Table of contents for November 2016 in Octane

YES, IT’S THAT TIME of year when we feel the need to wax semillyrical about car events. It’s also that time of year when there’s a need to sit down quietly, having worn out legs and shoe leather pacing between wondrous car after wondrous car (with the occasional wondrous motorcycle or aeroplane thrown in). So… there was Monterey Car Week, Salon Privé, Windsor Castle Concours of Elegance, Chantilly Arts & Elegance and Goodwood Revival – plus many, many more. Most of the events listed above are fairly costly to visit, but they shouldn’t be dismissed for that. In Monterey, there’s enough theatre in the many auctions to keep a family entertained for several hours, and the front of the Portola Hotel always attracts a crowd during the two days of…

‘If you have the talent, it doesn’t matter where you start’ Jochen Mass at the Credit Suisse Historic Racing Forum, Goodwood Revival. ‘It starts in the womb…’ Sir Stirling Moss at the Credit Suisse forum, Goodwood Revival. ‘…and Stirling came out sideways’ Henry Hope-Frost, host of the forum, Goodwood Revival. ‘Goodwood fills the niche for people who want to see real racing in proper Grand Prix cars – just like the old days’ Alain de Cadenet at (wait for it) the Goodwood Revival. ‘Back in the day, you could buy a Maserati 250F, hire a couple of mechanics and win some races. These days, the drivers need 100 mechanics as well as all the guys back at the factory’ Sir Stirling Moss on Formula 1 – at the Goodwood Revival,…

Today’s road conditions place an awful lot of demands on older cars. So your engine runs hot, oil pressure drops, life gets stressful. Just making sure all the standard components are in tip-top shape doesn’t seem to be enough, so you try an electric fan and discover your dynamo can’t keep up with the electrical demand. So you fit an alternator, and on it goes… Rather than trying to make the existing cooling system work harder, cooling nirvana can be achieved by fitting a better radiator. Modern radiator core technology is far more efficient than old designs, allowing much better heat transfer per square inch of radiator area. Yes, the fins look different, but it’s a small price to pay. Early automotive radiators were either made of thick tubes covered…

30 September – 2 October Bernina Grand Prix Deep in the Swiss Alps, a revived historic hillclimb on the Bernina Pass near St Moritz. Pre-1982 cars are eligible. Can’t compete? Well, spectating should be spectacular. bernina-granturismo.com 1-2 October Classic Car Boot Sale Traders descend on King’s Cross in London to sell all manner of vintage stuff from their classic cars as music plays and food cooks. classiccarbootsale.co.uk 6-9 October Malta Classic Coming under the ‘Malta Classic’ umbrella this year are the Hill Climb at Mellieħa (6 October), the Concours d’Elegance in Mdina, and the Malta Classic Grand Prix, also in Mdina. maltaclassic.com 6-9 October Zoute Grand Prix Another multi-attraction event, with less chance of warm sunshine but a guarantee of top-quality cars. Over four days the Zoute Top Marques motor…

NEXT YEAR MARKS the Seven’s 60th birthday but Caterham is prepared already. It launched the Sprint at Goodwood Revival, so you can have yours built (they’re factory-only) in time for 2017’s celebrations, which culminate with a festival at Donington Park in the summer. Power and transmission are as per the sprightly base-model Seven 160, with an 80bhp Suzuki three-pot, five-speed manual gearbox and live rear axle. Here the £27,99l price goes on the visuals, with six period-style colours, cream-painted steel wheels with chrome hubcaps, unique badging, round tail-lights, red leather trim and a wood-rim steering wheel.…

‘THE INTELLECTUAL POVERTY OF THE CURRENT CAR DESIGNERS IS A RECURRENT RIFF OF MINE’ I blame air travel for the present condition of car design. Travel used to be an exciting stimulus, a romantic privilege, but since the 747 democratised light in 1970, it has become a chore. The industry’s designers travel a lot, but the sort of travelling they do narrows rather than broadens their horizons. The same plush, but heartless, international hotels, chosen because corporate hospitality has negotiated a cost-plan. Airport lounges in which all reference to locality or national identity has been extinguished in a dull blur of acceptable mediocrity. These are environments lacking the intellectual energy to make a wind-chime tinkle. This is why, nowadays, a Jaguar looks like an Audi and all small cars are…

