Table of contents for March 2022 in Octane

Note the crucial qualifying phrase ‘in America’. Diners in other countries just aren’t quite the same. For a start, the European imitations don’t serve American portions: one of the great joys of visiting the US is indulging yourself in a lifestyle that you wouldn’t feel comfortable embracing back home – and aren’t free coffee refills just the greatest invention ever? The archetypal American diner is, of course, housed in an old stainless-steel railroad car but I prefer the more understated kind that’s found in a 1930s block, with soft lighting to soothe bleary heads: more like a bar than a restaurant. The kind of place that makes you feel you should be wearing a fedora and a trenchcoat when you enter, and epitomised by Edward Hopper’s 1942 painting Nighthawks (right).…

The strange art of the automobile continues to amaze, even as the utility of personal transport systems daily becomes more marginal. Perhaps it is because the car is becoming so impractical that the last significant pressure-point in the consumer’s decision-making process concerns not battery life – the discussion of which causes violent contagious yawning – but aesthetics. Just as the best way to stimulate creativity would be to make it illegal, automobile art is flourishing at the very moment the car seems on a final descent to legal extinction. Of course, globalised industries have flattened tastes and expectations everywhere but, on the plateau of mediocrity that is the world car, several shockingly egregious peaks stand out. Most enjoyably, I climbed into two of them just before Christmas: the Lamborghini Countach…

By the time Juan Manuel Fangio began his Grand Prix career, he was already of an age when most of today’s Formula 1 drivers have retired. When he began his first 24-hour race at Le Mans, on 24 June 1950, Il Maestro was celebrating his 39th birthday. His age and the legacy of childhood illness did nothing to diminish the success he would enjoy throughout the 1950s, when he won the World Drivers’ Championship an unprecedented five times between 1951-57. Those five victories came with four different manufacturers, and Fangio had no hesitation in moving teams if he thought he would stand a better chance of winning. Fangio’s first Grand Prix – at Reims in 1948 – was at the wheel of a Simca Gordini 1430, but in 1950 he…

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 SARAH BRADLEY Contributor • 1929 Ford Model A hot…

MY 500 SL WAS fully repainted in the winter of 2007, which may not seem all that long ago, but stuff happens – and stones fly. I clearly heard the one that hit the car while I was driving. The windscreen seemed fine so I didn’t think too much about it at first, but when I reached my destination I checked the car over, and there it was: a decent-sized hole in the paint, down to the bare metal. I immediately knew that I had to take action quickly, before rust attacked the exposed metal. I also knew that it would not be easy, as the car has a metallic paint finish. Indeed, the R107 is a difficult car to partially repaint, because it has huge flat surfaces without interruptions to…

AUSTRALIA HAS produced more than its fair share of great motoring journalists, and one of the greatest is Doug Blain who – like several of his compatriots – came over to the Old Country in the 1960s to show us how it should be done. Doug was the editor of the hugely influential Car magazine, 1964-71, and latterly publisher of The Automobile, a title that suited his predilection for really old motors. He has an uncommon sensitivity for historical objects, and not just cars: since the 1970s, he and his wife have dedicated much of their lives to conserving and restoring the Grade I listed Monaughty House, one of the most outstanding late-medieval houses in Wales. It was natural, therefore, that Doug should start what he dubbed the Oily Rag…

WE ALL LOVE cars and driving for different reasons. While there’s much about electric cars that leaves me a little cold, I can’t help but feel somewhat excited about the next few years. We’re facing the dawn of a new era, with new technology and even new metrics to measure power and efficiency. Racking up some decent miles in Kia’s new EV6 helped me to put that final point into perspective. It’s the South Korean company’s flagship electric car, and the first of many to be spun off the new bespoke electric-only E-GMP platform – also used by the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (Octane 221). Starting at £40,945 for the ‘basic’ Air, rising to £48,445 for the top-spec four-wheel-drive GT-Line S, all come as standard with a 77.4kWh battery pack –…

LISTER-JAGUAR By Elegant Miniatures The pairing of Archie Scott Brown and Brian Lister is a legendary story of a great Scottish racing driver working with an engineering genius. Scott Brown’s achievement is all the more remarkable because he was born with only one hand and also underwent painful childhood operations to enable him to walk. None of this held him back, even though at one time he was banned by the racing authorities. After getting to know Brian Lister of Cambridge, Archie had considerable success with Lister’s lightweight-bodied cars, above all at the wheel of the Lister-Jaguar entered in numerous races after the Jaguar team’s withdrawal from motor racing in 1956. Tragically, he lost his life in May 1958 during a sports car race at Spa. Models of Lister-Jaguars are few…

