Classics Worldの December 2017 の目次

Over the last few years the price for a restored Porsche 356 similar to the one we’re featuring in this issue has skyrocketed, with decent genuine right-hand examples now costing well north of fifty grand. So its nice to meet an owner like Tim Court who bought his 356 over 40 years ago for what now seems a pittance when these legendary Porsches were considered to be ‘just another old car’. Tim ran his 356 as an everyday driver for many years and did a lot of the maintenance himself. Although the desirability of these cars shows no sign of slowing down, Tim says he would never consider selling his 356 and we hope you get as much enjoyment reading about his car as we got when photographing it. With…

A Vandan Plas 1800 prototype is set to be the star of this month’s Classic Motor Show, held at Birmingham’s NEC from November 10-12. Vanden Plas produced a variety of prototypes based on BMC/ Leyland models – the 1800 is an interesting one as it used the Austin X6 as its donor car. The model is set to take pride of place on the VPOC stand in Hall 4. Another of the Club’s main attractions is set to be the famous one-off ‘Landcrab’ prototype, as well as a 1971 Wolseley 18/85 – a model that was transformed into a four-door saloon – a project which was scrapped by British Leyland. Fortunately for us, this one made it through, going on to serve as a factory runabout. One of only three…

There’s been more progress on overhauling the Jaguar’s rear suspension. While waiting for the transmission specialist to investigate the differential and hopefully reduce the backlash between the crown wheel and pinion, I was able to start assembling the new hubs and suspension uprights. I had purchased four new hubs and replacement rear bearings from David Manners Group although I could have reused the old bearings, as they were still in good condition. However this can be false economy, as replacing bearings on an E-Type’s rear end can be a time consuming process. I normally purchase bearings from local stockists and after talking to a few bearing suppliers it was obvious that this size of imperial bearing was not readily available here in Australia. So after David Manners confirmed the bearings…

Even when you’re up to your neck with your own projects, it’s always good to help out a mate. A change of scene can provide a bit of perspective on what you’re doing with your own cars, and when it also means you get access to a pro workshop, you can’t really say no. A friend of mine runs a garage and he’s had a couple of classic Minis in for a series of niggling issues and MoT failure points. They love having classics in the workshop, but like so many commercial concerns, working on classics can prove problematic for them, as they’re difficult to price up and by their very nature, working on them is rarely straightforward. Jobs get more complicated thanks to aged components and in some cases,…

Born of an agreement between Donald Healey and BMC to produce a cheap sports car based on Austin A35 and Minor parts, the line began with the 948cc Frogeye Sprite in 1958 and ended in December 1979 as an MG powered by a 1.5-litre Triumph engine. The Frogeye Sprite was designed by Geoffrey Healey and styled by Gerry Coker (who penned the 100 model) with a chassis designed by Barry Bilbie and the result was a car that was brisk rather than fast but which possessed superb handling. Power from the twin-carburettor version of the 948cc A-Series engine was quoted at 46bhp, a somewhat debatable figure now. The car was revised in 1961 to become the MKII Sprite, and was joined by the MkI MG Midget – both were built…

The mid-size cars made by the Rootes group in the ’Fifties and ’Sixties were, in a word, ‘sensible’. They were not daringly modern but neither were they old-fashioned. They were not cheap but they were by no means expensive and they were certainly good value. They weren’t flashy but they were stylish. These were cars you bought entirely with your head rather than your heart. That was exactly what the Billy and Reggie Rootes, who still had their collective hands on the corporate tiller, were after when it came to introducing the ‘Audax’ range of cars in 1955. Having collected marques over the past 20 years the brothers were now all about consolidation. The Audax design was intended to provide a common car design that could be used across their…

Volkswagen has officially ending production of its Scirocco coupè… again. The original Scirocco first debuted back in 1974. The second-generation followed in 1981, which was produced until 1992 when it was pulled from the Volkswagen line-up. It wasn’t until 2009 that the name was revived in the form of the MkIII. The MkIII received a facelift in 2014, involving some much-needed design tweaks, and has now finally ceased production in 2017. Reports suggest this news comes following an effort to streamline its model line-up, following the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal that’s been going on for more than two years now. The three-door Polo model was recently axed, with further cars expected to be pulled from the range in the near future. Auto Express reported back in August that the Scirocco would be…

