Innholdsfortegnelse for 07/07/2021 i Classic Car Buyer

Whilst we’re generally all for tolerance here at CCB and take the view that if it’s your car you’re welcome to do what you like to it, everyone has their own particular bugbear, whether it’s secretly not really liking MGBs or wondering why the Nissan Figaro isn’t more popular… but one thing we’re all agreed on is that number plates can absolutely make or break a car’s looks. We’re not talking cherished plates here – that’s a whole different can of worms best left unopened – but the more subtle aspects of style and presentation which can make a huge difference. Oddly though, once again we all have our different takes on the subject: contributor Peter Simpson gets particularly vexed about black-and-silver plates on post-’73 cars on the grounds that…

The organisers have confirmed that the tenth anniversary of the Classic Nostalgia event at Shelsley Walsh will be going ahead on July 17/18, with an enticing selection of attractions. Focusing on historic motorsport, the event will include both static paddock displays and live action on the hillclimb. Visitors will be able to see Richard Burns’ 2000 Safari Rally-winning Subaru in action, along with Stirling Moss’s 1961 Tourist Trophy-winning Ferrari 250 GT and a 40-strong selection of period Group A and Group B machinery from Ralli22. These icons will be joined by many other motorsport veterans of stage and track, plus the spectacle of the 1913 Land Speed Record contender, the 28.5-litre Fiat-powered Beast of Turin tackling the hill. Away from the live action, there will be concours competitions, club displays…

As Wimbledon gets under way, we dig up the tenuous tennis-themed special editions marketed over the years… and find Peugeot wasn’t alone in its enthusiasm for racquet sports.…

FORD ESCORT XR3 (1980-1990) The first European XR model, and part of the revolution that the Mk3 Escort represented for Ford – previous Escorts had been low-tech rear-wheel drive saloons while this was a front-wheel drive hatchback with fully independent suspension and a new family of overhead-cam engines. Ford judged that the RS designation used for the fast versions of the old Escort wasn’t suitable for its entry in the booming hot hatch market, and so was born the XR3. Originally powered by a tuned carb-fed 1.6-litre CVH engine making 96bhp, the XR3 became the XR3i in 1982, taking the output over the crucial 100bhp mark. Black chin and tail spoilers, spotlamps, cloverleaf alloy wheels and bucket seats were perennial and distinctive features of the XR3 specification. Fords from the…

The original Sprite could be an enduringly popular classic on its looks alone – the ‘Frogeye’ headlamps, the smiling grille and the car’s toy-like dimensions would win it legions of fans across the decades even if it was no great shakes to drive. Of course that is not the case – a Sprite rarely fails to put an expression on its driver’s face not unlike the one the car has itself. The Frogeye Sprite was always blessed with handling and grip well in excess of what the 948cc A-Series engine could use, even in twin-carb form and right from the start it’s been common to modify Sprites for better performance. As well as getting more power under the bonnet, shedding weight is another common tactic, often by ditching the hefty…

After five years at ExCel and then a single show at Olympia, the London Classic Car Show moved again for 2021 to the outdoor Syon Park location in order to aid social distancing. It was evident that logistics had been tricky, with the show markedly smaller than in previous years – but the work had been put in when it came to diversity: headline exhibits included 60 years of the Jaguar E-Type, the Bugatti Brescia’s centenary, Edwardian aero-engined cars, 1950s/60s Americana, and 1980s/90s Brutalism. In addition, there was a broad variety of owners’ clubs in attendance, each bringing a high-quality selection of desirable machines – notable highlights came from Maserati Club UK, Honda NSX Owners’ Club, BMW Car Club GB, and the Sporting Bears Motor Club whose cars raise money…

Classic car enthusiasts and businesses continue to grow frustrated by crippling DVLA postal application delays, with continued strike action over Covid safety concerns threatening to slow paper applications for months to come and a petition now set up for an inquiry into the government agency’s performance. It emerged back in September that staff in DVLA’s Swansea office were off work with stress amid claims that social distancing rules were not being adhered to. By April, DVLA sites in the city had recorded almost 550 Covid cases amongst the 6000-strong workforce, leaving staff “scared to work” according to the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union. It’s claimed around one in three of the agency’s 6000 staff were still required to go into the office during lockdown. Members of the union staged…

