Innehållsförteckning för December 2022 från Classics World

Every quarter, Hagerty analysts monitor insured values, sale prices and auction results to gauge market trends and influences. Their UK Hagerty Price Guide has just undergone it’s 29th update, and what they term Everyman Classics have seen a slight increase. This index tracks 50 classic cars that are representative of the enthusiast market, cars that are more affordable and numerous than some of the other rarer models tracked. In the past 12 months, the Classic Index has risen by 3% overall, and while some cars have seen values increase sharply and others are similarly down, 30 of the 50 cars tracked moved less than 3% in either direction. Those moving down include the Jaguar E-Type S3 roadster which fell by an average of 9% and the Audi Quattro Ur which…

Caterham has reintroduced its heritage range following the launch of two new models – Super Seven 600 and Super Seven 2000. Ahead of the brand’s 50th anniversary next year, the latest editions take inspiration from the Caterham’s early Super Sevens introduced in the 1970s and popularised through the 1980s. These two new models offer two very different driving experiences. The Super Seven 600 is an accessible, pure, simple driving experience but at a lower speed – powered by a 660cc Suzuki turbo engine producing 84bhp, it achieves 0-60mph in 6.9 seconds. For those looking for more brutish power and faster speeds, the Super Seven 2000 features a 2000cc Duratec engine which generates 180bhp and registers 0-60mph in 4.8 seconds. All versions will be available in kit and fully built forms,…

Launched in 1975 as a 2+2 coupé and with a price tag of £8900, the XJ-S (the hyphen was dropped in 1991) with its flying buttress styling was controversial, especially when compared to the E-type it was replacing. More of a Grand Tourer than an out-andout sports car, the XJS (we’ll leave out the hyphen to avoid confusion) was initially powered by a 5.3-litre V12 engine, which didn’t bode well in the light of rising fuel prices and hyperinflation in the UK (20mpg if you were lucky). By 1981, a High Efficiency (HE) version of the V12 was launched, which promised to be 20% more fuel efficient. The standard black vinyl interior that had been the only option was also upgraded to a mixture of wood and leather, and the…

Morris Oxford Traveller Terry Burgess mounted a stout defence of the humble Morris Cowley in the August issue. This happy lady would seem to share his enthusiasm for the line, though hers is the more luxurious Morris Oxford Traveller – you can just about see the wooden framing on the side next to the little girl. The Series II Oxford was only in production from 1954-1956, before giving way to the Series III. That carried on with the woody format for the estate version, but the Series IV Traveller from 1957 was all-steel. The EML registration number was issued by Middlesex County Council from April to September 1955 so we can date the car fairly accurately, but we have no information on when this snap was taken, where it was…

On 1st June 1970, British Leyland invited the press to a six-day trial of a new 4x4 estate. There was a degree of surprise within the motor industry that the launch of such an important vehicle would take place at the Meudon Hotel in Cornwall, but earlier that year BL had spent so much on the debut of the Triumph Stag that there were only limited funds left for promoting the Range Rover. Rover had considered building a station wagon that offered greater comfort than the Land-Rover as early as 1951 with the RWD Road-Rover. Solihull eventually abandoned that project by the late 1950s, but in 1964 management seriously considered the possibility of an off-roader competing with the likes of the Ford Bronco in the US export market. The planned…

Over eight million Renault R3 and R4 models were produced between 1961 and 1994, in 17 different plants in 16 countries. The shape of the five-door car body never changed in 33 years, and the mechanical design changed only in detail. These are impressive statistics, but the Renault 4 never reached the iconic status of the less successful Mini, or the phenomenal Volkswagen Beetle. It didn’t register in the minds of the public in the same way as the Fiat 500 and the Citroën 2CV, despite being more than twice as successful as the Italian icon and nearly as successful as its French competitor. You would think it would at least get the credit for being the first mass-produced five-door hatchback, but the Renault 16 is more likely to receive…

