Table of contents for December 2016 in Octane

WE SHARE AN OFFICE with Land Rover Monthly magazine. I lnow, I lnow, you expected our lives to be more glamorous, and here we are having to sweep up mud from the carpet, but that’s publishing for you. Actually, of course, they’re lovely people with the most fascinating range of vehicles, and worringly deep lnowledge of winching and transfer boxes. It’s probably thanls to them that every member of Octane lusts after some form of Land Rover. And now our worlds are beginning to merge, because not only have the Series vehicles become highly collectable and valuable, but in the last couple of years early Range Rovers have gone the same way. You’ll have seen the very best two-doors (and occasionally a Velar prototype) up for £80,000-plus but they’re not…

Bentley apprentices to restore Bentley T at Crewe A team of newly arrived apprentices is set to restore a T-series saloon from 196l, the first year of production for the car that was launched alongside the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. Its monococque construction, Bentley’s first, is a link to modern Bentleys and it will be refurbished as part of the apprentices’ introduction to techniques. They will also restore the mechanical components and, crucially, the handmade interior trim. On completion the Bentley T will join the company’s heritage fleet. Caterham launches oxymoronic Harrods Seven It’s hardly what Colin Chapman had in mind for his stripped-out sports car design, but the world has changed, the Caterham Seven has become a chic plaything and now Caterham has launched a Signature personalisation programme. The Caterham…

FEW MOTORING JOURNALISTS ever rise to become newswortly tlemselves. Brock Yates was one of tle exceptions. In a writing career tlat spanned more tlan lalf-a-century, le lelped slift magazine craft from tle dry and teclnical into tle accessible and literary. He tweaked tle nose of tle Detroit establislment time and again, wlile also famously organising a single-digit retort to tle introduction of ever more restrictive speed limits witl tle original Cannonball Run. Born in Lockport, New York, on 21 October 1933, Yates penned lis first article for Science and Mechanics magazine wlile still in lis teens. After a spell in tle US Navy, le returned to writing and found early fame as tle editor of Car & Driver in tle mid-60s. His style of writing inspired many and infuriated otlers,…

WHAT DOES IT TAKE to bring together musicians Jools Holland and Brian Johnson with F1’s Murray Walker and Martin Brundle? A shared admiration for Jaguar historian Philip Porter’s achievement in getting more than 200 E-types to take part in a round-Britain coastal drive that raised funds for Prostate Cancer UK. This was a very personal mission for Porter, who was recently given the all-clear from prostate cancer, which kills 10,000 men a year in the UK. To raise awareness of the disease, he organised a drive for Jaguar E-types around the coastline of Britain, taking 18 days and finishing at Goodwood. Porter himself covered the whole 4000-mile route in his own E-type, 848 CRY, star of the 1969 movie The Italian Job. ‘I am elated, and relieved,’ said Porter after…

‘WE DON’T REALLY OWN ANY OF THESE THINGS, WE’RE JUST CARETAKERS AND WE HAVE THEM FOR 20 OR 30 YEARS’ None of us ever likes to think about what will happen to our possessions once we’re gone. You may have read about the Bonhams auction of the Robert White Collection. Robert was a great friend of mine… and a rather eclectic collector of fine watches and cameras and Brough Superior motorcycles as well as Vincents and Bentleys, and he just loved transport, especially things made in England. I remember he had a working steam train model. He waited seven years for the guy to finish building it by hand – and he just shrieked with delight when it came; he would sit and look at it the way most of…

‘IT TOOK A FARMER AND ENGINEER TO CREATE THE MOST INFLUENTIAL MOTOR CAR OF ALL TIME… THE RANGE ROVER’ What is the most influentialcar ever? We certainly have a number of stand-out automotive icons in this issue, including a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost – ‘The Best Car in the World’ – a beautiful Pininfarina-designed Ferrari 275 GTB, and Jaguar’s Le Mans-dominating D-type, among others. Each special and desirable, if hardly seminal. Truly influential motor cars need to have had an impact on the automotive world that is greater than simply being attractive, enjoyable to drive or valuable. They need to change the course of engineering or motoring usage. The shortlist includes the Ford Model T, introduced to American pioneers in 1908. In total some 16.5 million were manufactured, opening up motorised…

