Innholdsfortegnelse for 4/24/2024 i Classic Car Buyer

Indian car-maker, Maruti Suzuki, is celebrating its 30 millionth car, following just over 40 years of building Japanese models locally. Suzuki’s automobile production in India started in December 1983 with its first model, the Maruti 800 by Maruti Udyog, the former name of what would become Maruti Suzuki. Today, production takes place at the Gurgaon and Manesar Plants, as well as Gujarat Plant of Suzuki Motor Gujarat. At these three production sites, 16 models are produced, including compact cars such as WagonR, Swift, and Baleno, as well as SUVs such as the Brezza and Fronx. The 800 – Maruti Suzuki’s first and overall fourth best-selling car – owes its existence to the Alto of 1979, but while the Japanese car would live for just four years in first-generation guise, the…

ADO16 PRINCESS 1100/1275/1300 (1963-1974) Noting the popularity of posh coachbuilt Minis, BMC asked Vanden Plas to create an upmarket version of its ADO16 1100. The car badged ‘Vanden Plas Princess 1100’ in 1964 was every bit a shrunken Jaguar, boasting a walnut dashboard, walnut door cappings and picnic tables in the back. A West of England Cloth headlining, Wilton carpets and Connolly leather completed the luxurious atmosphere. The front seats got individual armrests, and extra sound deadening improved refinement. A wraparound rear bumper and rear overriders completed the look, while the MG’s twin-carb engine was fitted to cart around the extra weight. Classy, comfortable and well-appointed, the Vanden Plas Princess wore an £896 pricetag, some £195 more than the MG model and £302 over the Austin 1100. For a short…

Cost wasn’t the only barrier of entry to car ownership in the early days, size was also a factor – the bigger the car, the more materials in it, the longer wait for one to be built and the heftier the price to get one. Herbert Austin was keen to introduce a much smaller car that could be produced and sold cheaply enough to viably replace the motorcycle sidecar combinations that were really the only affordable option for the average family. Austin’s fellow directors, who wanted to maintain the marque as an expensive, upmarket brand, were not keen, but an undeterred Austin carried on from his home and poached Stanley Edge from Longbridge to design the car on a billiard table. The introduction of the ‘horsepower tax’ in Britain in…

 The Mini’s 65-year legacy is remarkable for a car modestly conceived to be cheap and efficient. Petrol rationing caused by the Suez Crisis led to Brits clamouring for more economical modes of transport, so in March 1957, BMC Chairman Leonard Lord tasked Alec Issigonis with devising a “proper small car” to force the expanding cluster of tiny bubble cars off the road. Launched just two years and five months later, the Mini was a genuine revolution. With its transverse-mounted four-pot engine driving the front wheels and innovative packaging, it soon sent designers from rival manufacturers scurrying back to their drawing boards. It set a new blueprint for the way the world thought about small cars, which was quite an achievement given that the Mini was essentially the work of one…

Although there’s some debate about which can claim to be the first diesel passenger car – Citroën’s Rosalie and some experimental American-made Auburns both had diesel options in 1935 – the Mercedes-Benz 260D of 1936 is right up there among the earliest and is generally regarded as the pioneer. Series production began in 1936, but the first 170 vehicles were delivered in autumn 1935. The 260D was equipped with a four-cylinder OM138 engine with a Bosch injection pump, which delivered 45hp. A new body arrived in 1937, and through to 1940, 2000 units were built. Following the war, production of diesel Mercedes resumed with the 170D in 1949, now featuring the OM636 engine also later used by the Unimog. It proved popular with trades and the public sector, but also…

Regardless of your position on climate change and the rise of the needlessly massive SUV, you can’t deny that the original Range Rover was a very significant vehicle. As launched in 1970, it was a long way from the luxury cruiser it’s become today and although it was an expensive car, it was pitched as a genuinely multi-purpose vehicle rather than a status symbol. Back then it was also a genuinely unique proposition, the only vehicle on the market to offer car-like levels of comfort allied to genuine off-road ability. The Range Rover has its origins in that original Land Rover though, which was conceived as a postwar stopgap to keep the Solihull factory busy, but which surprised everyone involved with its popularity. The idea of the Land Rover as…

Unlike the Rancho that looked 4x4 tough but was actually front-wheel drive, the Audi Quattro looked broadly liked an 80 Coupe, but beneath the restrained lines was a rally-bred all-wheel drive system. We’ve mentioned off-road icons like the Jeep and Range Rover that use four-wheel drive you can switch to with a lever, but Audi noted the traction benefits of all four wheels being driven and opted to utilise it permanently in a performance car named the Quattro, after the Spanish for “four”. A 2.1-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine produced 197bhp in road trim – as well as a lovely five-cylinder warble – that when combined with all-wheel drive traction, made 60mph possible in seven seconds. It was the performance on rally stages that stood out, though, with the power easily…

