Octaneの June 2016 の目次

we get around a fair bit at Octane. It’s a perk of the job, if writing about cars can really be classified as an actual job (best that you refrain from commenting on that, please). During this issue I was lucky enough to head to Florida for the Amelia Island concours, squeeze in a photoshoot of the Rain Man Buick, return to the office for a few days, spend a day at Stuttgart’s Retro Classics show (it helps that it’s a few minutes’ walk from Stuttgart airport), then drive straight to the Goodwood 74th Members’ Meeting. Others in the office went to Techno Classica Essen, Circuit Déjà Vu in Ireland and a few smaller local events. Why tell you this? Because, not for the first time, we were struck by…

FIVA announces awards for Best Preserved Vehicle The Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens has declared 2016 to be World Motoring Heritage Year, not least because it’s also the 50th anniversary of its parent body, the FIA. To celebrate this, FIVA is to bestow an award on the best-preserved vehicle at each of the top concours events around the world. It will recognise vehicles that ‘retain such a high degree of their original components, materials and finishes that they can be seen as important cultural artefacts. The first award was presented in March to the 1930 Cord L-29 of Dan Davis, displayed at the Amelia Island Concours. Breakfast at Blenheim Palace Salon Privé is already established at Churchill’s birthplace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire (1-3 September), but the organisers have now come up…

It’s a black art, chrome-plating, though the basic principle is well-known: a metal component is dipped into chromic acid, and an electrical current used to attract the metal in the solution to the part being plated. The longer current is held, the thicker the plating. Automotive plating is generally ‘decorative’; softer and thinner than the ‘hard’ plating used for engineering purposes. The best quality automotive plating is triple-plating, which involves three separate stages – copper, nickel and then chrome plating – with plenty of work between each stage. That’s why it’s expensive to have parts rechromed. Cheap jobs won’t use triple-plating, and therefore won’t have a deep shine and won’t be as corrosion-resistant. Here’s what goes on for your typical chrome-plated part. First, it’s chemically dipped to get it back…

Racing highs and lows John Watson wins the Austrian Grand Prix in a Penske PC4, his first (and the team’s only) GP victory, and shaves off his beard in celebration. Chris Amon bows out of Formula 1 having never won a Grand Prix, despite stellar ability. Johnny Rutherford wins the shortest-ever Indy 500, curtailed by rain to 255 miles. In with new, out with old Significant car launches include Ford Fiesta, Rover SD1, Lancia Gamma, Porsche 924, BMW 6-series, Mercedes-Benz W123 – and the wedge-shaped Lagonda. But it’s goodbye to the feisty little Hillman Imp after 13 years of missed sales targets. Re-thinking the revolution Chinese Communist party chairman Mao Tse-tung, or Mao Zedong as revised translation restyled him, dies at the age of 82. He would have found today’s…

in the world of top-level concours, Amelia Island is surely the most charming, the most relaxed of them all – despite having grown beyond all expectations during its 21 years. In the days preceding the main event, there are now five sales, by Bonhams, RM Sotheby’s, Hollywood Wheels, newcomers Motostalgia and official event auction house Gooding & Co. There are manufacturers’ test drives, automobilia sales, seminars and the free-to-enter Cars & Coffee. Saturday’s Cars & Coffee attracts big crowds and over 250 cars, a little downmarket from Sunday’s concours but wildy varied, from a rally Hillman Imp to muscle cars to Ford GT Le Mans racers. But that’s nothing like as varied as the line-up for the Concours d’Elegance on Sunday: highlights included all three Bizzarrini Spyders, a 50 years…

‘PROBABLY THE GREATEST BARGAIN, ALTHOUGH IT DIDN’T SEEM LIKE IT AT THE TIME, WAS THE McLAREN F1’ You can’t choose the era in which you collect cars. When I was younger, there was nothing I enjoyed more than looking through old issues of Road & Track from the ’50s and early ’60s, and marvelling at how affordable cars were. Ferrari GTOs for $4500, Duesenbergs about $10,000, things like that. I didn’t have anywhere near that kind of money at the time, but they seemed like incredible bargains and I always felt that I lived during the wrong period. When I got into the collector car market in the mid-80s, things were on the rise. There was a huge bubble around ’89, when things like Ferraris were quadrupling in value, and…