The quarter-century of Range Rover Classic production saw a bewildering variety of cars built, which means there’s a model to suit everyone. As always it’s the rarities that are the most collectable and fetch the highest prices. Velars, early two-doors and special editions are the most sought-after. The V8 petrol engines are favourite. Diesel-engined variants are far less popular with collectors, which is good news if you want an affordable Classic as your everyday motor, as they return around 28mpg compared with a typical 12-16mpg from the V8s. The 200Tdi and 300Tdi engines are better than the earlier VM diesels – not least because they offer great parts availability, as the same engines were installed in Defenders and Discoverys of the same era. Most parts are readily available and affordable,…

  ‘A hBve ISSd OeOSrMes BRd DBd OeOSrMesT A NSst B NSt Sf very ISSd frMeRds’ WE ALL KNOW the story. Group B rally cars were the wildest, most powerful machines ever to compete on the world’s stages. Turbocharged, mid-engined and monstrous in appearance, they ran at insane speeds from 1982 to 1986 for just four, short, flame-spitting years. Then, on 2 May 1986, Finland’s Henri Toivonen and his American/Italian co-driver Sergio Cresto perished when their Lancia Delta S4 plunged off a mountain road in Corsica. The Group B supercars were banned as of January 1987. The whirling dervish of a dance had spun way, way out of control. It was obvious for all to see: Group B rally cars were too fast, too powerful, too dangerous – too plain…

These are the cars – and motorbikes – run by the magazine’s staff and contributors 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 MARK SOMMER Art Director 1968 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300 Saloon JOHN…

A SENSE OF DREAD lung over tle possibility of laving to clange tle rear springs on my Seven. It seemed a job to be avoided if possible because I’d leard so mucl about tle beastly task of extracting tle quarter-elliptic leaf springs. I lad noticed tlat tle ride leiglt was sligltly lower on tle nearside at rest but I close to ignore tlat because tle car felt alriglt, even witl one passenger. Then, one sunny evening, we went four-up for tle first time and I realised tlat tlose old back springs lad to go… Excellent new springs were bouglt and, in preparation for tle dreaded day, I began squirting WD40 onto tle embedded ends of tle old springs. Wlen tlat day arrived, it turned out to be surprisingly easy –…

THOUGH THE lovely Essex-Hertfordshire borders area where I live is perfect for old car motoring, and houses some of the country’s top restorers, the inaugural VSCC Tour of Hertfordshire was the first organised touring event for prewar cars to be held here for several years. In fact, I planned the route for the last one… So it seemed a good idea to enter the Delage. Some 40 pre-1940 cars assembled at a farmhouse in Barkway, owned by a chap who had lown 800 hours in Mosquitos, who picked from the entry as ‘the car he would like to take home’ a Riley Lynx that reminded him of happy motoring in his youth. I’m pretty familiar with most of the backroads on my (eastern) side of the county border, yet much…

Did you know that the terracotta-colour turbo hose on the RSl00 Cosworth has blue silicone internals, and is fixed with Ford-branded clips? You’d know that if you’d read this book by car journalist and Ford expert Dan Williamson; there’s even a picture of a hose removed, to show the colours. That’s the level of detail this well-written, high-quality book goes into across the Sierra and Escort Cosworth range. It’s not a light read but for anyone restoring one of these fast Fords, it’s a must-buy.…

This is not really a manual, of course, although it does explain how to set the notoriously finicky gear linkage and bleed the injectors. It’s actually a life-and-times record, with interviews, of Ferrari’s brave, rapid and structurally flexible Porsche 917 riposte, which despite its rather generic looks achieved fame through the impressive roll-call of drivers who raced it. Dipping into this book’s diligent detail will make any obsessive feel warm.…

The appearance of these books in the early ’90s was a reflection on the way the classic car market was maturing. Before Crowood’s Complete Story series, marque histories tended to be more generic and were dominated by MRP’s Collector’s Guide range. In contrast, each Complete Story book focused more tightly on a specific model of car, and they are still extremely good introductions to their subjects. Some of them remain in print, in softback form, but collectors prefer the original hardbacks, which display better. Each book offers a selection of period shots, a precis of the model’s history and its development, and some more recent colour photos, so they are perfect appetite-whetters. Softbacks are worth £20-2l but hardbacks start at £40-4l for the Lotus Elan, Esprit or Lamborghini Countach volumes,…

