Innholdsfortegnelse for 04/08/2021 i Classic Car Buyer

Anyone who keeps a keen eye on our Classics World YouTube channel will have noticed our sub-£2000 Japanese roadsters have recently been replaced by a pair of cars with a different kind of Japanese flavour – specifically, a Burnaston-built Mk1 Toyota Avensis and a fine example of Cowley’s Rover 600, which lent heavily on the contemporary Honda Accord. I drew what I initially perceived as the short straw, and got the Toyota. Despite my pessimism, I’ve grown rather fond of the bland but incredibly competent Avensis. That is, apart from its attempts to throw me into hedges and walls as soon as I let go of the steering wheel for a split-second. It pulled so violently to the left I assumed something was badly bent or seriously amiss, but in…

The future of the Donington Historic Festival (DHF) has been guaranteed for the foreseeable future, with organiser Historic Promotions and circuit operator MotorSport Vision (MSV) signing a new three-year agreement to continue hosting the event at the East Midlands circuit. The date for next year’s festival has also been confirmed, with the 2022 event set to take place from April 30-May 1. Tickets for 2022 go on sale this November, in plenty of time for Christmas. Richard Grafton, Commercial Director, Historic Promotions said: “Having successfully run the Donington Historic Festival in 2021 with capacity grids, albeit without spectators, we are delighted to announce the dates for the 2022 edition. We are also delighted to be partnering with MSV again to stage the Festival, under a new three-year agreement that secures…

French-American firm Légende Automobiles has reimagined the iconic wide-body Renault 5 Turbo, creating a new restomod called the Turbo 3. The car is inspired by the Turbo and Turbo 2 models of the 1980s, but uses modern technology throughout. The body is mostly made out of carbon fibre and has been significantly widened to fit bigger wheels, yet all the proportions have been adjusted to keep it looking correct. It’s reportedly driven by a turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing more than 400bhp. No pricing information or specific engine details have been revealed, but the firm insists it “ignored all financial advice and spared no expense.” Inspired by this new creation, we looked back at some the restomods that have ticked our fancy in recent times, just in case our numbers ever…

A BLEAK START As the 1990s dawned, things couldn’t have looked more bleak for the MG brand. In 1990, the MG Metro disappeared from showrooms in preparation for the reinvention of the Metro from Austin to Rover and the following year the octagon-badged Maestro and Montego would also disappear. Who then would have predicted that by the end of the decade the MG badge would be flying high once again and the brand would be riding a wave of success which would carry it on past the sale and collapse of its parent company and even under new foreign ownership? Despite the doom-laden predictions of industry pundits and marque enthusiasts, the famous badge wouldn’t lie dormant for long, but inspiration for its rebirth came not from Rover Group management or…

The final incarnation of the original Jaguar XJ introduced in 1968, the Series 3 is one of those classic tales of the British motor industry which was born out of desperation yet which went on to be a winner. The simple truth is that, had the XJ40 programme not fallen desperately behind, then we’d never have seen the Series 3 XJ at all, since the all-new car would have arrived in 1977. That, however, would have been a great shame since the car which was meant to have been a stop-gap turned out to be a world-beater and was still winning group tests against heavyweight German opposition right into the 1990s. In fact, the car even overlapped its own successor since the XJ40 wasn’t offered with the V12 powerplant until…

Contact: Arun Cars Pulborough, West Sussex, RH20 1BQ Tel: 01798 874 477 www.arunltd.com Much like the similarly exotic Bentley Turbo R, the controversial Aston Martin DB7 is one of those cars for which values vary widely, with some remaining temptingly affordable yet outwardly similar cars advertised for twice as much. Having trawled the bottom of both the Turbo R and DB7 markets, we can report that this is explained simply by the fact that these exotic cars may have depreciated significantly yet still in many respects carry the running costs of exotic cars. Certainly the DB7 may have extended Aston ownership downwards to an entirely new market thanks to its use of shared componentry from around the Ford empire – including the Jaguar engine – yet they still need caring…

As foreign travel becomes increasingly tricky in the face of Covid restrictions, motorhomes and campers of any description are hot property, especially those with the VW badge on the nose. The split-screen Transporters are hard work to drive in standard form and are best left to the real VW enthusiasts, but the second-generation more commonly referred to in the UK as the ‘Bay Window’ is a lot easier to live with. Sadly, they rot just like anything else made from steel in the ’70s and their size makes restoration costly, which is why ex-USA examples are so popular. DVLA data suggests this 1970 bus came over in 2005 but since then has had a full restoration in the hands of its one owner. It was obviously a quality job judging…