‘JOHN Z DELOREAN HAS A DMC-12, GULLWING DOORS OPEN, CARVED ONTO HIS TOMBSTONE AT WHITE CHAPEL CEMETERY’ Let’s face it, automotive genius John Zachary DeLorean’s DMC-12 was not a success like his previous Pontiac GTO, the first true all-American ‘muscle car’. In fact, his eponymous creation was a dismal failure surrounded by corruption and scandal. And yet the striking, stainless-steel, Giugiarodesigned gullwing coupé has potential which might yet be realised, as you will read in the cover feature. But the DeLorean achieved immortality when it was chosen by producer Bob Gale to be the star car in the 1985 film Back to the Future, in which it was powered by plutonium stolen from Libyan terrorists by ‘Doc Brown’. DeLorean was so chuffed by the car’s role in the film he…

Whether in flashing aluminium or more subdued polycarbonate, it’s the trademarked ribs that distinguish Rimowa luggage amidst the teeming throngs scurrying across the concourses of the world’s airports. Master luggage maker Paul Morszeck opened for business in Cologne in 1898, making suitcases, steamer trunks, and trunks for the newfangled automobile. With servants to do the lugging, the wood and leather luggage of the period was heavy and built to take a bashing but Morszeck sought an edge by crafting lighter cases. While man was still struggling to master powered flight, Morszeck advertised his wares with a poster that was prescient in view of future developments, showing one of his trunks in the form of an early aircraft soaring above Cologne. It would be another half-century before Rimowa’s aircraft-inspired luggage, er,…

Brian Redman’s career as a racing driver was never guaranteed. After doing his National Service, the young Brian settled into a business selling mops. ‘I needed a suitable vehicle and one soon appeared in the form of a Morris 1000 Traveller… I took to challenging every vehicle I met – and overtaking became such an obsession that I sometimes found myself 20 miles beyond a delivery destination.’ Reprehensible behaviour, maybe, but Brian soon evolved from boy racer to professional racer, driving a huge variety of sports machinery at the greatest circuits and biggest events of the late 1960s and early ’70s. He won the Targa Florio in 1970, was a three-time Formula 5000 champion, and scored major victories at the Nürburgring and Daytona – and yet, incredibly, this is the…

Ford’s participation in the muscle car wars of the 1960s is familiar territory – but this book is a reminder of just how many fronts the battles were waged on. We remember the NASCAR Galaxies and the Le Mans GT40s, of course, but how about the Mercury Cyclone rally cars? The 1968 Cougar XR7-G tribute to Dan Gurney? Or one-offs such as the 427-powered 1964 Thunderbird? Even jaded, seen-it-all-before Ford fans will find something to intrigue them here, and you get a lot of pictures and info for your 30 quid.…

Coterie is a small privately owned publishing house and The Healey Book was one of its early works, following on from the success of its first release The Lotus Book, which sold incredibly well. It tackled the Healey story in a way that had never been done before, model by model, with lots of pictures and stats to accompany the text. It isn’t word-heavy but the author, Bill Emersen, did a good job. One of the joys of this book is that it is so incredibly comprehensive, covering all kinds of oddballs and one-offs and even Healey boats. Coterie made clever use of its photography, too, with cut-out images given a ‘studio’ feel even though the pictures mostly had to be taken on location. The design is also very atttractive,…

DAVID LILLYWHITE Editor 1971 MGB GT1971 Saab 961973 Citroën SM1976 Zip Shadow Kart1996 Subaru Prodrive Impreza ROBERT COUCHER International editor 1937 Bentley 4¼1955 Jaguar XK1401973 Porsche 911S 2.4 Targa1991 Range Rover Vogue MARK DIXON Deputy editor 1955 Land Rover Series I 107in1963 Ford Galaxie Country Sedan1964 Chevrolet Greenbrier1970 Lamborghini Espada1989/’91 Land Rover Discoverys2001 Honda Insight GEOFF LOVE Publishing director 1989 Maserati Biturbo SANJAY SEETANAH Advertising director 1981 BMW 323i Top Cabrio1998 Aston Martin DB7 Volante GLEN WADDINGTON Associate editor 1983 Porsche 9441989 BMW 320i Convertible TONY DRON Test driver 1932 Austin Seven JOHN SIMISTER Contributor 1934 Singer Nine Le Mans1961 Saab 961965 Rover 20001968 Sunbeam Stiletto…

