Innholdsfortegnelse for 18/11/202 i Classic Car Buyer

Having spent more years than I care to remember working on car magazines, I’ve just realised that this will be the first year I can remember not making the yearly pilgrimage to the NEC for the Classic Motor Show. Indeed, for a video spot on this year’s ‘virtual show’ I was asked which was the first of these events I could remember and I simply couldn’t find an answer: like the MGB, it always seems to have been around. I’ve experienced the show from all angles: as a paying public visitor, as a journalist, a photographer and as an exhibitor. I’ve even put in some stints behind the counter on the Kelsey stand and promptly skived off shortly afterwards, having inevitably remembered how much like hard work it is compared…

Fuel giant Shell has stopped selling its Autogas liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the UK, citing low demand and prohibitive compliance costs. Autogas was a joint venture between Shell and LPG supplier Calor, but with the current Autogas refuelling network installed around 20 years ago, a spokesman said significant investment would be required to maintain the long-term safe and compliant operation of its facilities. LPG didn’t take off in the UK in the same way as the Continent, never going beyond a niche fuel. Dacia is currently the only manufacturer that sells LPG-equipped cars from the factory in the UK, although several companies still offer aftermarket conversions. Calor will continue to supply LPG at more than 1000 sites across the UK, but the decision leaves only around 1900 stations still…

Editorial Assistant REPORTING ON: Peugeot 205 1.8D I know the 205 is prone to rot – it is after all 28 years old, it’s French and this one has been round the block a few times – but what I wasn’t quite prepared for was how much rust it had. I was pretty certain it was limited to a little bit of scabbing on the nearside wheelarch. What I wasn’t prepared for was for a large chunk of the car to come off. In the Peugeot, the jack is held on by a captive threaded section on the driver’s side inner wing. I unscrewed it to make room for some under-bonnet work and it wouldn’t come out – I gave it a yank and when I did, a chunk of…

The MG Midget and the Mk2 Austin Healey Sprite reach their joint 60th birthday next year, with a big celebration set to take place in Cheshire on June 25-27, 2021 – almost exactly 60 years to the day after the Midget launch. The Midget 60 Big Weekend will initially be based at the Mere Golf Resort and Spa near Knutsford. Friday will include a barbecue on the terrace overlooking the lake, followed on the Saturday by a run through the countryside and a lunch stop in the Peak District. That evening, a Gala Dinner and Dance will take place. For Sunday, the venue will be the Tudor manor house of Gawsworth Hall, where it’s hoped that as many Midgets, Sprites and their derivatives as possible will join in with the…

Arguably the most famous UK-supplied Peugeot 205 GTi in existence will be offered as part of the next H&H Classics ABC Live Auction Online on November 25. The 1991 Miami Blue 1.9 model has enjoyed an illustrious past, having been driven by ‘The Stig’ on Top Gear, featured on Clarkson’s Car Years and even immortalised by Corgi as a 1:43-scale die-cast model. A desirable non-cat model, it’s also graced the pages of various car magazines and is expected to sell for £19,000-£22,000. In addition, the catalogue is filling up nicely with a great range of entries. A matching-numbers 1955 Jaguar XK140 roadster could sell for as much as £140,000, while a wide selection of pre-war vehicles comprises a 1939 BSA Scout, a 1935 Morris Oxford Twenty Saloon, a 1932 Rolls-Royce…

There are plenty of cars that are entertaining on the right road, on the right day, which encourage you to put your foot down and to have some fun. But here’s the thing. So many classic car enthusiasts never use their full potential. Let us be honest here. So many of us buy our classics not because we want to drive them hard, but because we like the image. We feel good when we get into the cars we love, and when we look in shop windows, we look good too. And there are many accessible classics that can give us exactly the same sort of thrill as the poster cars we always aspired to. Cars which offer no less, in terms of the enjoyment most enthusiasts will derive, yet…

It’s now 20 years since the Mercedes SLK arrived here in the UK, and it arrived during an era when many significant motor show concept cars became production reality – think Porsche Boxster and Audi TT for starters. The Mercedes SLK R170 began life as a 1994 concept car shown at that year’s Paris motor show. Featuring the all-metal folding ‘Vario roof’, the R170 had been planned since 1991 and the Paris show car was a taster of things to come. Based on many C-Class/190E mechanical parts, the apparently sporty, light and short new convertible Mercedes arrived here in 1996 and was an immediate smash hit that made the BMW Z3 look a bit sorry for itself. The initial model was the 230 Kompressor featuring the recently introduced M111 engine…

