Innholdsfortegnelse for 3/22/2023 i Classic Car Buyer

The UK’s fleet market has changed immeasurably over the years. Today’s company car is more likely to be an SUV than a saloon, hatch or estate thanks to the current popularity of faux-4x4s. And where list price was once a major factor in any fleet manager’s choice, in 2023 it’s all about lease costs and monthly repayments. Then, of course, there’s the thorny subject of company car tax, something that wasn’t an issue 40 years ago, when being given a car by your employer was a free perk. The CO2-related Benefit-in-Kind (BIK) tax that company car drivers now pay out of their own salary penalises those who choose the least ‘green’ options, which explains why so many fleet vehicles are now either hybrids or all-electric. Back in the early 1980s,…

Goodwood has partnered with Sterling Insurance to offer a new insurance scheme for classic cars. Launched as Goodwood Classic Solutions, it offers an online facility that compares cover for over two million types of classic vehicles, sourcing quotes from a panel of specialist and industry-leading underwriters and providing customers with three individual quotes. The online quotes can be tailored to include agreed valuations, limited mileage discounts, salvage retention and cover for modifications. Policy discounts for Goodwood Road Racing Club Members and Fellows will be available. Quotes are available via goodwood.com/classic-car-insurance, or you can call 01243 913333.…

WB & Sons’ second sale of 2023 took place at its Newcastle upon Tyne base on March 11, with almost 150 lots going under the hammer. There was great variety among them too, with some strong performances from commercials and hot hatches in particular. Beginning with the latter, the stand-out had to be a 1987 Ford Escort RS Turbo. Showing a mere 37,000 miles and looking to be very original throughout, it sold at the top end of its guide for £29,906. Others, meanwhile, included a rare 1984 Renault 5 Gordini Turbo with a full Turbo 2 wide-body kit that sold for £17,640, plus a 1998 Peugeot 106 GTI that achieved a mid-estimate result of £7350. Similarly intriguing was a selection of ‘ordinary’ hatches that were once street furniture. A…

T1 (1950-1967) Perhaps the best-known of the Volkswagen Transporter linage is the very first Type 2, identified by its split windscreen. Fondly known as the ‘Splitscreen’, ‘Splittie’ or ‘Microbus’, the earliest of the Type 2 models was built between 1950 and 1967. Note that it would not become known as the ‘T1’ until later, when the nomenclature was applied to the early Transporters retrospectively. Today these are highly sought after with a massive enthusiast following. Looking back at recent values serves to underline the insatiable appetite for these first Type 2 models; it doesn’t seem to make much difference which variant you covet, as they all command large sums of money, from panel van to 23-window bus. Rewind a decade and a budget of £10,000 at auction granted entry to…

The impact of Lotus in racing’s highest tier is worthy of a feature on its own, but to ignore it completely would be to do its innovation in construction a disservice. Split from Lotus Engineering in 1954, Team Lotus – the company’s motorsport division – entered its first Grand Prix in 1958. During this period, the Eleven and Elite enjoyed considerable success at Le Mans. Between 1962 and ’78, Team Lotus won seven Formula One Constructors’ titles, six Drivers’ Championships and the Indianapolis 500, making icons of the monocoque-chassis 25, engine-as-a-stressed-member 49, four-wheel drive 63, and the aerodynamically innovative 72, 77 and ‘ground effect’ 79 via top drivers Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Ronnie Peterson and Mario Andretti. During the turbo era of the 1980s, the 80 and 88…

JEEP Paul Guinness, Editor The original Willys Jeep is one of the few vehicles that compares to an early Land Rover when it comes to fitness for purpose. There’s certainly the potential for a fun ownership experience, and you could always opt for a later CJ7 or Wrangler if you’d prefer something less basic and more affordable. Rust and decrepit mechanicals need watching for, but you shouldn’t have any trouble sourcing bits when work is needed. RANGE ROVER Andrew Evanson, Lancaster Insurance Okay, so we’ve taken the easy way out and gone for a bit more luxury. Still, there’s no shame in wanting extra comfort, and you’ll still get a brilliant off-roader that will tackle anything you throw at it. Early ones fetch big money, so something like a 1980s…

