Innehållsförteckning för November 2023 från Classics World

The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu is celebrating the centenary of the MG marque with an exhibition of rarely seen archive photographs from the museum's collections. It is called The Magic of the Marque – 100 Years of MG and it is being held in the museum's recently opened In-Focus Gallery. The In-Focus Gallery opened this year as a dedicated space for temporary exhibitions of photographs, artwork, motoring objects and memorabilia, drawing from the museum's collection of over 1.9 million items. Andrea Bishop, Director of Collections & Engagement, said: 'Visitors to the museum will be familiar with the MG cars in our collection, but these images capture the magic associated with this iconic marque.' The Magic of the Marque – 100 Years of MG will be on from 16th September…

LETTERS EMAIL: CLASSICS.ED@KELSEY.CO.UK FIND US ON FACEBOOK: THE LATEST FEEDS AT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/CLASSICSMONTHLYMAGAZINE FOLLOW OUR UPDATES AT WWW.TWITTER.COM/CLASSICSMAG I picked up my first copy Classics after being informed that the current edition carried a feature on the Jensen prototypes. This was of particular interest to me as I worked in the Experimental Department of Jensen Motors from the late 1960s until the company's demise, and then worked for a time at Jensen Special Products. I therefore had very close involvement with prototypes of this period. This was an excellent, well-researched article by Mike Taylor but, if I may, I would like to add a few points to ensure historical accuracy. Firstly, the search for a suitable engine came later than the article indicates. The Jensen-Healey concept was based on Viva HB…

I couldn't resist the question you asked as an addendum to Alan Haddock's letter on Gerald Palmer. (I have just ordered the book Alan recommended). It seems that the first production car with a curved windshield was the Imperial CW Custom limousine version of the 1934 Chrysler Airflow. There are a few pictures of these on the net, and a YouTube video of a 1936-'37 Imperial limo made for a CBS radio star of the day. However, this variant seems to have been made in very small numbers, and most Airflows had flat windscreens, either split or single piece. If the Javelin started production in 1947, perhaps it can claim to be the first real volume production car with a curved one-piece windshield. Other readers may well have more! Also,…

I was travelling in Scandinavia recently and spotted a car scent dangler in a shop that promised to give you a ‘new car' smell. Absolute yuck. For one thing, the smell of a new car is that of poisonous Volatile Organic Compounds, multiple and stinky curing-plastic effusions including benzene, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, all of which give you cancer. It's the same dangerous VOC gases they warn you about on paint cans. The concentration of acetaldehyde gas in a new car can be 60% higher than the Chinese safety level. Added to that, ordering any new car also gives the planet cancer – you would do less environmental damage if you heated your house by burning plastic bags. It's a much better idea to aim for the ‘old-car smell’ by buying…

100 YEARS OF MG Chapter one of this centenary celebration took us from the formation of MG to the day in 1935 when Lord Nuffield sold his private holdings to Morris Motors Group and appointed Leonard Lord as Managing Director. The immediate closure of the Abingdon design office was a huge blow to Cecil Kimber and his team, with ever more interference coming from outside their small empire. In commercial terms that was probably no bad thing, and it also gave rise to models that have stood the test of time such as the legendary T-Type line and the sumptuous SVW cars, as detailed in the picture boxes on these pages. But bigger storms were on the horizon, and all car manufacturing came to a halt from 1939-1945. In that…

100 YEARS OF MG After the hand-to-mouth existence that typified virtually all of MG's life, the famous name is now owned by a huge Chinese company with vast resources and a global reach. As a result, cars bearing the MG octagon are once more on sale in countries all around the world. They are being produced in greater numbers that at any period in their history and new models continue to arrive thick and fast, yet many enthusiasts are understandably deeply unhappy about the current state of affairs. Even in an apolitical magazine such as this, we can't gloss over the fact that in part this unhappiness is down to distrust and concerns over the authoritarian dictatorship that rules China with an iron fist, with all the political and humanitarian…

Contributor None of the cars in Ivan's stable are in concours condition, but all of them are in proper mechanical order and in continual use. He believes in using classics in the way they were designed to be used: simply driven every day. MY FLEET 1988 JAGUAR SOVEREIGN 3.6 LITRE (STRAIGHT SIX) XJ40 OWNED SINCE: 2015 1989 JAGUAR XJ6 3.6 LITRE (STRAIGHT SIX) XJ40 OWNED SINCE: 2007 1982 RMB GENTRY 1.3 LITRE (TRIUMPH SPITFIRE STRAIGHT FOUR) OWNED SINCE: 2012 1965 DAIMLER V8 2.5 LITRE SALOON OWNED SINCE: 1978. Not having checked the spark plugs on the 1988 XJ40 Sovereign for some time, I took them out recently to see how they looked. When two of the plugs came out drenched in oil, I realised that the circular rubber sealing rings…

