Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2019 i Octane

A whole new classic niche industry was kicked off by Henry Pearman at Eagle E-types when he started offering not simply restored E-types, but Jaguars consciously rebuilt as better-than-new, whether standard or modified. We are not talking continuation cars – factory or otherwise – of extreme rarities, but about applying modern skills and technology to more-mainstream greats so they could benefit from a second life even longer and more rewarding than their first. This was going way beyond ‘mere’ restoration and it caught on. It is very telling that, after the E-type, the second model to attract similar treatment was the ‘Pagoda’ Mercedes, an unparallelled all-rounder that also achieved its iconic status through popularity rather than rarity. It’s an obvious choice, really, being a stunning classic that is beloved by…

29 September Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride At events all around the world, owners of classic motorcycles head out en masse, wearing their very best strides, to raise money for prostate cancer research. gentlemansride.com 5 October Swiss Classic British Car Meeting Morges on the shore of Lake Geneva will welcome some 1600 British cars on 5 October, and will roll out the red carpet for anyone arriving in an Alvis, Bentley or Mini – three marques celebrating big birthdays this year. british-cars.ch 5-6 October Prescott Anglo-American Autumn Classic Yank tanks usually take centre stage at Prescott’s Autumn Classic, but this year British cars are invited to join the party, which will feature action on the hill, a ‘show ’n’ shine’, a wall of death, and live music. prescott-hillclimb.com 6 October Bicester Sunday…

In 1965 a US patent was filed for a ‘motor vehicle with a concave top’. That vehicle was the W113 Mercedes-Benz 230SL, introduced two years before and ever since known as the ‘Pagoda’ on account of an elegant depression in its roof. To get a sense of the enduring aesthetic thrill of this magnificent car, simply consider its contemporaries that are now largely lost to rust, the crusher and memory. Hillman Imp? Triumph 2000? True, the W113 SL shares a birthday with the original Lamborghini 350GT, but Carrozzeria Touring’s aesthetic is located in the 1950s, while the Mercedes looks fresh nearly 60 years later. The Lamborghini is satin couture and valve technology; the German car is polyester and transistors. But what have oriental shrines got to do with automobile hardtops?…

There is no such Thing as an ordinary inline eight-cylinder engine. Straight-eights are special in terms of concept, design and performance and have only ever been used in the most prestigious racing cars and limousines. Isotta Fraschini led the way in 1919 with the first production example, and other marques soon followed, including Duesenberg, Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Cadillac… and Ballot. This French Racing Blue Ballot 3/8 LC is an automotive masterpiece and was for a short time the fastest car of its type in the world. Its superb straight-eight engine was designed by the reclusive engineering genius Ernest Henry and yet, although it was a multiple race-winner, including a Grand Prix, and was a contender at the legendary Indianapolis 500, the Ballot name is little-known today. Ballot was a French…

I fIlled the Giulia with everything I needed, she started on the first twist of the key, and we entered the giant traffic jam we call Los Angeles. And there we sat, bumper-to-bumper. But I was very patient, I’d brought music, and the traffic eventually cleared. I kept her at a cool 80mph, and my thoughts wandered back to my packing: shoes, shirts, camera, espresso maker, strobe lighting packs, strobe heads… Strobe heads? Wait, I’m 237 miles from Los Angeles and I forgot the strobe heads? I’m such a fool! I pull to the side. Who’s still in town? Nick! I text Nick. I call Nick. Please pick up… ‘Hello, yes, I’m still in town.’ Saved! Crisis averted. Start Giulia, head back to freeway thinking how clever I am. Monterey…

Although I’ve owned this car since 2000, I’ve had so little time to use it in recent months that I’d almost forgotten how superb it is to drive. But when the opportunity arose to follow the Modena Cento Ore classic rally on a five-day journey across central Italy’s racetracks and hillclimbs, it took me no time at all to pick the SL as the perfect steed. It’s a good 400km from the Delbò house to Rimini, the official start of the rally, and three-and-a-half hours later I was there. This sort of journey is meat and drink to the 500SL: little traffic, cruise control set at 160km/h (according to the speedometer; 147km/h on the sat-nav), engine turning at about 3000rpm, and effortless progress with a very reasonable fuel consumption of…

