Table of contents for August 2021 in Octane

Every month or so, a bunch of us former racers get together on Zoom. We are old mates and sparring partners, our careers having overlapped at various stages. It’s a great way of staying in touch, not least because we are spread far and wide. There’s me, Tim Schenken, John Fitzpatrick, David Hobbs and Brian Redman. I don’t really think of myself as being someone who looks backwards rather than forwards, but I enjoy reminiscing about the old days with those who were there. Sometimes, a few home truths tumble out, too, and I think: ‘No wonder you won, you sneaky so-and-so.’ I mention this only because we stayed in motor racing for a very long time. I wouldn’t want to bet on whose career was longest, but I suspect…

AFTER THE DISTRACTIONS of a baby, restoring an old house and the subsequent move, it was time to stop neglecting my 500 SL. During the last few years I have driven it occasionally but didn’t stay on top of any jobs that were needed. So, with a programme of winter work already cancelled due to Italy’s 2020 lockdown, I readied myself for 2021. Just before last Christmas, I drove the car to Mercedes-Benz specialist Vieffe in Milan for a check and overhaul of anything required. It’s worth mentioning that behind the name Vieffe is my old friend and great technician Fabio Verin, a man equally capable of machining parts for a 1901 car as tuning a 1930 yacht engine or winning an Italian classic car championship in a 1960 formula…

IT TOOK A couple of squirts of ‘engine start’ to fire up the ’Healey after months of hibernation. This was our first road trip since August 2020; sadly not an adventure to the vineyards of the Champagne region but to the wine-growing parishes of Kent. We had chosen Gusbourne Vineyard near Appledore (gusbourne.com), one of the country’s new wave of boutique wineries that specialise in English sparkling wine and which offers a tour, dining and a taste (alas, not for the designated driver) of its Brut Reserve. We travelled cross-country, top down, dodging rain showers. After just eight miles the temperature gauge was indicating 110ºC, so we pulled off the road in the village of Preston by a house that sported an external tap and a convenient jug to top…

WHEN DEPUTY EDITOR Dixon asked ‘Can you do a report on the Triumph?’ I assumed he had seen my heroic (OK, simple) heater hose replacement on social media – until he added: ‘I like those pictures of it with Jules’s house.’ I got the impression he would have liked the pictures even more if the Triumph hadn’t been in them. Thanks. None taken. He does have a point, though. Jules is Julian Balme, once firebrand punk record sleeve designer, now more likely to be putting together something for prestige motoring book publisher Palawan; also a classic (especially Yank Tank) aficionado, and owner of the best domestic garaging I know of in London. After all, if you can comfortably get a Gasser drag racer, ’60s Ford Galaxie and Lincoln Zephyr into it,…

NOSTALGIA, TO THE Ancient Greeks, literally meant ‘a longing to return home’ and, while classic car ownership generally involves some form of nostalgia, the term is more appropriate to the three cars you see here than to a lot of the exotic machinery you read about in Octane. Not many of us grew up in households that featured Ferrari Daytonas or Lamborghini Miuras, but a lot of Brits will once have had an Austin Seven Ruby, a Triumph TR7 (perhaps driven by the glamorous aunt) or a Vauxhall Astra Mk1 in the family. Buying the car that reminds you of your childhood can be an expensive exercise these days – and possibly disappointing, once you’ve removed the rose-tinted spectacles – but now there’s a much more affordable alternative. New motoring…

WHILE I’M AWARE that driving £10million cars is part of my job at Octane, I’m usually quite relieved to hand them back. And if I’m not then driving home in my 1989 BMW 320i Convertible (precious to me, if not quite so valuable), I may well be in our ten-year-old family Skoda Yeti. So, when I heard more than once recently that ‘40 grand is a lot to pay for a Kia’, my internal response was that ‘40 grand is a big stack of money, full stop’. And this Kia – as long as a Series 3 Jag XJ6, and at 1855kg, just as heavy – is a hell of a lot of car. It’s been subtly revised (new alloys, tail-light graphics, bigger infotainment screen) and the range has been…

