough. Well designed for the comfort of four, yet narrow enough to cope with the most Victorian of London mews. Big American V8s and lazy autoboxes dominated during the latter decades, though the company was initially known for its lightweight sporting GTs in the mould of…