Classic Cars August 2017

Welcome Phil reminisces about a memorable conversation with the late Tom Tjaarda, who defied design conventions gracefully The news that our columnist Tom Tjaarda had died stung. It still does. Like everyone who met him, I was as charmed by his warm, easy-going manner as by his talents as a designer. Straight from university Tom was at the epicentre of Italian car design’s most fertile period, working for some of his greatest car design heroes before becoming one himself. I loved to listen to his stories about the cars he worked on for Ghia, Pininfarina and the rest, and to hear his opinions on rival designers, assorted tyrannical company bosses and the cars that they created. It was one such treasured discussion, at the Villa d’Este concours in 2012, that…

The news that our columnist Tom Tjaarda had died stung. It still does. Like everyone who met him, I was as charmed by his warm, easy-going manner as by his talents as a designer. Straight from university Tom was at the epicentre of Italian car design’s most fertile period, working for some of his greatest car design heroes before becoming one himself. I loved to listen to his stories about the cars he worked on for Ghia, Pininfarina and the rest, and to hear his opinions on rival designers, assorted tyrannical company bosses and the cars that they created. It was one such treasured discussion, at the Villa d’Este concours in 2012, that inspired me to later ask Tom to join us as a columnist. He caught me admiring the Lancia…

[ The List ] Your dream drive made real ‘It’s like nothing else on Earth!’ Andy Morton had two dream cars when he was young. He’s owned one – A Porsche 928 – and was disappointed. Will the other, Aston Martin’s high-tech Lagonda, live up to 40 years of expectation? Words SAM DAWSON Photography NEIL FRASER ‘The last time I saw one its driver was trying to turn it around in a cul-de-sac. It took him ages’ When I first encounter Classic Cars reader Andy Morton, he’s strolling across the gravel driveway behind Aston Martin specialist Stratton Motor Company’s Norfolk premises clutching a small white hardback book. It’s his cherished 1976/1977 copy of The Observer’s Book of Cars. ‘It all started here!’ he exclaims, gesturing with…

‘The last time I saw one its driver was trying to turn it around in a cul-de-sac. It took him ages’ When I first encounter Classic Cars reader Andy Morton, he’s strolling across the gravel driveway behind Aston Martin specialist Stratton Motor Company’s Norfolk premises clutching a small white hardback book. It’s his cherished 1976/1977 copy of The Observer’s Book of Cars. ‘It all started here!’ he exclaims, gesturing with it. ‘This was the first car book I ever owned, and I used to use it to decide which cars I wanted to own in the future. My favourites were the Porsche 928, which I’ve owned; the Panther Six, which never made it into production; and the Aston Martin Lagonda, which I’ve never been able to afford. Now you’ve arranged for me…

LANCIA Y10 TURBO ‘My first car, not common back then and rarer than a Ferrari Daytona today. An essay in turbo-lagged all-or-nothing performance, plus no garage I took it to had ever seen one before so getting it repaired was tricky. When we got it on the ramps I realised the exhaust pipe was made at least in part of old Fanta cans.’ JAGUAR XJ6 SERIES 3 ‘My first Jaguar, bought when I was 26. I wasn’t earning much at the time so it wasn’t the best, but when I first parked it on my Dad’s drive his response began with an F! He had a Cortina at the time.’ PORSCHE 928 ‘It was another one of those childhood dream cars inspired by that Observer’s book. An uncle had one, and he’d just done a…

ANDY MORTON’S CAR CV Morton’s tastes are divided between the large and luxurious and the small and Italian. LANCIA Y10 TURBO ‘My first car, not common back then and rarer than a Ferrari Daytona today. An essay in turbo-lagged all-or-nothing performance, plus no garage I took it to had ever seen one before so getting it repaired was tricky. When we got it on the ramps I realised the exhaust pipe was made at least in part of old Fanta cans.’ JAGUAR XJ6 SERIES 3 ‘My first Jaguar, bought when I was 26. I wasn’t earning much at the time so it wasn’t the best, but when I first parked it on my Dad’s drive his response began with an F! He had a Cortina at the time.’ PORSCHE 928…