Table of contents for April 2022 in Octane

Steven Spielberg is the master at scene-setting suburban America. Take Close Encounters of the Third Kind, when Richard Dreyfuss’s Roy Neary loses his mind on a cul-de-sac of identikit ranch homes. Littered with station wagons. Archetypal 1970s US family cars. The anchor amid the madness. They once were utilitarian transport, with names drawn from coachbuilding: a horse-drawn ‘station wagon’ transported chattels from train to town-house; similarly, horses dragged the guns and beaters in shooting brakes for country estate parties. The horse-drawn brake then gave way to petrol-powered estate cars. From the 1970s, competition from Mercedes’ T-series meant mainstream estates became more luxurious: witness Ford’s Granada Ghia. Then Volvo went racing with the 850 BTCC and the estate world (like Neary) went mad. In its latest two generations, Audi’s RS6 has…

I have a friend who’s a fashion designer. She said to me recently: ‘I’ve just bought a new car!’ I cocked my head, looked politely curious and asked her what it was. Triumphant, her reply came: ‘It’s black!’ This, I think, was a mischievous raspberry to my expert, if futile, connoisseurship of the automobile, my train-spottery fascination with detail, my snobbery about brands and name-plates. (I once explained to her, circa 1990, that it would be technically impossible to have a fling with a girl who drove a Vauxhall, the idea of a Corsa being the industrial equivalent of a tranquiliser.) But, at least philosophically, I won our spat because she could have said ‘It’s white!’ or ‘It’s puce/aubergine/avocado/mouse’s back/germolene/gangrene/caca du dauphin.’ She was simply confessing that it was very…

The grounds around Goodwood House look disconcertingly different with all Festival of Speed traces removed. Empty, rolling grassland, stately trees, an uninterrupted view of the house, a realisation that that’s where the roads go: now we can see them properly. It’s reality, but simultaneously surreal. The Duke of Richmond – ‘Just call me Charles’ – is in reflective mood as we burble past the famous flint wall on the famous hill. The burbling is emanating from the exhaust pipe of a dark blue sports tourer, quite compact and a car with which the Duke has a significant family affinity. It’s a 1935 Lancia Augusta March Special. While recent global events caused a hiatus in the annual running of the Festival of Speed, hillclimb and all, the Festival has been a…

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 SANJAY SEETANAH Advertising director • 1981 BMW 323i Top Cabrio• 1998 Aston Martin DB7 Volante 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• 1966 Ford Mustang 289• 1994 Range Rover 4.0 JAMES ELLIOTT Editor-in-chief • 1965 Triumph 2.5 PI• 1968 Jensen Interceptor JOHN SIMISTER Contributor • 1936 Singer Nine Sports• 1961 Saab 96• 1972 Rover 2000 TC• 1989 Mazda MX-5 Eunos MATTHEW HOWELL Photographer • 1962 VW Beetle 1600• 1969 VW/Subaru Beetle• 1982 Morgan 4/4 MASSIMO DELBÒ Contributor • 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230• 1972…

JUST BEFORE CHRISTMAS, my 500 SL returned from Laboratorio Lopane on a covered trailer – complete with reindeer horns and a red nose on the front of the Ford pick-up that was towing it! My five-year-old son Cesare went crazy. But back to the 107. Even when you examine it really closely, it looks magnificent, and you wouldn’t be able to spot where the partial resprays have been done if you didn’t know. ‘The most time-intensive part of the job was always going to be recreating the exact shade of the metallic silver paint,’ says Alberto Lopane, who runs the shop with his brother Andrea. ‘But if you get that right, the rest is quite straightforward. ‘Our father Alfredo, who founded the business, is now retired but loves to spend…

‘Following a worrying graunch leaving a petrol station in the Triumph, my driver’s-seat diagnosis was instant – engine mount. For a change I was right first time, too’James Elliott ‘Lovely weather out as I sit here, with my ’89 BMW 320i on the other side of my office wall. Praying it holds for a drive out – to view a potential stablemate’Glen Waddington ‘I’ve barely looked at my Honda Integra this past month, but have spent too much money acquiring new parts in time for Spring’Matthew Hayward ‘A new BMW specialist, Revival, has opened up just down the road. It’s run by the talented young Steven Oatley and he’s sorting out some niggles on the Baur 323i for me’Sanjay Seetanah…

