Innehållsförteckning för September 2022 från Classic Car Mart

70 As promised last month, there’s now a new face in the picture box and a different name at the bottom of this column. After 11 years Paul Wager is no longer writing in this space, having stepped into the leather-clad opulence of Jaguar World. I wish him well of course, but he’s not gone too far – just a few minutes ago, we were swapping messages on how best to deal with creaky front suspension on a Mk1 Golf. Anyway, as regular readers may have clocked, I’ve been part of the Kelsey Media furniture for some time. I was previously Markets Editor on this very publication, as well as covering news and markets on our sister title Classic Car Buyer. Viewers of our Classics World YouTube channel may have…

T heClassic Ford Show made a spectacular return on Sunday, July 10 at its new South of England Showground home, West Sussex. Thousands of enthusiasts enjoyed what was perfect weather throughout the day, enabling them to make the most of the hundreds of cars on display. Clubs were out in force, displaying classic Fords from just about every era, while the Classic Ford Top 50 section showcased an amazing array of cars. The Pride of Ownership area had a selection of superbly presented classics on display, with first prize awarded to Darren Hawksley’s 1979 Capri. Alex Young’s 1986 Mk2 Fiesta and Howard Law’s 2000 Mondeo ST200 took silver and bronze respectively. Ford expert and historian Steve Saxty was in attendance with his newly acquired Capri 2.8 injection, and was interviewed…

Production of the Ford Focus will end in 2025, the company has announced. The demise of the family hatch is also likely to mean the end of Ford production in Saarlouis, Germany, although the firm has yet to confirm that the plant will be closed. “We don’t have in our planning cycle an additional model that goes into Saarlouis,” commented Stuart Rowley, Ford of Europe boss. However, the firm has said it is looking into “other alternative opportunities for vehicle production.” Ford’s next priority is its new-generation electric car family, which will be built in Valencia from next year, using the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform. The Focus has dropped out of the UK top 10 in recent months, with Ford’s strongest sellers now being its Puma and Kuga SUVs. The…

BMW was on something of a roll in the 1960s. It’s Neue Klasse range ensured solvency after the Bavarian firm’s financial crisis of the 1950s and was the genesis of its entry into the premium compact saloon market. But as well as saloons, the Neue Klasse spawned a series of Bahnstorming coupes. The Karmannbuilt 2000 and 2000CS arrived in 1965, but it was when the wheelbase and width were increased to suit the new M30 straight-six engine that things really came of age. Codenamed the E9, the new model was first released as the 2800CS in 1968 and featured the now-iconic shark nose adorned with the trademark quad-lamp arrangement. The 2800CS was replaced by the 3.0CS and 3.0CSi in 1971, but the big news was the 3.0CSL launched in 1972.…

T heSaab 900 was the ultimate four-seater convertible for a generation, and one which we graded as better than the BMW E30 in a twin test two years ago. The cabriolet for cerebral professionals, the 900 has an appeal that has never wavered; these cars have never truly been bangers. And many felt that when Saab replaced the 900 Convertible with the new model in 1994, that the end was nigh. More conventionally styled inside and out and sharing its platform with General Motors stock, the newer car never quite captured the hearts of all those enthusiasts in the same way. But was it really such a bad car? And, now both cars are seen as classics and there’s less pressure on them to be perfect as daily drivers, which…

THE MARKETPLACE THE CARS THE BEGINNING Until fairly recently, visitors to Plymouth in Devon were welcomed by signs proclaiming it to be the ‘City of Discovery’ which made it ideal as the venue for the launch in October 1989 of the Land Rover product bearing the same name. Indeed, just as countless vessels had sailed from Plymouth to discover new lands, so Land Rover was on its own voyage of discovery – and similarly heading into rather uncharted waters, too.` Unlike Drake who famously idled away the time on the Hoe playing bowls waiting for the tide to turn before vanquishing the Spanish Armada, Land Rover was one step ahead of the game, having been painfully aware for some time that it needed a wider range. Stiff competition was already on…

