Innehållsförteckning för August 2021 från Classic Car Mart

Welcome… FROM MILAN TO COVENTRY It’s been said before in motoring circles (and long before Clarkson repeated it) that everyone should own an Alfa Romeo at least once, but lately I’ve been thinking that everyone should in fact own a Jaguar at least once. Stop and think about it and the two brands have more similarities than might immediately be obvious: both were built on style and performance and both endured periods of nationalisation, while both brands even had their share of controversial platform sharing ventures: if you need a parallel to the the Mondeo-based X-Type, then what about the Nissan Cherry-derived Arna? Both were in fact far better products than their detractors will tell you, although good luck tracking down an Arna if you want to find out for…

BRITAIN’S CARS GETTING OLDER Cars on Britain’s roads are getting older, according to Motorparc data released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), with vehicles from 2008 and earlier making up the largest percentage. For the second year running, there were more than 35m cars registered on UK roads (35,082,800), although that figure represents a modest 0.2 per cent dip as the pandemic stifled new vehicle uptake. The average age of a car in the UK has risen to 8.4 years, which is the oldest since records began 20 years ago and is considerably up from 6.3 years in 2003. The average car in the UK was built in 2011. Perhaps most remarkable is almost 10 million of the UK’s cars are more than 12 years old, accounting…

Classic Crossword 187 Clues Across 1 Sporty General Motors coupé made between 1968 and 1973 (4,2) 7 Skoda coupé from the 1980s (5) 9 How Fiat’s 131 was also known (9) 10 _ cars, exhibition models like the famous Docker Daimlers (4) 11 Makers of the Khamsin (8) 13 How four-star petrol was also known (6) 14 Left the car in a spot (6) 17 Engineering firm synonymous with performance Sierras and Escorts (8) 19 SEAT hatch brought out in the late 1990s (4) 21 The Panther Rio was re-skinned with this metal (9) 22 The nationality of coachbuilders, Graber (5) 23 The W116 range formed part of this acclaimed Mercedes-Benz series (1-5) Clues Down 2 A Proton model introduced in 1993 (7) 3 _ hand drive, non-UK spec (4)…

REVIEW: H&H, DUXFORD, MAY 26 Over 120 cars were on offer at H&H Classics’ first ‘in person’ auction since the pandemic restrictions started to ease. Held at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, a total of 99 cars changed hands for a selling rate of 80 per cent, with the gross sales amounting to £2.8 million. The auction house reported strong and positive responses from clients to the return to the more traditional form of auction, suggesting that there may be less widespread appetite for online-only auctions to continue once restrictions are loosened. Headline results include the £100,000 paid for a 1952 Bentley MkVI with Park Ward drophead coupe bodywork – one of five Bentley MkVIs in the sale. An equally glamorous Daimler DB8 Special Sports Drophead sold for £44,850, which…

TWIN TEST: RENAULT 5 GT TURBO v GOLF GTI Mk2 CLASS WARS The stars have aligned to make the Renault 5 GT Turbo and Mk2 Golf GTI rivals for a nostalgic hot hatch fix, but which offers the best experience? WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY: JEFF RUGGLES Let’s get the elephant out of the room first of all. By 1990, the Renault 5 GT Turbo and the Volkswagen Golf GTI were not quite direct competitors. The frantic and sometimes flimsy Renault had a small carb-fed pushrod engine with a turbo strapped on, while the Golf was a more grown-up, more expensive affair with the option of five doors and an injected 1.8 motor. And yet, with supply of ’80s and ’90s hot hatches outstripping demand, there’s been a real levelling up. It’s…

