Innholdsfortegnelse for 3/16/2022 i Classic Car Buyer

A Maestro van that was bought new by a Rover dealer in 1995 and pressed into service delivering parts, clocking up over 150,000 miles in the process, is now back on the road following its long-term restoration. The Maestro was put into storage in 2010, when it was showing signs of engine wear as well as some rust issues. “Like most Rover dealers back then, we used Maestros as parts vans,” explains John Newey, whose grandfather founded Dudley-based Summit Garage in 1945. “So, when Rover announced it was discontinuing production, we bought one of the last new ones and used it for years, delivering parts to customers throughout the West Midlands.” Post-retirement, the van was finally treated to replacement doors, new wheelarches and a full respray, as well as fresh…

A group of enthusiasts with a following on Twitter held a meet on Sunday, March 6 at Gilks Garage Café (gilksgaragecafe.com) in Warwickshire. And as the #WeirdCarTwitter hashtag suggests, there was an eclectic selection of classics in attendance. The event saw TV’s Mike Brewer and Sarah Crabtree joining in the fun, with fundraising efforts throughout the day resulting in more than £550 being donated to Alzheimer’s Research UK. Automotive artist Ian Cook of POPBANGCOLOUR fame was also in attendance, as was Steph Holloway from the IDRIVEACLASSIC YouTube channel. Classics dropping in throughout the day ranged widely in age and type, with Aston Martins, Porsches and the odd Lotus being joined by the slightly more oddball Reliant Robin Mk2, Daihatsu Applause and Toyota Paseo.…

The all-white Esprit driven by Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me is the Lotus that most Bond fans remember, renowned for its underwater antics. But let’s not forget that an Esprit Turbo was also made famous by 007, starring in For Your Eyes Only – but blown to smithereens before the end of the film. Moore also played the role of Simon Templar in the long-running TV series, The Saint. But with Jaguar turning down the opportunity to supply cars for the show, its producers went looking elsewhere. In the end, Volvo agreed to provide a fleet of P1800s, catapulting its niche-model coupe into TV’s hall of fame. Who remembers The Persuaders! television series of 1971? Costarring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis, it featured two equally great automotive stars.…

The zenith of Maxi designer Alex Issigonis’s genius was undoubtedly the Mini, with its transverse-engined, front-wheel drive layout and innovative packaging revolutionising the small car blueprint. For the Mini, he enjoyed an autonomy over the design that seems inconceivable today – it was essentially the work of one man and suited his minimalist ethos perfectly. A similar formula was employed for the ADO16 (1100/1300) range, albeit with Pininfarina styling, which was another great sales success. However, it’s fair to say that what worked well with smaller cars became less effective when applied to bigger ones. The 1800 ‘Landcrab’ didn't perform as well as expected, and neither did the Maxi. It should have been so different. The Maxi – codenamed ADO14 – showcased much of Issigonis’s talent but also his waning…

With fuel prices currently at an all-time high, let’s wallow in a bit of nostalgia… back to 1966, when this photograph of the Gainsborough Petrol Station, near Ipswich, was taken. This was at a time when 98-octane Premium cost 4s 11d (in old money) per gallon, while a two-stroke mixture was 5s 4d a gallon. Just as interesting though, are the cars. The driver of the Vauxhall Viva looks straight at the camera as he waits for the forecourt attendant to finish filling his tank. The first-generation Viva (the HA) was a successful car for Vauxhall, ceasing production the same year that this photograph was taken; in just three years, it managed to attract well over 300,000 customers. Meanwhile, the early Mini that’s parked up at the side of the…

Contact: The Real Car Company Coed y Parc, Bethesda, Gwynedd LL57 4YS Tel: 01248 602649 www.realcar.co.uk Bentley R-type The second post-war model to emerge from Crewe, Bentley’s R-type was a car of substantial opulence, featuring swooping arches and an imposing grille that was worthy of any manor house driveway. Contextually, the car comes from an era of product rationalisation between Bentley and Rolls-Royce, meaning that from a mechanical perspective there is very little to separate it from the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn. However, perhaps as a testament to the stature of the two brands during the ’50s, the R-type sold in far greater numbers. An interesting range of body variants was made available by Bentley too, including the Mulliner-designed Continental coupe, as well as a wide array of dropheads offered by…