MURRAY WALKER CARTOON BY HOLTE Watching the bonkers Azerbaijan GP in June, it was impossible not to wonder what the late Murray Walker would have made of the madness. The excitable commentator was frequently the most entertaining thing about F1, and one of his memorable ‘Murrayisms’ inspired this piece by the great Punch cartoonist Trevor Holder, better known as Holte. Prints from £48.05. punch.co.uk STIRLING MOSS #7 JUMPER No car is as closely associated with Goodwood as the Ferrari in which Stirling Moss won the 1960 Tourist Trophy, and this jumper from the estate’s shop is a tribute to that famous blue 250 GT SWB. £50. shop.goodwood.com CHEVROLET CORVETTE C1 SCULPTURE BY AMALGAM In for a penny, in for a pound: Amalgam has modelled not just the C1 but all…

DALE DRINNON ‘Travelling to Italy during Covid restrictions didn’t make for my easiest assignment ever, or maybe my smartest, either, but after covering everything Touring Superleggera has done since 2013, I sure as hell wasn’t going to let them launch their first ever mid-engined supercar without me.’ See Touring’s Arese RH95 on pages 112-118. ZACK STILING ‘The basic nature of Edwardian mechanical components demands that man and machine work together in harmony at all times and in all circumstances. The 1911 SCAT is surprisingly well-mannered, but still every bit as visceral as it should be.’ Getting to grips with this 9.2-litre special was a steep learning curve. See pages 120-126. SIMON HUCKNALL ‘I was expecting my meeting with Lee Noble to be more about a reflection on past glories, and there have…

The curses of the modern world are myriad, but the greatest social ill of all is the engine management warning light. This amber harbinger of doom is a car-immobilising, MoT-failing scourge that makes a diesel particulate filter look as threatening as a basket of kittens. Maybe they were a great idea on paper and are no doubt supported by statistical evidence (just like ‘smart’ motorways) but anyone with a car more than 15 years old is used to driving around with it permanently lit – except when it’s been reset for that MoT. If the EML isn’t on in a car you are thinking of buying, just scratch at the binnacle to remove the black gaffer tape they’ve stuck over it. And here comes the most annoying irony. While on…

Nothing beats finding a hidden gem while rummaging through a box of brochures at an autojumble. It all started for me with a handful of well-thumbed copies I’d treasured as a child, picked up from local car dealers. Even the most humdrum models seemed interesting, and I cherished my Citroën brochures more than anything else. Growing up, I grabbed anything I was even remotely interested in, but I’ve become a lot more selective in recent years. Like everything, collecting brochures can easily get out of hand, so these days I tend to seek out particularly unusual or rare variations on a similar theme: mainly cars I own. I was particularly proud of the Japanese-market Citroën BX and AX brochures I found on eBay, featuring photos and weird-specification models I’d never…

‘Elongated microtonal dissonances’, I read in a recent review of a modern musical composition. There were no such subtleties on offer as I reviewed a coruscating range of supercars and hypercars. These were recently assembled by an old friend of mine who has the great good fortune to own a racing circuit. Forget about microtonal, this was the bombastic last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth turned up to 11. While others chattered about lightened crankshafts, I pondered different truths in a highfalutin’ way. These cars were, to my eye, elaborate semiotic constructs. If they had a dissonance with life, it was macro rather than microtonal. Our historic moment is one of emergency, in design as in everything else. I was crafting footnotes in my head about Roland Barthes and Derrida’s metaphysics…

LEE NOBLE IS a troubled man. As we sit here in the workshop behind his Leicestershire home, he fears eviction. The property was sold, you see, and as he and I chew the fat about cars, his solicitor calls to say that the buyers have completed unexpectedly early, meaning that, in effect, we’re about to be trespassers. A flurry of calls back and forth, and reassurance is offered that he’s not going to be marched off the premises. We breathe a collective sigh of relief. But after a lifetime working in the low-volume sports car business, Noble is used to the unpredictable. In 1999 he presented the first working model of his M10 sports car to Autocar magazine, completely on spec, not knowing how they would react. ‘It could have…

