Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2019 i Classics World

The picture above of a Vitesse was sent in by Australian reader, Wayne Jones. Along with a couple of photographs, Wayne wrote: ‘I am a regular reader of your magazine, which I receive through my local newsagent here in Western Australia. I am currently restoring a 1962 Triumph Vitesse Mk1 1600 and I’m desperately in need of a complete dash, with or without the wooden fascia. I’m led to believe the Herald dash is also the same, however I’m not too sure about this.’ I had to check in my Herald/Vitesse originality bible, Mike Costigan’s Complete Guide To Triumph Herald and Vitesse, but was then able to advise Wayne that the early Vitesse dashboard is identical to the Herald 1200 dash with regards the wooden fascia, but that Heralds until…

If bling is more your thing than driving, then this could be the perfect car for you, though you'll need deep pockets because while this Ford Escort will never be roadworthy, it is worth a fortune. Why? Because it’s a one-off 1:25 scale model made from silver, gold and diamonds. Its creation has been a slow-burning labour of love for professional jeweller and petrolhead Russell Lord from Essex. Over the years Russell has owned 55 full-sized Ford Escorts, and he first began work on this amazing model 25 years ago, pouring thousands of hours into completing the car. The body is made of silver, and the car also features gold brakes and spoiler, 18-carat gold wheels and bonnet hinges, an 18-carat white gold front grille, 72-point diamond headlights, orange sapphire…

On 19th May the Pre-1940 Triumph Motor Club hosted their second gathering of Standard and Triumph motor cars at Wroxall Abbey near Warwick. A total of 11 clubs participated, displaying some 310 vehicles. Pre-1940 Triumph Motor Club member Martin Johnson-Howe inaugurated this idea, which is intended to be a relaxed and informal gathering of all owners of the marques' many cars, and along with helpers Trevor Sherwood and Brian Bromwich he worked tirelessly not only to organise the event, but to marshal it as well! Each year by the Standard Triumph Forum presents the Harry Webster Trophy to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the Standard Triumph movement, and they chose this occasion to present it to the 2019 winner, Phil Homer, who has worked ceaselessly for…

Regrets? Oh yes, I have a few, and not too few to mention, either! I’ve just finished another Essential Buyer’s Guide book for Veloce Publishing, this one on the Triumph Herald and Vitesse. That meant rooting through my surprisingly thin folder of old Triumph pictures – I usually send stories of more exotic Triumphs from North America, and Vitesses and Heralds were not really exported there to any significant extent. Your editor manfully took some time out of a crammed schedule to dig out some suitable pictures, for which help I tip my flat cap, but one of my own pictures annoys me every time I look at it. It’s a picture of a Vitesse that I was recently offered, and which I am now regretting not buying. Before I…

Back in 1955 (I was only a baby at the time), my father bought our first family car. It was a Morris 8, and apparently it gave excellent service and took us on many happy outings. Even so, I very much doubt that it ever looked as good – or was ever as cherished – as EKA 165, a 1938 Series 2 Morris 8 that belongs to Rob and Christine Brittlebank. Not only is this particular car in quite exceptional condition, it also has a connection with the Brittlebank family that extends almost as far back as the day it rolled off the production line. ‘The original owner was a chap my father used to work with,’ recalls Rob. ‘It was supplied by the Rocket Motor Company, Liverpool, in April…

Morgan Cars is the only place in the world you can buy essentially a brand new 1936 car that is the real thing and not a replica or restoration. The structure of a Morgan 4/4 or Plus 4 is still an insubstantial steel chassis and an aluminium-and-steel body coachbuilt on an ash frame, just as it has been for 83 years. However, there have been minor changes along the way. Engine options have updated every decade or so, and the most dramatic change was the replacement of the old flat radiator for the sexy modern curved one in the 1950s. Other than that, the Morgan 4/4 of 2019 is basically the same car as the Morgan 4/4 of 1936. The original cost was £195.5s.0d, the current 4/4 costs £40,205. The…

here was a task which was skipped from my previous dairies as I ran out of space, but my Y Reg MINI was due an MoT recently and a couple of jobs needed sorting out. One was a safety issue, MoT or not – the about-to-drop-off petrol tank needed dealing with in a hurry. The other irritation was the passenger side exterior door handle – not long after buying the car I’d done a photoshoot inside MINI’s Swindon pressing plant where all of the car’s panels would have been stamped (assembly was and still is at Cowley near Oxford) and I thought it would be fun to take Y951 along and get a picture. Unfortunately the door handle went sproink and broke while I was there, and I’d ignored it…