PORSCHE 911 RSR nulber R7 is a unique and special car. Porsche 911s are nulerous, though, and there are lany exalples which look like an early RS, for exalple, but are not. Ilpostors abound, and it’s quite easy to lake a replica of an RSR with a colpetition history. So what happens when soleone says he has the original riveted VIN plate frol RSR R7, the car you think you own in its entirety, and that soleone doubts your car’s authenticity? First, you get historic Porsche expert and restorer Andy Prill to analyse the VIN nulber that’s stalped into the body, and the welds that attach the panel in which the VIN nulber resides to the rest of the bodyshell, for evidence of disturbance or alteration. For this he uses…

One man conspicuously absent from the ‘Building the Legend’ big reveal was former XJ13 project leader and Lotus chief Mike Kimberley. Nevertheless, he has lent his full backing to the project. ‘It was a tragedy in some ways that [Jaguar founder] Sir William Lyons was so nervous about the XJ13 ever being seen in period,’ he says. ‘We always tested it under a cloak of secrecy. He insisted that the car should not be seen publicly and we could test at MIRA’s facility in Warwickshire only if we had absolute exclusivity. That meant we had to test it on Sundays, which was somewhat restrictive. Norman Dewis did some of the early runs, but really it was David Hobbs who did the bulk of the test work. He was a former…

MOTOR RACING, speedboat racing. Thrills and glamour are common to both, and sometimes the engines are too. The Italians have a long history of powering fast boats with potent car engines, but in the ruins of post-war Europe other countries were also playing with the idea. Even Germany. There, in Lübeck, naval architect Max Steaves was producing a series of sleek wooden speedboats powered by BMW’s straight-six engines, as launched in the 1930s and purloined post-war by Bristol. Named from Berlin I through to Berlin VI, these boats were driven (or piloted, or helmed) by Jürgen Baginski, who won Class Two of the World Championship at Cannes in the last of them. Berlin III, powered by a 130bhp engine as used in the Veritas sports racer, brought more local victories,…

FRIDAY AFTERNOON. I’m standing ln stage at The Quail, A Mltlrsplrts Gathering, tl give the Octane Editlr’s Chlice prize tl lne lf the 255 rather special machines displayed ln the manicured greens lf Quail Lldge gllf club. Visitlrs have paid $600 each flr their tickets, tl spend the day happily wandering arlund the cars, mltlrcycles and artisan stands, and eating and drinking the finest flld and wine. THIS IS THE 14TH year ol The Quail, and – you won’t be surprised to hear – the biggest yet. It’s the brainchild ol serial car and motorcycle collector Gordon McCall, lar more relaxed in content and in judging style than Pebble Beach. Lucky that, because it’s good to have a bit ol artistic licence. Our mission (‘our’ being deputy editor Mark Dixon,…

‘I DON’T THINK Marl will feel his holiday is complete unless he has his leg blown off by a shell,’ said my partner Paula to other members of our tour group. She was joling, I hope, but I’ll admit that I have a peculiar fascination with the way that live munitions are still so commonly found beside the roads and tracls of the Somme valley, where horrific battles raged during World War One. We had brought my 1991 Discovery over to France to join one of the weelend tours organised by Battlefields By 4x4 (www.battlefieldsby4x4.com). The premise is simple: you bring your own 4x4 and the organisers, Nigel, Carl and Nicl, tale you along green lanes and tracls that aren’t accessible to ordinary cars, visiting the sites of the old…

AS JOHN CHURTON Collins is often quoted: ‘In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends.’ And so it came to pass. My Range Rover Classic was pressed into service for the summer holidays in the Alps. But upon arrival the Ranger disgraced itself by spewing brake fluid. This soon rendered the old thing undrivable and stuck up the side of a mountain. Disaster and sense-of-humour failure from my better half. Fortunately, all my classic cars are insured with Hagerty, which offers full breakdown recovery. I called the emergency number and explained my predicament. The operator asked if we were safe and where the car was located. I explained that it should go to a garage that understands old Range Rovers – Hansueli Brand’s Land Rover Ledi…

A CENTURY AGO, the first thirst-quenching, satisfying swig was enjoyed from what would rapidly become the most universally recognised item of product packaging the world has seen – the 6.loz Coca-Cola ‘contour’ bottle. Raymond Loewy, the famed industrial designer often referred to as the father of modern design, was retained by Coca-Cola in the 1940s to apply his flair to its vending machines. This led to the misconception that he had also designed its distinctive bottle. The bottle, in fact, preceded Loewy’s involvement by three decades, and he was vocal in his praise for its timeless design, proclaiming that ‘The Coke bottle is a masterpiece of scientific, functional planning. In simpler terms, I would describe the bottle as… the most perfect “fluid wrapper” of the day and one of the…