I’m not ashamed to say that I have a serious soft spot for Peugeots. I grew up around them, lusted after the GTIs and have even owned a few in my time. I am, however, ashamed to say that I’d never driven a 504, arguably the marque’s defining car and definitely one of its most important. The gorgeous 504 Coupé, styled by Pininfarina, has in particular been very high up on my classic wish-list for years. It’s as stylish as anything built in Italy, but without the price tag. Or (frankly) the fragility. But something at the back of my mind has always doubted that the dream would live up to the reality. Now, on Peugeot’s Spirit of France road trip – which conveniently celebrates the 50th anniversary of the…

‘KAISER WAS DUBBED THE “MIRACLE MAN”. THERE WAS EVEN SPECULATION THAT HE SHOULD RUN FOR PRESIDENT’ Henry J Kaiser might ultimately have failed as a motor manufacturer, but his contribution to the survival of Britain during World War Two was incalculable. Britain was losing the Battle of the Atlantic, with German U-boats sinking merchant ships faster than American shipyards could replace them. Kaiser was tasked with upping production. At the age of 60, Henry J Kaiser was a chubby, balding, 18-stone butterball but he still possessed the momentum of an unstoppable cannonball. Kaiser knew next to nothing about shipbuilding, but he was an organisational genius who had built his reputation and wealth on immense construction projects such as the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams and the San Francisco-Oakland bridge, projects…

It would be easy to get caught out by the apparent arrogance of this title: a book about only the North American drivers who’ve taken part in the Le Mans 24 Hours. But the sheer extent of it is mightily impressive. As is the quantity – and quality – of the photography within. So far, ‘only’ the three volumes are available, so the story goes from 1923 to 1979. A further four volumes are planned to bring us up to date. You’re going to need a strong bookshelf. Needless to say, an evening spent idly flicking through the first instalment soon had me hooked – and plungeing into the rest. It’s not only about the drivers, see, though obviously such massive names as Carroll Shelby, Luigi Chinetti, Phil Hill, Briggs…

1:18 scale 1979 Porsche 911RS By Ixo Price £69.95 Material Diecast Two things are noteworthy about this diecast of the 911RS that finished sixth on the 1979 Monte Carlo Rally: its price, which at a whisker under 70 quid is good value these days for a decent 1:18-scale model; and the fact that it’s made in Bangladesh. Could it be that the days of cheap, skilled labour in China are finally drawing to a close? While you can’t expect perfection at this price point, Ixo has made a good stab with the 911, which represents the Jean-Pierre Nicolas/Jean Todt car: having won the previous year’s Monte, Nicolas could ‘only’ finish sixth on what turned out to be a largely snow-free event. The Ixo model is well-detailed, including radio aerials on…

NOT EVEN RM SOTHEBY’S record $19.8m sale of an LM-spec McLaren F1 was enough to mask the deflated mood of the auctions during this year’s Monterey Car Week. The general market trend towards lower sell-through rates and fewer headline sales continued, with Bonhams, RM Sotheby’s and Gooding & Company all registering figures down on 2018. Hagerty reported total sales for all auction houses of $245.5 million, down from last year’s $371-million figure. RM reported sales of $107 million over three days in the end, the highest of all the auction houses during the week. Behind the 74% sale rate was more acceptance to sell cars below estimate. One major exception was the Goldfinger-spec Aston Martin DB5 – built with gadgets as a Thunderball promotional car – which sold for $6,385,000.…

IN A MONTH when most HAGI indices made gains, Ferrari was among the stronger performers with a 4.19% bounce. That made it second only to the Porsche index, which advanced by 6.87%. In the case of Ferrari that’s particularly welcome, because just one month earlier the HAGI F had dropped back to where it was just over three years ago, in June 2016. Back then a bear-market rally supported the HAGI F at 325.63, which is what happened this time around when it dropped back to 325.66 in July this year. In August the HAGI F recovered to 339.30, but that is still 6.49% adrift of its May 2018 peak of 362.88. However, the August 2019 gains in Ferrari and other sectors must be viewed within the context of currency…

