Innholdsfortegnelse for 11/23/2022 i Classic Car Buyer

If you didn’t manage to get along to the recent Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, you missed a treat. The NEC’s end-of-season extravaganza is always a highlight of the classic car show calendar, and this year’s was no exception. With 300 club stands and around 3000 vehicles on display, it’s surely the biggest indoor event of its kind in the UK – and it was reassuring to all of us involved in the industry to see it so busy throughout the three days. It was equally reassuring to see the Silverstone Auctions sale of the Saturday and Sunday attracting serious bidders from around the world. The weakness of sterling makes buying a classic in the UK an attractive proposition right now, which no doubt explains why there was so much…

An early Ford Ka that was driven home by its first owner and then stored in a garage for 25 years has been sold in an online auction. With just 43 miles covered from new, and no MoT test ever undertaken, the car ended up attracting a winning bid of £5700 in the eBay sale. This potentially unique Ka was first registered in February 1997, as its vendor explained: “The lady who bought the car from Gates’ Ford main dealer drove it home and put it in the garage, never to take it out again.” The story goes that after many years of not driving, she found the experience too stressful and decided to leave the Ka parked up. It was subsequently rescued this year, with only minor marks to…

The NEC Classic Motor Show is one of the big occasions where everyone tends to pull out the stops – and Silverstone Auctions is no exception. Its NEC sale was once again chock full of low-mileage stunners, motorsport heroes and rarities, to the extent that it was one of the show’s major highlights. A 1955 Porsche 356 Pre-A Speedster and a genuine 1999 Subaru Impreza WRC car both impressed by selling for £270,000 apiece, but the biggest hitter of all was a 1988 Ford RS200 in rare road specification that had covered just 7800 miles from new and made £292,500. Indeed, low-mileage Blue Ovals proved to be one of the sale’s main themes. A 2003 Ford Focus RS that had only covered 21 miles sold for £74,833, and was immediately…

MGB GT V8 (1973-1976) The MGB was blessed with fine road manners that far exceeded its performance, hence consistent calls for a more powerful model from the moment it was launched. The underdeveloped and old-fashioned MGC wasn’t the answer; but independent converter, Ken Costello, built up a tidy business fitting MGBs with 3.5-litre Rover V8 engines. Despite having all the parts available, it wasn’t until 1973 that British Leyland came up with an official version; and although it used the lower-tune 135bhp version of the V8 from the Range Rover, it could still urge the MGB to 60mph in 7.7 seconds and on to a top speed of more than 125mph. A panoply of issues – engine shortages, inability to certify the V8 for sale in America, BL’s financial woes…

BMW ‘E24’ 6 SERIES BMW’s saloon-based coupe also received a revamp for the 1980s, although it was much more subtle than the Datsun’s and didn’t involve a name change. The E24 was also available with a 2.8-litre straight-six, albeit it formed the bottom of the range in this case. The more restrained and much-admired classical styling may appeal more to some buyers. MAZDA RX-7 Another Japanese coupe launched in 1978, the RX-7 was closer in spirit to the original Z-car, with its low weight, nimble handling and direct controls. Of course, the character provided by the twin-rotor Wankel power unit was very different. By the mid-1980s, the RX-7 had gained power, performance and equipment, and a GSL or a Turbo is on a par with the 280ZX. FORD CAPRI For…

Sign up to our newsletter at www.classicsworld.co.uk Highlight of the annual classic car calendar, the Lancaster Insurance NEC Classic Motor Show dominated Birmingham’s NEC over the weekend of November 11-13, with a total of 69,324 enthusiasts enjoying an estimated 3000 classic cars and motorcycles – many of them via the 300 clubs in attendance. In addition to the significant milestone anniversaries being celebrated by clubs (including 60 years of the Lotus Elan and MGB Roadster, 50 years of the Alfasud in the UK, 40 years of the MG Metro and plenty more) came the show’s official theme, ‘Part of the Family’. And alongside an array of striking vehicles filling seven halls came myriad traders and specialists, plus experts offering advice in the Restoration Theatre. There was even the opportunity to…