Setting what is potentially a world record for a member of Jaguar’s X300 family was the 1995 Daimler Six that sold for an impressive £36,562 in Silverstone Auctions’ season-opening sale, taking place over the weekend of March 5-6 at the RAF Museum, London. With just one registered keeper and a mere 1512 miles on its odometer, the 4.0-litre Daimler attracted plenty of interest from enthusiasts keen to snap up the barely run-in survivor. Also performing well in the sale was the 1979 Alfa Romeo Alfasud that we previewed in the March 2 issue of CCB. The 31,700-mile UK-spec car came with a detailed history file and was extremely well-presented. It finally sold for £11,250, with all proceeds being donated to the Feedback Madagascar charity. Among the competition cars attracting a…

April looks all set to be a busy month for the Lakeland Motor Museum, with a full line-up of events at the popular Cumbrian attraction, in addition to the extra footfall expected over the Easter bank holiday weekend. Saturday, April 2 sees the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club hosting a get together of members and their cars, with the Mersey Mini Club following suit the next day. The Lotus Drivers’ Club will be in attendance on Sunday, April 10. And the museum expects a large number of classics to arrive on site on Sunday, April 24 – the date of the FBHVC’s official Drive It Day, with a trophy awarded to the most impressive classic vehicle on display. For details of these and other events throughout 2022, visit lakelandmotormuseum.co.uk.…

From major players in the industry to specialist manufacturers, every car company wants its new model to be a success. It needs to be if it’s to recoup the cost of development and go on to provide a profit, each one having a production figure it has to reach in order to make money. Inevitably, it needs to sell in larger numbers than its predecessor, as well as expanding its maker’s market share via ‘conquest’ sales. But things don’t always go to plan. Oh sure, some of the models featured here sold in the kinds of numbers that seem healthy at first glance; but the reality is that they fell short of what was expected, while others failed to achieve anything remotely like commercial success. Join us on a journey…

While Jaguar’s biggest news of 1961 was the launch of the E-Type, let’s not forget the company’s other major debut that year: the MkX, the flagship saloon that should have done particularly well in the USA thanks to its relatively gargantuan proportions. But American buyers liked V8s under the bonnets of their sedans – and no matter how competent Jaguar’s straight-six twin-cam XK unit was, it was at a disadvantage that side of the Atlantic. Styling-wise, the MkX was a leap forward from the rather dated MkIX it replaced, as well as boasting a completely new monocoque design with a mechanical spec that was equally up to date. Under the bonnet sat the familiar 3781cc XK engine (pushing out 265bhp in this guise), complemented by coil-sprung front suspension and an…

The Best Small Car in the World? That was the question posed as a headline in the December 1973 issue of Motor Sport when it tested the Alfasud Ti. Several hundred superlatives later, that question was answered in the affirmative – nay, the ecstatic. That’s just one example of the praise heaped on the ‘Alfa for the masses’ in the early 1970s. The Sud totally surpassed anything else in its class when it came to handling and roadholding. Although the original car with a 1.2-litre, 63bhp engine (a glorious short-stroke, flat-four ‘boxer’) was no ball of fire, it barely needed to slow for corners and went round them virtually flat. The Alfasud’s steering was smooth, accurate and full of feel, while the rod-actuated gearchange was slick and sure (Motor Sport…

Contact: Kim Cairns Classic Cars, Common Road, Snettisham, Kings Lynn, PE31 7PF Tel: 01485 541526 www.kimcairnsclassics.co.uk Mercedes-Benz has long been one of the cornerstones of executive-class motoring and this era of design is perhaps one of its most iconic. The larger W108 chassis is arguably the most fondly remembered of the late ’60s and early ’70s models, however this shorter W114 variant gives you those unmistakably Merc looks in a more compact package. In more modern terms, think of it as the E Class to the W108’s S Class. That said, this is a highly desirable car with plenty going for it in its own right. For example, the suspension set-up was the first all-new package to be designed by Mercedes since World War 2, while fully electronic fuel injection…