They were the founding fathers of the Italian motor industry and a formidable presence in gruelling early car races, but, buried beneath all the derring-do about Ferraris, Alfa Romeos and Maseratis, the family name Ceirano is hardly a household one. Giovanni Battista (henceforth ‘Giovan’) Ceirano arrived in Turin in 1880 to manufacture and market bicycles under the Welleyes name. Following the example of Peugeot and several British marques, Ceirano GB & C made the natural progression to motor vehicle production and, in 1899, it built the first Welleyes cars. Its factory proved insufficient to cope with demand, however, and after only a few weeks the designs were sold to Giovanni Agnelli and the first FIAT was born. After the Welleyes, Giovan and his younger brothers, Giovanni and Matteo, were variously…

ROBERT COUCHER International editor • 1955 Jaguar XK140 ANDREW ENGLISH Contributor • 1960 Triumph TR3A• 1962 Norton Dominator• 1965 Aston Martin DB5 GLEN WADDINGTON Associate editor • 1989 BMW 320i Convertible SANJAY SEETANAH Advertising director • 1981 BMW 323i Top Cabrio• 1998 Aston Martin DB7 Volante MARK DIXON Deputy editor • 1927 Alvis 12/50• 1927 Ford Model T pick-up• 1942 Fordson Model N tractor• 1955 Land Rover Series I 107in• 1966 Ford Mustang 289• 1994 Range Rover 4.0 JAMES ELLIOTT Editor-in-chief • 1965 Triumph 2.5 PI• 1968 Jensen Interceptor JOHN SIMISTER Contributor • 1961 Saab 96• 1972 Rover 2000 TC• 1989 Mazda MX-5 Eunos RICHARD HESELTINE Contributor • 1966 Moretti 850 Sportiva• 1971 Honda Z600 MASSIMO DELBÒ Contributor • 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230• 1972 Fiat 500L• 1975 Alfa Romeo GT Junior•…

TYRES MAY NOT be the most interesting topic, but they’re vitally important to the way a car feels on the road. I’ve always been obsessive when it comes to making sure my cars have the most suitable rubber, because it’s surprising how sensitive some can be to changes in sidewall stiffness, for example. The Integra came with OE-spec Bridgestone Potenzas, which work perfectly with the standard chassis set-up. They were getting on for eight years old, though, and wearing low at the front, which meant I needed to start weighing up options for a new full set. A new set of Potenzas then? Sadly, it wasn’t quite that simple. This tyre has long since been discontinued in the correct size and superseded by an ‘eco’ tyre. A perfectly good option…

‘At last, some decent summer weather has arrived. Cue a few hundred miles of motoring with and without family in my BMW Convertible’Glen Waddington ‘In preparation for a road trip to Italy this October – Covid permitting – I’m having the suspension sorted on my ’66 Mustang. The front end’s done; new leaf springs are about to go on the rear’Mark Dixon ‘Having said last month how well my XK140 was running, it’s now gone back to Twyford Moors to have the carb jet seals replaced with ethanol-proof versions – and to fix a broken window winder’Robert Coucher ‘A pool of oil under the Mercedes 300 SL (which hasn’t been used for a year) turned out to be from the steering box. It’ll cost a grand to fix. Lesson learned:…

E-TYPE UK is a company known for its restorations, but it is now branching out into something a little more specialised. Via its Unleashed sub-brand, it is taking Series 3 E-types down the ‘restomod’ route. Octane arrives in deepest Kent to be greeted by the first car that truly demonstrates what Unleashed is about. By the time you read this it will have been shipped to its new owner in California, after a process of several months during which its final specification has evolved. What strikes you is how clean it looks, with some of the fussier elements of S3 bodywork – not typically regarded as a high point for the E-type – resolved. There are new bumpers – without the clumsy overriders – which hug the nose and tail.…

