Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2016 i Octane

HRDC A35s at Goodwood After much speculation, we’re delighted that Goodwood has announced that this year’s St Mary’s Trophy at Goodwood Revival will be an all-A30/A35 race. These will be the HRDC Academy cars that Octanehelped to develop with Julius Thurgood at the HRDC. More than 50 cars are now built or in build. Saturday of the Revival will feature VIPs in the little Austins; Sunday will be for owner-drivers. The Revival takes place on 9-11 September. Doctorate for US restorer Renowned Massachusetts-based restorer Paul Russell, responsible for so many Pebble Beach concours entrants over the year, and who looks after many of Ralph Lauren’s cars, has been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Applied Arts by McPherson College. The college celebrates 40 years of automotive restoration education this year. Alfa…

NINETY YEARS to the day since it set a Land Speed Record of 170mph, JG Parry Thomas’s 27-litre V12 Babs was driven on the Welsh beach that was the site of its original triumph. Despite relatively low-key advance publicity on social media, an estimated 200-300 people turned out to watch its custodian (and experienced Vintage racer) Geraint Owen power up and down Pendine Sands, flames spitting from the exhaust. The date, 28 April, was exactly 90 years since Parry Thomas bested the previous record, set at 150.87mph by Malcolm Campbell in the 350hp Sunbeam, by almost 20mph. Because much of the beach remains under the control of the Ministry of Defence, which commandeered it during World War Two and still conducts live firing exercises here, only a quarter-mile or so…

DB4 GT Zagato 1960-62 Created for GT racing, lighter than the short-wheelbase DB4 GT it was based on. 19 built, plus four Sanction 2 cars in 1991 and two Sanction 3s in 2000. V8 Zagato 1986-90 The most controversial looking, said to be an angular interpretation of the DB4 GT. It was capable of 186mph, with 52 built as coupés and 37 as convertibles. DB7 Zagato & DBAR1 2002-04 Based on the V12 DB7, the Zagato aped the DB4’s curves and gaping grille. The DBAR1 was an open-top for the US market. 99 of each were built. V12 Zagato 2011 Celebrated the 50th anniversary of the DB4 GT Zagato’s production. Two race versions, Zig and Zag, were built for the Nürburgring 24 hours.…

MORE THAN 100 CREWS covered 750 miles in sleet, snow and sub zero-temperatures as the British spring did its worst. After being flagged away from Belvoir Castle by the Duchess of Rutland, the cars ran through Lincolnshire, over the Humber and then through Yorkshire, County Durham (and a full blizzard) to the first night halt at Slaley Hall near Hexham. Michel Laarman and Maryan Greif in a 1911 Knox Type R suffered more than most with no windscreen, no leg protection and no mudguards, while Dan Harrison, sharing a Ford Model A with Bill Cleyndert, complained that his goggles had frozen. Gareth Burnett and Martyn Taylor were in the hot seat, having taken an early lead in their Talbot 105 Alpine; John Abel and Leigh Powley snapped at their heels…

‘TO ME, AUTOMOBILES ARE ABOUT FANTASY AND STYLE AND I JUST LOOK AT AN SUV AND GO HMMMM’ Like me, Octane readers look at cars differently. To most people cars are like an appliance. They do a job. To me, cars are vehicles of excitement and fantasy. I mean, I would no more put lumber in the back of my McLaren than put skis on a car. But to most people the automobile is an appliance like a refrigerator and they just want to combine the elements of one with the other. Americans are like that: ‘I’d like a two-seater sports car but it needs to carry five people.’ Well that’s not a two-seater sports car! So car companies came out with an SUV. GM and Ford created the SUV…

