Classic Cars June 2017

Welcome Cylinder-count preferences aside, aren’t we all eternally motivated by the pursuit of purist ideals? When I was a kid I looked forward to a life without limits, particularly when it came to cars. Not for me the modest family saloons I saw clogging up the nation’s roads with their apologetically small four-cylinder engines and functional styling. No, when I grew up I would speed everywhere at the wheel of a powerful, multi-cylindered GT. And then adolescence spat me out into a world of graduate salaries, tax, living costs, more tax, petrol prices and car insurance. Automotive idealism crushed beneath the weight of grown-up compromise. For my friends addicted to the idea of new or ‘previously enjoyed’ modern metal, the compromise persisted, but my classic preferences soon brought a succession…

When I was a kid I looked forward to a life without limits, particularly when it came to cars. Not for me the modest family saloons I saw clogging up the nation’s roads with their apologetically small four-cylinder engines and functional styling. No, when I grew up I would speed everywhere at the wheel of a powerful, multi-cylindered GT. And then adolescence spat me out into a world of graduate salaries, tax, living costs, more tax, petrol prices and car insurance. Automotive idealism crushed beneath the weight of grown-up compromise. For my friends addicted to the idea of new or ‘previously enjoyed’ modern metal, the compromise persisted, but my classic preferences soon brought a succession of six- and eight-cylinder indulgences. So far, the ultimate indulgence of 12 cylinders has eluded the Bell…

‘The Alfa was on my wishlist even before I saw The Graduate – I’ve always wondered whether they’d be any good to drive Perhaps the most unusual thing about Classic Cars reader Jerry Birkbeck’s list of dream cars is that there isn’t an MG on it. The Abingdon marque has featured so strongly in his life that he hasn’t been without one since the Seventies, and yet as we meet on a surprisingly sunny day in rural Norfolk with a gleaming Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider standing by for him to drive, it’s clear that he wants to get out of his usual comfort zone. ‘I remember watching The Graduate in the late Sixties,’ Jerry explains. ‘I went to California last year, to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, and thought that…

[ The List ] Your dream drive made real ‘Cars like this are designed to delight’ MG fanatic Jerry Birkbeck fancied getting out of his Abingdonbuilt comfort zone, so we put him in an Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider ‘just like Dustin Hoffman’s’ for the day Words SAM DAWSON Photography SI GRAY ‘The Alfa was on my wishlist even before I saw The Graduate – I’ve always wondered whether they’d be any good to drive Perhaps the most unusual thing about Classic Cars reader Jerry Birkbeck’s list of dream cars is that there isn’t an MG on it. The Abingdon marque has featured so strongly in his life that he hasn’t been without one since the Seventies, and yet as we meet on a surprisingly sunny day…

JERRY’S DREAM DRIVE LIST Jaguar XK120 ‘Surely the purest, most beautiful of all British sports cars. I’d want to see if it’s as good to drive as it is to look at.’ Citroën DS Décapotable ‘Such elegance, and unusual engineering. A luxury car years ahead of its time.’ Lotus Elan S2 ‘People have called the Lotus Elan the ›nest-handling car ever made. I’d like to ›nd out if they’re right.’ Jaguar E-type Series 1 3.8 roadster ‘Because if you’re going to drive an E-type, it has to be the purest, most original, most beautiful version.’ Bugatti Type 35 ‘Probably the last time you could drive a Grand Prix car on the road, and exquisitely engineered too.’ BMW 328 ‘It was the ›rst modern sports car as we’d recognise it today.’…

Jaguar XK120 ‘Surely the purest, most beautiful of all British sports cars. I’d want to see if it’s as good to drive as it is to look at.’ Citroën DS Décapotable ‘Such elegance, and unusual engineering. A luxury car years ahead of its time.’ Lotus Elan S2 ‘People have called the Lotus Elan the ›nest-handling car ever made. I’d like to ›nd out if they’re right.’ Jaguar E-type Series 1 3.8 roadster ‘Because if you’re going to drive an E-type, it has to be the purest, most original, most beautiful version.’ Bugatti Type 35 ‘Probably the last time you could drive a Grand Prix car on the road, and exquisitely engineered too.’ BMW 328 ‘It was the ›rst modern sports car as we’d recognise it today.’ Sunbeam-Talbot Alpine ‘I’ve always driven MGs, but this was a glamorous competitor – especially in the Fifties…