JAGUAR SPECIAL: £3000-£8000 £3000-£8000 It doesn’t take a massive increase in budget to find yourself in the market for something a big step up in performance and the supercharged XJRs are a genuine match for their contemporary generations of BMW M5. Indeed, there are many who prefer the Jaguar’s more civilised ride and understated demeanour as well as its very practical running costs. X300 XJR Adding an Eaton supercharger to the AJ16 engine liberated 326bhp with a commendably flat power curve and a delightful if discreet whine which revitalised Jaguar’s performance image. Ironically, the XJR was expected to be a niche model selling just a couple of hundred but between 1994 and 1997, 6547 were sold. BODY There’s no bodily difference between an X300 XJR and any other X300, so…

JAGUAR SPECIAL: £20,000-£25,000 £20,000-£25,000 A slight jump in budget and suddenly we’re in proper blue chip territory. Yes, a bit of luck, a bigger helping of optimism and a well-stocked tool box could even see you jumping on to the bottom of the E-Type ladder. Yes, it’ll be a V12-engined Series 3 car and yes, it’ll probably be an automatic but when that green light for travel comes on you’ll find that left-hand drive perfect for sweeping across Europe in style. E-Type By the late ’60s, the E-Type was showing its age as the competition caught up and with the XJ-S already in development, Jaguar was set to leapfrog them once again with a V12-engined tour de force as modern as the E-Type weas classical. But until then, the E-Type…

ROUND UP: CLASSIC VANS VAN ORDINAIRE These vans could soon be coming back to traders near you. WORDS: SAM SKELTON Vehicle of Historic Interest. It’s a bit of a mouthful, isn’t it? But it’s a useful status to attain; once your car or car-based van reaches 40 years old, it can be registered as exempt from MoT and tax. While we would advise people to think very carefully about utilising the former exemption for road use, the exemption from tax certainly makes them an appealing prospect. And if they’re only going to sit idle at the side of the road, MoT exemption does at least permit on street parking for vehicles which perhaps might not be up to regular use. And this makes classic vans ideal for advertising your business.…

THE MARKETPLACE THE CARS THE BEGINNING DATABASE: PORSCHE 924/944/968 DATABASE: PORSCHE 924/944/968 Porsche’s front-engined four-cylinder range began life as a cast-off VW project but ultimately saved the company. Words: Paul Wager A somewhat heated office discussion recently revolved around the thorny question of whether the Volkswagen Corrado replaced the Scirocco or not, but the truth is that in spirit the wedgy ’80s coupe replaced not the Golf-based Scirocco but the Porsche 924, that being VW Group’s previous attempt at a purpose-built sports coupe. For it was with the VW roundel on its nose that the 924 was originally intended to enter production. Historically close links between the two firms meant that Porsche had for a long time been carrying out the bulk of Volkswagen’s R&D efforts and was already working on…

DATABASE: PORSCHE 924/944/968 PURE PORSCHE The final fling for the four-cylinder front-engined cars looked similar to the 924/944 range but was as different as it’s possible to get without a radical redesign. Indeed, it’s thought by some marque historians that work originally began on a major evolution of the 944 but engineers realised that so much had been changed that they may as well consider a brand new car. The change warranted a new type number: 968. Whatever the truth of the matter, the passing resemblance to the older car’s style was all that remained of the original 924, with Porsche itself claiming that some 80 per cent of the design was new. The car was now a Porsche product in every way, no longer manufactured at the VW/Audi Neckarsulm…

RETRO CARS ENDANGERED SPECIES: MG Z CARS LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES Desperate times call for desperate measures, but with the the ‘Z cars’ MG Rover pulled off a marketing masterstroke. They’re becoming rarer by the day, so now is the time to save one. Words: Craig Cheetham No sooner had the Phoenix Consortium bought Rover Group from BMW for a tenner in 2000, than it started to seek external investment – something that was crucial to its long-term survival. Many column inches have been dedicated to the firm’s trials, tribulations and ultimate demise ever since, but whatever your take on the death of what was once Britain’s biggest car maker, or at least the roots of it, you can’t fault the company’s engineers and designers for trying. After the ink was…