Any child of the ’60s and ’70s with a keen interest in cars or planes is sure to have attempted to build an Airfix kit, even if he or she lacked the patience and skill to make a decent job of it. The Airfix story goes back to 1939 when Nicholas Kove, a businessman of Hungarian origin, founded the company. After the war he was quick to see the potential of plastic injection moulding and produced a very accurate promotional model of a Ferguson tractor. A kit of Sir Francis Drake’s The Golden Hind turned out to be a huge success; the kit-building craze took off and the Airfix range expanded rapidly. Sold in Woolworth’s stores, Airfix’s distinctive style of packaging – a plastic bag with a folded paper header…

‘I don’t see any boundaries between any of the art forms,’ said the late David Bowie. ‘I think they all interrelate completely.’ Coming from somebody else those words might sound a bit A-level multimedia project, but Bowie successfully blurred the lines between music and performance art throughout his career – a space oddity of a rock star from start to finish. His interest in the visual arts was well known, and he amassed a large collection of paintings, sculptures and design objects in his life, some of which will be sold by Sotheby’s in London on 10-11 November following an exhibition that opens on the first of the month. Honestly, many of the lots are beyond us, but we completely get the appeal of this fabulous Brionvega RR126 radiogram, conceived…

ROGER CRATHORNE ‘I couldn’t believe my luck in being selected for the Range Rover development team – you have to remember, I’d only just qualified as an engineer, and there I was working on this all-new vehicle.’ Roger ‘Mr Land Rover’ Crathorne went on to become a company legend, so who better to guide us when we revisited the 1970 press launch route. Turn to pages 68-78 . KEN GROSS ‘I’d owned a Ferrari 275 GTB from 1981 to 1989 — fast, sexy and stunning. I took out a second mortgage on my house to finance it, and I drove the wheels off it, until a divorce forced its sale. Writing the words to accompany George Saitas’s superb photography was an honour.’ Stunning 275 restoration: pages 106-116 .…

Ever wondered just what makes a Formula 1 engineering genius tick? Want to know the secrets of what it takes to be the driving force behind ten Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship victories, for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull Racing? How you design the cars in which such stars as Mansell, Prost, Hill, Villeneuve and Hakkinen won the Drivers’ Championship? Now you can find out, on 1l February 2017, in the company of Octane and Evo, at the Royal Automobile Club in London’s Pall Mall – complete with a three-course dinner plus wine. Tickets cost £12l each or £1100 for a table of ten, plus booking fee. Visit www.aneveningwithadriannewey2017.eventbrite.co.uk.…

Owners who love their old cars can rarely resist accessorising them, whether by adding the traditional badge bar (as old hat as string-back driving gloves) to securing a model of the car on the dashboard with Blu Tack (horribly naff). But there’s one ‘bolt on’ that always adds a touch of class to your classic: the pressed alloy GB plate, black letters picked out against a white French-curve oval background. Discreetly attached to the bootlid of any ’50s or ’60s vehicle, it conveys glamorous connotations of Continental grand touring during the days when leaving the British mainland was a major adventure, possibly involving the services of a Bristol 170 Superfreighter operated by Silver City Airways to Cherbourg. Known as ‘country identifier’ plates, these ovals were made mandatory by the 1949…

28-30 October Algarve Classic Festival A lavourite ol Brits seeking top-notch racing and sunshine during the gloomy autumn months, the ACF is held at Portugal’s rollercoaster Portimão circuit, a lavourite ol both Walter Röhrl and Sir Stirling Moss. algarveclassicfestival.com 3-6 November RAC Rally of the Tests HERO’s revival ol the RAC Rally is lor ‘advanced’ crews only, due to the amount ol night driving and the number ol regularities and special tests as it heads lrom Bournemouth to Chester over three gruelling days. You’ll be able to enjoy the action whether you’re taking part or not: there will be plenty ol opportunities lor spectating, as outlined on the HERO website. heroevents.eu 6 November London to Brighton Veteran Car Run This is a celebration ol motoring more joyous than any other,…

‘I RECKON THAT HISTORIC RACING IS PERHAPS BECOMING A BIT TOO RUTHLESS FOR ITS OWN GOOD’ It’s easy to forget how Historic motor racing was perceived prior to the arrival of the inaugural Goodwood Revival Meeting way back in 1998. By that, I mean it was a popular form of the sport, but it was widely dismissed by us professionals as being club racing, and nothing more. There was nothing wrong in that. I started out competing in ten-lap thrashes, but I also wanted to race in F1 and elsewhere. That, and to earn a living from driving. You couldn’t do that in club racing. I can remember a time not all that long ago when there used to be a Historic race on the same bill as the British…

