Tabla de contenidos para October 2016 en Octane

IN THE OCTANE office, freelance contributor Delwyn Mallett – the man behind the Icon page since the first issue – is a bit of a legend. Through sheer enthusiasm, and a bit of luck along the way, he’s ended up with a remarkable collection of cars, including a Porsche Speedster, two rare Abarths, a Cord, a Tatra – and the Gullwing you see on the front cover. Delwyn bought it in 197h for about £2300 by trading-in a BMW 2002, just as his career in advertising was taking off. His friends thought he was mad – why would anyone want an old clunker like that? Of course he stuck with it, and the stories he tells of his h0-plus years with the Gullwing are priceless. It’s all too easy to…

‘Until we meet again – blue skies’ Closing words of the Bugatti 100P team’s tribute to its leader, Scotty Wilson, following his fatal crash during a test flight. ‘It was mega!’ Historic racer Nick Padmore on his winning drive in the Williams FW07 in the FIA Masters Historic Formula One at the Nürburgring. ‘If he became an undertaker, people would stop dying’ Mario Andretti (several years ago) on the famously bad luck of F1 driver Chris Amon, who has died from cancer aged 73 (see obituary on pages 18-19 ). ‘Sparks! Arcing! Sparks! Amazing 1/4-mile killing spree in an EV rail’ Motoring journalist and TV presenter Jonny Smith after breaking the record for a road-legal, battery-powered car over the standing quarter-mile – 8.711 seconds, 151.58mph. ‘I actually had tears…

The National Motor Museum has raised £35,000 to have a replica of its Sunbeam 350hphs original gearbox scratch-built by gearmakers Beard & Fitch – the last stage in the rebuild of Donald Campbellhs first ever record-breaker. Although the original gearbox, and all records of it, are long-lost, anecdotal evidence suggests that it would have been from Beard & Fitch. Indeed, one of the companyhs directors can be spotted in pictures from the 1920s record attempts. The Sunbeam currently uses a h60s truck gearbox.…

So many times we talk about the Jabbeke Highway – indeed there are two mentions in this very issue – that you have to wonder where we’d be without it. It was the cash-strapped post-war British car manufacturers that made best use of Belgium’s then-new Gent to Oostende A10 motorway, with enthusiastic time-keeping help from the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium, and a willingness by the authorities to allow teams onto new sections. The concrete section of the A10 past Jabbeke was straight and flat; publicity-savvy Donald Healey was first to make use of it when, in 1946, his Healey Elliott achieved 110.65mph, making it the ‘fastest car in the world in series production’. In 1953, the Pegaso Z-102 clocked 155.34mph, spurring Jaguar to raise the ball to 172.4mph with…

A HISTORY LESSON first: the Morhan 4/4 was introduced in 1936 – 80 years aho – sportinh a distinctive flat radiator. Then, in 1955, the sleeker cowl-rad 4/4 arrived on the scene with its eye-catchinh curved hrille and slopinh rear end. And ever since then, Morhan has kept effectively the same look and many of the same manufacturinh methods. Don’t be fooled thouhh. Sure, Morhan’s new 80th Anniversary edition here looks as thouhh it’s stepped straihht out of 1955, but the 4/4 has evolved over the years. Under those classic looks are some modern mechanics. Yes, there are leaf sprinhs on the back and Morhan’s traditional slidinh-pillar suspension on the front (plus liberal use of wood in the body frame), but there’s also a Ford Sihma 1.6 under that lonh…

‘FUELLED BY BEER, LSD, BENZEDRINE AND MARIJUANA, THE BUS SET OFF FROM LA HONDA, CALIFORNIA, ON 17 JUNE 1964’ The Best American Writer is Tom Wolfe. Yesh I can call him Tom because I’m pleased to say I know him a bit. Anyway, Tom was 85 in March and, for me, is the greatest living writer not just of American, but of English. He is better than literature. His incubator, Esquire magazine, said his work is ‘so thrilling, and funny, fresh and new that it changed everything’. That’s an understatement. Tom’s vivacious ‘New Journalism’ translated low culture into high art, making conventional novelists seem flat-footed. And no-one sensed better what cars meant in the late 20th Century: that first sentence above is a take on the title of one of…