‘flying brick’ might sound like a bit of a back-handed compliment, but this boxy saloon really could shift. Developed from the road-going 240 Turbo Evolution – a homologation car with a bigger turbo and water injection – around 20 of the Group A racing cars were built to compete in the European Touring Car Championship, as well as DTM. Fighting against the likes of the BMW 635CSi, Rover SD1 and Jaguar XJ-S, it became a real force to be reckoned with as it was developed. Pumped out by a turbocharged 2.1-litre engine, the original 340bhp was quicky boosted to give it a fighting chance against the competition. Winning a few rounds in 1984, it really got into its stride by 1985, winning the ETCC, a feat it almost repeated in…

man’s quest FOr speed, his desire for glory and his willingness to test his endurance to the limit are epitomised by the le mans 24 hours race. during its 95-year history it has seen the pinnacle of both human stamina and automotive design and technology. unlike Grand Prix racing, where speed at all costs is the métier, endurance racing allows designers and manufacturers to also factor in reliability and efficiency. After all, as the old saying goes: to finish first, first you have to finish, and that is no mean feat after 24 solid hours of on-the-edge racing. also, unlike Grands Prix, race distance around the le mans circuit over 24 hours usually exceeds 5000km, with maximum distance in the time the key factor rather than outright speed.as a result,…

Watch brands haVe by and large made a success of creating wristwear for the owners of expensive cars such as aston Martins, bentleys, Mercedes-aMgs, Maseratis and bugattis, but they’ve generally shown less interest in developing decent watches for motorcyclists. Why? the obvious reason is that, while the owner of a €2m bugatti chiron might not object to forking out €250,000-plus for a Parmigiani bugatti watch, the owner of a £15,000 superbike is unlikely to want to spend even half as much on a marque-related timepiece. as a result, the market for ‘biker’ watches has largely remained the domain of less expensive producers, such as tissot (which offers pieces based on its Moto GP sponsorship) and certina, the current backer of the Wilvo Yamaha motocross gP team in the past, one…

Lady of the Lake revealed An artist has immortalised the famous ‘lakefind’ Bugatti in a stunning artwork. Heidi Mraz started work on Beneath the Surface: Bugatti of Lake Maggiore 18 months ago, compiling more than 1500 hand-cut elements relating to the Mullin Collection’s 1925 Bugatti Type 22 Brescia. Mraz painted the canvas background with water-soluble inks, took it to Lake Maggiore and submerged it, washing away part of the painting, before making a collage of the car from ephemera related to it. ‘The tale of the “Lady of the Lake” tugs at the heartstrings of anyone who hears it,’ said Mullin Automotive Museum founder and CEO Peter Mullin. ‘The vehicle is a prime example of painstakingly crafted artwork created by Ettore Bugatti and finished by the likes of Mother Nature.…

He owns a clutch of Alvises – including a 1935 Speed 20 that’s been in the family practically all his life – but it’s the Peugeot 505 STI that piqued our interest. Why would the founder and chief executive of Bicester Heritage cherish a Parisian taxi, worthy though it is? ‘My dad was the Peugeot main dealer for South Wales. He had a 505 STI – PNY 118Y – that he owned at least twice. Last time I saw it, still going strong, it had 160,000 miles on the clock. When he moved from British Leyland to Peugeot his warranty claims went down from one a day to one a month, just showing how far ahead Peugeot were in quality and reliability.’ The 505 was Peugeot’s last rear-drive car. Over…

Tough. Brisk. usaBle in modern traffic. Yet so much more stylish than anything on sale new. Is a Pagoda the perfect classic for modern-day use? Could be. Of course, you’d be brave to rely daily on something that, at its youngest, is approaching 50 years old. If only the clock could be turned back, somehow. Restoration is nothing novel, we know that. But sometimes it goes further, so it’s an improvement on new. That’s the philosophy at Mercedes-Benz specialist Hemmels, based in Cardiff and established in 2016 by four entrepreneurs and technical director Joseph Sullivan, who was steeped in Pagoda restoration. Enthusiast Richard Butterfield bought the company in 2018 and Joseph rose to become MD. ‘I followed in the footsteps of my father and grandfather with an interest in all…