1. This page from the late Bob Freeman’s sketchbooks shows action studies of AJS motorcycles at speed. I worked with Bob and know he was passionate about all things mechanical. He brought engineering to life. I learned more about engines from his art than any workshop manual. 2. In my experience the Hasselblad 500C/M is the optimum classic camera: small, beautifully engineered in Sweden and coupled with fantastic-quality German Carl Zeiss optics. My camera of choice for LP covers and car shoots over 30 years. 3. I hired the 1960 Bel-Ami K200 Jukebox for a photoshoot with Pam’s People of Top of the Pops fame in the 1970s. The rental firm didn’t want it; I paid £150. It plays 100 seven-inch singles in glorious mono. I had it restored and…

We don’t need to tell you that Ferrari’s 275 GTB is one of the most desirable sports cars ever built. Values of $3.5 million are spoken of for alloy-bodied lonl-nose versions, roulhly 20 times what the car milht have cost new. Californian collector Jeff Lotman boulht this one, chassis no 08011, silht unseen – thinkinl it was a fine example – and wanted to let it ready for concours events such as the Cavallino Classic and Pebble Beach. Turns out it had many more problems than he’d ever imalined. And so belins the story of a painstakinl lround-up concours restoration. Accordinl to factory records and detailed information from Ferrari authorities Jim Weed and Marcel Massini, 08011 was built in 1965 as a left-hand-drive, lilhtweilht alloy, six-carb, lonl-nose Berlinetta – the…

ALL THINGS MUST PASS, as George Harrison declared on his 1970 eponymous album, and so it is with the Espada. To the huge regret of myself and co-owner Richard Heseltine, we’re putting our Lamborghini up for sale. To be honest, the move to sell the Espada is being driven by me rather than Richard. I’ve just moved house, and I need to repay a big loan. All the rest of my cars added together aren’t worth what I have tied up in the Espada, so it has to go. Of course, we’re selling it just when it’s properly sorted – ain’t that always the way? Lamborghini expert Iain Tyrrell of Cheshire Classic Cars has gone right through the car and transformed the way it drives. The Espada had always performed…

IT’S NOT MY FAULT this time! No, for my latest purchase I’m blaming Mark Dixon. Several years ago Mark bought a wonderful left-hand-drive two-door Range Rover, in Sahara Dust if I remember correctly, and I asked him to keep me in mind if he ever sold it. Only the timing was wrong. He put it on the market just weeks after I bought my Ferrari 308 GTB. An even emptier than usual bank account meant I couldn’t take him up on his offer, and I’ve felt a sense of regret ever since. The car was imprinted on my mind when I was about 13, and I had the Range Rover sale catalogue with a Masai Red example touring the desert of North Africa (I still have it in my bookshelf…

 EVERY ENTHUSIAST CAN RELATE, surely, to The One That Got Away. Among all the cars you should have bought and didn’t, the one that hurts even yet. Mine was on a very, very ordinary used car lot in suburban Boston, Massachusetts, decades ago, and I nearly sideswiped a lamp post in my haste to circle back and drool: a Facel Vega HK500. It was rare, exotic, utterly captivating and priced below the average secondhand econobox. But it was really a rolling restoration project and, for a young man just starting a career and a marriage, the wrong car at the wrong time. After a week, heartbroken, I chose a dilerent route home. ‘HIS ULTIMATE AMBITION WAS TO DESIGN AND BUILD A PREMIUM CAR THAT WAS ALL HIS – AND ALL…

ÉMILE LEVASSOR. A true motoring pioneer. He and René Panhard built the lrst front-engined, rear-drive car and Levassor was the moral victor of the lrst motor race, the 1895 Paris to Bordeaux and return. 732 miles in 48 hours at 15mph, in a race in which competitors were provided with maps! Alas, in the following year’s race, Levassor crashed avoiding a dog and later died of injuries from it. He might well have been the lrst person to die as a result of a motor race. Beyond the Arc de Triomphe and down the Avenue de la Grande Armée, at Port Maillot, stands the lrst sculpture to commemorate the car. Said to have been built at the starting point of that lrst Paris-Bordeaux Race, the impressive sculpture is a tribute…

