Tabla de contenidos para January 2022 en Octane

Royal Hospital Chelsea, a home for veteran soldiers, opened its doors in 1682. The vision of King Charles II, it was brought to life by the redoubtable architect Sir Christopher Wren. The magnificent building, inspired by Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, still stands tall more than 300 years later, and is now home to the legendary Chelsea Pensioners. It is also a certified London landmark, overlooking the River Thames. The venue was previously limited to only three outside events per year, and the event organisers are ‘humbled to announce our partnership with the Royal Hospital, the home of Salon Privé London’. In 2022, as the first year in an initial five-year term, the event will occupy the main South Lawn at the Grades I and II listed site, and will…

By the time you read this, I will have reached what you might euphemistically call a ‘milestone birthday.’ I am days away from flying back to the USA after four months in Europe and am currently sitting in my study surrounded by reminders from my motor racing past. Actually, landfill is perhaps a more apposite description. I am meant to be sorting things out but have mostly created piles. And my latest discovery? A bright red leather Ferrari diary from 1969. And in an instant, I am transported back in time to a period when I was a single-seater hopeful, driving for the Scuderia. I don’t consider myself to be particularly sentimental, but I suppose sentimentality creeps up on all of us at some point. I certainly don’t want to…

This year our biggest and most diverse jury ever considered entries in 14 categories, while Octane readers voted for Car of the Year. Inevitably, certain judges were involved with certain nominees – so, in the interest of fairness, they refrained from voting in the relevant category. Each judge worked in private, and ballots remained sealed.…

IF THERE WERE any advantages to the decimation of the classic car calendar over the past, gosh, nearly two years now, it’s been the revival in grassroots events. Even before all the lockdowns that wiped out the festivals and pretty much anything indoors, we were seeing the steady rise of ‘cars and coffee’ meets. But 2019 and 2020 gave rise to an even more ‘basic’ type of get-together. One little different, really, from the traditional club noggin-and-natter, but which is more inclusive and more prolific. It all started when James Wheeler of McGrath Maserati posted some pictures from Wimbledon Common one Sunday morning. It was just a line-up of parked classics… but what classics. They ranged from a Miura to Land Rovers via Alfas, some tasty Porsches and much more.…

OH, THE IGNOMINY! Nothing is quite so dispiriting as returning home in your classic, attached to an AA van’s tow bar, from what was intended as a pleasant stress-free day in the sunshine gazing at other people’s classics. It is even worse than being ferried home on a low-loader, as then at least you are an anonymous passenger in the cab. Being on the end of a solid bar leaves you at eyeball level with the rest of motoring kind’s curious gaze. It’s also quite disconcerting to be at the wheel while only a couple of metres behind a moving vehicle, unable to see around it and anticipate bends – not that your steering input is very necessary. I guess it’s rather like sitting in an autonomous vehicle. I’d intended…

‘My buttocks have tired of the BMW 323i Baur Top Cabrio’s lowered suspension after three years, so I’m reverting to the standard set-up’Sanjay Seetanah ‘It’s caused me a lot of agonising, but I’ve decided to sell my Lotus Esprit HC Turbo. It’s a great thing but, when it’s parked next to the Countach and Testarossa, I always end up taking one of those out instead’Harry Metcalfe ‘Fix the Singer’s lack of compression or stop the rear axle hitting the chassis? Couldn’t decide, so instead I have stopped the windscreen flopping forwards by re-making the locking devices’John Simister ‘After a quick car-park oil change, the Model T started first time and ran sweetly, despite having stood outside and unused for five months. Basic cars are so often the best cars’Mark Dixon…