A poll by The Motor Ombudsman on the challenges faced by independent garages and dealers during the first six months of 2022 has shown that increasing operational costs are the biggest concern for 79 per cent of businesses. The same proportion of respondents stated that their bottom line had been particularly affected by the jump in energy and fuel prices, which continue to climb to record highs. Delays getting hold of replacement parts were cited as the second largest obstacle for garages and workshops, negatively impacting 72 per cent of businesses that took part in the research. And with the cost of living crisis affecting households around the UK and inflation hitting a 40-year high, 71 per cent of garages reported seeing motorists reduce their spending on routine vehicle maintenance…

Check out loads more news at WWW.CLASSICS-WORLD.CO.UK The Historic & Classic Vehicles Alliance (HCVA), the not-forprofit organisation created to support the historic vehicle sector, has joined forces with industry specialists involved in the development of synthetic fuels. The HCVA sees synthetic fuel research as essential if the sector is to achieve the government target of ‘net zero’ by 2050. The HCVA is working alongside Jaguar racing specialist CKL Developments, which has been testing a customer’s E-Type at Goodwood using synthetic fuel developed by Coryton Advanced Fuels. A test using a mix of conventional and synthetic fuel proved successful, with the car performing exceptionally well. Garry Wilson, CEO of the HCVA, commented: “We are extremely grateful to Coryton and CKL Developments for this first test. By retaining internal combustion engines for…

Britishmotoring history, unfortunately, is full of a great many “what if?” moments; cars that might have been all-time greats if they’d been built under different circumstances. The Landcrab, Metro and Maxi are all prime examples of Britain being the nearly man, and another might well be the Austin Montego. Right from the start, the Montego didn’t have the smoothest introduction to life. It was intended to be the replacement for the Morris Marina, but budgets were tight and cooperation from the workforce was in short supply, so the Ital was shuffled in as a half-hearted Marina facelift, while the Triumph Acclaim offered a further option. Ultimately the Montego was around seven years later to market than originally planned. When it did eventually go on sale in 1984, however, Austin Rover…

Petrolisn’t getting any cheaper. And while the Tailgate column in this issue might suggest that – in truth – fuel hasn’t really got any more expensive in the last decade, the fact remains that filling your car is still a hefty chunk of your wages, and that a hobby car really ought to be cheap to run if it is to be justified. But that doesn’t mean that the future of the classic car hobby is to consign us to desperately dull diesels and tiny town toddlers. Whether you want something comfortable, sporting, stylish, practical or unusual, there is a classic for you with running costs that won’t break the bank. With that in mind, we’ve picked out a selection of our favourite 40mpg classics, with economical entries to suit…

PORSCHE 944S My last update on our Porsche was back in the July issue when I had managed to get the tatty seat looking respectable but still needed to tackle a few other irritating issues. First of these was the horrific wind noise at anything over 30mph which I later traced to a badly fitted windscreen, a damaged frame meaning the outer seal wasn’t retained properly. After some thought, a quick and dirty fix was achieved using Puraflex black mastic to bond the outer seal in place, with a piece of plywood and G-clamps holding it in place while it cured. Something of a bodge it may have been, but the wind noise and water leak are both gone. Perhaps more pressing was the inoperative speedometer and having ascertained that…

T heMG Midget is to many the archetypal classic small sports car. Front-engined and rearwheel drive, it boasts simple mechanicals, excellent parts availability and plenty of fun for what can be a very attractive price. It’s little surprise, then, that it continues to enjoy a buoyant following. The Midget was in production for more than 18 years from 1961 until late 1979, but it wasn’t a clean-sheet design. It was essentially an updated Austin-Healey Sprite, a car launched in 1958 with the oily bits from the Austin A35. The revamped Mk2 Sprite arrived three years later, with a remodelled rear end to include proper access to the boot and the ‘Frogeye’ clamshell with its famous upright headlights superseded by conventional wings and a separate bonnet. A badge-engineered MG version was…

