Sommaire pour August 2023 de Octane

The eight finalists for the annual Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award have been announced, with the winner to be revealed during The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering in California on 13 August. The award is a showdown between the 2022 winners of the most exclusive concours in the world, with a team of expert judges that includes Octane’s Jay Leno, Ralph Lauren and Henry Ford III picking the overall winner. The finalists include two Duesenbergs, the Figoni-bodied 1932 Model J Sports Torpedo that won Best of Show at Pebble Beach, and the 1934 J-531 LaGrande Convertible Coupé, which was Best of Show (road car) at The Amelia. From France come the Vanvooren 1937 Bugatti 57S Cabriolet that triumphed at Villa d’Este and the Concours of Elegance-winning 1938 Delage Type…

Has anyone predicted the future accurately? I came across a copy of a magazine called Science and Invention from the early 1920s and it had an article headlined ‘The Automobile of 1973 – some 50 years in the future’. It said, in the future, a car with a steering wheel will be ‘as obsolete as a car with a hand pump for gas and oil is today’. Driving will be done from a small control board that can be held in your lap. It will be connected to the mechanism by a flexible electric cable or small finger lever to guide the car. Another cable will attend to the speed changes, and will light and warm up the car, blow the horn and even apply the brakes! If you don’t…

It’s beginning to dawn on our political leaders that net zero by 2050 is probably not going to happen and banning the sale of internal-combustion-engine vehicles by 2030 will cause disruption and hardship for the British people. That great thinker Theresa May (remember her?) decided to write the net zero target into law and for Britain to ban ICE before anyone else, by plucking the 2030 date out of relatively clean air, purely for political gain – well, that didn’t work – without pondering that this Paris (dis)agreement will sadly make little difference to global warming. And at what cost? With no real scrutiny these vainglorious policies were enacted to make Britain appear the ‘world leader’ in decarbonising, particularly with respect to road transport. But who are we trying to…

ALTHOUGH I DIDN’T ever file a report on my 1999 Mercedes Benz R170 SLK, I’ve recently sold it after owning it since 2010. It was painted the gorgeous Vivianite Green, a very rare colour, and I bought it for £5500 and sold it for £3000, which seems a not-unreasonable price after 12 years of ownership. Having sold it, though, we started to miss it! The main reason for the sale was the cost of ULEZ charges so I went looking for its successor, the R171 SLK. There is no shortage of these cars on the market but finding the right one is not easy. I eventually discovered this red example (below right) offered by another member in the M-B club magazine. It was a two-owner car with 40,000 miles and…

I’VE FINALLY decided to part with the gorgeous piece of kinetic sculpture that has graced my living room and delighted my senses for the past decade or so. The fact that my wife has never shared my enthusiasm for the aesthetic delight of a Bimota DB1 motorbike indoors may also have some bearing on the decision. It arrived there due to the fact I could no longer get my leg over (no snickering, please), thanks to a worn-out hip. If I couldn’t ride the Bimota, I reasoned that I could at least look at it and dream, so while my wife was away for a few days I sneaked it into the house, rearranged the furniture and hoped she wouldn’t go ballistic on her return. I’ve owned the Bimota from…

IT’S SIGNIFICANT that, since Octane tested the Giulia recently, Alfa Romeo has launched a facelifted version. Subtle stuff: headlamps with LED graphics that look like those of the Tonale SUV, a new digital instrument pack (it mimics the old-fashioned gauges that went before), and an engine range that’s been pared back (in the UK) to the 276bhp turbo four that powered the car I drove. The lower-powered petrol and the diesel versions have been banished, while the scintillating Quadrifoglio range-topper is about to reappear. The latter bowled me over, frankly, when I drove it in 2020: rear-drive, a supple chassis and a gloriously generous 503bhp twin-turbo V6 – no wonder our sister magazine evo referred to it as an ‘all-time great’. Yet, for me, a compact saloon wearing the Giulia…

MIKE WELHAM’S CV reads like something by Ian Fleming. He joined the Royal Marines in 1963, specialised in canoeing, parachuting and combat diving, and went on to become a member of 21 SAS and Naval Gunfire Support 95 Commando RAR. Yet there’s no sense of brag or bravado when you talk to him. He’s good company, tells great stories and possesses the understated air of people who’ve been there, done that and quite probably blown up the T-shirt factory. Given his background, I at least expected our interview to be in a darkened room somewhere and involve bright lights. In fact, we chatted with Mike sitting at his dining room table with some reassuringly normal flowery curtains behind him. It’s all quite a contrast to his old day job that…