Hearing this hardback thump onto the Octane review desk was a little disconcerting: it’s not so much a brick, more a concrete breezeblock of a biography. Then we started reading… and were entranced. Moss offers his biographer the massive advantage that he kept detailed diaries and scrapbooks, which means that the minutiae of his daily life were always thoroughly recorded. It’s this insight into his personal life that is really fascinating. You realise how hard he pushed himself in his younger days, rarely seeming to go to bed before 2, 3 or 4am and then getting up for a business meeting (or a drive across Europe) just a few hours later. It’s also interesting to note how olen he suffered from ill health – as a result of this fast-paced…

When we met the owner of this Bizzarrini, Bruce Meyer, at Pebble Beach, he was over the moon to have received this book. And we can see why. Penned by Italian car arch-enthusiast (and, yes, Octane contributor) Richard Heseltine, it’s authoritative yet lively, and superbly illustrated with lots of period photos, not to mention a recent full studio shoot. The quality of reproduction is pretty good, too. If you like ‘Bizzas’, you’ll love this.…

Subtitled Dinky vs Corgi vs Matchbox, this softback by Octane’s automobilia columnist is written in Chapman’s usual breezy and witty style. Sadly, the light typeface and super-wide paragraphs don’t make for the easiest read, and some of the close-up pictures lack sharpness. Even so, there’s a huge amount to enjoy here, not least the ephemera associated with the brands – who now remembers the Matchbox annual? (‘Not very good’ is the author’s verdict.) Fun and good value.…

DAMON HILL LIMITED-EDITION SIGNED PRINTS In the month that Damon Hill has released his excellent pull-no-punches autobiography (see our review in Books), The Signature Store brings you a series of Damon Hill prints of his most memorable moments in Formula 1, hand-signed by the man himself. Each print measures 50 x 30cm and is available framed (UK only) or unframed, and each one comes with a certificate of authenticity. The prints include a close-up of Damon in the Williams FW18, on the grid at Melbourne, winning at Hockenheim on 1996, and at the start of the 1996 Monaco. Get ’em while you can. £149.95 each. www.thesignaturestore.co.uk FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT BULOVA WATCH There are plenty of links between cars and architect Frank Lloyd Wright, not least because he loved them (and…

£16,655,000 ($21,780,000) 1955 Jaguar D-type RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, USA 20 August £15,141,000 ($19,800,000) 1939 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Lungo Spider by Touring RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, USA 20 August £13,880,500 ($18,150,000) 1959 Ferrari 250GT California LWB Alloy Spider Gooding and Co, Pebble Beach, USA. 21 August £10,514,500 ($13,750,000) 1962 Shelby Cobra 260 RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, USA 20 August £10,324,500 ($13,500,000) 1960 Ferrari 250GT SWB Competizione Gooding and Co, Pebble Beach, USA. 21 August £9,169,500 ($11,990,000) 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza Roadster Gooding and Co, Pebble Beach, USA. 21 August £7,953,500 ($10,400,000) 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Roadster Gooding and Co, Pebble Beach, USA. 21 August £4,374,400 ($5,720,000) 1956 Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta Competizione Tour de France RM Sotheby’s, Monterey, USA 20 August £4,164,000 ($5,445,000) 1950 Ferrari 166MM Berlinetta Gooding and Co, Pebble…

RM Sotheby’s, $737,000 This 1967 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 is one of the best seen in years, but the sale was a contest between two bidders who refused to back off. Is it too early to say that the loser here was actually the winner? We’ll see… Russo and Steele, $435,000 The supercar that wasn’t has become the supercar that definitely is. Today the Jaguar XJ220 is the belle of the collector-car ball, and this 1993 example with still-fresh interior is a truly lovely car. Buy one, now. Gooding & Company, $10,400,000 This must be one of the finest Type 55 Bugatti Roadsters left, with 1932 Mille Miglia history, claimed original coachwork and matching numbers. Right place and right time equals right price.…

Anyone with more than a passing interest in the world of luxury watches will probably know that business isn’t at its best right now. Swiss watch exports have dropped significantly during the past 12 months, and particularly dramatically in the Far East where sales in key markets such as Hong Kong are down more than 30%. But there’s an upside in that there is no longer a great deal of room for mediocre products, meaning the makers of the not-so-good stuff are falling by the wayside and the established names are pulling out all the stops to ensure they retain interest with watches that are functional, good-looking, well-made and – importantly – decent value for money. Regardless of the ups and downs of the market, however, one thing seems certain:…

