Hagerty Drivers Club Issue 2 Spring 2025

DRIVERS CLUB

LIST 2025 BULLMARKET

Whattobuynext? Hagerty’sexpertanalysis couldhelpyoutodecide

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You’re already a part of the HDC family, but have you tapped into all the exclusive benefits waiting for you? Activate your portal login today and take advantage of incredible savings, competitions, and community events designed just for you!

Exciting competitions & exclusive offers:

• Win an MGB! Enter for your chance to drive home in this classic car.

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WELCOME

ISSUE

WHO TO CONTACT

HAGERTY DRIVERS CLUB

MEMBERSHIP

hdc@hagerty.co.uk

www.hagerty.co.uk/drivers-club 0333 323 1138

REV UP YOUR REWARDS

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It’s that special time of year for classics

The days are growing longer, so it’s time to get our old cars and

By Mark Roper

bikes on the road

WHAT A PLEASURE TO NOT ONLY BE welcoming you to the second edition of the Hagerty Drivers Club magazine, but to also be welcoming in spring.

Winter always seems particularly harsh for classic car and motorcycle enthusiasts such as us, so often depriving us of time driving or riding our beloved machines. Unless, that is, you’re a more hardy type who keeps going whatever the weather; we certainly saw a fair few of you at the Hagerty HQ at Bicester Motion in early January during the Scramble. Wow!

Otherwise, though, it’s now time to be reviving your classics, which is a satisfying ritual in itself. The mechanical checks, the fingers-crossed initial fire-up of the engine, the satisfying first clean of the year... and then the excitement of that first drive or ride of the year. Wonderful!

Much of the ethos behind the Hagerty Drivers Club is about using our classics – the clue really is in the name – and meeting friends and fellow enthusiasts. It’s what makes this hobby so special.

We’re keen to act on the ‘Club’ part of

our name, too, by bringing you together at special events, many of which will be exclusive to Hagerty Drivers Club members. Announcements to follow soon via our regular HDC newsletter.

We also strive to support our members with meaningful discounts from a wide variety of HDC partners, such as 15 percent off with Motul, ten percent with Tyredox and 7.5 percent with Motaclan, as well as a £100 cashback deal with Fast n Funded.

Another huge part of what Hagerty does is to monitor the prices of collector vehicles, using a wide range of sources. Once a year, this culminates in the in-depth Hagerty Bull Market List, revealing the classic cars that are likely to be the best value over the coming years.

The Bull Market List is the lead story in this issue, with a range of classics that I think will surprise many. Due to current market trends, there are a few established icons that are now more affordable to enthusiasts, while other entries are just emerging from the doldrums to reveal renewed appeal for car fans.

We’re also committed to covering classic motorcycles, and you’ll find a great article by former Practical Sportsbikes magazine editor Jim Moore on the up-and-coming machines of the 1980s. It’s a decade that, in hindsight, saw an absolute transformation in motorcycling – and yet many of the bikes are still reasonably priced.

These are only two of the many highlights in this issue. Dive in – and please do let us know what you’d like to see more of and what you’d like to see less of. This is your magazine after all. You can email us at hdc@hagerty.co.uk.

MARK ROPER Managing director of Hagerty International and chairman

of the Historic and Classic Vehicles Alliance.

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ADVERTISING PRODUCTION

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ACCOUNTS

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PRODUCED BY Hothouse Media on behalf of Hagerty Drivers Club

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Geoff Love

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MANAGING EDITOR Sarah Bradley

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Peter Allen

DESIGN Mal Bailey

PRINTING Buxton Press

© Hothouse Publishing Ltd. Hagerty Drivers Club and associated logos are registered trademarks of Hagerty. All rights reserved. All material in this magazine, whether in whole or in part, may not be reproduced, transmitted or distributed in any form without the written permission of Hagerty Inc and Hothouse Publishing Ltd.

The Hagerty Drivers Club UK magazine is published four times a year by Hothouse Publishing Ltd on behalf of Hagerty. Great care has been taken throughout the magazine to be accurate, but the publisher cannot accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions that might occur. The editors and publishers of this magazine give no warranties, guarantees or assurances, and make no representations regarding any goods or services advertised in this edition.

COLUMNS

24 Paul Cowland on why you should run with the bulls but cuddle the bears

26 Charlotte Vowden relays the simple joy of travelling to destinations unknown

28 New 911 GT3 not enough for you? Henry Catchpole is pleased it’s still here at all

30 Bull Market List 2025: The ten classics that Hagerty believes are great value

Forget BMW’s E30 – here is why the E36 defined the M3 as a road

fond

Classic choices: Getting back into the saddle with 1980s motorcycles

The people from Hagerty pile on the miles in their own classic cars

CEO McKeel Hagerty on why, with old cars, you get out what you put in

Make the most of the Hagerty Drivers Club

Ask us questions, send details of your classics and, most important of all, Rev Up Your Rewards!

WITH THE HAGERTY DRIVERS CLUB, the more you put in, the more you’ll get out – and there are huge benefits to interacting. Remember, these are early days for the HDC and it will be tailored to your needs. All we ask for is your feedback.

What you can do:

● Tell us what you think of the club, of the discounts and of the magazine. The more feedback, the more we can ensure that the Hagerty Drivers Club works for you.

● Use the feedback form on the Hagerty Drivers Club website (scan the QR code with your phone). Even filling out the feedback form counts as one interaction for your Rev Up Your Rewards programme.

● Send us your classic car and bike stories. We would love to feature them. We’ll send a professional photographer and assign a journalist to tell your story. It’s always a fun experience – and you will get to see your classic in print. Write to hdc@hagerty.co.uk.

● Use the Ask Hagerty questions and answers service. You can ask anything related to the classic car or bike world, and we’ll put your question to an expert. Each submission adds to Rev Up Your Rewards.

● Visit the Hagerty Drivers Club Members’ Area at any Hagerty event for a comfortable spot to rest, to chat with fellow members or simply to grab a drink.

● If you’re a Gran Turismo 7 fan, then make use of your exclusive access to a Hagerty Legend car. These rare models can’t be sold or traded in the game, making them true collector’s items.

● Come along to one of our Hagerty Hangout events. They’re free to you and a car-load of friends – and they’re great fun.

● Attend one of our Hagerty Drivers Club member-only events.

● Make use of the exclusive discounts from a carefully selected range of automotive brands. Plus, save at Costa Coffee, National Trust, Legoland and more.

● The more you engage with the HDC, the more points you rack up with Rev Up Your Rewards. Four interactions within a 12month period result in a reward.

Scan here to Ask Hagerty anything to do with the classic car and bike world.

Scan here to give us Your HDC feedback – what you love and what you don’t.

Estimate:

Estimate: €200.000 - €250.000

Estimate: €1.200.000 - €1.500.000

Estimate:

1948 Ferrari 166 Spyder Corsa by Ansaloni

€5.500.000 - €7.500.000

1965 Ferrari 275 GTS

€1.500.000 - €1.800.000

1949 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport Coupe by Dubos Frères

1958 Lancia Aurelia B24S Convertible

Silver dream machines

The first-ever water-cooled Porsche has earned its own place in history, as well as in the hearts of two very passionate owners

Words Wayne Goodman Photography @lifeinthefastwayne

THE OWNER

IN 1997, WHEN I WAS 14, AND MY friend in this story was only three, the world was introduced to the first-ever water-cooled Porsche 911 at the LA Motor Show. This meant nothing to me at the time. In fact the only Porsche ‘event’ I remember from my early years was seeing the Boxster 986 at the British Motor Show, and loving its silver paint over a red interior. By the time the millennium rolled round I was a driver myself, and I went to the cinema to watch Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie in Gone in 60 Seconds. This introduced me to the 996, and to the 911 in general, I guess. In the opening scene, a car chase ensues after a 996 Carrera is ‘boosted’ from a Porsche dealership in LA. The car smashing through a huge window, silver with classy five-spoke alloys, is referred to as ‘Tina’, and according to the internet it was actually a 930 with a 996-mimicking glassfibre body. However, that made no difference to me: seeing this beautiful automotive art on the big screen, I knew I’d try to own something like it one day.

Fast-forward to 2024, and a multitude of cars later my life took a rather unusual turn. I was at a Hampson Auctions sale, and I was looking for what I’d call a ‘wafter’. Something big and comfortable for all the motorway miles I cover, in which I could just relax and isolate myself from the bad drivers around me. As the lots went through I missed a cheap old Jag, followed by a 1987 Bentley, but then something else caught my eye. It was a 911 996 Carrera 4S convertible. It was neither a wafter nor in my intended price range, but before I knew

THIS SPREAD With a roof or without, the 996 Carrera 4S makes for a cracking ownership experience. Just ask Wayne, who has many great roadtrip plans for his...

what was happening I’d bid and bought it. Filled with anxiety, and with “what did you just do?” running through my head, it was too late now. Most people would, of course, have a 996 inspected before purchase, and they’d never even consider impulse buying one, but something compelled me to go for it. I’m told there’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity – and I’ll let you make up your own mind which applies here.