JOHN SIMISTER ‘The hype and the hubris have always overshadowed the car in the DeLorean story, so it was very moving to drive a DMC-12 around the derelict Dunmurry test track and discover a very enjoyable machine’ Not a single flux capacitor was activated in the making of this story. Turn to pages 66-76. AMY SHORE ‘Where we were going for the DeLorean shoot, we didn’t need roads… We did need Dunmurry’s abandoned test track though. The site was a perfect location for this exotic machine, which shot through layers of settled leaves and stirred visions of the once-bustling home of DeLorean’ Amy’s pictures accompany John Simister’s story. RICHARI BREMNER ‘The DeLorean story has long been clouded with cocaine dust, FBI framings and tales of embezzlement. But the industrial…

Italian shoemaker Piloti is back in the UK, with three new lines of driving shoe now available: Casual, Performance and Luxury. All the Piloti driving shoes feature a ‘Roll Control’ spherical heel cushion designed to make heel-and-toe gearchanging easier and smoother, as well as providing lateral support to reduce vibration. They have fire-resistant Nomex linings and thread, and a sole pattern in the style of a classic race tyre. Styles vary from the trainer-like Casual range to a slip-on loafer in the Luxury range and the high-cut dress shoe Campione. See www.piloti.uk.com. For details on how to win a pair, visit the Octane Facebook page.…

In 1916, BMW was founded as an aero engine manufacturer with a propeller motif as its badge – and a ready market, given what was going on across Europe. Motorcycles and cars followed the next decade. This year marks the company’s centenary, celebrated in officially supported events across the world. Here’s the pick of the big ones. Bmw Festival, munich. 9-11 September This free event, based in Munich’s Olympic Park, will see over 2000 BMWs of all ages, from clubs around the world, converge in a celebration of BMW’s past and future. The company’s own displays will be based around 300 current or classic BMWs. Festival Nights (ticket required) on 9 and 10 September will feature musical acts from the classical to the popular (including, yes, Simply Red) plus a…

5-8 May Targa Florio Historic Rally Crews head to Sicily for a flavour of one of history’s greatest road races. targa-florio.it 6-8 May Jaguar Simola Hillclimb Seriously quick hillclimb action in picturesque Knysna in South Africa’s Western Cape. speedfestival.co.za 7-8 May 1896 London Motor Show re-enactment The De Dion Bouton Club turns back time at the Imperial College campus in South Kensington. dedionboutonclub.co.uk 12 May Octane Drivers’ Club trackday A rare opportunity for readers to measure themselves against Goodwood’s legendary circuit. octane-magazine.com 13-15 May Spa Classic Spa’s famously fickle weather never dampens spirits at this super event. peterauto.peter.fr 13-15 May Verona Legend Cars Verona hosts a new event for 2016, with attractions including a display of historic Lancia racing cars. veronalegendcars.com 13-15 May Grand Prix de Monaco Historique Furious competition…

‘YEARS FROM NOW PEOPLE WILL THINK IT ODD THAT THE PUBLIC WAS ALLOWED CONTROL OF VEHICLES’ IT’S INTERESTING, what they talk about in our local pub. We are all very proud this week because our village community, the Abingtons, has just been named by The Sunday Times as one of the 50 best places to live in Britain. We could not agree more. The Three Tuns (above) was one of the attractions mentioned, as was the curiously named Partridge Group, which is ‘open to any man who can drink beer and talk religion at the same time’, with recent subjects including the ‘Power of the Genome’ and ‘Islam in 2016. It’s not always that highbrow here but they certainly can talk in our village. In the good old days, politics…

‘I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO SHARE SOME STORIES ABOUT HANS-JOACHIM STUCK – BUT I VALUE OUR FRIENDSHIP’ I guess sentimentality rather creeps up on you. I had never really stopped to think about what I had achieved until I hung up my helmet as a full-time professional driver. It was always a case of looking forwards rather than backwards; thinking about the next race or bagging the best seat available. I wasn’t one for revelling in the moment. Sure, I would celebrate if I won something, but I was already thinking about where I was off to next. But that was then. Now that I am a historic driver in the literal sense, I find myself in the slightly surreal position of being an elder statesman of motor racing. As…