AT GENEVA-BASED Antiquorum, this gold Rolex ref. 3525 beat estimate by SFr 60,000 to total SFr 150,000 (roughly £118,000) in the company’s 9 May sale. The ref. 3525 is probably best known for being the model that Hans Wilsdorf, Rolex’s owner, was confident enough to send to Allied prisoners of war, happily waiting until hostilities were over for payment. It’s also the first Rolex ‘Oyster’ case with its screw-down crown and caseback to give a home to a chronograph movement. In effect, its offspring is the modern Cosmograph Daytona. At just 35mm diameter – today considered positively emaciated for emaciated a chrono – it gives you a sense of just how hard modern watches have been hitting the pies. The contemporary Cosmograph Daytona has bulked up to 40mm in diameter…

1960 AC Ace Historics Auctioneers, Berkshire, UK 17 July, historics.co.uk When the Thames Ditton factory closed in 1981, an AC enthusiast was able to buy a collection of components, including the chassis of a previously dismantled Ace. This Ace was built up in 1981 for the first owner by Aubrey Finburgh at Classic Autos, using a number of competition-spec aluminium body panels, ex-works spaceframe and period-correct mechanical parts. It’s estimated at £140,000-170,000. Mick Grant’s 1982 Suzuki XR69 Car & Classic, online, UK Ends 26 June, carandclassic.co.uk This works racer comes directly from Mick Grant, who retained it after retiring in 1985. It took him to victory in the North West 200, second in the Isle of Man TT and Macau GP, and a lap record at Donington. One of only…

23 June Brightwells, online, UK 23-30 June RM Sotheby’s, online, global 25-27 June Classic Car Auctions, Syon Park, UK 26-27 June Anglia Car Auctions, online, UK 30 June Charterhouse, Sparkford, UK (motorcycles) 3 July Dorotheum, Vösendorf, Austria 5 July Osenat, Versailles, France 7 July H&H, Buxton, UK 9 July Bonhams, Goodwood, UK 9-10 July Mathewsons, online, UK Vicari, Dalton, USA 10 July Classicbid, online, Germany 14 July Charterhouse, Sparkford, UK 16 July Barons, Sandown Park, UK 16-17 July Bonhams MPH, Bicester, UK 17 July Historics, Datchet, UK RM Sotheby’s, Silverstone, UK 19 July Artcurial, Monaco 24 July Cheffins, Cambridge, UK 29-31 July Mecum, Orlando, USA 30 July Silverstone Auctions, Silverstone, UK (motorcycles) SWVA, Poole, UK 31 July – 1 August Silverstone Auctions, Silverstone, UK 4 August H&H, Bickenhill, UK (motorcycles)…

1972 BRISTOL 411 £78,000 Beautifully maintained S2 example of the ‘businessman’s express’, which received self-levelling suspension but retained the original and much prettier front lights and grille arrangement. thehairpincompany.co.uk (UK) 1960 FIAT JOLLY 600 $128,800 There’s something strangely appealing about these charming wicker-seated Fiats. The antithesis of a modern supercar but just as much fun, in their own way. Which is good, given the asking price! copleymotorcars.com (US) 1969 DATSUN FAIRLADY 1600 €29,950 Cute Japanese roadster, which makes a neat alternative to an MGB. This one has a known maintenance history and is offered in good condition, having been restored in the past. erclassics.com (NL) 1984 HOLDEN WB STATESMAN MAGNUM HDT, $184,995 AUS Special edition run-out model of the final ‘all-Australian’ WB Statesman, including a high-output 5.0-litre V8 breathed on…

WHAT TO PAY There are still plenty of £1000 XMs on the market but these will always be in need of work, so tread carefully. Well-maintained and tidy four-cylinder XMs start at around £2500, rising to £5000 for the best. Tidy diesel models and estates are rare today. V6 models start at closer to £3500, but the nicest top out at about £7500. Series 1 V6 24v cars are extremely rare so, if you find one, expect to pay a healthy premium. WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR The XM was famed for electrical gremlins, though most were cured within the first couple of years, and many of the affected early cars have been fixed today. The hydraulic suspension is relatively simple and is well supported by specialists. Spheres are cheap,…