£1,906,000 (€2,242,500) 1994 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport Bonhams, Knokke-Heist, Belgium. 10 October £1,563,500 (€1,840,000) 1989 Ferrari F40 Bonhams, Knokke-Heist, Belgium. 10 October £1,210,500 ($1,650,000) 1931 Duesenberg Model J Roadster RM Sotheby’s, Hershey, USA. 7-8 October £1,147,000 ($1,556,000) 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing Bonhams, Newport, USA. 1 October £728,000 ($1,000,000) 2017 Ford GT Bring a Trailer, online. 27 October £653,500 ($891,000) 1935 Auburn Eight Supercharged Speedster RM Sotheby’s, Hershey, USA. 7-8 October £557,000 (€655,500) 1968 Ferrari 365 GTC Bonhams, Knokke-Heist, Belgium. 10 October £537,000 ($728,250) 1963 Shelby Cobra 260 Bonhams, Newport, USA. 1 October £532,000 ($725,000) 2012 Lexus LFA Bring a Trailer, online. 7 October £503,500 (€592,250) 1961 Ferrari 250 GTE Bonhams, Knokke-Heist, Belgium. 10 October…

After serving in the Navy during World War Two, David Wynne went to Cambridge University to read Zoology, and was almost immediately told to stop wasting his time. His talent for sculpture was such that his tutors couldn’t bear to see him sitting in lectures. As a professional artist he found favour with people in high places. In 1964 he made a portrait of The Beatles, working from their Paris hotel, and he became a friend of the band in the process, despite arranging for 100kg of pungent clay to be delivered to the bathtub in Paul McCartney’s room. Later on he was asked to sculpt the Queen, and his work was installed in many public spaces. Boy With a Dolphin, which stands in Chelsea, is his best-known piece, but…

JORDAN BUTTERS ‘The Aston Martin Vanquish S could have rolled fresh off the production line today and didn’t look out of place amid modern traffic at all. Add that glorious-sounding V12 into the mix and you can really see why these are such sought-after modern classics.’ Jordan’s fabulous photography accompanies Glen Waddington’s story on pages 56-68. JOHN SIMISTER ‘Encountering the MG R-type brought intrigue on several levels. Is it a “real” MG? Is it “original”? And how could someone create an entire racing car from scratch? Then I had a few laps in Geoff Enoch’s labour of love. What a privilege that was.’ Find out why this replica 1930s racer is closer to original than any other example, pages 80-88. JONATHAN FLEETWOOD ‘Beyond the obvious delight of feeling like I had stepped…

As a child, I wasn’t a fan of Hot Wheels. Matchbox, Corgi, Majorette, even Siku ranked higher on my list, mainly due to the better selection of relatively normal European cars. But as my horizons broadened, it seemed like Hot Wheels left the competition standing, with an amazing selection of desirable classics, supercars and cult competition cars vying for shelf space with the weird and wonderful custom cars that Hot Wheels was known for. Life moves on, and my taste in four-wheeled ‘toys’ has become more expensive, yet I’ve never been able to resist taking a peek at the latest batch of Hot Wheels when doing the weekly shop. I know I’m not the only one, either. Recent releases include cult cars such as the Audi RS2, Mercedes 500E, Volvo…

What’s the future of car design? In Californian campus dormitories and next-generation airliners, OLED screens will replace windows too thermally inefficient for dorms and too heavy for flight. That, of course, is if airliners and students still exist a few years from now: each seems near extinction. Meanwhile, if Zuckerberg has his ferrety way, travel of any sort will become redundant and VR will make tourism, in my case schlepping footsore through Rome, a memory. But quite how a headset can deliver my favourite pasta dish from a Trastevere trattoria, Zuck is not saying. To refresh my sense of yearning for paradise soon to be lost, I have in front of me a postcard showing Torino-Caselle airport circa 1965. I know it is that year because there are no Fiat…

THE AUDI IS getting some mechanical attention after 20,000 miles of carefree driving. The afternoon before setting off to Monterey from LA, the brakes started pulsing and grabbing all on their own. A horrible noise. I called the shop: ‘Guys, help!’ I drove over so they could run a diagnostic test; I like how you just plug the machine in and it tells you the fault. In this case the culprit seemed to be the ‘yaw sensor’, which is part of the ABS and stability control system. This sensor is not cheap, lives under the dash and, well, we’re not fixing it today. I do Monterey and live to tell the tale. I then find a new/old-stock yaw sensor at the Audi dealer and he gives me a break on…

