Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2020 i Classic Car Mart

Welcome… CLASSICS IN LOCKDOWN I thought you’d be using your convertible today,” commented a neighbour a couple of weeks ago as he saw me unloading the shopping from my wife’s Golf and with the sun beating down on one of the hottest days of the year thus far he did have a point. What he didn’t know of course was that I had indeed originally planned to use my Alfa Spider for the grocery run during lockdown and would have been well within both the letter and spirit of the regulations to do so. But a classic convertible would have stuck out like a sore thumb on the almost-deserted roads and with its rattly exhaust (courtesy of a loose baffle in the centre silencer) I didn’t feel like drawing attention…

Classic Crossword 173 Clues Across 1 1980s Austin hatchbacks (11) 7 European-built baby Corvettes from General Motors (4,3) 8 X1/9s, Barchettas, etc (5) 9 _ Performance Estate, Lancia Beta derivative better known as the HPE (4) 10 Roadster from Healey (8) 13 'Silver' Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union racing cars from the 1930s (6) 14 Exotic holiday in a big old Citroen? (6) 17 Skoda models with girly names! (8) 19 Sports car marque founded by Frank Nichols (4) 20 & 16 down A vehicle like the Toyota Previa in maximumpassenger guise (5-6) 21 Executive Talbot cars from the early 1980s (7) 23 How Ford's Mk II Consul, Zephyr and Zodiac were collectively known (5,6) Clues Down 1 A 1970 launch from Hillman (7) 2 American name for the VW Beetle (3) 3 _ Porsche,…

AUCTION NEWS H&H ONLINE, APRIL 29 As we’ve said before, it takes a lot to dampen the enthusiasm of the classic car scene and even a global pandemic has failed to stop the classic car auction world entirely in its tracks. Since lockdown began, many of the major auction houses have concentrated their efforts on hosting sales online and H&H was one of the first to offer online-only sales. The firm’s April 29 event certainly made a great alternative to whiling away a damp lockdown afternoon watching Homes Under The Hammer and bidding seemed commendably strong for a world which in theory was paralysed by a stalled economy. Headline sale for us was the provisional £16,500 achieved by the Mk1 Ford Fiesta XR2 which to be fair was probably the…

MARKET TRENDS TAKING OFF The Spitfire and its six-cylinder brother, the GT6, are quickly becoming prized classics. We track it from cheap sports car to collectible. Words: Aaron McKay TRIUMPH SPITFIRE (1962-1980) A new generation of classic car owners is changing the Spitfire landscape at the moment. No longer are the later cars looked down upon, and in fact values of these have pretty much doubled over the last decade, while ever-rising prices of its contemporary rivals are turning increasing numbers onto Triumph’s attractive sub-TR model. It’s a smart choice: cheap to run, easy to maintain, and has the elegant 1960s lines of much more exotic cars. The top models, like a GT6 or a fully restored Mk1 are now going for as much as £20,000, so the question is:…

ROUND UP: 1960s CLASSICS SIXTIES SPANNERING Despite rising values, it's the potential for hands-on tinkering that represents part of the appeal for many Sixties cars. We pick some favourites. WORDS: PAUL WAGER Once upon a time–and really not that long ago–your average home mechanic still regarded fuel injection and electronic ignition as being voodoo black magic invented purely to drive you into the money-grabbing arms of the motor trade. Familiarity with modern car technology though, combined with advances in consumer law and the massive amount of information exchange generated in an online world means the scope for DIY car maintenance is now bigger than ever. Ironically, it’s combined with a drop in the popularity of home maintenance but aftermarket computer diagnostics are available for all but the most recent models…