The first-ever race win by a Bentley happened at Brooklands on 16 May 1921, and to mark the centenary of that achievement there was an astonishing gathering of historically important and competition Bentleys at the Surrey speedbowl. They ranged from EXP 2, the car that won that first race and brought along by Bentley Motors, to a modern GT3 racer. Away from the gaze of the public, the cars spent the day enjoying the site, including posing under the scoreboard, which was set up to show the results from 100 years earlier. On that occasion, following an unsuccessful race appearance the previous week (a plug oiled on the line), Frank Clement averaged 72mph to beat four other starters in the modest Whitsun Junior Handicap Sprint, a two-mile sprint from the…

About two weeks ago I drove my Tesla Model S to Famoso Dragstrip in McFarland, California, just north of Bakersfield. A few weeks earlier it had hosted the US Fuel and Gas Championship, which is a nostalgic drag-racing event. It’s a classic quarter-mile track, not one of those 1000ft deals they have now that slows everybody down. It was originally built as an auxiliary field training base for the Army Air Corps. After World War Two the Army abandoned the field, leaving behind a beautiful paved runway, perfect for drag racing. A group of drag racers known as the Bakersfield Smokers purchased the property and held the first ever March Meet back in 1959, and helped establish the National Hot Rod Association, better known as the NHRA. Nothing quite that…

The only certainty in life is death. Don’t mean to be lugubrious but I’m writing this on the sixth anniversary of my old father’s expiry. I only mention this because it’s all his fault I’m involved in this classic car lark at all. ‘Mad Mike’, as we used to call him, was fiercely intelligent, incredibly driven, and hugely enthusiastic – I take after my mother. He really was a Renaissance Man, with a passion for delivering babies (obstetrics was his thing), music, calligraphy, wine, gardening and interesting cars. Being a pupil at a conservative public school, where the emphasis was on maths, science, rugby, cricket and discipline for the scions of the country’s Captains of Industry, meant that I didn’t really fit in. Father used to try to help me…

It is difficult to imagine the extent of destruction and poverty that Italy had suffered by the end of the Second World War. With so little available for the family dining table, survival was all. Yet there was an admirable willingness to work hard and an unstoppable hope for a better future. In Germany, the situation was similar. Its industry had been obliterated and many of its cities flattened by years of bombing; meanwhile, the whole country faced close inspection to make sure its past didn’t become part of its future. Amid the rubble and debris was one of Germany’s greatest symbols of pre-war power: Daimler-Benz, with its Mercedes commercial brand. Instead of buildings full of Kompressor cars and racing Silver Arrows, its workers returned from the war to Sindelfingen…

EVAN KLEIN Photographer • 2001 Audi TT Quattro MATTHEW HAYWARD Markets editor • 1990 Citroën BX 16v• 1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four• 1996 Saab 9000 Aero• 1997 Citroën Xantia Activa• 1997 Peugeot 306 GTI-6• 2000 Honda Integra Type R• 2001 Audi A2 SAMANTHA SNOW Advertising account manager • 1969 Triumph Herald 13/60 Convertible• 1989 Mercedes-Benz 300SL JESSE CROSSE Contributor • 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390• 1986 Ford Sierra RS Cosworth MARTYN GODDARD Photographer • 1963 Triumph TR6SS Trophy• 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII DELWYN MALLETT Contributor • 1936 Cord 810 Beverly• 1937 Studebaker Dictator• 1946 Tatra T87• 1950 Ford Club Coupe• 1952 Porsche 356• 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL• 1957 Porsche Speedster• 1957 Fiat Abarth Sperimentale• 1963 Abarth-Simca• 1963 Tatra T603• 1992 Alfa Romeo SZ TONY DRON Contributor • 1932 Austin Seven SARAH BRADLEY…

THERE’S NOTHING like a deadline to concentrate the mind. The plan was to have my manual XJ 5.3 Coupé repainted, freshened-up and ready to show at the London Concours on 8 June. That seemed feasible back in January, when the car was about to be dropped off at the paint shop and I last reported on the planned restoration in Octane 214. At the time of writing, the concours is 15 days away and, as you can see here, the car is a world away from being finished. There are always a few surprises when it comes to restoring old cars, particularly so if you’re dealing with a ’70s Jaguar, built in the bad old days of British Leyland. First, when the engine was removed, we discovered a terminally leaky…