However, 1800-plus miles later, I’m very pleased with my purchase. Firstly, that silver paint reminds me of the Gone in 60 Seconds car, and indeed the British Motor Show Boxster I saw as a teen. The manual gearbox is just perfect; rev-matching and heel and toe’ing in this Porsche are so very satisfying when you ‘get on it’.

The convertible aspect of the car, while probably not so purist, allows me to dream of those rare few minutes that suggest we just might be in the midst of a British summer. The Cinnamon trim will certainly not be to everyone’s taste, but I absolutely love just how unusual it is. It stands out from the crowd, and reminds me, again, of that silver-on-red 986 I saw all those years ago. In a world of cars with black holes for interiors, I like that it stands out.

In terms of its driveability, I’m pleasantly surprised. I once had a 2004 986.2 Boxster S, and I was told by the internet “they’re basically the same car”. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Of course, the engine is in a different place, but I think the fact that the 986 and 996 share some body panels and interior components leads people to believe they’re very similar overall.

The Boxster’s two boots make it very practical, and that mid-engine adds to its dynamics. However, I find my 996 C4S has a faster steering ratio than its counterpart, it’s still very practical with storage behind the front seats, and overall it’s more ‘honed’. You can really feel the 911 history in the car.

The thing I like most about the cabin is the five imposing dials. I know some day a reading on one of these will lead to a £5000 garage bill, but the way they direct your eyeline to the horizon of the road goads you to tackle every drive with enthusiasm. The ‘200mph’ indicator occasionally catches your eye as well... Even a trip to the supermarket feels like an event.

So that’s my 996 story so far, but unbeknown to me, my friend James Ralston

(@james.ra1ston) had been contemplating a C4S for several years, and looking seriously for more than 12 months. He’s always loved the timeless design, road presence and wide rear arches, and for the money he thinks it’s just a joke for what you get in comparison to the modern market.

The week I bought my C4S Cab, James was working in Bali. Well I say working, but it seems he found some time to search the Auto Trader classifieds and wound up coming across his perfect C4S Coupé. Silver with black trim, sunroof delete, white dials, manual gearbox, interior crests... and the car had covered a mere 10,000 miles in the past ten years.

For some, the dream is driving to the south of France for the weekend. For James, who works in London, jumping in a Porsche and grabbing a coffee in Notting Hill so he can escape the rat race for an hour or two is what he needs. I know what he means, and I’m sure a lot of petrolheads share this feeling. Work, family, stress, anxiety, bills: it all disappears when you’re behind the wheel of a nice car, even for a short period of time.

James contacted his brother Stuart, and they decided to go 50:50 on the purchase if the deal seemed right. So his next call was to the seller, ePorsch, which sent him a walkaround video from the other side of the world. Instead of haggling on the price, he asked the dealer to make the C4S as perfect as possible. This worked well: ePorsch has been great, even covering a £3000 bill to prep the car before James took delivery.

In December 2024, once he’d swapped Bali for Great Britain, an enclosed transporter was arranged to deliver the C4S. On arrival, the trailer doors opened and

‘There is something about these cars that just begs you to drive them’

there it was, in stunning order. He was blown away, not only by the condition of the car, but because it has a real meaning to him.

Ten years ago, when James was just 20 years old, he was diagnosed with cancer –and the C4S is his ‘ten year clear’ present to himself. It’s made even more sentimental because he gets to share it with his brother. I can think of no better reason for someone to treat themselves to a car such as this, and I hope to tag along on some adventures with him in my own Porsche.

James’ friend Ollie Wood come over for delivery of the car. Ollie is a real Porsche aficionado – just the type of guy I should have had around when I bought my 996 at the auction. Do I regret my purchase, though? Not a bit, and I have realised there’s something about these cars that just begs you to drive them, no matter the season.

So what’s next? Well, James wants to whack a ski rack on the roof for a mountain adventure, while I dream of taking the car to the Tunisian side of the Sahara. Eight hours after I bought it I flew to that very place, and the whole time I was there I imagined driving it roof down, music up, making memories with the fantastic locals. I really hope to make this a reality soon.

THIS PAGE Gone in 60 Seconds and an early Motor Show Boxster provided the inspo for Wayne’s dream machine.

These Porsches are 20 years old, and while I’m sure there will always be bills, the time is now. You never know what’s around the corner, and that just makes me want to enjoy a car such as this as much as I can. I feel like its custodian – and in the words of Matt Farah, I reckon there’s many “years of interesting” in this one.

The story of how this pristine and much-loved example of Fiat’s family-focused 128 was passed from father to son

Words Simon Hucknall

Photography Matt Howell

THE OWNER

ON APRIL 20, 1977 MY DAD TOOK delivery of SFP 863R, the Pippin Red Fiat 128 1300 CL you see here. It was a Wednesday, and as a 12-year-old schoolboy I couldn’t have been more excited, running back from school to see the new car parked on our driveway. Almost 48 years later, I still have the Fiat’s slightly dog-eared sales brochure from supplying dealer Trinity Motors in Leicester, with its cheeky strapline: “Italy’s answer to family planning” – a reference to the 128’s family-friendly packaging.

But I already knew the model well, having grown up with SFP’s predecessor. Dad had bought his first 128 in 1970, when it launched in the UK after clinching that year’s European Car of the Year award. After trading in his 1961 Riley One-Point-Five, the Fiat must have been nothing short of revelatory: front-wheel drive, with a light, salubrious cabin and powered by an all-new, crisp-sounding, Aurelio Lampredi-designed engine. It was, to my young eyes, a tiny slice of the Italian exotica that had already started to appear on my bedroom walls.

However, that first 128 welcomed rust to its Torinese body panels like a long-lost friend, and seven years later it was fighting to pass an MoT. Yet dad’s fondness for the Fiat led him back to the local dealer, where he ordered the by-then-facelifted Nuova model, but with the larger 1300cc engine. This time, though, he chose not to use the car for everyday commuting, keeping it instead only for special occasions. Yet after buying a new Fiat motorhome in 1978, even those outings became increasingly rare, and by 1990 – the last time dad taxed SFP – it had covered just

‘It’s a reminder of my dad, whose love of cars and racing I inherited’

4000 miles, and spent almost all of its days in a (thankfully) dry, well insulated garage. And that, alas, is where it remained until dad passed away in ’99. The following year I attempted to get SFP back on the road, but while it still looked as new, a lack of any use over the previous decade had caused the pistons to seize solid in their cylinders. I had the block rebored and oversized Mahle pistons fitted, and then ran the car for a week or two before disaster struck: a supposedly new cambelt had slipped, bending valves and rendering the 128 immobile once more. With a young family, a new career and no spare time, sadly the Fiat went back into my mum’s garage “until I have time to sort it”.

Which I did… 20 years later. In 2020, I was faced with having to move my then92-year-old mum into a care home and sell the house in which she’d lived for 50 years. That meant the Fiat had to be sorted or sold – and the latter was never an option. Lockdown meant I had some time on my hands, and after unseizing the engine again, and freeing the locked-on brakes, I sent SFP to classic Fiat specialist Middle Barton Garage for a full recommission.

The motor received new valves and a replacement cam pulley, as well as a fresh water pump and full set of hoses. New brake discs and cylinders, suspension bushes and an exhaust were fitted, along with a fresh set of period-correct Pirelli Cinturato tyres. When the 128 was returned to me late that year, it looked and drove exactly like a factory-fresh car.

I’ve covered only 4500 miles in SFP since then, bringing its total to just shy of 8500, but it remains outstanding to drive. As well as three appearances at Hagerty’s Festival of the Unexceptional (the first of which garnered a ‘highly commended’ from the judges) and countless classic car shows over the past four years, it is regularly seen in Classic & Sports Car magazine, for which I’m a senior contributor. But most importantly, it is a permanent reminder of my dad, whose love of cars and racing I inherited.

THIS SPREAD Simon – who was only 12 when his father bought the 128 – is getting plenty of use out of his cherished heirloom.

WERE IT NOT FOR THE FAR-OFF sound of engines screaming until the revcounters can take it no longer, you might well confuse Shelsley Walsh’s little corner of the English countryside with being the kind of bucolic heaven used as a backdrop for twee TV drama series.

