Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2021 i Classic Car Mart

Welcome… Back to basics Much has been written recently about the growing popularity of more modern classics from the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s and indeed the Retro Cars section of this very magazine illustrates perfectly the appeal of the machinery from the period. Cars from this era are so often attainable without deep pockets but frequently offer fun no longer found in modern cars and are eminently practical as modern daily transport. Even if some of the cars we now regard as modern classics do make me feel my age: it seems like just last week that a man from Ford handed me the keys to a shiny new Mondeo ST220 on press loan. Which is perhaps why it’s good every so often to step back into the world of…

AUCTION NEWS REVIEW: BRIGHTWELLS, TIMED ONLINE, OCTOBER 28 Having spent a day viewing the Brightwells catalogue and even taking the Fiat Panda 4x4 for a spin round the car park, we followed the sale with interest since there were some quirky lots to be had. Chief among them was a Citroën BX in rare GTI 4x4 form, which as a non-runner made just £675, while a nicely preserved ’92 BX turbodiesel made £1085, but the 2CV-based Acadiane van went for £5051. Of the more traditional classics, a straight US-import MGB GT was a great way to get into a chrome-bumpered B but was unsold at £5150, while a South African import MGA at £16,100 was similarly appealing and a running Triumph Spitfire project made for an enticing starter classic at…

TWIN TEST: TVR CHIMAERA v BIG HEALEY SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE The Healey 3000 took a humble Austin engine and trounced some very exotic opposition, while TVR did the same thing three decades later with a Land Rover engine. We try to pick between these two traditional British bulldogs. Words and photography: Paul Wager At first sight the pair you see here couldn’t be more different: a delicate-looking Sixties design perched on skinny wire wheels and a squat fibreglass shape, all aggressive scoops and fat tyres. And yes, in their design and technology they’re miles apart but at the same time so very close. Both the Big Healey and the TVR Chimaera took a big saloon car engine and dropped it into a simple, lightweight chassis to very good effect. The…

JAGUAR XK140 MIDDLE CHILD The XK140 shares the spirit of the original XK sports car but offers useful practical upgrades over the XK120. If you’ve got the funds, here’s what you need to know. WORDS: PAUL GUINNESS With the XK120 of 1948-54 establishing Jaguar as a force to be reckoned with on the international sports car market, its shorter-lived successor – the XK140 – was designed to move the sector forward via an array of desirable upgrades. The newcomer was no less entertaining, of course, retaining Jaguar’s new-found reputation for power, performance and genuine driver appeal; but with some extra horsepower complemented by rack and pinion steering and improved suspension, the XK suddenly offered a touch more sophistication. The XK140’s three-year production run inevitably meant fewer sales than its predecessor,…

DATABASE: TRIUMPH STAG (1970-1977) DATABASE: TRIUMPH STAG (1970-1977) One of BL’s ‘nearly’ cars, the Triumph Stag offered a taste of the exotic even the Germans struggled to match but was a victim of the corporation’s other problems. WORDS: PAUL WAGER THE MARKETPLACE THE CARS THE BEGINNING THE BEGINNING It’s a paradox, the Triumph Stag. Its survival rate is one of the highest of all the ’60s and ’70s British classics, yet back in the day when they were still modern cars they gained a terrible reputation for mechanical fragility. Which, with the benefit of hindsight, it appears was somewhat undeserved and perhaps a product of the independent garage trade of the era not really being geared up towards an all-alloy twin-cam V8. Regardless of the car’s reputation as it aged,…

BUYING GUIDE: RANGE ROVER L322 THIRD ACT The third-generation Range Rover has been with us for over 20 years now and has earned its modern classic status. Here’s what you need to know. Words: Craig Cheetham On a cold and frosty evening in November 2001 at the Design Museum in London, a new chapter in luxury motoring was beginning That evening, Land Rover pulled the wraps off the third-generation Range Rover to a VIP audience and at the same time made the boldest statement yet about the brand: Land Rover was no longer about utilitarian functionality, but about upmarket motoring, the new Range Rover being the absolute epitome of that. It was the first entirely new model to be launched under the Green Oval since it was suckered into Ford’s…

FLYING SPARES If you're DIY-minded then there’s a lot you can do yourself on these cars and it won't be too long before you find yourself on first-name terms with the helpful sales team at Flying Spares. Starting out as a specialist dismantler, the firm has evolved over the last 25 years to offer owners the ideal choice between used parts, OEM-quality equivalents or original Bentley-branded products, as well as operating its own remanufacturing and reconditioning programme for mechanical items. Flying Spares can supply parts for any Rolls-Royce or Bentley from 1946 and our own Turbo R is already wearing a selection of their products. Without firms like this to support the Arnage, the cars would certainly be a whole lot more tricky to own and a sensible use of…

MARKET TRENDS ASTON MARTIN DB7 The entry-level Aston remains an affordable prospect. Just try to ignore the Escort bits. Words: Will Daniels The DB7 and the old question – “Should I or shouldn’t I?” – is a conundrum faced by many a motoring enthusiast swooning over those sleek lines and the badge cachet with its illustrious heritage. But, fundamentally is it a good buy? This is a simple enough question without a simple answer – every car is a little different and will have responded differently depending how it was built and how it’s been used and looked after in the intervening 26 years since the first six-cylinder cars rolled off the production line. As a result, the car has always had a mixed reception by the motoring enthusiast and…