The DeLorean DMC-12’s most memorable feature was its brushed stainless steel bodywork, closely followed by its high-rise gullwing doors. And – once the press had driven it – the disappointing discovery that its performance in no way matched the drama of its Giorgetto Giugiaro-sculpted looks. The company was well aware of this and so was Fred Dellis, CEO and founder of Legend Industries. Dellis admired John DeLorean as one of the founders of the American muscle craze, John Z having fanned the early spark with the trendsetting Pontiac GTO. Figuring that DeLorean would like a faster DeLorean, he won the chance to develop a twin-turbocharged version. At the subsequent ride and drive staged at the Bridgehampton race circuit in New York in November 1981, two Legend Renault Alpine mules (the…

‘It’s a 1949 Buick Roadmaster,’ Raymond tells his brother, Charlie Babbitt. ‘Straight 8. Fireball 8. Only 8985 production models. Dad lets me drive slow on the driveway. But not on Monday, definitely not on Monday.’ The car you see here is the very same 1949 Buick Roadmaster, from the 1988 film Rain Man. It’s owned by the film’s Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson, and has just been restored by Wayne Carini, of TV’s Chasing Classic Cars. So we still have an all-star cast involved. In case you didn’t know, Rain Man is the story of high-end car dealer Charlie Babbitt (played by Tom Cruise) discovering after his father’s death that he has an older brother, the autistic Raymond, or ‘Rain Man’ (Dustin Hoffman). When Charlie finds that he’s been left nothing…

General George Smith Patton drove a cetacean 1938 Cadillac 75, a car with an ego as mighty as his own. It was a car that, in design terms, anticipated the gloriously absurd baroque follies of Detroit art in the 1950s. It was, like its most famous passenger, big, confident, imposing and a little loud. Some said Patton was the greatest warrior who ever lived and he had no difficulty in supplying a vivid iconography to support this ambitious claim. Though his achievements were real, including the liberation of Sicily (as head of the US Seventh Army), and rather stylishly capturing Northern France (as commander of the Third Army), his reputation was based on a camp-but-butch theatricality as much as it was on martial expertise, a general’s vision and a soldier’s…

Have you seen the BBC documentary that spawned this book? Grand Prix, The Killer Years is hard-hitting and packed with soundbites from the survivors of 1960s and ’70s F1. But actually, those drivers, and other crucial characters such as wives and girlfriends Jacqueline Beltoise, Nina Rindt and Jacqui Hamilton, had been the subjects of full interviews – and this book reproduces those interviews in full. What’s revealed is variously hard-hitting, shocking, eye-opening, funny – and utterly compelling.…

Octane columnist Stephen Bayley’s sniper wit is legendary. Don’t be put off by his book’s title (or its bleak subtitle There Are No Accidents) and consider his own rationale: ‘It’s not macabre, more a requiem for the car and the role it played in defining celebrity characters.’ The fatal road accidents of James Dean, Jackson Pollock, Marc Bolan and many others are explored – and you can read the chapter on General Patton in this issue (pages 134-136). As Bayley says, ‘had Volvo patented the seatbelt in 1927, this book would have looked rather different’.…

Author Doug Nye claims in his introduction that this story of chassis 2119 GT virtually wrote itself. Well, if that’s the case, it did a bloody good job of it. Doug’s point is that when a car is one of the greatest GTs of all time, driven in its early years by one of the greatest drivers of all time – Stirling Moss – before going on to be raced by then rising star Michael Parkes, before moving into ownership by the great and the good of historic car custodianship, then it shouldn’t be too hard to produce a decent book on it all. But this is much more than merely ‘decent’. The story starts with Moss recovering from his terrible 140mph crash in the 1960 Belgian GP. Why? Because…

In his history of Airfix, enthusiast Arthur Ward tells the story of how, in the spring of 1956, a member of the company’s staff spotted a 1930 Bentley 4½ Litre ahead of him and, instantly convinced this should be the subject of a model, chased after it, almost forcing the driver off the road. Once the owner had calmed down, he was persuaded to allow Airfix designers to measure up the car for a 1:32 scale plastic kit. The anecdote illustrates both the painstaking attention to detail that went into the production of these kits and the passion the Airfix team had for their job. In this instance their efforts were certainly rewarded, as the kit remained in production, on and off, until well into the 21st Century. Still in…