In 2025 Shelsley Walsh celebrates 120 years since its first-ever hillclimb. With Hagerty, you can take on the hallowed strip of Tarmac yourself

Instead, after turning the corner through what is essentially a hedge, you enter living, breathing history, soaked with intrigue, sporting endeavour and race fuel. It is here, on August 12, 1905, that Ernest Instone harried his Daimler up the 1000-yard, 328ft rise hillclimb to set the first-ever hill record. It’s the oldest motor sport event to still take place in its original setting.

In the early years, the hillclimb certainly wasn’t about speed – in those pioneering days of motoring, it was a bonus if a car

Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb

Words Nathan Chadwick Photography Stuart Wing THE DESTINATION

managed to survive long enough to make it to the finish line. For instance, motors with more than 20hp had to have four seats and the full complement of passengers. To win, your car’s time in seconds was multiplied by the horsepower, and then divided by the total weight, including people.

In 1913, specialised racing cars were allowed to enter at Shelsley. This saw a dramatic drop in times: Joseph Higginson thrapped his Vauxhall 30-98 up the hill in 55.2 seconds, eight seconds quicker than the previous fastest time, in 1911. Although the ‘formula’ competition continued when racing resumed in 1920 after World War One, the glamour was in setting the fastest time.

The unique challenge of Shelsley Walsh attracted the biggest names in the motor sport world over the next two decades, from Raymond Mays’ Bugatti to Hans Stuck’s Austro Daimler and Rudolf Caracciola’s Mercedes SSK. The event’s presence on the European Hill Climb Championship circuit made it irresistible for competitors and spectators alike – and those listening at home could tune in, too, thanks to BBC broadcasting live through much of the 1930s.

After World War Two, Shelsley attracted such Formula 1 drivers as Ken Wharton and Tony Marsh, along with a young talent by the name of Stirling Moss, who won in 1948. By 1992 the outright record stood at 25.34sec, and it would remain so until 2002, when Graeme Wight Jr recorded

24.85sec – the first sub-25sec time. In 2021, the current record was set: 22.37sec for Sean Gould in his single-seater.

Shelsley Walsh may not be the longest hillclimb, but it is pure adrenaline all the way. It’s far steeper than most, with an average gradient of one in 9.14 (and 1 in 6.24 at its steepest), which means the most powerful cars often win the day. It’s also remarkably narrow, at just 3.66 metres. Measuring 910m long, it’s a heady challenge.

‘Shelsley may not be the longest hillclimb, but it is pure adrenaline all the way’

This year, Shelsley’s 120th, it again plays host to the Hagerty Hill Climb, on Saturday May 17. In 2024, 150 cars attended, with everything from Group B rally machinery and lightweight E-types to a 1907 Berliet Curtiss Special taking on the challenge. Further diverse models included a Honda NSX-R and a Lotus Cortina, and the 2025 event promises to be even better... General admission is £25 per car, but for just £150 you can take on the historic hillclimb, with three runs to really test you and your motor. Away from the action, Hagerty will be hosting its first Hill Climb Classic Car Show, with clubs invited to come along. Alongside Run What You Brung, the Hagerty team of experts will be selecting a special batch of 30 motoring icons to join in on the hill, too. Camping for both spectators and competitors will be available on Friday, so why not turn it into an excuse for a weekend getaway? Stay overnight in Shelsley Walsh’s picturesque courtyard, enjoy the Friday-night vibes, and wake up ready to race. On the day, you will find plenty of great food and drink options, from breakfast first thing to a relaxing drink once the action on the hill has finally drawn to a close.

Whether you are taking part in the hillclimb or simply there to watch, there are few better ways to celebrate speed thrills than this living slice of automotive history. More details at www.hagerty.co.uk/officialevents/hagerty-hill-climb.

Scan here to book your Hagerty Hill Climb tickets. The HDC Members’ Area will be in a prime location, providing a comfortable space to relax and recharge. Enjoy a 25 percent discount, too – use code HDCHHC25

THE

SPECIALIST

Have I got brews for you

Quality car meets need quality beverages – and Carburettor Coffee is on hand to deliver

Words Nathan Chadwick

Photography Carburettor Coffee

“WE FOUND THAT PEOPLE ROCKED up to cars and coffee events in motors worth more than people’s houses, and they were handed a substandard cup of coffee for five quid,” says Scott Armour, one of the three brothers behind Carburettor Coffee. “We thought that didn’t add up, and someone should do something about it.”

That was the spark behind the brand, which you may recognise from the Hagerty members’ portal, and the brothers’ presence at Hagerty events in either their 1968 splitscreen VW coffee truck or their flagship Airstream. However, it all started from a converted horsebox, which they still use…

“We’ve all worked in hospitality, but we have grown up around some amazing cars thanks to our father,” Scott says. “They’ve ranged from weird and wonderful French classics, to American and German.”

That led to many cars and coffee events as punters, but the Armours were dismayed by the “cheap and nasty” coffee being served. “We thought we could do it better,” he says, describing the ethos behind the brand as: “Fuelling every aspect of our customer’s day, from the coffee they drink at home to the one they drink at the weekend event.”

Carburettor Coffee roasts everything inhouse. It has several different coffees, led by Octane 105 for filter processes. “From that you get more delicate, fruity flavours

THIS SPREAD Carburettor Coffee’s familiar stand; HDC’s exclusive blend has hints of chocolate and marmalade. Members can save 15 percent with code HAGERTY15

– the thought behind that is when you’re filling up your pride and joy, you’d use a higher-octane fuel,” Scott says. It contains 100 percent Rwandan Arabica beans.

Slurp Oil, meanwhile, is a blend of Colombian and Brazilian Arabica beans, with a smooth flavour profile for everyday drinking: “The name comes from product tasting; in the speciality coffee world, you ‘slurp’ from special cupping spoons to aerate the coffee and taste all the notes.”

Carburettor Coffee’s decaffeinated blend, Emma Jayne’s Downshift, pays tribute to the fierce defiance of one of its young female customers. Her Parkinson’s Disease medication had stopped her drinking the caffeinated coffee she loved, and her unique and determined story is truly inspiring.

More coffees are on the way – late last year the brothers came third in a Europewide roasting competition against 25 others.

“It’s a single-origin Mexican coffee, with a Low Rider motorcycle theme,” Scott reveals. You’ll see Carburettor Coffee at many Hagerty events this year, plus plenty more besides. Scott’s passion for the cars and coffee scene is unbridled. “I love the community atmosphere,” he says. “Serving coffee and seeing rare, beautiful cars at the same time is a dream come true – it doesn’t feel like a day job.”

More at www.carburettorcoffee.co.uk.

Words Nathan Chadwick Photography Burlen THE SPECIALIST

“IT STARTED WHEN MY DAD SAID ‘well, I’ve got £20 and a toolbox – let’s see where we can take it,’” says Mark Burnett, of how his father John and friend Mike Cullen set up Burlen back in 1971. Today the company is the home of SU, Amal and Zenith carburettors, keeping the nation’s pre-fuel-injection cars on the road from its factory in Salisbury, which built Spitfires during World War Two. It both manufactures new carbs and refurbishes old ones by hand, and it has spread out into other parts and more besides (we’ll get to that in a bit).

Burlen Services started out as a general servicing and repair garage, but it soon became a Morgan dealership. However, it was geopolitical events in 1973 that really set the car up for the future – the oil crisis.

“Burlen became well known for helping

people with their fuel issues, and to get better fuel consumption – that’s where the link to carbs started,” Mark explains. From there the company would take over the SU franchise for Salisbury, a factor that allowed it to convince SU to carry on building HS carbs for Mini Coopers and MGBs from 1984. Eventually, Burlen went on to oversee the branding, packing and supply of SU, Solex-Zeniths and Stromberg carbs made by Austin Rover. In the 1990s it gradually took over SU manufacturing, and in around the late ’90s brothers Mark, Andy and Jamie joined the business full time.

“I grew up in the company as a kid – my early memories are when we moved to the factory we’re in now,” Mark says. “I grew up in this world of automotive perfection, working on carburettors in my holidays. After university I asked my dad if I could do a bit of work to tie me over, and that’s how it started – I fell into Burlen as a career.”

Although Burlen is still successful and profitable, and employs plenty of people, the nature of the business is changing with the times, with focus on production and demand gradually shifting over the years. As Mark says: “That’s not particularly surprising –the last new car to use SU carburettors was a three-wheeled Reliant in the 1990s, and the Mini went to fuel injection in 1996.”