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 300SL 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 TONY DRON Contributor • 1932 Austin Seven SARAH BRADLEY…

MARGATE NEVER ceases to surprise. Cycling along the promenade, I caught sight of a colourful poster tied to a lamppost and featuring a classic Triumph motorcycle on the beach. Further inspection revealed it was advertising ‘The Mile Beach Race on the Main Sands’. This clearly warranted further investigation, so I checked out the website of organiser and motorcycle-wear emporium Malle London (mallelondon.com) for details. Come the day, I set out to the beach on my 1963 Triumph Trophy. It’s only a few miles from my place to the golden sands, and I kept off the main roads as I reacquainted myself with hopeless drum brakes and a right-foot gear-change. As I arrived, the tide was ebbing and the course was being marked out by a crew in a 1969 Land Rover…

WHEN JEREMY CLARKSON first started making some serious money, he bought a new Ferrari 355. He explained that 85% of first-time Ferrari buyers choose a red one, but he wanted to be different and would order his in green. But, of course, he ended up buying a red one. You have to wonder whether the same scenario will play out with Chevrolet’s new Corvette Stingray. For the first time ever, it’s available from the factory in right-hand drive. It has a 475bhp V8 and it will scorch to 62mph from rest in 3.5sec. And it costs £74,200 in the UK, when the cheapest Ferrari (the Portofino) starts at £166,180 and the bargain-basement McLaren 540C is £137,125. So, why wouldn’t you buy the Corvette? Truth is: you should, because it’s a…

POCKETOY SUNBEAM-TALBOT By Wells Brimtoy Though the mainstream toy companies such as Dinky and Corgi offered an impressively wide selection of cars of the post-war era, gaps were sometimes left to the more obscure manufacturers to fill. The Sunbeam-Talbot two-litre, seen briefly before the war and built after it for only three years, is one such car. And yet there was a diecast model of it, recognisable as a Sunbeam-Talbot by the distinctive shape of the rear side windows. Sometimes seen without baseplate and labelled simply ‘Made in England’, it is usually found with a clockwork motor and a tin base marked ‘Pocketoy’. In spite of the toy’s weight, its mechanism is powerful enough to send it shooting across the floor. There are very few other Pocketoy diecast cars. The…

19-29 November Bonhams, online, France 23-30 November Shannons, online, Australia 24 November H&H, online, UK 25 November DVCA, Dorset, UK 27 November Historics, Surrey, UK Richard Edmonds, Wiltshire, UK (motorcycles) 1-8 December RM Sotheby’s, online, global 1-13 December Cheffins, online, UK 2-4 December Mecum, Kansas City, USA 4 December Bonhams, London, UK Classicbid, Nuremberg, Germany 6 December Osenat, Versailles, France 8 December H&H, Buxton, UK 9 December Brightwells, online, UK 10-11 December Mathewsons, online, UK 11 December Bonhams, Bicester, UK Classic Car Auctions, Stoneleigh Park, UK 12 December Aguttes, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France 14 December Barons, Sandown Park, UK 20 December Osenat, Fontainebleau, France 29 December Oldtimer Galerie, Gstaad, Switzerland 6-15 January Mecum, Kissimmee, USA 22-30 January Barrett-Jackson, Scottsdale, USA 24-28 January Gooding & Co, online 25-29 January Mecum, Las Vegas, USA…

1928 AUSTIN SWALLOW £29,950 It’s hard to believe, but this tiny little Austin apparently took 17 years to restore back to its former glory. Many unique parts were custom built, using JDHT’s highly original example as a template. classic-motor-cars.co.uk (UK) 1974 HONGQI CA 770 POA This rare classic, luxury vehicle was built in China and seen here at Pebble Beach in 2018. Only 202 were made, and very few ever left China. An interesting alternative to a 600 Pullman. blackhawkcollection.com (US) 1967 MASERATI MEXICO €128,500 Not much beats a Vignale-bodied Maserati Mexico for pure understated class. Delivered new to Italy, then exported to the US, this is a well-maintained original car, now residing in Germany. thiesen-automobile.com (DE) 1984 TOYOTA COROLLA LEVIN AUD $74,995 It gained a cult following for rallying…