This Bentley looks very much like a Dinky Toy, and the maker’s name sounds similar to Dinky, too. Yet it was made not in the famous Meccano Ltd factory in Liverpool, but 5000 miles away in India. Back in the ’60s, Dinky had to keep bringing out new models to keep up with competitors such as Corgi and Matchbox. This left it with redundant tooling for older models, which could then be sold on to someone else. That someone else was S Kumar of Calcutta, who traded under the name Atamco Ltd. Between 1968 and 1970, Kumar acquired the tooling for a variety of old Dinky Toys – but not permission to use the Dinky name. Hence a few letters on the base and the boxes of the models were…

£10,468,500 (€12,042,500) 1972 Ferrari 312PB RM Sotheby’s, Cernobbio, Italy. 20 May £5,725,500 (€6,586,250) 1961 Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta RM Sotheby’s, Cernobbio, Italy. 20 May £3,231,500 (€3,717,500) 1956 Ferrari 500TR Spider RM Sotheby’s, Cernobbio, Italy. 20 May £2,449,000 (€2,817,500) 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 RM Sotheby’s, Cernobbio, Italy. 20 May £2,449,000 (€2,817,500) 2019 Bugatti Chiron RM Sotheby’s, Cernobbio, Italy. 20 May £2,107,000 (€2,423,750) 2019 Ferrari Monza SP1 RM Sotheby’s, Cernobbio, Italy. 20 May £2,009,000 (€2,311,250) 1973 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 RM Sotheby’s, Cernobbio, Italy. 20 May £1,838,000 (€2,114,375) 1989 Ferrari F40 RM Sotheby’s, Cernobbio, Italy. 20 May £1,765,500 ($2,200,000) 1970 Plymouth ’Cuda 440 Rapid Transit show car Mecum, Indianapolis, USA. 12-20 May £1,398,000 (€1,608,125) 1968 Lamborghini Miura P400 RM Sotheby’s, Cernobbio, Italy. 20 May…

When writer and Bugatti expert Frank Studstrup needed to find some words to describe Ettore Bugatti’s leadership style, he settled on these: ‘Ettore ruled his kingdom like a prince from a feudal era.’ If Ettore was a dictator, though, he was at least a benevolent one. He paid his staff well (indeed, more handsomely than he could really afford at times), and in the mid-1920s he showed his appreciation for a few especially important employees by presenting them with a special, 18-karat gold wristwatch. Shaped like the radiator of a Bugatti and featuring a crown at 12 o’clock to resemble a radiator cap, the watch was produced in small numbers by Mido of Switzerland. The first batch, delivered between 1925 and 1926, consisted of 54 watches. Several of those were…

1998 HONDA INTEGRA TYPE R $37,480 Now that they fall into the ‘25-year rule’ category, there’s no reason not to import the better-equipped and cheaper European-market Integras into the US. This 80k-mile car looks to be in great shape, too. carcaveusa.com (US) 1965 ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER CLOUD III, £375,000 One of only six two-doors built by James Young on the Silver Cloud III chassis, this remains one of the prettiest post-war Rolls-Royces. Offered from a collection and in remarkably original condition. graemehunt.com (UK) 1972 VW KARMANN GHIA TC €39,995 It’s very unusual to find these special South American cars in Europe, let alone in such fantastic condition. It was restored to an amazing standard in 2016, and comes with a great history file. erclassics.com (NL) 1966 MG MIDGET NZ $22,500 There’s…

WHAT TO PAY If you want a usable car with a few niggles, then these start from around £6000. There are plenty of tidy, average-mileage cars from £8000, with clean examples costing between £10,000 and 15,000. While convertibles tend to cost a little more due to lower mileages, prices are largely similar. WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR If looked after, these large, unstressed engines are bombproof. Check for oil leaks and general signs of neglect. Worn engine mounts will cause excess movement and reduced power. Ensure the transmission shifts smoothly. If not, it might need a new torque converter. Like so many other Mercedes of this era, electronic faults are the real Achilles’ heel. Check that everything works, especially the traction control, ASR and ABS systems. Expect a big bill…

DAVID ROSCOE-RUTTER ‘Not one, but two! Incredibly beautiful GTs yet with a surprisingly raw sports car feel, these two very special Astons drew plenty of attention and were a dream to shoot. I’ll take one.’ David’s superb photography accompanies Glen Waddington’s Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato feature on pages 50-60. EVAN KLEIN ‘This was my first journey in an electric car. It was silent, it floated across the highway, we learned about the pitfalls of charging stations. When I got home, I started my Audi TT and noticed something odd… It vibrated. Oh yes, that’s the motor.’ Evan accompanied Mark Dixon along Route 66, photographing the Kia EV6 GT: pages 98-106. RICHARD HESELTINE ‘I waited years to get into the Abarth Spider. It was worth it. The car looked sensational and screamed its…

