Innehållsförteckning för April 2022 från Classics World

My son recently sent me details of a pay-asyou-go community car hire scheme which allows members to rent vehicles from locations across the UK on an hourly or daily basis. He lives in a city, doesn’t have a car and usually travels by train, but thought this might be useful for those few occasions when he really did need a car. I had a look at the various costs and tried to compare them to something like a Citroën C1 or Fiat 500. Their annual road tax of around £20, would equate to club joining fee of £25. The club’s £5 monthly membership fee would add up to roughly the cost of an annual MoT test. Assuming petrol at £6.35 per gallon and 45mpg, a small car costs you 14 pence…

The second National Motor Museum Trust lecture of the 2022 season will be taking place on Saturday 23rd April, when guest speaker Alan Chandler will be discussing the fascinating world of petroliana collectables. An expert guide to the world of vintage petrol pumps, period garage equipment, enamel signs, advertising artwork and other sought-after collectables, Alan will talk about collecting items from the golden age of motoring. He became involved in this remarkable hobby when he wanted to simply add a bit of decoration to his garage. Now, having travelled the world to add almost 4000 items to his collection, he has learned a great deal about the subject, writing five books and building a website in the process. Head to .www.nationalmotormuseum.org.uk/the-petrolianaexperience-with-alan  chandler for further details. The talk will take place from…

A new historic racing festival to celebrate Snetterton’s rich motorsport heritage has been launched by Motor Racing Legends. Called the Snetterton Historic 200, it will pay homage to the often-over-looked historical races that have been the foundation stone of a circuit that opened just over 70 years ago. In fact, the Norfolk venue is steeped in history. Strongly associated with Touring Cars and a perennial fixture on the BTCC calendar, it was also home to the Willhire 24 Hour race for production sports and saloon cars from 1980, and even hosted Formula One races in the early 1960s. Over the weekend of 16th and 17th July, Snetterton will once again resonate to these great sounds as they bring a host of grids for historic GTs, Sports Cars, Touring Cars and…

Countless visitors ignored various exotica to inspect his more humble offering, often lured by that distinctive Limelight paint finish One of the undoubted stars of last year’s Silverstone Classic was not a Ferrari 365 GTB/4, a Jaguar E-Type Series I Roadster or a Lamborghini Miura P400, but Peter Okonski’s 1973 Hillman Hunter. Throughout the weekend, countless visitors ignored various exotica to inspect his more humble offering, often lured by that distinctive Limelight paint finish. Others were fascinated to see an example of the Rootes/Chrysler UK Arrow series in the metal, cars that were once as ubiquitous as the Watney’s Red Barrel logo. Sadly time has not been kind to them and RAU 416M is now believed to be one of just 12 roadworthy GLS survivors, which I think is one…

Our initial inspection of the Cortina had flagged up that fibreglass had been used to repair the spare wheel well in the boot. This looked reasonably solid, but there was no way of knowing what horrors it was covering. It also clearly detracted from the overall impression the car made and so was always on our list of jobs to do. However, we were surprised at just how quickly this relatively minor repair turned into a major hole. When I arrived at the workshop, Alan had already pulled off all the fibreglass to reveal the full extent of the rust. A good half of the circle was rotten, so he had made up a card template of that section and transferred this to sheet steel. He put an initial curve…

At the risk of repeating myself, let me start this issue by saying that we cannot hope to turn a complete novice into an expert welder in just six pages. It is surprisingly easy to get started with a MIG welder, but welding is definitely a skill that improves with experience. There are some tips and tricks that can help straighten out that learning curve a little though, and these are what we hope to share with you today. Just please do bear in mind that our focus is on structural repairs, and there is a clue in the name as to how important it is to get them right – structural repairs are not cosmetic, they need to be strong because they contribute to the strength of the vehicle…

Things could have gone very differently for Fiat in the 1980s. The 1970s were a tough time for many car makers, but the Turin giant’s unique experience had been one of economic crisis, plus industrial unrest mixed with violence and domestic terrorism. The global oil crisis of 1973 made it clear that Italian industry had to get radically more efficient to survive. It had prospered following World War Two thanks to plentiful labour, cheap because of relatively low living costs. But Italy was rapidly becoming more modern, and more expensive. Although backed by a culture of engineering brilliance, its manufacturing sector was sinking under rising wage bills. It was also losing sales thanks to corruption, cost-cutting on materials and low motivation in a discontented workforce. The 1970s was an era…