The multi-faceted Zoute Grand Prix Week at the Belgian seaside resort of Knokke-Heist took in two other cities (Bruges and Ostend) on its rally for 225 classic cars. It also held a renowned concours d’élégance plus a Bonhams sale that topped €12million. The event attracted thousands of spectators, especially to Prado Zoute, a beach pavilion showcasing premium cars such as the new Ferrari 296 GTB and McLaren Artura. Concours honours were taken by a Lancia Lambda Casaro (pre-war) and Lamborghini Countach LP400 (post-war), while top dog at the Bonhams sale was a 1994 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport that made €2,242,500.…

I’m often asked: what’s your favourite car? But I’ve never been asked about my favourite engine. So here’s a list from among those engines I possess and have had experiences with. Let’s start with the 1913 Mercer Raceabout with the famous T-head engine, designed by Finley Robertson Porter. It’s called the T-head because the intake and exhaust valves are on the opposite sides of the pistons. The engine is 300 cubic inches, four cylinders and puts out 58 horsepower. They were less efficient than flatheads or the overhead-valve machines, but popular because of the poor grade of gasoline sold at the time, which ignited at a much lower temperature. With the valves far apart from each other, they were less prone to pre-detonation. They were, and still are, nearly bulletproof.…

The Glickenhaus featured in this issue reminds me that I have never owned an American car, though I well recall my father’s brief dalliance with a 1960s Buick Riviera in my youth. And I have always loved the US. Since establishing Octane with a bunch of optimists in 2003, I have made the annual Monterey Week pilgrimage over to California for The Quail, Laguna Seca and Pebble Beach religiously, up until a couple of years ago. Wonderfully glamorous and cool it was not. Well, not for those of us on that first trip, suffering the 12-hour long-haul flight from London to San Francisco buried in the back of Economy class (all the car dealers were in Business), then collecting a Ford truck at Park ’n’ Fly (arranged for us by…

‘I bought it in the Bonhams auction at Works in May 2016. Half the interior was in the boot, the glass was wrong, we weren’t sure it would start. My cheeky bid was the only one.’ And with that, George Georgiou had bought a piece of history: Project Vantage was his. This concept car was far from road-legal – the sale catalogue said ‘this vehicle is a concept car designed to motivate itself at low speeds’ – and, gradually, Georgiou brought it back to life. ‘We bled fluid through the gearbox control system; it still doesn’t like going into first. But the engine is fine, and it’s never been apart.’ Remember, we’re talking about Aston Martin’s first use of its new V12, and that pioneering robotised transmission, both in prototype…

So here they are, the eleventh Historic Motoring Awards, the only global recognition in our industry, and by far the most prestigious accolade for enthusiasts and ‘the trade’ alike. Of course, these awards also acknowledge those people and organisations that do so much to support our world even though they might not directly be involved in it. While it is wonderful to welcome back our key events awards – rendered vestigial by the pandemic in 2020 – I am especially delighted that many of the new categories we introduced last year have been retained. Prime among them for me, of course, is our hat-tip to the next generation via the Aprentice of the Year trophy. The fact that in only its second year it is already our most talked about…

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…

IT’S BEEN A strange summer, with occasional family forays in the BMW grabbed when the sun shone, and much exploring of local roads undertaken whenever it was warm and dry enough to take the roof down. Now the BMW has been washed, garaged and is wearing its tailor-made CoverCar shroud. That’s not to say it won’t be coming out again: I prefer to exercise it over winter than have it endure a total lay-up. And there’s been a bit of a late summer extension into October, perfect weather for a top-down weekend blast. An invitation to the final Sunday Scramble of the year at Bicester Heritage gave me the ideal destination. A particular attraction was the Oktoberfest concours, supported by BMW and Audi, both of which displayed cars from their heritage…