The rather striking car pictured here is a Morris Marina, but obviously not just any Marina – this one is the convertible created by Crayford from the Coupé for the BL dealer, Mumfords in Plymouth. A rare survivor of a rare car and one which many enthusiasts will never have seen in the metal, it belongs to Tim York and we shall be having a full feature on it in due course. In the meantime, I am trailing it here because this very car will be on display at this year’s Classic Car Show at the NEC from 11th-13th November. So if you are going to be there, be sure to drop by the Morris Marina Owners Club & Ital Register stand and cast an admiring eye over it. The…

RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is taking place this year on Sunday 6th November, and one of the entrants has a most remarkable claim to fame – it is a one family owned car from new! It was 119 years ago that ‘Tramway King’ Sir George White, a Bristol-based businessman, stockbroker and later the founder of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, splashed out £750 on a sparkling new Panhard-Levassor as a generous 21st birthday present for his son, Stanley White. The French car remains in the White family to this very day in the hands of Stanley’s grandson – also Sir George White. In 1903, young Stanley was dispatched to Paris to collect the 2.4-litre four-cylinder machine, which came with a four-seater tonneau body by Labourdette and was…

An Aston Martin DB5 replica stunt car featured in No Time To Die (2021) has raised £2,922,000 for good causes in a charity auction at Christie’s to celebrate 60 years of the James Bond films. One of three special Aston Martin models included in the multimillion-pound charity auction, the replica DB5 donated by Aston Martin Lagonda was the star lot on the night, accelerating beyond the auctioneer’s estimate before being sold to a telephone bidder. This stunt car is one of eight exclusively built and engineered by Aston Martin for No Time To Die, with each car uniquely modified for their individual role on screen. The car sold at Christie’s features operational gadgets including a rotating digital number plate, retractable headlights, pop-out machine guns and firing prop bomblets. In the…

There were some stand-out results in CCA's September 24th sale, including a staggering £52,857 for a lovely 1964 Morris Mini Cooper 1071 S. This amazing find had just 39,141 miles from new, spent 56 years in the same ownership and had just emerged from 30 years in hibernation. Alfie Moon’s Capri from the BBC's long running East Enders TV soap, driven by actor Shane Richie as Alfie Moon, also did very well. Used in the programme between 2010 and 2016, it was estimated at £12,000-£15,000 but sold for £20,025. Other cars to catch our eye were a 1971 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Convertible, beautifully restored and seemingly cheap at £22,500, plus a 1969 Citroën ID19 Pallas which was an original UKsupplied RHD car indicating just 21,679 miles which cost its new…

My November copy came through the letter box yesterday, and was a good read as always. The bunch of keys at the foot of Phil White’s comment on page 20 made me realise just how old my small collection of Land Rover Discoverys is. G526 WAC is a factory press car first registered in October 1989, and was one of the 86 G-WACs used at the Press and Dealer launch on Plymouth Hoe that month. With the Discovery name still used in the Land Rover line-up, I suppose motorists forget that the first models are 33 years old.  There are not many three-door Discoverys seen in the supermarket car parks these days, but Land Rover enthusiasts are trying to save some of these rusty old Discos. In 2007 a search…

As I explained in the Letters pages last issue, I have owned my MGB for more than 46 years – my car is a 1967 MGB Mk1 that was assembled in Australia. You asked about any stories, and I do have a couple which might be helpful to some of your readers, particularly those who do not have a lot of experience with the MGB. This car is on its second engine. The original unit was replaced in 1984 after what I considered to be a major problem. Symptoms were extremely rough running and huge clouds of exhaust smoke, so I took the car to my local specialist and asked for a replacement reconditioned engine. About a week later I picked up the car. A great engine had been supplied…

