Table of contents for April 2018 in Octane

FIAT HERITAGE is considering the possibility of building continuation models for its Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Lancia marques. Speaking at Rétromobile, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Heritage boss Roberto Giolito said: ‘Sanction II re-issues could be a possibility. They could be improved with modern materials and methods to be perfect executions.’ The former head of Fiat design, and author of the current Fiat 500, added that projects like this are ‘absolutely stimulating. We’re not going to do this yet, but we are looking at it.’ Giolito believes that running a heritage operation ‘in a huge company enables us to engage skills across the whole structure of Fiat – it’s a recirculating of skills.’ He also reckons that ‘a remake will be a way to reconnect with coachbuilders like Zagato and Pininfarina.…

TWO INTERNATIONAL CONCOURS d’Elegances took place on the weekend of 27 and 28 January: one in Sydney, Australia, the other in Palm Beach, Florida. While the Cavallino Classic in the USA was the grander affair, with a bigger classic car gene pool to call upon, the honour of being the first major Concours show of the year went to Sydney by dint of time difference, if nothing else. Having said that, the quality of the 60 cars on show at the Sydney Superyacht Marina did not suffer in comparison with those on display on the other side of the Pacific. Run under the auspices of the International Chief Judges Advisory Group, the Sydney event not only had world-class expertise in the form of chief judge Nigel Matthews from Canada, Chris…

THE PORTOFINO, replacement for the California T, gets off to a great start. It’s more handsome, both on the approach and from behind the wheel. Press the start button and the more powerful bi-turbo V8 sounds deeper-chested and more confident, and before you’ve driven more than half a mile you appreciate that the steering is both better connected and more natural in its responses. It’s ticking a lot of boxes. For many die-hard Ferrari enthusiasts, the California’s looks and appeal are inversely proportional to its value to the company. Launched in 2008, the 2+2 soon became Ferrari’s best-selling car ever, and its 2014 replacement, the California T, last year accounted for 35% of sales. It’s a big deal, and Ferrari has strived to make the Portofino an even better GT…

What a crazy-looking car. I’ve seen plenty of pictures of the Carrera RSR Turbo 2.1, but to walk out into the pitlane at Rockingham Raceway and find it parked there is like going into your living room and finding David Bowie sitting on your sofa. I can’t help but laugh out loud. The confidence, the vision, the audacity that Porsche had to build something this off-the-wall is breathtaking even today – what must its rivals have thought when it was wheeled out into the pitlane at Le Mans in 1974? The RSR Turbo is the extraordinary answer to an extraordinary question, that question being: what do we need to do to make a 911 RSR competitive if we stuff a 500bhp, turbocharged flat-six in the back? According to Norbert Singer,…

Sprites and Midgets with coupé bodies, usually fastback. You probably have a vague mental image of such machines, popularly raced in the 1960s, lumped together under the umbrella title of Sebring Sprites. For most people with a smattering of Spridget knowledge, that’s as far as it gets. But the story is a lot more involved than that, with multiple variations on the theme and tortuous links between them. There are Sebring, Speedwell and Sprinzel body creations, all alliterating nicely with Sprite. There are the works Le Mans cars. And there are the WSMs, about which I’d heard a little and knew less. Those in the know call them Wuzzums, a bit like the way ‘Ms’ is pronounced ‘Mizz’ but older in its usage. To delve into the history of Wuzzums…

It was New Year’s Eve, 1892. Back then, Italy was an agricultural country that relied on horses and oxen. The beasts of burden slept, unaware that a new machine – one that would soon render the animals redundant – was crossing the Swiss border at Chiasso, just above Como. It was a Peugeot Type 3, only the 25th car made by the French company, being transported on a train from Zurich and about to make history as the very first car on Italy’s roads, where it would be driven for the first time on 2 January 1893. In the late 1800s, the automobile was an exciting new prospect. Karl Benz had patented the three-wheel Motorwagen on 29 January 1886, his invention being a carriage paired with an internal combustion engine.…

Photographer Matthew Howell and I can’t stop grinning. We’ve done dozens of magazine features together and I honestly cannot recall a vehicle that has caught our imagination so much. Neither of us can believe that this Mad Max-style dune buggy – still for sale at the time of writing – hasn’t been snapped up by a collector who appreciates its fascinating history and its massive fun factor. I say ‘fun’, but this machine was built with a very serious purpose. Developed in the 1980s by British company Longline, a company later subsumed into engineering colossus Ricardo (the people who build engines for McLaren), the Light Strike Vehicle was intended as a fast and agile military reconnaissance vehicle. It was rushed into production ahead of the 1991 Gulf War and trialled…