22-30 January Barrett-Jackson, Scottsdale, USA 24-28 January Gooding & Company, online, USA 25-29 January Mecum, Las Vegas, USA (motorcycles) 26 January Worldwide, Scottsdale, USA 27 January Bonhams, Scottsdale, USA RM Sotheby’s, Phoenix, USA 28 January SWVA, Poole, UK 29 January Classicbid, online, Germany 29-30 January Anglia Car Auctions, King’s Lynn, UK 2 February RM Sotheby’s, Paris, France 3 February Bonhams, Paris, France 4-5 February Mathewsons, online, UK 12 February Silverstone Auctions, London, UK (motorcycles) Dore & Rees, Frome, UK 16 February Brightwells, online, UK 16-23 February RM Sotheby’s, online 19 February Morris Leslie, Errol, UK 22 February Barons, Sandown Park, UK 22 February – 1 March Shannons, online, Australia 3 March Bonhams, Amelia Island, USA Charterhouse, Sparkford, UK 4 March Gooding & Company, Amelia Island, USA 4-5 March Vicari, Orlando,…

JOHN BARKER ‘I’ve driven a few E30 M3s over the years but never got up close with its racing equivalent. BMW Motorsport created the most successful Touring Car of all time from what today seem to be quite simple ingredients; as with the brilliant road car, it’s all in the execution.’ BMW M3, road vs track: pages 84-94. EVAN KLEIN ‘I felt just like James Dean racing around Hollywood with the Dean Jeffries Porsche, run and gun shooting in iconic locations. A rebel without a cause, imagining what 1950s Los Angeles would have been like. Living the dream!’ Evan’s spectacular photography illustrates our custom 356 quad-cam story on pages 96-104. MARK McARTHUR-CHRISTIE ‘Watches tell you stories. Sometimes they’re from the people who’ve worn them before, but it’s even better when you get…

What’s the best way to buy a classic car? I’ll get to that in a minute. Let’s start with the worst way, which has to be seeing it at a show or an auction and buying it off the floor. I know this because I’ve done it myself more than once. There’s an old adage: if you restore it properly it’s almost impossible to make money out of it. That’s because most classics (and just about any vehicle more than 50 years old) were built at a time when labour was cheap and technology was expensive. Now, it’s the complete reverse. Let’s start with some of my classic mistakes. In the early 1980s I bought at auction in Monterey a 1939 Lagonda V12 Le Mans replica. It was the first…

Be careful what you wish for. With the impact of massive government spending, the looming debt mountain, inflation, supply chain shortages, unemployment, and military manoeuvres in Eastern Europe and the South China Sea on the horizon, our great leaders seem intent only on Little Britain becoming the cleanest country on the planet. Its supremely optimistic green agenda will only make us colder and poorer, never mind the fact that Britain produces just one percent of the world’s emissions. Calling Britain a sideshow up against China, the USA, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia is overstating its significance. Even Germany offers its citizens (and industry) energy at 25% less cost (it recently fired up its massive coal-powered Dattein 4 plant) and the idea that the UK will become the ‘Saudi Arabia of…

The much-missed motoring writer Russell Bulgin supposedly once stated that ‘cars are boring; it’s what you do with them that makes them interesting’. Now, while you’d have to have a heart of granite to find the current Ford GT boring, it’s certainly true that doing a proper road trip in one is a lot more fun than walking around it, chin cupped in hand, and pondering the aesthetics. So, when car tour organiser Bill Telford got in touch to offer Octane a place on his 2021 Ford GT Tour, taking in some of the best driving roads in Scotland, it wasn’t a hard decision to make. Hell, he’d even throw in a car, courtesy of Ford of Britain, which had kindly offered to make its 2017-registered GT available for the…

THE JAGUAR’S RIDE has been bothering me for a while. The car’s suspension is set on the low side and it’s a design of the 1940s, so it’s very simple, with a solid rear axle. It runs firm gas dampers and new polybushes all round, with a thicker front anti-roll bar, and I always supposed this set-up would impart a rather harsh and sporty ride. Then I took a look at my ‘little black book’ of the XK’s service and running history and I was rather shocked (sorry) to realise that the dampers have been on the car for 15 years. After banging and crashing down to the Goodwood Revival in the late summer, I noticed the Koni Classic stand in the trade village and wandered over. There I met…

