Innholdsfortegnelse for 12/05/2021 i Classic Car Buyer

Hello! Regular readers may well recognise the name and face before you since I have been a fairly regular contributor to these pages. Those of you who have been with Classic Car Buyer for a long while might remember that I was a full-time member of the team for nearly five years up to 2017, when I took a dive into the cold, deep and turbulent pool that is the life of a freelance writer. But now I’m back in the CCB fold, taking up the charge of production editor and helping each jam-packed issue come together as smoothly as possible. Of course now we’re in the new world brought on by the global events of the past year, so now our meandering chats about the minutiae of classic cars…

It’s easy to forget that there was a Subaru before the rally-bred Impreza but the marque was a trendsetter in the lifestyle pickup market with its 1978-1994 ‘BRAT’ derived from the 4x4 Leone estate and offering a kind of shrunken El Camino appeal. Popular with farming rather than surfing types in the UK, most were worked to death and parked up when they rusted out but Brightwells’ timed sale currently includes what must be the best survivor in the UK, if not Europe. We’ve sampled the 48,000-mile 1992 example this week and can report that it drives pretty much like new with a great retro style. It’s estimated at £8000-£12,000 and you can see the ‘car’ in action at our Classics World YouTube channel via www.youtube.com/ClassicsWorldUK. NEWS IN BRIEF This…

MG caused quite a stir when it recently unveiled its Cyberster concept in China, raising hopes that an Octagon-badged sports car might be a thing again for a brand that has transitioned to affordable SUVs and electric vehicles in recent years. However, reports suggest that the Cyberster’s chances of becoming a reality rather depends on the company’s fans. The electric roadster is intended to have a 500-mile range and be capable of hitting 60mph in under three seconds. But to see it through to production, the SAIC-owned manufacturer took the unorthodox step of launching a crowdfunding campaign. Called the MG CyberCUBE, the business model aimed to raise 5000 shares, with each priced at around £1100. Refunds were promised If MG failed to secure enough funding, but despite our doubts as…

The legendary Sir Stirling Moss, who passed away last April, will be commemorated at all three of Goodwood’s headline motorsport events in 2021. It was at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in 1948 that Moss clinched his first win, a day after his 19th birthday and at only the second race meeting he had ever attended. Over the 14 years that followed, Moss raced at the Sussex circuit on a further 56 occasions, winning 21 times and scoring a further 13 podium finishes. Goodwood was also the scene of four of Moss’ seven Tourist Trophy victories, but was sadly the scene of his career-ending accident in 1962, too. This year’s Revival, on September 17-19, will see one of the biggest-ever gatherings of Moss’ competition cars including the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR ‘722’ in…

Hobbs Parker’s first classic car auction of 2021 took on a timed online format, beginning at 12pm on Wednesday April 28 with the first lots ending 24 hours later. With lockdown restrictions gradually lifting, the appetite from buyers proved very strong, resulting in three busy viewing days prior to the sale. German marques dominated proceedings, with a wide selection of Mercedes spanning three decades headlined by a 1981 280 SL at a very attractive £13,310 and a 2000 C43 AMG at £10,450. Also included were four vehicles from a BMW main agent’s heritage collection, with a stunning E21 320 Auto selling for £11,110, a beautifully base-spec 1987 E30 318i Auto on steels making £7810 and a 1992 E36 325i SE Auto achieving £7480. The most remarkable result, however, had to…

HISTORY The Triumph TR3 story can’t be told without the Triumph TR2. Following a failed attempt to buy Morgan, Triumph sought to develop its own sports car from existing components. Help from BRM test driver Ken Richardson saw the TR2 launched in 1952. In 1955 this was replaced by the TR3 – a new grille, more power and an optional GT package with hard top meant that the TR3 appealed to a wider range of motorists than its predecessor. It still retained a simple ladder chassis, the engine derived from the Standard Vanguard and modified Triumph Mayflower suspension though, making it an evolution rather than a thorough redesign of the prior TR2 model. From 1956 the TR3 gained front disc brakes, becoming the first British production car to be so…

The British Motor Museum will return to show action on June 6, with the National Metro & Mini Show acting as the curtain raiser in line with government guidelines. The event caters for Metros, classic Minis and modern MINIs, with hundreds of examples set to be on display including the first and final classic Minis and the Monte Carlo Rally-winning Works cars of 1964, 1965 and 1967, which are usually housed inside the museum. Tickets for the show also include entry to the Museum and Collections Centre, giving visitors the chance to see over 350 cars including the last Rover 100 produced. There will also be food stands, plus overnight camping on June 5 for visitors wanting to make a weekend of it. The cost for entering a Metro, Mini…

Mitsubishi’s fleet of heritage cars have hit heady heights at auction, with the star lot – a 2001 Lancer Evolution VI Tommi Makinen Edition – selling for over £100,000. Mitsubishi is halting sales of its models in the UK later this year, which led to Mitsubishi Motors in the UK (MMUK) offloading its prized assets. All 14 of its heritage vehicles and a large selection of private number plates were listed online with no reserve via specialist platform Auto Auction, with interested parties having from April 1 until April 30 to place their bids. The Evolution VI was undoubtedly a very special example, having been signed by Tommi Makinen himself and covered just over 10,000 miles. It’s also featured in countless magazines and was the very car we took to…

