Classics Worldの February 2021 の目次

I have to say that I was amazed and delighted by the response to last issue’s editorial when I talked about my vague plans to compile a photographic record of all the cars I have ever owned. It seems that I am far from the first to think along these lines, and that many of you have not only had the same thought, but acted upon it too. Just have a look at our Letters pages starting on p18 of this issue to see what I mean. There is always room for more though, so if you have also compiled a personal motoring history in this way, then I would love to hear about it. Since the response to last issue’s editorial was so quick and so wonderful, I’m going…

Morgan is marking the end of production of one of its most well-loved models, the 3 Wheeler, with the announcement of the P101 edition. The 3 Wheeler will cease production in 2021, once type approval on its S&S V-twin engine finishes. P101 stands for Project 101, the internal name given to the project to revive the 3 Wheeler when development began more than a decade ago. Limited to just 33 examples, the P101 will feature a range of unique components and bespoke detailing. Each will be available in Deep Black or Satin White Silver paint, with appropriate decals to suit. Further to this, four P101 art packs will be available for customers to choose from, each with their own unique identifiers and vivid graphics. Of these packs, the Dazzleship (pictured)…

I don’t really go for being insulted, and the build quality of some classic Ferraris was really rather contemptuous. The current ones might be more professionally constructed – I have no idea, and no real interest in investigating. Prior to 1994 I had nothing to do with Ferraris, but a publishing house asked if I would do the words for a book about the 512TR, the model that came after the 1980s Testarossa. The book’s photographer was supposed to write the words as well as doing the pics, but he hadn’t. The writing fee was OK, and I'd shoot more pictures to cover some gaps. Fine, freelancers take what comes, and that means you go off in odd new directions sometimes. There’s no shortage of reference material written by Ferrari…

This beautiful Jaguar is a prime example of a classic car which is now so familiar that its impact when new is frequently taken for granted. However, back in 1969 Sir William Lyons stated that the XJ6 was ‘a car which it is the ambition of every keen motorist to own,’ and he was fully justified in this assessment. The reality now is that Jaguar's XJ6 ranks alongside the Morris Minor, the Mini and the E-Type as one for the few British cars to truly merit the term ‘iconic.’ The XJ6 made its bow on the 26th September 1968 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel on London's Bayswater Road. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, I should like to introduce to you my new car,’ Lyons proclaimed to the gathered journalists and dealers, all…

If the hood is not attended to, water will get in and the interior will suffer badly – there is no substitute for a water-tight original or a replacement hood, so this is a necessary expense. As you would expect for a car this rare, replacement panels may well be an issue, though front panels were shared with the saloon so are easier than the rest. Neither the doors (which were unique to the two-door) nor the rear quarters (which were unique to the Convertible) are available, so if the car were to be seriously damaged it’s a matter of repairing what you have or re-using rear panels from a car that has suffered front end damage. Interior trim is unique to the car, but mechanically things are much rosier…

Sailing types say that when you buy your first serious boat, it’s the happiest day of your life. Then comes an even happier day when you sell it. For a couple of years I lived aboard a 35ft ketch in Brighton Marina, and there was indeed toasting in champagne on both the buying and the selling days. That’s also how it worked with my Dodge campervan, albeit on a smaller scale. It always drove clumsily, and would never take off smoothly, despite weighing 8500lbs and having a six-litre V8 with an automatic transmission. The van also sometimes just didn’t work, for no rational reason. Copious fuel + fat spark = zilch. It was cleaned up and sorted out for visiting British friends to use for a trip around BC, and…

I admit that I’m always a little reluctant to fit performance upgrades or modern equipment unless I know for certain it’s going to make a noticeable and worthwhile difference, so I’ve pondered over improving the braking and handling of my VW campervan for several years and asked many specialists for advice and recommendations. I’ve concluded that standard equipment is in many cases perfectly adequate, providing it’s in good working order. Consequently, I’ve replaced all of the tyres, routinely serviced the brakes, but realised that some components such as the telescopic dampers cannot be checked. So I’ve changed them for a full set of standard-spec units from KYB (kybeurope.com). The difference in ride quality was immediately noticeable, perhaps suggesting my old dampers were worn. My local VW specialist, Herbie Hospital (Herbiehospital.com),…