Société Industrielle de Mécanique et Carrosserie Automobile – well that sounds pretty French, doesn’t it? It shortens to Simca, and in English it would read: Mechanical and Automotive Body Manufacturing Company, which doesn’t sound very French at all. In fact the Simca company began life in 1935, when it was established by the Italian company, Fiat. From its inception in 1935 until as late as May 1963, Simca was controlled by the Italian Henri Theodore Pigozzi, who at least had French given names! He had actually begun his association with Giovanni Agnelli by becoming his ‘scrapman,’ sending old car bodies to Fiat for recycling. Fiat cars were being assembled in France under Pigozzi’s supervision from 1928 to 1934, so predictably enough Simca produced Fiats under licence. These were initially badged…

Alfa Romeo has teamed up with acoustic experts Sandy Brown to develop a Sound Tunnel Index of the best road tunnels in the UK for motorists to enjoy the sound of their cars. They began by asking Alfa’s Alfisti fan base to nominate the UK tunnels that provide the best acoustics. The top 10 were then shared with Sandy Brown, whose experts visited every tunnel. Each location was rated based on a sound recording of the Stelvio Quadrifoglio performance SUV driving through it. The sound, captured from inside the vehicle, was then assessed by Sandy Brown, one of the UK’s leading acoustic consultancies. Its experts – who led acoustic improvements to the iconic Royal Albert Hall – measured the engine and exhaust sound, plus tyre, road and wind noise, to…

It is 35 years since Ford discontinued production of their Capri. As a tribute to 18 years of production and nearly two million models sold, they ended with a limited edition model, the Capri280, of which 1038 were produced. The final car came off the production line in Ford‘s Niehl factory in Köln on 19th December 1986, and all of these close-out models were shipped to the UK for sale only here. Ford UK launched the Capri280 in March 1987 with a list price of £11,999, or with the Turbo Technics option for an additional £1604. The capri280 Group will celebrate the 280‘s 35th Anniversary at various events throughout the year, and host their own celebration at the British Motor Museum on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th July. The museum…

The query from Steve Harris in the March issue Q&A simply refers to the later gearbox as being from a 1965 Mini. If this is a base Mini gearbox, it will have the long ‘magic wand’ type gear lever that emanates from the differential housing on the back of the gearbox. The Cooper uses a different differential housing casting, which has a machined face to which the early Cooper remote linkage housing is attached. These housings should not be swapped over to a different gearbox because, during manufacture, the diff housing and the gearbox are dowelled (seen in the picture) and clamped together prior to machining the bearing recess and the side faces for the output shaft housings. Fitting a different housing may be possible, especially if dowels are removed,…

We all love a nice classic. I mean, we must do or you wouldn’t be reading this and I probably wouldn’t have written it in the first place. There can be all sorts of reasons why the emotions are stirred when we see a classic. Sometimes it will be the memory of a family-owned model, other times a recollection of wanting one years ago, or maybe it is just the fact that what we’re looking at is so darn gorgeous compared with modern cars that it fires up the I-really-want-one part of the brain. Whatever it is that a classic motor car does to your heart strings, rest assured that you are not alone and that there are plenty of people out there who have fallen for them too, and…

In a recent Driver Diary report, I foolishly remarked that I hadn’t broken down for a considerable time, so now I’m somewhat embarrassed to report that I spluttered to a halt with Lily, my 1967 four-door Morris Minor, suffering from a loss of power (on my birthday, no less!). Lily appeared to be suffering from some sort of ignition or fuel-related fault, because the engine would tick over roughly but not develop any power. Suspecting the electronic ignition, I fitted the spare points distributor I always carry in the boot and was off again fairly quickly, but as the timing was only roughly adjusted, rather cautiously. When I got home, I investigated and found the carbon brush in the distributor cap had worn completely away, leaving dust everywhere, so the…

