Innholdsfortegnelse for 13/10/2021 i Classic Car Buyer

After successive Covid lockdowns saw legions of tinkerers taking to garages and sheds across the nation, I rather thought we were through with crisis-induced garage projects, but the fuel shortage saw a return of the ‘might as well take it apart while we’re not using it’ philosophy. The subject wasn’t a car or bike for a change, but a ride-on mower which had been needing attention for some time. With the tank empty after the last cut, nobody fancied being ‘that guy’ filling a jerry can on the TV news and so the grass was left to grow while the retro late ’80s Lawnflite was put up on the lift and work began. The first problem was to address the, ahem, sparks which the mower’s regular user reported seeing from…

Catalytic converter theft has long been a problem for owners of newer vehicles, but as more and more cars enter the classic realm, the issue is increasingly becoming a worry for owners of modern classics who may struggle to source – let alone afford – replacements. Catalytic converters may still sound like modern car technology to many of us, but they’ve been with us in the UK for around 30 years, meaning many cars we consider as classics will be so equipped. All new petrol cars in Europe have had to have them fitted since 1993, while they’ve been fitted to cars in the US since 1975. Broadly speaking, the car is unlikely to pass the MoT if it’s been removed, meaning replacement is the only option. Unfortunately, catalytic converter…

Following its record-breaking auction at the Haynes Motor Museum in July, Charterhouse was back in classic car action with another brisk sale on October 5. This time of the year is usually a prime spell for acquiring a project ahead of the winter, and there were plenty of excellent candidates amongst the entries at the Somerset venue. Perhaps most notable was the very first lot – a 1989 MG Maestro Turbo that had been off the road since 1995. One of only 505 made, it was offered with no reserve and attracted plenty of interest, with the hammer finally falling at £6200. Other similarly challenging projects included a 1967 Reliant Scimitar SE4 at £1500, a 1974 round wheel arch MG Midget at £1000 and a Ford Escort Mk1 1300E from…

W111 220/250/280 (1960-1971) The ‘Fintail’ family of saloons that carried Mercedes-Benz through the 1960s spanned everything from basic W110-model diesel taxis to the mighty fuel-injected bahnstormer that was the W112 300SE. The W111 was in the middle, featuring the same basic appearance as the W112 (with the same integrated and shrouded headlamps instead of the simple sealed beams of the W110) but with smaller six-cylinder engines. Coupe and cabriolet versions of the W111 220SE entered production in 1960, a year after the saloon with the same 2.2-litre 120bhp fuel-injected engine. These were no straightforward two-door variants of the saloon, but were drastically more expensive and upmarket, costing about half as much again as the four-door and with a much higher level of trim and equipment. In 1965 the engine was…

Bentley may have relied on the Spirit platform for 16 years, but Jaguar just beat it by recycling the bones of the XJ40 for a year longer: first as the XJ40 itself, then the X300 generation and finally the V8-engined X308 cars which were only replaced by the all-new X350 model in 2003. The X300 and X308 were regarded as fine cars in their own right, showing just how good the basic XJ40 design was once the teething problems had been ironed out, but by the time of their replacement the design was ageing, especially in the areas of economy and space efficiency. The answer was to save weight by employing aluminium bodyshell technology which was state-of-the-art and created a car far more high-tech than its retro looks suggested. Indeed,…

The fast-growing supermini sector was already in full swing by the time Ford entered the race with the launch of the Fiesta in 1976. The Volkswagen Polo, Renault 5 and Fiat 127 were already well established, but playing catch-up didn’t harm the baby Blue Oval’s fortunes. It’s rarely been out of the top five list of best-selling cars and continues to dominate today, with the earlier cars well established as fun and practical classics – especially the Mk1 and Mk2 models covered here. The Fiesta didn’t arrive in UK showrooms until the beginning of 1977, but Henry Ford II approved the development of a small economical car as early as 1972 and ‘Project Bobcat’, as it was known, took on greater importance following the 1973 oil crisis. The new car…

It’s always nice to know that readers haven’t listed their car for sale as soon as a feature appears in print and we were suitably chuffed to hear from Steve Perry this week, who back in 2017 had his MG Metro featured by Group Ed Wager in our sister title Classics Monthly. Sick of the cost of the Metro’s metric tyres, Steve managed to track down a set of conventionally sized Metro Advantage rims in the same style and after having them refinished from white it’s great to see the Metro still looking as good as the day we photographed it.…

The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) has appointed Motul in a new three-year deal to collaborate on lubricants, helping to keep historic vehicles on the road through product innovation and support for both the industry and club community. The Federation represents over 500 of the UK’s historic vehicle clubs, while Motul is a core part of transport history, having been founded in 1853 in the USA as part of Swan and Finch. It was the first company to find oil in Pennsylvania as well as being the first in the world to launch a multi-grade lubricant in 1953. In 1957 it became a French headquartered company, and remains in family ownership to this day. The firm is well known in the UK in motorcycle and motorsport circles, but…

Following the Citroën centenary sale in La Ferté-Vidam in 2019 and the Peugeot Citroën sale at the Sochaux museum last year, French auctioneer Aguttes was once again entrusted to sell off some of the PSA family silver at the Citroën Conservatoire heritage centre on the outskirts of Paris last month. The Musée de l’Aventure Peugeot sale featured nearly 70 vehicles, many with unique provenance. A wide selection of pre-war cars found new homes, including a striking 1937 Peugeot 402 Limousine that beat its €15,000 top estimate to sell for €21,900. It proved to be a great sale for Peugeot cabriolets too, with a 1952 202 selling for an impressive €84,300 and a 1960 403 project easily passing its estimate to sell for €50,700. In addition, a lovely open-topped 1975 504…