Grease and oil can be your friend or your enemy when it comes to classic cars. They are needed to keep parts moving freely, but when mixed with dirt they can form a paste that destroys components, and when applied to the wrong parts (such as brake discs) can potentially have catastrophic consequences. Sometimes it can seem like a constant battle to keep certain parts clean and other parts lubricated! It's perhaps fair to say that the main aim of grease (or any maintenance lubricant) is to keep a component moving freely, but there’s more to this subject and you have to know your products. Take the slider pins used in many single-piston brake calipers from the 1980s onwards, for example. If these pins are fitted through rubber inserts, then…

Before we get going in earnest, we should make clear that this one feature is not going to make you an expert leather repairer – the subject is simply too vast and the number of repair types too varied for that to be possible. Instead, what we hope to achieve is to give you a greater understanding of the product, and also to demonstrate the kind of results you could achieve when making a repair using DIY materials. So after a condensed history of leather and of the various types available, we will show how to repair a small hole such as a cigarette burn. For this we will use a piece of modern leather, which tends to have a protective polyurethane layer on top as we shall shortly see.…

PANTHER Shy, retiring, subtle and discreet – four words that have never been used to describe the Panther De Ville. Built from 1974-1985 by Panther Westwinds of Surrey, its massive 142in wheelbase housed Jaguar running gear, including their straight-six XK or V12 engines. The doors had a less exotic parentage, being lifted from the Austin 1800! Said to have been inspired by the Bugatti Royale, the neo-classic exterior appealed to nouveau riche tastes – the flamboyant Elton John was a keen owner, so keen in fact that he used his car in a video for the song I'm Still Standing in 1983. Lancaster Insurance once calculated that for the cost of a new De Ville you could have bought 30 Lada 1200s... ROVER This image reminds us of those effects…

Vauxhall’s famous Heritage Collection and Archive are set to move from the company’s Griffin House site in January, as plans develop to create an all-new public-facing Heritage Centre in the future. The imminent sale of Vauxhall’s former Luton site means that the Collection will find a new interim home at the company’s Ellesmere Port factory, where a converted 8000 square-meter building has been set aside for the 60-strong collection, which represents every decade of Vauxhall’s 117-year history. Ellesmere Port has been the home of Vauxhall’s compact car production for the last 56 years, and is the current manufacturing site for the Astra. The Collection’s temporary custodian, Plant Director Mark Noble, said: ‘We’re all looking forward to the arrival of these Heritage vehicles, some of which have been manufactured here over…

Hagerty, best known as a classic vehicle insurer but also one of the world’s largest automotive lifestyle brands, has been looking at which classic cars are the most financially viable to restore. The cost of a classic vehicle restoration almost always exceeds expectations and it is well-worth reminding owners to restore their classics for love rather than money, but how does an owner know whether they are entering into a financial folly before they even start? The Hagerty Price Guide lists a value for each of four conditions for every one of the over 2000 models covered. These range from Condition 4 (fair: a drivable but imperfect classic) to Condition 1 (concours: one of the best in the country). To investigate the difference between these two, Hagerty compared the value…

CLARKE JSM400 MULTI-PURPOSE JUMP STARTER Price: £119.98 Compact yet powerful, the Clarke JSM400 is an amazingly small and lightweight portable 2100mAH lithium-polymer power bank with inbuilt torch which easily fits in a pocket. It weighs only 1.37kg (without leads), but will jump start a car with a flat battery, making it perfect for emergency situations. In addition it provides USB 5V device charging for mobile phones, tablets, cameras etc. An ideal device to keep in your vehicle glove compartment, it is supplied with a zip fastening bag, AC battery charger, smart charging cable, switch cable, three-way USB cable, car charger adapter and 8x notebook adaptors. Buy from any of Machine Mart’s 64 superstores nationwide, online at www.machinemart.co.uk or by calling 0115 956 5555. MG Z CARS  By Craig Cheetham Paperback,…