IT OFTEN TAKES a fresh perspective to uncover a car’s hidden depths. I bought the Integra for its spectacular handling and hair-raising 9000rpm engine, but living with it for the past 20 months has seen it excel at the tedious aspects of driving, too. Whether popping to the shops, sitting in traffic or slogging down the motorway to an Octane shoot, the Type R is as happy doing these jobs as it is when the VTEC is in full cry on cross-country A-roads. It’s even proved to be a capable load lugger. Although the rear strut brace (not standard fit, but an original Honda option) does make things awkward, the boot is relatively huge – as I recently put to the test with a large chunk of my car magazine…

NORTH YORKSHIRE IS wet and miserable today. But no matter: what better way to test the ability of Porsche’s great all-rounder, the latest 992 GTS? After a quick refresher in a ‘basic’ 911 Carrera S with a manual ’box, I head out in the Carmine Red Carrera 2 GTS, also with three pedals. What a treat! As with the previous GTS, the new 992 version is a step up from the S, with bigger brakes from the Turbo, 10mm lower suspension, and 473bhp – a modest increase of 29bhp. Prices start from £108,920, a significant jump from the £94,350 Carrera S. Straight away it feels noticeably firmer, and out on the moors the GTS has an alertness that wasn’t apparent in the S. Press it harder through high-speed bends and…

IT’S 1975 AND, to go with your Mk2 Capri, flares and paisley shirt, you fancy a new watch. What to pick? You could buy one of those Heuer Silverstones – it’s got a proper smoked brown dial to match your wallpaper, glass coffee table and 40-a-day Silk Cut habit. But mechanical stuff’s a bit, well, old-fashioned now, isn’t it? What about one of those new quartz digital thingies? They’re right up-to-the-minute. What’s that, you want to buy British, just like your Capri? There’s only one choice: that clever Dr Clive Sinclair chap will sell you a proper modern digital watch. It’s even made in Cambridge. You could buy one ready-built or, for the truly brave, you could assemble it yourself because it also comes as a kit in a box. Crackers…

ALEXANDER CALDER BMW ART CAR PRINT BY MARC CARRERAS ‘To an engineer’, Alexander Calder observed, ‘good enough means perfect. With an artist, there’s no such thing as perfect.’ It is difficult to imagine, though, what he might have felt to be improvable about the design he created for the very first BMW Art Car. He was sufficiently pleased with the way the multicoloured 3.0 CSL came out that he hoped to make a clone for his own enjoyment. Sadly, he passed away in 1976 before he had the chance to follow through, but this year his grandson worked with BMW Group Classic to create an exact replica, going so far as to engage Walter Maurer, who painted the original car under Calder’s direction. The clone, which is being described as…

1963 Lagonda Rapide Historics, Brooklands, UK 27 November, historics.co.uk This car saw the Lagonda name make a grand return, after it had all but disappeared in the late 1940s. It was an exceptionally expensive and advanced machine. This one – car 53 of 55 – has an interesting history, and was treated to a full £60,000 restoration at Cotswold Classic Car Restorations of Cirencester in around 2010. It’s been well-maintained since, is road ready, and carries a £120,000-150,000 estimate. 1993 Porsche 968 Convertible Classicbid, Nuremberg, Germany 4 December, classicbid.de Although the 968 Clubsport coupé always receives a lot of praise, it can be easy to overlook these stylish convertibles. With the same 240bhp from the laid-back 3.0-litre four-cylinder engine, they’re well-suited to fast, comfortable and fun cross-country touring. This one…

WHAT TO PAY As always, rough examples can be a false economy. While a reasonable Twin Spark project car starts around £1500, you’ll pay up to £5000-7500 for a minter. Tidy 2.5-litre V6s tend to start around £5000 and rise to £10,000, while scarcer bodykitted 3.0-litre cars begin closer to £10,000 and can command upwards of £17,500 in perfect condition. The rare Evoluzione Turbo cars are hard to value, and even harder to find. Expect a good car to command more than £35,000. WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR Alfa went to town rustproofing the 75, but it can still become a source of misery today. The main areas to check are the jacking points, door bottoms, floors and wheelarches. Engines are generally very strong if well-maintained, but the propshaft needs…