Octane的June 2019目录

…in the modern world. That’s the point: not just the physical things you need to do to make it go, but how to enjoy the process on today’s roads and not feel you’re in the wrong place in the wrong car. A lot of classic cars are driven quite slowly. You see them ambling along a motorway, often inhabiting the domain of threatening-looking HGVs. Traffic picks its way around them, drivers of moderns get impatient, drivers of classics get stressed. Far better if the classics can move with the flow, which most are capable of doing. Some owners might disagree, citing inadequate brakes, a desire not to strain an elderly engine or fear of what might happen in a crash, but this is largely an attitude of mind. If a…

1. In 1999, 2.7 RSs were going for about £35,000, but Mark Waring found me an orange first-500 car in Switzerland and I paid a heady £50k. Everyone thought I was crazy! The picture is of me, my dad and my boys Oliver and Oscar, now in their 20s. I still have that Porsche, which almost makes up for the many mistakes I have made buying classic cars. 2. My dad gave me an Ilford camera for my eighth birthday and I’ve been taking pictures ever since. I have 15 or so cameras now, but this was the first, and it predicted my career in image libraries. 3. From 1988 to 1992 I lived in the US and classic cars were cheap so I bought a Healey 100 for $1200.…

The 2019 Formula 1 season is now underway and it is already proving to be a thriller. That said, I’m disappointed that you can no longer watch a race live on TV in the UK without paying for it. The same thing happened in Italy a year or so ago, a nation with motorsport coursing through its veins. And the result? Viewing figures fell off a cliff. While the purist in me will always insist that motor racing is first and foremost a sport, we are also in the entertainment business. We need to put on a show, these days more than ever. I’m sure hiding everything behind a paywall will be profitable for the rights-holders in the short term. It might be anything but profitable in the long term,…

This elegant, classically styled men’s timepiece features a quartz movement inside a stainless steel 42mm case, and a stunning blue galvanic dial with appliqué indexes and date window, protected by a sapphire crystal. It is water resistant to 5atm and supplied on a black calf leather strap with an alligator grain finish. Raymond Weil is one of a handful of Swiss watchmakers that remain in family hands. The Toccata name reflects the Weil family’s interest in music, which has led to many of the watch collections bearing musically themed names.…

Engine 1498cc rear-mounted air-cooled flat-four, roller-bearing crankshaft, DOHC per bank, dry sump, two Solex 40 PII-4 twin-choke carburettors Power 100bhp @ 6200rpm Torque 91lb ft @ 5200rpm Transmission Four-speed manual transaxle, rear-wheel drive Steering ZF worm and peg Suspension Front: parallel paired trailing links, torsion leaves, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar. Rear: swing axles, torsion bars, telescopic dampers Brakes Drums Weight 885kg Top speed 115mph 0-60mph 8.7sec…

JESSE CROSSE Contributor • 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390• 1986 Ford Sierra RS Cosworth DAVID BURGESS-WISE Contributor • 1903 De Dion-Bouton• 1911 Pilain 16/20• 1926 Delage DISS MARTYN GODDARD Photographer • 1963 Triumph TR6SS Trophy• 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII DELWYN MALLETT Contributor • 1936 Cord 810 Beverly• 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 Contributor • 1929 Ford Model A hot rod• 1952 Studebaker Champion• 1956 Chevrolet 3100 pick-up• 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner• Various motorbikes MASSIMO DELBÒ Contributor • 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230• 1972 Fiat 500L• 1979/80 Range Rovers• 1982 Mercedes-Benz 500SL• 1985 Mercedes-Benz 240TD EVAN KLEIN Photographer • 1966 Alfa…

The 924 and early 944 and 944 Cabriolets were only offered with lap straps for the rear seats. Fitting static lap-and-diagonal belts into coupé models of these cars is relatively straightforward, as Porsche provided the upper anchor points. The 944 Cabriolet was not designed to take a lap-and-diagonal rear seat belt, but it can be done. It is also possible to fit a child’s full harness into the rear of the 924/944 coupés and the 944 Cabriolet. Fitting automatic rear seatbelts into the 924/944 coupés is another option, but the fuel filler neck means the retractor fitting cannot be symmetrical and a bracket is need to offset the retractor here. Automatic belts cannot be fitted to the rear seats of the 944 Cabriolet, though. Contact +44 (0)20 8206 0101 www.quickfitsbs.cominfo@quickfitsbs.com…