Hobbs Parker will return to classic car matters with a timed online sale beginning at 12pm on Wednesday October 27, with the first lots ending 24 hours later. Prospective buyers are in for a treat, as not only is the catalogue shaping up to be a particularly eclectic one, but many of the entries also have remarkable tales behind them. One prominent example is a 1989 Range Rover Vogue EFI in excellent condition, which immediately piqued our interest thanks to having a G-WAC registration – the same sequence worn by the contemporary Discovery press cars. Being left-hand-drive adds to the intrigue, with former Land Rover man and marque expert Mike Gould suggesting to CCB that it may have been a marketing car for European brochures. Even now it only shows…

PORSCHE 912 One of the few sporting marques with as much cred as Lotus, Porsche also hit it big in the 1960s. A classic 911 is well out of the same price range as this Elan but the four-cylinder 912 could be yours if you wanted something with similar performance but greater practicality. AUSTIN-HEALEY 3000 For this amount of money you could pick from a wide range of the very best late examples of the Big Healey. The MkIII 3000 is as old-fashioned and brutal as the Elan is sophisticated and delicate but offers more visceral thrills. FORD ESCORT TWIN CAM The same engine in a four-seater two-door saloon. Amazingly the hot Ford has almost identical performance stats to the Elan – a testimony to how minimal the Mk1 Escort…

Another import from the dry, steel-friendly climate of South Africa. While the 117,000 miles is not what you’d call low it means this ‘Fintail’ is only just approaching middle age. Corrosion may not be an issue on this car, but even on a W110 that’s been bitten by the rust-bug the steelwork can all be replaced. Making good any of the exterior chrome parts or the interior can be infinitely more complicated so the fact that all the grille, bumper, headlamps and other bright parts on this car look immaculate is in some ways more reassuring than the solid-looking body. Same for the interior – no rips or tears on the seats, or even any sign of fading or damage from the African sun on the carpets or dashboard. The…

Europe’s flagship classic car events are opening up again, with Milan AutoClassica in Italy the latest big show to take place on October 1-3. As well as a great mix of cars ranging from established classics to the new Lancia-evoking Kimera Evo37, the event celebrated 50 years of the Lamborghini Countach with a colourful display. Eight different examples of five models were curated by the Lamborghini Club Italia to mark the anniversary of the first prototype Countach making its bow at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show. Variants on display comprised an early LP 400, an LP400 S, and LP 5000 S and a LP5000 Quattrovalvole, with the timeline finished off by a 25th Anniversary Edition.…

After putting in sterling work as part of the Kelsey Media classic fleet, Our very own top-of-the-range 1999 Rover 623GSI is for sale. A very late example on a V-plate, this 1999 car has less than 84,000 miles on the clock and drives superbly. The 2.3-litre Honda engine and automatic gearbox have no leaks or running issues and on a recent run around the M25 for a Classics World You Tube video, this car returned 39.5mpg! The attractive Charleston Green bodywork has the odd car park dent and a few small rust blemishes but remains very presentable. The grey leather interior is in immaculate condition and the car boasts working air conditioning, electric windows, mirrors, sunroof and even the driver’s seat. In our ownership its been smartened up with a…

AUSTIN SEVEN (1922-1939) The car that introduced Britain to motoring is still a great choice if you want to take a step back into the pre-war world. There are still a couple of thousand ‘Baby Austins’ in existence with an active national owners’ club and several smaller outfits and a number of specialists so parts, knowledge, assistance and camaraderie isn’t hard to come by. And while a Seven is absolutely a pre-war car in terms of character, offering a very different experience from even a post-war classic, let alone a modern car, it benefits from largely conventional engineering and normal controls once you’ve mastered the ‘backwards’ gearshift and the decidedly unenthusiastic brakes of most examples. There really is a Seven for everyone too – if you really want to dive…

If you prefer a more practical classic, then the modern classic Range Rover offers a similar trading-up option to the Bentley. We’ve often championed the much-maligned P38A second generation in these pages and although a nice one is a very pleasant way to travel, they’re getting on a bit now and without a viable diesel option the thirst of the Rover V8 can be inconvenient. The answer then is the Arnage of the Land Rover world, the L322 third generation which was developed under BMW’s time at Land Rover but released under Ford ownership. With a sharp new style which was more New Millennium and less Metrocab, plus a punchy BMW diesel and a bold new interior style, the car was an instant hit and made the P38A look old…

Hopefully by the time you read this the queues at the pumps will be fading from memory, but here’s a reminder that fuel crises aren’t a modern phenomenon. This week’s scene takes us to an Esso forecourt in Thornton Heath in November 1973 – the height of the OPEC crisis which couldn’t be solved simply by denying there was a problem and blaming it on the public, or by hurriedly training up a few army tanker drivers. Judging by the quiet forecourt with just a solitary Escort, stocks haven’t lasted, so there won’t be too many Green Shield stamps issued today. Across the road, we wonder if the Jaguar XJ has been parked up until things improve – especially if it’s the 10mpg V12. The Cortina 1600E behind it offers…

Paul Wager, Group Editor Metro Arriving in 1980, the Metro was BL’s great hope despite being even later than the Fiesta to the supermini market. Nevertheless it got off to a great start, outselling the Fiesta in 1982 and 1983. The Metro may have had an ageing A-Series under the bonnet, but in upgraded A-Plus form it proved to be economical and smooth when compared to the Ford’s Valencia unit. There were hot versions too, with the MG Metro 1300 a good example of a lukewarm hatch and the subsequent Turbo version a rival for the XR2, despite never having a fifth gear. The Metro was face-lifted in 1984, when a five-door version was introduced to give it an advantage over the new Mk2 Fiesta. However, the four-speed box remained…