Accepted wisdom has it that only cars restored in America stand any chance of winning the Pebble Beach Concours. Well, that might have been the case in the past but it’s true no longer. This year, a Bentley 8 Litre restored in rural Essex took top honours at Pebble Beach against stiff competition. It was a victory on many fronts. The cars of the Hon Sir Michael Kadoorie, owner of the winning Bentley, had in the past achieved Best in Class and Best of Show Nominee status, but they had never won Best in Show. The Wood twins, Paul and Andrew, had seen restorations by their company, P&A Wood of Great Easton, voted Best in Class several times but also never take the top honour. And, to cap it all,…

From the mid-’90s to the turn of the century, Renault put on a show to rival a French cabaret. It launched outlandish cars that were the antithesis of the overtly conformist Laguna, with daring design and unorthodox engineering. Judging by the Sport Spider, the Clio V6 and the Avantime, leisurely lunches were clearly still de rigueur in Renault’s canteen. Renault chief executive Louis Schweitzer, a former government minister who looked like a detective from a black-and-white French movie, was on the trail of cars that would enhance Renault’s image. The Spider and Clio V6 woud capitalise on the company’s Formula 1 success: win on Sunday, sell on Monday, even if the cars being sold in meaningful numbers were Clios and Méganes rather than outlandish creations dreamed up by Renault Sport.…

IT’S TAKEN a long time but my 356 ‘streamliner’ is back on the road – nearly. More accurately, it was on the back of a trailer, which took it to pride of place at the recent Porsche KG meeting at Goodwood Circuit. ‘KG’ stands for Kommanditgesellschaft, which is what Porsche became instead of an Aktiengesellschaft – look it up! – in 1973, which is why the event was for all Porsche models made up to and including 1973. Regular readers may recall that my 1952 split-windscreen Porsche has gradually been undergoing a revitalisation, including the rebuild of a period-correct 1300cc engine and installation of a Judson supercharger. I’ve also had the interior retrimmed, and a pair of lightweight tubular-framed seats custom-made, based on the seats in the 1939 BMW 328…

I feel I owe you all an explanation. Before the summer, my orange ’69 Beetle appeared in Octane Cars with the promise of being fitted with a Subaru engine, pulled from a 2.0-litre Forester. Since then there has been a bit of a void in updates, primarily due to my other love: cricket. From Easter to September every year it takes over my family’s life and playing both Saturday and Sunday leaves little garage time. There is another reason, too, in the shape of the blue ’62 Beetle that I’ve owned for almost 25 years. Over the decades the ’62 has undergone many transformations and proved itself a very well sorted car that’s capable of trips through Europe without fuss. However, a lack of attention over the past few years…

There was a thought-provoking moment during the presentation the evening before the first drive of the new McLaren GT in the South of France. As the company reps were explaining the ethos behind the GT – carmakers’ obsession with straight-line speed and ’Ring records is detracting from comfortable and enjoyable long-distance, press-on motoring – a huge profile shot was projected onto the screen. It was a Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB, the epitome of a GT. That brought to mind other benchmarks: Porsche 928, Ferrari 456, current Astons and Bentleys. All of which have a pronounced difference from the McLaren: the placement of the motor. Can a GT be mid-engined? Of course; a GT it is about effortless high-speed continent-crushing driving, and those are the terms upon which the McLaren…

In 1949 Ferdinand ‘Ferry’ Porsche placed an order with Stuttgarter Karosseriewerk Reutter & Co to produce 500 bodies for a new car that he and his father, the renowned Professor Porsche, had decided to put into production. Thus was cemented a relationship between the two businesses, and one that would give rise to the most iconic of car seats. During World War Two, most of the Porsche personnel had been relocated from Stuttgart to Gmünd, a small village in the Austrian Tyrol. Having hand-built a small run of the 356 there, it was time to expand, but the Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen factory was still occupied by the American Army. So as a short-term solution the Porsches rented space from Reutter, who had opened workshops across the street from the Porsche factory in…