THE BENTLEY CONNECTION As with the Silver Shadow, the Silver Spirit was marketed from the start alongside a Bentley version, all but identical save for the badging. The Bentley Mulsanne was launched at the same time as the Silver Spirit and was later joined by the Bentley Eight with minor trim differences intended to appeal to a slightly younger buyer. When thoughts turned to increasing the power of the venerable V8, it was the almost-dormant Bentley brand which was chosen for the task, thanks to its distant sporting history. With development work carried out by Broadspeed using a Silver Shadow and Camargue as a base, a 10 per cent uplift in power was delivered, accompanied by a staggering 50 per cent increase in torque. The result was launched in 1982…

MARKET TRENDS RETRO CARS AUDI TT The original Audi TT is starting to find its feet in the collector market, but you need to buy the right one. Words: Craig Cheetham It’s 25 years ago now since Audi showed a concept car at the 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show that was the first to be developed by its Californian studio. Styled by US-German design graduate Freeman Thomas, the Audi TT Concept was said to reinterpret styling cues of classic 1930s racing cars into a thoroughly contemporary package. Whether you see that or not, one thing is for certain and that’s that the TT Concept was a stunning piece of work. Something that was apparent from the reaction it received. That reaction led Audi to be bold, turning the TT into a…

RETRO CAR BUYING GUIDE TOYOTA MR2 Mk3 TWO’S COMPANY The third-generation Toyota MR2 comes of age this year, as it marks its 21st birthday. But how does it measure up as a modern retro sportster? Words: Craig Cheetham There’s a lot to like about the third generation Toyota MR2. It’s midengined and rear-wheel-drive for starters, has a lively engine, well-balanced chassis and quirky looks. It’s also something a bit different–a left-field alternative to a Mazda MX-5 or MGF/TF. The car made its debut at the 1999 Tokyo Motor Show as the MR-S, a name it took from a 1998 concept car, but the MR2 name was retained for Europe, while in the USA it became the MR2 Spyder. In line with Toyota’s decision to simplify production for all markets, one…

TWIN TEST: SUBARU IMPREZA WRX v VW GOLF R32 JEKYLL AND HYDE The Subaru Impreza WRX was overtly sporty from the start, but in 2002 along came a more sharp-suited contender. But is the outwardly mild-mannered Golf R32 more of a monster than the rally-derived Scooby? Words: Craig Cheetham SUBARU IMPREZA WRX ENGINE: 1994cc 16v turbo POWER: 220bhp at 5600rpm TORQUE: 221lb.ft at 4000rpm 0-60MPH: 6.2 secs TOP SPEED: 155mph (limited) MPG: 27 These days, it’s hard to imagine the impact of the Volkswagen Golf R32 when it first appeared. Back in 2002, it was the answer to performance VW fans’ dreams, as although the Mk4 Golf was a fine car in terms of quality and styling, it wasn’t the sharpest or most dynamic to drive, while the GTI model…

CHECK OUT LOADS MORE NEWS AT WWW.CLASSICSWORLD.CO.UK FEARS FOR SAFETY AS MoT EXTENSIONS CONTINUE Calls to end the automatic six-month extension on MoT expiry dates have gathered more pace after new research has revealed that almost 1.1m unroadworthy vehicles are set to return to the UK’s streets as people increasingly get back on the road. The automatic extension began on March 30 to assist key workers, and is currently set to remain in place until March 2021. Kwik Fit has been busy analysing the latest DVSA MoT data alongside its own statistics. Taken together they show that an estimated 1,096,000 vehicles that have received a sixmonth extension would have failed a test with dangerous or major defects had they undergone an MoT. Of these unroadworthy vehicles, it is estimated that…

CHECK OUT LOADS MORE NEWS AT WWW.CLASSICSWORLD.CO.UK ALPINE ANOTHER COVID CASUALTY? Just two years since Renault relaunched the Alpine brand, it now looks like the widely acclaimed A110 could be discontinued as part of Renault’s freshly ramped up restructuring programme. Although only ever sold in the UK in small numbers, the Alpine brand has a cult following including two devoted clubs, the Renault Alpine Owners’ Club and a section of the long standing Renault Owners’ Club who will no doubt be disappointed to see the increased manufacturer support of their events dissipate. The Alpine name traces its history back to the 1950s when Renault dealer Jean Rédélé, started racing Renault 4CVs. Rallying successes in the Alps led quite naturally to the name and it has since brought us a line…