XJ40 ashtrays often suffer from cracked veneer, and this has happened on my 1989 entry level Jaguar XJ6. I managed to acquire a complete ashtray assembly for an XJ40 some time ago, but I have been putting off fitting it as the veneer did not match perfectly. However, the lid of the ashtray finally deteriorated so badly that some of the old veneer was breaking away and stopping the ashtray lid opening. I don’t smoke, but the ashtray is the perfect place to keep that elusive £1 coin you always need for a supermarket trolley. Therefore, I bit the bullet and set about removing the old ashtray and fitting the new one. In theory, you can swap the ashtray lids over. However, having tried this before I know that refitting…

Behind many a classic car’s dashboard there lies an assortment of wires resembling spaghetti with minimal access to the backs of switches and gauges. So when a bulb that illuminates the speedo blows or a gauge stops reading, it is probably a simple fault but repair can seem daunting – you may be able to sit down whilst tackling it, but it’s hardly going to be relaxing. However, once you get to know the layout behind your dashboard and possibly modify it to make it easier to access, such problems are not so challenging. The following pages provide a general overview of many of the common dashboard-related problems that can arise, including some of the dreaded MoT-failure warning lights and how to fix them. With thanks to Speedy Cables (01639…

A mechanic of my acquaintance uses the expression ‘cheese on toast’ to describe automotive blandness, and it is hard to imagine a more cheese-on-toast market segment than the mid-size MPV. After all, this is an arena in which – in sales terms at least – the reigning champion is Vauxhall’s thoroughly capable but infinitely dull Zafira. But between 1998 and 2004, one mini-MPV strutted into the amphitheatre, proudly displaying a very different set of colours to its rivals. Just as Renault’s initial foray into the larger MPV space – the Phase One Espace – broke new ground in terms of material usage and packaging, Fiat’s Multipla took a firmly individual approach to the challenge of putting lots of people into a mobile box. The Italian marque has a long history…

WHY BMW’S E46 FELL SHORT OF THE E36 21 YEARS AGO IN 1998 BMW launched their E46 3 Series. Some say this was ‘the last real 3 Series’ to which I say, thank heavens for that! The car it replaced was the E36, launched to great acclaim in 1991 as one of BMW’s major leaps forward. That in turn replaced the E30, a decently made, compact and pleasant to drive small saloon, a car that was good but not quite great. Sure the 325i was a cut above and the M3 magnificent, but below that they were no big deal. In 1983 they were very good, but by 1988 cars like the Peugeot 405 would run rings around it, yet the E30 did most things well enough albeit without any…

The majestic grounds of Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire were bathed in sunshine whilst playing host to an impressive array of over 1000 Jaguar cars on Sunday 12 May. It was a record turnout for the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club’s Summer Jaguar Festival, and there was something for everyone – the show cars represented everything from pre-war SS models to E-Types and rare Mark V saloons, up to the very latest factory-fresh XE, F-type and all electric I-Pace models. Visitors were also presented with the largest gathering of film and TV Jaguars ever assembled, including James Bond cars, the red E-Type from Sean Connery’s 1964 thriller Woman of Straw, The Italian Job's E-Type, the Mk1 saloon from TV drama Endeavour and Arthur Daley’s beloved XJ6 from classic TV series Minder (a car…

BMW has taken the occasion of this year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on the shores of Lake Como at the end of May to unveil its recreation of the BMW Garmisch, a classic concept car that was designed by Marcello Gandini for Bertone and which vanished after its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in 1970. 'Marcello Gandini to me is one of the grand masters of car design and his cars have always been an important source of inspiration for my work,' says Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President of BMW Group Design, who has been intrigued by the BMW Garmisch since he first discovered a faded period picture of the car some years ago. 'Building the BMW Garmisch for a second time gave us the opportunity to pay…

The Round Britain Coastal Drive, created in 2016 as a one-off event to raise funds for the charity Prostate Cancer UK, is to run again in 2019 for the fourth successive year, with the aim of raising £45,000! It is open to all XK-badged and XK-engined Jaguars, and this year’s 3400-mile drive around the circumference of the British mainland will feature some new start and finish locations – it will be flagged away from the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu on Monday 16 September and conclude on Thursday 3 October at Lyndhurst in the New Forest. Most participants choose to drive one or several of the event’s 18 daily stages, but some 'all-rounders' opt to drive the entire route. Jaguar parts specialists SNG Barratt Group will be supporting the event…

MGB AND MG MIDGET REVERSE LAMP LENS Price: £6.95 each Eagle-eyed owners may have noticed that the original Lucas L798 reverse lamp lens used on MGB and Midget models featured a reflective chrome strip moulded into the plastic rim. This original and attractive detailing is absent from aftermarket replacements which typically include a flat, non-reflective silver trim in place of the correct chrome. However, MGOC Spares are now able to offer new replacement reverse lamp lenses, faithfully reproduced to the original design from newly commissioned tooling and featuring a chrome trim strip for an authentic appearance. Supplied complete with foam gasket, Philips panhead screws and seals, they are offered under part number 37H7512Q and priced at just £6.95 each. To order, call 01954 230928 or visit www.mgocspares.co.uk WIPER TIMER MODULE…