Mulling over suitable themes for this column, I decided it was of paramount importance to avoid any mention of Brexit, Donald Trump or pandemics. Oops... looks like I failed the resolution test after just 35 words, but it’s hard not to be swamped by all the sadness and gloom. So, in search of more cheery alternatives, I cleverly managed to trip over the power lead attached to my stone age computer. Entirely my fault for hoarding a pile of cables in what looks like a plastic snake pit, of course, but it didn’t help my mood. However, every cloud has a cliché, and surprisingly, the old Dell laptop still worked perfectly. It's just a pity the same couldn’t be said of my ankle. Naturally I couldn’t resist opening a few…

I bought my first Sunbeam Alpine when I was still in the RAF,' recalls Jim Bull, owner of the metallic green Harrington featured here. 'It was a memorable period in my life as I began to enjoy sports car motoring in the Sunbeam and I met my wife-to-be Carole, who part ran a hairdressing salon in the local town. Mind you, she didn’t know I had the Alpine when we met, that came later.' The Sunbeam name is an old one, being registered in 1888 for bicycle manufacture. The company built its first car in 1901, and in 1905 the Sunbeam Motor Car Company Limited was separated off from the bicycle side of the business. There then followed a plethora of cars carrying the Sunbeam insignia, all of which bore…

The Mazda Motor Corporation started life just over 100 years ago on the 30th January 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Company producing cork for gaskets, insulation and cushioning material. It was not until 1931 that the first vehicle – the Mazda-Go three-wheel truck – rolled off the production line, and it was another 29 years before Mazda produced its first passenger car, the tiny R360 coupé in 1960. A company with global ambitions, exports to Europe started just seven years later. However, sales in the UK only started on a small scale in 1967 with just nine cars being imported in two years through Normand Garages, part of the Lyons food chain. Industria (London) Ltd took over the import of Mazda and officially launching the Mazda marque on the…

Giving the Acclaim a check over recently before one of the kids borrowed it for a long run, I was surprised to notice that one rear tyre was quite badly worn around its outside edge and was now close to the legal limit. I might have expected this more on the front wheels if the tracking was out, but was concerned that on the back wheel it could mean structural problems and misalignment. Fortunately, upon reading up on the subject I discovered that the tracking of the rear wheels on an Acclaim is adjustable too – who knew! So I rolled the car over my Trakrite gauge and found that the rear wheels were indeed toed-in by 0.6 degrees. Since I wanted two new tyres fitted as well and we…

I have returned to work after a few months furloughed, and while I was very happy to do so, this has meant that time for classics is more limited. Although things are very far from ‘normal’ and are likely to remain that way for some time, I’m now back to the production levels I was at in those far off pre-COVID days. Still, I’ve been lucky and made far more progress this year than I could ever have imagined. So in addition to outlining the work over the last month, I’ll be taking stock of where the various cars are at and how I intend to push these projects forward over the coming months and into 2021. After a huge push, I have finally got a good coat of epoxy…

This Clubman was bought on the strength of some photographs and a lengthy chat with the previous owner. Collection from Bury St Edmunds went smoothly enough, though a dead battery just as we were setting off did add a frisson of tension to the 85-mile journey home – this is an automatic remember, so bump starting is not an option. Happily though, I made it home without any drama, and thoroughly enjoyed getting reacquainted with Mini life along the way. If I am honest, I’m not really very good at buying cars. The problem is that I find it difficult to stay detached and objective – if I like a car, I figure that any problems can be fixed and go ahead and buy it. However, this has left me…

Jaguar’s six-cylinder twin-cam XK was the company's flagship engine for almost half a century, powering anything from an E-type and Mk2 to an XJ6, Daimler 420S limousine and even a range of armoured vehicles. Almost 700,000 of these engines were manufactured between 1948 and 1992 as a 2.4-, 3.4-, 3.8- or 4.2-litre straight-six, so there was a time when they were readily available both brand new and in scrap Jags and Daimlers, but that’s now a distant memory. Instead, a rebuild is often the only option for a leaking or smokey XK engine, but fortunately spares are readily available, along with a number of upgrades. The bad news is that a rebuild is rarely cheap, but then again many of the cars they are fitted to are similarly expensive. Stripping…