IN ONE WAY it’s sad that the story of the hidden Bullitt Mustang has entered its next chapter. There was something special about how this legendary film car lived its life in hiding, kept within a tight-knit circle of trust. Octane told the tale of this amazing family secret last year, after its surprise appearance at the Detroit motor show next to Ford’s latest Bullitt-edition Mustang. This was the original McQueen car, one of two used for filming the chase scene in San Francisco. It was sold straight after the film’s promotional tour, and would later become one of the most searched-for movie cars. One of the writers originally bought it, and a year or so later it was advertised again in the LA Times. It was bought by a…

‘I WAS HONOURED TO SING AMAZING GRACE LAST SUMMER AT LAGUNA SECA AS A TRIBUTE TO THE LATE DAN GURNEY’ I USED TO tease my late mother by asking her to describe what I actually do for a living. The truth is that I have several jobs. My CV states that I’m a car appraiser, historian, consultant, writer and TV host. Whichever of those I’m doing most of fluctuates throughout the year. I’ve just finished a month at Pebble Beach, which is a pretty good microcosm of what I do. The plan used to be that I’d arrive early for a bit of downtime before the madness of Monterey Week, and then have a few days off to decompress afterwards – but now I’m just working for a whole month…

THIS YEAR, A. Lange & Söhne is celebrating a number of important anniversaries. The leading watch manufacture from Glashütte in Germany has long been revered by enthusiasts, but now that this finest of watch brands is becoming more immersed in the world of veteran, vintage and classic cars, it will be of even more interest to discerning watch collectors and car enthusiasts. Says CEO of A. Lange & Söhne, Wilhelm Schmid: ‘I know there is a great deal of common ground between car and watch collectors: ultimate craftsmanship, technical innovation and unrivalled heritage are the key values of both vintage cars and A. Lange & Söhne’s approach to watchmaking.’ Founded in 1854 by Ferdinand Adolph Lange, A. Lange & Söhne soon became one of the world’s leading purveyors of pocket…

As most of switzerland’s watchmakers put their feet up and poured themselves a small, Christmas kirsch on 25 December 1969, seiko’s were busy unveiling a watch called the Astron. Powered by a pill-sized battery and with a tiny quartz crystal vibrating in place of a balance wheel, this watch and its heirs nearly wiped the entire Swiss watchmaking industry off the map before the filet im teig was cold. Quartz, although initially eye-wateringly expensive because of its novelty and R&D costs, was as cheap as chocolate to mass produce. No more need for expert watchmakers to assemble a complicated movement; ‘No (0) jewels. Unadjusted’. And automated production processes meant little hand-finishing and no regulating. Worse, the new watches were accurate to a few seconds a month while mechanicals could be…

Goodwood Revival 13-15 September The sundrenched 2019 Revival Meeting will live long in the memory of visitors for the ferocity of the racing, the galaxy of stars and all the theatre and attention to detail with which the event has become synonymous. There were special celebrations for Sir Jackie Stewart in the 50th anniversary year of his first F1 title, as well as the Mini, while Dane Tom Kristensen again lit up the track. One of the most popular off-track features was the painstaking re-enactment of key scenes from The Italian Job. CONCOURS OF ELEGANCE, 6-8 SEPTEMBER This spectacular event at Hampton Court Palace has cemented its status as the UK’s – and probably Europe’s – premier concours. Overall winner was a polished Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost (top right), while Octane…

LE MANS WINNER and record-breaker Andy Wallace has ushered in the era of the 300mph road car by setting a world record speed of 304.773mph (490.48km/h) in what Bugatti mind-bogglingly describes as a ‘near-production prototype derivative’ of the Chiron. Wallace, who previously chalked up a production speed record by piloting the McLaren F1 at over 240mph in 1998, achieved the feat last month at VW’s Ehra-Lessien proving ground in Lower Saxony, Germany, where the 21km high-speed circuit features a 8.8km straight. Wallace tackled the record after just one warm-up lap, slingshotted out of the north curve at over 200km/h and went full throttle for over a minute in order to achieve a speed of 490.48km/h on the long straight. He then slowed to 200km/h for the circuit’s south bend. Afterwards…