PART 9 This project has been something of an adventure, with plenty of ups and only a few downs. Financially it has made little sense, but that was never the point. I have always admired the Maestro and Montego family, with their distinctive styling and extremely practical nature. I do realise that they are not particularly sexy, but they are great workhorses and they bring back fond memories for many people who drove them back in the day – you’d be amazed how many favourable comments ours has received in the brief time it has been sitting on my drive. You may recall that buying this car was a bit of a gamble. It came from the shark-infested eBay waters and looked an absolute shed. In fact it was so…

We are going to need a little help from readers to fill in some of the details with this opening image. It shows a BMW 328 Mille Miglia Touring Berlinetta, and the caption says only that it is being delivered in Milan. Surely though, that must be a celebrity of the day rather than a model hired for the occasion? After all, no offence to the lady who looks extremely chic and stylish, but she has the air of somebody being asked to pose with their new car rather than a model draping themselves provocatively over it. The 328 was built from 1938-1940 and won the Mille Miglia in 1938, so we'd hazard a guess at 1939 for this image. The 1971cc engine from the 328 reappeared in 1946 in…

On 26th of September 1968, Jaguar introduced a new model that Autocar lauded, saying: ‘There is absolutely no car on the market today that can approach it in any field at anywhere near the price, and certainly at the same price there are none that can offer so much automobile for the money.’ The chaps at Motor were similarly bowled over, saying: ‘As it stands at the moment, dynamically, it has no equal regardless of price, which explains those 12-months delivery quotes from dealers and black-market prices £1000 over list.’ Yet incredibly the XJ6 was not the European Car of The Year 1969, for that honour went to the Peugeot 504. Nor did the Jaguar achieve second or third place, those spots being occupied by the BMW 2500/2800 and the…

British Motor Heritage (BMH) subsidiary Tex Automotive is now offering an ever-increasing range of enthusiast car parts and accessories, not to mention a mouth-watering selection of rare or, in some cases, unique ‘mint and boxed’ model cars. A collectors’ gold mine, the selection has been amassed over many years by BMH in its role as global licensee for the Austin, Austin-Healey, MG, Morris, Rover, Triumph and Wolseley brands. The collection comprises everything from one-off prototypes to limited edition runs, all boxed and in mint condition. A selection of the offerings can be found at www.texautomotive.com. However, this is only a fraction of the total stock, with more examples being added to the website all the time, so collectors are advised to make regular visits to the site in order not…

An action-packed timetable has been announced for the 2022 Donington Historic Festival, which powers back to Donington Park on Saturday 30th April and Sunday 1st May. Highlights include two thundering races for original factory Group C cars, a dedicated 80-minute spectacular into the twilight for Ford GT40s and the epic endurance battle that is the Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup. Add in Touring Cars spanning four decades, a round of the hugely popular Jaguar Classic Challenge, the glorious pre-‘56 and pre-‘61 sports cars of the combined Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy race and a host of sprightly pre-war sports cars which are campaigned no less fiercely than their younger counterparts, and you have an unmissable weekend of historic motorsport. Spectators will receive a warm welcome…

LANCIA DELTA HF INTEGRALE 16V MODEL Price: £299.99 Produced in 1/12 scale, this new Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v from Italian model company Italeri boasts a whole host of features in a model which will appeal to seasoned modellers as well as motorsport and rally fans. The officially-licensed kit is produced from brand new moulds, which ensures a new level of quality, detail and accuracy. In addition to this, metal photo-etched chrome parts add a nice touch and are included for complete realism. Further realistic parts like hoses, screws and suspension springs finish off the look, making this a stunning display item once complete. Naturally it comes with the iconic Martini livery reminiscent of the golden age of the World Rally Championship, and features all the Integrale’s in-period sponsor/partner logos.…

I picked up a copy of Classics Monthly last week and found a picture of a Bournmouth registered Ford Zephyr, which brought back memories. In 1962 I was living in Christchurch and traded in a 100E Ford Anglia for a Ford Zephyr Zodiac with a registration number ORU 301, which was very close to the one in the picture. That car had 60,000 miles on when bought, and proved to be one of the most reliable cars of the very many I have owned. In 1964 I moved to the Pennines in Yorkshire and decided that with all the hills a more economical car was needed, so now showing 99,700 on the clock it was traded for a Renault Dauphine (one of the worst cars owned). The Zodiac has always…