As such, Burlen still produces its carbs

‘We still use the original jigs, fixtures and punches from the old SU factory’

THIS SPREAD Whether it’s working with original components or hightech prototyping tools, Burlen specialists are constantly developing new engineering and manufacturing capabilities for classics.

in the time-honoured fashion, but with a few modern twists: “It’s a very manual job – they are all bolted together by a few guys with a spanner and some screwdrivers. There are no robots, there never has been. It doesn’t make sense, because of the low volume. We still use a lot of the original jigs, fixtures, punches and testing machinery from the old SU factory.”

Mark goes on: “There have been some improvements to the casting, but we use really trustworthy casting companies in the UK who do it old school. Many of the parts are now CNC-machined in house, and we have had to seek out new rubber suppliers for more modern material.”

On the subject of rubber, the difficulty with classic cars and ethanol-imbued petrol (E10) is well known – but Mark believes that as far as fuel pumps and carbs go, the problem has been over-stated.

“I think there’s a big hype over it,” he says. “The reality is that most classics are easy to work on, and the parts we’re worried about are between tank and carb. We looked at anything rubber, and most of our suppliers had already dealt with the ethanol issue. We ensured we had the right grade of fuel hose coming in – problem solved. We also created a new style of jet seal, where the originals were cork soaked in oil.”

Mark reckons he’s seen problems with

aluminium only very rarely. He says a lot of the pain can be avoided with education – ensuring that the car is run for half an hour each weekend, or draining the tank, or using storage fuel. As such, Burlen is always on hand to lend advice, even for parts of the fuel system it doesn’t contribute to.

It can also point car owners in the right direction when it comes to tuning, whether they are doing it themselves or need the help of an expert. “We are a bit old school – we still have a phone line. It’s not all about the internet,” Mark says.

In recent years, Burlen has spread its interest into other areas, such as Skinners Union Clothing: “At one Goodwood Revival we decided to sell some SU-logo’ed flat caps – we had 100 made and they sold out within minutes. So we looked at producing some more – there is a beautiful, rich history that can support a clothing brand.”

It was a similar delight in small business concerns that led Burlen to Austin Pedal Cars. “We saw a lovely little opportunity to buy quite a small business that was making spare parts for the J40s – and found that we could improve the product a

‘Burlen can build pretty much anything a client might want it to’

THIS PAGE From carbs to pedal cars to flat caps, the Salisburybased family company uses its expertise on an even wider scale now than it has at any point in its 54-year history.

bit thanks to our facilities,” Mark explains.

This has led to producing new J40s – but in the process it’s brought new capabilities to Burlen: “It’s taught us immense amounts about manufacturing – with what we’ve invested, we can make anything. We have a prototyping business, we can 3D print, we can machine and we can engineer.”

The firm is now using its engineering expertise on much wider scale. Aside from casting, Mark says Burlen can build pretty much anything a client might want it to.

“We’ve worked out some really clever techniques, particularly with press tooling – we’ve cut the cost by about 90 percent in some cases,” he reckons. “We have learned a huge amount about prototyping, and cradle-to-grave manufacturing.”

As such, there is always something new being planned – and not just carbs. “We recently made a range of billet-aluminium ram pipes, and we’re working on a line-up of air filters,” he explains. “A reintroduction of an original twin-choke SU racing carb is about to happen, too. They only made 50 of them in the early 1950s; we re-engineered it off the original drawings. We also did a new Mini manifold – there are always fresh little things with the classic business.”

See more about Burlen at www.burlen.co.uk.

PAUL COWLAND

Run with the bulls, cuddle the bears

A reminder that what goes up will almost certainly go down

SIR ISAAC NEWTON WAS PERHAPS the first among us to realise that it is in the very nature of, er, nature that things want to descend. Yet, in the world of classic cars, collecting and auctions in particular, this gravitational trajectory is rarely welcomed.

Open any publication – including, occasionally, this one – and you’ll find many of my learned colleagues (and also, me) espousing the cars you can buy with half an eye on residuals. The ‘Future Classics’, the ‘Sure Things’… Cars that we all feel are a sensible place to leave your money. Indeed, as you can read about elsewhere in this issue, Hagerty UK has recently published its much-vaunted UK Bull Market List; the annual collection of cars that the Hagerty experts believe combine great value at the moment with a superb driving experience.

Based on carefully compiled algorithmic auction and price data, the UK Bull Market List has revealed interest-rate-beating motor cars that I couldn’t agree with more as potentially great buys. Based on the frankly absurd price performance of the ‘fauxmologation’ special that is the Subaru 22B, it comes as little surprise to see the Impreza P1 in there. Whereas the former is now knocking on the door of half a million quid in extreme instances, the latter can still be had for just over a tenth of that price. For a factory two-door with genuine Prodrive credentials, it also looks criminally cheap alongside the firm’s new P25.

Buy a P1, and chances are you’ll have a motor car that will perhaps climb into six

figures in a few years’ time. But is that really what this hobby is all about? Financial performance over driving performance? While it is always rather nice to catch a car in its ascendency, (the very definition of a ‘Bull Market’), I’ve recently started look at the flipside of that coin; the Bears.

You see, for every winner, there has to be a loser. Just ask my agent. And while 1980s and ’90s homologation models continue to romp ever skyward, there are several cars, once hardy financial performers, that are definitely taking a gentle dip, price wise. Cars such as Mk2 and E-type Jaguars, previously the darling of collectors and investors in the 1980s and ’90s, can now be had for significantly less than they could even just two years ago. Would I buy one today as an investment car? Absolutely not. Would I buy one as a car to simply drive and enjoy, knowing I’d paid a more sensible amount of money for it? Quite possibly.

Classic cars are like holidays, nights out or great meals: experiences to be savoured and enjoyed, and memories to be created and relived. Chances are, if you spend £3000 on a fabulous holiday this summer, you’re not expecting that transaction to deliver you back £4000 by next year. You’ll have the photos, the memories and the warm fuzzy

‘Classic cars are like holidays, nights out or great meals: experiences to be savoured and enjoyed’

tingle every time you look back, so even though you’ll never see a penny of that money ever again, you somehow don’t feel like it was at all a waste. Start thinking about Bear Market cars in the same way. They may be getting cheaper all the time, but there’s a world of fun to be had while they do.

The day you wake up and realise that the real joy of classic cars comes from the ownership and usage of these incredible machines, rather than their position on a balance sheet, will be a truly liberating one my friends. If you’re lucky enough to own a house, that’s probably enough grown-up future financial planning, anyway. Balance the universe by accepting that your classic will be an ongoing cost in the same way your morning coffee is. Will you ever see any of that money you’ve ‘invested’ there again? Nope! But what does it matter if the experience was pleasurable?

I’ve recently put my money where my mouth is, too, acquiring a rather lovely 1956 Plymouth Belvedere to cruise around in this summer. Are ’50s Yanks the next big thing? I doubt it. A rapidly ageing and quickly diminishing demographic of potential buyers means fewer people want them. Factor in the abysmal mpg and lack of room on UK roads, and the Plymouth’s value will doubtless drop like a stone over the next decade. But as I glance over its flawless chrome and threeacre bonnet, listening to the small-block rumble, I very much doubt that I’ll care… Restorer, writer and co-star of TV’s Turbo Pickers and Salvage Hunters: Classic Cars, Paul Cowland is also a Hagerty ambassador.

ABOVE Fins ’n’ chrome Plymouth will give plenty of smiles per mile – and hang the ‘investment’.

Travelling to destinations unknown

The simple joy of not knowing where you’re going

ABOVE Millie the MX-5 ‘off-roadster’ tackles her first trip into unfamiliar territory.

BILLOWING UP FROM HOLLOWS AT the side of the road, a dense, disorienting fog concealed our way forward. Mystical, a little menacing, it hung heavily in the air. Save for a few yards of visibility that my Mazda MX-5’s headlamp beam was able to provide, the murk’s blinding cloak was impenetrable. My husband and I had set out with the intention of not knowing where we were going to end up, so on that cold, somewhat lonesome, winter’s night, the conditions felt particularly apt.

Forgoing any further festive gatherings we made our escape on December 26, and by daybreak on the 27 we had secured a one-way ferry ticket to France. Sailing away with Millie my MX-5 safely stowed, we watched Dover’s White Cliffs disappear in the ship’s wake. After laying anchor at Calais, we decided to turn right. Our grand plan was simple; we’d follow our fancy and set our course on a whim.

