Table of contents for July 2022 in Classics World

The 2022 Goodwood Revival is set to celebrate a decade of pedal power when it takes place on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September, marking 10 years of the world’s cutest race – the Settrington Cup. First seen at the Goodwood Revival in 2012, the Settrington Cup is now firmly established as one of the most highly-anticipated and hotlycontested of all the weekend’s races. The excitement begins with a running – or Le Mans style – start, as the diminutive drivers aged between 4 and 11 years old get behind the wheels of their Austin J40 pedal cars and proceed at full pelt down the Pit Lane Straight. Goodwood are also looking forward to bringing some of that special Settrington Cup spirit to the Classic Car Sunday Breakfast Club at…

A 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé has been sold at auction to a private collector for a record price of €135,000,000. The car, which is one of two built by the Mercedes-Benz racing department in 1955, has been owned by the company ever since. Always regarded as one of the great jewels of motoring history, few ever imagined that it would be offered for sale. One of just two prototypes, the car is named after its creator and chief engineer, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, and is considered to be one of the finest examples of automotive engineering and design, often cited as being ‘the most beautiful car in the world’ by automotive experts and enthusiasts worldwide. The remarkable 300 SLR was based on the hugely successful W 196 R Grand Prix…

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I'm now no longer an ex-pat, but heading back to being, I suppose, a regular pat. Also back to being a patsy for the UK clerks – being fined by them for not telling them I’m resting one of my cars does stick in the craw. If I don’t want to use one of my Canadian cars, I just leave it in the driveway and it’s none of the clerks’ business. However, there are upsides to the controlling nature of the British establishment. The huge number of surveillance cameras, the tax-collecting speeding cameras and average speed tax cameras enforce a set of actually mostly quite reasonable speed limits. 20mph and 30mph are fast enough for residential and city streets, 60mph is okay for two-lane country roads, 70mph is again okay…

Some cars are deliberately self-effacing, but the Jaguar MkX was never of that ilk and always had an unforgettable presence. David Sefton’s 1965 Opalescent Silver Grey example has an air of command even in repose, and the leaping cat bonnet mascot emphasises a sense that the Jaguar is ready to pounce on any lesser vehicle. It is also a prime example of one of the most intriguingcars to leave Jaguar's Browns Lane factory. The MkX was the second important Jaguar to debut in 1961, the first being the E-type. When the flagship saloon made its bow at the Earls Court Motor Show, it too caused a sensation. The publicity material claimed that it stemmed 'from a long and illustrious line of outstanding models,' and it was certainly outstanding – not…

The MGA might have represented a brand-new start for the marque’s sporting line in 1955, but it still had roots back in the previous T-Types. We’ll take as our starting point for this brief summary the special body that Syd Enever at MG built to go on a TD that George Phillips raced at Le Mans in 1951. This was a sleek affair that helped boost top speed of the TD underpinnings from the 80mph achieved by a standard car to a whopping 120mph. Registered as UMG 400, Phillips’ car suffered engine failure in France, but was so promising that MG built another, EX175, in 1952. The crucial difference this time was that to enable the occupants to sit lower in the car, a new chassis was developed with the…

PART 4 Sometimes when you are working on a project, you get a day when it sees a major leap forwards. This may be the culmination of many weeks of work such as completing bodywork repairs or a respray, or it may be a landmark moment such as getting a dead engine to run for the first time and finding that it doesn’t actually sound like a bag of nails. More often though, a project will consist of a series of small victories, each relatively insignificant in their own right but all of them contributing to the creation of a better or more usable car. That latter scenario is the case today as we focus on two small but important issues – aseized bonnet release cable and an exhaust silencer…