A 1995 Mercedes-Benz E300 diesel saloon has shocked the classic car world by selling for $152,607 (approximately £125,000) at auction in the United States. Offered online via the Bring-A-Trailer website, the Polar White W124 has travelled just 10,000 miles from new. It’s a rare model in the USA, as the E300 – with its 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder diesel engine – was only available there in 1995. The vehicle in question was first delivered to Great Lakes Motor Corporation of Buffalo, New York, before spending time in Pennsylvania. It was acquired by the selling dealer in January this year.…

Sign up to our newsletter at www.classicsworld.co.uk Classic car buyers should be extra vigilant for a new wave of online car buying and selling scams. The warning comes after a rise in fraudsters seeking to cheat consumers who are purchasing or selling cars privately online. According to research by Close Brothers Motor Finance, one in 10 British motorists has fallen victim to fraud when purchasing a car, with younger drivers most at risk. Around a quarter of car buyers aged 24 or under say they have suffered at the hands of scammers. The data is supported by the experience of CCB’s own Paul Wager, whose 18-year-old son, Joe, recently offered a modern-classic BMW 3 Series for sale online – and was subjected to several sophisticated campaigns attempting to defraud him.…

Concerns over the future of the Jaguar brand have been reignited following reports that it’s set to cut its UK dealer network from 83 to fewer than 20 sites within the next two years. CCB recently reported that the historic marque was facing plunging sales, recording a drop of 41 per cent in 2022. Jaguar has been particularly badly hit by the ongoing semi-conductor shortage and other supply issues, with Jaguar Land Rover choosing to focus on production of its more profitable Land Rover and Range Rover models. The Castle Bromwich site, which builds both the entry-level Jaguar XE and larger XF, paused production of both saloons for much of last year, although the lines are said to be up and running again now. In plans leaked to the press,…

The entry count may have been relatively modest at 59 lots, but Charterhouse’s first classic car auction of 2023 was right up there as a demonstration of just how varied the market can be. Everything from pre-war American luxury to sporting moderns was gathered at the Haynes Museum on March 9, with particular intrigue to be found among a large selection of barn and garage finds. Two Minis from the same deceased estate caught our eye: a 1993 Mini Italian Job LE and a 1999 Mini Cooper Sport. Both found new owners, with the former selling for £7200 plus fees and the latter hammered away for an impressive £16,000. In need of rather more work was a brave 1275 GT restoration project, which still managed to sell for £3800 plus…

Lotus’ consultation services in chassis dynamics and car building saved the blushes of many a major manufacturer over the years – including Toyota, GM, Volvo and Nissan, but it is the DeLorean for which its external facing departments are best known. Lotus was one of the few firms capable of getting John DeLorean’s ‘ethical sports car’ into production in the very tight timeframe imposed by the UK Government, bankrollers of the project. BMW and Porsche both declined, based on how tight the deadline was. Lotus agreed on a 25-month timescale, completely re-engineering DeLorean’s 1976 prototype into a production car. What resulted, was – in blunt terms – a rear-engined V6 Lotus Esprit with stainless steel panels and gullwing doors that resembled the prototype in appearance but not mechanically. Lotus’s ‘double…

Rather like the MGC featured above, the Triumph GT6 is a car that can benefit from a bit of modification to bring out its best. Unlike the MG, though, the GT6 found immediate sales success and Triumph did at least carry out some ongoing development on the model. The original version featured the same swing-axle rear suspension as the four-cylinder Spitfire and Herald, which when faced with the power and pace of the GT6, turned a weakness for breaking traction mid-corner into an unpleasant habit. For 1969 the GT6 Mk2 was introduced, known as the GT6+ in the USA. The big feature was revised rear suspension to greatly reduce the unpleasant ‘jacking’ effect that lifted the rear wheels off the tarmac. To make the most of this new surefootedness, Triumph…