I don't have any personal history with Mk2 Cortinas. I remember seeing them around when I was a kid, but the last of them would already have been three years old by the time I started work in a body shop at the age of 16. They used to come in with accident damage, or even with rust issues already, and I would work on them, but I never had one of my own. In fact, I didn't even like them! I described them as a cigarette box with a matchbox stuck on top. Back in the day they couldn't hold a candle to things like the Jaguars and Morgans we would also be working on. Your view does tend to soften over time of course, and there is no…

Triumph were inspired to create their Spitfire to a large extent by the success of the Austin-Healey Sprite of 1958, a car which carved out a whole new niche for cheap-as-chips but entertaining sports cars. Not that this was the sole influence, because thoughts at Canley had already been musing on the need for a smaller and cheaper sports car to sit alongside their TRs, and in the Herald of 1959 they had in place most of the building blocks that they needed. Giovanni Michelotti in Turin, Triumph’s go-to stylist of this period, set to work in 1960, carving up a 948cc Herald to create a prototype called Bomb. The chassis was actually altered considerably, with a shorter wheelbase and the Herald’s outriggers and perimeter rails being ditched. Instead, the Spitfire’s…

PART 6 The engine that Reliant developed for its new Regal in 1962 was an overhead valve, four-cylinder, water-cooled in-line four, made from aluminium to keep weight down. Initially it was 598cc (nearly always referred to as 600), and that is what was fitted to our car in 1968. Later that year, the engine was bored out to 701cc to boost power from 26bhp to 29bhp. October 1972 saw a further increase to 748cc for the Rebel and the new Robin, with a final stretch to 848cc in 1975 that carried it through to the end of Robin and Rialto production in 2002. Despite laying claim to be Britain’s first mass-produced all-aluminium engine, in general it is of conventional design. There are wet cylinder liners (which means they are surrounded…

You might not think it to look at today’s Mercedes product, but the was a time when its cars were known for their bluff good looks, unfussy styling and a distinct air of quality. That time can be given quite distinct parameters – it is the period between 1975 and 1999, when Bruno Sacco was responsible for how the Stuttgart carmaker’s output presented itself to the world. Although Italian by birth, Sacco had been rising through the ranks at Mercedes since he joined it in 1959. By the time he became head of the Daimler-Benz styling centre in Sindelfingen, he had thoroughly digested the company’s design and engineering culture and was able to oversee its rendition in some truly exceptional automobiles. Sacco expressed the central tenet of this in a…

There are various different views on where classic car values are heading, but as everyone is entitled to my opinion, this is how I see it. New cars are increasingly a pain in the bum to use. The latest Golf (surely just an ordinary car?) has touch screen controls, but to what end? Nonsense like lane departure warning and correction, auto braking and self parking are for people who can’t drive, simple as that. To my mind the height of car technology was ABS braking, plus maybe traction control, automatic air conditioning, power steering and cruise control. More than that you do not need. Then we have the sorry spectre of car companies flushing away their heritage with cars like the Chinese-built Lotus SUV, frontwheel drive Renault-engined Mercedes and British…

Out of more than 80 entries from private owners for the Pride of Ownership, 20 finalists have been selected for their diversity, history and, in some cases, rarity. The oldest of the finalists is the 1938 Austin 10 Cambridge featured in the October issue of Classics Monthly, while the youngest is Aaron Patel’s 1998 Bentley Turbo R. In between is a mix of ages. There are seven cars representing the 1960s including Adrian Liepins’ 1960 TVR Grantura (once called ‘the worst car I've ever driven’ by the late Jim Clark OBE), and Ian Croft’s 1968 Lotus Elan previously owned by racing driver Graham Hill. Also from the 1960s are John Sarrington's 1963 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud LWB, Mike Pim-Keirle's 1965 MGB, Simon Stephen's 1969 Triumph Vitesse, Christopher Bailey's 1964 Gilbern…