A deep-dyed car nut, Chris Svensson studied vehicle design at Coventry University and the Royal College of Art. His first job was for Ford, where every student’s career dream came true for him immediately – Svensson’s final year thesis was a design for a very small, very cool supermini, and four years after he left college his concept was launched as a production model. Svensson died in 2018, felled tragically young by cancer, but by then he had notched up a stellar career bookended by two iconic Ford models – 2017’s GT supercar and 1996’s KA. In the 1990s Ford had at its disposal a fine small-car platform in the Mk4 Fiesta, which enjoyed notably good handling. Upon this it was able to build derivatives with relatively low development costs.…

THE MORRIS MARINA AND MORRIS ITAL Andrew refuses to don the rose-tinted spectacles when considering the Morris Marina, but perhaps surprisingly he finds plenty to like about it, and even more about the Ital. It is now 50 years since the Morris Marina was launched on the UK public. Some people thought they were OK, others thought they were rubbish, but nobody ever said they were brilliant. However, ‘about average’ is indeed a good average compared to what else was around when the Marina was planned in the late 1960s. Then of course you had the Mk2 Ford Cortina, which was not a bad car but hardly fantastic. Ditto the Hillman Hunter. These two were an ideal medium car size. Stir in the HB Viva (too small) and the FD…

The Rootes Archive Centre Trust has been awarded the prestigious FIVA (Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens) Culture Award for Research in 2020. In announcing the award, FIVA said: 'The challenge to store and catalogue material relating to the heritage of the Rootes Group and its successor companies was massive, and fully in alignment with FIVA’s preservation and promotion objectives. As well as providing a major source of reference to enable future generations to keep their vehicles on the road, it also provides a technical awareness of historic motoring.' Rootes Archive Trustee Andy Bye said of the award: 'After all the hard effort and fund raising over recent years, the Rootes community can be justifiably proud of what we have all achieved, and to win this International award makes us feel…

Easirider are specialists in handcrafting genuine lambs wool over rugs for the world’s finest cars using prime quality genuine sheepskin, and 2021 sees them celebrating their first 50 years in business. The company was formed in 1971 by Peter Robinson, who had been travelling through Europe and discovered the superb comfort that sheepskin offers as an upholstery material. On his return to the UK he found it impossible to buy sheepskin seat covers locally, so he set about finding a suitable tannery and persuaded them to prepare appropriate sheepskins so that he could make his own. Soon, friends and neighbours and their friends and neighbours started to ask where they could buy them. Before long business reached a point where Peter decided to leave his job and set up a…

Way back in the 1970s, when the classic car movement was in its infancy, quite a few traditionalists began to complain about Badge Engineering – where one car would be lightly facelifted, given a different front grille and a new badge, before being launched as a new model. Austins became MGs, Jaguars became Daimlers and Sunbeams became Singers in this way – and they all sold well. Even so, some of the loudest to complain never really realised that this trend was not new, nor earth-shattering, for so-called badge engineering had been around in the USA since the 1920s, and had appeared in the UK by the 1930s. Today’s theme, therefore, is to recall some earlier examples. First of all, in the 1930s I reckon there were three very different…

HERE ARE SOME OF MY PAST CARS Having read your intro in the January issue, I thought I would get in touch to say that a few years ago I decided it would be a good idea to compose a photo album of all the cars I have owned. Being a genius photo compiler and organiser, my wife had all our photos saved in date order, and many already in print in various albums. I had owned a lot of cars, some of which were never driven, others that I had driven but only off-road for autotests and trials. We decided to stick to those I actually had legally on the road and had used, even if only for a brief period. The latest count is 67 of my own,…

When the sun comes out, do you notice the rush of convertibles and cabriolets that suddenly appear on our streets? It isn’t just in the sunny summer months either, because lots of people like to get their top down all year round, and in a car with a powerful heater it takes more than a blast from the Arctic to make them batten down the hatches. And you don’t need to break the bank with something like a modern BMW or Audi to enjoy that fresh air feeling, because there are some classic and relatively cheap options that allow you to savour the sunshine in this way; amongst them, perhaps surprisingly, is a Cavalier Convertible from Vauxhall. In the 1980s there was a vogue for cutting the roof off many…