OR MAYBE..? Jeff Ruggles, Features Editor Aston Martin DB7 Despite its parts bin origins, the DB7’s famous British badge carries plenty of cachet to rival the Maserati, with the 3.2-litre six-cylinder model available with similar sub-£20,000 price tags. Launched in 1995, the supercharged DB7 is just 0.3 seconds slower to 60 than the 3200GT, though about 10mph slower at the top end. The DB7 evolved into the V12 in 1999, identified by large round indicator and driving lamps. The 414bhp V12 is a real match for either of the Maseratis here, but a good example will easily break the £20,000 barrier. Dave Youngs, Lancaster Insurance Porsche 911 (996) Another car with a prestigious badge, the 996 was the first-water-cooled 911 when it was launched in 1998. Prices are now rising…

PLUGS&LEADS INDUSTRY BODY AIMS TO PROTECT CLASSIC SECTOR Anew trade association has been set up to protect Britain’s classic vehicle industry and secure its long-term future from uncertainty caused by red tape and environmental legislation. The Historic and Classic Vehicles Alliance (HCVA) is a not-for-profit organisation that intends to campaign on behalf of individuals and companies in the classic vehicle sector, as well as instilling accountability, common standards and a code of conduct to the members who sign up. The group says that complex new rules around exporting and importing cars and parts to and from the EU, along with widespread misconceptions surrounding of the environmental impact of vintage motoring, is damaging owners’ confidence and enthusiasm. It believes that this is putting 113,000 jobs in peril and is calling on…

NEW MORGAN MUSEUM OPENS The Morgan Motor Company has opened an interactive museum experience, The Archive Room, housed within the redeveloped Morgan Experience Centre in Malvern, Worcestershire. The Archive Room contains artefacts, documents, photographs and footage that chart the brand’s 112-year history. The centrepiece is a full-length cabinet housing individual items of historical significance, each with its own audio-visual story, and there are also five large-scale projectors situated around the room displaying rotating content. The remaining walls are adorned with artwork, Morgan parts and trophies, while in the centre, seven display cars represent all eras and models. What’s more, a ‘Design Your Morgan’ feature allows budding designers to express their imaginations on paper. The Archive Room builds upon the Morgan Experience, which offers of factory tours, sports car hire and…

AUCTION NEWS REVIEW: HISTORICS, ASCOT RACECOURSE, MAY 15 Having twice rescheduled its April sale, firstly due to the pandemic and subsequently The Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, Historics was keen to return to its planned auction calendar. Hence, less than a month after its April sale, the doors of Ascot Racecourse opened once again on May 15 for a sale of 166 consignments from a record 47 different marques. Over 800 visitors attended the three viewing days, with some 1200 gathering during sale day while respecting Covid-19 health and safety requirements. In addition, over 800 online bidders from 24 countries added to the spectacle, accounting for 40 per cent of all sales. The entries spanned an entire century, with the oldest lot sold a 1906 De Dion-Bouton AL2 at £39,620 and…

MARKET TRENDS WEDGE FUND After a slow start, the TR7 is becoming an increasingly appreciated classic Words: Jeff Ruggles For so many years, the Triumph TR7 was something of a poor relation. It was frowned upon by enthusiasts of the older TR models, with the poor reliability reputation of the earliest cars causing lasting damage to its image and the wedgy Harris Mann styling caught in the uncomfortable abyss between classic and modern. But time has increasingly become a healer and the TR7 is now looked upon with much more of a nostalgic fondness – with prices rising in accordance. Radically different from its six-cylinder, open-top TR6 predecessor with its separate chassis, the TR7 was launched into the USA in 1975 as a two-seater monocoque coupe with a 2-litre ‘slant…

