Classic Cars March 2022

Adeal done in a hotel bedroom by a cigar-chomping Swiss-American to poach the best motor sport brains from Ford Europe and help BMW steal touring car victory. Sounds like the start of a blockbuster film. It certainly should be, because as BMW motor sport boss Jochen Neerpasch reveals in his interview on page 62, the simultaneous birth of the works 3.0CSL and BMW’s Motorsport division in 1972 would see the underdog team take on the might of Ford in Europe and then Porsche in America. Spoiler alert – BMW Motorsport wouldn’t be the underdog for long, especially once the CSL gained its, er, spoilers, along with the sobriquet ‘Batmobile’. At a stroke, BMW’s elegant E9 coupé had mutated from swift and refined tourer to bad boy of the autobahns, though…

Welcome When motor sport achievement was almost essential for performance car credibility, BMW made it count Adeal done in a hotel bedroom by a cigar-chomping Swiss-American to poach the best motor sport brains from Ford Europe and help BMW steal touring car victory. Sounds like the start of a blockbuster film. It certainly should be, because as BMW motor sport boss Jochen Neerpasch reveals in his interview on page 62, the simultaneous birth of the works 3.0CSL and BMW’s Motorsport division in 1972 would see the underdog team take on the might of Ford in Europe and then Porsche in America. Spoiler alert – BMW Motorsport wouldn’t be the underdog for long, especially once the CSL gained its, er, spoilers, along with the sobriquet ‘Batmobile’. At a stroke, BMW’s elegant…

Your dream drive made real Some people know exactly what they want; take Classic Cars reader Ajmal Mahmood, who wrote in supplying a dream drive List that included a very specific Porsche 911. His request read, ‘Porsche 911 Targa (early, glass screen, fuel-injected model).’ That specificity had me playing the car-sourcing equivalent of Tinder for two months, via both the classifieds and my Porsche contacts. Ah, a pre-impact Porsche 911, dang, it’s a carburetted T – swipe left; Porsche 911 Targa, ’75 impact bumper – swipe left; 1972 Porsche 911E Targa, glass window; it’s perfect, but the dealer is not interested. Damn, swipe left, again. Karma though, always rewards the tenacious, and 1973 911E Targa owner Stuart Macleod has thankfully provided us with our swipe-right moment. As I arrive outside his home,…

[The List] Porsche 911E Targa ‘I love how it puts power down – it’s so smooth and refined’ Porsche and carburettor fan Ajmal Mahmood has always lusted after an early 911. Today we let him loose in a pre-impact bumper, fuel-injected Targa Words ROSS ALKUREISHI Photography TONY BAKER Your dream drive made real Some people know exactly what they want; take Classic Cars reader Ajmal Mahmood, who wrote in supplying a dream drive List that included a very specific Porsche 911. His request read, ‘Porsche 911 Targa (early, glass screen, fuel-injected model).’ That specificity had me playing the car-sourcing equivalent of Tinder for two months, via both the classifieds and my Porsche contacts. Ah, a pre-impact Porsche 911, dang, it’s a carburetted T – swipe left; Porsche 911 Targa, ’75…

AJMAL’S DREAM DRIVE LIST Jaguar E-type ‘Dad worked at Jaguar cars in the Eighties, and I was awestruck when I saw an S1 in the car park there when I was 12’ Porsche 911 Targa (early, glass screen, FI model) ‘I’ve always loved the compact design and the styling but, other than a toy 911 when I was a child, I’ve never been near one’ Mercedes-Benz 300SL ‘Gullwing or Roadster. Amazing looking things – I wonder if the drive lives up to the looks?’ McLaren F1 ‘Iconic, legendary!’ Lamborghini Countach ‘Is it as ridiculous to drive as they say? Had a poster of one on the wall back in the day.’ Ferrari 250GT California Spider ‘Simply because I love the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and it looked and sounded…

Jaguar E-type ‘Dad worked at Jaguar cars in the Eighties, and I was awestruck when I saw an S1 in the car park there when I was 12’ Porsche 911 Targa (early, glass screen, FI model) ‘I’ve always loved the compact design and the styling but, other than a toy 911 when I was a child, I’ve never been near one’ Mercedes-Benz 300SL ‘Gullwing or Roadster. Amazing looking things – I wonder if the drive lives up to the looks?’ McLaren F1 ‘Iconic, legendary!’ Lamborghini Countach ‘Is it as ridiculous to drive as they say? Had a poster of one on the wall back in the day.’ Ferrari 250GT California Spider ‘Simply because I love the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and it looked and sounded amazing’ Mini Cooper S ‘I love small cars that handle well, and nothing beats this’ Lotus Esprit S1 ‘James…