Digging away at a classic car to discover how far back the rust and previous repairs go is always a voyage into the unknown – you never know just what you are going to discover, and you really shouldn’t start investigating unless you are prepared to follow things through to their ultimate conclusion. That was certainly the case with our project Midget. Having taken the decision last issue to remove the nearside sill and see what lay beneath, there was a lot less Midget left on the axle stands when I next visited Alan Denne’s workshop. To recap very briefly, we knew that an outer sill had been welded over the remains of the original, and that the A-post and the lower section of the rear wing had been padded…

Editor Simon always has too many projects on the go, which means progress on individual cars can sometimes be slow. On the bright side, it does mean he never gets stuck watching telly of an evening. He likes virtually all classics, but has a weak spot for anything small, basic and generally overlooked. MY FLEET 1967 MORRIS MINOR OWNED SINCE: 2019 1970 MG MIDGET OWNED SINCE: 2019 1976 MINI CLUBMAN OWNED SINCE: 2020 1983 ACCLAIM HLS OWNED SINCE: 2015 1989 VOLVO 340 OWNED SINCE: 2020…

Now that the new Limora CV-jointed driveshafts were fitted to my Stag, the final assembly was required, replacing the rear brakes and hubs, then fitting the wheels so it could be taken on test drive to see what improvements had resulted. Prior to replacing the brake shoes and drums, the nuts securing the inner hub flange to the trailing arm required careful tensioning as the 3/8in studs are screwed into the aluminium trailing arm and it is easy to over tighten and strip the thread. The hub outer flange has holes drilled in it to allow access for a socket on a 3/8in drive torque wrench to access the retaining nuts, so allowing them to be secured without damaging the threads. Although I have removed and refitted the rear brake…

Contributor Will has a collection of Morris Minors. This column follows the maintenance and modification of them for daily use, as well as the long-term restoration of a 1950 Lowlight Tourer from a desert scrapyard in America and a 1970 Morris Van which has been in his family for nearly 40 years. MY FLEET 1950 MORRIS MINOR LOWLIGHT SALOON OWNED SINCE: 2012 1950 MINOR LOWLIGHT CONVERTIBLE OWNED SINCE: 2017 1967 MINOR SALOON OWNED SINCE: 2010 1970 MINOR VAN OWNED (BY MUM) SINCE: 1980…

The rose-tinted glasses are definitely off, but I’m forever optimistic that the £400 2001 Y-reg MINI One I have at home isn’t going to turn into a bottomless money pit. Being an early model, I plan to keep it as original as possible, which may mean overhauling some parts instead of replacing them. That may not always be feasible, though. The defective rear brakes that were noted at the last MoT test in July 2020 may be caused by a sticking brake caliper and need replacing for instance, but I’d like to hope I can overhaul the caliper with new seals, helping to keep the original BMW component. From a point of being frugal, the rear brake discs are rusty, but have plenty of remaining metal (they are not worn…

Teng Tools offers hand tools in smart storage solutions for demanding professionals within the automotive, maintenance and engineering sectors as well as motorsport and classic enthusiasts who aspire to use the same tools as top mechanics across the globe. With close to 3000 products in the wide range, their tools have been developed to help you work more efficiently with ‘Typically Teng’ features on many products that have repeatedly earned top ratings for value and performance and numerous recommendations in the trade and consumer press. ‘Typically Teng’ features will help you work better, smarter and faster. See www.tengtools.com…

After WW2 Britain was, quite simply, broke. British industry was rushing to gain essential export currency, and the motor industry was at the forefront of that great push. They were encouraged by the government because steel, which was in short supply, was rationed to those manufacturers who were exporting at least 50% of their output (increased to 75% in 1949). The largest market, and probably the only one booming, was the USA, so car makers were particularly keen to grab a slice of that ever-increasing pie and the all-important US dollars. While some just offered British cars unchanged to meet overseas needs, a handful were innovating and coming up with new designs specifically with the US in mind, some of them it must be said being a lot more successful…