‘One of the carburettors on the XK140 is weeping a tad, so I need to slacken off the lower brass fitment and allow a bit of fuel to soften the gasket, then hope it will reseal when tightened up again’ Robert Coucher ‘Yet another abortive attempt to reach the local pub ended when my 1957 Abarth suddenly became a three-wheeler. Full story next month’ Delwyn Mallett ‘As soon as the last issueof Octane had gone to press, I delivered the Jensen to the Autostilo boys in Potters Bar; the panels I had ordered from Rejen had already arrived. Now I wait…’ James Elliott ‘My 1963 Triumph Trophy bike is off to live by the sea; lousy drum brakes and hostile London traffic forced the migration’ Martyn Goddard…

I’ve always been a bit confused about whether the Evoque is really for school-run fashionistas or serious off–roaders. There have been times that I suspected its creators felt much the same and, as a result, resigned themselves to making it equally adept at both, despite knowing that virtually everything that made the Evoque special would go undiscovered by most owners. So, nearly a decade on and after more than three-quarters of a million sales – presumably providing a thick wad of audience research – it’s interesting to see if the changes that have brought us the new Evoque tilt the scales one way or the other for those with £30,000-50,000 to spend. Huge power isn’t really needed for either role, so we tested the Ingenium 2.0-litre petrol four-pot with added…

YOU DON’T really need to see a watch at night. After all, even in the dark, the time is easy to come by. Just pick up your phone, doubtless already by your bed. But that’s not the point. Since their early days watches have offered ways to read the time when it’s dark – and not just at night. For example, if you were diving in the age before computers, knowing how long you could stay down in low-light conditions mattered a lot. Without ‘lume’, a diving watch was pretty useless in the murk 50ft down. Watchmakers borrowed aircraft technology to get the first luminous watches glowing. Cockpit instruments’ hands and dials were painted with radium. It shines splendidly but it’s nasty, radioactive stuff. Remember Sean Connery in Dr No,…

26 April SWVA, Poole, UK 26-27 April Bonhams, Tupelo, USA 27 April Cheffins, Cambridge, UK Mathewsons, Thornton-le-Dale, UK 27-28 April Bonhams, Stafford, UK (motorcycles) 29 April Shannons, Melbourne, Australia 30 April Barons, Sandown Park, UK 1 May H&H, Online 3-4 May Vicari, Nocona, USA 4 May Dan Kruse Classics, Midland, USA 4-5 May RM Sotheby’s, St. Louis, USA 10 May Silverstone Auctions, Enstone, UK 11 May Silver Auctions, Missoula, USA Silverstone Auctions, Enstone, UK 12 May Tennants, Leyburn, UK 14-19 May Mecum, Indianapolis, USA 15 May Brightwells, Leominster, UK Silver Auctions, Spokane, USA 18 May Coys, London, UK Historics, Weybridge, UK 19 May Bonhams, Stokenchurch, UK 20 May Shannons, Sydney, Australia 25 May Classic Car Auctions, Leamington Spa, UK Morris Leslie, Errol, UK Oldtimer Galerie, Lucerne, Switzerland RM Sotheby’s, Como,…

Simon kidSton ‘Beautiful people, beautiful cars, beautiful scenery… and did I mention five-star food and service? It’s hard to put your finger on exactly what made The Ice stand out in a crowded calendar of motoring events, but those were all pretty good ingredients.’ The equally beautiful Simon reports back from exclusive St Moritz on PAGES 132-140. david burgeSS-wiSe ‘The transformation of Delahaye in the mid-1930s was nothing short of miraculous. Designer Jean François is an unsung hero and the “Prix du Million” V12 racer was his masterpiece. Such a pity it wasn’t better-looking!’ Find out more about France’s heroic Grand Prix challenger on PAGES 88-94. robert hefferon ‘I love being around cars that others rarely see first-hand, the buzz of press week, and being in artistic control of a…