‘IT’S NO SURPRISE THAT SOUTH AFRICANS HAVE EMERGED AS HUGELY INFLUENTIAL IN THE AUTOMOTIVE WORLD’ I’m about to set off to Cape Town, my place of birth, to compete in the Jaguar Simola Hillclimb, part of the Knysna Speed Festival, driving a Ford Perana (5.0-litre V8 Kalahari Ferrari!) up a 1.9km hill. There has been an active automotive industry in South Africa since the 1920s, when manufacture was initially dominated by American- and British-sourced motor cars. Later the Afrikaners favoured German Volkswagens, as many were unwilling to buy British – the Boer War and all that. Elephants and Afrikaners have very long memories… But the fuel crisis of the 1970s saw sales of US gas-guzzlers slump, and inadequate BL rubbish kiboshed by the more efficient and better-built Japanese models. BMW,…

THERE ARE CARS THAT ARE BUILT, sold and then used daily that fail to elicit even the merest throb of emotion when they go to the crusher, and disappear without leaving a trace of their existence. But other cars live a life so intense that books are written about them and, when the world thinks they are lost forever, they reappear for another chapter, important not only to their own life story but that of the whole world of classic cars. A perfect example is this Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ Zagato, chassis no 101.26*00170. It was manufactured in 1960 as one of the last Coda Tonda (‘round tail’) cars but then became the very first of the Coda Tronca (‘cut tail’) versions. Official Alfa Romeo documents, released on 1 September…

And what of Paolo Gucci? The Eventer avoided being impounded at the Geneva show, but all the Gucci branding was taken down after the show’s second day and the stand was re-branded as Lynx. By then the dispute over the use of the family name as a brand had been simmering for years, from the time Paolo was made vice-president and MD of Gucci’s US operation by Gucci’s father Aldo, himself the son of founder Guccio (yes, really). Paolo wanted to modernise and allow licensees to use the Gucci name, but back in Italy his uncle Rodolfo resisted this and fired Paolo from the parent company in 1978. There was a raucous board meeting in 1982, after which Paolo filed assault charges against his two brothers and his cousin Maurizio.…

IT IS ALMOST UNBELIEVABLE that, in the 21st Century, a very original example of one of the great pre-war cars, an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300, could remain unknown to marque experts, hidden away in France. I wrote a three-volume book, The Legendary 2.3, that came out in 2000 covering every known 8C 2300 by chassis number, and I knew nothing about this car (although it was pictured in the Remaining Mysteries section in Volume III), let alone that it had survived in original condition. In fact it had been owned by one person who had acquired the car aged 21 before the War; its chassis number is 2211079. The car was finally moved from its hiding place on the family estate in August 2014 and taken to the UK for…

‘IT EVEN HAS its original Spa 24 Hours livery,’ enthused race organiser Duncan Wiltshire about his Group 1 Triumph Dolomite Sprint race car. True enough, it has… livery for Belgian sponsors Butch Tailors, complete with ‘Butch’ written across the windscreen sunstrip. But by the time I’d realised that, I’d already said yes to Duncan’s otherwise generous offer to race the Dolomite in the Historic Touring Car Challenge for Pre-91 Touring Cars (incorporating the Tony Dron Trophy, no less) at the Donington Historic Festival, up against BMW E30 M3s, 2002s and CSLs, Rover SD1s, 3.0-litre Capris, Camaros, an MG Metro Turbo, even another Dolomite. The plan was for me to share with Motor Racing Legends media manager and experienced racer Sarah Bennett-Baggs, with technical back-up from BL race car guru Ken…

About a year ago I had to replace the worn front brake pads on the Range Rover. No surprise there. The front vented discs had been renewed so they stayed put. The most recent job was replacing the solid rear discs. Looking through the Ranger’s maintenance history I noticed over the years it has had more rear discs than front ones. Isn’t that the wrong way round? I thought front brakes took more punishment than rears. Maybe it has something to do with these being vented. Or maybe the rears rust away faster due to not working so hard. I have a bit of fixation with the weight of cars. This automatic 1991 Ranger weighs 1915kg, some 34kg heavier than a five-speed manual. My Porsche 911 weighs just 1100kg and…