When Toyota launched the first mass-produced hybrid car in 1997 (although it didn’t export outside Japan until 1999), it chose the name Prius, the Latin word for “prior”, as it believed that the petrol-electric powertrain was ahead of its time and would pave the way for cars of the future. Combining a 1.5-litre petrol engine, a permanent magnet AC electric motor, and a nickel battery pack, the Prius could be driven solely on electric power under mild throttle at low speeds, before the petrol engine took over once above roughly 25mph, or both could work together under hard acceleration for a combined 114bhp. By taking the load off the engine at higher speeds and replacing it altogether at town speeds – when engines are at their least efficient – the…

The Association of Heritage Engineers (AoHE) and the Classic Collective (Bicester) are joining forces with this year’s Kop Hill Climb event to showcase both sustainable liquid fuels and sustainable and recyclable lubricants. There will be a several demonstration runs up the hill using P1 renewable ‘drop-in’ fuel, including automotive engineering business Vintage Bentley, which is at the forefront of sustainability within the classic car world and will be running a WO Bentley up the hill. Classic Collective will also have information on Motul’s range of sustainable and recyclable oils. What’s more, AoHE – supported by their insurance partners Howden – has carbon offset the entire four-mile circuit runs of all the cars and motorcycles for the weekend by working with TREE-V, the official partner of the Federation of British Historic…

Just five days after its official presentation, Alfa Romeo has rebranded its first electric model, originally called Milano, to “Junior.” It following a very public and widely publicised spat with government officials, who objected to a car produced in Poland using the name of an Italian city. The decision came after Adolfo Urso, Italy’s industry minister, accused the company of misleading buyers with the name of the vehicle, claiming it breached a 2003 law that prevents the sale of “Italian-sounding” products not made in the country. “A car called Milano cannot be produced in Poland,” said Mr Urso. “This is forbidden by Italian law. This law stipulates you cannot give indications that mislead consumers … a car called Milano must be produced in Italy.” The model has thus been renamed…

The iconic psychedelic Wings tour bus used by Sir Paul McCartney, his family and the band during its 1972 tour is set to be auctioned next week via Car and Classic. Travelling over 7500 miles during the 1972 Wings Over Europe Tour across 25 cities in nine countries, the 1953 Bristol KSW5G open-top double-decker has been meticulously restored, and is styled to recall The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine album cover. Exhibited and used as a live music stage at the 2022 NEC Classic Motor Show, the bus also includes an original Wings tour trunk that was donated to the project by drummer, Denny Seiwell. Offered in running and driving order, the bus is now open for pre-bids on Car and Classic’s online auction site. The bus carries a £150,000-£200,000 estimate, with…

The car industry has introduced all manner of technological and engineering innovations in the last 140 years, with plenty of particular cars standing out for either introducing something new, or pioneering a new class altogether. Join us as we pick 20 cars from history that best define the term ‘pioneering’ and changed the automotive landscape forever. Are there any landmark cars that we’ve missed? Let us know via ccb.ed@kelsey.co.uk.…

 Long before its involvement with Peugeot, Citroën was seen as a pioneering, technologically minded car company, if somewhat quirky. The Traction Avant may as well have come from space when it landed in 1934. Design duo Flaminio Bertoni and André Lefèbvre endowed the car with flowing front wings, a curved rear and an aerodynamic silhouette to make it look modern and advanced, but there were also brains behind its beauty. Citroën wasn’t the first company to build a front-wheel drive car, but Citroën took the concept and ran with it. The Traction was the first front-wheel drive car built with monocoque construction, whereby rather than the body being a separate entity that was fixed to a ladder-like chassis, the body itself was a single unit, constructed and engineered with sufficient…

On the face of it, this sturdy Swedish saloon car may not seem like the most pioneering concept, with its resolutely traditional iron-blocked OHV motor, rear-wheel drive and 1950s Detroit-inspired styling. Solid, yes. Comfortable and reliable, too. In top-spec twin-carb 122S guise, a decent performer with motorsport kudos. But very much following the established pattern for mid-sized cars of the ’50s and ’60s. Except, that is, for one very important area: safety. The Volvo 120-series or Amazon as it’s better known, was the first car to come with any kind of seatbelts fitted as standard, which immediately catapults it right to the top of the tree when it comes to innovation. The Amazon would also see the debut of the modern three-point belt. The invention of Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin,…

