Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2022 i Classic Car Mart

To my mind, Ford’s recent announcement that the Fiesta nameplate is to be retired is a pretty big deal. Not only will its demise after 47 years reflect the huge changes going on in the motoring industry, but we’ll be losing a car that’s pretty much defined the supermini for as long as we can remember. Naturally, it’s led to an outpouring of nostalgia, with me just one of the many that will mourn its passing. Over my driving career, I’ve had contrasting Fiesta experiences. My current daily is a 2020 Mk8 ST, which if you ignore the slightly iffy reputation, is an absolutely tremendous car in almost every respect. However, around 15 years ago I drove an exceptionally battered 1995 Fiesta 1.6 Si that I paid £150 for. It…

Aston Martin Works, the heritage division of the world-famous British marque, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Aston Martin V8 – the model that shaped the company’s image throughout the 1970s and well beyond. Arriving in 1972, shortly after David Brown’s sale of Aston Martin to Company Developments Ltd, the new V8 replaced the DBS V8 – amodel that had already hit the headlines as the company’s first eight-cylinder model. The Aston Martin V8 swapped its predecessor’s angular nose for a more purposeful front end that, together with some subtle styling changes elsewhere, gave the new car a much more muscular look. Key to the new aesthetics were the arrival of seven-inch quartz iodine headlamps and a black mesh grille, while the return of an open ‘power bulge’ on…

W ithFord confirming that the Fiesta nameplate will finally be dropped next summer, there’s understandably been an outpouring of emotion and affection for its longrunning supermini. But while it’s the Mk1 and Mk2 cars that tend to be remembered with nostalgic fondness and the Mk7 and Mk8 cars that continue to receive plenty of acclaim among pundits, we shouldn’t forget the importance of the Mk3. Not only did it propel the Fiesta to the top rung of the UK sales charts for the very first time, but it also marked the transition of the sporty halo model finally going from lukewarm to hot – or from madras to vindaloo, as Ford put it. Following its UK launch in 1977, it took the Fiesta a while to warm up. Early on,…

W hilewe all love classic cars, we all know that the winter isn’t the nicest period through which to run one. Corrosion can run riot, the heater might not be good enough and the demister might not demist. There are reasons why so many of us have a modern car for winter, even if we drive classics daily in summer. But it doesn’t have to be that way – as the 11 choices we’ve made below all show. Regardless of your chosen era, there’s a classic suitable for winter use provided you buy well and make sure to stay on top of its foibles. Tempted? Read on… VW GOLF MK2 It might be an obvious choice, but the Volkswagen Golf Mk2 has become an everyday classic favourite for the simple…

REPORTING ON: JAGUAR XKR “That’s your idea of carbon offsetting is it?” laughed a passing neighbour recently as I plugged in a newly-arrived electric company car. I hadn’t thought about it that way before but it seems as good a way as any to justify the arrival of our new Jaguar XKR on my drive – the very same car that appears as part of our coupe twin test from page 30. A 2003 example, it boasts the 4.2-litre supercharged V8 and a selection of options from Jaguar’s R Performance options range, notably the massive 350mm Brembo brakes with four-pot callipers and the 20-inch Detroit wheels. Inside we’ve got the rare two-tone leather in black and Cranberry, with the Alpine premium sound system and the rare factory-fitted sat nav... which…

PRICE: £12,495 The rubber-bumper MGB has long been unfairly maligned for being dynamically and aesthetically inferior to the chrome-bumper version. But all the negative talk about the bumpers, increased ride height and body roll did little to harm the MGB’s sales when new – some of its best sales years were during the rubber bumper era. As a classic, the rubber bumper cars have traditionally been valued lower in terms of both esteem and price, yet there are plenty of them still around, providing practical and likeable service for thousands of satisfied owners. Even when clad in rubber, painted a bright primary colour and containing ‘deckchair’ pattern seats, the MGB is still one of the best value-for-money classics out there. What you don’t see, however, is all that many faithfully…