ANDREW ENGLISH Contributor 1960 Triumph TR3A1965 Aston Martin DB5 DAVID BURGESS-WISE Contributor 1903 De Dion-Bouton1911 Pilain 16/201926 Delage DISS MARTYN GODDARD Photographer 1963 Triumph TR6SS Trophy1965 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII DELWYN MALLETT Contributor 1936 Cord 810 Beverly1946 Tatra T871950 Ford Club Coupe1952 Porsche 3561955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL1957 Porsche Speedster1957 Fiat AbarthSperimentale1963 Abarth-Simca1963 Tatra T603 SARAH BRADLEY Contributor 1929 Ford Model A hot rod1952 Studebaker Champion1956 Chevrolet 3100 pick-up1969 Plymouth RoadrunnerVarious motorbikes MASSIMO DELBÒ Contributor 1967 Mercedes-Benz 2301972 Fiat 500L1980 Ferrari 308GTB1982 Mercedes-Benz 500SL KEEP UP TO DATE Follow the progress of the Octane fleet via Facebook and Twitter www.facebook.com/octanemagazine @octane_magazine…

It was never goIng to stop at a run of ‘continuation’ Lightweight E-types using previously unallocated chassis numbers. Having developed the expertise to recreate and refine analogue-era body data on computer, to 21st-century levels of accuracy, Jaguar Classic will now use it on another high-profile project and tie up some more of history’s loose ends. After Jaguar pulled out of racing with the D-type at the end of 1956, it decided to convert the last 25 unfinished and now superfluous D-types into roadgoing versions, dubbed XKSS. Sixteen had already been completed from their D-type starting points when, in February 1957, a huge fire at the Browns Lane factory put paid to the final nine, and a lot else besides. That was the end of the XKSS project. So nine XKSSs…

‘Hello crazy car people! I could have sold the cars all in one day but I wanted to be here with you’ Jerry Seinfeld at the $22m sale of his cars at Gooding & Co ‘I just jumped in and went for a drive. It felt pretty nice but not that fast; in fact I thought my time was a mistake…’ Nick Padmore on achieving a record 1min 17.079sec lap at Goodwood, in a Lola T70 ‘He is the greatest living exponent of the TT, with 23 victories to his name’ The Royal Automobile’s Club citation to Isle of Man TT racer John McGuinness, as he was awarded the Segrave Trophy ‘These vehicles are really sculptural art, and we are proud to exhibit some of the jewels of that wonderful…

As one of the greatest motor sport writers, Alan Henry had the knack of asking killer questions without ruining relationships. It is said that when he found a particularly juicy morsel, he was sometimes unable to keep it to himself – which was great news for fellow Formula 1 journalists. People with deep knowledge and sharp wit often live life by winging it from crisis to crunch, and ‘AH’ – as was his sign-off right from his early days on Motoring News – often gave the impression of close shaves survived. This writer shared a hired Mercedes 190E with AH to drive to the unveiling of the Ferrari F40 in 1987, which turned out to be Enzo’s last public appearance. To be in the presence of such lightly worn erudition…

If there’s anything positive to come from the sad news that Yorkshireman Martin Lampkin, the first ever FIM World Trials Champion, has died aged 65, it’s a reminder of the appeal of his era of trials motorcycles – and the simple fun of manoeuvring a bike over rocks, trees and other obstacles. Lampkin dominated trials during the 1970s and ’80s, and played a large part in the increasing appeal of trials across the world – to such an extent that in the UK the BBC aired the popular Kick Start and Junior Kick Start trials programmes on primetime from 1979 to 1988. The bikes were slim, simple and stylish, with twin rear shock absorbers rather than the monoshock of later machines. Now they’re gaining a new appreciation, driven through nostalgia…