Last Saturday I went to pick up my Jaguar from Hepworth International who had been working on it. I immediately saw a strange looking 'origami' vehicle and was told that it was a V12 E-Type. Wondering who would do that to an E-Type, I picked my car up and went home via the newsagent to pick up a copy of Jaguar World. On scanning the magazine I was astounded to see the very car that was in Hepworth's. The car is the Guyson designed by William Towns for Jim Thompson following a crash. Although two were made, this is the sole survivor. On the Monday I went back to see more and found that the car is still in the same family and in for a full restoration. Do you…

BIO: Iain Ayre’s automotive enthusiasms span everything from Minis to Bentleys. He has prototyped several car designs without commercial success, and has written 18 books on random motoring subjects. He continues to avoid getting a proper job. One of the aspects of repatriated British automotive life to which I am not looking forward is rampant British rust. It’s been an eye-opener looking at how my cars in British Columbia did not rust. And that was very weird, as my house was on the lee side of a bluff that overlooked the Pacific – the sea was about 500ft away both horizontally and vertically. I should have been getting salt-breeze-based crusty rust, but – nothing. I’ve seen salt-breeze rust in action because I once witnessed the dragging out from a seaside…

This charming little car is a Talbot Samba Cabriolet. Sometimes, an introduction like that is all we need before launching into the story of the car and its lucky owner. With a Morris Minor, a Mini, an Escort or a VW Beetle for example, the model is so well known that there is little need to fill in any of the background first. However, while the Talbot Samba will be familiar to anyone over the age of 40 with an interest in cars, both the Talbot marque and the Samba model have complicated and in some cases convoluted histories, so perhaps you will excuse me if I take a little time here to set the scene first, especially if I promise to bring you the condensed version rather than the…

PART 4 You’ve got to admire the staying power of professional mechanics, many of whom have been stuck with nightmare jobs that result in a catalogue of leaking seals, failed components and the knock-on effect of problem after problem. Yet our MGB GT is undoubtedly simple by comparison to modern cars, so we were frequently encouraged by the team at MJ Motors (the workshop where space and a twopost ramp were made available) with the prediction that we’d have our BGT back up and running by lunchtime. Which lunchtime that was, we still don’t know! After successfully removing the engine and gearbox (see the last issue of CM for more details), we wanted to replace the rear main oil seal because we suspected it was the cause of an oil…

PART 9 Our project series may be coming to an end this issue, but the project Rover itself is not yet ready for a triumphant return to the road. However, having covered quite extensively the bodywork repairs on the offside that have included repairs to the C-pillar, inner and outer wheelarches, the body mounting plate and particularly the rear corner of the boot floor, Alan Denne now has to repeat that work on the nearside. And while the nearside is not as bad as the offside, the techniques and the processes will be the same so there is little point in us repeating them all in the magazine for a second time. It is also fair to say that time has caught up with us. We started work well in…

‘Although it was a good many years ago now, I still vividly recall the ride I had in the Humber Sceptre V8 as though it was yesterday,’ says Clive Harrington, son of Clifford who ran Harrington Coachbuilders based in Hove, East Sussex. ‘To keep me occupied while my father was in a meeting with senior Rootes executives, I was taken for a run in this highly unusual car, which I subsequently learnt was a prototype into which a Chrysler V8 engine had been fitted. The performance was totally dramatic. We drove down a dual carriageway on the outskirts of the city and although I was used to performance cars such as the Hartwell Stage 3 Sunbeam Harrington Le Mans which my father had driven up to Ryton, the acceleration between…

Clive Cussler, the international bestselling author of thrillers featuring the classic car-driving character Dirk Pitt, also collected cars himself. In 2006 he opened a museum near the mile-high city of Denver, Colorado. The 100+ car collection focuses on Concours d’Elegance quality 1920s and 1930s European and American luxury marques, but also featured are 1950s American convertibles and whatever else struck Cussler’s fancy at the time, often influenced by the plot of his latest page-turner. Cussler’s books often featured images of classic cars, either in a front cover illustration or making a cameo appearance in the author photograph at the back. In a novel twist, many of the cars in the museum are displayed with the book in which they appeared. I once met Cussler at a concours event at the…