The early 1960s market for middle-management cars was a rather conservative one, dominated by 3.0-litre cars such as big Farina saloons. But things were changing, and within a few years a new breed of more compact saloons emerged that would be far more interesting to a new generation of post-war ‘baby-boomers’, as well as doing everything the traditional rivals could in a smaller, cheaper and more economical package that still had car park kudos. In Britain, the main new contenders were the Rover 2000 (P6) and Triumph 2000, announced within a week of each other in 1963. But before that, something happened at BMW that was perhaps the most significant point in the Bavarian firm’s 107-year history, since it involved the model that turned the company’s fortunes around, saving it…

During the 1960s, Jaguar’s saloon lineup was somewhat confusing – we got the Mk2, its 240 and 340 successors, the S-Type, the 420 and the Mk10/420G, plus Daimler-badged variants of several, meaning many of the offerings clashed and even competed in the market. The XJ6 brought some rational thinking to the Jaguar range, replacing most of the line-up in one fell swoop and combining the best Jaguar engines, suspension and interior luxury into a single model that looked and felt modern enough to act as a step forward, without alienating traditional Jaguar customers. Every element carried-over was offered at its best, such as the XK engine that came in top-spec 4.2-litre guise and had been redesigned for its new application. There was a new 2.8-litre option too, while the widest…

Apologies for the second dose of BMW’s ‘Neue Klasse’ platform amongst our line-up, but we’re focusing on the smaller and shorter two-door ’02 Series’ range here, and specifically on one pioneering model – the 2002 Turbo. The Turbo was a late flourish for a car that made its debut as a 1.6-litre car in 1966. Initially badged as ‘1600-2’, the car would soon gain more power. Two BMW executives, Planning Director Helmut Bönsch and Alex von Falkenhausen, separately had the larger 2.0-litre version of the M10 engine installed in their company 1602s, and so the idea of the famous BMW 2002 was born. Amusingly, each was apparently unaware of the other’s car until one day they met up, swapped stories and decided to present the idea to the board. The…

Although ultimately sitting alongside the Beetle rather than replacing it, the Golf had been a roaring success for Volkswagen – critically-acclaimed on account of its sharp modern styling, interior packaging, sturdy quality and nimble handling, it was deservedly selling well in the family car sector. It failed to resonate with enthusiasts, however, who were forced to own a second sports car to experience high performance and a thrilling weekend drive. The idea of blending performance and practicality into a small hatchback wasn’t new, with the Autobianchi A112 Abarth, Simca 1100Ti and Renault 5 Alpine offering what became retrospectively called ‘hot hatchbacks’. The Alpine was an especially credible effort, but it was left to VW to really make the hot hatch go mainstream. A small group within Volkswagen stayed behind after-hours,…

This week’s scene takes us to the glamorous setting of just outside Bath, circa-1983. Parked on the street – despite what appears to be a double-yellow line – our focus lands on the Rover P6. A Series 2 car, as denoted by the later grille, it stands out superbly in Monza Red and manages to look more modern than any of the cars around it, despite being older. Behind it sits a Series 3 Morris Marina, decidedly anonymous in white next to the P6 and sadly no longer registered, while the tail of a Mk2 Ford Capri – which was taxed until 1992, suggesting it’s no longer with us – edges into shot behind it. On the opposite side, we’re struggling to identify the red saloon, but it appears to…

This year’s London Concours event – running from June 4-6 – will feature a centrepiece display dedicated to the Jaguar E-Type. Three examples from the Jaguar Classic private collection, as well as those meticulously rebuilt by JLR Classic, will be prominently displayed on the second day of the event. The examples set to feature include an extremely early flat-floor Series 1 car, a later Series 3 V12 and a sought-after and extremely valuable ‘lightweight’ race-spec E-Type, the latter of which just 12 were built. Andrew Evans, Managing Director of the London Concours, said: “We are excited to introduce our Jaguar E-Type showcase to this year’s event. The London Concours prides itself on spotlighting the most iconic and timeless automobiles, and the Jaguar E-Type undeniably stands as a pinnacle of automotive…

Porsche fans will find something for every budget in the May Brightwells sale, with the headliner being a real rarity in the shape of an early 356A Cabriolet. A 1956 example, it’s a Reutter-built car imported from Denmark and although currently running a VW engine, it’s accompanied by a correct Porsche motor on a pallet. It needs a full restoration but there’s no shortage of classic Porsche expertise in the UK, and it looks to be complete. The hefty estimate of £100,000-£120,000 reflects its rarity, but at the other end of the scale, a Guards Red Boxster S from 2001 can be found in the accompanying Online Garage sale at just £3000-£4000. Positioned somewhere between these two extremes are an appealing Porsche 924 from 1983 looking great on Turbo model…