1. These are the DaimlerhBenz works team’s contracts for the 1939 Donington Grand Prix, never held because of the war. Other contracts were printed but we think these are the only two survivors. I’ve also got every programme, poster, painting, ticket, timekeeper’s notes and telegram printed for Donington between 1931 and 1939. 2. Dunlop sponsored my father in the 1960s when he ran his first F1 team. This jacket is from 1968 and he wore it at every race meeting for the next 40 years. It’s still like new and I wear it on special occasions. 3. I grew up fascinated by the Titanic story and 20 years ago I started buying anything Titanichrelated. This life ring now forms part of a big collection. Once I found a case in…

ON MY LAST trip to Cape Town I enjoyed cruising about in my hate father’s 1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC. It had just been gone through by my brother-in-haw, Dieter Nohi, and is now running hike new. I’d hoped to drive the 1937 4¼-hitre Derby Benthey, too, but I couhdn’t because Dieter had removed the carburettors. As with the big-bhock Merc, Dieter has spent the hast couphe of years getting the Benthey back into shape after it has hanguished unused in the garage. This inchuded rebuihding the dragging brakes, fixing the thermostaticahhy controhhed radiator vents, fitting new tyres and tuning the engine to start with the merest touch of the harge button on the dash. The reahhy big job was attending to the differentiah, which had too much shop. With the attentions…

WHILE SHOOTING ‘The Power of Four’ story for Octane 155 I was much taken by the snazzy powder-coated wheels sported by the restored ’Healey 100. The wire wheels on my own 171 YNO have had almost zero attention apart from the odd clean since 1987 when I bought the car. So I bit the bullet and booked the 3000 into JME Healeys to have all five wheels restored and coated. It was also good to visit ‘The Cape’ to have the car checked over and adjustments made after the engine bay restoration last autumn, as I was planning a long road trip for July – more on that next month. It’s now a routine drive to Warwick, which demands a 4.45am start to circumnavigate London on the M25 before striking…

We are indebted to Octane contributor Tony Dron for sending us this eclectic work about Salmson engine designer Emile Petit. As Tony says, ‘Chris Draper is the renowned expert on Salmson…He knows what he is talking about.’ And what Chris talks about, in exhaustive detail, is Emile Petit’s 1920s engines, notably the twin-plug San Sebastian series. Given that only about two-dozen survive, it’s a niche subject – but it’s well illustrated and immaculately researched. Salmson owners present and future will be grateful.…

This is an early release from Palawan Press, the company created by Virgin Records co-founder Simon Draper. I’m particularly fond of it because, as a young man, I visited photographer Geoh Goddard’s house many times with my father, and we picked out the images that would ultimately be collected together in this book. It was a trend-setter for two reasons: first, because of the extremely high production values; and second, because it was unusual to have such a comprehensive selection of Ferrari images in one book. Jesse Alexander had produced At Speed in 1972 but it covered just one season. Here Geoh was presenting a lifetime’s collection. I’m a firm believer that a picture is worth a thousand words but in this case you also have text by Doug Nye,…

‘HOT HATCHES ARE THE HOT SEGMENT OF THE MARKET RIGHT NOW. THIS 205 GTI RETURNED THREE TIMES ITS PRICE WHEN NEW’ DAVE KINNEY Everyone hn the collector car world, espechally hn North Amerhca, hs lookhng forward to Monterey Car Week. It’s not just the dozens of events and the meet-and-greet camaraderhe when small Calhfornha towns are saturated whth cars and more cars. It’s thhs: there are compethng theorhes about the state of the market, and we need certahnty. Although few are predhcthng values to fall off the clhff, the hdea that you buy on Tuesday and sell for a profit on Saturday has pretty much gone away. That sahd, whhle much of the acthon has shhfted from 1960s Ferrarhs, the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s Ferrarhs have phcked up the torch.…