T heroll-out of Clean Air Zones around UK cities shows no sign of abating, with Bradford introducing a Class C+ scheme from September, and Bristol going a step further by announcing that its own wide-reaching Class D CAZ – which affects older privatelyowned cars – will come into force on November 28. The Bristol scheme will see drivers of vehicles that don’t meet Euro 4 standards for petrol (roughly pre-2005) and Euro 6 standard for diesel (roughly pre-2015) charged between £9 and £100 per day to enter parts of the city. Non-compliant cars, taxis and vans will be charged the lowest figure, while trucks, buses and coaches will be liable for the maximum £100. The move is likely to have major implications for owners of modern classics. Owners of vehicles…

L etchworthMotor Auctions’ move into the historic vehicle arena got off to a great start on July 9, with its inaugural Classic, Retro and Performance Car Sale achieving a 68 per cent sale rate. The Hertfordshire firm is well known for its long-established modern car auctions, but this was its first foray into the classic market. Auctioneer Jim Ronan hammered away 31 of the 47 vehicles on offer, which dated from the 1940s to the ‘90s, for a total sale figure of £137,987. More deals were also done once the sale had ended. Highlights included a 1996 Rover Mini Cooper, which easily exceeded its £4750 estimate to sell for £9375. In addition, a stunning 1980 Rolls-Royce Corniche in Caribbean Aqua Blue, which had undergone over £25,000 of improvements by its…

The summer months are always interesting for the classic car market. Over the last couple of years, the pandemic and restricted travel meant many a person’s route to spending their hard-earned on a classic went unhindered. Now though, there are things like foreign holidays to distract us, plus a cost of living crisis that for many has cut down on income for hobbies. So, what has this meant for auctions over the past few weeks? We’ve seen several enthusiasts reluctantly put their beloved classics up for sale to raise extra funds recently, which has seemingly been good news when it comes to filling auction catalogues – the likes of WB & Sons in Newcastle have been able to a build a f resh new catalogue every six weeks, with more…

L astyear I interviewed Richard Usher, the man behind the fascinating Great British Car Journey attraction in Derbyshire, which shies away from unobtainable supercars in favour of showcasing the everyday cars which formed the backdrop to family life over the last century – inadvertently charting the rise and fall of the domestic motor industry along the way. One of my questions for Richard was where he had decided to begin the ‘journey’ itself and his answer was a simple one: the Austin Seven, which rescued its maker from bankruptcy as well as putting a nation on wheels. The affordable Austin people’s car is of course the perfect choice to kick off the story of the family car and today it represents a great way to tip a toe into the waters…

Launchingan expensive, thirsty V12 coupe in the wake of a fuel crisis was one thing, but replacing the much-loved E-Type with it was quite another. And yet, that’s just what Jaguar did in 1975 with the arrival of the XJ-S, a model which left marque traditionalists scratching their heads. There was no doubt it caused a stir, but the styling was divisive to say the least, and fears over a proposed (but never realised) change to American regulations meant a drop-head version was noticeably absent. The hostile reception, allied with Jaguar’s controversial BL connection and hefty fuel consumption, resulted in the near demise of the XJ-S in 1980. But well-judged updates including roofless options and a new engine contributed to reversal in fortunes, amounting to an impressive 21-year production run…

A lthoughits long run came to an end last year in the midst of chip shortages, Ford’s performance in the UK’s car sales charts has been nothing short of astonishing over the last five decades or so. You have to go back to 1971 for the last time it wasn’t on the very top step, but the real trigger for the firm’s modern-era ascent came 60 years ago with the launch of the Cortina. The ubiquitous family favourite traded blows with the BMC 1100/1300 for almost a decade, paving the way for an unblemished period of Blue Oval success that saw model after model march to the top, as well as numerous other hits and, of course, the occasional miss. And because us Brits are a nostalgic bunch, it’s little…