The build-up to this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans saw a group of us silverbacks attend a special gala dinner at Musée Rodin in Paris. The French know how to stage this sort of thing, that’s for sure. They also know how to look after their guests, and there were 400 in total. I was one of five winners in attendance and I got to trundle my old Porsche 917 ‘Long Tail’ along a road temporarily laid out around the gardens. I last drove it at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, when it was in Martini colours. It was lovely to see it back in its original Gulf livery. Tom Kristensen was there, too, driving a vintage Bentley, while Henri Pescarolo and Emanuele Pirro were in a Matra and…

Albert Hammond knew how I’m feeling. In 1972 he had a chart hit when he sang ‘Seems it never rains in Southern California’ – only to be rudely disillusioned further into the song. ‘But, girl, don’t they warn ya: it pours, man, it pours.’ Which is exactly what is happening when I land in Los Angeles. The rain is tipping down, and it’s colder than it was in London. Just whose bright idea was this? Never mind, there’s a long road trip in prospect. Surely we’ll find some sun in Arizona? That’s where we’re headed: an EV museum in the small town of Kingman, on the historic Route 66. What will we find in an EV museum, especially one so far from the bright lights, big city? And how will…

IT WAS TIME for a proper road trip in the Austin-Healey – so why not a 400-mile journey from Margate in the south-east corner of England to Buttermere in the Lake District, at the top of the north-west corner? We planned to tour the Lakes in 1960s style, visiting both the Bluebird display in Coniston and the Windermere Jetty Museum before heading to Corsham in Wiltshire to attend Nick Mason’s open-garden day. Top-down, we drove north on the A1 in Bank Holiday traffic, the big six-cylinder purring in overdrive quite happily as we kept pace with modern cars. After 250 miles we filled up with Super-grade petrol: the car runs best on it and it has the advantage of containing only 5% ethanol, making it more classic-car friendly. After breaking…

FIRING UP THE straight-six shoud be a moment of joy, but at the moment it goes like this: I watch as the rev needle jumps about – worse if I dare touch the brake – then I squirm at the lumpiness of the idle. After about 90 seconds I can breathe out as it warms and then settles as if there is nothing wrong. It’s a vacuum issue and trying to pin it down has got to me. I’ve inspected all the hoses I could see, removed the DISA plenum valve (DISA standing for Differenzierte Sauganlage or ‘differential air intake’) and checked that holds vacuum, and in the process found the upgraded metal flap that controls the amount of air into the engine was installed incorrectly (it wasn’t installed in…

‘The BMW has just gone in for a new cambelt and water pump, ahead of a trip to Belgium. It’s the Boxster’s turn next: going to be an expensive month’Glen Waddington ‘Embarrassingly, a 1km drive to a local Fiat 500 meeting ended up with my 1972 500L dying from apparent fuel starvation. But it’s not as simple as that…’Massimo Delbò ‘A vintage road trip to France – see overleaf – has made me realise what an idiot I’ve been not to have my Alvis 12/50 on the road yet. Time to put that right’Mark Dixon ‘I am beyond excited: the long-awaited and hard-earned restoration of my Triumph is now underway. Will it be finished before the Jensen? Probably’James Elliott Contact Vintage Tyres on +44 (0)1590 431051 vintagetyres.com…

BRITISH RACING DRIVER, aviator and powerboat racer Luis Fontés was a virtual unknown when he won the 1935 Le Mans 24 Hours. Despite a studious appearance, he was a daredevil and hellraiser whose drunken antics regularly got him into trouble with the law and culminated in him killing a young motorcyclist, for which he was jailed for manslaughter. The son of an English mother and a Brazilian father, he was born in Hampstead, London, on Boxing Day in 1912. His father Antonio had prospered during the Brazilian rubber boom and became a property developer, shipping tycoon and London-based government official. Not believing in the formalities of marriage, Antonio started several families and on his death, when Luis was just one, left generous legacies to all the mothers and their children.…

GREAT REASONS TO SUBSCRIBE NOW • Pay £1.66 an issue for your first 3 issues (usual shop price £5.99)• Never miss an issue - FREE delivery direct to your door• Money-back guarantee - cancel and we’ll refund• your remaining issues• Unique subscriber-only covers VISIT OCTANE.CO.UK/SUBSCRIBE AND ENTER OFFER CODE DJUN23 Live outside the UK? For our best overseas subscription offers visit http://subscribe.octane-magazine.com/overseas-subscriptions or call +44 (0)330 333 9491. Calls to 03 numbers will be charged at your standard local rate. *20% discount is applied for the first 6 or 12 months of your subscription, after this point your subscription will step-up to our usual subscription prices.…