CCA ONLINE, MARCH 28 Even amid the coronavirus pandemic, the desire to buy classic vehicles still appears to be significant. Classic Car Auctions’ latest sale saw an impressive £1.7m-worth of cars sold and a healthy 61 per cent sale rate, despite a succession of enforced format changes along the way. Initially due to take place as part of the Practical Classics Classic Car and Restoration Show on March 28-29, the sale was moved to the Warwickshire Event Centre after the show was postponed, before being altered to a one-day ‘virtual sale’ with online and telephone bidding. A further change saw it become a timed online auction. A total of 160 cars were offered across 16 days, with a 12-hour bidding window. Day one set the tone, with nine out of…

CLASSIC ROAD TEST: AUSTIN A40 SPORTS SPORTING CHANCE How did the A40 Sports come about and how does it stack up as a classic? Words and photography: Jack Grover By the start of the 1950s, the Austin Motor Company was in a fairly comfortable position. In 1941, with the firm busy with munitions and other war work, founder Herbert Austin had passed away aged 74. With no heirs, that left managing director Leonard Lord in effective sole command of the company, a position which was formalised in 1946 when he was made chairman. Well aware that there was a global demand for new cars and that government policy would require British firms to concentrate on exports, Lord eschewed a small car and plumped for a two-model range of a mid-size…

BUYING GUIDE: TRIUMPH HERALD & VITESSE BOLT-ON JOB The Herald and Vitesse were an exercise in how keeping it simple really can work wonders. Today their separate chassis and straightforward running gear make them ideal classics. WORDS: PAUL WAGER In the late ’50s, Standard-Triumph found itself in something of a tricky position. The firm desperately needed to replace the ageing Standard 8 and 10 models with a new, modern small car, but was facing competition in the marketplace from the mighty BMC–not just for sales but for the attentions of suppliers, too. Standard-Triumph had traditionally used bodywork supplier Fisher & Ludlow, but when the firm was acquired by BMC in 1953, clearly the Coventry firm was in danger of exposing its entire future model range to a competitor if it…

THE SILVER SPUR The Silver Spirit was the first of the firm’s cars since the introduction of the standard steel body in 1946 to be offered with a purpose-built long-wheelbase bodyshell. The long-wheelbase Silver Shadow–known as the Silver Wraith–had been created by cutting and extending a finished bodyshell at coachbuilder Mulliner Park Ward. The car was named the Silver Spur and was launched in parallel with the regular Silver Spirit, boasting a 124-inch wheelbase, an inch longer than the Silver Wraith. For the Silver Spur, instead of the bodyshells being modified after production, a different ‘body in white’ shell was created by Pressed Steel, using the panels developed for the Silver Wraith. The extension was created in front of the rear seat and extended floor panels and a double-skinned transmission…

PROJECT CAR JAGUAR X350 LIVING WITH THE JAGUAR X350 The unexpected joy of life with the forgotten high-tech Jaguar XJ. Words and photography: Paul Wager Jaguar’s XJ saloon has been with us for half a century now and during that time all eight generations have gained a firm enthusiast following, with the Series 1-3 models justifying classic status some time ago and the more recent X300 and X308 models prized for their affordable performance and luxury. Even the once-ignored XJ40 is now recognised as a modern classic for its significance to the Jaguar story but the generation which tends to get ignored is perhaps a highlight of the Ford era: the X350. Whereas the X300 and its V8-engined evolution the X308 were both essentially developments of the XJ40 which had…