AS A PAL OF MINE discovered this week when he tried unsuccessfully to snag an obscure watch at auction, it’s getting harder to find bargains. The web has made almost anyone an instant expert and hiked the prices of a lot of formerly unregarded watches. Mind you, it can become painfully and expensively obvious how dangerous a little, rapidly gathered knowledge can be when your cut ’n’ shut FrankenHeuer turns up. So the secret of affordable interesting watches means looking where fashion doesn’t. For example, pocket watches are almost insanely undervalued, which means you can pick up interesting movements from serious makers almost for pocket (sorry!) money prices. Like this little 38mm Seiko 5740-0080. It’s taken years, but Seiko is finally – and deservedly – escaping Mondeo status. Thanks to…

£5,099,000 ($6,825,000) 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Alloy Gullwing RM Sotheby’s, Phoenix, USA. 27 January £2,741,500 ($3,750,000) 1965 Shelby GT350R prototype Mecum, Kissimmee, USA. 6-16 January £2,551,500 ($3,415,000) 1931 Duesenberg Model J Tourster by Derham RM Sotheby’s, Phoenix, USA. 27 January £2,412,500 ($3,300,000) 2020 McLaren Speedtail Mecum, Kissimmee, USA. 6-16 January £2,010,500 ($2,750,000 Ferrari F40 Mecum, Kissimmee, USA. 6-16 January £1,930,000 ($2,640,000) 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing Mecum, Kissimmee, USA. 6-16 January £1,729,500 ($2,315,000) 1964 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster RM Sotheby’s, Phoenix, USA. 27 January £1,672,000 ($2,260,000) 1929 Duesenberg Model J Berline by Derham Worldwide Auctioneers, Scottsdale, USA. 26 January £1,568,000 ($2,145,000) 1951 Hirohata Mercury Custom Mecum, Kissimmee, USA. 6-16 January £1,548,000 ($2,117,500) 2016 Pagani Huayra Mecum, Kissimmee, USA. 6-16 January…

These days it’s often left off lists of the greatest novels ever, but Bram Stoker’s Dracula is as impressive an achievement as any work of fiction you might care to mention. Stoker didn’t invent the vampire (bloodsucking fiends were common in folklore) but his book, published in 1897, established conventions still followed in most vampire stories today, and introduced a character that remains a mainstay of popular culture 125 years later. How many literary creations have that sort of enduring appeal? In the novel, though, Count Dracula is described as a nauseating old man with a white moustache and bushy eyebrows. The quietly menacing, snappily dressed smoothie familiar to most of us did not enter the collective consciousness until 1931, when Bela Lugosi starred in Tod Browning’s big-screen adaptation of…

ANDREW MORGAN ‘I’d thought about some clever lighting for this lovely DS, putting in some shapes and shadows. But it was soon obvious that it was best to keep my photography simple, not to fight the design but to let it speak for itself. That’s why it’s an icon and eternally chic. It really is its own work of art.’ The beauty of the Citroën DS: pages 52-64. STEPHEN ARCHER ‘I’ve been immersed in the Aston world from birth, and the DB3S really taught me about beauty and design. No other sports car of its period comes close to its delicate beauty, which is matched by its driving prowess. To share the story of David Brown’s personal DB3S is especially rewarding.’ Find out more on pages 66-76. JOHN SIMISTER ‘Encountering the wonderful…

Basil Wales b.1934 ONE OF THE STALWARTS of the halcyon days of British car production and one of the most well-known characters in UK car clubs and rallying has passed away. Though born in the heart of Ford territory in Brentwood, Essex, Basil started his career as an apprentice with Morris Engines in Coventry. During this time he became involved with development of the MGA twin-cam, which was being tuned for the MG EX-181 ‘Roaring Raindrop’ record-breaker driven by Stirling Moss and Phil Hill. He missed out on the trip to Bonneville Salt Flats but his manager, Eddie Maher, put him forward for the support crew on the 1957 Liège-Rome-Liège rally and this set the course for a career that spanned BMC, British Leyland, Austin Rover and Rover through its…