Car clubs have always provided a useful meeting place for like-minded enthusiasts. The format and way people choose to ‘rub shoulders’ might have changed over time, and the kibosh has certainly been put on club events this year due to Covid, but the benefits of being a car club member still applies. A club gives you immediate access to a wealth of invaluable knowledge, technical advice, discounts, embroidered sweatshirts and – if there’s a parts officer or a scheme to remanufacture obsolete items – the chance to get parts that you’d struggle to find elsewhere. At the same time you’ll also get the opportunity to socialise, kick tyres and bore the trousers off other people with tales of your own pride and joy. The only way to reap such benefits…

More than half of UK drivers say having access to a car is more important than it was before the coronavirus pandemic, with confidence in public transport confidence at an 18-year low. The RAC’s annual Report on Motoring found 57 per cent of people believe having access to a car is more important than it was before March. Two-thirds of drivers in three specific groups – young drivers, those with fewer than 10 years’ driving experience and people living in London – are all significantly more likely to say they need a car more now than they did before Covid-19. For the first time since 2002 fewer than half of drivers (43 per cent) say they would use their cars less, even if public transport was improved – a sharp…

A brand-new motoring magazine celebrating the UK’s most desirable, interesting or best-value cars is now on sale, following a boom in demand for modern classic cars and interesting older motors. Bargain Cars is a monthly publication from Kelsey Media, publishers of Britain’s oldest hands-on car magazine, Car Mechanics. In association with CM, Bargain Cars will focus on the buying and owning experience of high-quality used cars and modern classics, from 1990 onwards. It’s put together by a team of expert writers and photographers led by Peter Simpson, a former Car Mechanics editor. “With so many people keeping an eye on the pennies at the moment, the popularity of modern classics and premium used cars has really started to rise,” said Phil Weeden, Kelsey Media’s Chief Operations Officer. “Bargain Cars is…

Owners of classic Minis are being encouraged to join the celebrations when the 60th birthday of the Jaguar E-Type is marked at Shelsley Walsh next summer. The Jaguar E-Type Club is set to bring the two British icons together over the weekend of June 12-13, celebrating 60 years since the launch of the E-Type by reviving the cars, music and fashion of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ at the famous hill climb venue. Of course, 2021 also marks 60 years of the Mini Cooper, and one of the unifying features of E-Type 60 will be an homage to the 1969 film ‘The Italian Job’, in which three Mini Coopers were famously used to steal gold from under the noses of the Italian Mafia. The actual E-Type used in the film – registered…

Production Editor Contact: Paul Matty Sports Cars, Bromsgrove B60 1DE Tel: 01527 835 656 paulmattysportscars.co.uk The Seven is about as Lotus as you can get. The natural evolution of the Mark VI, its first production car, the Seven ran from the 1950s through the 1970s and even when Lotus stopped building it, Caterham bought the rights and other companies couldn’t help themselves copying it. No matter where along the 70-year timeline we’re talking about, the basic principles of mechanical simplicity and elan of design continue to be compelling for anyone seeking a sports car undiluted. The example we have here is quite rare. In fact, all original Lotus Sevens are rare relative to the recreations by Caterham and others. It’s a Series 3 car, in the mould of that original…

Group Editor Contact: Pembrokeshire Classic Investments, West Wales. Tel: 01437 723006 or 07787 573733 www.pembrokeshireclassicinvestments.co.uk Much like the Rover P5 and its V8 coupe big brother, the Farina-bodied Vanden Plas is usually associated with the headline 4-Litre R model and the associated glamour of its Rolls-Royce powerplant. A bigger seller at the time though was the 3-Litre model which was essentially a fancy version of the A99 Austin Westminster. The square Vanden Plas grille set it apart from its Austin or Wolseley-badged cousins and under the bonnet was the BMC C-Series straight-six. Inside, the Vanden Plas was the epitome of luxury, the cars taken from the production line and lavishly trimmed in the traditional way at the Vanden Plas works. With hand-finished wood veneer, leather and deep carpeting, a Vanden…

LOTUS BADGED CLASSICS Cars that were given a special Hethel hand to become motoring legends. MG V8 RIVALS Factory or retrofit? We consider the Rover V8-powered MGB roadsters against the limited-run RV8. BUYING THE Mk2 GTI One of the most widely recognised sensible classics is now over 35 years old, so what is there to watch for now? Plus… tracking the values of hopeful investment classics, as well as all the latest news and auction coverage. DOWNLOAD THE DIGITAL ISSUE OF CLASSIC CAR BUYER FROM AS LITTLE AS 94p! Visit: www.pocketmags.com or download it via the App Store; search ‘Classic Car Buyer’. The printed version of Classic Car Buyer is available in ASDA, Tesco, Morrisons and WH Smiths, plus all good newsagents…