Innholdsfortegnelse for 10/19/2022 i Classic Car Buyer

What’s in a name? It’s a valid question when it comes to the automotive world, which has often revisited names from the past when creating its next generation of new models. And reusing old badges is a subject that we take a brief look at in this week’s ‘5 of the Best’, which you’ll find in its usual position at the end of the news pages. It’s not often we quote Shakespeare in CCB, but I’ll make an exception here: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” The suggestion is that the naming of things is largely irrelevant. But fast-forward to the 21st century and we find plenty of car manufacturers disagreeing. Why else would Citroën decide to…

A 1903 Panhard-Levassor that’s been in the same family ownership from new – making it potentially unique among its peers – is set to take part in this year’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, taking place on Sunday, November 6. It was 119 years ago that Sir George White, a Bristol-based businessman and later the founder of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, paid £750 for the Panhard-Levassor as a 21st birthday present for his son, Stanley. The French car remains in the White family to this day, with Stanley’s grandson – also Sir George White – gearing up to drive the much-loved heirloom on this year’s veteran run. The Panhard-Levassor, featuring a 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine, was supplied new with four-seater tonneau coachwork by Labourdette. It was finished in white with…

Bentley Motors has announced the opening of its new Heritage Garage, with part of the original Crewe factory site being repurposed to house some of the most historically significant Bentley models of the last 103 years. The Heritage Garage complements the existing Bentley Lineage exhibition in nearby CW1 House, providing a showcase for the 42-car Bentley Heritage collection. The Heritage Garage will house 22 cars from the collection, currently spread from 1919 onwards but eventually focusing on those models built at Crewe – which means all Bentleys from 1946 onwards. For the first time ever, the facility enables every car in the Bentley Heritage collection to be kept on-site at the company’s Crewe HQ. The collection has undergone major expansion over the last 18 months, and now represents the marque’s…

British classics will feature heavily when SWVA puts around 70 cars under the hammer during its final classic auction of 2022 on October 28. The sale itself will once again be held behind closed doors, but viewing appointments are available during the weekdays beforehand at the firm’s Poole headquarters. As usual, the first cars to cross the block will be offered with no reserve, and there are some surprising entries. These include a 1951 Armstrong Siddeley limousine (one of only 122 long-wheelbase examples built) and a Sunbeam-Talbot 90 from 1955 in need of some restoration work. Meanwhile, a ’55 MG TF imported from California looks like a superb project ahead of the winter, while a 1978 MGB GT offers a similar opportunity for those looking for a tin-top. The MG…

The Lancaster Insurance Pride of Ownership competition is set to reach its conclusion at next month’s Classic Motor Show – with a total of 20 finalists selected from an impressive array of more than 80 entries. The finalists will be brought together to form the centrepiece of the three-day extravaganza at the NEC, Birmingham, where the eventual winner will be crowned. The selection process involved judging not just the condition and overall presentation of each car but also its history and rarity. This year’s competition features a wide spread of entrants. The oldest is Paddy Doherty’s 1938 Austin 10 Cambridge, with the newest a Bentley Turbo R from 1998, owned by Aaron Patel. Other finalists include Ian Croft’s ex-Graham Hill 1968 Lotus Elan, Adrian Liepins’ 1960 TVR Grantura, plus a…

A 1931 Rolls-Royce 20/25 that for many years carried Dame Vera Lynn to the annual Ditchling Fair in her East Sussex home village is due to go under the hammer with H&H Classics as this issue of CCB hits the shops. The car, complete with original-spec Thrupp & Maberly coachwork and distinctive yellow and black colour scheme, has been in the same family ownership for the last six decades. A familiar sight around the village of Ditchling throughout that time, it carries an estimate of £25,000-£35,000. Launched in 1929, the 20/25 was powered by a 3669cc OHV straight-six engine, making it usefully faster than its 20hp predecessor. The model remained in production until 1936, with a total of 3827 rolling chassis sold to a wide range of independent coachbuilders. This…

MGA TWIN-CAM (1958-1960) To keep up with the likes of Triumph and Austin-Healey on the race circuit and rally stage, the boffins at MG developed a high-performance version of the MGA based around an enlarged (1588cc) B-Series block with an all-new alloy DOHC cylinder head. Producing 108bhp (against the standard 1.5-litre OHV engine’s 72bhp) at 6700rpm, the MGA Twin-Cam had a very different character and significantly greater performance than the standard car. As well as the new engine, the Twin-Cam had four-wheel disc brakes and unique Dunlop perforated steel disc wheels, giving it a racy and modern appearance. Unfortunately, the Twin-Cam suffered from running and reliability issues in service. Modifications reduced but never solved the problems and the engine gained a reputation as highly-strung, as well as being both expensive…