A new heritage programme known as Alfa Romeo Classiche has been launched, enabling owners of classic and historic Alfas to access a range of different services. It can offer owners a Certificate of Origin, a Certificate of Authenticity, and even restoration services. The Certificate of Origin is particularly useful, providing a run-down of any Alfa Romeo via its chassis number. The service provides a review against the marque’s production registers and then issues a certificate confirming the year of production, model spec, engine serial number, plus original exterior and interior details. To order a Certificate of Origin for your Alfa, visit fcaheritage.com/en-uk/classicservices/alfa-romeo-certificate-origin.…

Some 47 years after its European launch, the Fiesta is set to disappear from the Ford range by next summer. Despite years of sustained market domination, the Fiesta no longer plays a role in the UK’s top ten best-seller list, while its main rival – the Vauxhall Corsa – continues to dominate the sales charts. The Fiesta’s fall from grace is Europe-wide, with 2022 sales (to the end of August) being 45 per cent down on last year. In August alone, the Fiesta failed to even make the European top 50 list, selling just 2735 units throughout Europe that month. Since it first went on sale in mainland Europe in 1976, nearly five million Fiestas have been sold and it has constantly ranked among the top UK sellers. It first…

AUCTION ROUND-UP Readers could be forgiven for a sense of deja-vu when we talk about a challenging financial backdrop on these pages once again, but it’s increasingly clear to see that auctions haven’t escaped a tightening of belts. As recent results have revealed, the clamour to snap up each and every available classic that seemed to prevail as we weaved in and out of the pandemic has significantly softened. However, there have still been some very robust performances out there. Once again, that robustness has been evident for the ‘right’ cars – vehicles that are the best of their breed thanks to provenance, condition, mileage or rarity, or perhaps a combination of these factors. WB & Sons’ latest sale on October 29 featured another superb line-up of sporting heroes, traditional…

W heneverwe report on a car or project by British Leyland, phrases like “right car, wrong time” or “what might’ve been” seem inevitable. The ADO17 1800 was one such story – despite its impressively spacious cabin, clever engineering and smooth Hydrolastic suspension, a lack of final development, confused market placement, ungainly styling, compromised driving position and poor reliability meant it sold barely half the projected figures. “IT WAS A SUPERB ALL-ROUND PACKAGE AND OPTIMISM WAS VERY HIGH FOR ITS SUCCESS" Its replacement, codenamed ADO71, was aimed at righting those wrongs. It would be launched in March 1975 as the 18-22 Series, wearing the badges and trimmings of three BL brands: Wolseley, Austin and Morris. Like its predecessor it was f ront-wheel drive and cleverly packaged, offering the same 1.8-litre B-Series…

P ennedby Giorgetto Giugiaro and built by Karmann, the first Scirocco was a sharply styled coupe that both preceded and proved to be a popular alternative to the Golf it shared a platform with, so it was understandable that VW would want to build on its success. The Mk2 would be an in-house design this time, and while it borrowed the platform from its predecessor, the larger body was 10 per cent more aerodynamic and improved passenger space. Launched in March 1981, it arrived in the UK the following year and offered buyers a choice of three models – CL, GL and GTI. Power, performance and equipment levels improved as you went up the range, and 1983 saw further revisions as the GL and GTI received larger 1781cc engines, producing…

W henLotus wanted to introduce a model that sat beneath the likes of the Esprit they decided on a reboot of the Elan name. But there was a surprise for the marque faithful, with the new wedge-shaped design adopting a f ront-wheel drive layout. It was a decision some traditionalists struggled to accept, but in practice the handling was superb and remains a high-point of Elan M100 ownership today. Launched in 1989, the Series 1 was offered in normally-aspirated or turbocharged form, although the modest price difference ensured most plumped for the latter. Clothed in a body designed by Peter Stevens, there was a lot to like about the new Lotus even if a rival in the shape of the Mazda MX-5 arguably contributed to limited sales. Just 3855 –…