If there’s one thing I despise about automotive social media these days, it’s the propensity of armchair experts to spout bile about cars they’ve never experienced. And the biggest offender here is the Morris Marina. Chaps, whatever you might think of the Marina remember that these days every survivor is in the hands of an enthusiast who loves and cherishes it. You might not understand that, but I don’t understand why something as unutterably dull as a Ford Escort Mk2 can command prices that are so ludicrous. We all have different tastes. And the piano thing – often spouted by people too scared to admit what they themselves drive in case Marina enthusiasts return fire – is getting old now. Stop it. That’s not to say that cliché in general…

CONTINUATION CLASSICS We consider the reborn, remanufactured and restomod classics. FORD V TOYOTA Essex man meets Japanese retro. BUYING THE GOLF CABRIOLET All the info on the open-air Mk1 Golf. PLUS… all the news from the world of old cars and the latest auction sales results. 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…

A new exhibition called ‘Factor Us In’ has opened at the British Motor Museum, focusing on the motor industry in the West Midlands, the local landscape and surrounding businesses. The culmination of a two-year project, the exhibition primarily focuses on recollections from the communities of Canley in Coventry, Longbridge in Birmingham and Solihull. It features a combination of archive material, artefacts, oral history videos and recordings to explore key moments including manufacturing booms, strike actions, the subsequent loss of industry and recent efforts for redevelopment. Present at the exhibition’s launch on July 21 were John Batchelor, who worked at Canley and Longbridge, former Canley employee Alan Woodier, poet-in-residence at Birmingham FC, Spoz (Giovanni Esposito) and Carolyn McLaughlin, whose father worked at Solihull. Running until summer 2022, the exhibition will evolve…

➤ 1983 Jaguar XJ6 4.2, value £8000: £79.08 or £97.08 with Agreed Value ➤ Based on 45-year old, with a second vehicle. It’s garaged, covers 3000 miles a year and lives in an SP2 postcode. They have no claims or convictions, are a club member, and are employed as a marketing manager. Disclaimer: Policy benefits, features and discounts offered may vary between insurance schemes or cover selected and are subject to underwriting criteria. An additional charge may be payable. ➤ Subject to underwriting criteria. An additional charge may be payable. www.lancasterinsurance.co.uk 01480 809176…

E10 petrol is arriving fast, leaving owners of some older classic vehicles with a choice; use the more expensive ‘protection grade’ super unleaded that’s to remain E5, or modify their cars to suit. Sadly, some of the parts available to do that could be substandard, potentially causing more problems than they solve – particularly when it comes to fuel hose purporting to be ethanol-safe. It’s always been good practice to ensure your fuel system is in good condition and renew ancient fuel lines to prevent an impromptu barbecue. However, the roll-out of E10 and the potential increase in its corrosive effects make this more urgent. E10 is already on sale on many supermarket forecourts, including Sainsbury’s, and has been accompanied by a government advertising campaign. As its name suggests, E10…

The demand for original, usable modern classics from the 1980s and ‘90s has been further underlined by an AE86 Toyota Corolla GT achieving a record price of £46,250 on Car & Classic’s online auction platform. Known to be the highest UK recorded price for a car of this type sold at auction, the 1987 example beat the US record price of $40,000 (roughly £29,000) achieved in March this year. Ordered new from Hallens Toyota in Cambridge, the time-warp survivor came complete with a period Nokia phone cradle, Toyota mudflaps and dealer registration plates. Originally costing £12,500 in 1987, the now 92,000-mile GT was carefully serviced every year and loved by its first and only owner. So much so, that even when vandals ‘keyed’ the paint in 2006 and it was…

Contact: Stone Cold Classics, Wrotham, Kent TN15 7RR 07711 645 465 www.stonecoldclassics.com If the badge seems strangely familiar but you don’t recognise the car in the photos, don’t worry – your car trivia isn’t failing you. We did indeed get a Silvia in Europe, but it was the third-generation version by which time the British-market Datsun marque had become Nissan. The Silvia you see here dates from 1976 and at Stone Cold they reckon it’s the only one in the country and quite possibly the sole example in Europe. Created as a kind of fusion between the B10 Sunny platform and the running gear from the 180B Bluebird, the Silvia employed the familiar transatlantic styling of ’70s Japanese coupes and was similar in appearance to both the Toyota Celica and…

REPORTING ON: Wolseley Hornet Seats are important in any classic, but particularly a Mini as they can spell the difference between a pleasurable journey and a very uncomfortable one. Over the years I’ve tried all sorts of different types, from the standard wafer-thin low-backs through to full-on racing buckets, with a good proportion necessitating an osteopath on speed dial. Generally I’ve found late-model Rover seats or good retro-style buckets to be the best, so when my pal Alex was looking to replace the stock leather items in his modified 1965 Wolseley Hornet with something sportier, we agreed a set of BB1 GT seats from BB Classics would do the job nicely. Not only are these nice and retro, they come with a separate headrest and are trimmed in a mix…