Innehållsförteckning för May 2022 från Octane

Morgan has previewed its all-new three-wheeler, which replaces the outgoing V-twin model that debuted in 2011. The new car is called the Super 3, referring to the three-cylinder 1.5-litre Ford engine that powers it. History is repeating itself here, since Morgan used Ford engines in its F2 and F4 three-wheelers of the 1930s. Like those predecessors, the Super 3’s engine is water-cooled so there are twin radiators mounted each side of the bonnet, which Morgan has cleverly concealed behind side blades on which luggage can be mounted. The Super 3 is still undergoing final testing and so the launch event – which took place inside Morgan’s impressive new showroom and heritage centre at the famous Pickersleigh Road site, with an impressive line-up of ‘classic’ three-wheelers outside – did not include…

AN INCREDIBLE celebration of BRM is scheduled to take place during the Classic Nostalgia festival at Shelsley Walsh hillclimb on 16-17 July. With the BRM Association and the Owen family set to showcase more than 20 historic BRMs, the new BRM P15 V16 will be demonstrated on the famous hill, while special guests will include former BRM drivers Richard Attwood and Mike Wilds. The event will honour the 60th anniversary of BRM’s 1962 World Championship victory, after a gripping season finale in which Graham Hill grabbed the drivers’ title for himself to become the first Briton to win it in an all-British car. The victory also sealed the constructors’ title for Louis Stanley and BRM. It is being dubbed ‘the homecoming’ thanks to BRM founder Raymond Mays’ glittering record at…

How can a car considered by many to be one of the worst cars in America be one of my favourites? I think it’s because people didn’t understand it. I think it’s fair to say the Chevrolet Corvair was the most ‘European’ American car ever built. Developed under Ed Cole, it was the first car from GM with unibody construction. It had an air-cooled flat-six that pre-dated the 911’s by almost half-a-dozen years. It also had swing axles, like the Volkswagen, and they became the basis for Ralph Nader’s book Unsafe at Any Speed. By the time the book had been released, the suspension problems had been corrected, and in the early 1970s the SAE (the Society of Automotive Engineers) had released a study saying the Corvair was no more…

Someone referred to me as a ‘Jag Man’ the other day. Jag man! Gad, that makes me sound like an old buffer who lives in the Home Counties with a penchant for tweed and who refers to his wife as The Memsahib! First, it’s never ‘Jag’ but ‘Jaguar’, as racing driver Mike Salmon once upbraided me at Goodwood Circuit. I should have have asked him: ‘Well then, Michael, why do you call yourself Mike?’ Fellow columnist Jay Leno is a ‘Jaguar man’ as well. As a child he was riding his bicycle and spied an XK120 in a garage. The owner let him sit in it and, as Jay says: ‘This is the car that did it for me… you never forget your first love.’ So the first proper classic…

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 300 SL 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• 1973 Porsche 911 2.7 RS• 1992 Alfa Romeo SZ SARAH BRADLEY Contributor…

THE SHOP I called about doing some repairs on the Audi referred to it as a classic. ‘I’m sorry, sir, that Audi is 20 years old, but let me give you the number of a guy we know…’ I laughed quietly to myself: this generation of shops has never seen an Alfa Romeo, or wrestled with Webers or Spica injection. I have a 1986 Alfa Quadrifoglio Spider with Bosch injection sitting in the backyard, and we’re hiding it from my mechanic’s wife. ‘If she finds out I have another car…’ It’s even registered in my name. It has rained while the Alfa’s been sitting, so it won’t start, and the battery has gone flat. I decide to cut the grass, I open the garage door; it’s been six weeks since…

WE’RE GOING TO have to take the ‘Roadster’ epithet with a pinch of salt. Sure, to all intents and purposes this car looks like a convertible. It’s certainly what I thought it was, every time I passed it. You see, it was parked outside a neighbour’s house for a week or two. And I happened to know that my neighbour is the proprietor of Hill Farm Automotives, which was selling the 1950 Studebaker Land Cruiser that took m’learned colleague Mark Dixon down Memory Lane a while ago (Octane 191). Check out the roof: finished in cloth, complete with the tell-tale ripples over the underlying frame. How on Earth could such a large, four-door car maintain its stuctural integrity with a soft-top? Turns out it’s a rare Seville option: the entire…

THE CHALLENGE WHEN you’re chatting with Brian Johnson is keeping up with the stream of stories (complete with accents) about music, classic cars, watches and racing. Where watches are concerned he’s completely unfussed by brands or famous names: ‘I don’t care as long as the watch itself looks the business and it’s practical. I’ve never been one for all the Rolexes with diamonds on. It just seems unnecessary and it’s more of an ego trip than anything to do with telling the time.’ Timepieces make their way into the Johnson watchbox on merit alone. Yet strapped to his wrist is a Graham Overlord MkIII, a watch as famous for subtlety as AC/DC is for its sensitive interpretation of Renaissance lute songs. But, for a racer, the Graham makes perfect sense:…

