Classic Cars December 2017

Welcome It’s not always possible to live your life by the sentiments in song lyrics, but choosing the right car can help Whenever I find myself driving a Mercedes SL, the chorus to Joe Walsh’s Life’s Been Good flows around inside my head. Ignoring the fact that the song is a satirical play on the challenges of being a rock star, my brain hijacks that lyric and easy-going vibe because it crystalises the overwhelming sense of wellbeing that I absorb from the well-hewn cabin, confident surge of power and predictable dynamics. What’s remarkable is that for each generation of SL from the Seventies R107 onwards, life doesn’t have to have been exceptionally good for you to afford one now. SLK aside, these were all mightily expensive cars when new, and…

Whenever I find myself driving a Mercedes SL, the chorus to Joe Walsh’s Life’s Been Good flows around inside my head. Ignoring the fact that the song is a satirical play on the challenges of being a rock star, my brain hijacks that lyric and easy-going vibe because it crystalises the overwhelming sense of wellbeing that I absorb from the well-hewn cabin, confident surge of power and predictable dynamics. What’s remarkable is that for each generation of SL from the Seventies R107 onwards, life doesn’t have to have been exceptionally good for you to afford one now. SLK aside, these were all mightily expensive cars when new, and even the baby SL was no one’s idea of a bargain. Fortunately for us, their prioritisation of civilised and swift touring over…

[ The List ] Your dream drive made real ‘You feel like a movie star’ Darrin Alker loves how precisely his Lotus Esprit drives – so why on earth did he ask us to put him in a Ford Mustang for the day? Words: ROSS ALKUREISHI Photography: ALEX TAPLEY ‘I tried to make the turn to find very little response from the steering; it keeled like a barge hit side-on by a massive wave’ The Ford Mustang 289 we’ll be using today sits proudly outside Essex-based Affordable Classics. Proprietor Roger Chinery is busy showing me around his workshop, an eclectic shrine to all things Blue Oval, when another white car pulls up next to it and Classic Cars reader Darrin Alker steps out. His Pearlescent White…

‘I tried to make the turn to find very little response from the steering; it keeled like a barge hit side-on by a massive wave’ The Ford Mustang 289 we’ll be using today sits proudly outside Essex-based Affordable Classics. Proprietor Roger Chinery is busy showing me around his workshop, an eclectic shrine to all things Blue Oval, when another white car pulls up next to it and Classic Cars reader Darrin Alker steps out. His Pearlescent White Lotus Esprit Turbo is futuristic looking, hand built, turbocharged – everything the everyman, mass-produced Ford isn’t. Intrigued, I immediately ask him why the Mustang is on his List. ‘The Lotus has always been my dream car and I’m lucky enough to have one in my garage,’ he explains. ‘I always seem to end up…

DARRIN ALKER’S CAR CV Ex-navy man Darrin Alker’s car loyalties lie divided between East and West SUZUKI CS100 ‘My first car, which I bought because it looked different from all the Minis and Ford Escorts everyone had back then. The engine was almost mid-mounted, and got to 60mph – eventually. I learned a lot about mechanics on this car. I paid £850 for it in 1986 and sold it for £900 in 1990.’ NISSAN SILVIA TURBO ‘From an era when intercoolers weren’t fitted to road cars; put your foot down, count to three and woosh, away you go. I’ve owned it since 1989 and it was my daily until 2001. It’s still on the original engine and gearbox after 145,000 miles, although it was re-sprayed in 1999. It’s currently off…

SUZUKI CS100 ‘My first car, which I bought because it looked different from all the Minis and Ford Escorts everyone had back then. The engine was almost mid-mounted, and got to 60mph – eventually. I learned a lot about mechanics on this car. I paid £850 for it in 1986 and sold it for £900 in 1990.’ NISSAN SILVIA TURBO ‘From an era when intercoolers weren’t fitted to road cars; put your foot down, count to three and woosh, away you go. I’ve owned it since 1989 and it was my daily until 2001. It’s still on the original engine and gearbox after 145,000 miles, although it was re-sprayed in 1999. It’s currently off the road because of a failed wheel bearing, which has led to many other jobs…’ NISSAN 200SX S13 ‘Not many left…