A REGULARITY RALLY couldn’t have a more glamorous setting than this. The Tour du Péloponnèse, despite the Francification of its name, takes place in the sunniest, most southerly part of Greece – the Peloponnese peninsula. It covers 1250km and 20 regularity stages, including one at night, over eight days from 30 September to 7 October. But it’s not just about competitive timing strategies. During those days the drivers and navigators of the 35 cars will visit ancient sites of archaeological intrigue, stay in grand hotels and enjoy much fine food and wine. A new development for this year’s event is to give a competitive advantage to older cars, with the newest category (1982 to 1988) handicapped by two points in each leg of the event. What’s more, cars with engines…

‘Entry will be refused to cars “showing visible traces of rust”. You have been warned…’ THE RALLYE INTERNATIONAL des Alpes has existed in several forms, starting in 1929 and reaching its peak (so to speak) as the French-based Coupe des Alpes in the 1950s and 1960s. Winning it became a major feather in the cap for works competition departments and, for snow per kilometre, the ‘Alpine’ was hard to beat. The event faded away in the 1970s but since 1989 it has been run as a regularity rally for Historic cars taking in, as in its heyday, sections in France, Italy – and Switzerland, where the Rallye des Alpes is now centred. And when we say Historic, we really mean it: pre-1964 cars are encouraged, although cars built after that…

ON THE HEALEY’S 50th anniversary road trip in 2015 to the Hotel de France, described in Octane 146, I mentioned the joy of ‘cruising on the autoroute in overdrive at 75mph at 4500rpm’. I was subsequently informed by a letter from Kirk Rylands in issue 149 that those revolutions were impossible if my car had the standard gearing and back axle ratio. Taking note of Mr Rylands’ comments, it was clear that the electric tachometer was faulty, which became another task on my never-ending list to keep 171 YNO in a well-maintained condition. I asked JME Healeys to recalibrate it when they next had the car in for a service and according to proprietor Chris Everard it’s a very common problem with these gauges. To service and recalibrate one, it’s…

JUST 1714 EXAMPLES of the Jaeger-LeCoultre 1968 Memovox Polaris diver’s watch were made, including prototypes. Noted for its sleek, black unfussy dial (you could argue it has dress watch appeal) and Memovox alarm (a term derived from the Latin words memor for mindful and vox for voice), which is set by a discreet arrow on the inner disc, the vintage JLC timepiece is not only good-looking but is also highly appealing from a technical perspective. In 1959 JLC’s Memovox Deep Sea was the first dive watch equipped with an alarm, and in 1968 it was still pioneering for a watch alarm to alert a diver in the depths of the ocean. The Memovox Polaris even amplified the pitch of the alarm via 16 holes on its case back. Furthermore, the…

LET’S JUST GET THIS SAID at the outset: 2018 is not shaping up to replicate the glory days of long ago. Like, say, 2015. Great cars from the 1960s and 1970s are generally not the ones currently setting records. There’s no shortage of great cars selling for great numbers, but the big sellers tend to be from the 1990s, 2000s and even last year, along with cars from the 1920s and 1930s. Bonhams’ sale, held at Le Grand Palais in Paris, lasted just over seven hours and made a total of €14,930,317. Of note was the 19-vehicle collection of the late Jacques Vander Stappen, all of which found new homes. Top-seller of the collection was a 1907 Minerva Type K limousine/torpedo convertible that sold for €603,750. Also noteworthy was the…

THE ORIGINAL CONNAUGHT marque survived for barely a decade, but it made an indelible impression on motor sport thanks to its 1950s Formula 1 and 2 machines and the roadgoing sports cars that went before – such as this L2. The 1949 example was originally owned by Ken Downing, a wealthy ‘gentleman driver’ who achieved no fewer than 15 victories in this car during 1951 with a 1.5-litre engine, leading to the development of the cycle-wing Connaught racers. Owned by Kathleen Gibson from 1955, the L2 ended up at celebrated racer Archie Scott Brown’s Cambridge garage, from where it was bought by the vendor’s uncle who shipped it to Canada in ’71. On return to the UK a decade ago the L2 was thoroughly restored and the cracked block of…