CHRYSLER/TALBOT ALPINE (1975-1986) The Chrysler Alpine was a genuine Anglo-French project, styled at the Whitley plant in Coventry and with its technical development undertaken at Poissy, France. Known as the Simca 1307/1308 across the Channel, the Alpine went on sale in Britain in January 1976 and was crowned that year’s European Car of the Year. As with the other two models on this page, Talbot badging replaced Chrysler in 1979, following PSA’s buy-out of Chrysler Europe; in later life, the Alpine struggled to compete against newer rivals like the Sierra and Cavalier Mk2. For a car that sold respectably well, especially in its early days, it’s surprising that very few remain in existence today. Indeed, the Chrysler Alpine is an extremely scarce sight now, which makes charting its performance on…

The Lotus Eleven broke new ground in terms of Lotus’ nomenclature, beginning a tradition that has been upheld to this day – that all of its road cars’ names began with an ‘E’. The Elite, Elan, Europa (pictured), Éclat, Esprit, Excel, Elise, Exige, Evora, Emira, Evija and Eletre have followed suit. Until the Eleven (spelled out), Lotus’ cars had been named ‘Mark [I-X] in Roman numerals. The Mark VII name was earmarked for a Formula 2 car that never appeared and recycled for the Seven (‘7’) road car.…

Launched as a replacement for the innovative but expensive-to-produce Elite, the exciting new Lotus Elan arrived on the scene in 1962, initially in roadster guise but followed by a hardtop the following year (and a coupe by 1965). And it was the Elan that set the trend for the next few generations of Lotus road cars. Crucially, this was the first Lotus to employ the now famous steel backbone chassis and glassfibre body combination that the firm would enjoy success with in the future. By keeping the car’s overall weight down to a mere 1500lb, the Elan still managed to embody Colin Chapman’s obsession with lightweight design. The Elan was advanced in other ways, too. Its 1558cc engine was based around Ford’s ‘Kent’ unit but fitted with a bespoke twin-cam…

Dating from the late 1980s is this superb image of British ski-jumper, Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards, posing for the camera in his home town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Eddie shot to fame in 1988, when he became the first competitor since 1928 to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski-jumping, finishing last in both the Normal Hill and Large Hill events. All these years later, it’s the cars in the photograph that are particularly interesting. On the left-hand side of the road we can see the front end of a Mk1 Fiesta, ahead of which are popular models like a Renault 5 and (at the far end) a VW Beetle, with what we think might be an early Lada, a late-model Hillman Hunter and a Mk3 Cortina in between. But across the…

ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER SPIRIT A point of view would be to ask why have a Bentley without Bentley performance? A Silver Spirit of the same age and price would be equally opulent, just as stately in acceleration, just as refined on the move, with a more cossetting ride and the cachet of the Rolls-Royce badge. JAGUAR XJR The high-spec Jaguars were long a thorn in Bentley’s side. The ‘X306’ XJR, with a 321bhp supercharged straight-six, offers performance equal to a Turbo R with lower running costs, better road manners – and superb examples currently sit right at this Mulsanne’s price point. MERCEDES-BENZ ‘W126’ 500SEL This is the sort of product Bentley was competing against with its naturally aspirated models, even if it was reluctant to admit it. Just as rare as…

Wintry weather Roger Bowen has emailed us to share this great photo, which he took more than 40 years ago: “Living at an altitude of over 350 metres in the Gwent Valleys, I’ve photographed cars in Blaenavon in some pretty severe weather,” says Roger. “This image, taken during the hard winter of 1979, revealed this selection of Luton’s finest on the High Street.” The photograph shows both an FE-generation Vauxhall VX4/90 and a Viva HC, between which we can see what looks like a Bedford CF pick-up. The snow-covered cars in the background are a little harder to identify… WRONG WELSH TOWN Cardiff-based Paul Read contacted us after seeing our Classic Scenes image (CCB, March 8), which we suggested was taken in Newport, South Wales. Paul explains, however, that we…