If you live outside the Capital and think that the threat of the Ultra Low Emission Zone is being exaggerated, please think again because the long-term threat as ULEZ expands and spreads to other towns and cities is placing a whole generation of cars in grave danger. And not just emerging classics, but copper-bottomed cars that have been part of our scene for years such as TVRs, Lancia Delta Integrales, Jaguar XJ-S, the Lamborghini Countach, early Lotus Elise and so many more. Plus, think of those cusp classics (Ford Racing Puma?) that now may not survive to have that status. Overdramatic? We don’t think so. When this scheme rolls out, if people across the country no longer have the freedom to use their cars as they want and when they…

How could you love a grease nipple? It’s a nasty, slimy, messy, dirty thing, a chore to deal with, an ever-present admonishment of neglect if ignored. Pre-war cars have lots of them, with maintenance schedules demanding a shot of grease sometimes as often as every 500 miles. Post-war that tended to be extended to 1000 miles and even beyond – perhaps as many as 5000 miles between gun-squeezes – but you can see why ‘no greasing points’ became an attractive selling point as manufacturers developed sealed-for-life balljoints, universal joints and other pivots. ‘How long is “life”?’ asked mechanics, rather metaphysically. But there is something reassuringly permanent about a grease nipple, and the possibility it offers that you, not some obsolescence-loving cost-accountant, are in control of your lubricated joint’s longevity. Treat…

A‘threnody’ is a hymn of mourning, of lament. Not necessarily depressing, like a dirge; threnodies can be stirring and stimulating. The famous aria in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, with its jaunty refrain ‘When I am Laid in Earth’, is a good example. The howling of fatally injured animals can be thrilling, too, as Edmund Burke pointed out in his 1757 treatise on the Sublime and the Beautiful. This is what I was thinking while watching a recording of the Bahrain GP. It was on a laptop so the sound quality was poor, but a threnody is what I was hearing as I watched Charles Leclerc lose power in 2019. Sure, it was a rallentando as the engine died, a noise fading to silence but still beautiful. A fatally injured animal,…

A CLASSIC ERA Porsche flat-four is just a tuned-up Volkswagen Beetle engine. Say that at a gathering of the Porsche faithful and brace yourself for the onslaught. So, what is the truth? In the beginning, the truth was exactly that, the tuning consisting of twin carburettors and a higher compression ratio. But not for long because in 1948, a year into production, Porsche designed its own cylinder heads with inclined valves and better breathing. The capacity was reduced from the then-current Beetle’s 1131cc to 1086cc, too, to suit the under-1100cc motorsport class. From that point, the flat-four kept on diverging from its origins and followed its own path. In 1951 it grew to 1286cc, achieved with new aluminium cylinder barrels, featuring chrome-plated bores in place of cast-iron ones. A year…

LIKE MANY blokes of my age, I take a couple of tablets every day to control the high blood pressure that is a feature of getting old and, I’m sure, nothing at all to do with working at Octane. But for relieving stress, I’m convinced that driving my P38A Range Rover is just as effective. With a sweet 4.0-litre V8 coupled to a smooth-shifting ZF auto ’box, what you might generously describe as a relaxed approach to acceleration is a marvellous incentive to take things easy and let the flashy-dashy types duke it out in the overtaking lane. I really bonded with M238 CVC during our 1000-mile road trip to eastern Spain and back last year, as described in Octane 190. You can probably see the dust on the bonnet…

The lasT Time you read about my Singer Le Mans, beyond teasing snippets of updates at the end of Octane Cars, it had made it to Singer National Weekend and rehabilitated itself as a great-looking and rather enjoyable prewar sports car. I had thoroughly undone the bodges perpetrated over the years – many of the ‘common mistakes’ set out in the late Singer guru Ian Blackburn’s book were duly present – and local trimmer Hukes had made a new tonneau, recovered the sidescreens and fitted correct hinges for the seat’s backrests. It was great finally to be out in the ‘finished’ Singer; it felt lively, steered remarkably well, and there was the wobble-free joy of rebuilt wheels with new tyres. But… always a but. The propshaft vibrated, some of the…