REPORTING ON: Citroën 2CV6 Dolly The main problem with leaving the 2CV unused over winter is getting it going again – the fuel either drains out of the pump and line or evaporating out of the carb, requiring a lot of cranking before the fuel pump can pull petrol from the tank, through the line and up to the carb. But now there is a solution in the shape of reproduction 2CV fuel pumps with manual priming handle. The current pump, spacer and hoses came off in about two minutes. Then the new pump just dropped straight in place with gasket between the body and the spacer block, plus a dab of grease on the operating lever. There’s another gasket to seal between the spacer and the crankcase. The tricky…

CLASS OF 1972 Fifty years ago saw a slew of now-popular classics go on sale. From the Triumph Dolomite to the Renault 5, we survey this important year. BUYING A MERCEDES R230 SL As the 21st century Mercedes SL passes 20 years old, we put these stylish and swift grand tourers under the magnifying glass. WARM HATCH WAR The MG Metro and the Ford Fiesta XR2 go head-to-head as we decide how these two pint-sized ’80s warm hatches stack up. 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 ORDER FROM YOUR NEWSAGENT NOW! Classic…

London mayor Sadiq Khan has announced that Transport for London (TfL) will consult on expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to cover the whole of Greater London from 2023. Khan announced the plans at a speech in Forest Hill, telling his audience: “The triple challenges of tackling toxic air pollution, the climate emergency and congestion mean we need to further reduce emissions from vehicles in London.” The Mayor suggests that tackling air pollution in London is also a matter of social justice: “Nearly half of Londoners don’t own a car, but they’re disproportionately feeling the damaging consequences that polluting vehicles are causing. I believe the proposal to extend the ULEZ London-wide will have the biggest effect on emissions and congestion relative to the potential financial impact on Londoners as…

The Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club is the latest organisation to warn about scammers targeting its members. The club reports that an individual calling himself Peter Giles has been contacting members and claiming to be from the JEC, offering them advertising space in the next issue of the club magazine – at a cost of £400-plus – for a limited time only. In response, the JEC has issued the following advice: “This is not the club, nor anything to do with the club. We do not sell advertising space for individual cars and certainly would not contact our members out of the blue to pressure them to buy anything on a limited timescale.” The JEC advises any members who have been affected by the scam to contact the Fraud Office on 0300…

The genesis of this entire feature was, in fact, an offhand comment from yours truly during an auction preview last year asking why the Kallista wasn’t more successful. And despite the abuse from colleagues, I maintain that it’s a perfectly valid question. After all, if Morgan could get away with selling a 1930s-style sports car since, well the 1930s, then why wasn’t a more advanced version of the same a runaway success, hoovering up all those enthusiasts impatient to jump the famous Morgan waiting list back in the 1980s? Perhaps it was Panther’s back catalogue that put them off. Founder Robert Jankel kicked off with an SS100 replica named the J72, followed it up with the outlandish De Ville before downsizing to a reimagined Triumph Dolomite marketed as the Panther…

Frank Sinatra may have had too few regrets to mention but, having cleared out my collection of automotive ephemera, I now have some nostalgic twinges that definitely travel in the direction of regrets. What sparked this was a WhatsApp picture of six shot glasses with gold rims and images of veteran cars. I’m sure they were the ones given away in the ’60s when you bought so much petrol at one go (nobody bought diesel for their cars back then). There was also a lovely set of glossy full colour placemats, but they wore out long ago. I’m not sure what they’re worth but if anyone wants to make an offer then contact me via CCB (ccb.ed@kelsey.co.uk) Sadly, the big clear-out of motoring memorabilia started a while back when I…