Classics Monthly September 2021
Each issue is packed with the best down-to-earth advice, useful specialist information and news based on realistically priced classic cars, which will inspire you to buy, repair and restore your own classic cars. Please note: This digital version of the magazine does not currently include the covermount items or content you would find on printed newsstand copies
in this issue
editor
Do you ever stop and take a good look at the classic(s) in your garage and catch yourself feeling faintly surprised by what you find there? Or maybe that only happens to me! I certainly did just that last year, and the roll call of Morris Minor, MG Midget, Volvo 340, Mini Clubman and Triumph Acclaim seemed a little out of character. Now please don’t get me wrong because I really liked each of them, but as a group they really were all very conventional cars, and mostly straight out of the classic mainstream. This surprised me because I have always been drawn towards the more unusual cars, particularly when it comes to engines. Rear -mounted engines, air-cooled motors, two-stroke twins and triples – I’ve had them all. The radial engine…
uk's shed head 2021 winner
Specialist vehicle insurance provider, Footman James, has announced Lee Sunderland and his family as the outright winners in its Show Us Your Shed competition to find the best garage or work space where enthusiasts can indulge in their automotive passions. Launched in March, the social media competition called on motoring nuts, engineering fans and garagistas to share their places of solitude – the spaces where they felt free to tinker, learn a new skill, or simply chill out. From the tiny to the tremendous and the clinical to the chaotic, sheds of all conceivable type were submitted for consideration. With a space inspired by Hot Wheels, Lee’s family entry wowed the judges with its simple yet creative approach to a special motoring space. Conceived and then executed during the first lockdown…
superb j40 for charity
The J40 Motor Company (www. j40motorco.com) has purchased a number of J40 and Pathfinder pedal cars since it opened in April 2020, some of which will be restored while others will be kept for historical documentation and to be used at shows and events. This month, company director Jamie Burnett purchased a very special J40, a car that will remain a permanent part of the company fleet. The latest acquisition was originally found covered in rubbish at the back of a garage before undergoing a full restoration by George Rowbotham from Diddlebury in Shropshire. George is a retired automotive bodyshop professional, as is his friend Ken Gwillam who also worked on the two-month restoration project. George is also a long-term supporter of the Lingen Davies cancer charity, which funds treatment and…
starting them young
Thirteen-year-old Natasha Lomas has become the youngest ever navigator to finish an official HERO-ERA regularity rally. Navigating her father, John, in a 1936 Riley Sprite – the oldest car on the event – Natasha’s record-setting achievement also marked her endurance rallying debut. 'I was very nervous at the start, but I think everyone was,' says Natasha, who took part in HERO-ERA’s three-day Novice Trial. Designed as an introduction to classic and historic car rallying, the event gave her the opportunity to learn and refine navigation skills with a combination of classroom and on the road training sessions before tackling her first competitive trial. Natasha adds: 'Being the youngest navigator made it a bit more challenging, but everyone was so nice, it made the experience a lot more fun and enjoyable than…
vorsprung durch technik
The Audi slogan Vorsprung durch Technik is marking its 50 year anniversary this year. It all started in 1969 with the merger of Auto Union GmbH, headquartered in Ingolstadt, and Neckarsulmer NSU Motorenwerke to form Audi NSU Auto Union AG at the Neckarsulm location. The new company’s range of models spanned from the air-cooled engines of the rear-wheel drive NSU Prinz series and the water-cooled four-cylinder engines of the front-wheel drive Audi 60 and Audi 100 to the rotary engine of the futuristic-looking NSU Ro 80. The idea to communicate this technological diversity as a competitive advantage came in 1970 from Hans Bauer, the employee in the Audi NSI advertising department who devised the Vorsprung durch Technik slogan. This duly made its first appearance in a large-sized ad in January…
trabis go from industrial heritage to the space race
Eastern Bloc classic car fans met in Staffordshire at the end of June for the Wartburg Trabant IFA Club’s first event since lockdown. The club is a home for all eastern bloc classics, and its 250 members have vehicles covering a remarkable 41 makes. Among the stars on this event were a Yugo 513, Barkas B1000 van, Ladas, Wartburgs, Trabants and the biggest crowd-pleaser of them all – a Zaporozhets 968M, the air-cooled rear-engined V4 car that was the USSR’s ‘people’s car’ and is one of only two 968Ms on the road in the UK. Based in Keele, on the Saturday a convoy of 15 cars made a journey around Stoke-on-Trent taking in the post-industrial landscape, canal and Gladstone Pottery Museum with its iconic bottle-ovens, before concluding outside the spectacular 1850-built…