FERRARI 375 PLUS PRINT BY MARK LACEY In the 1954 Carrera Panamericana, winner Umberto Maglioli spent almost 18 exhausting hours at the wheel of his 375 Plus, hurtling along washboard roads at an average speed of 108mph. This rendering of his famous Escuadron 1-2-3 car represents a feat of endurance, too: artist Mark Lacey spent some 300 hours on the piece, which in its original form is 4.7m tall. Happily for those of us with limited wall space, prints in more manageable sizes are available, the smallest measuring 14in x 21.5in. From £95. marklacey.co.uk PORSCHE DENIM JACKET Having invented riveted jeans in 1873, it took Levi Strauss several more years to hit upon the idea of a denim jacket. His creation has never been out of style since, and this…

1934 Singer Nine Le Mans Brightwells, online, UK 26-30 March, brightwells.co.uk As pre-war cars go, you can’t get much more usable than the 972cc Singer Nine Le Mans. This very pretty-looking example is still relatively fresh after a thorough restoration, undertaken by its long-term owner of 50 years. It was sold by this owner in 2013, and has had two further owners since. It’s a car in fine fettle, and is simply in need of some new adventures. It’s estimated to raise £15,000-20,000. 1998 Peugeot 106 GTI Anglia Car Auctions, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, UK 2-3 April, angliacarauctions.co.uk The 106 GTI was in many ways the spiritual successor to the 205 GTI, and that’s why prices for nice examples have been on the rise. You’ll struggle to find one that has…

WHAT TO PAY Early XK8s are still the entry point, from high-mileage rougher cars at £3500 to very nice cars at £8500. The very best examples are £15k-plus. Add about £1000 if you want a convertible version. XKRs start from about £5000, with tidy examples around the £8-12k mark. Pay up to £20,000 for the best. WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR Most of the Nikasil engine problems have been fixed by now, but do be aware of the issue. Early timing belt tensioners are a known weakness, so make sure it’s been upgraded. If well-serviced, there’s little else. Between the different auto ’boxes there are various weaknesses, so it’s vital that you ensure smooth shifts. Despite being ‘sealed for life’, the gearboxes must have scheduled fluid changes. Replacement CATS dampers…

JAMES PAGE ‘It’s always a thrill to be around cars such as the 26R and the GTO, but it’s the people who have owned and raced them that fascinate me most. Talking to Jackie Oliver and Nick Mason this month was therefore the icing on the cake.’ Nick Mason’s Ferrari 250 GTO: pages 56-68. The ex-Jackie Oliver Lotus 26R: pages 126-132. DENNIS NOTEN ‘I just love the fact that someone decided to stick two turbochargers on a Citroën SM, then took it to a salt lake to race it. And got a record in the process. Then went back for more! I love those crazy ideas.’ Dennis’s stunning images of the SM record car – and its matching towing rig – accompany Marc Sonnery’s story on pages 70-80. SIMON RICKETTS ‘I’ve never seen…

This is the most difficult column I have ever written. I am currently on a skiing trip, which is something I have been looking forward to for ages. Nevertheless, there is little joy to be found. Like most – I suspect all – of you, the events currently unfolding in Eastern Europe have left me reeling. I am not someone given to outbursts of emotion. I am, after all, British and our upper lip must remain resolutely stiff at all times. Nevertheless, I find it impossible to switch on the TV right now without my heart breaking. It is even harder to look away. I have been awake for hours wondering what to discuss here. I thought about pontificating about developments in Formula 1; about why drivers are complaining about…

NEVER HAD I previously seen ‘competent’ used as a term of derision, but it seems a Boxster isn’t bonkers enough for some. So much for conversations via a well-known social media forum. As for bonkers? Iconic, more like. Back in 1997, when the Boxster first landed on UK shores, we were well used to the Mazda MX-5 but only just accustomed to the Lotus Elise. In my book, the Boxster is the ideal blend of the former’s usability with the latter’s breeding. And trumps both with a 201bhp six-cylinder engine. Needless to say, I’ve fancied one for a long time, a feeling galvanised around 2006 when I first drove the second-generation 3.4S. And for quite a while (especially since I sold my 944 a couple of years ago) I’ve been…