The phenomenon of the car was seen as little more than an unobtainable plaything for the rich, until Ford made the first significant steps to make cars accessible for everyone. Launched in 1908, the Model T was the first mass-produced car, an innovation that marked a turning point for the industry. Previously, cars were individually hand-built and took months, sometimes years to complete. The quality was usually exquisite, but the skills and time required to make them resulted in high prices. Mass production saw hundreds of cars built per day, with an efficient production line turning out identical cars in succession, hence the famous “any colour so long as it is black” line from Henry Ford. This not only saved time, but costs – the model T was $780 in…

There are plenty of cars that can claim to be the people’s car pioneer – the Citroën 2CV offered the absolute bare minimum car it was possible to produce in order to create the simplest, cheapest car to replace bicycles for most of the French population, while the Morris Minor offered affordable, versatile motoring for most of post-War Britain. However, both are made to look almost low-volume next to our people’s car pioneer: the Volkswagen Beetle. For a start, the name: ‘Beetle’ is actually a popular nickname that’s stuck over the years, but the original name was simply ‘Volkswagen’, German for “people’s car”. The car was designed to mobilise the German family and meet all typical requirements in as efficient a manner as possible. The aerodynamic teardrop shape made it…

When it comes to pioneering small and inexpensive sports cars, there’s no denying the role of MG. It all began as early as 1929, with the arrival of the M-Type Midget. Based on a Morris Minor chassis and powered by a Wolseley-derived 847cc OHC engine, it featured a simple, lightweight two-seat body with a pointed tail, and nothing could touch it for performance at the price. The subsequent J-, P- and T-Type Midgets continued the theme, with the latter especially successful in America in post-war TC and TD guises. But come the mid-1950s, MG’s offerings had grown up. The Abingdon firm’s MGA was worthy competition for its Triumph TR2 and Austin-Healey 100 rivals, but was still a few hundred pounds more than a regular small family car like a Ford…

This year, the best-selling vehicle in Britain is not an SUV or even a premium hatchback like a Golf, but a van. More specifically, the Ford Transit, of which nearly 24,000 have been sold in the first three months of 2024 alone if you include the Custom and Connect models. But such success is nothing new. The Transit has been with us since 1965, and has been the best-selling van in the UK from the outset – so much so that Transit is now a byword for van in almost the same way that ‘Hoover’ is for vacuum cleaner. More than 3 million have been sold in Britain alone, with a further 5 million sold elsewhere. As Ford put it in its own marketing material, the Transit became the ‘Backbone…

Embracing the front-wheel drive concept of the original Mini and adding the versatility of a hatchback layout, the supermini was a new class of vehicle that could appeal to buyers who wanted compactness and economy whilst craving some of the creature comforts of a traditional family car. There’s plenty of debate about who got there first, but few would argue that 1972 was a very significant year. In theory, Fiat was first to take the supermini bull by its horns, with the Fiat 127 being the first mass-market, Europe-wide model to adopt the formula. However, the earliest 127s were two-door saloons, with the hatchback version not arriving until 1972. As it turned out, the three-door would be just pipped to market by the Renault 5, with the French model managing…

Today’s roads are flooded with SUVs and crossovers, jacked-up hatchbacks with plastic cladding that are actually usually front-wheel drive and selling more a lifestyle image than actual off-road ability. Although the Toyota Rav4 is credited with starting this trend and certainly cemented its popularity, we’d trace the SUV’s genesis to the Matra Rancho of 1977. Designed by Antonis Volanis, the Rancho used the front of the Simca 1100 and a rear half built by French engineering group, Matra, out of fibreglass. The bulkier black bumpers and plastic arch extensions and sill trims were stuck on to give a tougher look, along with the spotlights, but the Rancho’s looks wrote cheques the mechanicals couldn’t cash; the ride height was raised over the Simca 1100, but it gained no additional power…

FORD CORSAIR ESTATE While the Victor offered smart but unimaginative styling, its Ford Corsair rival boasted sharp, jet-age looks that still stand out today. The poorly received V4 engines were a downside though, and the Abbot-built estate was never sold in great numbers. Indeed, you’ll be lucky to find one for any price. TRIUMPH 2000 ESTATE Like the Ford, Triumph’s compact executive saloon boasted modern standout styling, beneath which laid smooth straight-six power and a lovely soundtrack. The Triumph feels more upmarket than the Ford and Vauxhall, while also being cheaper and more abundant. ROVER P6 ESTOURA While Rover never officially offered a P6 estate, coachbuilder Crayford touted the Estoura (pronounced “ess-tour-uh”). Complementing the P6’s finned tail beautifully, the Estoura offered arguably the perfect package of style and practicality, but…