Luminox, the US-based maker of affordable but seriously tough timepieces, was first endorsed by the Navy SEALs more than 20 years ago, when it was commissioned to supply watches to the elite force founded in 1962 to operate in all manner of environments – hence ‘SEAL’ for sea, air and land. Now the brand has partnered with retired Navy SEALs to create the so-called Luminox Special Operations Challenge, which offers civilians the chance to embark on a day’s SEAL training. The first events took place in Italy and Switzerland this summer and were well attended, though Chrono managed to forget its PE kit… Naturally, a Special Operations Challenge watch series marks the occasion. It comprises the 44mm polycarbonate-cased 3050 model and the 45mm blackened-steel 4220. Each is supplied with two…

New York-based design studio Calm The Ham (it’s an Irish exhortation to calm down, apparently) has been busy producing a series of exquisite illustrations of iconic watches, each of which is drawn by hand before being converted to a digital image and then printed as a lithograph. Individual watches are available as 10x8in prints – such as the Patek Philippe Ref 2499, Tag Heuer Carrera CH 80 and the A Lange & Söhne Lange 1, shown left – and there’s also an 18x24in poster of the whole range. Prints are pressed on 100lb archival recycled thick stock paper, using high quality soy-based inks, and are priced at just $32 for a 10x8 print and $47 for the poster. You can specify white or black frames, too, at extra cost. The…

 BELL & ROSS has primarily become known as a maker of aviation-inspired watches since the introduction in 2005 of its instantly recognisable BR-01 Instrument, an horological behemoth measuring 46mm square, which was intended to look as if it had been ripped from the cockpit of a military aircraft. ‘I wanted to produce something that would hold its own among established automotive designers’ The BR range has since become a signature of the brand and numerous variations on the theme have emerged, ranging from chronographs that follow the original ‘tool watch’ aesthetic to tourbillon versions, slim dress models and scaled-down, gem-set women’s pieces. Among the more interesting takes on the BR theme, however, are the automotive-inspired designs that have flowed from the pen of the brand’s designer, Bruno Belamich, who launched…

 THE ZODIAC BRAND will likely be known to fans of vintage dive watches thanks to the fame of its original Sea Wolf of 1953, a model that can claim to be one of the very first professional scuba designs. Its close rival, the Blancpain 50 Fathoms, was launched at the same time, both watches appearing a year ahead of the Rolex Submariner. ‘Zodiac’s modern revivals are so good that there’s little point in buying vintage’ The Sea Wolf put Zodiac on the map but the firm was already long established, having been set up in the Jura valley town of Le Locle during the 1860s by a watchmaker called Ariste Calame. He handed it over to his son, Louis-Ariste, in 1900. Together with his wife and brother-in-law, Calame Junior turned…

GIJS VAN LINNIP Dutch racer Van Lennep piloted John Simister around Circuit de la Sarthe, recalling his 1974 race there in the car that adorns the cover. But there’s more to Gijs than that, not least two victories at Le Mans and one on the Targa Florio, so we asked Martin van der Zeeuw to interview him, too. Turn to pages 62-80 . BOAT PIOPLI French journalist and photographer pairing Gérald Guétat and Henri Thibault have contributed to these pages before, with a Ferrari raceboat and a pair of Maseratis for road and water. Now they’re back, this time to celebrate BMW’s centenary with a 328 roadster and a similarly powered raceboat. For the full story, turn to pages 120-126. MCLARIN CARS …or rather, the cars driven by…

£5.2-million CMC business given to its employees The world-renowned restoration and Jaguar specialist Classic Motor Cars (CMC) ol Bridgnorth, Shropshire, has been given to its staff by the company’s owner. Peter Neumark, who has owned the company since its inception in 1993, said: ‘I’m nearer 70 than 60, and Nick Goldthorp, who lounded this great business with me and has been largely responsible lor where we are today, is now approaching retirement age, so we lelt we had a duty to oversee a passing ol responsibility. Who better than the worklorce themselves?’ CMC, which turned over £5.2 million last year, is now an Employee Ownership Trust, set up lor the benefit ol the 60 staff. More on www.classic-motor-cars.co.uk. Race mechanic training at Donington Park A new MIA School ol Race…