29 June Charterhouse, Sparkford, UK (motorcycles) 30 June Artcurial, Le Mans, France Ewbank’s, Send, UK 1 July Dorotheum, Vösendorf, Austria Richard Edmonds, Showell, UK 6-9 July Mecum, Kissimmee, USA 7 July RM Sotheby’s, Langenthal, Switzerland 10 July Osenat, Fontainebleau, France 12 July RM Sotheby’s, Milan, Italy 14 July Bonhams, Goodwood, UK 15 July WB & Sons, Killingworth, UK 21-22 July Cheffins, Cambridge, UK Mathewsons, online 22 July Historics, Datchet, UK Manor Park Classics, Runcorn, UK 26 July H&H, Buxton, UK 26-29 July Mecum, Harrisburg, USA 28 July SWVA, Poole, UK 29 July Barons, Southampton, UK 30 July Hampson, Oulton Park, UK Silverstone Auctions, Old Warden Park, UK (motorcycles) 2 August Brightwells, online 4 August Silverstone Auctions, Broadway, UK 15-22 August Shannons, online 17-18 August Broad Arrow Auctions, Monterey, USA 17-19…

FOR ME, WORK doesn’t feel like work. I feel blessed to be in a job I enjoy and to have worked with so many amazing people, all within the world of cars. As a child I’d see my father meticulously caring for his MG Magnette; his brother owned an immaculate Hillman Californian and I am sure they competed over which was best-kept. Dad let me steer it while sitting on his lap. I was ten and became hooked. This was in Mauritius, where I was born. We relocated to London so that dad could work for the Mauritian Embassy. I passed my test at 17 and, while my friends had weekend jobs in retail and hospitality, I bought and sold cars instead – until I saw a job advertised at…

AFTER YEARS OF the UK’s leading international concours overlapping, one of them has trimmed its event to bring some cohesion to the season. Along with the Cartier Style et Luxe during Goodwood’s Festival of Speed, Salon Privé and Concours of Elegance are unquestionably the UK’s blue riband events, but the two concours have always vied for enthusiasts and entrants’ attention during the same late-summer week. Salon Privé started at London’s Hurlingham Club in 2006 and moved to Syon Park for several years before settling at Blenheim Palace, near Oxford. Since then it has expanded hugely and, while the main event on the concours lawn remains an elite classic garden party, a host of activities has been added to the weekend menu to attract a broader audience. Concours of Elegance kicked off…

It’s crowded here in England. Often a bit damp and mizzly, too. And for the majority of the population, escape to the less densely occupied parts of Great Britain usually means putting up with horrible traffic en route. If only we had access to the less congested roads of France, Spain, Germany… Thing is, I’ve just printed off my Eurotunnel boarding pass for a long-weekend road trip to Belgium. Sure, I’ll be putting up with two or three hours of death-by-traffic before switching to conduire à droite. But once I’ve left Calais, all thoughts of the M25 will be well behind me. OK, so this time it’s only Bruges, with a return diversion via Dunkirk, but in the past I’ve cracked Munich in a day (and clocked 140mph on a…

In 1912 a newspaper reported that the Corniche roads above Nice and Monte Carlo were being exploited by ‘motor-bandits’, horseless-carriage highwaymen who used the new technology of the automobile to disrupt the accepted models of bankjobs and burglary. From the beginning, cars created exciting opportunities for outlaws. No-one ever caught this outlaw spirit better than Jack Kerouac, whose 1949 Hudson Commodore enabled his 1957 book On The Road, an odyssey that defined the expectations of The Beat Generation. Bohemians from Brooklyn, Kerouac and his companion found the reality of the road liberating. Of course, that reality was enhanced by stimulants and narcotics, but the view was nonetheless persuasive and influential: cars made you free. Even Kerouac’s friend, the poet Allen Ginsberg, a prototype hippy – whiskery, brilliant, profane and gay…

THE PUTDOWN IS devastating. A former Grand Prix star has just been skewered, apparently because he couldn’t ‘drive a nail through wood’. Patrick Watts is on mischievous form, the British Touring Car Championship legend backing up his assertion that certain wheelmen weren’t cut out for the cut-and-thrust of tin-tops: ‘I would say that the main credential for getting into Touring Cars in the 1990s was talent. In F1 it was money, contacts, and smooth-talking. There were plenty of drivers there that bought their way in. If you were in a works team in the BTCC, then you were there on ability alone and getting paid.’ Warming to the theme, he adds: ‘There was no hiding place, and there were a few drivers who moved over from F1 and couldn’t adapt.…