In the same year that Rolls-Royce unveiled its eagerly awaited new Silver Shadow, two of the most significant names in the UK’s motor industry became interwoven via the British Motor Corporation’s acquisition of Cowley-based Pressed Steel Ltd – the UK’s biggest independent manufacturer of car bodywork. It was a logical move, given that 61 per cent of the bodyshells produced by Pressed Steel in 1965 were destined for BMC. By then, however, Pressed Steel also had a longstanding connection with Rolls-Royce via models like the Bentley MkVI and the Silver Cloud family, and the company was inevitably keen to maintain this connection for the Silver Shadow. Bodyshells were therefore produced at Cowley and transported to Crewe throughout the life of the Silver Shadow, with the Rolls-Royce factory carefully storing each…

Sign up to our newsletter at www.classicsworld.co.uk Jaguar has announced that its F-Type roadster and coupe will be discontinued by the end of 2023, bringing to an end 75 years of combustion-engined sports cars – a lineage that stretches back to the record-breaking XK120 of 1948 and includes legendary models like the ’61 E-Type. With Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) developing a new line-up of high-end all-electric Jaguars, set to go on sale from 2025, it’s thought the company has no current plans for another low-slung coupe or convertible. The loss of the F-Type, which launched in 2013 and effectively replaced the long-running XK, marks the end of the traditional Jaguar sports car. The move is certain to disappoint marque enthusiasts around the world. But to ensure the Jaguar sports car…

The rise of revitalised MG in the UK shows no sign of abating, with the company’s January to September 2022 sales figures seeing a year-on-year increase of almost 67 per cent – with 38,312 new cars registered – compared with an overall market decline of 8.2 per cent. The latest figures give MG an overall market share of 3.17 per cent during the first nine months of this year, making it the 12th bestselling manufacturer. Crucially, this latest success gives MG a significantly larger share of the UK market than historic marques like Citroen (1.89 per cent), Fiat (1.27 per cent), MINI (2.67 per cent), Renault (1.84 per cent) and Land Rover (2.8 per cent). In addition to its current range of SUVs and all-electric models, MG will be rejoining…

Just when you think WB & Sons can’t pull any more magic out of its auction hat, along comes its next sale on October 29 with another superb line-up of desirable rarities, traditional classics and one-offs. This time there’s a real sporting bias, however, with a host of hot hatches and powerful variants to get pulses racing. How about a Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9 from 1992? It’s thought to be unique in yellow and carries a guide price of £14,000-£18,000. Also guaranteed to attract attention is a 1988 Vauxhall Nova GTE that’s covered only 35,000 miles and is guided at £14,000-£16,000. And from the post-2000 era of hyper hatches comes an Alfa Romeo 147 GTa, 3.2-litre Busso V6 and all; the beautiful red example is guided at £12,000-£15,000, but if…

CITROËN GS (1970-1979) The GS was supposed to do for small family cars what the DS had done for large saloons 15 years earlier. Conceptually, it was something of a melange of existing Citroën thinking (an air-cooled engine like the 2CV, hydropneumatics suspension like the DS) but in an advanced package. The slippery teardrop shape, Kamm tail and faired-in rear wheels gave it very low drag (0.31Cd), which allowed it to cruise at fast motorway speeds economically and quietly on a 1015cc (54bhp) engine. The GS set new standards for safety, ride comfort, ergonomics and refinement, and was named European Car of the Year for 1971. But it failed to foresee the coming of the family hatchback, despite French manufacturers being something of a pioneer in that department, including Citroën.…

AUSTIN SEVEN MINI It’s where it all began for the Mini, and this version of it in particular. For £10,000 you won’t get an early Austin Mini in anything like as clean and tidy condition as this Classic Seven, but it would be complete, roadworthy and fundamentally sound. It could be the ideal basis of a rolling restoration but would probably need a good deal of cosmetic work. NISSAN PAO Taking the idea of a retro-themed special edition and applying it to an entire car, the Micra-based Pao evoked post-war European people’s cars as a genre, with stylistic cues and details drawing from the Citroën 2CV, Renault 4, Fiat 500 and, indeed, the Mini. Although never officially sold in the UK, there are reasonable numbers of grey-import Paos around. DAIHATSU…

Jaguar concerns Reader David Graham, who is the proud owner of a 1965 Jaguar Mk2 as well as a five-year-old XF that he uses every day, has written in after reading our main news story (CCB, October 5) that detailed Jaguar’s current challenges and falling sales. “I’m genuinely concerned for the future of Jaguar,” says David, “as the company seems to be alienating itself from just about every current owner. Its classics will always be around, of course, and there’ll continue to be a thriving specialist scene for those older models. But for anyone with a more recent Jaguar who would like to buy another at some point, things aren’t looking good – especially with the next-generation electric models rumoured to be around £100,000 or so.” David goes on to…