Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2023 i Classics World

First up, a quick word about the rather eclectic mix of pictures above. These were among a large selection that arrived the other day, but unfortunately the envelope had been torn and there was no accompanying letter inside. As a result, I do not know who they are from or why they were sent to me! So if you recognise them, please do get in touch. Next, a quick heads-up for the January issue. This will see us adding an extra 16 pages to the magazine to incorporate a new section on Future Classics from the 1990s and 2000s. Hopefully many of you will find this added variety of interest, but rest assured that we will not be losing any of the regular classic content to make room for the…

Bentley Motors welcomed 60 beautiful Bentleys of the ‘Derby era’ to Crewe in September to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Bentley 3½ Litre, commonly known simply as the Derby Bentley. Organised by The Silent Sports Car Club – the owners’ club dedicated to the Derby Bentley – a cavalcade of cars convoyed to Bentley's Dream Factory in Crewe, with more than 100 guests enjoying a tour of the campus, exploration of the Bentley's newly refurbished Heritage Collection and a visit to the Mulliner workshops. Bentley's own Derby Bentley, a 1934 3½ Litre with coachwork by Thrupp & Maberley, was on display for the guests to admire in the newly-opened Lineage area, where the eight pre-war cars of the Heritage Collection are on display. On Saturday, one of the crown…

CLARKE CAR RAMPS Price: £47.98/£57.59 Machine Mart have added two new sets of Clarke car ramps to their already extensive range of garage gear and vehicle lifting equipment. The new Clarke models are suitable for most standard cars and are made of sturdy steel angle construction, with a semi-gloss paint finish. The Clarke CR2 car ramps have a 2000kg/2 tonne capacity per pair and a platform width of 180mm. The approximate platform height is 18cm and they weigh 9.5kg per pair. The Clarke CRW25 car ramps have a 2500kg/2.5 tonne capacity per pair and offer a platform width of 205mm. They have an approximate platform height of 19cm and weigh 10.5kg per pair. Helpfully, Clarke have also introduced the Clarke CR-EX1 Car Ramp Extensions, ideal for lifting cars with low…

A 1960 Austin-Healey 3000 always manages to convey an image of flying jackets and flat hats, with owners boasting in the saloon bar of achieving zero to ‘the ton’ in just 31 seconds on the Preston bypass. Steve Everest, the owner of our feature car, once heard a member of the public describe his car as ‘looking as though it was capable of 70mph even when standing still,’ which encapsulates the appeal. The 3000 story commenced in 1952 when the Donald Healey Motor Company displayed their new 100 at the London Motor Show. It so impressed Leonard Lord of the recently formed British Motor Corporation that he met with Donald Healey. By the end of the Earls Court show, the 100 bore the new marque name of Austin-Healey. Power was…

Hillman and Riley both started off in the Victorian era building bicycles. The first Hillman car appeared in 1907, but Riley produced its first in 1898, leading to the company motto: ‘As old as the industry. As modern as the hour.’ Since Riley is therefore the elder statesman of the two, we will start with a quick recap of their story. After 1898 the company went on to develop some fine cars right through to the second half of the 1930s, many of them highly regarded for their sporting prowess and with engines that included fourcylinder and six-cylinder units, as well as a 2178cc V8. That V8 contributed to the company's loss of independence after the Autovia marque that had been set up in 1937 to produce luxury cars powered…

SPECIAL FEATURE ROBIN ROAD TRIP Helen Poon and I have some history with what you might call automotive daftness. We went on a weekend Vancouver Mini Club rally in her 1937 Rolls-Royce 25/30 with its old-ladyish Thrupp and Maberly body because it sounded like much more fun than doing the event in my Mini. As indeed it was. I bought my American car, a 1958 Chevy Delray hardtop coupé, because it was actually quite handsome with pleasing proportions that reminded me of the coveted Facel Vega HK500. But when Helen bought an American car, it was the biggest 1970s Lincoln available, a grotesque and comical overthe—top 7-litre, 20ft chromesplattered behemoth. It was the sheer monstrous ridiculousness of the thing that appealed to her sense of humour. She drove it ironically…

Hot on the heels of last month's delve into 1973 motoring, we might as well talk about a couple more. Not new models this time, but revised versions of well established favourites. The Ford Cortina Mk3 needs little introduction. I like them, but am well aware of their shortcomings and in September 1970 when it was launched, the new Cortina seemed to have a few. You would have been dazzled by the styling, the colours and the trim, but what looked good in a brochure wasn't quite as good in reality. Engine for engine, the new car was slightly slower than the Mk2 had been because it was heavier – the Mk3 is in fact the same length as the old car, just lower and wider. It rode a bit…

A historic MG sports car gave one 101-year-old show goer a trip down memory lane at MG 100 – the Big Beaulieu Bash on Saturday 30th September when Margaret Parsons was reunited with the same type of MG that she had last enjoyed over threequarters of a century earlier. Margaret was given a ride around the Beaulieu grounds at the show in Mike Long's 1934 MG PA, decades after she had been photographed behind the wheel of the PA that she and her late husband, William Parsons, used to own. Recreating Margaret's black-and-white photograph, the nostalgiafuelled experience brought back memories of their own 1935 MG. Registered CPK 309, Margaret and William's PA was bought in 1943, and it was even accessorised with a powerful aircraft landing light. William, a mechanical…

We are sad to report that Ian (Del) Lines, famous in both Triumph and rallying circles from the 1970s through to the 1990s, died in September. Born in Mansfield, he learnt his engineering skills in his father's factories. There he met a car salesman called David Sutton, who later set up David Sutton (Motorsport) Ltd and prepared Ford Works competition Escorts after Ford had closed their own competitions department. David encouraged Del to start rallying, which he did in his Mini van. After his father retired, Del followed his brother to Weston super Mare where he had bought a garage. This they renamed Atlantic Garage. Around this time Del bought his first Triumph, a 1967 Mk1 2000, which he duly set about modifying. He noticed that these cars were being…

