Innholdsfortegnelse for 27/10/2021 i Classic Car Buyer

It can sometimes seem that The End Is Nigh for those of us who count cars as a hobby, and especially older ones. Within the news pages just last week we looked at how the expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone will almost certainly lead to the widespread scrapping of many modern and future classics, caught between being new enough and old enough to be exempt from the charge. Then there are matters like the increasing amount of ethanol in petrol, which can eat away at crucial components in older fuel systems and the struggles the classic car community, like so many others, has faced over the past 18 months with lockdowns, event cancellations and other effects of the pandemic. But classic car enthusiasts are an adaptable bunch –…

The new Bond in Motion – No Time To Die exhibition was opened for October half term at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, with Lord Montagu making a Bond-style entrance in an Aston Martin DB5 to mark the launch. Featuring sensor-activated dummy machine guns and a revolving number plate, the battle-scarred Silver Birch Aston was one of eight stunt cars provided by Aston Martin for the filming, with a further two pristine vehicles used for close shots. It was unveiled at the opening by Lord Montagu and the special effects supervisor on No Time To Die and 14 other Bond films, Chris Corbould. Other movie cars on display included the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, driven in the film by new agent Nomi, the film’s Aston Martin V8 and the Chevy…

Anew Historic and Classic Vehicle User Group comprising the Association of Old Vehicle Clubs in Northern Ireland (AOVC), the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC), the Royal Automobile Club (RAC), and the recently-formed Historic and Classic Vehicles Alliance (HCVA) held its inaugural meeting on October 8, talking with the DVLA in an effort to resolve the issues affecting the government agency. The DVLA continues to face unprecedented challenges through the backlog of paper applications created as a result of Covid restrictions and industrial action, as well as issues in relation to the approval of registrations of historic and classic vehicles. The new User Group has been formed to enable the issues to be aired and identify how solutions may be found that support the DVLA and the historic and…

Rare ‘Eastern Bloc’ classics came head-to-head with some of Britain’s best-loved ‘ordinary’ motors as members of the Wartburg, Trabant, IFA Club UK gathered at Great British Car Journey attraction to stage a special display on October 9-10. It was part of the club’s renowned annual ‘Red Oktober’ event, which also saw it display at the Ecclesbourne Railway at Wirksworth and the Museum of Making at Derby Silk Mills, as well as enjoying road runs on both days through the Peak District. Owners had brought their cars from across the country, driving them from as far as Scotland, Devon and Essex to take part. Founded in 1969, the club has 290 members whose vehicles cover a remarkable 41 makes, with more than 20 of these put on display at the recently-opened…

When the first lot that catches your eye in an auction hall is a Mk1 Fiat Panda 4x4 then you know there’s an interesting catalogue to be had and sure enough, that’s very much the case with the Brightwells sale this month. Alongside the Panda, other modern classic survivors include a brace of Citroën BXs (one a very presentable late model turbodiesel and the other a rare GTi 4x4 project), a 58,000-mile 1996 Rover Mini Sprite estimated at £4000-£5000, a practical Volvo 240GLT estate and an unusually well preserved BMW E36 323i coupe. As usual, the more modern classics are backed up by the usual traditional suspects, including a pair of each of Stag, Spitfire and TR6 and a selection of five MGBs, two of them V8 conversions. For Jaguar…

This year’s Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with Discovery, is set to include a new feature showcasing classic electric cars past and present when it takes place at Birmingham’s NEC on November 12-14. Twice daily, a range of electric classics spanning over a century will be driving around a purpose built oval within Hall 5, with Wheeler Dealers’ star Mike Brewer talking to the various companies and owners. The oldest car involved is a 1912 Baker Electric, on loan from Andrew Wood. Manufactured in Ohio from 1899 to 1914, the Baker boasted Thomas Edison as one of its first buyers. Owners these days include Jay Leno in the USA, but there are only three Baker Electrics on the UK’s DVLA database, including the NEC show car. Amongst the other EVs…

After successfully welcoming back fans for its three major motoring events this year, Goodwood has announced its big dates for 2022. The events will not only revert to the usual order – starting with the Members’ Meeting in April – but they will run at full capacity and bring back many popular aspects, together with a host of new features. The 79th Members’ Meeting on April 9-10 will remain the playground for Members and Fellows of the Goodwood Road Racing Club (GRRC), with a weekend of racing, demonstrations, off-track festivities and fireworks. June 23-26 is set to see the Festival of Speed return as the destination for innovation, technology and future mobility, as well as hosting perennial favourites from the present and more than a century of motorsport history. Then,…

