Classic Cars October 2022

Any car that can pitch into the unforgiving cauldron of motor sport and rise to the top earns respect. The hard way. When that respect turns to infatuation, only availability of funds stands between enthusiast buyers and the road-going equivalents shimmering and glistening beneath showroom spotlights. Practical considerations? We can always rationalise our way around such inconveniences. ‘Buy this GT HSR RS and you too will be a cool driving god just like the one you saw on the rally stage or race track at the weekend!’ OK, even in the Seventies, when the Brut 33 adverts just about summed up subtlety in marketing, the messaging might heavily imply rather than outright state the promise, but nevertheless we all got the point. And even if some of those seductive showroom…

Austin-Healey 100 So this is it?!’ Clive Kelsall asks as he bounds towards the 1954 Austin-Healey 100 that gleams outside Leatherhead transmission specialist Hardy Engineering. He doesn’t wait for an answer, all but abandoning his Porsche 996 Turbo as he swoops in to examine his dream machine. ‘Isn’t this so much a Fifties sports car? I’m taken aback by how small it seems – how compact yet purposeful it manages to be – which is so perfectly exaggerated by the rounded outer edge that lips the entire cabin. I love the ’Healey as a piece of art but I’m wondering whether it has the performance to match.’ He’s about to find out – we’ve arranged a day behind the wheel. Michelle McDonough appears from the building, brandishing the keys. When…

The price of fuel has always been the Jensen Interceptor’s nemesis. Those heavy drinking Chrysler V8s glug petrol scarily fast and you can actually watch the fuel needle move downwards when you’re pressing on. Go nuts and you’ll return single-figure mpg. Perhaps that’s why the most recent auction results have been surprisingly lacklustre. A lovely 1972 Interceptor III in black on black with 47,000 miles, history, running very sweetly and looking totally bewitching, made just £28,600 at Historics’ July sale. That’s getting near the sort of money we used to pay for tatty project cars. H&H sold a very fine ’71 FF II – that’s the rare Ferguson Formula four-wheel-drive version – in red with black leather, one of only 107 FF MkIIs, just out of 26-year ownership, a previous…

MORE QUENTINWILLSON P41 Please don’t laugh, but I’m seeing value in the Metro. The Metro is now going through that swallow dive of unloved mediocrity – like the Allegro once did – where the only available buyers are weird BL fans (like me) who see them as icons of a simpler time.  Some lovely few-owner small-mileage cars on the market have sold for piddling amounts. How about the Nightfire Red ’96 Rover 100 Knightsbridge that Charterhouse sold in July with just 16,000 miles and three owners for £2200? It was time-warp mint and original. Not quite so perfect was a Slate Grey 1990 Rover Metro 1.1 with 30,000 miles, three same-family owners, huge history file which included the original sales receipt and a fully stamped service book, which Charterhouse knocked…

It’s worth watching TR6s because prices seem to be edging down to very alluring levels. This may be because of a general market malaise or the fact that the square-jawed six-pot Triumph is no longer fashionable. Historics hammered away one of the cheapest I’ve seen for a while in July – agreen 1973, looking very pukka and immediately usable with a fine interior, factory hardtop, carb conversion and 78,000 miles made just £8866. That’s a new low for a shiny, decent, nice-driving TR6. Brightwells dispatched a very original and unspoilt white 1970 with just two registered owners from new (the last for 50 years), long history and a warranted 74,000 miles for £11,200 in June. VALUE 2019 £16k VALUE NOW £15k Brightwells previously sold CYK 606H in May this year…

How to thin my collection The time has come to reduce my collection. Some I’ve bought for rarity (1976 Daimler Double Six Coupé, 1979 Jaguar XJ-S manual), others their low mileage (20k-mile Corvair Monza coupé, 58,000km ZT-T 260, 28,000km Puma 1.7), history (FPSH Boxster 2.7, one-owner Maserati 3200GT), originality (1977 Jaguar XJ-S, 1979 M-B 280 SLC, 1982 Renault Fuego TX Découvrable) and/or innovation (1982 Citroën CX GTi). All are lhd and well-optioned. Which should I sell now and which should I keep from an financial/investment angle. Alexandre Bonnyns NOT SURE WHETHER NOW’S THE RIGHT TIME TO BUY, SELL OR HANG ONTO THAT CLASSIC? Email classic.cars@ bauermedia.co.uk with ‘Ask Quentin’ in the subject line. You have a wonderful collection. I’d sell the Corvair – they’ve never performed that well in the…