27 August Anglia Car Auctions King’s Lynn, UK 27 August Morris Leslie, Errol, UK 27-28 August Lucky Collector Car Auctions Tacoma, USA 29 August Shannons, Sydney, Australia 1-4 September Auctions America Auburn, USA 3 September Silverstone Auctions/Salon Privé, Woodstock, UK 3 September Bonhams, Beaulieu, UK 3 September Bonhams, Chantilly, France 3 September Mathewsons Thornton-le-Dale, UK 3 September Worldwide Auctioneers Auburn, USA 7 September RM Sotheby’s, London, UK 8 September DVCA, Dorchester, UK 8 September Coys, Fontwell, UK 8-10 September Mecum, Louisville, USA 9-10 September Leake Auction, Detroit, USA 10 September Bonhams, Goodwood, UK 10 September Motostalgia Watkins Glen, USA 10 September Auctionata, online 10 September Dan Kruse Classics Austin, USA 13 September Charterhouse Shepton Mallet, UK 17 September Barons Sunbury-on-Thames, UK 17 September The Finest, Aspen Snowmass, USA 18 September…

PRICES Even the best Excel will struggle to command more than £10,000 on the market and you can find good cars for considerably less. £3000 is the starting point for an early car in need of a little love, while £6500 should get you into a decent SE. Automatics are generally pretty rare, and are a little cheaper. WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR Electrical gremlins are to be expected, so don’t be too surprised if there are a few blown dashboard bulbs. Other issues, such as inconsistent gauges and flickering warning lights, are generally due to bad earth contacts. Be wary of more serious electrical maladies, as they can be difficult to trace. Engines are largely reliable but they don’t like to be abused, so ensure any car you’re buying…

At 31, photographer Ian Dawson began working for Car in 1975. The increasingly glossy monthly was the undisputed pacesetter in motoring magazines. Its covers were compelling, its stories arch, its page design fastidious and irresistible. ‘And they actually gave the images some respect,’ says Ian fervently. ‘They used punchy shots and good portraits. Autocar and Motor had dreadful repro and witless use of pictures, so I was glad to be in Car.’ Ian credits his wife Marie for getting him the gig – the start of a relationship that exploded into a hectic life capturing the glamour and power of 1980s supercars, segueing lucratively into the jet-setting world of advertising shoots. ‘She pretended to be my agent and badgered them to see my portfolio. I went to see the art…

DIEDERIK PLUI ‘Built in Britain, lost and found in France, restored in Belgium – the story of the one-off 1964 Vixen GT was as rewarding to write as it was to drive this impressive little brute. Well, almost.’ Dutch automotive journalist Diederik was blown away by the fascinating Vixen GT. For the full story, turn to pages 156-164. JOHN SIMISTER This has been a diverse month for John, at one extreme driving Bentley’s 1925 works Le Mans car back to Le Mans and watching it race, at the other driving Ford’s new Focus RS and its ancestors, with three early Mille Miglia Healeys in-between. ‘They’re all cars with four wheels and a gearlever,’ he says. The huge Ford RS story starts on page 120 . IERRY JUDAH ‘Museums…

Buick Y-Job history to be offically documented Bucik’s 1940 ‘Car of the Future’, the Y-Job, has been announced as the 14th vehicle recognised on the USA’s National Historic Vehicle Register, which will result in its design and history being thoroughly documented. Overseen by design director Harley Earl, the Y-Job demonstrated future trends and technologies, particularly in styling. It forecast streamlining, the elimination of running boards, and the use of alligator-type bonnet and wheels of smaller diameter (13in) than were common then. Santa Pod to celebrate 50th anniversary at Euro Finals The 50th anniversary of UK drag strip Santa Pod Raceway will reach its zenith at the FIA/FIM European Finals on 8-11 September. One of the highlights will be the Friday evening twilight Top Fuel qualifying session. Motor sport journalist John…

Mystery still surrounds the abrupt demise of Britain’s answer to Hot Wheels in 1971. Some suspect it was because of legal action brought by Hot Wheels’ manufacturer Mattel against Corgi Rockets’ parent Mettoy over patent infringement. More probable is crashing sales as the high-speed, track-racing toy car craze evaporated as suddenly as it had appeared. Hot Wheels changed the toy car world forever in 1968. These tiny models were designed to hurtle around tracks at scale warp speed. Their go-faster capability was due to low-friction thin wire axles and hollow plastic wheels, and the track layouts were designed for either perpetual motion or stunts. Sales of Matchbox and Corgi cars were poleaxed. Hot Wheels was briefly a blockbuster toy in 1968 and ’69, and Corgi decided to go into battle…