THE MARKET ONLINE SALES AN ONLINE WORLD How does the ‘new normal’ impact the classic car business? Words: Paul Wager In the world of buying and selling old cars, the process has remained largely unchanged for years: dealer advertises car, interested party makes enquiry, views the car and agrees to buy it, whereupon payment is made and the car is collected. The internet has made the process of ‘tyrekicking’ virtual and the process of compiling a shortlist of potential purchases that much easier, but do customers still want to see a car in the flesh before buying it? After all, it’s easy for new car dealers to offer online purchasing and contact-free delivery of a car with zero miles which arrives shiny and new on a trailer, but a 50-year…

TAILGATE Craig Cheetham wonders where all the special editions have gone LIMITED EDITION OR LIMITED APPEAL? It’s confession time. I love a special edition. In my collection of slightly naff older cars, I have a Nissan Micra Capital, a Renault Clio Versailles and a Rover 45 Impression S. Or in other words, a Nissan Micra 1.0L with some daft stickers, a Renault Clio 1.2 RN with some daft stickers and a Rover 45 turbo diesel whose daft stickers have faded with the memory of the company that made it. These special editions are cheesiness personified (or at least automated), yet at the same time they’re a wonderful memory for someone who grew up in the 1980s and started driving in the 1990s. Back then, special editions were all the range.…

MORE CLASSIC NEWS IN CLASSIC CAR BUYER ON SALE EVERY WEDNESDAY SCRAPPAGE THREAT TO MODERN CLASSICS Scrappage incentives to restart new car sales following the Covid-19 crisis could mean the end of the road for modern classics all over Europe. Germany is the first country to acknowledge that it is looking at introducing a scheme to get the car industry back up and running by using scrappage as a means of getting customers back into dealerships. Chancellor Angela Merkel met with executives from Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen Group and BMW to discuss Federal intervention to assist the industry on May 5. France meanwhile has already outlined an €8bn rescue package. Meanwhile, car companies and dealer groups across the UK are lobbying for an incentive scheme similar to the government backed Scrappage Scheme…

VOLVO STAYS SAFE Volvo has always been a pioneer of safety, with engineer Nils Bohlin famously inventing the three-point seat belt in 1959. Now, in the ultimate manifestation of its Vision 2020 strategy which aims for no one to be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo, the company has begun limiting its new cars to a top speed of 112mph. The limit may seem at odds with the performance greats in its back catalogue like the T5, but the 180kmh limit remains significantly higher than all maximum national speed limits apart from some US states and the increasingly rare stretches of derestricted German autobahn. Japanese domestic-market vehicles have been fitted with a 112mph speed limiter for many years. Keen to maintain its status as a safety innovator, Volvo…

BULLDOG RESEARCH CONTINUES In February, before the current shut down, Classic Motor Cars (CMC) started work on restoring one of the world’s rarest cars–the Aston Martin Bulldog. Styled by William Towns, the Bulldog is a one-off concept car created by Aston Martin in the late 1970s to showcase the capabilities of its new engineering facility. Its current owner has sent it to Shropshire specialist CMC for a full restoration, after which the plan is to run the car at over 200 mph and take it on a world tour. Back in period, Aston Martin believed that the car was capable of well in excess of 200 miles per hour thanks to its low drag coefficient and twin-turbo 5.3-litre V8 producing over 600bhp. However, the project was deemed too expensive when…

H&H ONLINE, MAY 27 As you’ll have read elsewhere this month, the classic car auctions business has bounced back firmly following the easing of UK lockdown rules and as we went to press H&H had already completed the second of its now regular online sales. Star performer was undoubtedly the £90,000 bid for the 1934 Alvis Speed 20 with elegantly sporting Vanden Plas two-seater bodywork. The fact that the car was physically in New Zealand clearly didn’t put bidders off, with the buyer even throwing in an extra £10,000 at the last minute to secure the rare car. Bidding was keen further down the scale too, with H&H’s Simon Hope about to drop the gavel several times on the opening Range Rover Classic before bidding took off again, the car…