IT’S NOT OFTEN you get something for nothing, but the stars aligned for once during the ‘I don’t know what day it is/I’ve eaten too much cheese’ period between Christmas and New Year. London Mayor Sadiq Khan had suspended the Congestion Charge, the weather was unseasonably mild, and my 13-year-old daughter was – in her own words – ‘just so boooored’. Oh, and the Beemer needed a run. What better than a top-down sight-seeing trip? Pre-pandemic, I used to commute to Octane’s London office a few times a month. I never drove: the traffic was such a pain and if I timed the train right I could do it in 90 minutes door-to-door. Bear in mind that I live in the wilds of Northamptonshire; that was quicker than some actual Londoners…

ONE OF THE BEST things about owning the Integra has been the great conversations I’ve found myself having with other owners, both current and former. Given the way it looks, it’s not a surprise that the car attracts so much attention, but it does seem that a lot of people have very fond memories of these little Hondas. I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from another former owner, Rob Bishop, who spotted the car in the magazine. Having bought a brand-new Integra from Honda in 1999, he set about converting it into a Group N endurance racer for the 2000/2001 season (as pictured above). Competing in the Spa and Nürburgring 4-, 6- and 24-hour races, it proved to be pretty successful. ‘As a race car back in the…

YOU HAVE TO admire the chutzpah of Rolls-Royce’s PR department. In its never-ending quest to rid the company of a fuddy-duddy, reactionary image, it’s now pitching its founders Sir Henry Royce and CS Rolls as the ‘disruptors’ (horrid word!) of their day. Royces have always, so it claims, appealed to ‘outliers, visionaries and iconoclasts’. Hmmm. It’s certainly true that 23-year-old John Lennon was sticking two fingers up to The Establishment when he ordered a new Phantom V (below) in 1964, before he’d even passed his driving test. He requested that the brightwork be finished in black to match the body colour, with black-tinted rear windows – but apparently Rolls-Royce refused his request to make its iconic Palladian grille black, too. Nevertheless, it’s a fortuitous precedent for the company’s current Black…

THERE’S A REFRESHINGLY analogue nature about this Dacia. It’s an honest-to-goodness family car, SUV in shape, with room for five and a decent 445-litre boot. You can have it with four-wheel drive for a supplement of around £1000, should you wish, though this one is front-wheel drive. And while you see many bog-basic, steel-wheeled, black-bumper Duster 4x4s in Alpine climes, this Comfort-spec example feels about right here, with just enough creature comforts but – crucially – no pointless complications. I like my motoring simple, which is probably why I enjoyed the humble Renault 4 so much (see last issue). And the Duster was waiting for me when I got back. Difficult not to draw comparisons between the two. As many will know, Dacia is part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, which…

SNAGGING WHAT YOU’RE after, when most of the watches you like were made on the other side of the mid-1970s, is never a simple process. Rather like one of those mid-1980s in-car graphic equalisers, you’re always balancing more of one thing against having less of another. Push up the ‘cash’ slider and you can fade down the ‘time’ and ‘sheer bullheaded persistence’ faders. But, no matter what, you need luck to smile – and that’s just what happened to me back in 2016. I’ve always had a thing for vintage Heuers. They were on the wrists of my racing heroes: Derek Bell and Jo Siffert (who have Autavias named after them), Jochen Rindt and even Nikki Lauda, with his supermodern LCD Chronosplit. But the watch I was after was rarer…

CASSINA 699 SUPERLEGGERA For us lot, the word superleggera immediately brings to mind the cars dressed by Carrozzeria Touring, but for those outside the motoring community it’s just as likely to prompt a mental picture of this famous bit of furniture. Made from 1957 by Cassina, it was conceived by Italian architect and designer Gio Ponti, who ensured it lived up to its name: the ash legs have a cross-section of 18mm, and the whole thing weighs just 1700g. There’s a wonderful period photograph showing dozens of chairs tied to the roof of a Fiat 1100, the load dwarfing the car. Another, taken at the Cassina factory, is of a chair being hurled high into the air and surviving the drop unscathed; Ponti made sure the Superleggera was strong as…