SOME 90 YEARS after WO Bentley rejected Tim Birkin’s proposal for a supercharged Bentley, leaving Dororthy Paget to fund the project, the company has had a rather belated about-turn and revealed that Crewe is to construct 12 ‘continuation’ cars. The announcement may be only the latest in a raft of recent continuation projects from British manufacturers, which seem to be greeted with ever-greater scepticism, but it is by far the least expected, not least because the classic car world already seems to be awash with Bentley 4½ Blower recreations. Despite that fact, Bentley’s Mulliner coachbuilding team is to build one supercharged car for each race that the original Blowers competed in – which is three times the number of Blowers that were built in period. The continuation cars will be…

EarliEr this yEar Octane 189 led with a cover story about an ‘epic USA drive’ across Arizona in a fabulous Gullwing Mercedes. It was a gripping read for me as I was about to put one of my own cars on a ship to America for the trip of a lifetime. By the end of May, my ‘youngtimer’ classic car, a 1997 air-cooled Porsche Carrera S, was our faithful companion as my partner and I criss-crossed the United States of America in style. Collecting the car from the port in Charleston, South Carolina, we headed up as far north as South Dakota, out west to Palm Springs in California, and through the desert landscapes of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, before reaching Louisiana and heading back to Tennessee. In all…

The epic Tale of The Maserati Tipo 151 reads like a Greek tragedy. The factory had already closed its competition department by the end of 1957, its creations a distant memory when the new GT 4.0-litre prototype rules arrived for 1962. But it was those rules that triggered the birth of the Tipo 151, a car aimed squarely at a single goal: battle for victory at Le Mans. Two teams would race them privately. Maserati France, owned by Paris resident, American Colonel John Simone, would field chassis 151-002, while Briggs Cunningham’s US team ordered two cars: 151-004 and 151-006. Further chassis were rumoured, including a third for Cunningham and another for French entrant Marchant, enticed by American wheeler-dealer Lloyd ‘Lucky’ Casner, but to no avail. As a result those cars…

‘I’VE SEEN A WOLF drinking from the swimming pool,’ says Stefano Ricci, before sparking up another Rothmans and taking a sip of his espresso. We’re having breakfast on the terrace overlooking a fraction of his 1000-hectare estate in Tuscany, about 45 minutes from Florence, where the Ricci fashion house is based. Below us, the village of Firenzuola is slowly appearing out of the mist that shrouds the valley. Today promises to be another scorcher. Stefano Ricci is the founder of his eponymous company, set up in 1972 around a kitchen table with just four members of staff: Stefano, his wife Claudia, and a pair of tailors. Now it is a global empire, with 70 boutiques in some of the world’s swankiest areas, from Beverly Hills to Monaco. Friends and customers…

HAD A VERY enjoyable drive across Northamptonshire and into Leicestershire along some wonderfully rolling roads, which really suit the perfect balance and easy-going gait of the Beemer. My destination was a tiny village out in the wilds (or wolds) between Market Harborough and Melton Mowbray, which is where restoration specialist RH Classics (rhclassics.co.uk) is based. No, the BMW isn’t coming off the road for a rebuild: it’s still as perfect as it was when I bought it 8½ years ago. But it is coming off the road. And that’s where RH are stepping in. Regular readers might remember my dilemma a couple of months ago. Soon I’ll have building work starting, which will result in part of my garage being turned into a home office. And so RH will be…

SHORT OF an online petition being started by Land Rover-loving Octane readers, you won’t be reading much about my latest purchase in these pages. But I thought it worth mentioning because it shows that you can still purchase a ‘modern classic’ of genuine historic significance for little money. It’s an old Freelander – so why is it significant? Because it’s one of the very first examples made for the global press launch in 1997. Regular readers will know I have a soft spot for Land Rover launch cars, and this factory-registered Freelander is to my favourite spec: a three-door in a good colour, and with the now-rare teal blue/green interior that’s so redolent of the ‘lifestyle’ trend of the 1990s. You can have your cake and eat it, was the…

