Innholdsfortegnelse for 4/6/2022 i Classic Car Buyer

A chance remark during one of the CCB team’s recent virtual meetings set my mental cogs a-whirring. The comment was on the relative merits of the Ford Escort and the Morris Marina, quickly followed by the observation of how far things have come in terms of average bread-and-butter motoring since then. And the thought I’ve been chewing over since is this: what was the first decent ordinary car? By that I mean the first time that someone taking the keys to their new middle-of-the-road family car, with no premium badge, sporting credentials or oddball engineering, didn’t feel in any way hard done by. I should point out that I’m not saying all cars before this as-yet-undetermined point were bad or unlikeable. I own a Mk1 Mini and a Citroën 2CV,…

One of the UK’s best-known performance car production facilities – Hethel, the home of Lotus since 1966 – has reopened to the public. Factory tours of the Norfolk site were paused in November 2017 as its £100 million redevelopment began. But with the Emira – the last petrol-powered car from Lotus – now in production, they have restarted. Guests initially gather in the Retail Centre, where refreshments will be available. There they learn about the ongoing transformation of Lotus, and experience for themselves how all Lotus showrooms will look in the future. Under the leadership of an expert guide, the story of Lotus at Hethel – past, present and future – is brought to life. Guests will walk through older sections of the factory where, most recently, the Elise, Exige…

Returning for 2022 is the Classic Car Boot Sale, which takes place at King’s Cross on April 23-24. This year’s event includes a Repair Shop for mending your treasured vintage items, plus the usual period fashions and displays of classic cars, scooters and motorbikes, with vinyl DJs throughout the weekend also adding to the atmosphere. The event takes place at Granary Square and Coal Drops Yard from 10am to 6pm each day, with enough street food, cocktails and craft beer to keep the party going all weekend. To coincide with Saturday’s ‘Record Store Day’, visitors will also be able to browse what’s on offer from a selection of vinyl sellers, as well as music and film memorabilia. Created by Hemingway Design, the Classic Car Boot Sale offers a twist on…

Classic insurance specialist Hagerty International has announced it’s to become a principal sponsor of StarterMotor, the Bicester Heritage-based charity dedicated to giving youngsters experience in the maintenance and use of historic and classic vehicles. The charity has a passion for encouraging the next generation of enthusiasts to enjoy all aspects of historic motoring, while also celebrating the rising popularity of modern classics. Hagerty’s sponsorship of StarterMotor will see it providing monetary donations as well insurance and partnership benefits. Hagerty branding will feature on all charity publicity and communications, and the Hagerty team will work closely with the charity on various initiatives. Likewise, StarterMotor will partner with numerous Hagerty events, such as Festival of the Unexceptional, and will support the company’s involvement in the London to Brighton veteran car run.…

A mere 10 months after the business held its first sale, WB & Sons has established itself as a major player in the UK’s classic car auction arena. The Newcastle firm is now holding sales every six weeks, with the latest on March 26 playing host to an excellent variety of vehicles and some hugely impressive results. WB is developing a bit of a niche for good classic Minis, and that was in evidence once again. A Mk2 ‘Woody’ Traveller in rare automatic guise and a Japanese-import Rover Cooper Monte Carlo both commanded strong five-figure sums, but the stand-out was a 1997 Sports Packen-dowed Cooper in Volcano Orange that soared past its £10,000-£15,000 estimate to reach £16,775. It was also a good sale for everyman classics, particularly lesser-spotted cooking models.…

JAGUAR Mk2 (1959-1967) Well established as a classic British icon, the Jaguar Mk2 unlocked the potential of its retrospectively-titled Mk1 predecessor and turned it from a modest success into a major one. The revised suspension and the 219bhp 3.8-litre model alongside the 2.4-and 3.4-litre variants completed the transition into a highly desirable sporting saloon. The Mk2 was produced from 1959 until 1967, when the 3.8 was dropped and the specced-down 240 and 340 were introduced to fill the gap until the arrival of the XJ6. Before long, secondhand Mk2s found favour among unscrupulous types wanting a flashy motor, and in the 1970s many were lost to banger racing. Thankfully, the classic boom of the 1980s saved the Mk2 and it’s been an archetypal classic ever since. However, it’s long resisted…