HISTORICS TO HOST ANNIVERSARY SALE Historics will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a live Grand Summer Sale on June 18, an impressive 43 auctions and over 8600 consignments after its first ever sale in June 2010. However, the sale will also be notable for stringent measures put in place to ensure staff and visitors are kept safe and secure in these challenging times. A total of 150 classics are due to go under the hammer within a specially-created auction hall at a purpose-designed private venue owned by the management of Historics–Windsorview Lakes in Datchet, Berkshire. This allows complete control of the venue and environment in line with prevailing legislation and advice. Social distancing will be strictly implemented, with health protection measures including hand rub sanitising and supervised guest parking. The…

TWIN TEST: JAGUAR E-TYPE v DAIMLER SP250 THE CLASS OF ’61 When Jaguar acquired Daimler in 1960 it also acquired a V8-powered sports car which was immediately eclipsed by the stunning new E-Type. How do the pair stack up as classics 60 years later? WORDS: PAUL GUINNESS PHOTOGRAPHY: MATT RICHARDSON When it comes to significant events in the history of Jaguar, it takes a lot to beat the March 1961 launch of the E-Type, the car that revolutionised the Coventry firm’s sports car lineup and generated major headlines around the world. Offering super-svelte styling by Malcolm Sayer and the kind of sensational performance and driver thrills normally reserved only for the very wealthy, the E-Type became a major talking point–and was immediately hailed by many onlookers as the best-looking car…

THE MARKETPLACE THE CARS THE BEGINNING DATABASE: ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER SPIRIT 1980-1999 Considered by many to be the last ‘real’ Rolls-Royce, the Silver Spirit would last the firm from the dawn of the ’80s right until the German takeover. Words: Paul Wager It may sit at the other extreme from the likes of the Beetle, Mini and 2CV but the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit has the credentials to be included on any list of long-lived classics. Introduced in 1980 and finally bowing out in 2003 under the Bentley Continental R and Azure, the platform which underpinned the firm’s ‘SZ’ model enjoyed a 23-year production run equalled by very few other cars. The platform itself was in use for even longer, since in its essence the Spirit was an evolution of the Silver…

PROJECT CAR: FORD ESCORT XR3i STABILITY CONTROL As work begins on the Escort, we tackle the loose rear end. WORDS: PAUL WAGER I signed off last month with the suggestion that social distancing might put paid to plans for having any work done on the Escort, but for once we’d been well organised and managed to squeeze the car into the workshop before the global lockdown took effect. At this point, thanks go to Ford parts supplier Burton for getting what we needed delivered before we were all sent home and the car was locked up in the office car park. The job we’d identified as being top of the list was the car’s slight tendency to weave at speed and in truth it was one of the few mechanical…

RETRO CAR ENDANGERED SPECIES BMW E34 M5 SLOW UPTAKE The runt of the BMW Motorsport litter is actually still a fine supersaloon. With so few remaining, we explore why the E34 M5 should be remembered more fondly. Words: Aaron McKay It’s difficult to argue for the E34 M5 when you look at the bare facts. Its predecessor had the same engine, albeit slightly smaller and down 33bhp, but weighed a whole 335kg less. For the used car buying enthusiast, the E28 tended to be a more attractive proposition. Later, the E39 M5 would become just as affordable, and trumped the E34’s performance with a 394bhp V8, taking a mere 50kg penalty. So, even the later 3.8-litre cars with 340bhp struggled to find a place with the stats-conscious enthusiast. At least…

RETRO PROJECTS RETRO CARS STAFF CLASSICS Introducing our refreshed project car fleet. Words: Paul Wager Regular readers will already be aware that here at Kelsey Media we generally have an eclectic selection of project cars on hand but in a situation all too familiar to many of us, when you have the space these things tend to get out of hand. And so it was that back at the start of the year a quick audit of the crowded car park suggested it really was time to have a clear out with a view to buying some fresh projects. First to go was our long-serving Mercedes 190E 2.6, now living with an enthusiastic owner in Berkshire who has already got it looking better than it ever did in our ownership.…