2002 was a good year for Japanese sports car fans. It saw the launch of two very fine but radically different cars, and I was lucky enough to go on the press launch of both. Nissan gave us the 350Z, a two-seater with a classic combination of frontmounted, straight-six engine and rear-wheel drive. It slotted easily into the canon of burly, growly six-pot coupés and I liked it a lot as I threw it around some lumpy German scenery. Mazda, on the other hand, shipped a group of us to Italy to experience quite the weirdest motor car I had ever driven. It was low, yet had four doors and a cabin big enough to seat a quartet of adults in comfort. It had unique looks, and an even more…

During the 1960s and 1970s, Triumph’s talented designers were involved in several exciting concepts which sadly remained just prototypes, never to see the light of showrooms. To discuss these exciting projects, we were extremely fortunate to talk with two designers who contributed to them both – John Ashford who had worked for the Rootes Group, Ford and then Lucas, and Harris Mann who joined a design studio in the States for a short while before returning to the UK to work initially at Ford. On leaving Lucas, John joined the design centre at Triumph’s Canley plant in 1968. At the time Harry Webster was Engineering Director, while Spen King was Chief Engineer and his direct report. The head of Triumph’s Styling Studios was Les Moore, while the company’s Chief Body…

I want to start this issue by thanking reader Stephen Pye, who very kindly sent me a copy of Motor magazine from November 1980 (a time, incidentally, when it cost a mere 40p!). One of the major themes in that issue was the subject of electric cars, and it was very interesting to see that over 40 years ago they were grappling with many of the same issues that face BEVs today – range, recharging, and claimed capability vs actual ability in the real world. Mind you, the new wonder batteries back then were zincchloride and zinc-nickel, so there have been great strides forwards in some areas. And to be fair, ranges have been extended somewhat since 1980, when Lucas were talking of a top speed of 50mph and a…

Beaulieu is inviting owners of all 1970s classics to join them in a party to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Motor Museum at a 1970s Classic Car Drive-In Day on Sunday 3rd July. Owners of cars registered in 1972 – when the National Motor Museum first opened – can celebrate the 50th birthday of their car by coming to the event for free. You could even dress for the occasion by digging out your platforms, jumpsuits and flares. A golden paddock of classic cars will also show some of the vehicles which were at the original opening in 1972, when they joined a celebratory cavalcade after the museum was opened by Edward, Lord Montagu and HRH The Duke of Kent. If your car was part of the original opening,…

The Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio has been named a winner of the Future Classics awards held as part of this year’s Autocar Awards. Run by Autocar and the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu as part of the museum’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the Future Classics were determined following votes from National Motor Museum visitors and Autocar readers. A pool of five winners were then selected by the experts at the National Motor Museum. Replacing Autocar’s Reader’s Champion award, the new accolade asked voters to select cars they believed would be revered as classics in 50 years’ time. The Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio was crowned following praise that it is one of the most soulful cars on sale today. Judges highlighted the car’s driving dynamics, stylish appearance, precision on the road and outright…

Britain’s oldest sporting motor club for cars and bikes, the Motor Cycling Club (MCC), is celebrating its 120th anniversary with a special three-day classic motorsport trial from 24th-26th June, which will see around 100 trialists testing classic motorcycles and cars on technical off-road trials sections across a 530 mile course in the South West. Chairman of the MCC, Phil Tucker, said: 'After a delay due to Covid, it’s thrilling to be able to run this three-day anniversary event which will be a fitting tribute to our previous 120 years of innovation in grassroots motorsport. Our events are landmarks in the trials calendar and present an enjoyable challenge for cars and bikes alike. We welcome any new motorsport enthusiasts to join us on this or any of our future events –…

The Professionals came out in 1977 and ran until 1983. I'm 49 years old now, (looking at the big 5-0 in October!), so I would have first caught the later episodes when I was about 11 years old. I'd watch them with my parents – people only had one TV back then and there were only three channels, so if something like this was on, the whole family would watch it together. And it was exciting stuff, basically a UK version of Starsky and Hutch. Alongside the actors Gordon Jackson, Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins who played Cowley, Doyle and Bodie respectively, Fords had a starring role in the programme with Bodie driving a silver Capri 3.0S and Doyle a gold one in many episodes, while Cowley had a Ford…