The Incorporated Television Company produced some of the best-known thriller, spy, mystery and sci-fi series of the 1960s small screen. And they included what would become some of the most popular classic cars of the time too Nothing beats the look and feel of a car finished by hand and what could be more classic than that? These three British bulldogs were hand-tailored to suit their first owners LOTUS SEVEN (1957-1973) The Lotus Seven was transformed by The Prisoner. From kit car built by those with too much time on their hands, it became the sort of car that happening types who wanted to appear nonconformist chose to drive. After all, Patrick McGoohan’s unnamed hero from The Prisoner had one, and he was the man to be. He refused to…

Areminder this week of a time when Jaguar production was unimpeded by semiconductor shortages and when there were also enough HGV drivers to deliver the new cars to their customers – in this case, behind the wheel of another British Leyland product, the AEC Mandator. The photo is dated September 1972 and the cars leaving Browns Lane are wearing narrow-whitewall tyres, side repeater indicators and square number plate brackets, suggesting a destination across the Atlantic. The Mandator was famous for running AEC’s own ambitious but ultimately ill-fated V8 diesel engine which was said to offer a sports car soundtrack and which was so powerful that fully loaded artics were often able to pass the pedestrian family cars of the day on the motorways in an era before speed limiters.…

The growing number of historic vehicle apprentices are set to be responsible for looking after internal combustion engines for many years to come, according to the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC). The internal-combustion engine is far from condemned as the UK transitions to electric cars, but a new skills gap is emerging between modern car apprenticeships and combustion engines, thus opening the door for historic vehicle trainees. Speaking at the Federation’s AGM, FBHVC Deputy Chairman and Skills Director Karl Carter outlined the issue. “If you want to do an apprenticeship, but you don’t like the historic side and want to do modern, what apprenticeship are you going to do? You’re going to do an electric one,” he explained. “If you look at Light Vehicle, which is what the…

Abespoke Volvo P1800 Gasser has been selected as the UK finalist for the Hot Wheels Legends Tour, a competition that sees the best in classic, modified and race cars from around the globe battle it out to be immortalised as a 1:64 scale die-cast model. Nicknamed ‘Ain’t No Saint’, the Volvo P1800 was unanimously selected as the UK finalist by the UK judges. Owned and built by Lee Johnstone, the Volvo P1800 is raced by him and his three daughters – Ellie, Tori and Sarah – with support from wife Sue. Originally purchased as a stripped shell that was too far gone to restore as a road car, it has a 600bhp supercharged Chevrolet V8 engine good for a 10-second quarter-mile and a top speed of 133mph. In a record-breaking…

Anglia Car Auctions’ final classic sale of 2021 takes place on November 6-7 with another packed catalogue of cars, motorcyles and automobilia. The varied list of entries span from pre-war vehicles such as a 1922 Hupmobile right through to several post-2000 modern classics, with a host of curiosities also in the mix. The sale’s headliner is a 1955 Aston Martin DB2/4 estimated at £90,000-£110,000, but you’ll also find a quartet of Bentleys ranging from a no-reserve 1990 Mulsanne S to a 1949 Bentley Mk6 saloon converted into a two-seater special by Padgett Motor Engineers in the 1970s, which could command up to £60,000. For those keen on a Crewe stablemate, a 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and a 1978 Silver Shadow II are both offered without reserve. Those felling brave could…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH LANCASTER INSURANCE The Austin-Healey Sprite Mk1 – better known by its nickname of ‘Frogeye’ in the UK and ‘Bugeye’ in the USA – enjoyed only a short career, and yet its influence on the British sports car scene was immense. It evolved into the Sprite MkII after just three years on sale, with that newcomer of 1961 being joined by the badge-engineered MG Midget that went on to be a big seller for Abingdon, remaining in production for an impressive eighteen years. Any Sprite or Midget is fun to drive, of course, but you’ll struggle to beat the original 1958-61 ‘Frogeye’ for sheer charm. The idea behind the Sprite was simple. BMC could see a market for a small, low-cost sports car that combined lively performance with reasonable…

This Midget shows a different, and more traditional, approach to renewing a popular classic. It’s been rebuilt on a Heritage shell nearly 20 years ago by Finedon Classics. These early-70s Spridgets often get ‘re-chromed’ to remove the aspects of the BL-era facelift like the black grille, black sills, textured seat covers and flat ‘cheese-grater’ wheels (supposed to look like alloys, but actually steel). That was all the more the case back in the 2000s when the taste for 70s-era styling hadn’t come around again like it has now. All of which makes this Midget quite unusual. Someone clearly cared to restore the car to its original condition, since those steel wheels were fully restored, as were the black vinyl seats. The hood was replaced with a new one made from…