My life is all about unique driving experiences. Anything out of the ordinary is what I crave. Sometimes it’s about handling, braking and acceleration; other times it’s about the complete absence of road feel, wafting along and what Detroit used to call the Boulevard Drive. I love just about anything up to the mid-1960s, when designers could create whatever they wanted, no matter how impractical. Swivel seats, neon dashboards, even rear-facing bench seats so the kids could see who was about to rear-end them – it was not only allowed but actively encouraged. Then the Government stepped in with rules and regulations and ruined everything. No more pushbutton shifting – remember that? ‘If you can type you can drive.’ Ford even had a push-button transmission in the centre of the…

Special. Hot rod. Street rod. Club racer. Café racer. Rat rod. Restomod. The need for speed and the expression of personal freedom has been intertwined with the motor car since the Benz Patent-Motorwagen first hit the road in 1886. Ten years later the first Paris-Bordeaux-Paris road race was held and keen drivers have been modifying and improving motor vehicles in their own image ever since. The Ford Model T is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, and here in the UK it was the Austin 7. These were utility vehicles and not much fun for the press-on driver but that was soon solved by the human condition of having always to tweak something in the quest for a bit more joy. Americans began by stripping their perfunctory old saloon…

If a car is defined by its story then this DB3S is surely right up there with the great Aston Martins. It is a colourful story, literally, as we will see. You might expect to read that this is a tale of a rare, even esoteric Aston, a footnote in the marque’s model history under David Brown, but that would be to underplay its significance. Consider this: without the DB3S, Aston Martin’s final victory at Le Mans in 1959 with the DBR1 would not have happened. And, although most people associate Aston Martin’s racing success with the DBR1, the remarkable DB3S enjoyed a works racing career of five years and remained competitive in International sports car racing for six years, winning more trophies for David Brown than any other car…

EVAN KLEIN Photographer • 2001 Audi TT Quattro MATTHEW HAYWARD Markets editor • 1990 Citroën BX 16v• 1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four• 1996 Saab 9000 Aero• 1997 Citroën Xantia Activa• 1997 Peugeot 306 GTI-6• 2000 Honda Integra Type R• 2001 Audi A2 SAMANTHA SNOW Advertising account manager • 1969 Triumph Herald 13/60 Convertible• 1989 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL JESSE CROSSE Contributor • 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390• 1986 Ford Sierra RS Cosworth MARTYN GODDARD Photographer • 1963 Triumph TR6SS Trophy• 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII DELWYN MALLETT Contributor • 1936 Cord 810 Beverly• 1937 Studebaker Dictator• 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 SARAH BRADLEY Contributor • 1929 Ford Model A…

CAN YOU REMEMBER what you were doing with your classic back in November 2020? Normally I wouldn’t have an idea of what I was doing last week but I have a very clear memory of that month. My Morgan 4/4 was booked in for routine work with a specialist and, on the way there, as I pulled onto a fast-flowing dual carriageway, the little Ford CVH engine that hides under the louvered bonnet revved out and we slotted into the traffic. It wasn’t the sound of the engine (which is great, by the way, through the barely muffled stainless system) but the ever-increasing whine from behind me that I remember most clearly. It was my automotive equivalent of nails being dragged down a school blackboard: just horrible. I once had…

WHAT WOULD A Group A homologation car be like if it was built today? Fast, four-wheel-drive and with some genuine motorsport pedigree, the GR Yaris answers that question. I covet many of the original Group A cars – and even own a 1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four – which made the news of Toyota building an all-new bespoke Yaris for rallying incredibly exciting. Enthusiasts flocked to Toyota dealerships to place their orders at the tail end of 2020, and in many ways the hype surrounding the GR built expectations even further. The big surprise was that it has most definitely lived up to them. In case you don’t know how it came about, the GR Yaris was part of Toyota’s plan to homologate a new car for the 2021 WRC season.…