After nearly nine years of ownership but fewer than 2000 miles, the Maserati Biturbo has finally found a new owner, and one I hope who will obtain more pleasure from ownership than I was ever able to. Not that I didn’t enjoy the car; on the contrary, I was simply a rubbish custodian. The final straw came when we were moving house. The Biturbo, which my wife had agreed to me buying in 2007 on the basis that it would only be for a few months of fun, had not been driven for about three years, and as we were renovating a cottage there would be no garage for the car to sit idle in. I’d already transported our other classic, a Morris Minor, to David Lillywhite’s barn for storage,…

Geländewagen means ‘terrain vehicle’ and Benz’s answer to the Land Rover (and Range Rover) began its 37-year career as Steyr-Daimler-Puch’s replacement for the Haflinger. Using a huge variety of Daimler publicity shots, this substantial (208 pages) colour tome charts the development, production and evolution of what began life as a military vehicle and inevitably became a luxury lifestyle accessory. Pricey, thorough, a bit dull, and there’s no mention of the mad portal-axle G63 AMG 6x6. Shame.…

The splendidly named Nankivell has long been the foremost Jowett expert. Now he’s revisited his book on the Bradford-built Jupiter – its chassis designed by Professor Dr Robert Eberan von Eberhorst, of Auto Union D Type fame – to bring it up to date. How so? Well, in 218 pages, he tells the Jupiter tale and lists its (extensive) competition results. But further tabulation charts every single Jupiter built, along with its current status. Comprehensive and thoroughly researched, rather than coffee-table pretty, so your £50 goes on authority, not style.…

As touched upon in the feature about Irish rally star Rosemary Smith earlier in this issue, Ireland has long had a particularly close relationship with rallying – and one of its greatest exponents was Bertie Fisher. Sadly, we say ‘was’ because Bertie was killed in a helicopter accident in January 2001, along with his son Mark and daughter Emma. He was not quite 51 years old, a four-time Irish Tarmac Rally Champion who had also won 20 International events. He was hugely liked and respected, a man who, it seems, in all his dealings treated others as fairly as he would expect to be treated himself. Bertie was born into an engineering family – his father, Tommy, progressed from rural blacksmith to building up one of Ireland’s biggest civil engineering…

The business of making and selling model cars can be every bit as competitive as the real motor trade, and Polistil’s model of a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III demonstrates the compromises that have to be made in order to remain solvent. Italian firm Polistil had previously had some success with simple plastic cars under the Politoys name in the early 1960s. In 1965 Politoys raised its game considerably by launching the new ‘M’ (for ‘metal’) series. These were not only much more realistic, with jewelled headlights and imitation wire wheels, but had plenty of play value in the form of opening parts. Each car’s base was also screwed to the body rather than riveted, which meant an inquisitive youngster could take the model apart, something that Politoys drew attention to…

28 May Mathewsons Thornton-le-Dale, UK 28-29 May Silverstone Auctions Aarhus, Denmark 30 May Shannons, Sydney, Australia 2 June DVCA, Dorchester, UK 4 June Barons, Esher, UK 4 June Dragone Auctions Westport, USA 5 June Stanislas Machoïr Le Séquestre, France 5 June Bonhams, Greenwich, USA 10-11 June Mecum, Chicago, USA 10-12 June Leake Auction, Tulsa, USA 10-12 June Russo & Steele Newport Beach, USA 11 June Oldtimer Galerie Zurich, Switzerland 11 June Historics at Brooklands Weybridge, UK 16-18 June Richard Edmonds Allington, UK 17-18 June Twin Cities, Minnesota, USA 17-18 June Mecum, Portland, USA 18 June Classic Car Auctions Leamington Spa, UK 18 June Motostalgia, Indianapolis, USA 18 June Anglia Car Auctions King’s Lynn, UK 19 June Charterhouse Shepton Mallett, UK 23 June Brightwells, Leominster, UK 23-25 June Barrett-Jackson Uncasville, USA…