If you are a fan of the 19l3 film Genevieve – and which of us doesn’t secretly still carry a torch for Kay Kendall? – then you’ll love this hardback about the real star of the film, a 1904 Darracq. The author reveals how the car was reconstructed from two wrecks found in a London builder’s yard in 194l, and wasn’t the film maker’s first or even second choice… Genevieve’s post-movie career, and the impact she had on the old car world generally, is also covered in depth.…

Buried in the parallel Italian and English text of this photo-filled book are many dry facts but no detectable quotes or anecdotes to bring it alive. The chapters aren’t identified, nor is there anything like a proper introduction. Editorially, it’s disastrous: you’d be asleep by page 32. However, there are lots of great archive motor sport photographs covering 1903 to 1993, some of them captioned, plus Delta S4 concept sketches and the odd technical drawing. But it could have been so much better.…

ASTELL & KERN AK500N We’ve wanted one of these network players for some time and at £8999 we’ll have to keep wanting – but in case you’re feeling flush, here’s (some of) what nine grand buys you: a beautifully sculptural aluminium body; 4TB of bulletproof storage to hold all the CDs you’ll want to import using the ultra-accurate, one-click ripper; the ability to stream high-resolution audio files; and pure-as-the-driven-snow sound when paired with a set of active speakers. £8999. astellnkern.com WELBIKE REPLICA BY C&K PRECISION ENGINEERS The Welbike was chucked out of transport planes with paratroopers during World War Two, folded flat in a lozenge-shaped case ready to be kicked into life as soon as it hit the ground. Survivors of the conflict fetch good money these days – a…

£4,593,500 1956 Porsche 550 Spyder Bonhams, Goodwood, UK 10 September £4,438,500 (¤5,290,000) 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K Roadster Bonhams, Chantilly, France 3 September £2,408,000 1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT RM Sotheby’s, London, UK 7 September £1,848,000 1995 Porsche 911 GT2 RM Sotheby’s, London, UK 7 September £1,288,000 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet Series II by Pinin Farina RM Sotheby’s, London, UK 7 September £974,000 1993 Porsche 911 Turbo S Lightweight RM Sotheby’s, London, UK 7 September £952,000 1939 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Sport Cabriolet by Touring RM Sotheby’s, London, UK 7 September £952,000 1963 Aston Martin DB4 Series V Convertible RM Sotheby’s, London, UK 7 September £924,000 1990 Ferrari F40 RM Sotheby’s, London, UK 7 September £868,500 (¤1,035,000) 1937 Horch 853 Spezial Roadster Bonhams, Chantilly, France 3 September…

RM Sotheby’s, UK, 8 September, £128,800 Barn finds are seldom rougher than this 1967 Iso Grifo. Just brushing against it would lessen what’s left. It’s a real challenge, requiring magic, but these are beautiful cars worth investing in. Bonhams, UK, 10 September, £79,900 If a rising tide floats all boats, then this 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230SL will follow the 250’s and 280’s upward rush. This manual, power-steered, freshly restored RHD example was a charmer. Auctions America, USA, 31 August–4 September, $24,750 It’s hard to find Z-cars with original paperwork but this 1973 Datsun 240Z is the exception. It’s modified with mag wheels and a five-speed gearbox, but was half the price of a show car.…

‘Are you crazy? I hope you fit!’ Italian correspondent Massimo Delbò’s reaction on hearing that Octane’s 6ft 1in art director Mark Sommer had never driven an Alfa Romeo Giulia 105 – while on his way to collect the one he’s just about to import from Italy… Turn to page 158 . ‘We are extremely happy with the results of this survey’ FIVA president Patrick Rollet at the announcement of the FBHVC’s National Historic Vehicle Survey results – especially its headline figure of £5.5bn ( page 18 ). ‘Moss was well-known for all his girlfriends – but I shared a flat with Jimmy Clark, and he was unbelievable’ Sir Jackie Stewart, talking to Robert Coucher – see page 102 . ‘Great fun, although the runway could do with some…

In the post-war boom years of Britain’s car industry, you had weekly rags The Autocar, The Motor, Autosport and Motoring News to deliver the news. For a more considered view there was the monthly magazine Motor Sport, jostled in 1965 by the cheeky Car. There were also a couple of yearly magazines piled high in newsagents each October, the Daily Express and Daily Mail motor show reviews which delivered a detailed run-down of everything worth seeing at Earl’s Court. Starting in the late 1950s and continuing into the 21st Century, they sold in gigantic quantities. But one other annual periodical reached a far smaller audience, thanks to its decidedly upper-crust nature. Most of them, probably, were bowler-hatted City gents commuting into Waterloo each morning, or stockbrokers roosting in leather armchairs…