I WAS PULLING out of the Esso petrol station by Hammersmith Bridge when I first heard it. The trek down there in heavy traffic never used to be worthwhile, but the sole advantage of Hammersmith Bridge being closed (it’s buggered-up everything else) is that I can whizz over and fill up with my fuel of choice in no time. Nowadays that fuel of choice is Esso Synergy Supreme +, because it promises not only a minimum of 99 octane but also zero ethanol. With tank nice and full, I roared out and, as I turned right, heard the graunch. It was a familiar graunch, though not for a decade or more, so I drove very carefully home and surprised myself by being right when I checked the sandwich section of…

FOR PROOF OF the old adage that ‘rust never sleeps’, you need look no further than my 1973 Carrera RS. I’ve owned the RS since 1981 and I have to say it had not been cosseted in the eight years before my ownership, or during the ensuing decades either. Younger readers may be surprised to learn that, in those pre-galvanised years, Porsches rusted – badly. By the 1980s the majority of the 356s sold in the UK had disappeared to the knacker’s yard and many early 911s were gently decaying, my RS among them. Shortly after buying it, I had four factory-supplied wings and new sills fitted, and a bare-metal repaint, but fast-forward three decades of regular use and the bits that I hadn’t replaced were showing their age. The…

IN 2008, THE Turin district of Grugliasco held an exhibition dedicated to a long-time resident referred to as the ‘secret designer’. Modern industrial designers may be fêted and even rewarded with knighthoods, but between the world wars, when the rich ordered bespoke bodies for their cars in the same way they ordered a suit, it was coachbuilders who gained the publicity and rarely their artists. Mario Revelli di Beaumont was therefore one of Italy’s most prolific but least known stylists, and he is now widely accepted as the first exclusively freelance auto designer. He was born in Rome in 1907 into a noble Piedmontese family, his father, Abiel Bethel Revelli di Beaumont, a career soldier and one of Italy’s foremost arms designers. In 1914 Revelli designed a water-cooled machine gun…

£2,885,000 (€3,464,375) 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO RM Sotheby’s, Paris, France. 2 February £2,861,500 (€3,436,250) 1996 Ferrari F50 RM Sotheby’s, Paris, France. 2 February £2,149,500 (€2,558,750) 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari Bonhams, Paris, France. 3 February £1,971,500 (€2,367,500) 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 RM Sotheby’s, Paris, France. 2 February £1,888,500 ($2,555,555) 1930 Mercedes-Benz 770K Four-Door Cabriolet by Voll & Ruhrbeck Bring a Trailer, online. 7 February £1,569,000 ($2,120,000) 1987 Porsche 959 Komfort Bring a Trailer, online. 14 February £1,526,000 (€1,817,000) 1996 Bugatti EB110 GT Bonhams, Paris, France. 3 February £1,503,000 (€1,805,000) 1994 Bugatti EB110 GT RM Sotheby’s, Paris, France. 2 February £1,257,000 ($1,710,000) 2014 McLaren P1 Bring a Trailer, online. 3 February £1,213,500 ($1,650,000) 2005 Porsche Carrera GT Bring a Trailer, online. 11 February…

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a man of almost limitless imagination and ambition. In 1826, at the age of just 20, he became the resident engineer on the Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel built beneath a navigable river. He almost died on the job in 1828 when the tunnel flooded during construction, but he wrote of the incident as a grand spectacle rather than a near-death experience, and his recovery was set back only by ‘exertions with actresses’. To the extent that the episode affected him at all long-term, it seemed to spur him on to attack ever larger projects with ever greater impatience. He built the Great Western Railway and a number of major bridges, and designed vast ships. He did occasionally think small, though: around 1830 he made this…

1937 ASTON MARTIN LONG CHASSIS 15/98, £170,000 One of only 24 long chassis built and, having been restored in the 1980s, well set-up for touring, with plenty of storage. The original 2.0-litre engine was given a major rebuild in 2009. ecuriebertelli.com (UK) 1965 SIMCA 1000 BERTONE COUPÉ, $7500 Not something you see every day. Recently discovered, and clearly sitting for many years, this could make quite a nice little project for the right buyer. It looks to be pretty much complete, too. beverlyhillscarclub.com (US) 1974 CITROËN MEHARI €29,950 Doesn’t it just make you want to visit the South of France? Described as having had a no-expense-spared restoration – work includes a new body, interior and black vinyl soft-top. erclassics.com (NL) 1974 PORSCHE 911 CARRERA 2.7 MFI TARGA, POA Finished in…

IT WAS A LONG time coming but, after 26 years, Lotus has officially closed the books on the Elise. The final customer car is this Championship Gold Elise Sport 240 Final Edition, which has been handed over to its first – and most likely last – owner, Elisa Artioli. Elisa is a huge Elise enthusiast and, as the car has played such a huge part in her life, it’s no surprise. The granddaughter of former Lotus owner (and the man that brought the Bugatti EB110 into the world) Romano Artioli, Elisa was key in the unveiling of the original Elise in 1995. At 3½ years old, and hiding under the covers, she jumped up and shouted ‘I am Elise!’ as it was unveiled to the world. The car, of course,…