JAGUAR SPECIAL: £8000-£12,000 £8000-£12,000 Jumping up another step in budget starts to bring the Sixties cars within reach and although you won’t be getting into an E-Type, the affordable end of the Mk2 range is still within reach in the shape of the S-Type. Meanwhile, if it’s E-Type performance you’re after, your twelve grand also buys the seriously capable XKR. XJS Rather than looking back towards the E-Type era, the XJ-S brief was to create a modern-looking car in the Italian style, low and wide and using the platform of the original XJ saloon shortened by six inches with the front suspension moved forwards to keep the proportions neat. Launched in 1975, the XJ-S was offered initially with just the Lucas-injected V12 engine, in either manual or automatic form. Although…

JAGUAR SPECIAL: £25,000-£30,000 £25,000-£30,000 Moving up to the £25,000-£30,000 point brings you more of the same – an E-Type needing less work, a nicer Mk2 – or the chance to go back to the early Jaguar history with the 1950s cars which made the company’s name. The XKs might still be out of reach, but their saloon equivalents, the MkV and MkVII offer a great alternative and space for all the family. MkV AND MkVII The MkV and MkVII are at once very similar and entirely different. The MkV was the continuation of the prewar cars, powered by the ex-Standard pushrod engine. The saloon car debut of the XK powerplant would have to wait until the MkVII arrived in 1950, the skipping of a model named MkVI on the grounds…

DATABASE: PORSCHE 924/944/968 THE 924S When VW announced that the EA831 engine would be discontinued, Porsche already had the 944 and its new Porsche powerplant ready to go, but the 944 was a step up in price and performance terms from the 924, which left it without an entry-level model in the range. The solution was simple: since the 924 and 944 were essentially identical under the skin, the new engine was fitted to the narrow-body 924 and priced below the 944 Lux. Suitably detuned so as not to step on the toes of the 944, the 924S boasted 150bhp and used the 924 Turbo running gear with the revised cast aluminium suspension arms of the 944. Very much a stopgap model, the 924S was discontinued in August 1988.…

UK DIRECT DEBIT SUBSCRIPTION OFFER! TRY A SUBSCRIPTION TODAY PAY JUST £12.00 FOR 6 ISSUES* VISIT: shop.kelsey.co.uk/CME21H Or call 01959 543 747 and QUOTE CME21H Hotline open: Mon-Fri 8:30am-5:30pm. Calls are charged at your standard network rate * Full terms and conditions can be found at shop.kelsey.co.uk/terms. Offer applies to UK subscribers only when paying by direct debit. Your subscription will start with the next available issue with your first 6 issues charged at just £12.00. Payments will continue to be taken at the low rate of £19.99 every 6 months thereafter. You can cancel your subscription at any time and no further payments will be taken. Overseas and other offers available at shop.kelsey.co.uk/CME…

STAFF CARS STAFF CLASSICS It’s more change on the fleet as we revisit some old projects, welcome some new members to the collection and look into staffers’ own garages. Bentley Turbo R Paul Wager Last issue saw us driving round a car park at Rolls and Bentley specialist Nigel Sandell with a man in the boot monitoring a Bosch ABS tester which eventually showed us that the cause of the non-functioning ABS on the Bentley was a failed sensor on the front offside. A quick win you might think… but no, like so many things on the Bentley it’s not quite that easy. The sensors themselves use a metal body and have an unfortunate tendency to corrode into the hub. Advice from Nigel was that either way it would be…

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STRATFORD AUTOJUMBLE RETURNS The popular Stratford Autojumble is back on the event calendar for 2021 and took place at Stratford Racecourse on June 13 with the next event scheduled for September 5. Sponsored by RH Insurance and run by a friendly and experienced team of event staff from Mortons Media Group Ltd, the autojumble takes pride of place in the centre field at the Warwickshire venue and offers a vast array of parts, restoration services and related products for a variety of vehicles. If you’re after a certain part, piece or tool for a motoring project, then you’re likely to find it here. Classic car owners are being encouraged to bring along their pride and joy to receive £1 off the regular £5 entry fee, with their cars forming part…