1971 Morris A60 Sun-Tor Camper Manor Park Classics, online 30 January – 6 February, manorparkclassics.com Who needs a Volkswagen Camper? You might get some funny looks at the campsite, but this Sun-Tor is fully capable of sleeping two, with an on-board sink, cooker and 1.8kg gas bottle. The elevating roof looks great, and the whole thing is in excellent condition. It’s been very well-maintained throughout its life, and was family owned from 1975 until 2014. The history includes every MoT certificate. Estimated at £7000-9000. 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL Dore & Rees, Frome, Somerset, UK 12 February, doreandrees.com An original UK-supplied 3.0 CSL, which means it comes with the ‘City Pack’ – no spoiler, steel panels and some of the carpet and trim reinstated. This highly original example was owned by…

This column is being written only a few days into 2022. As such, I am still processing the fallout from that race – the one that rounded out the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship in such dramatic fashion. I was interested to read Christian Horner’s recent claim that people have short memories, and that the repercussions following December’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will soon be forgotten. I’m not so sure. The fact that it is still a topic of conversation, pretty much all that we motor racing junkies can talk about, speaks volumes. So much has been written about the race; in particular the stewards’ judgement that led to the drivers’ title being decided in effect by a one-lap sprint. The decision-making appeared to be random, at best, but then…

MIKE RENAUT’S ARTICLE about the movie Two Lane Blacktop in Octane 224 was an excellent critique. Courtesy of my late stepsister, who was married to Warren Oates at the time the film was made, I was able to spend some weeks on the road with the production as his guest. I was a 21-year-old kid from South London and still shaping up as a petrolhead (the Sunbeam Tiger was to become my lifelong passion) when I heard from my stepsister Vickery Turner – herself an actress and author of some note – about an upcoming ‘road movie’. It took some effort to find the means to make the trip to the US, but I fetched up in Tucumcari on Route 66 a couple of weeks into filming. Being short of dollars,…

THE LOCALE DOESN’T exactly scream ‘home of fabulous car collection’ but that is rather the point of the exercise, you surmise. Our host, Lincoln Small, then appears and swings open a pair of robust-looking iron gates before beckoning us down the side of some nondescript terraced houses. Moments later, we are confronted with assorted Ferraris, Lancias, Alfa Romeos, and… Well, you get the idea. The walls of the L-shaped building are awash with automobilia, but it’s the car nearest the door that’s closest to his heart. To the untutored eye, it’s patently an Abarth, but it was made in Fulham rather than Turin. For Small, who co-founded the firm that built the car, it represents only one chapter in a career that has rarely lacked entrepreneurial zeal or a love…

ROBERT COUCHER International editor • 1955 Jaguar XK140 ANDREW ENGLISH Contributor • 1962 Norton Dominator• 1965 Aston Martin DB5• 1967 Triumph GT6 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 • 1936 Singer Nine Sports• 1961 Saab 96• 1972 Rover 2000 TC• 1989 Mazda MX-5 Eunos MATTHEW HOWELL Photographer • 1962 VW Beetle 1600• 1969 VW/Subaru Beetle• 1982 Morgan 4/4 MASSIMO DELBÒ Contributor • 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230• 1972…

FIRE WAS THE one ingredient sadly absent from ‘Das Feuer’, the Porsche Club GB event held at the Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire, on a bitterly cold Sunday in December. Even a modest brazier on which to warm the hands would have been welcome. Originally planned for March 2020, the event had had to be cancelled only days beforehand when the first Covid lockdown was imposed. Das Feuer is the witty title for the PCGB’s take on the Luftgekühlt gatherings started in the US by Porsche racer and owner Patrick Long. They’re a mixture of car show and art installation for Porsche petrolheads, where photo ops are created by positioning selected cars in unexpected but photogenic settings. The Fire Service College is built on what was, as RAF Moreton-in-Marsh,…

‘A pair of classic V12 2+2s have returned to my garage – the Espada and the XJ12C. Full report on what’s been happening to each next month’Harry Metcalfe ‘I’ve never been sure whether the Model T’s dynamo was doing any work but the car now has a clever “dynator” conversion: a modern alternator inside a 1920s dynamo housing’Mark Dixon ‘After not being able to use my Morgan 4/4 for a year due to a dodgy rear axle rebuild, I’ve finally got my money back for the repair. The search continues for a specialist who knows what they are doing’Matthew Howell ‘Haven’t visited my Jensen for ages, but the last conversation with Massimo Olimpi at Autostilo ended with a pledge that it will be finished by March. Very excited about checking…