Ford’s Advanced Vehicle Operations (AVO) was a specialist car manufacturing facility established solely for the production of the company’s low-volume, high-performance cars. Located near South Ockendon in Essex, this was the specialist department where the Escort Mexico, Escort RS1600, Escort RS2000 and Capri RS 3100 were developed and assembled. At the time Ford’s AVO was an advanced and highly regarded facility and was active from January 1970 until its closure in December 1974 (mainly due to the fuel crisis and to make way for the development and manufacture of the forthcoming Escort MkII). Whereas the mechanically simple but effective Mexico and its faster but more highly stressed sibling, the RS1600, were produced to facilitate Ford’s participation in motorsport; the RS2000 (which had its UK launch in October 1973) had a…

Well, I’ve driven the Davrian at last, which is great news, as this is the first time it’s properly moved under its own power for eleven years. And I’m chuffed to bits. I wasn’t actually planning on driving it, but my recent attendance at the Davrian’s 50th celebrations at the Castle Combe Rally Day resulted in me having to drive the Davrian around the perimeter road. This was because recent heavy rainfall had caused the ground in the designated trailer park to become quite sodden and many car and trailer combos were bogging down and getting stuck. It was suggested that I tow my trailer to another part of the circuit where I could unload the car onto a patch of slightly firmer ground, which I did. However, I must…

While the Lowlight’s front panel was being painted, I decided to refurbish some of the under bonnet ancillaries. First on the list were the twin horns. To test these you need to use a good car battery, as a charger does not provide enough current for a proper beep. Having not been used for many years, it was not particularly surprising that they didn’t work at all. In order to establish why, I removed the covers on the side and found some contacts. These were cleaned using a piece of folded emery paper. I tested them again and they returned a feeble croak, so I decided to adjust the contacts using a spanner. Unscrewing the nut made a big difference to the tone and volume of the horns, so I…

1 There are three plastic covers over the belts. Two of them (one at each end) are removed from above, while the third is removed later via the offside rear wheelarch. 2 Jon then rotates the cam wheels – he has a special tool that fits into the slots of the wheel, but you can use a spanner on its retaining nut or a 22mm socket on the crank pulley. He uses a little mirror to see the marks on the cam wheels. With the timing marks pointing towards each other, the engine is in a safe position to work on. 3 The two timing marks on wheels at the back of the engine also have to be pointing towards each other – that’s how you know you are on…

So on paper, the FD Victor had a lot going for it. First off, it was incredibly modern and stylish. Taking styling cues from Pontiac, the long tailed coke bottle look was astonishing in an era where the boxy MkII Cortina was only a year old and the Austin A60 Cambridge and Morris Oxford still had three or four years to run. The PA Cresta had only left production five years beforehand! Underneath, the suspension design was way ahead of its time with a multi link coil spring back axle but it was under the bonnet where the really big news was, an all-new slant four OHC with the camshaft driven by a toothed rubber belt. Another GM first, adding to the list – turbocharged engines, self-seeking FM radios, self…

Anyone in the market for a classic fast Ford could be forgiven for ignoring the 24-valve V6 powered Granada Cosworth, as most came with an automatic gearbox. While Sierra Cosworth prices have gone through the roof, a Cosworth powered MkIII ‘Grandad’ has to be the forgotten fast Blue Oval and half decent survivors are out there for around four grand. In fact there’s not a lot of difference in price between a 195bhp Cosworth powered Granada and one of its fully kitted out 145bhp V6 siblings but the problem will be finding a good one. Ford launched the curvaceous third generation Granada in 1985 and, unlike the ‘jelly mould’ Sierra, buyers immediately accepted the new big Ford’s adventurous styling. The heavily revised Granada’s mechanical layout hadn’t changed since the MkI…

An almost perfectly original 1988 Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 with just 6,000 miles on the clock is widely tipped to break auction records when it comes up for sale at Silverstone Auctions’ sale at the Lancaster Classic Motor Show, with Discovery, which takes place at Birmingham’s NEC from 11th – 12th November. Developed specifically to help Ford win the British and European Touring Car Championships, 500 road-going Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500s were built to qualify the model for motor racing. The 1988 example listed is one of just 56 delivered in white, making this example a very rare model. The 224bhp super saloon was discovered in 2007 by car dealer Joe Macari in a classic Ferrari car collection in Germany and was later sold on to a private Ford collector…

