Classic Cars September 2017

Easy access power and torque, wieldy handling, long-legged cruising ability, roomy and cosseting enough to deliver you to your hotel high up in the Swiss Alps or down on an Italian lakeshore in smooth, unruffled comfort – these are the defining characteristics of a true grand tourer. But there’s more to it than that. A well-engineered and powerful saloon fits the spec, but the best grand tourers also ooze rakish glamour that delivers the whole package in a stylish flourish, and from the Ford Capri 3.0S to Aston Martin V8 Vantage, the Seventies served up a rich choice of options. For a wide range of budgets these cars pampered their drivers with a decadence that was at odds with the harsh realities of a troubled decade. Irresponsible? Not really. Like glam…

Early morning, and Classic Cars reader Matthew Burrup fidgets nervously in the passenger seat of our modern commuter wagon. ‘You know, I’ve been seeing the number 666 everywhere in the build-up to this,’ he states, as we crawl through a nondescript industrial estate in Preston. The sky is a dull grey, doing its best to dampen our spirits. Then we turn the corner and there it sits outside Amari Supercars, dazzling like a supernova in all its special-order Yellow Skirt Hic glory – El Diablo. ‘The heavy throttle is like a safety feature to stop you burying yourself under the lorry in front’ ‘Wow, look at that!’ screams Matthew, practically exiting before we’ve fully stopped. ‘It’s a colour only a Lambo could pull off, I mean it’s not for a shrinking violet…

VOLKSWAGEN TYPE 2 (BAY WINDOW) CAMPER ‘Bought from a friend, who’d left it on his driveway to rot, for £600. Had the sills done, sprayed it Rover Cream and Black, fitted BRM wheels and a cream-and-black check interior. Upgraded 2.0-litre flat-four engine on twin Weber carburettors and a big Thunderbird exhaust meant everyone in my street hated me. Got married in it, family holidays, etc – perfect.’ ALFA ROMEO GTV V6 ‘I was looking for a VW Corrado or a Porsche 944, when my barber said I should try a GTV; initially I considered a 2.0-litre until I drove the V6 and I had to have it just for the glorious noise – standout styling is a bonus. Now for sale at £4k to make way for another project.’ MAZDA MX-5 MKI ‘A recent buy…

VALUE 2010 £65k VALUE NOW £105k ‘You can buy a fine original 120 for the price of an average 3.8 E-type’ While everybody scrambles to buy Series 1 E-types, Jaguar’s XK120 lingers in the shadows. But the 120 is arguably as significant, game-changing and very nearly as slinky as its 1961 successor. And I’m not the only one who thinks so – one well-known Jaguar outfit has been quietly hoovering up as many historic and significant 120s as it can because it knows they’re poised for a renaissance. And unlike 3.8 E-types you can still buy shiny original-spec 120s for less than £100k. Harrogate-based Northern Jaguar has a smart, well-running 1953 left-hand-drive drophead coupé in Old English White with spats and one owner for 40 years for just £67,500, while VSOC in Holland…

Mercedes CLK 55/63 AMG COST NEW £57k VALUE NOW £9.5k Hard to believe you can now buy a handbuilt and hard-charging CLK 55 AMG for less than £10k. The handsome CLK coupés and convertibles were a monster hit for Mercedes in the 2000s and admired for their strong mechanicals, brilliant build and easy ownership. While most were sweet-spinning CLK 200 Kompressor convertibles, a handful left Stuttgart with the epic AMG V8 that also did duty in the E 55 and SL 55. Now prices of the W208 CLK 55 are so low it makes you want to burst out cheering. How about the £5999 being asked by JTT Autos in New Malden for an 80,000-mile 2000 coupé in blue with history, or the private seller in Okehampton with a two-owner 44,000-mile coupé for…

1979 MG Midget 1500 £28,750 Bonhams, June 30. How often do you get the chance to buy an unregistered Midget with just 35 miles on it? Actually, the last delivery-mileage one came up exactly three years ago at Anglia Car Auctions – with the end of MG looming, it seems quite a few were salted away. ACA’s red car fetched £11,025, hence Bonhams’ £10-15k estimate. The thirst for museum-quality cars has either moved a lot in five years, or more likely this was a one-off. 1967 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 £336,618 Artcurial, July 2. What puts this big result in stark perspective is the restored ex-John Lennon 330 GT that Bonhams sold in 2013 for only a little more – £359,900. At the time it was reckoned that £200,000 of that was down to the…