1303 BEETLE (1973-1975) The ’03 was a rounded revelation with its curved screen, plastic dash and more civilised MacPherson strut suspension. Refined, quiet and nice to drive, it was better in virtually every respect than Beetles that had gone before which varied little from their wartime prototypes. Crucially though it was never a loved Bug and lacked the charm of its metal-dash predecessors. Moreover, it was never considered ‘cool’ by the VW fraternity that put lowered ride height, fettled interiors and bigger capacity engines over extra luggage space and windscreen blower fans. The only exception to the rule was the 1303 Cabriolet (made up until 1980) which was always deemed desirable. The lack of interest on the Dub scene meant 1303s have always languished in the classifieds. Twenty years ago,…

Contact: Summit Garage Gornalwood, Brierley Hill, Dudley, DY3 2RA Tel: 01384 259555 The 2.0EFi version of the MG Maestro can be added to the unfortunately long list of British Leyland cars which came good far too late. The original MG Maestro 1600 was a rushed job, with a flawed engine, a bought-in Volkswagen gearbox with a rather jury-rigged shift mechanism and an interior which must have looked great in 1977 when it was signed off… but unfortunately the car was launched in 1983. Improvements came thick and fast, but imagine how things could have been if the 2.0-litre O-Series engine with fuel injection, the PG1 gearbox developed with Honda, a completely new dashboard and fascia, some exterior tweaks and more adjustments to the suspension, brakes and steering had been there…

Eastern bloc classic car fans are poised to gather for a four-day event in the North East at the end of the month, with the Wartburg Trabant IFA Club announcing its first event since lockdown. Open to vehicles from former Eastern Bloc ‘Cold War’ countries, including those from non-members, the events begins on Friday May 28 at the Head of Steam railway museum in Darlington. Saturday sees a rare opportunity to display inside the open-air Beamish Museum, while Sunday sees a full-day’s touring of the north of England’s finest scenery, and Monday concludes with a visit to the world’s oldest railway at Tanfield. In between, the club will take refreshment breaks and enjoy evening meals. Variety among the vehicles is all but guaranteed. Formed in 1969 as the Wartburg Owners…

The classic vehicle auction arena has received a significant boost in recent times, with existing dealers like Manor Park Classics moving into the auction field and a proliferation in online-only marketplaces. Now the North East is to be represented too, with a new auction house located near Newcastle Upon Tyne to hold its inaugural sale later this month. WB & Sons plans to hold four sales over the next year, with a wide variety of interesting vehicles set to be included in its first auction on May 22. Although it’s a new name, the Killingworth-based business can rely on an experienced family team, with Justin Wray-Brayshaw joined by his three sons. Justin has a long history in tinkering with classics and began buying and selling them on a larger scale…

As we’ve come to expect from Anglia, the May sale was a big one, with some 422 lots over two days ranging from bikes to automobilia, plus of course over 200 cars and an impressive sale rate just over 85% at the time of writing. Headline results included the £155,000 bid for a 1962 Aston Martin Lagonda Rapide, alongside the hefty £56,500 hammer price of an E30 BMW M3, its Cecotto limited edition status helping the bidding along. Meanwhile, an XR2 of identical vintage powered to an £18,500 bid and a 1981 E21 BMW 323i was no doubt assisted by Top Gear-fuelled nostalgia for ‘Dad’s cars’ to make an impressive £14,000. We’ve picked some of our personal highlights from the huge catalogue but you’ll find the full results at angliacarauctions.co.uk.…

FIAT 850 (1964-1971) Carrying on where the old 600 left off, the 850 could seat five (at a push), had more room for luggage and more acceptable performance, despite having just 34bhp. Rustic to say the least, the only nod to modernity came in the form of the 1968 Special which had a souped up 47bhp engine from the 850 Coupé and front disc brakes. There was an auto from ’66, but it was terrible. A big seller for Fiat, it cost £575 in 1965 – a tenner less than our home-grown rival Singer Chamois. In Italy it had a utilitarian appeal that just didn’t cut it here so it only sold in small numbers. And then there was the rust. After just a few years most 850s had crumbled…

Travel restrictions and the traditionally damp weather mean fewer drivers than usual were stuck in traffic last weekend, so here’s a reminder of how bleak a May bank holiday traffic jam was back in the early 1980s. Our photographer is facing south on the old A1 in 1982 as it passes through the village of Stannington in what was Northumberland and is now Tyne & Wear and the traffic speeding north has crawled to a halt as the two lanes become one. At the head of the queue, we see a Cortina trailed by a Maxi, predating rear seatbelts by the look of things, while the future is right behind it in the shape of a Datsun 140J Violet, the eventual successors of which would be built just half an…

Rolls-Royce Silver cloud Launched at the same time as the S3, the Silver Cloud was all but identical mechanically and auction results suggest it’s a more expensive proposition. The Bentley offers a quieter kind of class though. Jaguar MkVII The car which forced Bentley to abandon the ‘mark’ series of badges, the big Jaguar offers a very similar presence and performance for a lower entry price. Daimler Majestic Major Adding V8 power to the Majestic created an imposing car with commanding performance. Rarer than the Bentley today but much more affordable.…