Historics returns to real-life sales on July 17, using the firm’s own lakeside site near Datchet and as we went to press the catalogue already contained over 200 cars plus a healthy section of motorbikes. As ever, the catalogue includes a great selection from a relatively humble Renault 19 to the more costly end of the market and those looking forward to making the trip for their first in-person sale in a long time will be gratified to know that there are duplicates of many entries, providing a second chance for buyers outbid the first time. Buyers after a Ferrari 365 GT4 2+2 can also try their luck on a 400i, while there are no less than four Alfa Spiders, two Capris and rather surprisingly, a pair of BMW 2002…

FORD CORTINA Ford’s original Cortina completely undermined Rootes’ traditional market niche by offering a modern, stylish, spacious saloon at a startlingly lower price. But these days a mid-range Cortina in the same condition as this Minx would set you back significantly more. SUNBEAM RAPIER The sporty, stylish member of the Audax family. Only available as a two-door saloon by 1966, the Series V Rapier (one number out of the Minx’s sequence) had a wooden dashboard and twin carburettors. A slow seller in the late 1960s, the last of the Rapiers is a very rare car today. WOLSELEY 16/60 You had to go up to the middle offering of BMC’s four-cylinder Farina saloon range to find an equivalent of the Minx. The Wolseley 16/60 was more luxurious than the Minx but…

The weekend of June 26/27 saw the Wartburg Trabant IFA Club hold its first meeting since the pandemic hit, with the event attracting a variety of rarities from Soviet makers. Cars in attendance included a ’68 Russian-built Moskvitch 2140 driven on a 500-mile round trip from Glasgow by owner Stuart Cross, a 1972 Trabant Kübelwagen, Yugo 513, Barkas B1000 van and the intriguing air-cooled V4-powered Zaporozhets 968M. After a convoy round Stoke-on-Trent on the Saturday, Sunday’s activity was particularly appropriate, taking the cars to the Lovell radio telescope at Jodrell Bank, which tracked Sputnik 1. Fittingly, this was also the site where in 1966 the first photos of the moon’s surface were intercepted from the Soviet spacecraft Lunar 9 and were decoded into images using a primitive fax machine, the…

Another auctioneer to return to physical sales is Sherborne-based Charterhouse, which will be auctioning a varied selectin of cars at the Haynes museum on July 15. Fittingly for a Somerset sale, the highlight of the auction is a collection of Land Rovers from a local enthusiast, comprising five very different examples. The earliest is a 1957 109-inch pick up, with a 1965 Marshall ambulance just waiting to be converted into a mobile bar or similar plus a part-restored Series 2a and Series 3 pairing. The jewel of the collection meanwhile is an ex-BBC 1982 Stage 1 V8. It’s not all Land Rovers though and there’s a selection of cars to suit all budgets and tastes, with affordable sports cars including a Reliant Scimitar SS1 and Triumph Spitfire and bigger budgets…

The trigger which had us diving into the history of long-lived model badges was the final announcement that we won’t be seeing a new Jaguar XJ after all. Since the much-loved X351 (still doing Ministerial service) was discontinued in 2019, we’ve been led to believe that the car will reappear as a Jaguar alternative to Tesla’s Model S and there was no reason to think that it wouldn’t have been a real contender, too. Sadly though, despite the car being apparently production ready it’s not to be. In terms of Jaguar history that’s a great shame, since it was for much of the company’s history its only saloon offering. The 240/340/420, S-Type and MkX were all discontinued shortly after the 1968 launch of the original XJ and it would be…

This week sees us up in the North East, at the entrance to the Tyne Tunnel which takes the A19 under the river from Howdon in North Tyneside to Jarrow in South Tyneside – or at least, it would have been on this August day in 1989 if the ticket collectors hadn’t just started an indefinite strike. Joining the queue we see a fine selection of ’80s fare, much of it now all but extinct. At the toll booth is a Volvo 245 estate, with a Sierra waiting behind and a Nissan Sunny of the A10 persuasion – already an old car by the standards of rust-prone Japanese cars of the era which certainly explains the undersealed sills. Behind the Nissan there’s an example of the facelifted Mk1 VW Polo,…

Jack Grover, Production Editor Fiat Coupe An obvious but intriguing counterpoint to the GTV. Sitting on a different version of the same platform, Fiat’s Coupe is a two-door sporty car with a very different character to the Alfa. The Fiat has a useful boot, useable back seats and a more comfortable ride. But it’s no slouch in the sporting department, with handling and roadholding that only falls behind the GTV’s trick rear suspension when pushed very hard. The four-cylinder Twin Cam engines are relations of those used in the Lancia Delta Integrale but the real drama comes from the five-cylinder 20v engine, especially the Turbo version with over 200bhp and rather old-fashioned power delivery when it comes to lag and surge. A blunter and more exciting instrument compared to the…