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING that stands out from the crowd? If so, this remarkable Ford Torino ‘King Cobra’ should do the trick – all 17ft 6in of it. It’s one of two aerodynamic prototypes penned by legendary designer Larry Shinoda to contest the so-called ‘aero wars’ then being played out between Ford and Chrysler on the NASCAR circuits. Before the Torino King Cobra ever slithered onto the track, however, Lee Iacocca took over from Bunkie Knudsen as president of Ford and promptly slashed the racing budget, rendering the two prototypes redundant and condemning them to an ignominious life as runabouts around the vast Dearborn plant. In 1971, however, NASCAR team owner and race-car builder Bud Moore spotted the pair while visiting the facility to collect a fleet of Mustangs for use…

America’s most vaunted A 1931 Ford Roadster owned by Dave Martin and built by Hot Rods & Hobbies was crowned America’s Most Beautiful Roadster at the 69th annual Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona in January. The Martin Special was praised for its craftsmanship and dazzling aesthetics, as well as its provenance. In a former life the car competed in the famed Silver State Classic open road race and it currently packs a 500bhp Ed Pink Racing Engines small-block. ‘Dave Martin’s car possesses all the qualities that our judges look for, blowing us away thanks to its exceptional craftsmanship and innovative styling,’ said John Buck, producer of the Grand National Roadster Show. Tyres for Turbos Vintage Tyre Supplies can now offer Renault 5 GT Turbo owners new 195/55VR13 Avon CR27s.…

A STUNNING 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, co-owned by Peter and Merle Mullin of the Mullin Automotive Museum and Rob and Melani Walton, has snatched the honour of The Best of the Best from a host of global concours winners. Arch classic car enthusiast, The Honourable Sir Michael Kadoorie, chairman of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, launched the unique Award in 2015 with co-founders Chip Connor, Bruce Meyer and Christian Philippsen. It considers the priceless winners of eight of the world’s most prestigious concours, the Atlantic being in the running after taking Best of Show at the 2017 Chantilly Arts & Elegance. The shortlist was considered by 24 automotive experts, designers and ‘car guys’ who included Ian Callum, Chris Bangle, Peter Brock, Nick Mason, Jay Leno and Henry Ford…

AFTER FIVE DAYS and with just two stages remaining, including the iconic Col de Turini, Michael Bruns/Frank Westenburger in their ailing Ford Falcon Sprint and Gianmaria Aghem/Diego Cumino (Lancia Fulvia Coupé 1200) were in equal first place. Within sight of the finish, the Falcon finally cried enough, handing a well-deserved overall victory to the Italian team. The 21st edition of Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique, which is open to 300 cars of a type that competed between 1955 and 1980 and with start points spread across Europe (including Glasgow, Oslo, Barcelona, Bad Homburg, Reims and Monte-Carlo itself), should easily prove the most popular – as well as the biggest – regularity rally of the year. Organisers insist that crews complete a traditional concentration run before the main event, but in return allow…

LA RÉGIE HAS always been at or near the top of hot-hatch group tests, so there’s a lot riding on this new Renault Sport Mégane, not least because this could be the last-ever RS hatch with a conventional combustion engine. Renault Sport engineer Fabien Berthomieu shrugs when the point is made, saying: ‘Could be.’ But it’s also important because the last RS model, the Clio RS, was somewhat less than universally acclaimed. So does this car put the RS back into the game? They’ve certainly thrown the kitchen sink at the chassis, with racing-style hydraulic bumpstops in the dampers, giving a relatively gentle ride with decent body control. There’s a separate steering knuckle to improve the front geometry and reduce torque-steer. And the car also has the rear-steer system from…

I WAS DELIGHTED to read the Ferrari Daytona features in Octane 175, in particular Bertie Gilbart-Smith’s account of his well-travelled example. I have always thought classic cars are for driving and enjoying as the makers intended when they were new, and it was good to see that Bertie and I share this view. I bought my 1966 E-type 4.2 Roadster in 1994 and, 65,000 miles and 24 years later, I still have it, making it my second most successful relationship. It was the only car I had ever really wanted since seeing my first one at age seven and I sold pretty much every financial asset I had to buy it. Destitute but happy, I had little choice but to use it as my only car. It was not exactly…