A new report investigating the carbon footprint of classic cars registered in the UK has revealed that their total annual CO2 emissions represent just 0.22 per cent of those from the entire UK transport sector. The report, Quantifying Classic Car Emissions 2022, was collated by automotive PR agency, loop, and included all cars over 30 years of age – the same definition of classics as used by FIVA, the international federation for historic vehicles. There are currently 874,083 such cars registered in the UK, 461,515 of which are declared SORN. According to loop's findings, an average classic car’s annual emissions are comparable to a single round-trip flight from London to New York, a typical three-day Christmas for one person, or the equivalent of drinking three lattes a day. “Assigning a…

Threequarters of a century on from the XK120, and more than 60 years after the launch of the E-Type, Jaguar’s final sports car is about to be retired. The F-Type roadster and coupe will be discontinued by the end of 2023, and with a new line-up of high-end allelectric Jaguars set to go on sale from 2025, it’s thought the company has no current plans for another low-slung coupe or convertible. The loss of the F-Type, which launched in 2013 and effectively replaced the long-running XK, will mark the end of the traditional Jaguar sports car after 75 years. The move is certain to disappoint marque enthusiasts around the world. But to ensure the Jaguar sports car exits in style, JLR has announced an ‘F-Type 75’ edition, sitting at the…

1970S SPORTS SALOONS FORD ESCORT RS2000 (1973-1980) The original RS2000 adopted Ford’s recently introduced ‘Pinto’ engine, making 100bhp at a lower rpm and on a lower compression ratio than the highly-strung 115bhp RS1600 with its 16-valve BDA unit. This made it both more affordable and more practical as a road car, whilst still looking the part. After a brief hiatus, the RS2000 returned in Mk2 guise, now with a unique slanted nose, polyurethane grille and quad headlamps. While Ford’s works rally teams fielded the RS1600 and subsequent RS1800, the RS2000 was lauded as a desirable and affordable ‘pocket rocket’ for the man on the street, teaming strong performance, agile tail-happy handling and fashionable looks with sturdy and easy to service mechanicals. Rarity and classic looks mean the Mk1 RS2000 generally…

As someone who was there, what a time the ’90s was to be alive. Not only did we still have Brit Pop and Blockbuster Video but Freddos still cost a mere 10p. The decade then saw the introduction of important technology, including mobile phones, the internet and those infuriating Tamagotchi virtual pets. It’s also when the British sports car market had a resurgence with several new and exciting models making their debut during the era. Two of most important were the Aston Martin DB7 from 1993 and the Jaguar XKR that arrived five years later. As big, powerful coupes, they ruled the roads like Pulp and Blur did the airways. Yet despite coming from two different manufacturers, they shared much of the same DNA, making them a comparable choice today.…

Whetherdeemed long-serving or the-tooth, the SZ-generation Rolls-Royce and Bentley models certainly had a good innings. They had remained in production for the best part of 18 years, and even then, both essentially used an extensive facelift of the old SY platform dating back to 1965. However, they couldn’t go on forever, and when the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph and its Bentley Arnage cousin arrived as their replacements, the newcomers would break with tradition in more ways than one. Launched in 1998, both would differ from their predecessors by having engines provided by a third-party vendor, and bodies built at the Crewe factory. But even more notably, they would be launched in the middle of an ownership takeover tussle between two German giants that would ultimately have radical repercussions for their longevity.…

PRICE: £17,950 On the face of it, a Morgan is not what you’d think of first when considering a practical classic, but an advantage of the Morgan’s traditional construction was the ease with which the capacity of the standard two-seater could be doubled. The Four-Seat Tourer was always a minor player in terms of sales, but was useful enough to not only remain in the catalogue across eight decades but to consistently sell between a dozen and 50 examples per year – so, while they are unusual, they are far from rare by Morgan standards. This 1977 4/4 Four-Seater offers other examples of a classic Morgan’s surprising practicality, too. Despite being a ’70s car, the burgundy paint with black leather seats, the leather bonnet strap and the steel disc wheels…