By letting ourselves be guided by the natural spirit of curiosity, we weren’t at risk of losing our way. Where would we count down the final few seconds of 2024? Spontaneity would dictate, and only time would tell. In contrast to the MGA expedition I took to the top of the world, which you can also read about in this issue, this road trip lacked the ambition and the pressure of a destination that I wanted to reach. No itinerary, no agenda, no oncein-a-lifetime goal; it was about spending time with my husband and getting to

know my recent purchase: a Mk3 MX-5. With a new set of tyres, and a luggage rack fitted to the bootlid, Millie was ready and willing to go. We chose first of all to edgeland along France’s northern Opal Coast, and we made a pitstop to amble along the sands of Berck-sur-Mer. Seeking somewhere to rest overnight, we happened upon what at first glance looked to be a charming ‘rustic’ retreat.

Following a prickly welcome from its somewhat tiddled owners, things quickly tumbled downhill. With its faulty fixtures, broken fittings and sheer filth that coated everything from the crockery to the sheets on the bed, it was an unfortunate find. We were bitterly cold, but laughter got us through the night and, spared from frostbite, we merrily packed up and moved on.

As a person who is partial to amassing artefacts, and simply cannot say no to sampling any number of intriguing edible goods, I discovered that packing the boot would become a daily game of Tetris – with incredibly high stakes. Don’t squash the thing that looks like a cheesecake, don’t crush the flaky-pastry sweet treat that’s filled with fresh cream, don’t put the meat

‘In my just-purchased MX-5, our grand plan was simple; we’d follow our fancy and set our course on a whim’

pie near anything that gets hot – and for goodness sake don’t smash that €6 bottle of gin. And to further complicate the formula, I had been beachcombing, which meant that a collection of dainty seashells and an awkward slab of driftwood also had to be taken into account.

Petite, nippy and surprising practical, Millie took everything in her stride. By New Year’s Eve we’d crossed the border into Spain. Passing through the Pyrenees in the dark, we made our base for saying goodbye to 2024 in Pamplona. The fog had accompanied us all the way there.

Avoiding an all-night knees-up, we were hunkered down when the clocks chimed midnight and welcomed in 2025. At dawn our own celebration began. Dropping the soft-top we drove the MX-5 into the La Bardena Blanca desert – an otherworldly scrubland where wild cats lurk.

As Tarmac road turned to rough track, Millie settled into the challenge of her first safari – a serious test for her doublewishbone front suspension and the fivelink axle at the rear. In a boundless setting that lacked signposts, my little ‘off-roadster’ was a haven from the unfamiliar. Our destination-unknown road trip was one of hope, rather than of expectation, and it had led us to the discovery of the most remarkable place.

Follow automotive writer, presenter and adventurer Charlotte’s #adventureswithfrisky on Instagram @charlottevowden.

CHARLOTTE VOWDEN

Always look beyond the figures

New GT3 not enough for you? Be grateful it’s still here at all

SOME PARTS OF THE WEB – AND this might surprise you, because I’m sure they aren’t the corners you frequent – have been a bit ambivalent about the latest Porsche 911 GT3. Crazy talk, I know. Of course, the new version looks the same, but also there simply aren’t enough headline figures for some people.

The back seats are a bigger story than bhp, because with 503 of the latter this second generation of the 992 GT3 is no more powerful than the first. It actually has slightly less torque, too (although that loss is negated by gearing that is a welcome eight percent shorter), and the Nürburgring lap time will be very similar. That sort of numerical stasis and nuance doesn’t make for a very bombastic reel.

The reason for the apparent treading of water in Weissach is, of course, that the latest emissions regulations have made it harder than ever to produce a new car with a 4.0-litre, naturally aspirated engine that doesn’t simply wheeze like Baron Greenback on a bicycle. Porsche has been forced to fit no fewer than four particulate filters into the exhaust system of the 992.2 in order to comply with legislation that demands NOx be knocked down by a third and particulates be pared back by 40 percent compared with the gen 1’s emissions. That’s not the 1998 first-generation GT3, either – that’s the gen 1 of the 992, a car that was new only four years ago.

In the face of this, it’s a minor miracle that the GT3 hasn’t taken a big stride backwards. I think we should be praising Andreas

ABOVE If the latest-gen GT3 still makes you grin from behind the wheel, then surely it’s ‘job done’...

Preuninger and his team for persevering and not taking the turbocharged or hybrid way out. Look at it from another perspective; the new GT3 is just as quick as before (probably slightly quicker), just as much fun (actually slightly more so thanks to that gearing) and just as spine-tingling in the sound department, yet also better for the planet. How is that anything other than good?

I’m glad the GT3 still exists, because the more there are around the more likely it is that one day I might own one (I know that doesn’t make sense, but it’s the sort of nonsensical logic that lets me sleep at night, so please just let it go). In answer to the perennial ‘what’s your favourite car?’, my stock reply for many years has been that if my numbers came up I’d head straight out and buy a GT3. Then I would take stock and spend a long time thinking about what else I’d buy. Probably not very much.

Which variant would I lob my lottery win at? Well, during the launch of the latest car, Porsche thoughtfully lined up all the past generations in the pitlane at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. So in between making a film for the Hagerty YouTube channel, I was able to amble up and down the line pondering the options.

The Guards Red original with taco wing

‘Sliding it around hairpins (with a policeman in the passenger seat), and hitting 180mph on the Autobahn’

was still gorgeous (although it’s worth remembering that too received a lukewarm reception when it was unveiled). The 991.2, which brought back the manual model, was also very tempting. But if a Nomexclad fairy godmother had fluttered down and offered me my choice of any set of keys, I’d have walked towards the 997.1.

For a start, I’m a sucker for the subtle but stunning Midnight Blue paint of the Porsche Museum’s example. It still has that lovely, hydraulically power-assisted steering and the fabulous Mezger engine, but as a package it was just a little less hardcore, more road biased than the second generation of 997 GT3. I could happily drive it every day.

There is some nostalgia for me, too, because it was the first GT3 that I ever got behind the wheel of, covering mile after mile on the Route Napoléon before driving it back to Stuttgart. I remember sliding it around hairpins (with a French policeman sitting in the passenger seat), and hitting 180mph on the Autobahn. I’m smiling now, just thinking about it.

That same smile was on my face when driving the latest 992.2, which is all that matters really. Regardless of maintaining power or torque or speed or any other figures, if the next GT3 still makes me grin like its predecessors, it will have done its job. Even if convincing some corners of the internet that it has might be difficult...

Journalist and Hagerty YouTuber Henry began his road-testing career on Evo and has competed in the British Rally Championship.

HENRY CATCHPOLE

2025 UK BULL

Words John Mayhead

Photography Matthew Pitts

Bull is back! Returning for 2025 is a selection of ten classic and collectable cars that Hagerty believes are great value for money

MARKET PICKS

Top ten for 2025 lead the charge

AS HAGERTY PRICE GUIDE EDITOR, making the selections for Hagerty’s UK Bull Market is one of my highlights of the year. The Hagerty Automotive Intelligence (AutoIntel) analysts crunch the numbers, highlighting those cars that the data suggests could be worth more. From the long list, we then choose those models that

we believe also offer something special to enthusiasts of all types. In short, these are the cars we would love to drive.

The 2025 cohort is my favourite yet. The models span nearly every era, and range from up-and-coming classics to those that were once top dog and now maybe offer a huge amount of car for the money.

1 Subaru Impreza P1

2 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II

3 Ferrari F355

4 Porsche 912

5 Alfa Romeo 147 GTA

6 Toyota RAV4

7 Austin-Healey 3000

8 Maserati Ghibli

9 Peugeot 106

Rover P38

THE RADWOOD PICK

Subaru Impreza P1

FIRST-GENERATION IMPREZA PRICES have soared over the past few years. Once considered the preserve of a relatively small enthusiast group, the Subaru has become much more appreciated by the mainstream thanks to the rise in Japanese Domestic Market JDM classics as a whole, and particular demand for the top model, the 22B. Although the record for that car –£480,500, set by Iconic Auctioneers in August 2023 – was significantly boosted by that example’s first owner, rally legend Colin McRae, values of all special-edition firstgeneration Imprezas have climbed, too.

The P1, or Prodrive 1, was designed to echo those same rallying links. Released in March 2000 and limited to 1000 examples all painted in Sonic Blue, the P1 was optimised for British roads and developed by Prodrive to create the ultimate UK-spec Impreza. Peter Stevens, designer of the McLaren F1, was called in to refine the

body design, while the turbocharged 2.0litre EJ20 engine was breathed on at Prodrive’s Banbury HQ to produce 276bhp. Reworked suspension rates meant the handling was as good as the acceleration.

The P1 has aged well. Its design retains the now iconic GC shape, but the lack of ubiquitous gold wheels marks it out from the Impreza crowd. The interior, felt to be uninspiring by the motoring press at launch, now seems stylish and unfussy. Prices have risen a lot in the past few years: the UK Hagerty Price Guide Excellent value was £32,000 in September 2022, and two years later it was £50,500. Hagerty believes prices may well increase further still.