MARQUES & MODELS VW SCIROCCO The origins of the Scirocco date from a period of great upheaval for Volkswagen in the light of declining Beetle sales. In 1969 Kurt Lotz, the company's recently appointed CEO, visited the Turin Motor Show and was highly impressed by the designs created by Giorgetto Giugiaro of the Italdesign studio. VW invited him to style Project EA337, a FWD car that became the Golf. Giugiaro suggested it could form the basis of a sporting version, although the management at Wolfsburg regarded such a low-volume model as a financial risk. Yet the Scirocco did become a reality. At that time, VW was more than aware that the Beetle-derived Karmann Ghia Type 14 dated from 1955, and they needed a rival to the Ford Capri and the…

Adam Cameron, an apprentice with the Heritage Skills Academy and an employee of The Splined Hub, has been selected as winner of The Simon Diffey Heritage Motorsport Apprentice Award 2023. Year two of this award came with a very healthy entry list of applicants. After an intense initial round of judging of the 12 strong apprentice nominations submitted by their employers, they were then whittled down to three finalists. Final interviews took place at the Royal Automobile Club, Woodcote Park. Adam met the judges' criteria at interview, demonstrating his engineering skills, passion, enthusiasm and exceptional commitment as a team player as an apprentice, and importantly with a clear desire to go racing. Adam, aged 21, joined The Splined Hub and began his apprenticeship with Heritage Skills Academy in May 2022.…

It may seem a little premature to be polishing your jingle bells right now, but if you want to start your Christmas off with a bang you should know about the Heritage Santa Cruise on Sunday 3rd December ASAP, before your festive social calendar becomes too full to take part. Being run for a 13th time in 2023, owners of Volkswagen, Land Rover, Porsche and other cherished vehicles are invited to bring their families (and pets) to partake in this fancy dress Father Christmas convoy, which spreads yuletide cheer across the southeast and typically raises around £1000 for good causes. In exchange for £20, participating drivers will receive a pair of Santa suits, a commemorative sticker and a route plan, just in case they get lost! Once again, the destination…

Page 32 of the September issue shows the Humber's auto selector as a D1 and D2 type. The operation should be to select D1 for all normal driving using all three gears automatically. The selection of D2 always makes the car start off in second, then move into top gear only, and was part of the design. I have only met this system on a Jaguar 420 where the customer complained of a lack of performance and poor fuel consumption, problems subsequently fixed by correct use. The only advantage I can see to the idea is to give a high gear start for snow conditions – it would only be high capacity cars that would be able to cope.…

I read your excellent article on the Rover P4 with interest, as for many years I owned a 100, but regretfully had to sell her as a result of ill health. Everything you say about them strikes a chord, and the pictures bring back to me what a good-looking car the Rover P4 (late) is. But one thing in the article I did not like to see: the measurements and weight in metric. It is a British car, so it should have British measurements! It rather spoiled the article. Still, it was a good article otherwise.…

Every so often, the random elements of time and space collide to form marvels. One night, early in 2020, I was walking home after an hour or two spent alone in my local pub, reading a book, minding my own business and trying to get over the recent death of my best friend. I encountered a man struggling to open his front door due to the multitude of musical instruments he was carrying. I lent him a hand, helping him and his equipment safely across the threshold. This being a small town, I encountered the guy again a few days later. A friendship developed, which has in the ensuing years brought me immeasurable pleasure. This is partly because my mate Frank is a motorsport enthusiast and a car lover. It…

100 YEARS OF MG When we left off in chapter 2 of this feature, we'd reached the end of the 1950s and Abingdon was heaving with sports cars. The lines were churning out MGA 1600s, Austin-Healey 100-6s and the Austin-Healey (Frogeye) Sprite, while elsewhere in the BMC empire MG Magnette badges were being applied to a version of the Farina-styled 1.5-litre saloons. BMC were also revolutionising the small car market with their new Mini, and the engineers at Abingdon took a serious look at developing a sports car from this FWD package. Those plans came to nought, but there was to be a new MG, and a revival of the Midget name to boot. This came about after BMC decided that the Frogeye Sprite needed updating. Strange as it may…

Contributor Will has a collection of Morris Minors. This column follows the maintenance and modification of them for daily use, as well as the long-term restoration of a 1950 Lowlight Tourer from a desert scrapyard in America and a 1970 Morris Van which has been in his family for nearly 40 years. MY FLEET 1950 MORRIS MINOR LOWLIGHT SALOON OWNED SINCE: 2012 1950 MINOR LOWLIGHT CONVERTIBLE OWNED SINCE: 2017 1967 MINOR SALOON OWNED SINCE: 2010 1970 MINOR VAN OWNED (BY MUM) SINCE: 1980 Well, what a damp and horrible summer it has been of late! I hoped this article would contain a series of lovely photos of myself and my long-suffering partner camping in the newly kitted out 1970 Morris Minor van, but unfortunately that weekend was rained off, so…