We’re heading across the Irish Sea this week to visit Dublin, photographed in March 1971 and featuring a major traffic jam as well as cars randomly parked on the muddy verges at the side of the road. We’ve no idea what was going on but it’s certainly a fascinating image, giving us a fair idea of the makes and models that were popular in Ireland at that time. Volkswagen was evidently doing well for itself, with at least ten Beetles visible in the shot, as well as a 1600 Variant. Other rear-engined models include a Fiat 600 and 850, plus at least a couple of Renault 10s. Vauxhalls also seem particularly popular, with HB Vivas and FD Victors easily spotted, while on the Ford front you’ll find no shortage of…

A chance remark during one of the CCB team’s recent virtual meetings set my mental cogs a-whirring. The comment was on the relative merits of the Ford Escort and the Morris Marina, quickly followed by the observation of how far things have come in terms of average bread-and-butter motoring since then. And the thought I’ve been chewing over since is this: what was the first decent ordinary car? By that I mean the first time that someone taking the keys to their new middle-of-the-road family car, with no premium badge, sporting credentials or oddball engineering, didn’t feel in any way hard done by.…

A 1974 Tatra 603 limousine that’s been off the road for more than a decade is being offered for sale by its Hampshire-based owner. The car is said to need full restoration but is complete, while its rear-mounted 2.5-litre air-cooled V8 is apparently running well. The current owner bought the car ten years ago but doesn’t have time to complete the project, hence the decision to sell. The Tatra 603 was built in the former Czechoslovakia between 1956 and ’75, and was the country’s most upmarket automotive offering – a machine only available to high-ranking politicians and industrialists. Just 20,422 603s were built (largely by hand) during its two-decade run, with around one-third of production exported to other eastern European countries as official transport, as well as to Cuba and…

The Spring Tractor World Show returns to Malvern over the weekend of May 21-22, albeit with a twist on the Sunday, when classics of all types are expected to converge on the Three Counties Showground for what’s being dubbed the Classic Car & Vehicle Show. It promises to be a major event, with all exhibition halls and most of the showground being occupied. The Sunday show welcomes interesting vehicles of 15 years and over, including classics, kits cars, customs and 4x4s, as well as light and heavy commercials of all types. The weekend-long event will feature hundreds of vintage and classic tractors, stationary engines, commercials, trucks and vintage vehicles on show. Anyone interested in exhibiting their classic should pre-book online, with the £5 exhibitors’ fee allowing entry for up to…

Brightwells hosted its second classic motoring auction of the year on March 26-30, sticking to the timed online format that’s served it so well over the last couple of years. We always expect variety from the Herefordshire firm, but the range of vehicles entered on this occasion was truly remarkable, spanning an impressive 90 years. At the beginning of that timeline was an alluring choice of pre-war entries. It’s often said this is a shrinking market, but there was plenty of evidence to the contrary here, especially when it came to Austin Sevens. A 1929 Chummy beat its upper estimate to sell for £13,300, with a 1926 Gordon England Cup variant attracting a top bid of £17,000 and a 1930 Ulster replica doing even better at £18,300. In addition, a…

MINI ERA TURBO The 1960s Cooper 1275 S may be widely regarded as the Holy Grail of Minis, but it wasn’t the fastest production variant. That honour went to the factory-approved ERA Mini Turbo, a luxurious, body-kitted creation combining the Mini’s classic character with a glorious slice of 1980s excess. As with the Cooper, the ERA Mini has a motorsport pedigree. ERA (initially standing for English Racing Automobiles, and later Engineering Research & Application Ltd) enjoyed pre-war Grand Prix successes before ending up in the hands of carburettor firm Solex. In 1988, it approached Rover to revive the name on a very special Mini, with the thoroughly well-engineered ERA Turbo being the result. The idea was to bring the Mini up-to-date in terms of performance and handling, but retain as…

Before the days of rebodied Hondas and BL controversies, there was this. A large reason as to why Rover is still fondly remembered by many, the P5B was the ultimate iteration of the striking P5 executive saloon. The ‘B’, standing for Buick, is a well-known nod to the powertrain that propelled it; a reworked American V8 which was deemed good enough to live on in various forms until the early 2000s. Such was the appeal of the P5B, it was even used as prime ministerial transport between the tenures of Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher, and to this day remains one of the most quietly desirable British classics around. The example highlighted here was owned by the same person for the past 25 years. A regular at club events, it…