Many of these cars have been driven hard, and the gulf between top and bottom values is huge: Hagerty’s Fair price is 61 percent lower than the top Concours value. Pristine, low-mileage cars will probably increase most, but regularly driven cars

that are a little rough around the edges will be much more affordable and great fun.

Owner Justin Beaveau from Salisbury was saving for a modern Impreza when he saw the P1 and decided to buy it. It’d been in storage for some years and seemed a bargain, but shortly after recommissioning a broken conrod embedded a piston in the head, necessitating a total rebuild. The result is an engine that “pulls and keeps pulling – a lot smoother than before”. His car now gains a lot of attention at shows.

“Rust is one thing to look for,” he says, “and missing parts can also be expensive; I’ve seen the unique Prodrive badges for £800 and mats cost £400. But it’s a great car – it sticks to the road and drives superbly.”

THE LUXURY PICK

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II

THE OWNER OF THE ROLLS-ROYCE

Silver Shadow II that Hagerty borrowed for this photoshoot apparently used it to travel to and from his home in the South of France. I can totally understand why: in the greatest traditions of the glorious old marque, the car is wonderfully luxurious on the inside, delivers bucket-loads of effortless power and has the regal ‘old

UK Hagerty Price Guide values over time in GBP (£) for different condition ratings

money’ design that turns heads to this day.

“No other car offers this sort of comfort, glamour and reliability,” Chris Leath from Hillier Hill, the company that has looked after the Shadow for many years, tells me. “It is a great car to own, because it is relatively easy to service and parts availability is good. The engineering is very strong: as long as they have been well maintained, they’ll usually get you to where you need to go, even if something is a little wrong.”

Bodywork is one of the areas that Chris says can be a problem. “Wheelarches and sills can rust, and leaking windscreen seals can allow drips down the A-pillar that pool and rot the floors,” he says.

Ownership demographics of this stately lady are firmly pointed towards the older generations: 56 percent of Hagerty quotes are for owners born before 1965, compared

with a 35.2 percent average across all cars. Possibly as a consequence, prices have been relatively static – Hagerty’s Excellent value was £15,400 in December 2021, and it is a mere £100 higher today.

The big difference has been in the best examples, though – in the same period, the very top Concours price is up over 20 percent to £31,900. This is a good sign – a rise in top examples often encourages more to be spent on maintaining other, less pristine cars. All in all, it’s a huge amount of car for the money, and if I had the garage space I’d drive one of these all day long.

THE GOLD INDEX PICK

Ferrari F355

A MID-1990S ITALIAN SPORTS CAR isn’t the most obvious choice for a daily driver, but the owner of the 1994 Scurro Blue F355 that we found for our Bull Market shoot says that the Ferrari is remarkably practical. “I’ve owned it for ten years,” Laurence Preston tells me. “It’s comfortable, does around 20 miles to the gallon and is super reliable. It’s also well mannered on the road, even without any real driving aids to speak of except ABS.”

It may help that Laurence – Loz to his friends – runs Autolusso Bournemouth, a company specialising in the maintenance and restoration of Italian cars. “I have had the engine out once,” he says. “I rebuilt the top end because the valve guides were worn, which is common in these motors, but otherwise the engineering is great. Parts availability is OK except for interior trim, which can be really hard to find.”

The car definitely looks the part, and this model has really hit the headlines over the past few years because some consider it a peak driver’s Ferrari, mixing 1980sinspired design and analogue engineering.

A relatively new addition to the UK Hagerty Price Guide, its values have risen as a consequence, up 6.2 percent in the past three years to £73,300 for a standard Berlinetta in Excellent condition.

Growth in the US has been even more extreme, and the Guide price there is now $196,000 (£152,000) – this includes a 25 percent premium for manual cars, however. Carbon seats and magnesium wheels are

also in demand, although the latter tend to degrade and are often replaced by factoryoption alloys, as Laurence has done.

So, why pick this car? Demographically it attracts a younger generation, with 67 percent of Hagerty quotes worldwide coming from people born since 1965. Gen X owners account for nearly 40 percent of quotes, well above the 31 percent for all cars.

In collectability terms, it ticks pretty much every box: the right badge on the nose, one of Pininfarina’s best 1990s designs complete with pop-up headlamps, and there are Berlinetta, targa and spider options plus ultra-rare Fiorano handling packs for those who want something very special. It’s also appeared in many movies and TV shows, including  The Fast and the Furious, Free Guy and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. All this combines to put it in the 83rd percentile in Hagerty’s Collectability Algorithm, alongside the Subaru Impreza 22B, Ferrari 365 GTB/4 and Aston Martin DB5 – but for a fraction of the price.

Berlinetta % growth of Hagerty Price Guide Excellent values. May 2019 is 100%

Porsche 912

“IT’S NOT A QUICK CAR BY MODERN standards, but no original 1960s Porsches are,” says Richard Wrightson of Wrightson Automotive, who brought the 912 to our Bull Market shoot. “What you do get is superb engineering, a wonderful sense of balance and a beautiful design. Especially with the optional five-speed ’box, it pulls really well and turns heads everywhere.”

Let’s be clear, this isn’t one of Hagerty’s Bull Market picks that is expected to rise

UK Hagerty Price Guide Excellent values over time for 912 coupé in GBP (£)

dramatically in value. Rather, it now offers seemingly great value for money.

In 2018-19, ‘long bonnet’ pre-1973 Porsche values peaked. Most in demand were very early 2.0-litre models and the 2.4S, and big prices were paid – upwards of £300,000 in some cases. UK Hagerty Price Guide Excellent values of the four-cylinder 912 were much lower but still tracked upwards, rising quickly from £41,700 in 2017 to £54,300 the following year, and peaking at £60,620 in mid-2022.

At that point, specialists were asking in excess of £125,000 for rare examples of short-wheelbase, matching-numbers, righthand-drive cars. Since then values have dropped, and the Hagerty Excellent price now sits at £57,800. That covers most cars on the UK market that are imported and lhd, with rhd still demanding a big premium.

So, why is this a good buy? First, you get the early-911 experience for a fraction of the price. Other than the very first 912s, the vast

majority of the car is identical to its sixcylinder sibling, sharing the same interiors, bodywork, suspension and electrics. Only the engine is different, and as Richard says, these days many people consider the four-cylinder to be more suited to the chassis than the heavier six.

Then there’s the design: the early cars are what every later 911 is judged against. They’re delicate, understated and beautiful. The build quality is superb and everything, from the washers to the windscreen, has a part number – and Porsche still stocks most of it. Demographically, around 70 percent of owners are either Baby Boomers or Gen X, although Millennial ownership is rising, sitting at about 19 percent (up from around five percent in 2016).

THE HOT HATCH INDEX PICK

Alfa Romeo 147 GTA

I REMEMBER DRIVING A 147 GTA during the press launch back in 2002. My immediate reaction, even as a dedicated lover of everything Alfa, was that it was crazy: too powerful for its own good (and specifically for the good of those inside it). My instincts seemed to be borne out by the result of the day: one driver booked by the police, another ending up in a ditch.

Time has been kind to the 147 GTA. Its Busso V6 is now considered to be one of the finest of its kind ever produced, and in 3.2-litre form the car reached its production zenith, combining power, sound and the most beautiful design. Energy delivery has been also improved massively over the years by enhanced Quaife/Q2 differentials, rectifying its main Achilles’ heel.

The example we found for our shoot is owned by Alex Leathley, and it has the all-important Quaife diff along with xenon headlamps, but otherwise it’s standard. “It

is an exciting drive, revs freely and you have to push it through the gears,” he says. “It can be a handful, but you get used to it.” Alex bought it as a well maintained, low-mileage car, and recommends others hold out for the same. “You have to check the sills aren’t bent,” he explains. “If the car is not jacked up properly, these can be easily damaged.”

Hagerty’s UK policy and quote data for

the 147 GTA are interesting, showing a very young demographic. Of the owners we cover, more than 70 percent were born since 1965, and in the past 12 months we’ve not provided a new quote to anyone older than that. Also, values compared with those of the 147 GTA’s older sibling, the 156 GTA, have started to flex in the smaller car’s favour, with the best for-sale examples being advertised in the mid-£20,000s.

But the main reason the 147 GTA was chosen for this year’s Bull Market is that it offers an extraordinary drive for a relatively sensible price. Some would say it is the spiritual successor to Alfa’s 105 series GTA coupés that made such an impact on both road and track back in the 1960s and ’70s.