MASSIMO IELBÒ ‘Dario Benuzzi told me the history of Ferrari development since the Daytona – technically and emotionally. And Corrado Lopresto’s Alfa Zagato prototype made me believe that his new approach to preservation could turn the classic car movement into an art’ Read about Benuzzi on pages 76-77 and the Alfa SZ on pages 82-90. ROBERT COUCHER ‘The call came inviting us to the desertlands of Utah, USA, and I said yes straightaway. Then I found out I’d be driving a Jeep Grand Wagoneer – in effect, America’s Range Rover. Neither car nor scenery let me down’ Robert helps celebrate 75 years of Jeep on pages 92-98 – and tests the rare and beautiful Porsche 904/6 on pages 124-134. SIMON MOORE ‘When I wrote The Legendary 2.3 back in 2000,…

This year’s classic car tour to the always-spectacular Concours of Elegance takes place on Sunday 4 September, and runs from Wormsley Estate to the concours at Windsor Castle. Places are available now at £175 per person. The 90-mile tour will take a scenic route to the castle, starting at the 2500-acre Wormsley Estate in the heart of the Chilterns at 9.30am and arriving at The Long Walk outside Windsor Castle at midday. Participants will be shown to a dedicated Octane Tour display area close to the Cambridge Gate. The price includes breakfast, maps, entry to the concours, a three-course lunch with wine, and afternoon tea. To enter please email poppy@gtoevents.com.…

Famous stars and evocative cars will wow the crowds at Silverstone on 29-31 July, building on last year’s record-breaking silver jubilee event, which attracted more than 100,000 visitors for the first time. Access-all-areas tickets cost £42, providing entry to National and Wing race paddocks, trackside grandstands, the vintage funfair, air displays and live music concerts from The Boomtown Rats, Texas, The Stranglers and Reef. For full details, see www.silverstoneclassic.com. Meanwhile, here are Octane’s picks. Join the Hunt A special 40th anniversary celebration of James Hunt’s title-winning season features James’ son Freddie driving the 1976 Championship-winning McLaren M23. Touring Cars and star drivers Steve Soper, Jeff Allam and Patrick Watts will all be part of the inaugural ‘Tin-Top Sunday’ – the biggest ever Historic Touring Car extravaganza! For the first time…

FOCUSED MINIMALISM is the phrase coined by Lotus to describe the intent behind its new Elise 250 Cup road racer. And, for once, the hyperbole fits the description of what Hethel’s engineers have done to the car. The 250 is lighter (931kg with fluids), faster, more powerful and more torquey than the 220 Cup it supersedes. In the process it becomes the fastest production Elise there has ever been, with a 0-60mph time of just 3.9sec and a top speed of 154mph, or a still impressive – if slightly windy – 149mph with the new removable soft-top stored in the boot. Also new are a set of super-sticky Yokohama trackday tyres that are still perfectly usable on the road in the wet, claims Lotus chassis guru Gavan Kershaw. ‘It’s almost…

‘I REALLY WANTED TO DO THE TARGA FLORIO BUT OPPORTUNITIES WERE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN’ Over the course of the past 50-something years, I have done thousands of laps on hundreds of circuits. In fact, the precise number of tracks has to be well into the hundreds, and on every continent, although I have never bothered counting them. If anything, there have been one or two that loom large in my thoughts precisely because I haven’t driven them before, though I have longed to. One such was the original Targa Florio course in Sicily, and I recently put that ghost to rest after receiving an offer I couldn’t refuse. I was contacted a while back by US production company Petrolicious, which was planning to make a small film about the…

‘THOSE OF US GATHERED THERE MIGHT HAVE WITNESSED A GOLDEN AGE OF MOTOR RACING. THE TRUTH IS THAT WE HAVE SEEN SEVERAL’ MY BEST SUIT has been getting some hard use recently, mainly on wooden pews. The days of friends’ weddings being long gone, it’s now their memorial services. Such occasions can be enjoyable despite the obvious point that every one you attend is one nearer to your own. My suit’s latest outing, to Burnham-on-Crouch, did ring such alarm bells because we were honouring the celebrated motor racing writer, Alan Henry, and one unforgiveable thought kept entering my head during the service: he was a year younger than me. Alan Henry was an exceptionally good race reporter from the start, in April 1968, when he was engaged by Autosport to…