In the March issue we focussed on assessing a project, and that included some thoughts on how to check on the condition of its engine. This issue we will add some meat to those bones, before moving on next issue to the internal components. This issue’s instalment will inevitably be short on specifics for individual engines as we cannot possibly hope to cover each and every one in any detail, so please do take it as a starting point and refer to a workshop manual for a focus on your unit. One word of warning on that workshop manual though – don’t take every word in it as gospel! Manufacturers are constantly tinkering with their designs through the production life of a car, and not even the most diligent author…

Ileft school in 1955 with four GCSEs, but the wrong ones – Iwanted to get into engineering, but didn’t have maths or science! I ended up working for Woolworths as a trainee manager, and stayed with them for two and a half years before seeing an advert in the local paper for a trainee salesman at a car dealership. This would have been in May 1958. The advert didn’t say who the dealer was, but luckily for me (because I’ve always been inclined towards the cars from BMC) this job was with the Derngate Motor Company, part of Henlys and an old established company in Northampton selling Nuffield products. I actually have my application letter for that job, because this turned up when we were moving offices at a later…

Not many massproduced post-war cars are seen as the product of one man’s genius. The original BMC Mini is certainly one outstanding example, as is the earlier Morris Minor, both fruits of Alec Issigonis’ fertile imagination. The Volkswagen which finally entered series production after WW2 as the Beetle is another, the brainchild of the great Ferdinand Porsche. The Jowett Javelin doesn’t immediately spring to mind in this context, but it was the conception of Gerald Palmer and was no less revolutionary than the Beetle or the Mini when it entered production in 1947. Palmer had designed and built a sports car for the racing driver Joan Richmond in 1936 and drove it to the MG works, showing it to Cecil Kimber, the managing director. He arranged for Palmer to be…

After searching their databases for celebrity-owned cars that have been offered for sale in recent years, Hagerty experts created a list of over 260 vehicles, including cars owned by everyone from Adolf Hitler to Kris Jenner, and starring in movies from Herbie to Le Mans. They then compared the sold price (or estimated sale price) with values for a standard car at that time. When faced with a unique car such as the Popemobile or a Batmobile, Hagerty valued a non-movie equivalent of the vehicle it was based on. The result was a list of famous people and films and the difference between the value of their cars and a normal one. The Hagerty Power List comprises of six categories: Movies, Movie Stars, Musicians, Racing Drivers, Royalty, and Notable &…

With electric powertrain conversions for classic cars rising in popularity, a recent poll by Footman James found that 70% of classic car enthusiasts want the government to create a new vehicle class solely for EV conversions, suggesting the DVLA is not keeping up with demand or proper documentation. To date, only modern EVs are classed as such on their official registration documentation (V5C), but of the classic car community polled by Footman James, 70% said that the DVLA should class converted classics as a new class of vehicle. Managing Director of Footman James, David Bond said: 'EV conversions are dividing the classic and collector industry and our clients. With modern EVs counting for 64,000 registrations this year alone, electric power is a small but growing sector. This is spilling out to…

Scramblers, the Bicester Heritage membership club, saw a record 300 members’ cars join the display as part of the sell-out two-day Scramble event at the end of April which was attended by a capacity crowd of 11,000 attendees. The club welcomed a variety of content including a Healey by Caton on display outside Scramblers’ HQ in Building 94 on the Sunday, the Prodrive 2000 BTCC-winning Ford Mondeo on the Scramblers Lawn alongside a Playstation themed display, and a Drive-It day organised by Hagerty UK. Born from the success of the site’s public Scramble events, Scramblers hosts exclusive members-only gatherings on the final weekend of each month. These gatherings – or Scramblers Assemblies – celebrate a variety of themes, with hot hatches, 1990s Icons and British Classics featured to date. Dates…