THE FOTU* PICK

Toyota RAV4

OF ALL THE CARS HAGERTY PULLED together for this year’s Bull Market shoot, the Toyota RAV4 probably drew the most interest. As arguably the first-ever compact crossover/SUV, it’s easy to forget just what an impact this model had on the cars that followed it, and the RAV4 remains well loved by many enthusiasts.

It certainly helped that the GS threedoor example brought along by retired Toyota UK employee Richard Seymour was immaculate. I don’t use that term lightly, but this car – bought by Toyota’s press department about nine years ago and restored in-house – is nearing perfection. Richard describes it as “rough and rusty, covered with non-original modifications” when they purchased it, and the team

even bought another example to provide a good-quality donor roof.

“The RAV4 was meant to be an ‘offroad GTi’,” Richard explains. “Four-wheel drive was combined with a low-ratio first gear to give it a real off-road capability, and the whole thing was over-engineered in typical Toyota fashion. The cambelt came with a six-year, 60,000-mile change schedule, but some examples have been known to go on for much longer.”

He adds: “Rust can appear, especially on suspension mounts, sills and rear arches, but no more so than on any other car of the time. The only problem area is the clutch – if that goes, it’s a big job to replace.”

That legendary Toyota build quality combined with an instantly recognisable design and very low current prices mean that Hagerty believes the RAV4 is a great entry-level classic – plus you’ll be welcome at any future edition of Hagerty’s Festival of the Unexceptional. Even in top GX spec a concours-ready example should set you back no more than £5000, if you can find one – these early cars are now very rare.

*Hagerty’s Festival of the Unexceptional

Austin-Healey 3000

THINK OF A CLASSIC BRITISH SPORTS car, and the Austin-Healey 3000 will probably be close to the top of the list. Not just an iconic shape, it remains a very usable model – as Jonathan and Carolyn Woodrow, owners of our photoshoot example, explain.

“We wanted a usable classic for both local and foreign trips,” Jonathan says. “We chose a middle-generation Healey because it combined classic styling with some of the more practical additions on later cars, such

as winding windows and a simpler hood.”

The Woodrows have also added a few subtle modifications to make it a more comfortable touring machine. “It has modern dampers and four-pot calipers on the front. A rear anti-roll bar has really sharpened up the back end, and LED bulbs all round mean that you can see and be seen. Parts supply is excellent.”

The car has taken them as far afield as Le Mans for the Classic and has completed the Daffodil Run, which the couple help to run. Most importantly, it’s given them access to a huge friendship group. “The social side of the club scene is superb,” Carolyn says.

Demographically, it’s still firmly a Baby Boomer favourite, with over 50 percent of owners falling into this age bracket, way over the 32 percent mean across all cars. It may be finding favour with the younger generations, however: Millennials now account for 11 percent of owners, up from around two percent five years ago. UK

In value terms, the Austin-Healey 3000 has been very flat over a long period of time: since May 2015, UK Hagerty Price Guide values for an Excellent example have varied by less than ten percent, and it currently sit at £45,400, although it’s recently dipped. In real terms, accounting for inflation, that means the model is much

more affordable than it was a few years ago.

Hagerty Price Guide values over time in GBP (£)

THE ITALIAN PICK

Maserati Ghibli

READERS OF HAGERTY’S MEDIA stories will know that automotive writer Nathan Chadwick is a dedicated petrolhead, and his job has given him the opportunity to experience a huge range of cars over the years. “The Maserati Shamal, Lancia Delta Integrale, Alfa Romeo SZ… I’ve driven them all,” he says. “But the Ghibli Cup is probably the best of all of them. It’s my dream car, and I jumped at the opportunity to buy one when I had the chance.”

Hagerty accepts that the AM336 Ghibli Cup is a rare beast, with only 26 UK cars built of which 23 are believed extant. It, along with Maserati’s Shamal flagship, marked an evolution of the previous Biturbo, and Hagerty is using it as an example of this entire model family.

When looking at the Ghibli, two elements hit you. First, the poised Gandini styling of boxy, wide arches is absolutely of the moment. Second is its sheer, unapologetic power. With its 1996cc engine producing 325bhp, it pushed out more bhp per litre than any production car at the time, a period that included no lesser models than the McLaren F1, Ferrari F50, Bugatti EB110 and Jaguar XJ220.

There’s also a rarity to the Biturbo family that makes these variants the centre of attention at any show: Hagerty tried to find

a standard example for the shoot, and despite reaching out to the owners’ club, we couldn’t find a car available on the day.

The other attraction of this group of modern-classic Maseratis is that there’s a car for many price points. Standard, base Biturbos with middling miles are still for sale for under £10,000, a good Spyder is double that, all the way up to the Shamal, currently valued at £73,100 in Excellent condition in the UK Hagerty Price Guide. The Ghibli Cup is in the middle, with the equivalent value of the rare UK variant standing at £59,800.

The car does come with a caveat, though: as with many classics, those for sale at the cheapest price may be more expensive to maintain. For a 1980s-90s Maserati, the bills could be significant.

“When buying one, work out what you need to replace, and factor the price of those parts into the deal,” says Nathan. “New old stock headlamps are £2500 each (it’s £750 for aftermarket polycarbonate ones), and there are no replacement fuel tanks, for example, although other parts are now being reproduced through 3D printing.”

Servicing may also be expensive: “There are not many Biturbo specialists, and some engine work might require the unit to be removed. Try to find a car that has already had money spent on it.”

Peugeot 106

LAST YEAR, A GROUP OF US MET online to sift through the hundreds of entries to Hagerty’s Festival of the Unexceptional 2024. Of all the cars we looked at, one drew more love than any other: a tiny, peppermint green Peugeot 106.

Some remember the 106 as their first car or as the runabout their gran drove to the shops; others as the GTi hot hatch that dominated group tests back in the day. We found a really special car for the Bull Market shoot – a 106 Rallye, one of the early Series 1 1.3-litre cars designed as a homologation special, as owned by Nick Charles.

“I used to race a 106 GTi, but when I found this Rallye, I had to buy it,” Nick says. “It was a little tired, and I have spent the past few years bringing it back to standard condition with my dad. It’s now a great, fun car – the engine really takes off at over 5000rpm, and the handling is brilliant. You feel fast even when you’re going slowly.”

Inside, the 106 has a great combination

of that airy simplicity of 1990s cars along with French quirkiness. The red carpets, unique to the Series 1, feel really of the era, and the seats, which Nick says tend to fade on many cars, are pristine in this example.

Mechanically, the Peugeot is relatively straightforward. Nick explains: “Corrosion can be an issue, but replacement panels are available and most mechanical spares are easy to buy. Standard parts such as airboxes

can be hard to find, because many of these cars were modified early in their lives. It’s relatively easy to work, but some things can be tricky: the wheel bearings are a difficult job, while the gearbox needs the correct oil, otherwise it can be notchy.”

Hagerty considers the Peugeot 106 to be great value compared with some of its competitors. The Series 1 106 Rallye such as the one in our photoshoot, in Excellent condition, is listed in the Hagerty Price Guide at £12,400 – which is around 45 per cent less than the very collectable Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9. With the little 106’s homologation credentials, limited numbers and instantly recognisable looks, it ticks many of the requirements for collectability – although originality is critical.

THE OFF-ROAD PICK

Range Rover P38

THE SEQUEL TO A GENUINE CLASSIC is always hard to create. Whether it is a book, a movie or a well loved car, creating something that maintains the tradition of the original while forging its own path is inevitably very difficult.

The replacement for the classic Range Rover faced other challenges, some of its own making. It had to stand apart from not only its predecessor, but also its stablemate, the Land Rover Discovery, and all the other SUVs emerging onto the market. The result, now commonly known as the Range Rover P38 (or P38A) was a vehicle intended to be stronger, more luxurious and with more street presence than anything else on the road.

Rory Brown, the owner of the P38 found for Hagerty’s Bull Market shoot, believes that he achieved his aim. “It puts a smile on my face every time I drive it, and it still gives me a feeling of luxury and security,”

he says. He was initially looking for something more mainstream, but he fell in love when he saw the P38 for sale three years ago. “It has soul,” he continues, adding that the 2.5-litre straight-six diesel, based on a BMW M51 block, has been extremely reliable. “I even drove it to the Outer Hebrides, and it didn’t miss a beat.”

Other than replacing the air suspension with more conventional springs – a frequent modification on the model – Rory’s P38 is standard, and he hasn’t had to do much to it other than regular servicing.