I REMEMBER whEn we first met. I was smitten. On flat tyres you looked unloved, shunned by the other cars. I told my friends about you. They thought I was crazy. But that first day when I brought you to the shop I knew there was hope. Benny massaged your motor until you uttered your first words after years of sitting. Papa fitted you with new tyres so that you were able to move again. Jesse the chrome guy made your bumpers new again; Socko pulled your nose out and gave you new floors; Jose gave you a fresh exhaust. I was so proud. I couldn’t wait to take you out. Days passed, and suddenly it was time. I was taking you to the DMV to be registered again. We…

spider or spyder? Both versions of the word have long been used by the motor industry to describe an open-top roadster: Audi calls its new soft-top R8 a Spyder (as reviewed by Matthew Hayward on page 158) whereas McLaren prefers Spider with an ‘i’. Best guess for the origin of the term is that it was a 19th Century coachbuilder’s coinage for a lightweight, high-wheeled carriage that was thought to have spidery qualities of lightness and agility. Which makes it particularly appropriate to McLaren. A recent opportunity to test the new 600LT and 720S Spiders in Arizona also seemed a good excuse to revisit its first attempt at the genre, the 12C Spider that made its debut in late 2012. The example pictured left is a 50th Anniversary limited edition…

MERCEDES-BENZ SL600 Classic Car Auctions, Leamington Spa, UK 25 May, classiccarauctions.co.uk Love or hate it, you can’t deny that the R129 Mercedes SL still offers an impressive amount of car for not a huge sum of money. V8 models are the safe bet, but if you’re feeling a little braver you could go for one of the range-topping V12-engined cars such as this SL600. To be offered at CCA’s next auction, it’s estimated at £17,000-20,0000 and has had around £6000 spent on maintenance and improvements in the past three years. SWALLOW DORETTI Brightwells, Leominster, UK 15 May, brightwells.com Just 276 of these Triumph TR2-based British specials were built, and it remains one of the most desirable of its kind with its simple mechanicals and attractive bodywork. It’s thought that only…

What to pay Rough early cars start from as little as £2500, but you’d be well-advised to steer clear. Better-maintained cars start at £6000-8000, with the best early cars commanding £10,000 and more. Later 4.2-litre cars are the best, which is why you’ll pay upwards of £15,000 for a top example. As a rule the XKR is slightly more expensive, from around £8000 for an average, slightly high-mileage example to £15,000 and up for a late car. look out for… Problems with Nikasil-coated cylinder liners in early 4.0-litre cars are well documented and it’s good to know whether the XK had a new engine fitted under warranty, signified by a tag on the block. Corrosion is not a big problem, but can crop up in certain areas – including footwells,…

WO Bentley is a name as instant a symbol of ‘British-ness’ as Burberry, Barbour and Aston Martin. There’s a historic and somewhat ironic link between Bentley and Aston Martin, too, which goes back to 1912 and a hill on Lord Rothschild’s Buckinghamshire estate. WO didn’t start with motor cars. His first road experience was via a motorcycle. In 1906 he acquired a 3hp Quadrant, a rugged machine that had seen success in endurance events. Perhaps encouraged by the bike’s ability, WO entered the 400-mile London-Edinburgh Trial the following year and won a gold medal. WO and two of his brothers, Arthur and Horace who had also bought motorcycles, became part of a group of motorsport enthusiasts and entered trials and races as often as they could. Arthur, upon his trusty…

Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s I worked in a European car dealership called Foreign Motors. The name seems quaint now, but back then most people bought Detroit iron because it just seemed like you got more for your money. It seemed foolish to pay more for a six-cylinder Mercedes when you could get a Cadillac with an enormous V8 engine and automatic transmission for a whole lot less. Then in 1968 came the game changer: the 300 SEL 6.3, the fastest four-door sedan in the world. It’s hard to convey the impact this vehicle had on the world when it was introduced. Horsepower and torque were something Americans understood. Even Hot Rod ran a feature on the Mercedes. Car & Driver had drag-racing superstar Don Garlits look…

