Classic Car Mart September 2021

Welcome… PLATING UP Whilst we’re generally all for tolerance here at CCM and take the view that if it’s your car you’re welcome to do what you like to it, everyone has their own particular bugbear, whether it’s secretly not really liking MGBs or wondering why the Nissan Figaro isn’t more popular… but one thing we’re all agreed on is that number plates can absolutely make or break a car’s looks. We’re not talking cherished plates here – that’s a whole different can of worms best left unopened – but the more subtle aspects of style and presentation which can make a huge difference. Oddly though, once again we all have our different takes on the subject: contributor Peter SImpson gets particularly vexed about black-and-silver plates on post-’73 cars on…

PLUGS & LEADS E10 IS HERE: WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW? It’s been a long time coming and there’s been much discussion within the classic car world about it, but E10 fuel is now in the forecourt pumps and the government advertisements have started appearing on billboards. As its name suggests, E10 petrol contains up to 10 per cent ethanol, twice the proportion of the E5 grade which has been the standard for the last decade. The issue of ethanol in fuel has long been a hot potato in the classic car world but at the lower concentration of the E5 fuel has proved not to be a problem in practice. However, the E10 grade has people worried about its effects on older cars. There are two big issues…

ANOTHER NEW AGE FOR BUGATTI The turbulent history of Bugatti takes the marque in another new direction with the announcement this month of a joint venture with Croatian EV maker Rimac. The agreement sees the establishment of a new company, Bugatti Rimac which will be led by Rimac founder Mate Rimac as CEO. Rimac Group will hold a 55% stake, with Porsche holding 45%. Both Bugatti and Rimac are to continue as individual marques, with Bugatti retaining its production facility in Molsheim, although its headquarters will eventually be moved to the recently announced Rimac campus near Zagreb. Meanwhile, a separate company, Rimac Technology will continue to provide EV expertise to car makers. It doesn’t take a leap of imagination to predict that the result of the move will be electric…

CLASSIC CUT-OFF TO STAY AT 40 A much-publicised petition to Parliament requesting that the cut-off date for a car to be considered historic be reduced from 40 years to 30 years has been met with refusal. “There are no current plans to reduce the tax exemption age for classic cars from 40 to 30 years. The government has set 40 years as being a fair cut-off date to distinguish classic cars from old cars,” states the government response. Since the 2014 Budget, a rolling exemption from road tax and MoT testing was set at 40 years, although many EU countries will use 30 years. The petition was much discussed on social media but received only 13,671 signatures – far below the 100,000 required to trigger a debate in Parliament.…

REBORN R5 CONFIRMED As part of its awkwardly-named ‘Renaulution’ strategy, Renault has confirmed that the reimagined and electrified Renault 5 previewed back in January will be making it to production, with a performance model marketed under the Alpine brand. Slated to be on sale from 2024, the regular model will use a 134bhp motor, with the Alpine getting a 215bhp version, or 160kW in new money. The bigger motor is physically longer than the regular unit, so with it mounted transversely expect the Alpine to feature chunky boxed arches in the spirit of the original 5 Turbo. The Alpine versions of the classic R5 were marketed as Gordini over here since Chrysler at the time owned the rights to the name, but following the revival of the Alpine brand in…

ULTIMATE X-TYPE RESURFACES After being hidden from view for some 15 years, an intriguing V8-powered Jaguar X-Type racer has now reappeared and is currently for sale at Gloucestershire motorsport engineering specialist CNC AWS Engineering. The car was originally built up by legendary touring car racer Andy Rouse’s company Rouse Hall Motorsport back in 2003 for a race series to be known as SCV8. The series was to use production bodyshells over a spaceframe chassis with 550bhp Nicholson McLaren V8s driving through a Hewland gearbox, but despite support from Jaguar, Peugeot and others, the series ultimately never got off the ground. “It’s a fantastic car, superbly built and specified with the best parts,” says CNC AWS’ Alan Strachan, who was employed by Rouse when the car was being built. “It’s also…