Whether or not you’re drawn to its present-day, Autocar is the most venerable of car magazines. It’s even starting to make me feel ancient, as I was closely involved with both its centenary edition and its 5000th issue, over 20 years ago. It was first published by Iliffe & Sons in November 1895, and there’s been a new one on newsagents’ shelves almost every week since. The definitive article was clipped from its title in 1961, at which point the organ had been presenting painstakingly detailed weekly road tests for 35 years. At certain times of the year, The Autocar/ Autocar swelled to doorstop proportions with classified ads and the must-have guide to the Earl’s Court motor show. In those pre-internet times, the mag must have coined it in for…

it’s hitting the spot, this Members’ Meeting. After a slightly hesitant start, the third – or rather the 74th, given that it’s a belated continuation of an age-old event – edition saw bigger crowds, stunning demo runs and spectacular racing. Too spectacular at times, in fact, with three accidents on the Sunday proving that motor sport is indeed dangerous. Thankfully none of the drivers was badly hurt, but a Lola T70, a Cobra and a Lotus-Climax 18 were left in sorry states. It’s interesting that, largely unheeded, visitors are mostly arriving suitably attired in smart, 1950s/60s-style fashions: less fancy dress than at the Revival but evocative to see all the same. And the grassroots race cars that Goodwood was keen to promote, particularly in the Gerry Marshall Trophy – that’s…

1. Charlie and Freddie are my two black labradors. I got them when they were eight weeks old, about 18 months ago, and it was lovely to nurture them from such a young age. I’m just back from Australia, the first Grand Prix of the season. It’s great to be greeted by them when I’ve been away. 2. My mum left me this ring. She found it in an antiques fair and I always loved it. I wear it when I make a presentation; it gives me some of her courage. Mum loved butterflies, she even had one tattooed on her wrist. Our cars have worn a butterfly logo with her initials since she died. 3. This is my mum’s book, written by her about how she and my dad…

‘WE HAVE NOT ONLY LOST THE TREMENDOUS TAIL FINS OF VIRGIL EXNER’S CHRYSLERS, WE HAVE LOST HIS INNOCENCE TOO’ Where are all the great car designers ? Gone the way of the campanatura, the running-board, swages, pontons, strakes, suicide doors and the bold vulgarian flourish, is my guess. Yes, I know about the diligent students on vehicle design courses at The Royal College of Art, Coventry University and Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. But what exactly is this future that Mr Huang and Mr Lee and Ms Moon are so fretfully working on in their seminar rooms? Designing slick GPS podules where an interesting hot engine has been replaced by a yard of code, whisking you to a destination almost indistinguishable from the place you have just left.…

Miura put out to grass Further to David Speak’s memories of seeing a Lamborghini Miura at Barbon hillclimb (Letters, Octane 155) and his regret at not having a camera that day, he and your other readers might appreciate the accompanying photograph of what I presume will be that car, taken around June 1994. I recall the owner being very patient as he fielded questions about it. Ian Spencer, Lancashire Stirling service In his editorial in Octane 155, David Lillywhite says that Sir Stirling Moss was ‘Hamilton, Schumacher, Vettel, Senna and more all rolled into one’. I would say he was even greater than that. In 2010 I received a CMC model of the 1955 Mille Migliawinning Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR from my wife and daughters for my birthday. They apologised that…

Why am I here? I’m in the wrong car in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m in an automotive parallel universe superimposed on the real one, and I hope the natives don’t turn hostile on the alien invader from another dimension. After all, we all have to share the same piece of A3. In my universe, travelling over 200mph is normal behaviour and why would you want to see through a rear window? So I don’t have one; the space is full of carbonfibre air-duct. So I can’t readily see the clouds of partly burnt hydrocarbons that accompany every foray into maximum boost and the dissolving of a horizon. For all that, though, I am driving a car whose identity is grounded in the real universe. It’s a…

Car designers always make great book subjects but only a handful can compare to Virgil Exner for sheer quantity of output. Having started in 1929 with an advertising agency, Exner was talent-spotted by Harley Earl at GM and never looked back. His greatest work was at Chrysler in the 1950s, where he oversaw the 1957 ‘Forward Look’ that had a massive impact on the industry – but, as this book shows, he did so much more, from luxury speedboats to, for example, the one-off 1965 Bugatti 101C-X. Stuffed with great images, this softback is superb value.…

Grasso has gone out of his way to write a book centred on the rare (24 built) Integrale-based Hyena, in his bid to counter the wealth of Integrale books that feature it only as an addendum. While the story is largely familiar, where this bilingual book scores is in the wealth of technical drawings and styling sketches (including Giugiaro’s proposals for the Delta), plus the chapter on how Lancia rejected Zagato’s Hyena as a production possibility in order to bring us the Kappa Coupé. The what? Exactly.…