My Porsche 356 was nothing like as special as the ultra-rare four-cam Speedster Carrera featured on this month’s cover, being a regular coupé, but I do miss it. I started driving my 356 when I was 15 years old, and finally managed to wrestle it away from my father when I was in my 20s. I like to say that he gave it to me, which he did once I’d handed over money saved from holiday jobs while at Varsity. I brought the 356 over to London from Cape Town, drove it until I was 42 years old and never so much as scuffed a bumper until I ran out of talent racing it at Silverstone circuit and parked it rather aggressively at Becketts corner. That was a pity, because…

ROBERT COUCHER International editor • 1955 Jaguar XK140• 1988 Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC ANDREW ENGLISH Contributor • 1960 Triumph TR3A• 1962 Norton Dominator• 1965 Aston Martin DB5 SANJAY SEETANAH Advertising director • 1981 BMW 323i Top Cabrio• 1998 Aston Martin DB7 Volante MARK DIXON Deputy editor • 1955 Land Rover Series I 107in• 1966 Ford Mustang 289• 1994 Range Rover 4.0 JAMES ELLIOTT Editor-in-chief • 1965 Triumph 2.5PI• 1968 Jensen Interceptor SAMANTHA SNOW Advertising account manager • 1969 Triumph Herald 13/60 Convertible• 1989 Mercedes-Benz 300SL GLEN WADDINGTON Associate editor • 1983 Porsche 944• 1989 BMW 320i Convertible JOHN SIMISTER Contributor • 1934 Singer Nine Le Mans• 1961 Saab 96• 1968 Sunbeam Stiletto• 1989 Mazda MX-5 Eunos RICHARD HESELTINE Contributor • 1966 Moretti Sportiva• 1971 Honda Z600…

It was the end of summer back in 2017 that the 944 failed its MoT for the first time since I’d bought it in 2012. Not bad, I guess, and nothing major: just enough to mean I’d need to save up a bit. And then my old mate Ben Field came to the rescue with a great deal on a set of Dunlop Sport Classics. Ben shares a motoring journalism background with me, but changed tracks a few years ago when he became MD of Beaulieubased Vintage Tyres. And then, last year, he opened a satellite tyre-fitting operation at Bicester Heritage. Which makes a huge amount of sense. As if to prove that point, I finally got around to calling in on him. You see, while Ben had provided the…

I WOKE my 500 SL from winter hibernation and the ABS warning light came on as soon as I pushed the brake pedal. I immediately knew why, because the same thing happened back in 2011. My 1982 Mercedes is fitted with ABS and it has wheel speed sensors, made by Bosch, with rubber-covered cables to protect them from the harsh environment of the braking system. When the rubber deteriorates, it lets in heat, dust and humidity, and the sensors can die soon afterwards. In 2011 the fault was easy to fix: I simply ordered a new sensor from my local Mercedes dealership and it arrived within a couple of weeks. This time, when the light came on, I assumed I would again be able to sort the problem quickly and…

Blurring the line between sports car and supercar has always been one of the Audi R8’s special talents. Not only did it blow everybody away with its incredible proportions when it was launched in 2006, Audi’s first attempt at a mid-engined two-seater was easily the best-handling car the company had ever produced. The high-revving 414bhp V8 was an absolute gem and you could even get an open-gated six-speed manual transmission. It’s easy to forget that the R8 was pitched as a rival to a fairly run-of-the-mill Porsche 911. A more potent V10 version joined the V8 in 2009, from where the R8 began its foray into the realms of the supercar. With the introduction of the all-new second-generation R8 in 2015, the baby supercar finally graduated. It lost the V8…