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● 1999 Porsche Boxster SANJAY SEETANAH Advertising director ● 1981 BMW 323i Top Cabrio● 1998 Aston Martin DB7 Volante● 2007 Mercedes-Benz SLK200 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 JAMES ELLIOTT Editor-in-chief ● 1965 Triumph 2.5 PI● 1968 Jensen Interceptor● 1969 Lotus Elan S4 ROBERT HEFFERON Art editor ● 2004 BMW Z4 3.0i JOHN SIMISTER Contributor ● 1960 Singer Gazelle conv● 1961 Saab 96● 1972 Rover 2000TC● 1989 Mazda MX-5 Eunos MATTHEW HOWELL Photographer ● 1962 VW Beetle 1600● 1969 VW/Subaru Beetle● 1982…

‘I’M HEADING TO Caffeine and Machine tomorrow, if you fancy it? I’m bringing the Skyline…’ I can’t even remember the number of times I’ve received a message like this, only to kick myself when I realise I have other plans, but thankfully this wasn’t one of them. C&M is about an hour away from me, a decent run for the Honda, and to be honest it needed it. Aside from the drive down to the Civic Type R launch in January, it’s barely left the garage. Yet again, I must do better! Anyway, during a Subaru Impreza P1 shoot (Octane 240) I spent most of the day chatting with Will from Brightwells, who has a particularly interesting collection of cars at home – including a very nice R33 Skyline. We…

DRIVING THROUGH rural France, on its traffic-free, litter-free, pothole-free minor roads, is always a pleasure. Driving through rural France in an open vintage car – in this case, a 1925 Frazer Nash – boosts that pleasure to a level that is positively euphoric. It’s not just the roads, either. It’s the people. Everywhere we went, we received thumbs-up, waves, headlight flashes and, above all, big grins. Not just from other motorists but from pedestrians and people sitting outside bars – even cyclists! Who’d have thought it? But then, a Frazer Nash is enough to put a smile on anyone’s face. This year, the Frazer Nash Car Club’s infamous ‘Raid’ was to the Pyrenees, in the South of France, where about 50 cars came together in the town of Mirepoix. ‘Our’…

THE 7 APRIL 1952 issue of Life magazine carried a feature on Hollywood’s latest pulchritudinous blonde sensation and future legend, Marilyn Monroe. In the less politically correct environment of the day she was asked what she wore in bed. Reluctant to use the word ‘nude’ she responded with what ultimately was a far more erotically charged and memorable: ‘I only wear Chanel No.5’. A quote that has echoed down the years. Overnight, men at a loss for what to buy their wives/girlfriends/secretaries as an anniversary/Christmas/birthday present had found the perfect answer. Chanel No.5 became the default last-minute panic-buying gift, no doubt with more than one male hoping it might inspire the recipient to emulate Marilyn. Now, 101 years since it was launched in 1922, Chanel No.5 remains, if not the…

FARER RESOLUTE The fashion for hockey puck watches seems, thankfully for those of us who don’t have gorilla wrists, to be on the way out. Here’s Farer’s contribution to the debate, its 36mm Resolute. Inside that 36mm (10mm deep) case is a break from ETA, Selitta and Miyota: a 24-jewel La Joux-Perret G101 automatic movement. It runs at 28,800bph (4Hz), and hacks – so you can set it to the pips. You won’t be doing it too often as, unusually for a movement like this, it has a 68-hour power reserve. We’ve shown the Midnight Blue, but you could choose white, red or terracotta. £895, farer.com BVLGARI ALUMINIUM CHRONOGRAPH Although launched in 1998 and relaunched three years ago, Bvlgari has just updated its Aluminium Chronograph. Mind you, where Farers are…

1999 Proton Satria GTI WB & Sons, Killingworth, UK 15 July, wbandsons.com Before you ask why there’s a Proton in these pages, let’s remember that in the late 1990s the Malaysian carmaker had become a majority shareholder in Lotus. Making the most of this, Proton called in the Hethel engineers to create Malaysia’s first hot hatch. Lotus worked some serious magic on the chassis, added a bodykit and Recaro seats, and the Satria GTI was born. It’s an oddity for sure, estimated at £2500-3000. 1978 Land Rover Series III Pick-up LWB SWVA, Poole, UK 28 July, swva.co.uk There isn’t much information about this Series III, but it looks to be a very nicely presented and honest-looking pick-up. Offered with a believable (though not backed-up) 69,067 miles on the clock, as…