PORSCHE TURBO. The words may go together as naturally as apple and pie or Jekyll and Hyde, but the Stuttgart firm didn’t get there first, second, or even third. Oldsmobile had launched the Cutlass F-85 Jetfire in 1962. Why the GM brand went to the trouble of fitting a turbo and water/ methanol injection to a small V8 when it had the pick of much bigger ones is a mystery. The Chevy Corvair was next to get the turbo treatment for the Corsa and Monza Spyder and even BMW beat Porsche to it by a year with the handsome little 2002 Turbo, though that lag-prone limited edition was gone almost as soon as it had arrived. So, Porsche may not have been the first, but it was the first to…

A SMALL DARK BLUE jewellery box sits on the table looking relatively unassuming but aged, thanks to its frayed edges. Ronald Stern opens it as carefully as if he were trying to do origami without cracking an ancient papyrus. The lid clicks back to reveal a small pair of gold cufflinks with the Alfa Romeo crest enamelled onto them. Without an explanation, this might seem a little anticlimactic, but Ronald’s commentary puts them in their context: ‘In 1930 at the end of the first year of Scuderia Ferrari, when it was running Alfa Romeos, there was a celebration dinner for the team, with seven pairs of cufflinks given out to the directors. This is the only pair known to exist.’ With that he gently closes the box and delicately places…

AMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE 9-11 March. Amelia Island, USA ameliaconcours.org BRITISH CARS & LIFESTYLE 10-11 March. Rosmalen, Netherlands britishbest.nl GOODWOOD MEMBERS’ MEETING 17-18 March. Goodwood, UK goodwood.com GREAT OCEAN ROAD TOUR 26 March – 1 April. Melbourne, Australia classiccartour.com.au COPPERSTATE 1000 7-11 April. Scottsdale, USA mensartscouncil.com OLDTIMER SHOW BUDAPEST 13-15 April. Budapest, Hungary austroclassic.at CALIFORNIA MILLE 15-19 April. San Francisco to Sausalito, USA californiamille.com SCOTTISH MALTS 16-20 April. Auchterarder, UK heroevents.eu GRAN PREMIO TERRE DI CANOSSA 19-22 April. Salsomaggiore Terme to Forte di Marmi, Italy granpremioterredicanossa.it TECHNO CLASSICA ESSEN 21-25 April. Essen, Germany siha.de TOUR AUTO OPTIC 2000 23-28 April. Paris to Nice, France peterauto.peter.fr TULIPFEST TOUR 23-29 April. Zeebrugge, Belgium, to Rotterdam, Netherlands. cctmk.co.uk PARIS-AMSTERDAM 2018 25-28 April. Paris, France, to Amsterdam, Netherlands. thetrial.nl THE FLYING SCOTSMAN 26-29 April.…

‘The speedo stops at 100km/h, but we never got past 65. Kids on mopeds passed us regularly’ ‘NO PART OF FRANCE,’ according to my tatty 1968 guidebook, ‘is more compelling than Provence, or richer in scenery, art and a sense of history.’ Only proper, then, that we explore the place in an historic automobile. My 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 whisked us all the way from London to south-eastern France without complaint, but would soon be allowed to rest its legs… Lourmarin, a commune at the foot of the Luberon Massif, was our first post-autoroute stop, and could scarcely have looked more like the Provence of my mind’s eye. A short excursion after lunch took us through a twisting gorge, the Aigue Brun river running below the road, then on to the…

FOR ANYONE WITH THE slightest interest in motorcycles, the 14th annual Barber Vintage Festival, to be held on 5-7 October in Birmingham, Alabama, should be considered a must-attend event. Possibly the largest classic bike gathering in the world, it’s staged in the landscaped estate of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, which is definitely the world’s largest motorcycle museum, as confirmed by Guinness World Records in 2014. A sometimes raucous, high-energy affair, the Barber Vintage Festival splits its entertainments between the on-site 2.38-mile race track – which hosts a series of American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA) races – and the estate’s car parks and parkland. A key draw for visitors is the vast swapmeet (another candidate for ‘world’s largest’ status), boasting around 500 stalls and noted for its ability to…

DRIVING THROUGH Solihull in my 1994 press launch P38 Range Rover always gives me a slight frisson of excitement. It’s curiously thrilling to know that many of the passers-by will have some connection with the Land Rover factory, which has been the town’s major employer since the end of World War Two, and that some of them will be clocking the vehicle’s ‘CVC’ registration and recognising it as one of their own. The occasion for this particular visit was a get-together for members of the CVC Register, a club for anyone who owns or is interested in Land Rovers with a company history. Like a lot of car clubs, we mainly communicate through Facebook, but former Land Rover employee Ron Brown – who worked on several interesting projects during the…