Blofeld foiled by the ferry The article recalling the Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in Octane 155 brought back memories of a trip to Portugal in May 1969. My girlfriend (my wife since 1973) and I took our Mk1 Ford Escort by ferry to Bilbao, Northern Spain. As we were waiting for our return ferry, we spotted two identical green Aston Martin DBSs; then, just as the ship was about to depart, a taxi drew up and out leaped a bald-headed man and his female partner. My wife said ‘He looks just like Telly Savalas!’ There was much shouting, as they obviously wished to board, but they weren’t allowed to join the ship. In December that year, we went to see OHMSS at our local cinema. Imagine how…

‘WE SAID WE WOULD STOP IF WE WERE TIRED, BUT BY 2AM WE WERE BACK HOME, AFTER 2500KM OF DRIVING IN ONE DAY!’ DARIO BENUZZI JOINED FERRARI as a mechanic in 1971, when he was 25 years old. He was soon assigned to the prototype department and then became the go-to test driver of every car to wear the Cavallino Rampante. His work spread from prototypes to production cars and on to Formula 1; the most important racing drivers of the last 40 years appreciated his craft. In the 1980s he was testing what would become the first real Ferrari supercar since the Boxer: the 288 GTO. ‘I knew the 308 very well because I’d been deeply involved in the pre-production development. Then, in 1982-83, rumours came from the technical…

NEVER MIND THE WEATHER, throw another log on the fire and think about where you are going to watch some classic racing this summer. Because if you are spectating at a motor sport event, chances are that it’ll be Historics. With the exception of the British Grand Prix, Historic racing is motor sport’s biggest (and certainly its fastest-growing) spectacle. Attendance at last year’s Silverstone Classic bust through 100,000, Goodwood’s Revival is pegged at nearly 138,000 and the Festival at about 150,000 – while this July’s F1 show at Silverstone will be lucky to muster more than 140,000. In 20 years classic cars have turned from a quaint hobby into a massive money-making industry and, with ultra-low interest rates and bond and equities values plunging like stricken horses, race meetings and…

WHEN HE’S NOT in his rally suit, Harald Demuth looks more like an architect than a driver: cropped steel-grey hair, understated clothes in muted colours, desert boots, frameless glasses. And that’s appropriate really, as we meet at the house he designed himself, in the wilds of Bavaria, close to the Czech border. It’s where Harald Demuth grew up – ‘Lots of space to drive cars and no-one around to take too much notice of us,’ he offers wryly, with a glint in his piercing blue eyes. The man has the compact, wiry frame of a runner – he’s a regular on marathons, which keeps him lithe and looking much younger than his 65 years – while an extensive vinyl collection plus some choice vintage electric guitars are testament to his…

DAVID LILLYWHITE Editor 1971 MGB GT 1971 Saab 96 1973 Citroën SM 1976 Zip Shadow Kart 1996 Subaru Prodrive Impreza ROBERT COUCHER International editor 1937 Bentley 4¼ 1955 Jaguar XK140 1973 Porsche 911S 2.4 Targa 1991 Range Rover Vogue MARK DIXON Deputy editor 1955 Land Rover Series I 107in 1963 Ford Galaxie Country Sedan 1964 Chevrolet Greenbrier 1970 Lamborghini Espada 1989/91 Land Rover Discoverys 2001 Honda Insight GEOFF LOVE Publishing director 1989 Maserati Biturbo SANJAY SEETANAH Advertising director 1981 BMW 323i Top Cabrio 1998 Aston Martin DB7 Volante GLEN WADDINGTON Associate editor 1983 Porsche 944 1989 BMW 320i Convertible TONY DRON Test driver 1932 Austin Seven JOHN SIMISTER Contributor 1934 Singer Nine Le Mans 1961 Saab 96 1965 Rover 2000 1968 Sunbeam Stiletto More cars and motorbikes run by the…