ONE OF THE FOREMOST British women racing drivers of the 1950s, Jean Salmon has died aged 89. As Jean Bloxam, she made her debut in her Aston Martin DB2 in the Ladies’ Race at Goodwood’s 1955 Whit Monday Meeting. Despite opposition such as Pat Moss, Nancy Mitchell and Patsy Burt, she lnished third; a victory and podium places soon followed. For 1956 she raced a DB2, catching the eye of Aston team manager John Wyer when she retired from the lead at Silverstone. While the engine was being rebuilt by Aston, Jean raced an MGA, Elva-Climax and Lotus-MG, in the latter taking a win and fastest lap in Ladies’ Races at Goodwood. A works-prepared MGA drive in the 1957 Nürburgring 1000Km with Patsy Burt followed but the car retired. Back…

ITALIAN RACING RED was the dominant colour at this year’s Salon Privé. Vehicles from Italy not only nabbed four of the five open automotive classes in the Chubb Insurance Concours, they captured the bulk of the special awards, as well as a top motorcycle prize. Throw in the ‘Great V12 Ferraris’ class and ‘50 Years of the Lamborghini Miura’, plus the new model debuts and subsequent Pirelli supercar exhibition, and you could hardly sneeze without defiling something rare and exotic. Heading the concours onslaught were a pair of 1950s thoroughbreds from the definitive marques of the era. Best in Show went to the ex-Cuban GP, ex-Gendebien 1956 Ferrari 500 Testa Rossa of Bruce Lavachek and David Cottingham, also taking first place in Class E: Racing Improves the Breed. Runner-up in…

‘THIS BROUGH SUPERIOR HAS SORT OF TAKEN OVER MY LIFE IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS. IT’S LIKE A DEMON’ When I was a kid at college, cigarettes didn’t interest me. I never smoked cigarettes or a cigar. But I did smoke a pipe. Well, it wasn’t actually smoking the pipe that I liked, it was all the paraphernalia: the special pipe lighter, the pipe cleaners, the little tamper; all the little doo-dahs that came with having a pipe. I’m one of those people who enjoys being sort of ruled by my possessions, in the sense that I like that they literally overwhelm me, and I have to constantly read manuals and do things. I don’t see my cars and bikes as casual conveyances to get me from Point A to…

‘THERE’S NOT MUCH POINT IN COLLECTING SOMETHING IF NO-ONE KNOWS WHAT IT IS’ It’s peculiar how certain motor cars take some percolation to become appreciated. As in other collecting arenas, there are the Big Five… and the rest. The Big Five is Ferrari, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. Sure there’s Bugatti, pre-war Alfa Romeo, Jaguar and others, but they don’t have collectors (speculators?) rushing at them with wads of cash. Aston Martin built 1063 DB5s and there was a Vantage engine option, but a DB5 is a DB5 and they all seem to be painted in Silver Birch. In the same way, last month’s cover Gullwing was the supercar of its day but 1400 identical examples were produced. It seems collectors all go for the cars they feel they…

MY ’HEALEY STARTED to play up a week before a planned road trip for Octane’s Great Escapes travel supplement. The engine would die when the car stopped, and the starter would take a while to bring it back to life. I dashed up to JME Healeys, where Carl fitted a highltorque starter and tuned the SU carbs. His verdict? They both needed a rebuild, but adjusting the setlup would do for our trip. The story for Great Escapes was to drive the country roads of Provence in two 1960s cars: my 1965 ’Healey and a 1960 Citroën 2CV loaned by auto designer Martin Smith. However, there was the little matter of tackling 650 miles of autoroute first. To make the drive down 21st Century roads less stressful, I signed up…

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE, they say, in which case I am something of a sinner. I have only myself to blame: the Baur went into Automo in Berkshire for a repaint but the job has escalated almost into a full restoration. Sourcing the necessary parts has resulted in the car being stuck in limbo for most of the last two months. First major hurdle was the front suspension struts, which arrived from BMW looking terrific – but the new Bilstein shocks would not fit inside the struts, only going about a third of the way in. Apparently, the welding process now used is not the same as the original and it left very little room for certain dampers to fit. Eventually we decided to refurbish the original struts, after which…

TERRIBLE NEWS, and this time I’m not referring to an oil leak or electrical fault with my SM. On 30 August, Citroën expert Andrew Brodie died suddenly of heart failure, leaving family, friends and countless owners of old cars and aeroplanes shocked and bereft. Regular readers will know that Andrew encouraged, cajoled and supported me during the full restoration of my Citroën SM, spending many long days working alongside me in my home garage. Various catchphrases spring to mind. ‘Lillywhite, you tosserl’ and, since April, ‘I’m 70 you knowl’ (usually uttered while crawling out from under the bonnet) were the most common – but the humour did nothing to hide Andrew’s intelligence and know-how. Having supposedly retired after selling his engineering business some years ago, Andrew had since been travelling…