BUYING GUIDE Although there's no such thing as a ‘cheap’ E-Type, it's certainly the case that a Series 3 offers the best value of them all. With an early flat-floor Series 1 setting you back anything up to a cool quarter of a million pounds in exceptional condition, the final V12 engined version from the early 1970s is relatively affordable by comparison. It might not be everyone's idea of the ideal E-Type thanks to it evolving into more of a grand tourer than the raw and raucous sportster it started out as, but the Series 3 does have plenty of offer, and might just be where the clever money is right now. Launched in 1971 a decade after the E-Type first took a bow at the Geneva motor show, the…

LITHIUM JUMP STARTER Price: £229 Ring has introduced a professional heavy duty Lithium jump starter (RPPL 1000) that is able to withstand the tough conditions of a workshop, but is also lightweight at 2kg and compact. For 12V systems and offering 1000A starting capacity with 1500A peak current, it is capable of performing multiple starts from just one charge and can be used for all petrol vehicles and diesel engines up to 10-litre capacity. It takes four hours to charge fully, there is reverse polarity protection if connected the wrong way to the battery terminals and it will sound an audible warning if the battery voltage is too low (less than 1V) indicating the battery is too depleted to be recovered. Available at motor factors now. ASPECTS OF MOTORING HISTORY…

Only just got my September issue of CM – the Royal Mail is having problems in my area! On page 10 is a photo of a Dutton amphibious vehicle from the Great British Car Journey. I have attached a photo of one I spotted on the Isle of Wight at East Cowes in August 2017, rare beasties indeed. Since the collapse of Classic Van & Pickup magazine in Covid, do you think you may include small vans or pick-ups and camper vans from time to time? On another subject, I was looking through some old magazines and information today and I came across something of possible interest. Classics Monthly ran a ¾ page feature on an Austin A70 Hereford with the registration 916 UXD on page 16 of the Spring…

Thank you so much for printing my letter regarding my Honda Accord in September's issue. I also noticed you own a Triumph Acclaim so maybe you ought to do a comparison feature! I must admit that at car shows with my Honda I've lost count of the number of people who roll up, gaze at it and announce: ‘Ooh, a Triumph Acclaim!’ Hmm, similar but not the same, as I kindly point out to them… Purely a point of interest, not only do I have my classic cars to play with, but I also create 1/43 model garages as a hobby. Making them keeps me sane in this ultramad world of today, and to be honest I delight in the pleasure on the faces of the people who have commissioned…

100 YEARS OF MG Because we are telling this story mostly through the cars that MG built, we will keep the company history brief. William Morris started The Morris Garage in Oxford's Longwall Street in 1910, changing the name to The Morris Garages (plural) in 1913 when additional premises were added to the portfolio. These were retail outlets for various marques and repair centres offering general garage services. A separate company called W.R.M. Motors Ltd assembled cars of his own design from 1913, the name changing to Morris Motors Ltd in 1919. Cecil Kimber became Sales Manager of The Morris Garages in 1921, then General Manager the following year. He soon began to augment the garage business by designing and having built stylish bodies to be placed on Morris running…

100 YEARS OF MG It looked for all the world as though the MG name had died with the closure of Abingdon in 1980, but its demise was to be shortlived. As they were closing the Abingdon factory, British Leyland announced the new Austin Mini Metro, a car that had to succeed if the company were to survive. The plan was that eventually this would take over from the Mini and lay that to rest, but initially it replaced only the upmarket Clubman versions as well as the lower spec Allegros. The Metro was a very smart and up-to-date hatchback, but no car is ever a brandnew design from end to end, especially one from a cash-strapped company like Leyland. So under that very modern skin, the Metro had the…

Contributor An ex-expat motoring author and journo previously resident in Vancouver BC, Iain culled his fleet and shipped the survivors to Scotland, which unlike British Columbia is neither on fire nor under water. Here he hopes to make more progress with grand project plans, as well as bimbling around in his old Bentley and blatting around in his now completed Mini Marcos. MY FLEET 1947 BENTLEY MKVI OWNED SINCE 2015 ENGINE 4.25-litre straight six 1957 BENTLEY S1 OWNED SINCE 2019 ENGINE 4.9-litre straight six 1974 MINI MARCOS OWNED SINCE 2010 ENGINE Cooper-spec 1.1-litre A-series CHEVY/GMC RALLY VAN OWNED SINCE 2022 ENGINE 5.7-litre V8 1952 MKVI BENTLEY BOATTAILED SPECIAL, PROJECT OWNED SINCE 2014 ENGINE supercharged 4.9-litre straight six 1953 R-TYPE BENTLEY SPECIAL, PROJECT OWNED SINCE 2020 ENGINE 2.5-litre straight six 1971…

Simon Goldsworthy – Triumph Stag There is something of a pattern emerging here, as I recommended a Triumph last issue too, but when the car fits… And the Stag is a great alternative to the V12 E-Type. It sounds just as good despite having four fewer cylinders, it has a timeless elegance to its styling and combines the best of both S3 Jaguars by seating four but having the choice of soft or hard tops. It will be cheaper to run as well, and immeasurably cheaper to buy in the first place – for the price of an E-Type project, you can drive away in a seriously nice Stag. yes it is a decade younger than the Jaguar, but that also makes it even easier to live with. There is…