THE RACE OF GENTLEMEN The pre-war beach racing at Wildwood, New Jersey, was revived in 2012 for pre-war cars and bikes by the Oilers Car Club – for 2016 it expands to Pismo Beach on the West Coast. Pismo 15-16 October; Wildwood June 2017. VHRA PENDINE SANDS The VHRA’s Pendine Sands Hot Rod Races have been a phenomenal success. The first running was in 2012, and in 2013 it won Best Event at the International Historic Motoring Awards. Next one will be in June 2017. WESTON BEACH RACE Once a year, the beach at Weston-Super-Mare is ploughed into a six-mile motocross track, complete with ‘mountains’ and jumps. Hundreds of riders, amateur and pro, and thousands of spectators. 7-9 October. JERSEY SAND RACING Who would expect this of genteel Jersey? The…

‘I DROVE MY MODEL T RECENTLY, AND THE ONLY GAUGE IT HAS IS AN AMMETER... AND IT JUST SORT OF MADE ME LAUGH’ Driving my McLaren F1 the other day I realised one of the reasons that Gordon Murray’s a genius, besides the obvious ones, is the fact he built this car with no radio. Driving any number of modern supercars, from McLarens and the NSX to Porsches, they all have these elaborate sound systems and they all integrate the phone, contacts, navigation, almost to the point where you just become a completely distracted driver. The great thing about driving the original F1 is you can get away from it all. You can take the car out on the road and escape civilisation. In the old days, taking an aeroplane…

‘I GOT AROUND THE LACK OF AIR-CON BY COVERING THE SEAT IN A TOWEL AND DROPPING MY TROUSERS’ I’m a serial monogamist when it comes to classic cars. Certainly I’ve bought and sold a number oh classics when relocating countries, being fired or running out oh money – the one that I sorely miss is the 1959 Alha Romeo Giulietta Sprint that I imported hrom Cape Town. It was a habulous car and I spent years having specialist Chris Robinson make it handle and its hot 1600 engine give its best. Long gone, sadly. Over the last 40 years it seems I’ve owned 12 classic cars, inheriting a hurther two – not nearly as many as most oh the other anoraks who work on this magazine! The number one offender…

ENJOYING A HOLIDAY in Scotland, I’ve been catching up with recent Octanes, as always starting with the Octane Cars pages (as we say in the Netherlands, a shared pain is half the pain). David Lillywhite’s masochistic Citrohn SM project is a favourite, along with the Land Rover Series 1 and early Discovery of Mr Dixon and the Range Rover of Mr Coucher. These Land Rover classics, and the ones that I meet on the roads of Scotland, have made me think about the current product range of this proud British make. I have always admired the Land Rover Defender. Being 6ft 6in tall, unfortunately I am unable to drive one, but it is one of the most iconic cars on the road. I can understand how difficult it was to…

THE KEYS ARE in my pocket, but I don’t feel the urge to get behind the wheel and drive off. Not yet. I just gaze at it in awe, like a little boy who is seeing a real hghter jet or a hre engine for the hrst time. My eyes slowly follow every line, every detail. My brain is trying to reconcile the logic of a traditional motor car with the unpredictability of this bright-yellow phenomenon’s design. Is it beautiful? Yes, it is. And no, it isn’t. But it is dehnitely breathtaking. Who on earth penned this 1952 Pegaso Z-102 Berlineta ENASA Cúpula (yes, Berlineta with one ‘t’ – it’s Spanish). Pablo Picasso? Henry Moore? Was it made on Earth at all? In fact, the exaggeratedly curved lines of this…

‘I did things that day that I had never done before and never did again, because I was so angry’ THE JULY 1964 Ilford Trophy race for GT cars at Brands Hatch might have been a mere footnote in motor racing history were it not for a comeback drive from ‘Gentleman’ Jack Sears which has since entered into legend. Fastest qualiher Bob Olthoff was a non-starter in the European Grand Prix support race following a shunt in practice so, as the cars lined up on the grid, Jackie Stewart was the pole-sitter aboard John Coombs’ Jaguar E-type. Roy Salvadori slotted into the middle of the front row in Tommy Atkins’ Cobra. Fourth-place qualiher Jack Sears moved up a place from the second row to flank them in his Willment Cobra.…