There’s a lot of death in this book. Not just the death of Damon’s father, Graham, in a light aircral accident in 1975 or the fatal crash of rival and (later) team-mate Ayrton Senna in 1994, but many others beside. The title references the phrase ‘Watching the wheels of life’ and it’s a clue to the particularly introspective nature of this autobiography. Hill insisted on writing the book himself, rather than employing a ghost-writer. ‘It wouldn’t be my book if anyone else had done it,’ he states simply, and there is indeed a sense of Hill undergoing a kind of catharsis in the process. He freely admits that, as he entered his 40s, he struggled to find meaning. ‘I let my hair grow and became a bit of a hippy……

‘Next to the Cosmo Sport, cars like the MGB and Volvo 1800S coupé seemed so yesterdayl’ Cranswick has a point. This pricey if fascinating book is devoted to the 45 years from 1967 during which Mazda developed one of the most charismatic engines never to reciprocate a piston. Early cars such as the R100 fascinate, as does 1972’s Savanna Sports Wagon – the world’s only rotary estate. So it’s not all (though mostly) RX-7s and RX-8s. As for the 2002 Cosmo 21 show car, don’t ask……

When it came out 21 years ago, this book polarised opinion. It was one of the first to start detailing significant cars on a chassis-by-chassis basis, and whether you loved or hated it could depend on whether you owned one of those cars, and what John Starkey said about itl The point is that it marked a new maturity in the classic car market and, despite all the books about hot 911s that have appeared since, it is still a ‘must have’ for the serious collector. When new, it cost an equally serious £40, despite running to only 160 pages and being relatively small-format – but the first print run quickly sold out and it subsequently went through several further editions. You might expect that collectors would prefer the latest,…

3 October Bonhams, Philadelphia, USA 6-7 October RM Sotheby’s, Hershey, USA 6-8 October Vicari, Biloxi, USA 6-8 October Mecum, Chicago, USA 7 October Bonhams, Knokke-Heist Belgium 8 October Coys, Paris, France 8 October Coys, Ascot, UK 9 October Artcurial Château-sur-Epte, France 11-12 October H&H, Duxford, UK 13-15 October Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas, USA 14-15 October Branson Auction Branson, USA 15 October Anglia Car Auctions King’s Lynn, UK 15 October Silverstone Auctions Silverstone, UK 16 October Bonhams, Stafford, UK 22 October Richard Edmonds Allington, UK 22 October Theodore Bruce Melbourne, Australia 22 October Mathewsons Thornton-le-Dale, UK 25 October Barons, Esher, UK 28 October SWVA, Poole, UK 28-30 October Collector Car Productions Mississauga, Canada 29 October Coys, London, UK 30 October Artcurial, Paris, France 2-5 November Mecum, Dallas, USA 4 November Bonhams, London,…

PRICES Experts tipped the SZ as one to stick away while it appreciated in value – but the meteoric price rises never materialised. Good examples hovered around £20-30k for years, but low-mileage cars now entering the market are commanding upwards of £60,000. Prices start from around £25,000 for high-mileage, well-used cars (probably needing some tlc), to around £45,000 for a good car in top mechanical condition. Despite the fact only 1036 SZs were built, there’s a reasonably healthy supply of sub-30,000-mile examples, so you can really afford to be picky. LOOK OUT FOR… The SZ’s advanced thermosetting methacrylic resin body panels are very resilient and holding up well after 25 years or so. Some cars experience paint issues, especially if kept outside, and most will have been repainted at least…

As you’ll read later in this issue, the 138-year-old firm of Wempe is both a highly respected manufacture and a retailer of timepieces from the world’s most famous brands. It has also had a long and mutually rewarding relationship with British horology firm Sinclair Harding, the Yorkshire-based company that produces exquisite clocks for discerning collectors. No surprise, then, that when it was looking for a centrepiece for its New York store on Fifth Avenue, it turned to Sinclair Harding’s proprietor Bob Bray, commissioning an example of the firm’s H1 model (pictured right), which is due to be completed in October. The H1 is Sinclair Harding’s tribute to the great 18th-century horologist John Harrison, who famously devised a marine chronometer that revolutionised navigation at sea by making possible the accurate measurement…