IN MONTY PYTHON’S The Life of Brian, John Cleese enquires of his People’s Front of Judea cronies: ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’ They ponder the question before throwing up a large number of notable Roman contributions such as the aqueduct, sanitation, roads and irrigation. For lovers of roast beef, however, there was a notable omission: mustard. The Romans brought their love of the condiment, and the plant itself, to Britain two millennia ago. And curiously for a country with a reputation for bland food, of all the mustard-producing nations, we came up with the hottest variety. On the other hand, it is perhaps inevitable that the more flavourless the cuisine, the spicier the mustard it inspires. Mustard is thought to be the first condiment used to spice up food…

Dating from as far back as 1910, Tootsietoys are America’s – some say the world’s – oldest diecast toy cars. The brand had phenomenal success with its replica of a Ford Model T at a time when the real thing was bringing motoring to the American masses. After such an auspicious start, the Tootsietoy name soon became synonymous in the US with toy cars, as would happen later with Dinky Toys in the UK. Yet the subsequent development of Tootsietoys is surprising: while other countries’ toy cars became increasingly sophisticated, a Tootsietoy remained an ultra-simple, robust and cheap-to-buy plaything. In fact, Tootsietoys didn’t so much progress as regress: a product of the 1950s or ’60s is more basic than the series of Grahams and La Salles from the 1930s. And…

22 February – 1 March Shannons, online 3 March Bonhams, Amelia Island, USA Charterhouse, Sparkford, UK 4 March Gooding & Co, Amelia Island, USA 4-5 March Vicari, Orlando, USA 5 March RM Sotheby’s, Amelia Island, USA Silverstone Auctions, London, UK 9 March Charterhouse, Sparkford, UK (motorcycles) 10 March DVCA, Stalbridge, UK 12 March Historics, Ascot, UK 14 March Osenat, Fontainebleau, France 16 March H&H, Duxford, UK 16-19 March Mecum, Glendale, USA 18-19 March Artcurial, Paris, France Mathewsons, online 18-20 March Classic Car Auctions, Birmingham, UK 25-26 March RM Sotheby’s, Fort Lauderdale, USA 26 March Oldtimer Galerie, Toffen, Switzerland Richard Edmonds, Showell, UK 27 March Aguttes, Paris, France 30 March Brightwells, online 31 March - 2 April Mecum, Houston, USA 2-3 April Anglia Car Auctions, King’s Lynn, UK 6 April H&H,…

2002 ALPINA B10S £39,995 Powered by a 4.8-litre 375bhp V8, combined with an automatic gearbox, the B10 S is a more relaxed alternative to the E39 M5. This one’s on 58,000 miles, which is considered low for these autobahn cruisers. It looks to be in beautiful condition, too. hexagonclassics.com (UK) 1992 GULLWING INTL 300SL ROADSTER, $495,000 Fascinating recreation by Anton ‘Tony’ Ostermeier, using W124 running gear, spaceframe chassis and clever aluminium-skinned glassfibre panels – moulded from an original 300SL. Just 12,000 miles from new, too. hymanltd.com (US) 1913 LANCIA THETA SPEEDSTER, €284.950 Apparently never fully restored, but properly maintained over the years, this Theta still has its original Hayes and Miller Speedster Runabout body. A highly authentic example. gallery-aaldering.com (NL) 1971 ALFA ROMEO 1300 GTJ AUD $128,950 Described as a…

AS AN ACADEMIC I’ve worked a lot from home, but always commuted on foot or bicycle because I’ve lived nearby. Cardiff University – where I was co-director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at the Business School – was half-an-hour’s walk or a ten-minute ride. I’ve just retired, yet I still need to go out on foot or my bike every morning. I feel more productive outside the University. Business schools still train people for the world of the ’60s, but some of us tried to instil a 21st Century agenda with sustainability, and were constantly thwarted by management! For 11 years we ran a centre to study how businesses can be environmental, but the funding wasn’t renewed, and I missed the interesting stuff. When I was young I wanted…

I made a vow many years ago that I would never be one of those old duffers who bang on about how the young pups have it easy. I am not about to break that vow, but I may bend it a little. This column is being written only a couple of days since the 24 Hours of Daytona kicked off my race programme for the year. Strictly speaking, that’s a bit of a stretch given that I wasn’t in attendance, but I was invested in the outcome. It’s rare for me to miss it, but heck it was cold and, besides, I was glued to the Australian Open tennis tournament, which seemed to go on for three months rather than three weeks. Forgive the digression, but I have to…