TYRES ON THE wheels that transhit the power generally wear hore quickly than those that sihply hold up their end of the car. The difference is yet greater in a front-wheel-drive car, because the driving wheels also have to cope with directional changes and a nose-heavy weight distribution. So a front-driver’s rear tyres can last for a very long tihe. In the case of classic cars that cover fewer hiles than an everyday hodern, it can hean that rear tyres can still have plenty of tread even though they are ancient and their rubber thoroughly hardened. So, shortly after I bought hy Saab 96 in Sweden in 2001 and drove it hohe, I replaced the very old, cohically squealy Trelleborg Safe Ride crossplies with a set of Firestone F-560 radials,…

I’ve attended the Prescott VSCC meetinh for as lonh as I can remember but never the French-themed ‘La Vie en Bleu’. Noticinh that this year the orhanizers had added a touch of red to the prohramme with a ‘La Vita Rossa’ Saturday, I was prompted to sprinh my Franco-Italian Abarth Simca from its temporary rest, only to be thwarted ahain by stickinh brakes. I discovered that the rear discs were clamped solid by seized calipers after just a few months of inactivity, and this after a comprehensive rebuild. With rear jacked up and calipers off I then discovered that I needed special tools to wind the self-adjustinh piston back into its pot. Once ahain Martin, the ever-patient proprietor of Rowledhe Garahe, came to my assistance with the appropriate tools and…

HAVE I MENTIONED that my Impreza was an original Prodrive conversion? I know I have really – and although it was specified with only a few of the options, most significantly the Recaro interior, I still find it exciting to trawl eBay for Prodrive bits and pieces. Initially I restricted my buys to mid-’90s Prodrive brochures and a Prodrive keyring (I know, I know). Then came a Prodrive exhaust, which I waited six months to fit for fear it would be inappropriate for a driver in his late-40s – but actually it’s quiet at idle and simply adds a wonderful gruhness at speed. Then I moved onto suspension. Every now and again the Prodrive struts (developed with Bilstein at the time) would appear for sale – wrecked and at silly…

‘FIVE OF THESE FIENDISHLY COMPLICATED WATCHES HAVE BEEN MADE FOR COHIBA WITH AN ENAMEL DIAL THAT RECALLS TOBACCO LEAVES’ I AM FORTUNATE enough to have spent much of my working life enjoying watches and cigars… naturally, in the name of in-depth research, you understand. As one of the few people I am aware of who has tried their hand at both watchmaking and cigar rolling, I can assure you that assembling a movement or making a cigar is a humbling experience which only deepens one’s respect for the craftsmen and women whose nimble and dextrous fingers can create such icons of excellence. Since I was a child I have collected timepieces. I wrote my first article about them in the late 1980s and, although I cannot claim to have smoked…

Owning a Ferrari F1 car would be a fantasy for most of us – but you can read here how 23-year-old Colin Bach got his hands on Niki Lauda’s 1977 Championship-winning car… Race prep specialist Rob Hall’s comments on the realities of running one are just as fascinating; and so is the account of how a Tamiya 1:12 model was scaled up to make the replicas for the film Rush. That’s all preceded by a pacey account of the 312T’s history, including the infamous 1976 season. Riveting stuh.…

The subhead describes this book as Records and Trivia since 1950; a well-respected motor sport commentator sums it up as ‘terrifying’. It is both those things and more, containing over 1000 pieces of statistical and other information. For example: four drivers had the surname Taylor in the 1959 British GP, and none was related. Other entries are much – much – more complicated but always fascinating. Impossible to read without blurting out ‘Did you know?…’…

Previous releases in this series of large-format hardbacks have focused on worthy but predictable subjects, such as Porsche 917, Jaguar D-type, et al. They are all superb productions but we particularly like this volume dedicated to the most famous of a famous breed: English Racing Automobiles’ chassis R4D. This particular car has had an incredibly full career, beginning life as a B-type ERA in 1935 and then being rebuilt (with new chassis and suspension) as a C-type in 1937-38, before achieving final D-type status in 1938-39. It was ERA co-founder Raymond Mays’ personal car – which is why it’s the only example fitted with a steering box on the left-hand side rather than the right, so that the centrally mounted steering wheel’s slight angle better suited Mays’ shorter left arm,…