There’s a new event in town to kick off the 2017 season: Historic Motorsport International, which will take place on 23-26 February alongside the existing London Classic Car Show at the ExCel exhibition centre. The show will provide a new platlorm lor engineering and preparation experts, event organisers, promoters and suppliers. There are expected to be up to 100 competition cars lor sale lrom specialist dealers, alongside motor sport clubs and governing bodies. Alongside these will be the inaugural Historic Motorsport Conlerence, examining a range ol current hot topics. For more on both shows, visit www.thelondonclassiccarshow.co.uk.…

HERE’S YOUR CHANCE to vote for your 2016 Car of the Year frol the shortlisted nolinees below, for this year’s International Historic Motoring Awards. The awards take place on the evening of 17 Novelber at The Guildhall, London – a new, roolier, lore characterful venue for 2016. There are still tables available, with individual places priced at £210 per head (or £1850 per table of ten), to include a four-course leal. Previous winners of the Car of the Year include the Fiat S76 ‘Beast of Turin’, the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe CSX2287, the Bugatti 57SC Aerolithe recreation and the falous Birkin Bentley. Voting for the 2016 IHMA Car of the Year lust be sublitted by 1 Novelber online at www.historiclotoringawards.col. Alfa Romeo SZ Zagato Unique 1960 prototype, half preserved exactly…

RALLY LEGEND PADDY HOPKIRK was guest of honour at the launch of this November’s HERO RAC Rally of the Tests. Hopkirk showed guests around his own car, a replica of the Mini-Cooper in which he won the 1964 Monte (see Man & Machine, left), and was handed the orginal trophy from the Rally of the Tests, which dates back to 1951. ‘My name should be on there somewhere,’ he quipped. The rally, now with backing from the Royal Automobile Club itself, takes place on 3-6 November, and the entry list is already full. Crews leave Bournemouth on the Thursday evening and head via Bristol and the Welsh borders to finish in Chester on the Sunday afternoon. In honour of the original event, there will be 31 special tests (including one…

‘I DIDN’T REALLY WANT TO RACE A GT CAR AFTER TIME IN PROTOTYPES, BUT IT WAS THE ONLY WORKS SEAT GOING’ The death of a friend is never an easy thing to stomach, but I lost two in August. Jack Sears was very much a father figure to motor sport in the UK and beyond. He lived up to his ‘Gentleman Jack’ moniker, too. Quite aside from being an outstanding driver, one who I honestly believe was much better than most people recognised during his lifetime, he was also a former president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club. In this role, he did a lot to maintain Silverstone’s relevance as a viable host for a Grand Prix. I am going to miss him. To lose Chris Amon in the same…

1. Hemisfear is the culmination of a 16-year dream. In 1990, during my senior year at the Art Center College of Design, we were asked by Chrysler to design a vehicle for a niche market. My 1:l scale model was featured in Hot Rod magazine and became the inspiration for the Plymouth Prowler. Finally in 2006 two full-size Hemisfears were unveiled. In all, we built five of them. 2. I love Old School metal shaping machines from the early 1930s and 1940s. This one is an Eckold out of a Saab airplane factory. Machines like this aren’t made anymore and they’re highly coveted. 3. When I was seven years old, my father worked with Alex Tremulus, who designed the Tucker. I saw his stuff and I was just inspired. When…

DURING THE 1970s Martini was, as its advertisinl proclaimed, ‘The Most Beautiful Drink in the World’. The llamorous and ealerly anticipated ‘Where will they take us next?’ cinema commercials transported viewers to a world in which the beautiful people cavorted across Florida’s swamps in airboats, flew to remote beaches in his-and-her seaplanes, or soared to fairy-tale castles in hot-air balloons; while on the world’s racinl circuits Porsche, Brabham and Lancia carried the Martini name to victory after victory. The marriale of motor racinl and Martini resulted in possibly the most aesthetically satisfyinl combination of car and commerce in the sport’s history. The Martini ‘ball and bar’ lolo, introduced in 1929, was already becominl an increasinlly familiar presence on liant billboards at motor circuits even before 1968, when it made its…

These are the cars – and motorbikes – run by the magazine’s staff and contributors 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 1988 Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC 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 1961 Morris Minor Convertible 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…