LEGO VOLKSWAGEN T1 CAMPER VAN So Lego’s just for kids? This 1962 VW camper says not. It takes many hours to make and requires concentration and sobriety, but the end result will have you flush with pride. Just look: it’s got curtains and a folding table, opening doors and windscreen and a pop-up top, and a little plastic engine behind a hinged engine cover… and, best of all, it’s far less likely to rust than the real thing. £84.99. lego.com BAMFORD MAYFAIR WATCH Just like a car maker, Bamford offers an online configurator for its Mayfair watch range. And to make that process more interesting, there are five new dial colours, including yellow. £425. bamfordwatchdepartment.com QUAD ARTERA SOLUS Quad’s new Artera Solus is packed with hi-fi wonders, yet its technical…

WE’RE SPOILED for choice when it comes to fast estates these days. We could spend hours discussing the latest AMG, Alpina or even the excellent Volkswagen Golf R estate. Eventually, the conversation will circle back to Audis. It’s a niche that the company has made its own, and it’s all thanks to the ballistic RS2 Avant of 1994/95. Based on the 80-derived S2, the first RS Audi was actually the result of a partnership with Porsche. Shells were shipped from Ingolstadt to the Rossle-Bau plant in Zuffenhausen, where Porsche engineers worked their magic. First, the regular 2.2-litre, 20-valve five-cylinder engine received a bigger KKK turbo – running at higher boost – along with high-lift camshafts, a new intercooler, bigger exhaust and high-flow fuel injectors. The result? A staggering 315bhp and…

‘THE NEW D-TYPES WILL BE BUILT TO ORIGINAL LE MANS SPEC AND FOR PRIVATE ROAD OR TRACK USE ONLY’ JAGUAR ANNOUNCED in Paris earlier this month that the next car in its run of continuation projects will be the iconic D-type and unveiled a spectacular engineering prototype to tempt buyers. Previous continuations programmes have had be founded on a very specific premise – fulfilling the original planned quota of Lightweight E-types or recreating the XKSS road cars that were destroyed in the factory fire of 1957 – and the run of 25 continuation D-types is said to honour the factory’s 1955 intention of building 100 examples of the sports racer. The cars will be handbuilt at Jaguar Land Rover Classic Works in Coventry and buyers will be able to choose…

BODIES REPRESENTING classic vehicles are reassuring owners that they can continue to enjoy their motoring after two potential threats were defused. The news brings to an end a lengthy period of uncertainty over the future of huge numbers of classics. Fears arose that a stringent roadworthiness test would be blanketed across Europe. But after a decade of lobbying by the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens, an EU directive, and not a regulation as originally planned, was issued. This means that member states can ‘interpret’ it. In the UK from May, the MoT exemption currently applied to vehicles over 50 years old will be extended to include those more than 40 years old if they are not ‘substantially changed’. Because many cars are unoriginal this phrase prompted panic, but after consultation…

WHEN YOU OWN a fleet of 928s, the law of averages suggests at least one’s going to be a racer. Adrian Clark, Porsche Club GB’s technical advisor on the model, has owned about 16 of them and this is his second racer, competing mostly in the AMOC’s popular Intermarque series. Both racers came from a trio built in the early ’90s by Eurotech. ‘I’d had a stripped-out trackday car for a while – the grey one over there,’ he indicates, within a barn full of the distinctive shark-nosed profiles under dust sheets. ‘My thoughts turned to racing, and it was suggested that I buy the green race car. ‘They were out of homologation for racing and nobody had done any development for a decade. There’s a lot of collective knowledge…

‘THE VOLANTE, IF ANYTHING, IS THE SWEETEST OF THE THREE VERSIONS OF THE DB11 ON THE MOVE’ VOLANTE MEANS ‘FLYING’ in Italian, and that’s a good way to describe the trajectory of Aston Martin in general in 2018. Even today, Aston’s range of cars looks wider and stronger than at any point in its 104-year history. Yet today is only just the beginning – because also in the pipeline is the Valkyrie hypercar and its track-based derivative that will, says Aston, ‘be as fast as a Formula 1 car around Silverstone’. Then there’s the rebirth of the Lagonda brand, an all-new mid-engined Ferrari 488 rival that’s due in 2021, and a range of SUVs that will appear at broadly the same time. Aston, as they say, is on a roll.…