WE’VE GROWN USED to seeing special-series Aston Martins over the years, but nothing quite like the one-of-one Victor or ultra-limited (88-off) V12 Speedster. Given that the marque’s recently appointed CEO, Tobias Moers, has mapped out his vision for Aston’s future in the last few months, it’s ironic that both these cars are very much rooted in the company’s past. They might not fit Aston’s new narrative, but these extraordinary outliers are catnip to car fans. We’ll start with the Victor because, frankly, it’s sensational. Built around a One-77 chassis, rear-end and 7.3-litre V12, it also borrows from the track-only Vulcan, which donated its carbon ceramic brakes and super-trick inboard suspension. The Valkyrie also makes a contribution, providing the neat ‘lollipop’ tail lights. As parts-bin specials go, the Victor is in…

ENJOY IT WHILE you can. The F-Pace SVR is one of that dying breed, a big SUV powered entirely by fossil fuel, which is obscenely fast and has a 5.0-litre that makes a thunderous roar. Less a Jaguar, more a sabre-tooth tiger – and soon to be as comprehensively extinct. Official figures for the SVR are 0-60mph in 3.8sec and a top speed of 178mph. Average fuel consumption is said to be 23mpg, which is actually not bad; some four-cylinder hot hatches would do no better. But you don’t buy an SVR for the fuel economy, and the button used to select ‘EV’ on a mild-hybrid F-Pace is here repurposed to switch the exhaust note from moderately loud to full-on NASCAR. Which, of course, is fun when you’re in the…

1957 CADILLAC By Brooklin Models Rock ’n’ Roll, and the flashy American cars associated with it, have been the driving force behind a good deal of nostalgia, but in the case of John Hall they proved to be the starting point of a very successful business. Hall was a Londoner with an engineering background who emigrated to Canada in the 1960s and set up a workshop in his basement to make his own model cars, initially from resin and thereafter from whitemetal. Similar specialist collectors’ models were mostly sold in kit form, but John Hall’s products were fully built and finished. The small Canadian town where the models were made – Brooklin spelt with an ‘i’ – provided the brand name and the first three subjects were a Pierce-Arrow, Tucker…

£4,045,500 ($5,725,000) 1929 Duesenberg Model J Torpedo by Murphy RM Sotheby’s, Amelia Island. 22 May £3,455,500 ($4,900,000) 1934 Mercedes-Benz 500/540K Spezial Roadster Bonhams, Amelia Island. 20 May £2,666,000 ($3,772,500) 1995 Ferrari F50 RM Sotheby’s, Amelia Island, USA. 22 May £2,561,500 ($3,586,000) 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 Alloy Gooding & Co, online. 3-7 May £2,331,000 ($3,300,000) 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C Mecum, Indianapolis. 14-22 May £2,099,000 ($2,970,000) 1930 Duesenberg Model SJ Rollston Convertible Victoria Mecum, Indianapolis. 14-22 May £1,985,500 ($2,810,000) 1968 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 RM Sotheby’s, Amelia Island. 22 May £1,733,000 ($2,452,500) 1971 Ferrari Daytona Spider RM Sotheby’s, Amelia Island. 22 May £1,710,000 ($2,425,000) 1913 Mercer Type 35K Bonhams, Amelia Island. 20 May £1,587,000 ($2,222,000) 1955 Ferrari 250 GT Europa Gooding & Co, online. 3-7 May…

Though it could certainly never be ridiculed by the ‘My five-year-old could have done that’ crowd, this tiny drawing doesn’t exactly scream £8-12m – the amount it is expected to fetch when it is offered by Christie’s in London on 8 July. Look a little closer, though. In case you can’t make them out, the words beneath the carefully observed 7x7cm sketch read ‘Leonard de Vinci’, and Head of a Bear was indeed drawn by the Italian polymath more commonly known as Leonardo da Vinci. It dates from the first half of the 1480s, when da Vinci would have been in his late 20s or early 30s, and was produced in silverpoint – using a silver wire to mark a prepared surface. The technique is rarely practised in art schools…