LIVING WITH THE BENTLEY ARNAGE BENTLEY ARNAGE Does the Bentley Arnage, chequered history and all, make a worthy modern classic update for Turbo R owners? Words: Paul Wager No matter whether your taste in classic cars is Frogeye Sprite or ’50s Cadillac, it seems everybody has a soft spot for the Bentley Turbo R – even it seems those who would dismiss its all but identical Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit sibling. As we know from our own experience though, ownership does require commitment – or at least, it does if you want to keep a nice example looking good and free from irritating niggles. Rolls-Royce at the time was struggling financially and this shows in many areas of the cars now even the youngest is approaching its quarter century: weather strips…

ENDANGERED SPECIES: FORD MONDEO ST220 [2002-2007] COSWORTH REBORN You could argue the Mk3-based Mondeo ST220 is the ‘forgotten’ fast Ford. If it is, time to refresh your memory about just how brilliant this classy, understated performance machine really is. Words: Thomas Horner Over the decades, Ford has made plenty of go-faster family cars. It all started with the Lotus Cortina and was then built upon by the likes of the RS1800 and RS2000 Escorts, as well as Cosworth versions of the same compact model plus the Sierra too. There’s the whole exalted XR lineage to look at, as well, while today, the ST badge rules the roost in both the Fiesta and Focus families, with hatch and estate versions of the latter available in both petrol and diesel form. There’s…

TAILGATE KEEP IT LEAN Craig Cheetham considers a worthy technical advance abandoned in the face of diesel’s advance. The car industry is full of missed opportunities and over the past few weeks I’ve been putting one of them to the test. Toyota’s ‘Lean Burn’ engine came along in 1984, and by the early 1990s had been refined to operate as efficiently as possible – the paragon of such efficiency being the 1.8-litre derivative introduced to the Carina E in 1994. By using two inlet and two exhaust valves per cylinder, Toyota’s system used a series of butterflies to control the fuel to air mixture: drive it at full pelt (and in a Carina E, why would you?) and the butterflies open all the way up, it sucks in all the…

Classic Crossword 192 Across 3 _ Carriers Ltd, former name of AC Cars (4) 5 & 20 across System pioneered by the Citroen Traction Avant (5-5,5) 8 Berlinetta _, Ferrari’s replacement for the Daytona (5) 9 See 23 across 10 One way that sunroofs open (5) 12 German marque behind the huge 1930s DS8 Zeppelin (7) 15 Servicing premises or parking spots (7) 16 The Tickford Turbo was a version of this classic Ford coupé (5) 18 Fuel measurement relevant to MPG (6) 20 See 5 across 22 Former Belgian coachbuilder (6,4) 23 & 9 across Not a full-blown 4x4 (4-6) Down 1 A Lloyd model that became a Borgward in the early 1960s (8) 2 An old tyre manufactured for reuse (7) 3 SEAT people-carrier - close cousin of…

CLASSIC ROAD TEST: Mk3 CORTINA GREAT NEW TASTE The Mk3 Cortina dared to break the successful mould laid down by its predecessors, but was Ford’s risk rewarded? WORDS: JOE MILLER PHOTOGRAPHY: SIMON GOLDSWORTHY Come the late 1960s, Ford basically owned the UK car market: the small car to own was an Escort and if you wanted a sensible family saloon, you bought a Cortina. The Mk1 was a runaway success and the Mk2 Cortina went onto be Britain’s best-selling car, so you might imagine that when it came time for the third-generation Cortina, Ford would stick to the tried and tested formula of gently refining the existing product to maintain that mass appeal. But no, the Mk3 Cortina would be all-new and in many ways, a radical departure from the…

ROUND UP: CLASSIC ESTATES ESTATE OF PLAY SUVs may have replaced the estate car but there are still some practical classic load luggers around. We round up some favourites. WORDS: SAM SKELTON There aren’t many classics that are truly practical. Not if you have children and pets; pushchairs and Labradors don’t exactly fit into that MGB. And if you want a regular use classic with a need for space, the ideal solution is a classic estate car. Better still, because so many were worked to death during bangerdom a typical classic estate will be far less common than the equivalent saloon variant. When did you last see a Cortina estate? And yet Lotus saloons are everywhere… That doesn’t mean you have to be boring though. You don’t need to have…

OR MAYBE..? Paul Wager, Group Editor As you can read elsewhere in this issue, a recent chance to revisit the Big Healey proved how close in spirit it is to cars of an earlier time than the late-model BJ8 we featured – namely, the 1950s Jaguar XK. The Healey may lack the technical sophistication of the XK140 but on the road it’s a worthy opponent and no less stylish either. Like the Jaguar, the Healey isn't exactly cheap but it remains usefully less costly. Dave Youngs, Lancaster Insurance The purists in search of the original XK experience will value the XK120 most highly, which has naturally driven the values up, with the very similar-looking XK140 close behind. The third evolution of the formula, the XK150 remains usefully more affordable but…

RETRO RIVALS: AUDI A4 V ALFA 159 PREMIUM BOND The Alfa 159 built on the success of the 156, but is that enough to lift it above the might of Audi and its ‘Spanish Alfa’ cousin? Words: Will Daniels The B7 generation of Audi A4 was launched in 2008 and not replaced until 2011, continuing Audi’s somewhat ‘blocky’ styling, becoming more stylish with each generation, maintaining the essential lineage and DNA from the 1980s B4 series ‘80’ model. Fans seem to like this lineage, the quality of the fit and finish very high, improved with each generation, the model biting off a bigger slice of the BMW 3-series dominated market with every evolution of the model followed by the Merc C-Class, Alfa 159, Seat Exeo and Volvo models. The engine…