Aston Martin Works – the company’s heritage division – is marking 30 years since the debut of one of its most desirable ‘niche’ models: the Aston Martin Virage 6.3-litre conversion. Created as an upgrade package for the standard Virage, which launched in 1989, the 6.3-litre conversion made its debut in the early months of 1992. Embracing the ‘more is more’ ethos of the time, the conversion made the Virage one of the most potent sports cars of its day, with suspension, braking and comprehensive styling changes complementing the huge boost in power and performance. The Virage 6.3 had its roots in Aston Martin’s motorsport activities of the time, with the AMR1 Group C racers contesting the World Sports Prototype Championship in 1989. The racing programme saw the capacity of the…

The British Motor Museum, Gaydon, is hosting a new and exclusive members-only event – Museum on the Move – on Friday, April 29, giving its supporters an opportunity to ride in a selection of cars from the collection, including the 1983 Metro 6R4 prototype. Other cars being prepared for this special evening include a 1904 Wolseley 6hp, 1907 Austin York Landaulette, 1931 MG 18/80, the very first Land Rover, a 1955 Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire, 1961 TVR Grantura, 1966 Austin-Healey 3000 and the very last Triumph Dolomite Sprint. Taking place from 4pm to 8.30pm, Museum on the Move will start with drinks and canapés in the Sky Suite, where guests will get a chance to meet specialists from the Collections Team before heading outside and being introduced to the varied selection…

To mark the golden anniversary of the National Motor Museum, the world-famous Beaulieu venue is hosting a special exhibition this summer. ‘The Story of Motoring in 50 Objects’ will launch on July 3, with items selected from a total of 1.7m pieces that are cared for by the National Motor Museum Trust. Curators have so far whittled the choice down to a shortlist of 150, with the final 50 objects sure to include the most historically important vehicles, motoring artefacts, film footage, images, documents and books from its archives. Inspiration for the National Motor Museum came from motoring pioneer and transport visionary, John 2nd Baron Montagu. His son Edward, Lord Montagu, first displayed five cars in the entrance hall of Palace Hall as a tribute to his father, before opening…

406 COUPE (1997-2003) Peugeot and Pininfarina have a long history of collaborations, but the 406 Coupe has to be the prettiest of the lot. OK, it shares the same chassis architecture with the more mundane saloon, but the body panels were all different and it was built in house by the illustrious Italian design house too. What’s more, the Coupe has a slightly wider track width and lost half an inch in ride height, make it feel more poised and purposeful than its repmobile sibling. A 3.0-litre V6 ensured that the Peugeot had enough grunt to match its outward appearance, though smaller petrol four-cylinder units were options too, and later a diesel. Back in 1997 when the Coupe was launched, the basic 2.0-litre version cost £20,360 and the range-topping V6…

Context is needed when ranking a Triumph TR6 against the six-pot BMW Z3 range; when the marques converged in 1994, long after the last Triumph Acclaim left Canley, roadster revivals were afoot. It is better to understand both marques as saloon car competitors and, for the purposes of this piece, their mutual love of the straight-six engine. It was BMW that understood the inherent benefits of the layout first; despite dire warnings to the contrary, it persisted with straight-six aero engine development immediately after the First World War. As restrictions on German post-conflict aircraft production tightened, BMW channelled much production effort into car making; the zenith of its straight-six development culminated in Fritz Fieldler’s overhead-valve 2.0-litre unit, launched in the 328 of 1936. A prized engine after the Second World…

AUSTIN 1300GT In a typical British Leyland move, the MG 1300 was sold alongside its supposed replacement for a few years. The 1300GT was the same car with the same mechanical spec, but with a more 1970s dress sense – black go-faster stripe, black grille, red GT badging, black dashboard, vinyl roof, faux-alloy wheel trims. Just as rare as the MG version and worth about the same. MG MAGNETTE The same basic idea of a mass-produced BMC saloon with MG style and sports garnish, but despite anti-roll bars at both ends the Farina-B platform had nothing like the dynamic prowess of the ADO16 and both the handling and the styling of the Magnette MkIV were frumpy. A rare sight now, and it does offer a comfortable, well-appointed saloon with a…