LET ME START by saying that I’m a huge fan of what the Mirai represents – an even cleaner alternative to electric vehicles (which are massive consumers of resources, not just in terms of batteries but also the cables required to deliver the recharging power to millions of homes). You see, the Mirai is powered by hydrogen. Put simply, the hydrogen reacts with oxygen from the air in a fuel cell to generate electricity, which is then fed to electric motors to move the car. Its great beauty is that the only by-product is water – and hydrogen is in practically infinite supply as the most abundant element in the universe. Sadly, that is the only beautiful thing about the Mirai, which is – as a fellow journalist put it…

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, it triggered the death knell for a ubiquitous East German automobile – the diminutive Trabant – that had been rolling off assembly lines ever since 1957. Trabi fact: the name itself means ‘satellite’ in German, inspired by the Soviet Union’s Sputnik, which was launched in the same year as the car. While it has made numerous ‘worst car’ lists, the fact remains that, for a generation of East Germans, the Trabant was the go-to vehicle and was cleverly adapted for many uses. Apparently the car was so popular that people were willing to wait a decade for one; perhaps the long wait was why the average lifespan of a Trabi was 28 years (coincidentally the same number of years that the Wall lasted).…

UGEARS DREAM CABRIOLET VM-05 From the working, rubber-band-driven V8 to the tiny toolkit, this 739-piece model is beautifully designed and, at 35cm long when assembled, it is considerably easier to house than a real ’58 Imperial or Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz – cars that fit as neatly into modern suburban life as a Shire horse. £64.90. ugears.online THE 1000 MILE HELL BY ARTHUR BENJAMINS The Arizona-based artist Arthur Benjamins drew inspiration from a place 350 miles west of home for this new piece, which reimagines the legendary exploits of Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson on the 1955 Mille Miglia as a Hollywood movie. From $125. 1pilgrimstudio.com PIRELLI F1 TYRE TABLE An FIA-approved ‘Soft’ tyre topped with a slab of clear acrylic makes a fine coffee table, apparently. The Pirelli is well…

THIS EXAMPLE is the first of only 20 Spiders built, making it one of the rarest front-engined V12 production Ferraris. It was the Brussels Motor Show car, too. A recent 16-month photo-documented restoration, costing a cool $500,000, returned the car to its original colour scheme of white with a black leather interior. A factory hardtop, a tool-roll and factory build sheets were included in the sale. In 1960s Ferrari parlance, the 275 GTS begat the 330 GTS, which evolved into the 365 GTS. There were hundreds of differences between the three models but all are variations on the same theme. The coupé versions, 330 GTC and 365 GTC, were known for their versatility as well as their pace; these were cars that could be used for high-speed touring or a…

THIS DINO has stayed in one family for 41 years, and has covered just 10,000 miles since it was registered in 1974. Bought by the seller’s late husband in 1976, the Dino was utterly cherished. It has been maintained to a very high standard all this time. Recent work includes a £14,000 service by Graypaul in September 2018, flushing the fuel system, replacing the head gaskets and refreshing the brakes. It’s said to be one of the most original Dinos left. There were two owners prior to 1976, and full documentation –including every MoT since 1977 – backs up the mileage. Factory correspondence confirms that this RHD car was ordered with electric windows and Daytona-style seats. Ownership changed briefly in 1990-92, when it was inspected and rustproofed by Foskers and…

Whether or not you approve of all the continuation cars that keep being announced and built, news of the Alvis Car Company’s re-makes of the original firm’s back catalogue demonstrates that there is strong interest in the market for these British stalwarts. These were special cars, hovering below Rolls-Royce and Bentley but above Jaguar and Rover, and the final TD, TE and TF21 models remain fine examples of gently sporting Britishness. Following on from the exclusive and expensive Graber-bodied TC108G, a successful deal was arranged between Alvis and Park Ward to build the similarly-styled TD21 from 1958. This reduced the manufacturing cost for Alvis, and the cars sold well with their rakish looks and, usually, wire wheels. Graber bodies were still available to special order. The TD21 was powered by…