I used to own a BMW 2002. Quite a while ago now but I mention it because I bought it when it was 27 years old. And boy, did it feel old: harsh ride, poor heating and demisting, heavy steering, wind noise, low gearing… but I loved it, and pressed it into daily service. Until, after three years, it had rotted around me. Driving a 27-year-old BMW is no longer such a hardship. I realised our 320i Convertible had reached this age as I backed it out of the garage, loaded wife, kids and picnic, and set off for the Bicester Heritage Sunday Scramble. And we were delighted, on our arrival, to be invited to park in the display area (see pic, bottom right). We were surrounded by all sorts…

‘HIS GENIUS LAY IN TRADITIONAL LONG-DISTANCE ROAD RACES, WHERE HIS COOL HEAD AND METICULOUS PLANNING WERE INVALUABLE’ MANY A SEETHING OLD BOY of the international motor sport establishment must have slammed the front door, ragged on the wife and kids, and kicked the dog before November of ’57 had passed. Not only was public outcry over the senseless Mille Miglia and Le Mans tragedies threatening to bring their collective houses down, but a damning commentary on the period’s abysmal safety record appeared that month in one of North America’s most influential mass-circulation magazines. It was titled Stop Us Before We Kill Again and, headline writer’s bombast notwithstanding, didn’t skimp on uncomfortable truths. What will have stung worse yet, its author had all the makings of the ideal Old Boy: a…

Although strictly speaking a new edition of an existing book, the original work covered only the steel-bodied XKs built from 1996 to 2005; now you get a much expanded version with 130 additional photos that incorporates the alloy-bodied New XKs of 2006 to 2014. With these pleasantly understated Jaguars looking increasingly tempting as used buys, Thorley’s work is a must-have guide to the minutiae of production history, special editions and potential pitfalls. For a 225-page hardback illustrated in colour throughout, it’s superb value.…

Considering that the archive of the Automobile Club of Milan suffered serious water damage prior to the writing of this book, it is quite some achievement. Zana has compiled material from umpteen other sources to produce as definitive a tome as you could hope for. Some images are used at a size that makes their limitations unnecessarily obvious, and the translated text is sufficiently hard work that you won’t want to devour all 400 pages in one go, but these are minor quibbles with a heroically assembled volume.…

It seems that local trends become national and national trends become international. And there’s a definite trend among auction sales in 2016. ‘THE SELLER WAS WILLIAM SHATNER, GIVING THE NEW OWNER ALL BRAGGING RIGHTS FOR BUYING CAPTAIN KIRK’S 12-CYLINDER VW’ What’s selling this year is the best of the best, attracting the most interest, and therefore the most money, and it really doesn’t matter what category it’s in. If you have the best Ford Capri, the best Lotus Elan or the best Ferrari F40, it’s the one the market will absolutely pay up for, and seemingly be glad to pay well above guide price to get it. Whereas 2011-2014 was all about getting on and getting in before prices went too high, it’s almost as if everyone has decided to…

For a man whose planes frequently fell out of the sky, Jim Bede had a remarkably long career in aircraft design. His BD-4 kit plane, launched in 1968, sold and flew well, but other efforts were rather less successful. Bede’s most recognisable creation was the BD-5, a comically undersized machine with fighter-jet styling and a gestation period to rival that of Chinese Democracy. Engineless kits were delivered in their thousands, but years went by as Bede searched for a power unit that was at least passably reliable, and when he was proved to have been diverting BD-5 customers’ money into other projects, he was banned from accepting deposits on aircraft for ten years. Ever the chancer, Bede adapted the BD-5 for road use: two wheels under the main body were…

‘People say I drive like him: erratic, fast, aggressive. I still haven’t developed consistency but I’m working on that’ James Hunt’s lookalike son Freddie, at the announcement of the Hunt celebrations at the Silverstone Classic, 29-31 July. ‘It’s a car with no brakes and lots of power. What’s not to like?’ Geraint Owen on driving Babs at Pendine Sands, 90 years to the day since it set the Land Speed Record at 171.02mph. ‘Bring on Dennis the Menace!’ Octane’s publishing director Geoff Love on the news that Octane and The Beano are competing for a PPA Award. ‘Steve McQueen said “racing is life, everything else is just waiting”. I say Goodwood is life and everything else is just waiting’ Emanuele Pirro, five-time Le Mans winner, who will be racing at…