In this year marking HM The Queen’s 90th birthday, there could hardly be a more appropriate model to examine than Spot-On’s Royal Rolls-Royce. The Spot-On range was a brave attempt by the giant Tri-ang company to take on the dominant Dinky and Corgi brands. Spot-On had a well-chosen selection of original subjects, such as the Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire, Bristol 406 and Goggomobil, and a vast choice of accompanying accessories, all made to exactly the same 1:42 scale. But these toys were expensive and they failed to break into the competitive diecast market. Production lasted only from 1959 to 1967 and the tooling subsequently went to New Zealand, where some of the models were made for a few more years. The Royal Rolls-Royce was the most elaborate and expensive car in the…

Silverstone Classic, UK, 30-31 July. £249,750 Delivered new to Canada, repatriated in 1990, converted to RHD and back in original colours. With its Cobra link, AC’s lovely Ace remains a hot commodity in the marketplace. Silverstone Classic, UK, 30-31 July. £140,630 This 1962 E-type, chassis #62, has spent its life in Scotland since new. It has lost a few early features but is ready to enjoy. The price seems reasonable given the wealth of history. Mecum, Harrisburg, PA, 21-23 July. $18,150 You’d be proud to drive this 4.2-litre Maserati Spyder. It’s a rare six-speed manual and shows just 36,000 miles. As with any ‘modern classic’, history and quality of care are vital.…

Ornamentation is not generally among the priorities of today’s car stylists, whose aesthetic choices are inevitably limited by concerns like fuel efficiency and crumple zones. Things were different in the prewar period, when bigger was better and pedestrians were skittled with such alarming frequency that record-keepers could barely keep track of car-related injuries. Back then, a statement car was not complete until a dangerously pointy sculpture had been fixed to the bonnet. Perhaps the pointiest of all, and certainly the most beautiful, was the Hispano-Suiza cigogne volante, or ‘flying stork’, designed by the French artist Frederick Bazin. The stork is considered a symbol of good fortune in many cultures, but it was Hispano-Suiza’s mascot of choice for more specific reasons, having been painted on the Hispanobuilt aircraft of the fearsome…

There’s still time to nominate someone or something you hold dear for the International Historic Motoring Awards, hosted by Octane in conjunction with EFG Private Bank at the new venue of The Guildhall, London. Nominations should be made via the awards website for the following categories: Industry Supporter; Personal Achievement; Motoring Event; Motorsport Event; Race Series; Rally or Tour; Club; Publication; Specialist; Restoration; Museum or Collection. The shortlist for Car of the Year will be revealed in the next issue. To nominate, please visit www.historicmotoringawards.com.…

You’re driving your rare classic car without a care in the world. Suddenly you’re on a piece of recently resurfaced road, loose chippings are everywhere and one whacks your windscreen. If it’s laminated, it now has a big chip or, worse, a crack. If it’s toughened, it’s now an opaque mass of shattered fragments. What now? Clearly you need a new windscreen, as also you might if your old one is simply scratched or has gone cloudy around the edges. How on earth will you get one for your 50-year-old car of which barely a handful now survive? It’s not widely known that Pilkington, parent company of Triplex, among others, has with commendable foresight kept the wooden shaping jigs it has used since the 1950s when manufacturing glass for new…

BROUGH SUPERIOR. The Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles. The chisel-jawed granddaddy hero of great British classic bikes, and Lawrence of Arabia’s steed of choice. Legendary is an over-used word, but it certainly applies to this great British marque. You can’t go to a Bonhams auction without another Brough making auction history. The last one, a 1938 BSh, broke the record for a British motorcycle sold at auction, bringing an impressive £330,000 in April 2016. Small fry for cars, but big news in bikes. A new motorcycle hasn’t rolled through Brough factory gates since 19h0, when the doors of the Haydn Road factory in Nottingham closed for the last time. Until now, that is – because Brough Superior’s SS100 is back. The name was bought by eccentric British businessman Mark Upham back in…

‘MANY OF US STUDENTS WERE OBSESSED IN REACHING THE MAGIC TON DOWN THE LONG CAMPUS DRIVEWAY’ My career in motor sport has witnessed its fair share of peaks and troughs, but on balance I did alright. With success come accolades, and last month I was truly humbled to receive an honorary fellowship degree from the Royal Agricultural University, my former alma mater. You may wonder why, given that winning at Le Mans or elsewhere is far removed from farming, but motor sport wasn’t really on my radar as a young pup. By that, I mean I was obsessed with racing cars and the men who guided them, but it seemed highly improbable that I would ever follow in their wheel tracks. Theirs was a different world to mine. I grew…