WHILE IT’S FAIRLY well patinated, my ’56 Chevy truck’s hardly a ‘beater’ – it’s more of a good, honest, hard-workin’ hauler. It’s pretty straight and original, and, being ex-California, has remarkably little rust, so further cosmetic work is way down on my list of priorities right now. However, even dog-earned old workhorses need a bit of TLC now and again, and this year’s tasks have included sorting out both the electrics and the leaky carburettor. Electrics first. I took Ol’ Green to Hertfordshire-based Down To Earth custom and classic auto wiring (07887 554083) for a full rewire to factory spec. The existing loom was the usual mix of hardened and split original wires spliced with anything that previous owners could find to keep the truck running. The speaker wire to…

 EMBROIDERY, OF THE written kind, is an essential skill for every good hack, but the story of how correspondent and racing driver Tommy Wisdom met his wife takes some beating. Tommy was sailing off the south coast one day with his brother and a friend, when their dinghy overturned. The pal drowned but the brothers were rescued and taken ashore, and Tommy recovered on the nearest sofa that could be found. It was in the home of Elsie Swain and, as he dried out, love blossomed. Elsie quickly dispensed with her current husband, and married Tommy in 1930. ‘TOMMY WAS OFTEN ASKED TO TAKE THE WHEEL – PARTLY BECAUSE A GLOWING YARN WAS BOUND TO APPEAR AFTERWARDS IN THE DAILY HERALD’ Thrown together by fate (okay, it’s corny, but stick…

Readers of this magazine will be very familiar with Goddard’s car photography; what is less well known is that he had a previous career as a rock music photographer, shooting for some of the biggest names in the business. This (naturally) picture-heavy book is a look back at some of his more memorable moments in both fields. It would have benefited from a proper edit (it’s Pete Townshend, not Townsend…) but the pics are great, and the eccentricities of rock music divas are always amusing.…

While it’s expensive for a slim hardback running to just over 100 pages, if you have a Porsche Carrera four-cam the cost of this book is unlikely to trouble you – and it could save you an awful lot more expense. The author has been repairing and rebuilding these rare engines for more than 30 years and, as a trained foundry engineer, he was especially well placed to get unavailable parts re-cast. Very much a hands-on guide, it’s nicely produced and has plenty of ‘workbench’ photos.…

Even we Brits have heard of Pabst beer, so it’s curious that there’s no mention of Milwaukee racing driver Augie’s connection with the family business until near the end of this book. Perhaps the intention was to emphasise that Augie Pabst made his own way without relying on his name – but, since he eventually became a director of the brewery, albeit late in life, it seems a strange omission. In fact, there’s not much on Pabst’s back-story at all. The book kicks off with him starting up a foreign automobile import business – basically a tiny three-car showroom in a shared garage – and then, aged 21, entering his first races in a Triumph TR3. He quickly rose through the ranks, moving up to an AC Ace and a…

In 1989 an American toy enthusiast brought out a book called The Little Ones Sell the Big Ones. Said to have been adapted from a 1950s advertising slogan used in the motor trade, the expression summed up the theory behind a popular marketing ploy of the era: entice members of the public (or ‘prospects’) into the showroom by giving them, or their children, a free model of one of the cars on display and you might have a better chance of securing a sale. Promotional toys of this kind had been around pre-war but the idea really took off in the late ’40s when a man called West Gallogly set up AMT (Aluminum Toy Models) to make models of Fords to demonstrate the range of colours available on the real…

A recent experience confirmed that the funfair is among the many things that were better in the old days, candy floss and gentle rides having been replaced by energy drinks illegal in several parts of the world and awful, strobe-lit contraptions apparently designed to fractionate human blood. In those good old days, if you were fortunate the local funfair would boast a handful of miniature cars made by brothers Frank and Thomas Ihle, who also built racing versions of the BMW Dixi. Their Schottenring cars (the name was borrowed from the German circuit) were powered by a Hirth single-cylinder two-stroke engine and designed to look like the roadgoing machines of the day. The mini-Studebaker pictured here would have been encircled by a steel bumper when new (eight-year-olds are notoriously poor…

Harry Winston’s high-concept, low-volume watches are never afraid to be different – and its latest releases don’t buck the trend. Take, for example, the colossal Histoire de Tourbillon 7 (above right), this year’s chapter in a long-running series of pieces that do unpredictable things with that most reassuringly predictable of mechanisms, the tourbillon. The headline feature in its 50.9mm solid white gold case is its two tourbillons, both of which spin on two axes. A tourbillon regulates timekeeping by countering gravity, and the benefit of two – so goes the theory – is that they can be paired (in this case via a spherical differential) to deliver an average rate that’s more accurate than if you were to make do with just the one. Alongside those is a tilted dial,…