When my wife Diana started a job that needed a car, she wanted a Morris Minor because she had learnt to drive on her grandfather's Minor. So we bought one, which turned out to be not quite so good as it had first appeared, as is often the case. So of necessity I taught myself to weld and do general repairs. This was many years ago, in the days before YouTube and the internet, back when you had to read a book or find somebody you could ask for advice. Younger readers can ask their parents about those days… Working on Diana's car got me interested in Morris Minors, and I decided I would buy one for myself. I found an advert in one of the local papers from somebody…

As a company, Ford did not drop many clangers. Given their excellent track record in designing and building cars that people wanted to buy, the Mk4 Zephyr and Zodiac of 1966 perhaps failed to live up to the same high standards. To be sure they had many good points, but they also had more than their fair share of negatives. So Ford really couldn't afford to fall short with its successor, the Consul and Granada range that took over in 1972. History shows that this new car marked a return to top form. Designed by both Ford of England and Germany, the new car was five inches shorter than the Zephyr and around 60kg lighter. It featured Cortina/Taunus style double wishbone front suspension, and a muchimproved independent rear suspension when…

PART 5 Having picked the VW Beetle up from Andrew Everett after his work primarily on the suspension, brakes and timing belt, the drive back down south was very enjoyable. The clonks were all gone, and it cruised very comfortably down the A1 at a steady 70mph. There were one or two minor issues still to sort out though, plus a couple of bigger items on the To Do list. Starting with the minor issues, the Beetle has an armrest between the front two seats, which is all well and good, except that it is so badly positioned that it gets in the way of the gearstick. That does seem to be a rather elementary flaw in an armrest, but at least you can fold this one so that it…

Austin A van version of the Austin A30 had been introduced in 1954 with an 803cc engine, but this one is based on the A35 that took over in 1956 with an enlarged 948cc motor. The whole range suffered slightly from having been based on the old Austin Seven dimensions, resulting in a tall and narrow body. The saloons were discontinued in 1959 in favour of the new Mini, but the van and estate (the latter called the Countryman) soldiered on, and were even revised as the MkII in 1962. The A35 Countryman was discontinued almost immediately as there was now a Mini Countryman estate, but the van lived on into MkIII guise until February 1968. It was then replaced with an Austin-badged version of the Morris Minor van. Ford…

I enjoyed reading about Stuart Bird's Cortina 1600E in the September issue – well written and very accurate throughout. I too owned a 1970 1600E back in the mid-1970s, exactly the same as Stuart's. I encountered black ice for the first time in that car, left the road and went over some rough ground, but fortunately no damage was sustained. It frightened the life out of me, and black ice still does. I ran the car – which I purchased for £400 – for a couple of years. The engine had clocked up around 90,000 miles and it wasn't long before a reconditioned unit was required, which cost around £80 including fitting. Ah, those were the days! I sold the car, which regrettably was written off by the next owner…

I am sitting on a rock, the Aegean sea lapping my feet. I feel rested, sun kissed. This is the second of two trips away, with only a working week back in Blighty between them. The first was a hectic, wonderful rock climbing trip to Fontainebleau in France, from which I returned happy, exhausted and with very sore fingertips. So it's quite a good thing that there really isn't much to do here in Akbuk, Turkey, except wander almost aimlessly round and watch the sea. I love to discover a new place this way, letting it slowly reveal itself. Of course, one of the things I tend to note on these rambles is the local car culture. The contrast between here and northern France is marked. I have been travelling…

The Škoda S100/110 is now an unusual machine, but during the 1970s you often saw them outside your local newsagent or in the Fine Fare car park. Milan Simonides, the joint custodian of this handsome example, has long been a devotee of the marque's rear-engine models. As he recalls: ‘I especially remember my grandfather's cream 1967 1000MB which he sold in 1989 – I loved the smell of the vinyl upholstery.’ Today, this particular S110 is not just a rare car on British roads, but also a Škoda with a fascinating story, as we shall see shortly. First though, a little background history. It is sometimes forgotten that Škoda was the first Eastern European motor manufacturer to establish itself in the UK, with a display at the 1955 London Motor…

PART 1 I have mentioned this Fiat 500 once or twice in the magazine already, but it has finally moved to the front of the project queue and it is now time to introduce it properly. I say ‘finally’ because I bought it just over a year ago. It had been entered in WB and Sons’ auction up in Newcastle, and it piqued my interest for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is a Fiat 500 so how could you not be interested! Quite possibly the cutest car ever designed, it was so good looking that Fiat revisited its styling when creating their new Fiat 500 in 2007. Secondly, having been financially hammered in recent years by the amount of bodywork repairs that have been required on the Midget, Mini…

Morris had the Minor, Austin had the A30, Ford had the Popular, Anglia and Prefect, so Sir John Black, the autocratic boss of the Standard Motor Company needed a mass-produced small car to compete. Immediately after WW2 there had been some revived pre-war Standard 8 and 12/14 models, but they were antiquated sidevalve machines and production of all three ceased to make way for the Vanguard, which became the only passenger car offering under the Standard banner from 1948. (The bulbous Triumph Roadster and the razoredged Triumph 1800/2000/Renown were produced in small numbers from 1946. They were joined by the charming little Triumph Mayflower from 1949-53, but that was no massmarket small car and sold only 35,000 units in total.) The all-new Standard Eight of 1953 and Ten of 1954…