Sadly, like so many newspapers, my local regional rag is a shadow of its former self, as founded in the late 19th century with a mission to tell the truth. Long before I ever dabbled in journalism, I had a vision of a bustling, nicotine-stained office full of constantly ringing phones and clattering typewriters, staffed by ancient grizzled hacks with ‘Press’ written on their trilbies. It was probably never like that, but it’s interesting that the Express & Star’s roll call of former employees includes trainee hack Boris Johnson, and a young cub reporter named Jeremy Clarkson. Whatever happened to them? Who knows, but I digress only slightly because the paper’s From The Archive slot tends to confirm that a picture is worth a thousand words. This week’s photo is…

Of our two project MX-5s, it is fair to say that the yellow Mk2 has led the harder life. It was making a number of strange noises, leaking fluid and riding on old and unevenly worn tyres. Despite those shortcomings it was still a lot of fun to drive, but the blue Mk1 showed how much better it could be. To be fair that was not perfect either, but it had the feel of a car that has been cared for and treated gently rather than one that has been used and abused. Strangely, this has dictated a change of direction for both of them – on the Mk1 we can concentrate on making improvements that will dramatically up the fun quotient for whoever wins it, whereas for the Mk2…

On a recent drive in the Stag, I had been told that my righthand stop light was not operating. I immediately suspected a bulb failure as I had fitted all new bulbs when the car was restored, and I have already had a few others fail. It seems that the bulb quality available from local outlets is not great, so I decided to replace it with a previously-used bulb from a box that had several dozen used but working examples. I expected the replacement to be a simply operation, as the bulb holder can easily be withdrawn from inside the boot after removing two screws that hold the internal light unit cover in place. The bulb holder was difficult to detach, but after some wiggling it came free. However, a…

After putting the front end of my Allard P1 back together in my last report, my next task was to find a set of brake shoes. Upon a recommendation from the Allard Owners Club I purchased a set of brake shoe linings front and rear from Classic Spares at Knighton in Devon (tel: 01626 891645). I was given very good service – they knew what I was talking about, and the bill was just over £130. So one rainy Sunday afternoon I set to and drilled out the copper rivets securing the old brake linings in place and with the help of a small punch they were all removed. You need care doing this and do use a drill that is smaller than the rivet hole itself or you will…

Ever since selling my MG ZT last summer, I’ve not had a big family wagon sitting on the drive. That’s been fine because with the kids getting older and coming home less often, there have been very few occasions when I’ve needed to transport five adults in one go. However, recently everybody’s schedules coincided to the point where I needed something with five seats and a decent boot for a long weekend. Looking around the Kelsey car park for a likely victim, I spotted the rather forlorn Renault 21 Symphony, covered in dust and clearly not a favourite prize in the game of company car roulette. That suited me just fine, because I love driving the kind of saloon which families would once have cherished, but which now seem to…

Rover’s all-aluminium overhead valve V8 first appeared in the P5 in 1967, but it originated from Buick – see our RV8 feature on p104 for full details. Initially displacing 3528cc, it powered many a Rover, Land Rover and MGB GT, plus TR8s and more. The MG RV8 used a 195Ps fuel-injected 3950cc version of the engine, and TVR went further with a 4278cc (Land Rover also used this in their classic Range Rover) and 4554cc in the Chimaera and Griffith along with a 4988cc version in a limited production run of the Griffith. In all its sizes, the Rover V8 has been a hit for the British motor industry, helping to prove the ability of many sports car manufacturers including Westfield and Morgan. Whilst there was a time when secondhand…

Following on from the success of the inaugural STW in 2018, plans are well underway for the 2019 Scottish Triumph Weekend in association with the Bo’ness Revival, with an even larger turnout of Triumphs from seven Triumph clubs expected over the weekend of the 31st August and 1st September. Once again the TR Register are official partners of the event with Bo’ness hosting the TR Register Scottish Weekend, together with the Stag Owners Club staging their Scottish National Day on the Sunday. The Bo’ness Revival is Scotland’s only combined historic hillclimb and classic car event, and Triumphs feature in both elements. In the hillclimb competition running on both days there is the TR Register-sponsored Triumph-only class, which is always a close run thing. A special feature for 2019 is the…