‘The rebuilt engine feels strong and revvy, despite being limited to 3000rpm of its 6500rpm maximum while running-in’ I’M JUST BACK from a 400-mile tour of North Wales in my newly refreshed Jaguar V12 Coupé and I’m pleased to report that things are mostly good. The rebuilt engine feels strong and revvy, despite being limited to the first 3000rpm of its 6500rpm maximum while it’s still running in. The new body colour (a bespoke hybrid of Aston Martin Minotaur Green with the modern flip removed) gets better by the day to my eyes, and I was amazed how many people took time out to look over the car whenever I parked up. But the most surprising thing I learned on this trip is that I have fuel tanks (the XJC…

A FRIEND IN NEED is a pest indeed, as the old saying goes, but Model T specialist Richard Rimmer never fails to step up to the plate when I ask him for help. So, after trailering my poorly pick-up to his workshop late in 2021, he kindly allowed me to leave it in the warm and dry over Christmas rather than have it sit outside and deteriorate. Originally, I’d only asked Richard (who runs The T Service, tservice.co.uk) to investigate the car’s bad running but, since I felt guilty about dumping the car with him, I added a few more things to the jobs list. Among them was adding the ‘dynator’ – a modern alternator inside an original Model T dynamo housing – that I’d bought a while back, and…

THE BIGGEST ENGINE I’ve ever rebuilt may be in the car and almost ready to run but, before that could happen, I needed to rebuild the sorry-looking four-speed ‘Toploader’ gearbox. While it was in the worst condition of any I have ever owned, under the mud and rust lurked a complete and original beauty, complete with tag identifying it as the genuine GT 390 close-ratio version. The ’box may be a colossal thing but the abuse it suffered in later years had destroyed the large input shaft ball-race at the front of the casing. The primary shaft was ruined, too, but the rest was complete and was in good – if worn – mechanical shape. Luckily, David Kee in San Antonio, Texas, remanufactures everything for Toploaders. Once a parcel had…

YOU ONLY HAVE to potter around town in this top-spec GTS version of Porsche’s latest Macan to understand why this compact SUV has been such a big seller since hitting the market in 2014. It might share a lot of hardware with other cars in the Volkswagen Group – the platform is common to the Audi Q5 and this most recent 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 engine is taken from the RS5 – but there’s still something very special about the way the Porsche gets down the road. The line-up has been simplified for the 2022 model year, with three models now making up the whole range. For £48,940, the 261bhp four-cylinder petrol Macan offers an entry to the range. At £54,630, the S brings six cylinders and 375bhp, and this 434bhp…

1932 Wolseley Hornet 1½ Litre Tourer DVCA, Stalbridge, Dorset, UK 10 March, dvca.co.uk It’s amazing to think that this Wolseley has passed through just three owners since it was first constructed in 1932. The first used it regularly up to 1962, when it was parked. The second extracted it from a crumbling garage and comprehensively restored it. The third and most recent is now selling the car in tip-top condition. It’s estimated at £20,000-23,000, and is ready to enjoy some spirited VSCC action. 1965 Jaguar E-type 4.2 Coupé H&H Classics, Duxford, Cambridgeshire, UK 16 March, handh.co.uk It’s easily done. Make the decision to undertake a few jobs, and before you know it a whole year has passed. In the case of this 4.2-litre E-type, though, it’s been sitting in the…

WHAT TO PAY What was once in the ‘good usable’ £1500-5000 bracket will today cost you around £8000-15,000. Projects can be found anywhere from £2500, but tread carefully! A genuinely nice original car is going to be £25,000; something truly exceptional with perfect history could fetch even more. WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR The SIII is arguably as strong as any of the models that preceded it, though gearbox synchromesh is known to wear. Some parts are difficult to find for a rebuild. Take mileage figures with a pinch of salt; condition (notably, of bulkhead and chassis, which rot) is the number one rule for buying, with history a close second. The best cars have been well-maintained by all owners. They can soldier on with bad brakes and worn steering,…