Books on driving by professional racers have always sold well, ever since Piero Taruffi’s The Technique of Motor Racing was published in 1959. Jackie Stewart’s Principles of Performance Driving was another bestseller in 1986, and Hazleton Publishing reprised its success by bringing out an equivalent Ayrton Senna book in 1993, when Senna was at the top of his game. Ayrton Senna’s Principles of Race Driving is actually a translation of a book that first appeared in Italian the same year. Unlike the Stewart book, it was notable in being in colour throughout (Stewart’s was in black-and-white), which was a corollary of being printed in Hong Kong. The boom in cheap, high-quality printing here from the 1980s transformed the book market. Published with both soft and hard covers (no dust jacket),…

Futuristic Auto BY MIDGETOYS Science-fiction heroes such as Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon provided plenty of inspiration for American toymakers in the 1940s and ’50s. Tootsietoys led the diecast toy market but many others tried to get in on the action, with varying degrees of success. One of them was Midgetoys, made by the A&E Tool and Gage Co in Rockford, Illinois, from 1946 onwards. Midgetoys were put together as simply and cheaply as possible in an attempt to undercut Tootsietoys. The company’s first success was a ‘3 in 1’ truck set, consisting of a chassis with three interchangeable rear sections. Next came a Buck Rogers-style ‘Spaceship Car’ but the most popular of all Midgetoys was this one, issued in 1948 and described as a ‘Futuristic Auto’. It’s a typically…

£2,363,000 ($3,080,000) 2015 Ferrari LaFerrari RM Sotheby’s, Fort Lauderdale, USA. 29-30 March £1,694,000 ($2,205,000) 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB RM Sotheby’s, Amelia Island, USA. 8-9 March £1,377,000 ($1,792,500) 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 RM Sotheby’s, Amelia Island, USA. 8-9 March £1,356,000 ($1,765,000) 1930 Packard 734 Speedster Runabout Gooding & Co, Amelia Island, USA. 8 March £1,267,500 ($1,650,000) 1930 Duesenberg Model J Sweep Panel Dual-Cowl Phaeton by LeBaron RM Sotheby’s, Amelia Island, USA. 8-9 March £1,152,500 ($1,500,000) 2010 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Sang Noir RM Sotheby’s, Amelia Island, USA. 8-9 March £1,144,500 ($1,490,000) 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder Weissach Gooding & Co, Amelia Island, USA. 8 March £1,144,500 ($1,490,000) 2015 McLaren P1 RM Sotheby’s, Amelia Island, USA. 8-9 March £1,077,000 ($1,430,000) 1970 Dodge Hemi Challenger R/T Convertible Mecum, Phoenix, USA. 14-17 March £1,039,000 ($1,352,500) 1926…

One of the great myths of commerce in the internet age is that advertisers, with all their precious data, have become more sophisticated. In fact most of them are dumber and more obnoxious than ever, market traders whose great innovation is to come out from behind the stall and scream at every potential customer individually. This item is a relic of a better time, when the beautifully unscientific ‘pleasant guest’ theory of advertising (be helpful, be entertaining or be gone) still had currency. It is a mock-up for the cover of the 1984 Citroën 2CV6 brochure, which was designed in the form of a Tintin comic and titled Journey to Planet 2CV6. Some of the artwork for the brochure was borrowed from Explorers on the Moon, in which Tintin took…

2011 BMW 1M £41,995 Many consider the six-speed manual 1M to be one of the best modern M Sport BMWs. This 32,000-mile Sapphire Black car is one of 450 cars supplied new to the UK. dkeng.co.uk (UK) 1960 AUSTIN-HEALEY 3000 £49,950 A Mk1 in Primrose Yellow, which is wearing the 15 years since its restoration beautifully. There’s partial history to back up a sub-30k mileage from new, and only three owners since 1960. runnymedemotorcompany.com 1978 MATRA BAGHEERA ¤5500 Need a slightly more affordable project? Although described as requiring some attention, this French three-seater sports car is said to run, drive and stop. Complete with Belgian papers. sunclassiccars.nl (NL) 1928 ROLLS-ROYCE PHANTOM I $495,000 Just 35 Springfield-built Phantoms were fitted with very special Hibbard et Darrin coachwork. This Torpedo Transformal Phaeton…