Here’s a real conundrum – why did the Triumph Stag fail and the Mercedes-Benz 350SL succeed? Why wasn't it the other way round? Why did the Stag expire after only seven years yet the 350SL pedigree lasted for 18 years, resulting in a disappointing total of only 25,877 Stags being produced, compared with approximately 350,000 of the W107 family? Why is the one looked upon as a glorious failure while the other developed a reputation as a blue chip investment, even if both of them have gone on to carve out their own enthusiastic niches on the classics scene? It’s easy for the British Leyland knockers (yes, they are alive and well, as most Classics Monthly readers will know) to talk glibly about the Stag’s engine problems, and about the…

When it comes to motoring icons, you have to go a very long way to match the MkI Golf GTI, the ground-breaking hatchback from Volkswagen which kicked off the entire hot hatch category back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They have been a firm favourite for extreme VW projects over the years too, and I've personally had the pleasure of photographing some very OTT conversions, including a 4WD twin-engined MkI with a supercharged G60 engine at either end, and numerous 500+bhp MkI Golfs fitted with VR6 and 1.8 turbo lumps, either under the bonnet or in the boot, or of course both! However, we are not talking about an OTT project today, but instead we are aiming for original glory. To be honest the current owner of this…

Darren and Miki Stacey readily admit to sharing an obsession for classic Fords. This Leicestershire-based couple have been seriously into Ford cars ever since their teens. ‘When I was 16 I had older mates who owned cars and one had an Escort Mexico Mk2,’ Darren explains. ‘After a ride in that I knew I had to have one.’ So as soon as he was old enough to drive, Darren bought an Escort Mk2, though sadly a Mexico proved out of reach for the young Ford enthusiast. Miki’s story of Ford ownership started with an Escort XR3 on her 18th birthday. This must have been a perfect coming-of-age present for her, as she sums up her childhood by saying: ‘I didn’t play with dolls, I always played with cars.’ Through the…

Last time around, I mentioned that my Caffeine and Carbs event (at Part-y-Seal, near Grosmont in Monmouthshire) was imminent. Well, blessed with great weather and great service (not to mention hospitality) from hosts Fred and Jeanette Ong, it was a huge success. We had 15 classics turn up, including a Fiat 500, Jaguar XK150 and – a particular favourite of mine – LUP 62J, the Clan Crusader that finished second to Roger Clark’s Works Escort on the 1972 Manx International Rally. This car, which belongs to Dave and Joan Williamson and has done for the past 46 years, has contested over 300 competitive events. I had planned to take the Porsche 944 but, because the Clan was coming, I changed my mind and instead I took the Davrian. I’m glad…

his has been a slow month on the long-term restoration projects, primarily due to my brother getting married; I was best man. However, this being the Sheret family there was still classic car tinkering involved. This was in the form of recommissioning the family’s 1936 Austin Seven Ruby saloon. We have had this since the 1970s, and it has been transport for my parents’ and both aunt and uncle’s weddings. Naturally, the car had to be used this time round, but had been off the road and had seen very little use for the past few years. The one thing which had been letting the car down was the shabby state of the 80 year old interior, and dad decided to splash out on new leather seat covers, which were…

Designed and built to fastidious standards rarely seen on a mass-production car, the W201 quickly earned a reputation for soundness and quality. In fact Mercedes-Benz itself recognised that it had got somewhat carried away with the Baby Benz in its eagerness to show that it could make a smaller car without sacrificing its hard-won reputation for quality and, while commercially successful, the development and production costs of the W201 were simply too great to make a habit of doing it that way. Of course, all that quality came at a price – a fairly ordinary 190E cost £10,640 in 1982 when a similar-spec Ford Sierra cost just under £8000. But the W201 wasn’t aimed at the Sierra buyer, and when put against the likes of the Saab 900, Audi 80…

The MG marque is still alive and well in the 21st Century, but currently under Chinese ownership. The famous octagonal logo is now being used on a range of hatchbacks and SUVs, some of them decent cars in their own niche but none of them able to claim much in the way of sporting pretensions. It is a far cry from how things started in Oxford during the 1920s. Back then, William Morris (later Lord Nuffield) had two separate business empires – Morris Motors Ltd that built cars, and a group of retail garages called Morris Garages. Cecil Kimber was appointed as Sales Manager for Morris Garages in 1921, becoming General Manager the following year. Kimber had a passion for motorsport, and soon began designing more sporting bodies for Morris…

Let’s start our story with the car. To the casual observer, this simply looks like a very nice example of a Mk2 Triumph 2.5PI estate. However, as soon as you hear the engine running, the distinctive exhaust note tells you that it has a Triumph V8 engine under the bonnet rather than the standard-fit straight six. That is not unheard of these days as a number of enterprising owners have given their cars engine transplants, but this one is a little different. The man behind it was Ian Lines, always known as Del, who ran Atlantic Garages in Weston-super-Mare. In 1973 Del started to buy new 2000/2500 shells from Leyland, fit them with factory-returned Stag engines that were rebuilt either by Richard Longman or Downton Tuning, complete the cars with…