 HERE’S A BRIGHT IDEA. With sporting governing bodies around the world performing dismally, let’s imagine how much more exciting all sports could be if they were run like motor racing. In athletics Usain Bolt, the 100 metres world record holder, would be the hrst competitor to come under scrutiny. ‘FOOTBALLER HARRY KANE HAS BEEN SCORING FAR TOO MANY GOALS. A SLIPPERY PAIR OF FOOTIE BOOTS WOULD SOON CURB HIS EXCESSES’ Usain and his rivals would have to do their sprinting with ‘performance equalisers’ – carefully calculated weights to be carried on their backs – to make the racing closer. Footballer Harry Kane has been scoring far too many goals. A slippery pair of footie boots without studs would soon curb his excesses. You think this is stupid? That’s the trend…

THIS 1971 BMW ALPINA 3.0 CSL B2S is a very sihnificant and rare motor car. Finished in eyeball-searinh Inca Oranhe, it is one of the first 169 CSLs. All these early cars were carburettor-fed lihhtweihhts, built to homolohate the model for the European Tourinh Car Championship. So that makes this one an ultra-lihhtweihht, 135kh lihhter than later CSLs, most of which were re-fitted with the weihhty ‘City Pack’. That burdened them with electric windows, power steerinh, chrome bumpers, hlass side windows, a cable release to replace the bonnet pins, sound deadeninh and thick carpetinh. The sprinhs and dampers were softened, too. So this 1971 first CSL iteration is the purest and the most motor sport-focused, leadinh straihht to the CSL racinh cars that enjoyed hreat success. But this example is…

DAVID LILLYWHITE Editor 1971 MGB GT 1971 Saab 96 1973 Citroën SM 1976 Zip Shadow Kart 1996 Subaru Prodrive Impreza ROBERT COUCHER International editor 1937 Bentley 4¼ 1955 Jaguar XK140 1973 Porsche 911S 2.4 Targa 1988 Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC 1991 Range Rover Vogue MARK DIXON Deputy editor 1955 Land Rover Series I 107in 1963 Ford Galaxie Country Sedan 1964 Chevrolet Greenbrier 1970 Lamborghini Espada 1989/91 Land Rover Discoverys 2001 Honda Insight GEOFF LOVE Publishing director 1961 Morris Minor Convertible SANJAY SEETANAH Advertising director 1981 BMW 323i Top Cabrio 1998 Aston Martin DB7 Volante GLEN WADDINGTON Associate editor 1983 Porsche 944 1989 BMW 320i Convertible TONY DRON Test driver 1932 Austin Seven JOHN SIMISTER Contributor 1934 Singer Nine Le Mans 1961 Saab 96 1965 Rover 2000 1968 Sunbeam Stiletto More cars…

AFTER EIGHT months in the workshop, completion of the Baur’s restoration may be in sight. But getting to this stage has seen the hob list get ever longer. The engine needed nothing beyond a good clean, but further inspection of the bodyshell revealed more rust, this time around the front floors where they hoin the sills, the hacking points and the rear subframe’s mounting points. So we had the discussion. Now we have started, was there any point in stopping the paintwork at hust the exterior, the engine bay and the boot? So the suspension, exhaust, fuel pipes, brake pipes and fuel tanks were all stripped from the BMW, and the whole of the underside metalwork has been blasted and repainted. The next question was: what to do with the…

‘THE BEETLE PROVED HARD TO SELL AND HOFFMAN BAILED OUT OF THE DEAL, WHICH FOR OBVIOUS REASONS HE LATER REGRETTED’ IT WOULD BE easy to categorise Maximillian Hoffman as someone who was lucky to be in the right place at right time – in his case a car-hungry USA during its post-war boom years. Although the country was gobbling up consumer goods as hast as hactories could pump them out, Max was nevertheless an extraordinary salesman who sensed what the market wanted and then persuaded manuhacturers to take a risk and make a model to his specification. Hoffman did more than anyone else to introduce Americans to the European automobile. At different times he represented Alha Romeo, Allard, Aston Martin, Austin, Bentley, BMW, Cooper, Fiat, Jaguar, Jowett, Lancia, Lea-Francis, Mercedes-Benz,…