So you’ve got a collection of seven classic cars and you want to show them all but don’t have the drivers or the time to get them all to and from events? Well you could do as George Richardson has, and restore a classic car transporter to carry them all. Consett-based George worked in the car transport industry for most of his working life starting with W. A. Glendinning and now runs the workshop for A1 Automotive. He bought his first classic car in 1996 and the collection now comprises of an ADO16 1100 and 1300, MGB, Morris 1000 and Vauxhall Viva plus a 24,000 mile Austin 2200 and a 23,000 mile FE Victor. The tractor unit is a 193 ERF LV which was new to a Peterborough-based haulier, plated…

When driving down Tim Court’s drive, the first building you pass is an open fronted garage with a Porsche 911 Carrera and a well-used W211 Mercedes-Benz E Class estate parked up inside. This pairing gives visitors a clue to where this retired solicitors motoring loyalties are based stored away in a couple of adjacent outbuilding are several more products from these prestigious German motor manufacturers. These include a 911 Targa, a smart looking bright red Porsche 928 and what Tim confesses to being his ‘bargain basement’ Mercedes R230 SL500. However, despite the seductive V8 burble of the 928 and SL, the cream of Tim’s impressive collection has to be his drop dead gorgeous 1962 Porsche 356B coupè. Tim knows his Porsche history inside out and wasted no time telling us…

Isn’t it just typical? I come back from a somewhat spirited blast around the countryside in my Gentry feeling happy as Larry with the little car’s handling and revelling in its simple back to basics driving involvement, then when I climb out to open the garage door, I see a trail of drips on the floor. Undoing the four bonnet straps and lifting the one-piece engine lid clear immediately showed what the problem was. There was a pink anti freeze stain around the aluminium rocker cover and drops of coolant running down from the area around the thermostat housing. At first, I thought the thermostat housing gasket was to blame, but a closer inspection revealed coolant was leaking from the radiator top hose where it met the aluminium thermostat housing.…

We left off last time with my 1948 Allard M coupé TML 209 back in the garage after a road test during April’s ‘Drive It Day’. I was not happy about the black smoke-rich mixture on the replacement Stromberg carburettor and really needed to do something about it. After attending Donington Park for the historic race meeting at the beginning of May (which is where Kelsey Media, Classics Monthly’s publisher, launched its new Rolls-Royce and Bentley Driver’s and Ultimate Porsche magazines) I travelled over to Elme Hall in Wisbech where I stayed the night before travelling on to the excellent NVTEC East Anglia branch rally at Stradsett Park. This was the 41st time for this event and it had over 1,000 entrants. It now attracts a huge crowd, and is…

With a target of aiming to get the Austin-Healey 3000’s rolling shell completed by spring next year, this month has been quite a productive one. The Healey’s tub is now back from the shot blasters wearing a lovely coat of epoxy primer, with all the old primer now reduced to dust. So the first step was to mount freshly prepared shell back on the rotisserie. To help do this, I’d spent time last month making a pair of skates with brackets similar to those on the rotisserie. This made unloading the trailer and mounting the body tub straight onto the rotisserie a doddle and it was upside down in no time. I then spent a bit of time with an airline getting the blast media and other crud out the…

#TEAM MIKE Last month saw the Escort back on its wheels and largely complete, with the doors, bumpers and bonnet having been reunited with the bodyshell and a new convertible roof being fitted. Since then, Blokie has been busy completing the final reassembly of the car at Cross Street Garage and when we arrived to photograph it in early October, it was driven out into the autumn sunshine under its own power for the first time in a year. With the paintwork freshly buffed and the many finishing touches added, the Escort has been transformed and it’s a tribute to the hard work of Blokie and the team at Cross Street garage in Swindon – plus of course the many volunteers from the RS Owners’ Club and the many local…

Electricity to power a car’s ignition system, lights and auxiliaries while on the move can be generated either in direct current (DC) by a dynamo or in alternating current (AC) by an alternator. Whereas the amount of power a dynamo generates depends on how fast the car is being driven, an alternator is far more efficient and will even charge a battery while the car is idling. This is a positive advantage in heavy traffic and the benefit of an alternator over a dynamo is that it allows useful auxiliaries, such as a heated rear screen and extra creature comforts to be used while still charging the battery. A dynamo and alternator both use an armature to generate current. The armature in a dynamo usually contains up to 28 separate…