Classic Car Buyer and our online sister brand, Classics World, have joined forces with the Classic Car Loan Project (CCLP) to get another enthusiast behind the wheel of a classic for the next 12 months – in this case our own 1992 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.6 Azura, which made its show debut at the recent NEC Classic Motor Show. The lucky recipient of the Sierra is classic enthusiast Dave Knight, from Worcestershire, who was handed the keys by Bob Wilkinson, founder of the CCLP, supported by Phil Beck of Peter James Insurance, one of the project sponsors. Dave drove the car home from the NEC, and was planning to use it the following day for his commute to work. “I’m so pleased to have been selected for the Sierra,” Dave…

Hagerty has announced the return of its three major UK events for 2023, with the company’s official calendar kicking off on May 27-28 with the Hagerty Hillclimb, taking place at Shelsley Walsh and giving visitors a chance to witness two days of exciting hillclimbing antics. The legendary Festival of the Unexceptional then takes place on Saturday, July 29, held once again at Grimsthorpe Castle and set to be bigger and better than ever, famously celebrating “the greatest everyday classic cars on our roads”. RADwood UK, which made its debut in 2022, will also return next year, attracting fans of 1980s and ’90s car lifestyle culture. The date and location will be announced once confirmed. For more details of all three events, visit hagerty.co.uk.…

Historics will close its 2022 season by returning to its habitual winter home of Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands on November 26. It’s set to do so in style too, with over 170 entries spanning nine decades and some 40 different marques. Among these, there will be 40 entries offered at no reserve ranging from a 1930 Austin Seven van to a 2008 Volkswagen Golf GTI. Undoubtedly the most notable, however, is the 2009 Jaguar X-Type Estate whose first owner was none other than Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. However, the X-Type will have some serious ground to cover if it’s to get anywhere near the £590,000-£670,000 expected for a 1950 Jaguar XK120 roadster that was raced in 1951 by the legendary Duncan Hamilton. Expected to command a similar fee of…

Celebrating all kinds of classics driven by passionate enthusiasts, the Lancaster Insurance Pride of Ownership gives power to the people. From a list of 80 entries, 20 cars were eventually selected for presentation at the NEC, picked by judges for their history, diversity and, in some cases, rarity. These finalists went on display as a focal point of the show, with visitors encouraged to pick their favourite and vote online. The top three were announced live on Sunday afternoon by Mike Brewer, with Ian Croft’s Lotus Elan Plus 2 taking the top spot. Here are our favourite five cars from the display. Ian Croft’s 1968 Lotus Elan Plus 2 Ian bought this car in “terrible condition” in 2016 after being drawn in by a famous name on its logbook: two-time…

MINI Mk1 (1959-1967) The original Mini was also the longest-lived, with the Mk1 being in production across eight years, with over 1.1 million made during that time. The Mk1 was also available in a staggering number of variants when they’re all totted up, even if we restrict ourselves to the ‘ordinary’ saloon. These didn’t fundamentally change in a mechanical sense, all being available only with an 848cc A-Series engine, and a four-speed manual being the only gearbox until the introduction of the clever four-speed automatic in October 1965. The original ‘dry cone’ suspension was superseded by fluid-filled Hydrolastic in 1964. The Mk1 underwent many detail changes, of course, especially from 1959 to 1962 when the car’s many teething troubles were eliminated, plus lots of variations on badges and trim levels.…

This classic image of the old Graham & Roberts garage, based in Botchergate, Carlisle, dates from the start of the ’60s and shows a Morris Minor Series II (complete with the horizontal-slat grille that was introduced in 1954) emerging from the main entrance, while across the road we can see the front offside corner of a Ford Consul Mk2. Inside the garage, there’s a rear view of what looks like a Morris Oxford Series V, while in the background we’ve spotted another ‘Farina’, a Morris Minor van and others. The Morris loyalty isn’t too surprising, given that Graham & Roberts was a Morris Commercials dealer at the time. That’s why its showroom featured some of the then current models, including a J-Type (the long-running workhorse that would finally cease production…

Favourites of the ’50s Ron Chandler wrote in after reading our three-way comparison between the Morris Minor Series II, Austin A30/A35 and Ford Anglia 100E (CCB, November 9), as he has previous personal experience of two of them: “I bought a 100E – the basic Popular version – about 20 years ago,” recalls Ron. “I remember paying around £1500 for it, and spent time improving it cosmetically and taking it to shows. In the end though, I fancied a change – that 1172cc sidevalve engine and three-speed gearbox were too much of a compromise for me, especially on long journeys.” The replacement for Ron’s 100E was a 1957 Austin A35, bought as a restoration project and eventually completed after two years: “The difference between that and the old 100E was…