Classic Cars June 2022

Motoring enthusiasts unable to get to Earls Court in October 1962 for the London Motor Show merely had to pop along to their local cinema to catch the highlights brought to them by Pathé News. A bit more effort required than reaching for your smartphone these days, but surely a more enriching experience. Following a brief sequence on the previous year’s Jaguar E-type, we cut to a lipstick red Lotus Elan, loaded with three cheerful-looking young ladies and rotating on a turntable. In between innuendo-laden quips, our commentator finds space to talk about the car, ‘Much smaller, but very much in the high-performance class, the Lotus Elan is built on the foundation of racing success and with refinements every owner will appreciate.’ When the cameraman manages to tear his lens…

Photos: JONNY FLEETWOOD ‘I’d use it solely on long journeys that match its talents’ Even here the Continental R stands out.’ We’re walking around Ranmore Service and Engineering Ltd but Peter Andrews keeps coming back to the 1996 coupé. Its decadent Arnage T descendent can’t hold his attention for long. Nor can the Rolls-Royce Corniche and Bentley S2 Continental that form a family tree of the two-door tourer. Peter placed the modern classic in his perfect ten for its luxury and remarkably low values. Today he’ll slide behind the wheel to discover if it has the makings of a future icon – and whether the Bentley can keep its spot in his dream garage. ‘I chose the Continental R as part of a collection, just like the rest of my…

VALUE 2016 £12,750 VALUE NOW £13k Itipped the perpendicular R-R Silver Spirit as a good buy last year, but I highlight it again because even the later Nineties cars are now looking compelling value. At Manor Park Classics’ sale in March a very smart ’91 Spirit II with 41,000 warranted miles, fully stamped history and a run of old MoTs going back to 1994 made just £13,000. Originally a Rolls factory demonstrator with a cloth-of-gold spec including heated electric memory seats and automatic ride control, this was a very strong value Spirit with the bonus of a recent full suspension overhaul and £6800 of bills with reputable R-R specialists. The Light Ocean Blue paint and blue piped magnolia hide made a perfect colour combo. An equivalent Shadow II with similar…

The resilience of the classic car market continues to amaze. Despite the distraction of horrific world events, Historics still managed to sell over 70% of a varied and interesting catalogue at its 12 March auction at Ascot. Not only that, but the event also saw an auction record for a Triumph TR5, confirmed by the TR Register’s Roger Ferris. The TR5 had been subject to a decade-long nut and bolt restoration that was completed in 2014 and produced bills for £40,000. The engine has been mildly tuned too. It has clearly been well looked after and is said to have not seen wet weather since completion. Because the car had recently been valued by the Register’s Andy Holyoak at over £50,000, it was perhaps a little surprising to see Historics’…

Barons Auctions is ending its 24-year run of holding classic car auctions at Sandown Park Racecourse in Surrey. All sales will now be staged in a live online format, based at Barons’ facility near Southampton. They will be held on the last Friday of each month, starting on 27 May. Auction Manager Tim Gascoigne told us, ‘We’ve been running the same model for almost 24 years, it’s time for us to move with the market. It’ll still be a live sale with an auctioneer selling lots via telephone and commission bids, and online bidding. Customers will be able to watch the live broadcast of the sale via our online bidding provider Easylive Auction. Conditions and commissions will remain the same. We’ll be offering our Premier entry package for free for…

Honda NSX K500’s Simon Kidston says, ‘It might be fast and surprisingly comfortable, with sublime handling finetuned by Ayrton Senna, but Honda’s NSX was long considered lacking in power, too clinical and clothed in nothing-special Japanese bodywork. But such were the standards set by Honda’s first supercar that Gordon Murray used it as a benchmark while developing the McLaren F1. Over the last few years, the market has woken up – small, sub-300bhp engine notwithstanding, the NSX is now a real collector’s item. One to watch.’ K500 index value versus 1994 baseline…