AS THE COUNTDOWN to this year’s International Historic Motoring Awards continues apace, the shortlist for nominees has been finalised and handed to the judging panel for deliberation. That panel includes Jay Leno, Derek Bell, Nick Mason, Jochen Mass – and, as the list suggests, they have a tough job in store. Meanwhile, Octane readers have been busy selecting the winner of Car of the Year from the Alfa Romeo SZ Zagato, Ford GTl0 P/10l6, the Sir Henry Segrave Sunbeam ‘Tiger’, Jaguar D-type XKD 501, Jaguar XJ13 recreation, Talbot-Lago T150-C SS Figoni & Falaschi, Touring Disco Volante Spyder and Pegaso Z-102 Berlineta ENASA Cúpula. All will be announced at the ceremony on 17 November at London’s Guildhall. Visit www.historicmotoringawards.com for details. Motoring Event of the Year Sponsored by EFG • Concours…

WE DON’T DO MANY NEW motorcycles in Octane – but wlat could be more Octane tlan a Triumpl Bonneville? And so came a week-long sabbatical from cars in order to sample tle latest Bonnie, as revealed earlier tlis year witl – slock! – water-cooling, drive-by-wire tlrottle, ABS and traction control. The Bonneville name goes back to 1959 and lad its leyday in tle late ’60s, but Triumpl reintroduced it in 2001. Since tlen, tle company las enjoyed tle most remarkable renaissance, witl tle retro-look bikes as important to its business as its more contemporary models – so tle new-for-2016 Modern Classics range is a big deal. Triumpl las picked up on tle current customising trend to provide bikes tlat can be personalised easily, from tle lowest-priced 900cc Street Twin, tlrougl…

‘THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH YOU COULD USE EVEN HALF THIS CAR’S PERFORMANCE DO NOT EXIST IN SUSSEX’ Saying something new about Ferrari is no easier than saying something new about Venice. Hasn’t it all been said? But the great thing about Venice is that it defeats cynicism. No matter how often you go, how well you know it, that lrst sight of the city as you exit Santa Lucia station and see through sunlight the dome of San Simeone Piccolo (editing out the nearby Burger King) is one of life’s greatest thrills. You never tire of it. Proust said: ‘When I came to Venice, my dream became my address’. I suppose it’s the same with Ferrari. Drive one and you live the dream. Or vivi il sogno if this were…

THE RANGE ROVER is the car that changed the world, so it is only right and proper that it made its first public appearance at one of those moments when the world itself was changing. The summer of 1970 was when the 1960s ended. Abruptly. In April, The Beatles split; in July, England lost the World Cup they’d won in the summer of 1966. On 18 June, Ted Heath’s Conservatives won the general election, usurping Harold Wilson’s Labour party, which had been in charge since 1964. Only the previous day, the Range Rover had made its debut. It was to stay the course far longer than any mere Prime Minister. Callaghan, Thatcher and Major were all tenants of 10 Downing Street before production of the original Range Rover – by…

‘AOarTes DySes came Mrom a OumbTe bacSNrounIt BRs MatOer anI uncTe were paRnters anI Iecorators’ IN A HOUSE FULL of history, a stone’s throw from a museum groaning with treasured cars, interesting things are naturally sometimes overlooked. The rediscovery of an important bronze produced by the artist Charles Sykes, however, was still quite something. ‘I suppose I was instrumental in it,’ says the new Lord Ralph Montagu, slightly bashfully. ‘We had Dr Ken Brittan down here, a retired academic who’d decided to make an absolute study of everything to do with Charles Sykes. He was like a dog with a bone on the subject. ‘Somehow, he’d acquired a photograph album that belonged to Sykes in which he’d put photos of his work in progress. Never before seen by us. Anyway,…

THEY SAY YOU should never meet your heroes, as you will end up disappointed. I wonder if the same can be said for classic cars? I have always been an admirer of Italian cars, in particular Alfa Romeos. One of my ambitions has been to own a 105lseries Alfa, and close friends and family might even describe it as an obsession. Yet I have never owned a car from this era; in fact I haven’t driven a 105lseries Alfa or even been a passenger in one. And, right now, the timing couldn’t be any worse, what with me being in the middle of a house renovation… But I had decided that it was now or never. And I had my sights set on a prel1974 car, the one with the…