A prize pot of £90,000 is up for grabs when Santa Pod Raceway presents its annual Doorslammers race in association with VP Racing Fuels, and entries from across Europe are expected to challenge for the record prize fund. 'Doorslammer’ is a drag racing term for any car with functioning doors, so no dragsters, altereds or roadsters are invited, but the entrants still pack a mean punch, and at the top level any saloon car resemblance may barely be skin-deep. In place of the usual, seeded qualifying ladder, elimination pairings are drawn at random before each knockout round until the last two contestants left standing dash for the cash. It’s truly a matter of 'run what ya brung… and hope ya brung enough.' Alongside the headline VP Racing Fuels Pro Doorslammer class,…

National Drive It Day was first launched in 2005 by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC). The event has taken on many different forms over the years as each club is given free rein to organise it how they wish. This year the event was held on 24th April, and I joined in as part of the Norfolk area of the Triumph Sports Six Club (TSSC). The event organisers for this club were focused on making the day as family-friendly and sociable as possible. To bring another element of fun to the event and make it about more than just driving the cars, the organisers devised a treasure hunt in which the attendees were encouraged to drive around various points of interest and visitor attractions looking for answers…

Although the most famous pre-war product from Austin has to be their Seven, the company offered a huge variety of models that covered all options from the 747cc baby Seven to the enormous 4016cc Twenty. The car we are looking at today comes from somewhere in the middle of that spread, being an Austin Light 12/4 which was added to the company range late in 1932. Whilst it utilised the chassis from the six-cylinder Light 12/6, it was powered by an inline 1535cc four-cylinder motor with an RAC horse power rating of 11.9. Whereas the 1496cc 12/6 engine was small for a six-cylinder unit, rather buzzy and therefore not very popular, the light 12/4's bigger straight-four running on a three-bearing crankshaft was quite different. Although basically an enlarged Austin Ten…

It’s the ultimate status symbol and one that will undoubtedly have the neighbours’ curtains twitching if you park such a car on your driveway. To fellow classic car owners, it perhaps deserves a bravery award for taking on a vehicle that not only costs a painful three-figure sum to fill up with petrol, but can easily cost a four- or five-figure sum to repair. Despite all this, owning a Rolls-Royce is on the bucket list for many people, and if you choose wisely, you can survive unscathed. One of the more affordable routes into RR ownership is via the Silver Shadow, which was manufactured for 15 years with total production reaching 40,991. There was also an equivalent model from Bentley, known as the Bentley T. The traditional four-door saloon was…

12-16Hp four-seat tourer let's start this whirlwind tour of Vauxhall history right back near the beginning. This is the prototype Vauxhall 12-16Hp four-seat tourer that was first registered in April 1906. The gentleman in the back is W.G. Gardner, who was joint Managing Director of Vauxhall, and the two elegantly-attired ladies enjoying a drive out into the countryside with him have been identified as his wife and daughter. The 12-16Hp was an advance for Vauxhall in that it featured a propshaft rather than chain drive. The model was current from 1906-1909, and a total of 85 were sold. Fitted with this Vauxhall-built tourer body it would have cost £375. The four-cylinder engine had a capacity of 2366cc and produced 23bhp initially, though these figures were increased in 1908 to 2537cc…

IPS, TRICKS AND NOSTALGIA FROM A LIFETIME IMMERSED IN OLD CARS ANDREW EVERETT Something odd happened the other day whilst driving my 1994 BMW 318Ti Compact, and it’s not the first time. In fact, it’s becoming increasingly common – young lads stop, stare, give the thumbs up and take pictures of it. Well, it’s only taken the thick end of 30 years for BMW’s ugly duckling to become cool and down with the kids! How did this happen? I mean, it seems like only last week they were just an old car, but yesterday whilst queuing in traffic, a couple of lads in a black Citroën C1 pulled alongside, gave me the thumbs up and sped off. Leaving a classic car show the weekend before, the Morris 1000s parped away…