GUY ALLEN LE MANS POSTER Gulf 917 at Le Mans? We’re not sure it gets better than that, and Guy Allen’s highly stylised A2 poster provides a fresh approach to an extremly popular subject. All the elements of the 24 Hours are there, to goosebump-inducing effect. But beware, there are only 200 available, each one printed on archive-quality paper stock, signed and numbered. £59. www.guyallen.co.uk TAMIYA ’99 IMPREZA A rallying icon in 1999 Monte Carlo livery, as driven by the late, great Richard Burns – or by you, with this radio-control version. No flat-four burble but you can tune it with Tamiya’s ‘Hop-Up’ parts. £130 (£199.99 with R/C) www.hobbyco.net HISTORICS COLLECTION WINE BOTTLE HOLDER How tempting it would be to send the vintage plonk whizzing down the table in this…

Gullwing finally shows its true age 1955 MERCEDESBENZ 300SL DELWYN MALLETT After 43 years of ownership it’s bye to SHM 14F and hello 446 UYP. Not a new car, just a new number – I’ve finally re-registered the Merc with an age-related number plate. This exercise turned into something of a saga, with letters and documents flying back and forth as, despite pointing out to the DVLA that the VIN number contained the year of manufacture, 1955, and that the car was in production for only three years, it wanted confirmation from Mercedes that this was a 1955 car and not, as the V5 stated, a 1967 car. Many thanks to Rory Lumsdon at Mercedes-Benz UK, who arranged for Stuttgart to email me build sheet copies showing completion on 30…

‘SEINFELD’S BEETLE SOLD FOR AN ASTONISHING $120,000, SURELY THE MOST EXPENSIVE UNMODIFIED 1960 BEETLE SOLD TO DATE’ Biggest news of the month? That will be Amelia Island, Florida, and the five auctions that now surround the Concours event. Success breeds success, and auction-house real estate is getting more valuable and harder to find as each year passes. New to this year’s event was Motostalgia, based in Austin, Texas. Like rival Hollywood Wheels, it is attempting to take on larger, better-known auction houses. With five auctions and the Concours vying for attention at Amelia Island, it’s not only space that is getting tight, it’s time as well. This year’s combined revenue for all the Ameila auctions was a hefty $139,216,180, so let’s do the breakdown. Bonhams kicked off the buying frenzy…

The website of Beverly Hills-based memorabilia specialist Julien’s is one of the more reliably fascinating corners of the internet, a kind of supermarket for people against whom multiple restraining orders have been filed. Want a pair of Elvis Presley’s underpants? (Size 36, if that helps you to date them.) Yours for only $2000-4000. Perhaps you’d prefer a bottle (empty) of his pills? Many varieties to choose from! We’re not making this up: those items will be sold by Julien’s in New York on 21 May, along with many other, far less weird, objects. The one we’d love to take home is the guitar pictured here, known to Stevie Ray Vaughan fans as ‘Jimbo’. Handed down to Stevie by his brother Jimmie (who had scratched his name into the back), the…

29 April SWVA, Poole, UK 29 April – 1 May Collector Car Productions Mississauga, Canada 30 April Barons, Esher, UK 2 May Shannons Melbourne, Australia 5-7 May Auctions America, Auburn, USA 7-8 May Berlinetta Auctions Weston-on-the-Green, UK 11 May Brightwells, Leominster, UK 12-14 May Vicari, Nocona, USA 13 May Bonhams, Monaco 13 May Coys, Monaco 14 May RM Sotheby’s, Monaco 14-15 May Lucky Collector Car Auctions Tacoma, USA 15 May Classics Central, Bedford, UK 17-21 May Mecum, Indianapolis, USA 18 May H&H, Castle Donington, UK 20 May Silverstone Auctions Silverstone, UK 21 May Bonhams, Newport Pagnell, UK 21 May Dan Kruse Classics Midland, USA 21 May Morris Leslie, Perth, UK 21 May Anglia Car Auctions King’s Lynn, UK 28 May Mathewsons Thornton-le-Dale, UK 28-29 May Silverstone Auctions Aarhus, Denmark 30…