UNIQUE ‘AVENGER’ SELLS FOR £13k ANorth American variant of the Rootes Avenger that never made it across the Atlantic has achieved an impressive £13,000 at auction.Sold via the Car and Classic platform, the 30,000-mile example is the only known right-hand-drive Plymouth Cricket in existence. It was apparently bought by its first owner from a UK garage that was known for dealing with and disposing of test cars and development models. Built in the UK but to full US specification, it features side marker lights, quad headlights from the GT and 9.5-inch disc brakes as standard. Unusually, this one has the later optional twin carbs but is fitted with US-market emissions gear. It was fully restored by its most recent owner, who had access to piles of NOS parts, meaning this…

WEEKENDER UNITES DIVERSE CLASSICS Until very recently, the idea of congregating at Goodwood for a large-scale automotive event seemed like pie-in-the-sky. And yet, over the sunny weekend of May 29-30, the stars aligned to bring a car show back to the iconic West Sussex circuit. The event in question was the Retro Rides Weekender. For the uninitiated, Retro Rides is a forum that’s catered for a particular type of enthusiast for a couple of decades – those with an interest in modified classics (and frequently these days, modern classics). The scope is broad; if it’s cool, it’s cool. The forum’s flagship event, the Gathering, has been running for many years, and in 2018 it launched a sister show, the Weekender, down at Goodwood. Naturally nothing happened in 2020, but the…

REVIEW: MORRIS LESLIE, ONLINE, MAY 22 Like many of the classic auction houses, Morris Leslie elected to retain the online format for its May 22 sale during which some 106 lots were efficiently despatched complete with a live YouTube video stream. The catalogue included everything from a 1935 Wolseley Nine to a 2017 Bentley GTC, with plenty of ’70s and ’80s fare in between. Perhaps the star performer was the 1993 Jaguar XJS coupe, a lovely late-model example estimated at £4000-£6000 which was hammered away for £12,250 showing the sustained demand for these later cars. Meanwhile, a 1989 Porsche 911 with a lower estimate of £25,000 didn’t stop until the hammer dropped at £35,800. Older classics doing well included a 1961 Hillman Minx, estimated at £3000-£3500 which made £5300 under…

CLASSIC ROAD TEST: BENTLEY MkVI STANDARD FARE We revisit a real survivor from the era which took Rolls-Royce and Bentley into a brave new postwar world and introduced the standard steel body. Words and photography: Paul Wager You’ve no doubt been reading a great deal about Sir William Lyons this year, courtesy of the E-Type’s 60th anniversary, but brilliant though the Jaguar founder clearly was, the world still judged him hopelessly optimistic when he went straight from MkV to MkVII, never marketing a car badged as MkVI purely on the grounds that Bentley was already selling one. It may be just a little quirk of automotive history, but that one nugget of information tells you all about the direction Rolls-Royce was taking its Bentley subsidiary in the immediate postwar period.…

JAGUAR SPECIAL: £1000-£2500 £1000-£2500 This may be entry level money, but it’s still possible to buy a perfectly serviceable classic Jaguar on a shoestring budget. The X300 and X308 generation of XJ saloon are both as affordable as they’ll ever be right now and if you buy the right one it can be a surprisingly easy car to live with, thanks to Ford input in production which improved quality of the XJ40-based models significantly. X300 XJ With Ford funding, Jaguar was able to update the XJ40 into the car industry onlookers reckoned it could have been from the start and when the V8 engines were added, even the Germans started to worry. Today the ‘X300’ and ‘X308’ generation of XJ saloons make practical, easy-to-own modern classics. The X300 itself came…