Once to be found in their thousands throughout the UK, the village garage – which often began life as a blacksmith’s, whose proprietor saw the way the wind was blowing in the early 1900s – is now a vanishing breed. Garages occupying premises older than half a century are rarer still, but the sight of a farmer’s modern 4x4 being serviced in a building dating to the 1930s or earlier is curiously appealing to our British fondness for tradition and continuity. We were heartened, therefore, to discover that Towcester Garage, not a million miles from the Octane offices, has recently reopened in its original 1908 workshop. It’s believed to be the oldest purpose-built garage in the UK and is rumoured to have carried out repairs on Grand Prix cars competing…

Do you own a 1970s or 1980s classic with an electronic box of tricks? It could fail any minute now, and then your car won’t go. FIVA, the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens, has warned that early electronic systems are now at the stage where ‘digital ageing’ – the time-related degradation of components – is starting to become a serious problem. Even new-old-stock ECUs (electronic control units) sometimes don’t work any more. FIVA’s ECU consultant, Stephan Joest, adds that the problem can only get worse in the future because the newer the car, the more complex and more numerous its ECUs are. Today’s new high-end cars can have 60 or more, so what will happen to them by 2050? FIVA is calling for an industry-wide initiative not only to find…

‘PATINATED CARS REMIND ME OF BOTTLE-AGE IN FINE WINE OR SMILE LINES ON THE FACE OF A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN’ I was travelling around Sicily recently. Sicilian roads being what they are, with potholes big enough to swallow a truck and Vespas carrying three with no regard for the one-way vectors established by social convention and law, I had time to observe and ponder the art of the automobile. On roads among the startlingly green Madonie mountains and its precarious fortress villages with improbably steep streets, and where eagles waft past, they used to run the Targa Florio. At least until the Sicilians discovered Health & Safety. Recalling romantic images of local schoolmaster Nino Vaccarella in his rosso corsaFerrari 275 SP blasting through ochre Campofelice, I thought how little today’s racing…

1. I’ve used a fountain pen for years, and I especially like this one by ST Dupont. It’s so well crafted: balanced, streamlined and made with precious materials. You have a special link with a fountain pen; it’s a very personal object. 2. Alfa Romeo celebrated its 90th anniversary while I worked for the company, and I helped assemble this marque history for a travelling exhibition, in the language of each host city. I wonder if there isn’t some sort of destiny involved in how many of the cars illustrated had come from Touring. 3. Martyn Goddard took this photograph, which was in Octane [issue 58]; it’s the Alfa 2900B of Ralph Lauren and, of course, it’s by Touring. I think this is among the most fantastic cars ever, but…

Every year the Jeep Production Design Office creates these amazing-looking concept vehicles that actually run. They drive them and take them on events such as the Jeep Easter Safari, on which owners can experience them in action, and admire all the new design details and imaginative accessories that often make their way into the Jeep aftermarket catalogues. These Jeep chaps are real ‘car guys’. Jeep Crew Chief 715 With a production Wrangler chassis, this ‘Tactical Green’ Jeep pick-up with tilt is a tribute to the Kaiser M715 military truck. It sits on appropriately narrow black-painted wheels and off-road tyres, with massive ground clearance and all-important steel bumpers. Inside all is cool, with a five-speed auto mated to the lusty 3.6-litre V6. Jeep Comanche Based on the 4x4 Renegade Trailhawk, the…

FORGET THE NAME. Until the bike race kicked up a fuss, this was the Tour de France. It’s where the 1957 Ferrari 250 GT obtained its TdF moniker. It’s the source of legendary tales of automotive derring-do and, frankly, madness: from 1899 until 1986, more or less annually, cars raced across France, and sometimes into Germany and Belgium, taking in hillclimbs and race circuits. Of course it was stopped eventually. But only five years later it was revived as a historic event, as spectacular, bonkers and simply French in as many ways as the original. That event, now called Tour Auto and organised by Peter Auto (the group behind Le Mans Classic, Chantilly Arts & Elegance, etc), celebrated its 25th running this year. And so it is that Team Octane…