Just a quick note to update you on the Morris Minor, which has done over 2000 reliable miles since March. [This was our Project Minor, featured in the magazine in the January-October 2020 issues – Ed] I tidied up a few outstanding cosmetics, such as the front grille, and gave it a full service in September. Then we spent a few days in Dumfries and Galloway. Covering a greater distance than usual, the front brakes began to bind and squeal, so on our return I stripped (not the cylinders) and cleaned them, painted the backplates, then fitted new Mintex shoes and NOS adjusters. After reassembly and adjustment, they are working and stopping perfectly. It is a pleasure and my preferred car to drive, but is off the road now until…

Although HFS Morgan had been building his Morgan three-wheelers since the company began in 1910, it was not until 1935 that he produced his first fourwheeler. As can be seen on the chrome radiator emblem of this one, initially these early cars were referred to as the Morgan 4-4, denoting that the car had four road wheels and a four cylinder engine as opposed to the earlier threewheelers that were equipped with two-cylinder motorcycle engines. Latterly the model was to become the 4/4. Preben Bograd, who lives on the tiny Danish island of Samsø, is a confirmed Morgan enthusiast whose Plus Four Plus we have been lucky enough to feature in the past. Since buying his first Morgan (which was a Plus 8) nine years ago, Preben has become completely…

To really understand what a major role the Saab 99 played in the Swedish company’s development, we will have to take a few moments to whizz over their history. We’ll take as our starting point April 1937, when the Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (or SAAB for short) was founded with its headquarters in Trollhattan. It was formed specifically to develop airplanes and deliver them to the Swedish military for the conflict that everybody could see was coming. Obviously, once that conflict was over the demand for military planes went into serious decline, but Saab had a workforce to employ. So in autumn 1945 they decided that a small car would be part of their postwar offering. The result was the streamlined Saab 92, revealed to the press in June 1947, although…

Yesterday I drove my 1947 MkVI Standard Steel Bentley to AllCargo Express in Richmond BC and left it there for consolidation into a container, shipping to Southampton and then delivery to a friend in Norfolk. It was nice to meet AllCargo’s Marie Takemura in person as I’ve been emailing with her for a while about shipping my fleet to the UK for my next emigration, this time to Scotland. This process has been entirely theoretical and hypothetical – until yesterday. I wiped the condensation off the Bentley’s windscreen, moved the choke control on the steering wheel to the right, hand throttle to the left, and thumbed the chrome starter button. As always, B70CF rumbled into life. The car must be presented for shipping with a ¼-tank of fuel or less,…

PART 7 Last issue, I detailed the overhaul of the rear suspension and brakes on our 1992 project Panda 900 Dance. With the rear suspension out of the way, I’d had unfettered access to the underside of the car at that end and used this opportunity to check out the rust situation. On our initial inspection of the Panda, we had spotted some rust on the inner face of each sill, right at the back by the rear wheelarches. It was not necessarily extensive, but it was very close to where the radius arms on the rear suspension attach to the body. The pictures will put flesh on these bones, but basically the inner face of the sill is (as you would expect) a vertical panel, which at its top…

In many ways, this has been an interesting and unusual project to work on. Montegos (and particularly their smaller Maestro cousins) were once common sights on our roads and rather taken for granted. The mainstream media loved to knock them as they did pretty much anything that came out of Leyland and later Austin Rover, but people who bought cars with their own money soon appreciated the interior space, good handling and low running costs they offered. These days though, they are rare beasts, and getting to know this one has been a real pleasure. It is also one of the very few cars I have worked on which turned out to be far better underneath than first impressions had suggested. Initial estimates were that we could spend up to…

THE ONES THAT I SHOULDN’T HAVE SOLD Andrew remembers great cars that got away and ones he was glad to see the back of. Right now my daily car is a 1994 BMW 318Ti Compact, bought for £70 in early 2017 in a’distressed’ state. The wings had the old park-by-feel treatment, so were replaced with good ones the right colour. The suspension was pretty much all knackered, as were the brake discs and one jacking point. I went through it from end to end – discs, pads, oil, filters, plugs, springs and dampers, various bushes, a battery and after an MoT had been achieved, it set off on its five year journey of track days and daily use. I added up all that I’ve spent on it in that time…