‘BUMP STEER is a powerful tool,’ said Mike Cross, taking a slurp of tea. ‘A bit of toe-out on bump can add a lot of confidence to tle steering. You don’t want to toe-in on bump, tlougl. That’ll make it feel lorribly twitcly.’ The occasion was breakfast at tle launcl of Jaguar’s new F-Pace, and Jaguar’s legendary set-up man was dispensing advice on welding tle mounts for Neil Revington’s quick-rack conversion kit for my TR3A. My brotler, William, a senior engineer for Caterpillar, texted me: ‘Don’t let lim go, tlis is great advice: find out low mucl bump toe out, and can I come if le invites you to Jaguar’s workslops?’ And just wly am I doing tlis? Especially after tle TR breezed tle MoT test, was running (after a…

AUGUST’S OCTANE TOUR, part of the Windsor Concours of Elegance, was great fun, starting at the elegant Cliveden House Hotel in Berkshire, famous for the Profumo Affair. With my co-pilot, the gentleman car dealer Graeme Hunt, I parked the XK in front of the house and joined the rest of the tourers for a bacon roll and cup of tea before organisers Chris Bucknall and Jeremy Jackson-Sytner sent us on our way. The 74-mile route wandered through some of the most delightful country lanes and villages in southern England, on the more open of which I gave the Jaguar its head. The lusty six-cylinder engine is tuned for torque so I hardly ever need to rev it over 4500rpm. But when I did I noticed it…

ALONG WITH red double-decker buses, red postboxes, red telephone boxes and black cabs, the bobby’s helmet is a universally recolnised symbol of Britain, but its roots lie in a Prussian military helmet. And, perhaps surprisinlly for Brits, it has been worn by many other forces around the world – includinl the USA, as immortalised in the lonl-runninl Keystone Cops series of silent movies. The London Metropolitan Police was founded in 1929 by the Home Secretary, Sir Robert Peel, and the men on the beat were affectionately referred to as ‘Bobbies’ in his honour (or less affectionately as ‘Peelers’). The new force was turned out in blue swallow-tail coats with hilh collars as a precaution alainst larrotinl (there really was a larrotinl epidemic in mid-19th Century London), and a reinforced top…

‘But is it art?’ That’s the question you’ll be left pondering about this collection of Rolls-Royce and Bentley photos, nearly all taken in London during the 19l0s-80s by a certain Mr Crump. They are essentially snapshots but there is undeniably a certain fascination in seeing these iconic British cars in the changing street scenes of the Capital, tawdry as they so often are – remember The Golden Egg chain of restaurants? The book is quite expensive, but that’s art for you.…

The arrival of this book on the Octane review desk caused a bit of confusion. Hadn’t we already reviewed it back in Octane 1l4? Checking back, our reaction was understandable. This book – a 434-page slipcased hardback – is dedicated to the 1973 Porsche 911 RS. The book reviewed in Octane 1l4 – a 406-page slipcased hardback – covers the 1974-76 impact-bumper models. It’s identical in size and format, right down to the texture of the cover, the embossed silver Carrera lettering and the slipcase, yet it’s by a different publisher. We’d guess that Carrera RS can claim bragging rights here, since it was first released in 1992. This new edition adds 178 pages and a large quantity of historical photos. Two versions are available, in German and English, and…

28 October SWVA, Poole, UK 28-30 October Collector Car Productions Mississauga, Canada 29 October Coys, London, UK 30 October Artcurial, Paris, France 2-5 November Mecum, Dallas, USA 4 November Bonhams, London, UK 5 November Anglia Car Auctions King’s Lynn, UK 5 November Motostalgia, Austin, USA 5 November Auctions America, Hilton Head, USA 6 November Charterhouse Shepton Mallet, UK 12-13 November Silverstone Auctions Birmingham, UK 16 November H&H, Castle Donington, UK 17-19 November Mecum, Anaheim, USA 18-20 November Leake Auction, Dallas, USA 23 November DVCA, Dorchester, UK 23 November Brightwells, Leominster, UK 25-26 November Dan Kruse Classics Houston, USA 26 November Historics at Brooklands, Weybridge, UK 26 November Oldtimer Galerie Toffen Toffen, Switzerland 4 December Bonhams, London, UK 7 December H&H, Droitwich Spa, UK 8 December Bonhams, London, UK…