A bijou springtime Roadster Reliability Run has become quite a thing for my hot-rodding mates and I. For the past few years, we’ve hooked up for a weekend’s touring in our quintet of fettled Ford Model As and Bs. These post winter-project shakedowns usually highlight any issues before we head off to Wales in the summer for the Vintage Hot Rod Association’s annual races at Pendine Sands. In 2015, we visited the Cotswolds on what, for me, turned out to be an Unreliability Run; trashing first gear in my 1929 A’s three-speeder necessitated a transmission rebuild. This year’s jaunt to East Sussex thankfully proved more successful. But first, my solo drive from north London to our hired cottage near Rye was punctuated by a spa day at a Surrey country…

There’s been a breakthrough in terms of Mallett fleet maintenance. For those of you who have been following the saga of the beached leviathan on my front driveway (aka the Tatra T87), the spot it occupied has now been vacated – exactly four months to the day from when it ran aground. Recapping briefly, a rear wheel bearing failed on New Year’s Day, welding itself to the driveshaft in the process. AA Recovery managed to deposit the Tatra on my driveway: not easy given that the rear wheel would not rotate. Rain, sleet, snow and freezing conditions interrupted play but, with the damaged hub eventually liberated, it became apparent that a new one was required. Strangely enough, none was available at my local motor factor, but Tim Bishop, of Connaught…

‘LONG BEFORE THE CALORIE POLICE HAD GAINED LEVERAGE, WE WERE BEING TOLD THAT “A MARS A DAY HELPS YOU WORK, REST AND PLAY”’ IT STARTED LIFE in 1932 on the Slough Trading Estate, west of London, as a reformulated version of America’s best-selling Milky Way (confusing the sweet-toothed transatlantic traveller) and was the basis of the massive food empire created by eccentric American business genius Forrest Edward Mars. The chocolate-covered nougat- and caramel-filled bar was originally promoted as ‘The most delicious form of Sheer Concentrated Nourishment ever devised!’ Calorie-rich, it was supplied to soldiers and prisoners of war during World War Two, and three million bars – a single day’s output – accompanied troops to the Falklands conflict. By the 1960s, long before the calorie police had gained leverage, we…

Let’s set the scene: the first 30-odd pages of this book are dedicated to blueprints of the 917. Side views, front views, rear views, overhead views, all showing the outline of the bodywork and the positioning of the mechanical parts. It’s quite beautiful. This also summarises the no-nonsense attitude of this wonderful book. Purple prose? You’ll find none. Arty photography? Nope. Instead, you have the simplicity and impact of the best bits of Porsche’s archives reproduced and documented on 576 pages of high-quality paper. Chapter one, which follows those pages of blueprints, is entitled Works Catalogue and contains a history of each chassis, documenting build, race records and notes, and ownership to the present day. It’s dry but fascinating, spiced up by understated gems such as this for chassis 917…

Refreshingly personal for a reference work, Lotus 18 begins with the author’s recollections of the Goodwood Easter Monday meeting of 1961, at which Innes Ireland’s 18 pipped Stirling Moss and his Cooper to victory. The developments that led to that win and the many others of the first rear-engined Lotus (hence the title) are related here with commendable fullness. Season-by-season and chassis-by-chassis accounts of the 18’s successes in Formula 1 round out a valuable guide to a machine about which too little has been written.…

This book, and others in the Original series originally published by Bay View Books, were game-changers. While buying guides had been published in America since the 1970s, they tended to be unattractive things to look at and in black-and-white only. The Original books were different. In full colour, using high-quality photography, they were a pleasure to look at, as well as being hugely informative about chassis numbers and production changes. Each one was a buying guide on steroids. Another attraction was that they covered models of car that had been poorly served until then – such as, in this case, the Ferrari 330GTC. These books are now very collectable and you would pay nearly £300 for Original Aston Martin DB4/5/6, although others can sell for nearer £50. The good news…