THE SUN GLINTS on the polished fuselage as the breeze blows across and ruffles hair and flaps clothes. The Douglas DC-3, callsign ‘341 Alpha’, is at rest on the Navy Flying Club’s apron, towards the eastern end of the runway at California’s Monterey Regional Airport; it’s quiet this evening, but this is where the wealthy jet-in. Just a few hundred yards west, at the other end of the runway, lies the Monterey Jet Center, itself the location for Gordon McCall’s Motorworks Revival party which kicks off Monterey Car Week, book-ended by the Pebble Beach Concours. But tonight is not about cars, it’s about this rather beautiful aeroplane. And while the air is balmy and the sky golden, the trademark Monterey Peninsula fog is due to roll across in a couple…

General Motors always was hot on dream cars and styling concepts. Since the early 1930s, the company had been putting on Motorama shows, exhibiting concept cars in cities across the USA. Some were outlandish, others predicted styling that was merely months away from production. So it’s plausible that when designer Brooks Stevens approached GM for a 1955 Cadillac chassis in order to build a show car, he found a willing ear. The result was Die Valkyrie. Stevens was one of America’s greatest designers, fathering products, machines and logos in virtually every industry. His diverse portfolio covered industrial and graphic design, even architecture. Between the Miller Beer logo and the Evinrude Lark outboard motor – plus the crazy Evinrude Lakester car-cum-speedboat – he penned lawnmowers, chairs, tricycles and the Oscar Meyer…

FOR THE BEST PART of a month, last October, machines as old as a 1927 Bentley 4½ Litre pounded through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, reminding onlookers (and probably a few apprehensive neophtye crews, too) that a well-prepared classic car is capable of extradordinary things. The sixth Endurance Rally Association Classic Safari Challenge was planned by John and Gill Cotton, and the pair plotted a route that included vast expanses of desert, wetlands teeming with wildlife, and the world’s largest waterfall, Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. The cars were left behind briefly in Botswana as the crews were buzzed into the stunning and remote Okavango Delta by light aircraft to see elephants, giraffes, hippos and more. By that stage of the event the cars had already covered some 2000 miles…

‘There’s a Porsche 356 driving simulator that even kids are encouraged to play in’ LOCATED IN A SMARTLY converted factory building in the trendy HafenCity district of Hamburg, Automuseum Prototyp’s name might suggest that its remit is to display rare prototypes: in fact, the word prototyp refers just as much to the museum itself, which experiments with a more vibrant, hands-on experience than you’ll find in some other car museums. There’s a small cinema in which to enjoy historic motoring and racing footage, an audio booth where you can listen to a variety of inspiring engine sounds, a miniature wind-tunnel that allows you to examine the aerodynamic efficiency of different car body styles, and also a Porsche 356 driving simulator that even children, especially children, are encouraged to play in.…

ANYONE WHO has kept an eye on the motorcycle world these past few years will agree that things have changed a bit. Biking is now less about haring around on plastic-clad race-replicas and more about throwing a leg over a cool custom and heading off in search of slow-speed adventure on the road less travelled. Plenty of people have cottoned on to the business potential of the café-racer/bobber/ street-scrambler scene, and not just bike builders; see, for example, the thriving Bike Shed club, restaurant and coffee shop in London’s trendy Shoreditch. Then there’s the annual Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, which brings together thousands of riders in cities across the globe to raise money for men’s health charities. Few have done more for the scene in recent years, though, than cousins Jonathan…

These are the cars – and motorbikes – run by the magazine’s staff and contributors ROBERT COUCHER International editor l 1937 Bentley 4¼ l 1955 Jaguar XK140 l 1988 Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC TONY DRON Test driver l 1932 Austin Seven GLEN WADDINGTON Associate editor l 1983 Porsche 944 l 1989 BMW 320i Convertible ANDREW ENGLISH Contributor l 1960 Triumph TR3A l 1965 Aston Martin DB5 SANJAY SEETANAH Advertising director l 1981 BMW 323i Top Cabrio l 1998 Aston Martin DB7 Volante MARK DIXON Deputy editor l 1955 Land Rover Series I 107in l 1963 Ford Galaxie Country Sedan l 1989 and ’91 Land Rover Discoverys l 1994 Range Rover 4.0 SAMANTHA SNOW Advertising account manager l 1969 Triumph Herald 13/60 Convertible l 1989 Mercedes-Benz 300SL MARK SOMMER Art Director l…