JAGUAR SPECIAL: £15,000-£20,000 £15,000-£20,000 If your idea of a classic Jaguar is the firm’s 1960s heyday then it’s the Mk2 you want, the car which really put Jaguar on the map for compact performance saloons. You don’t need a megabucks budget for that market-topping 3.8 manual on wires, though: the Mk2 was produced in many different guises ranging from the entry-level 2.4-litre to the Daimler V8 and the later 240/340. And if you want a clever sideways entry into the Mk2 market, then there’s always the S-Type which many regard as the better car. Mk2 Jaguar’s first monocoque car had been the Mk1 but this was very much a learning curve for the young firm and lasted just four years in the market before being replaced by the Mk2 in…

JAGUAR SPECIAL: £50,000+ THE SKY’S THE LIMIT When it comes to high-end Jaguars, there’s really no upper ceiling and a budget of £50,000 and more is your entry ticket to the sports cars which made the company’s reputation. XK120 Having developed a brand new engine in the dying days of WW2, William Lyons was keen to make its public debut in something rather more glamorous than the old-fashioned MkV and needed something to attract people to the newly-renamed Jaguar stand at the first British postwar motor show. The answer was the XK120, its style Lyons would later admit was worked up in just a couple of weeks. The aluminium-bodied creation sat on a shortened MkV chassis and was the company’s first sports car since the SS100. Its name of course…

OR MAYBE..? Paul Wager, Group Editor Daimler V8 While the Rover was the choice of the upstanding professional, the contemporary Jaguar, the Mk2 had a more look-at-me image, beloved as it was by racing drivers and shady underworld types alike. A Mk2 with a quieter deportment was created following Jaguar’s acquisition of the Daimler company by the simple expedient of dropping in the 2.5-litre Turner-designed V8, adding some crinkly chrome and calling the result a Daimler. Most were automatics and the woofling V8 created a car with a similar restrained character to the P5. Dave Youngs, Lancaster Insurance Rover P6 If the P5 seems just that bit too big to deal with for the enthusiastic hands-on owner, then its successor the P6 offers a similar blend of style and ease…

RETRO CAR MARKET TRENDS FIVE-POT VOLVOS Swedish practicality with added warble. Words: Joe Miller By the late 1980s, Volvo had established a reputation for practical, subtle, safe and extremely durable saloons and estates. However, even Turbo models looked dowdy in the face of lusty six-pot BMWs. The front-driven 850 of 1991 initially looked dull next to rear-driven rivals, but the unusual five-pot engines gave a gruff soundtrack and hinted at the excitement that was yet to come. The five-pot’s durability and unusual soundtrack made cars so-equipped popular, but with nice examples increasingly rare, could now be the time to invest? 850 T-5R/850R Replacing the 900 Series with the front-driven 850 divided opinion amongst purists, but there was no denying the new car stood out for its engines: a choice of…

RETRO RIVALS: BMW 645Ci v MERCEDES SL 500 TOURERS DE FORCE Fancy a big V8 GT car from the turn of the millennium? We put the BMW 645Ci up against a Mercedes SL 500 to see which is best. Words: Thomas Horner At the turn of the millennium, the Mercedes SL had long ruled the roost as the luxury, open-top grand tourer of choice and in 2001 it evolved into its R230 fifth-generation form. This came complete with some advanced technologies for the time, such as its folding two-piece metal roof – an idea adopted from the smaller R170 SLK (1996-2004) – and even world-first brake-by-wire stopping power, but it continued the fine old traditions of the SL in many respects. However, alongside the Jaguar XK, it was soon being…

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TAILGATE WAITING ROOM Sam ponders how long modern classics have to wait for their turn in the limelight. There’s one element of today’s classic car culture that I can’t abide – despite owning several myself and being of a generation where such cars evoke nostalgia. And that is the term ‘modern classic’. You see it everywhere, from the shelves at WH Smith to social media groups. I actually co-run the Modern Classic Executive Cars group, targeted at those who love old ‘luxobarges’, which makes this column somewhat hypocritical. But the term ‘modern classic’ makes me uneasy because it feels to me as if there’s now nowhere left to go from here. Remember that these cars are now between 20 and 40 years old – an age that, when I was…