Apart from Victor Kiam and his Remington ads, company owners weren’t consciously linked with their products. Then came Gerald Ratner. Since then bosses are perceived to embody the company’s ethos, whether outspoken Pimlico Plumbers founder Charlie Mullins, or Wetherspoons’ Tim ‘Marmite’ Martin. To counter the corporate villains there is our hero Timpson. The shoesmith set up in 1865 by William Timpson was turbocharged in the 1980s by John Timpson and now has over 2000 outlets across the UK repairing watches, shoes, phones, plus engraving and, perhaps more familiar to Octane types, cutting keys. Current CEO is John’s son James, who has continued his father’s maverick style of ‘upside down management’ – offering final salary pensions, profit share, free holiday homes and much more – as well as pioneering the training…

This is not becoming a yachting column, but I nonetheless want to write about Theseus’s Boat. It is not so much a waterborne vessel as one of history’s oldest mind-games, originating with Heraclitus, the Greek thinker who believed that ‘the only constant is change’. And the game is this. Theseus has a well-used boat, the timbers of which are beginning to rot. During routine maintenance, timbers are replaced until, at some point, none of the original clinkers or lapstrakes remain. Is this still Theseus’s Boat, or has it become something new? I look at some of the seductive ads in the back pages and wonder. The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes asked, if someone salvaged Theseus’s abandoned timbers and upcycled them to make a new craft, would that be more authentic…

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• 1999 Porsche Boxster 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 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 Fiat…

MY 1936 SINGER has settled into my garage very comfortably, and it ventured out a few times late last summer once I got its engine running well enough to make the prodigal sports car (this is the second time I’ve owned it, nearly three decades after the first) driveable. The main problem turned out to be a major lack of synchronicity between the two carburettors combined with a blocked slow-running jet in one of them, all leading to a huge flat spot, a part-throttle misfire and a lottery of a tickover. Once I’d fixed this, I ventured out on the road to discover that the eagerness I remember from the 1990s had not survived the subsequent decades. Low – feeble, actually – compression was the main reason, so off came…

‘Needing to liberate cash for a house move, I’ve sold both of my P38A Range Rovers for a knock-down price. It was a tough decision, but needs must’Mark Dixon ‘Lockdown – and co-owner Damon living in London – meant we’ve hardly touched the Subaru-Beetle conversion for two years. But now it runs! Well, nearly…’Matthew Howell ‘Now the engine, brakes and suspension are all sorted on the XK140, I really ought to get the wood veneer refinished. But is it worth the outlay?’Robert Coucher ‘OK, so the start of March was obviously a bit optimistic for the Jensen’s return, but plenty has now been done on the nearside. Full update next month’James Elliott…

HUMBER SUPER SNIPE by Chad Valley Motor manufacturers have long been aware that toy versions of their cars are a useful tool for promoting sales of the real thing, and the 1950s saw a link-up between Birmingham toymaker Chad Valley and the Rootes Group. Chad Valley had been making toys since 1897, mostly in wood or tinplate, but diversified into diecasting in 1949 with some fairly crude clockwork-powered cars. It moved up a gear with a group of promotional models that could be purchased from Rootes Group showrooms as well as in toy shops, and which included Rootes’ main saloon cars of the early ’50s: the Hillman Minx, Humber Hawk and Super Snipe, and the Sunbeam-Talbot. These were sturdy models, with a clockwork motor wound by a key inserted through…

21-31 March Bonhams, online 25-26 March RM Sotheby’s, Fort Lauderdale, USA 26 March Oldtimer Galerie, Toffen, Switzerland Richard Edmonds, Showell, UK 27 March Aguttes, Paris, France 28 March Osenat, Fontainebleau, France 30 March Brightwells, online 31 March – 2 April Mecum, Houston, USA 2-3 April Anglia Car Auctions, King’s Lynn, UK 6 April H&H, Bickenhill, UK (motorcycles) 7-9 April Barrett-Jackson, Palm Beach, USA 9 April Richard Edmonds, Showell, UK (motorcycles) 10 April Bonhams, Goodwood, UK 22-23 April Branson Auction, Missouri, USA Cheffins, Cambridge, UK Mathewsons, online Vicari, Biloxi, USA Worldwide, Auburn, USA 23 April Classicbid, Stuttgart, Germany 25 April Osenat, Versailles, France 27 April H&H, Buxton, UK 29 April Barons, Sandown Park, UK SWVA, online 11 May Brightwells, online 13 May Bonhams, Monte Carlo, Monaco 13-21 May Mecum, Indianapolis, USA…