THE FIRST CAR I ever spun was a Porsche 944. That was more than 25 years ago, and it nearly happened again yesterday. I’ve always been more enthusiastic than I am talented, but I’d like to put this one down to ‘exploring the limits’. Fact is, after a thorough service, a bit of MoT work and a new set of tyres, the 944 has come back feeling invigorated. And there’s been a similar effect on the driver, too. I think it’s a confidence thing. There were words of encouragement from Stuart at Templeton’s Garage – ‘It’s a really solid example, well worth keeping’ – and there’s the psychological boost (as well as what’s certainly greater grip) provided by the now-nicely-scrubbed Dunlop Classic Sport tyres, which I’d sourced from Vintage Tyres…

WELL, WE’VE RUN it for six months and covered just over 6000 miles. And we’ve spent just under £57 on petrol. I’m sure we’ve spent a bit more on electricity, but estimates suggest that would work out at around 3.5p per mile, so we’re talking less than £200 there too. Compare that to a diesel hatchback that manages 50mpg. You’d be up to more like £500 in fuel. And you’d be lucky to get 50mpg if you commuted with anything like the enthusiasm the i3 has, er, generated. Of course, there are compromises. One reason why petrol consumption is so low is that the prospect of having to fill up so frequently on longer runs (it’ll only hold a few litres) actually put us off – although the prospect of…

‘IN EFFECT A SPACEFRAME, IT WAS TRULY A MASERATI BIRDCAGE FOR THE BICYCLE WORLD’ OF THE HUNDREDS of weirdly framed bicycles that preceded the adoption of the diamond frame, none was more peculiar than that which rolled out from the Gloucestershire market town of Dursley at the dawn of the 20th Century. The bicycle was designed by a Dane, Mikael Pedersen, who was born in 1855 in the small village of Fløng, close to Copenhagen. A talented inventor, Pedersen made his name by perfecting a centrifugal device for separating cream, and it was the success of this machine that lured him to Dursley in 1893. A local manufacturer of agricultural equipment, RA Lister & Co, had acquired the UK distribution rights and Pedersen moved to Dursley with his family to…

We were somewhat surprised when this mammoth two-volume work arrived at the office; we’ll admit to having previously been less than familiar with Gaston Grümmer’s cars, of which just nine are known to survive. Surely there couldn’t be all that much to write about? After reading all 736 pages, we are no longer merely surprised by the existence of The Art of Carrosserie, but astonished by it. That Gaston Grümmer lived long enough to establish one of the most successful Parisian coachbuilders of the 1920s was nothing short of a miracle. In 1914, while Gaston was at cavalry school, he and his out-of-control horse were hit by a train. Unlike the horse, he recovered from his injuries just in time for World War One and went straight to the Front,…

1:18 scale 1968 Jaguar E-type S2 By Cult Price £155.50 Material Resincast For our money, the best model cars are the ones that can stand as pieces of sculpture in their own right – and few cars are more sculptural than the E-type. The latest from Chinese maker Cult is a Series 2, arguably not quite so pure as the original ‘E’ – no faired-in lights, for example – but still gorgeous, with lines enhanced by wire-spoked wheels that are finished in body colour rather than chromed, while a dark red interior contrasts nicely with the deep blue paint. A handsome addition to even the least car-focused living room. 1:43 scale 1. 1979 Lotus 80 By Tameo Price £177.95 Material retal handbuilt A beautiful – and weighty – model of…

WHO COULD POSSIBLY know how many important cars were lost back in the days when no one seemed to care? The fact that this Maserati was very nearly among them suggests that the number of similar rarities consigned to the scrapyard must have been too large to contemplate. At first glance, it’s easy to imagine you’ve seen a car like this before. But it’s highly unlikely, because it’s thought to be the sole survivor of just two Maserati 3500GT Speciales bodied by Pietro Frua, the Italian coachbuilder most readily linked with the Trident marque as designer of the Quattroporte and Mistral. The car was originally delivered to Lugano Maserati dealer Martinelli and Sonvico before being sold to its first owner almost 200 miles away in Bern, the Swiss capital. There…