GIVE THE PEOPLE what they want. Having just sampled something close to automotive perfection in this GT3, it’s hard to argue with the hardcore GT Porsche buyers who demanded the option of a manual. On paper three pedals will always lose to two, but the stubby Alcantara-trimmed lever makes driving this fabulous Shark Blue machine an even more spiritual occasion. First of all, let me just say that Porsche’s PDK transmission is magnificent. It makes any car easier to drive quickly on road and track, makes traffic a breeze, and even knocks half a second off the manual GT3’s 3.9-second 0-62mph time. To many, the notion of a manual gearbox is completely outdated. In a car like this especially, it is. So what’s the appeal? Our love of driving is…

THE TANGENTE SPORT always seemed to be the Q-watch in the Nomos range. Up against the relaxed Club, the slick Weltzeit world-timer, and even its brother the Bauhausian basic Tangente, it looked – at first sight, anyway – as if there wasn’t a great deal to set it apart. On the contrary, it’s probably the most Nomos of all Nomoi and, because it’s now discontinued, it’s definitely worth hunting down. At 36.5mm it is slightly larger than the standard Tangente, which is 35mm, and it was designed to be a tougher big brother to the Nomos bestseller. Rather than the ‘washing the car’ 3atm waterproofing of the basic watch, the Sport got a proper 10atm rating so you could swim without worrying while wearing it, but you’d need to flip…

£1,045,000 (CHF 1,288,000) 2018 Ford GT Oldtimer Galerie, Gstaad, Switzerland. 29 December £862,000 ($1,150,000) 2019 Ford GT Heritage Edition Bring a Trailer, online. 22 December £744,500 ($985,000) 2018 Ford GT Bring a Trailer, online. 3 December £742,500 ($985,000) 2019 McLaren Senna Collecting Cars, online. 11 December £698,500 (€819,160) 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ Aguttes, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. 12 December £586,200 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Bonhams, London, UK. 4 December £575,000 1965 Austin-Healey 100S Bonhams, London, UK. 4 December £510,500 ($675,000) 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 Bring a Trailer, online. 14 December £480,500 ($635,000) 2018 Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Coupé Bring a Trailer, online. 20 December £460,000 1928 Bentley 6½ Litre Tourer Bonhams, London, UK. 4 December £460,000 1933 Bugatti Type 46S Two-Door Coupé by James Young Bonhams, London, UK. 4…

When lot 51976 is offered at Heritage Auctions’ Winter Sports Card sale (27-28 January in Dallas), what bidders see will depend on their appetite for risk. Individual, ultra-limited-edition basketball cards have sold for as much as $5.2m, but no mass-produced set from the modern era is as enthusiastically collected as that issued by Fleer for the 1986-1987 NBA season. It arrived at a time when the league was loaded with future Hall of Famers, among them Michael Jordan. Jordan joined the NBA in 1984, shortly after the rights to make NBA cards had been acquired by an upstart company called Star. Production problems and curious decisions followed: there were cutting and inking issues and, crucially, Star sold complete sets of cards rather than packs containing a random selection, meaning there…

1973 ALPINE A310 £27,995 A slightly more affordable car with a plexiglass headlight cover. This example was registered in France in 1973, and imported into the UK in 2000. It’s been well-maintained, with a comprehensive history. justinbanks.com (UK) 1939 AERO MODEL 50 SODOMKA, POA Built by Czechoslovakia’s Aero Automobiles, this Model 50 is powered by a Tatra four-cylinder, which drives the front wheels. Restored in 1988 and shown at Pebble Beach in 1990. blackhawkcollection.com (US) 1941 BUICK SPECIAL MODEL 46-S, 215.000 DKK Now fully registered in Denmark, this charming Model 46-S originated in Flint, Michigan. Powered by a 4.0-litre V8 with a three-speed manual, it has been recently overhauled and serviced. dkclassiccars.dk (DK) 2004 HOLDEN HSV COUPÉ 4 AUD $129,990 We tend to think of these coupés as old-school muscle…

WHAT TO PAY Finding a rough example isn’t difficult, with some cars in need of attention starting from under £1000. Expect to pay upwards of £3000 for an example in good health, with a real minter anywhere from £5000 to £10,000. Prices in Japan are generally higher, but there is still a good supply of cars. They’re being snapped up by the US market, so don’t expect to find many bargains. WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR It’s a 1990s Honda, so the priority is to check for corrosion. Cosmetic rust on the outer panels is the biggest problem, but inspect the underside thoroughly – especially if it has lived in the UK for long. The tiny engine loves to rev, and requires regular servicing. Abused or higher-mileage cars tend to…