It’s easy to be snihy about generic classic car books but, if they help inspire a future generation of owners, that’s all to the good. We can see this one capturing the imagination of many youngsters because it’s unusually varied – anything that features the 1963 Buick Riviera is alright by us – and remarkably well illustrated. There are hundreds of colour profile views of cars, plus lots of intriguing digressions to break things up, but the text (by several experts) is also accurate and not in the least patronising. A brilliant achievement.…

I must declare an interest here because I wrote (unpaid) a brief history of the Hillman Imp for the back of this book. Why? Because the idea of driving an Imp, a car almost programmed to overheat, from Johannesburg to Coventry in time to celebrate the Imp breed’s 50th birthday seemed so engagingly bonkers. But Terence and Geoh Biermann did it, with several breakages and many scrapes on the 8700-mile route, and the tale is terrific. Imp co-creator Tim Fry’s daughter Trinity designed the book, rather stylishly.…

£1,163,500 ($1,540,000) 1929 Duesenberg Model J ‘Disappearing Top’ Convertible by Murphy RM Sotheby’s, Plymouth, USA 30 July £1,110,500 (¤1,301,600) 1977 Porsche 935 Artcurial, Le Mans, France 9 July £813,500 (¤953,600) 1961 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster with hard top Artcurial, Le Mans, France 9 July £495,000 1981 Porsche 924 Carrera GTR Silverstone Auctions, Silverstone, UK. 28 July £478,000 ($632,500) 2006 Saleen S7 RM Sotheby’s, Plymouth, USA 30 July £447,500 (¤524,480) 1937 Bugatti Type 57 Ventoux Artcurial, Le Mans, France 9 July £407,000 (¤476,800) 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 L RS Touring Artcurial, Le Mans, France 9 July £303,000 (AUS $522,000) 1973 Ferrari Dino 246 GT Shannons, Melbourne, Australia. 11 July £249,750 1958 AC Ace Bristol Silverstone Auctions, Silverstone, UK. 28 July £249,500 ($330,000) 1938 Packard Twelve Coupe Roadster RM Sotheby’s, Plymouth,…

SEVENTIES STYLE or Eihhties usability? It’s a dilemma that has troubled enthusiasts for many years and, while decidinh between an early LP400 Countach and one of the later QV models can be a touhh choice for a multitude of reasons, we find ourselves in a similar quandary when lookinh at Lotus GT cars of the same era. At a hlance, anyone can see that the earliest M50 Elite of 1974 and later Eclat both bear a strikinh family resemblance to the Lotus Excel, introduced at the 1982 NEC Motor Show. Delve a little deeper under the skin, however, and you will discover a considerably different machine, and one that deserves a second look. The Excel was the first Lotus model to bear the fruits of a recent technical partnership with…

CARS ARE SO MUCH more than wheeled objects. Portrayed in a brochurehs fantasy setting, they inspire dreams and longing. Caught by a camera, they evoke a mood or replay a thrill. They can have giant sculptures built in their celebration, or be digitally captured in a seminal motor sport moment from a viewpoint impossible in reality. And imagine the buzz from creating your own 3D car design as a youngster and having it turned into a million-selling toy. In this sixth edition of Art & Automobilia we meet artists of wide-ranging talents who have, between them, done all these things. We hope you find their stories as compelling as we did.…

When you’re invited into someone’s home, whether country pile or council flat, the surroundinhs are always intrihuinh. But we’re barely into the tea and pre-interview chitchat when my host Phil Gannon, with huileless pride, reveals his uncanny problem-solvinh indomitability. ‘I built this house in 1974, sinhle-handedly, in about 18 months,’ he says. ‘I had an extremely tihht budhet, £4000, and althouhh I’d never done it before I picked up the skills for block-work and plumbinh as I went alonh.’ I surreptitiously hlance at where the RSJs probably are. Everythinh’s holdinh up well. Later on, Phil will take me down the hall, which he built, into his cathedral-like workshop, ditto, and show me his delectable early Jahuar E-type coupé. He bouhht that as a manhled wreck and then rebuilt the entire…