Visually, the P38 is still imposing. The interior is pure Gen X luxury: acres of leather, big, robust buttons and dials, and a driving position that make you feel like you’re someone special. Outside, the clean lines have aged well, and the car has a reputation that is rare and hard to define: it is cool. A yellow P38’s starring role in the 2004 movie Layer Cake didn’t hurt the

model’s kudos one bit, especially as the hit film was credited with launching Daniel Craig into the role of James Bond.

This Range Rover is currently extremely affordable, with the cheapest runners advertised for less than £1000 and even top-spec, limited-edition models with very low mileage in Concours condition seldom reaching over £15,000. They are also getting rarer: social media groups are full of cars being broken for parts or heavily modified for off-road use.

An original, well maintained example can offer great value, especially as engines can clock up huge miles and vehicle excise duty for cars registered before March 1, 2001 remains at a standard, fixed rate.

SWIFT BY NAME

SWIFT BY NATURE

Nick Swift has been at the forefront of classic Mini tuning and racing for more than 30 years. Here is how he’s done it

Words Nik Berg Photography Rich Pearce / Alamy

NICK SWIFT

IN A CLASSIC DAVID AND GOLIATH moment, a Mini Cooper dives up the inside of a fire-breathing Ford Galaxie. Late on the brakes, lightweight Brit gets ahead of American muscle, and the battle continues for lap after lap. The Yank Tank surges ahead on the straights, but the nimble Mini gains ground through every turn.

This crowd-pleasing scene is played out in Historic racing at the Goodwood Revival and Members’ Meeting, and the Silverstone Classic, every year – and the chances are that the star is Nick Swift, or at the very least a Mini powered by one of his motors. Swift by name, swift by nature, he has been at the forefront of classic Mini tuning – and racing – for more than 30 years, taking over from where his father Glyn left off.

“My dad was actually a Blue Oval man: he worked for Ford research and development at Dunton,” says Swift. Pretty much the whole family was involved in some form of motor sport, mostly on two wheels, before an accident led Swift senior to a Mini for the first time.

“My grandfather was an ACU steward, my uncle was a Works rider for the Greeves team, and my dad also did scrambling. But my old man got fed up with breaking bones, and his brother bought him a Mini in the early 1960s. He fell off his bike one more time, broke his arm or collarbone, and then he said: ‘Right, I’m going into a Mini, and I will go Autocrossing in it.’”

Nick goes on: “Because they were building their own bike engines, he then went on to do his own motor for the car. Next thing you know, he’s doing quite well – and then people say: ‘Oh, can you build me one?’ All this time he’s still working at Ford. He used to like doing the night shift, as it was quieter. He could just quickly knock off all the Ford work, rush out to the car park, reverse the old Mini van up to the back doors, unload all this stuff and use all the equipment.

“The management cottoned onto it all eventually, and then they invited him into the office – where they suggested he leave

THIS SPREAD

With a raft of racing successes behind him, Nick Swift and his family business are at the top of the tree when it comes to Mini motor sport.

‘You can’t deny the impact Goodwood’s had on our business. It’s unbelievable’

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and go and set up his own business.”

That’s exactly what he did, establishing Swiftune in 1965, and soon his young son Nick would find himself with a spanner in his hand. “The old man would put overalls on me, and then the sleeves would be rolled up because I was so little. He would sit there and go: ‘Right, undo all these nuts and bolts.’ He’d crack them off to loosen them, and then I’d sit there and undo them all. I was probably five or six years old.”

After riding motorbikes from around the same age, Swift first drove a Mini when he was 16: “I started with Minicross. In the 1980s it was a big thing, and I was like a duck to water. I started racing a green Mini – and now, however many years later, I’m 57 and I’m still racing a green Mini.”

Swift senior began to take a back seat in the 2000s, and by then success at events such as the Goodwood Revival had made Swiftune the go-to guys for making Minis, er, swift. By the time the 2019 Members’ Meeting and its all-Mini Betty Richmond Trophy arrived, 19 of the cars on the grid had Swiftune engines. Nick won both his heat and the final to add to his trophy cabinet.

“I hate blowing my own trumpet,” he says. “But Goodwood has been fabulous for us. You cannot deny the impact that it’s had on our business – it is unbelievable. Happily, they do continually invite me back, because it is invitation only. Maybe it’s because I just do stupid things… I will

always try to make that overtake work, even if it’s round the outside of a Galaxie 500 at Woodcote. It is terrifying – and anybody who would tell you it’s not, is a liar.”

Even with the c.130bhp produced by Swiftune’s engines, Minis are not fast by classic touring car standards, topping out at around 120mph. No, it’s all about the corner speed instead. As Nick explains: “We carry that speed. We don’t brake, we don’t change down, we just turn in. You’ve got to lift, because with the Mini you need to get the nose in. Lift, throw it in, power, and then you get the slide. We don’t want oversteer: the car’s sliding but the steering wheel is straight. That’s how we control it, and that’s why we make it slide, because we want to keep the wheel straight and get the power on earlier.”

Although Swiftune has prepared full cars and run them for customers, Swift prefers to focus on the engine builds. He is extremely hands-on, machining every

‘It’s not so much the ultimate output that has changed as it is the reliability’

cylinder head personally as part of the firm’s tried-and-tested upgrades.

Starting with an original block, Swiftune will spend approximately 80 hours building an engine. Cylinders are rebored and relined, and a new head and internals are fitted, according to appropriate regulations. The goal is reliability above all else, and Swift claims that the company’s own crankshaft has never had a failure in five years, while new gearbox internals also extend the drivetrain’s lifespan.

He insists that despite much paddock talk of escalating horsepower to unreasonable levels, it’s not so much the ultimate output that has changed as it is the reliability.

“When Downton did the engines for Cooper, the Works cars were at about 110-115bhp,” Swift explains. “But the difference is that they would run in the British Touring Car Championship and have a van with four spare engines, because

they would blow up left, right and centre.”

Now with Swiftune engines there’s a recommended 12 hours of racing between rebuilds, although Swift says that the most competitive customers will be back for a refresh after every round. Mini racing is no longer an entry-level sport. To build a full car to FIA standards would cost around £100,000, with one of Swift’s engines accounting for over £30,000 of that.

It’s not just racers who benefit, of course. Swiftune’s parts business sells components to Mini fans worldwide, while in the workshop when I visit are two street cars being fitted with fast-road engines. Swift has even made 11 ‘Madgwick’ Minis, which are built from the ground up for those who want that classic look with more modern performance for the road.

As the race season approaches, however, there are dozens of engine components neatly stacked and ready for installation, which demand the full attention of the small team. Alongside the four engineers, Nick’s two daughters run the office. Meanwhile, his son works with former British Touring Car Champion Andrew Jordan on preparing Historic race cars – which include Minis running Swiftune engines, of course.

Now with a third generation of Swifts working at the Kent facility, this fast family business is eyeing its future. Swiftune Minis have already been proven to run effectively on sustainable fuels, which will help secure their position in Historic motor sport, while Nick also has a dream to build the ultimate lightweight Mini.

“Tuthill has done that super-light Porsche 911K, and what a thing it is. It’d be fun to do that with a Mini and just go as light as you possibly can,” he says. “I’ve got a very good bodywork man – he’s a metal genius. We could get it down to 350-370kg and have a 150-160bhp engine. Now that would be a lot of fun. One day I might do it.”

Given Nick Swift’s decades at the very top of Mini performance, there’s no doubt he could do it. Let’s hope he does – but in the meantime, Swift and Swiftunepowered cars will continue to entertain the crowds wherever they race.

THIS SPREAD From race prep to road-car builds and the development of drivetrains, Kent company Swiftune is a name Mini aficionados trust.

HAGERTY

TRUE KILLER

BMW’s E30 M3 may be a motor sport hero, but we believe its six-cylinder E36 follow-up is the real icon that defined the M3 as a road car

Words Nathan Chadwick Photography BMW

TTHERE ARE CERTAIN SACRED COWS in the classic world. The all-conquering Jaguar E-type, for instance. Any number of Porsche 911s, maybe. Then there are Ferraris of a certain age. All of them are cars without reproach, defended to the hilt even by those who have never driven one.

The BMW M3 E30 is one such machine, its supporters pointing to its nuanced, balanced handling and its distinguished place in motor sport. It sired the preeminent line of small, honed BMWs (well, not so small these days) that for many is viewed as the stepping stone in the German Holy Trinity – GTI, M3, 911. Only…

A road-going E30 M3, such as many Group A homologation specials, doesn’t quite live up to the lofty internet opinion. True, when fully lit the E30’s chassis is one of the finest on four wheels – but when

not… well, it can be disappointing. Not only that, but unless you were glued to the BBC’s Grandstand watching the British Touring Car Championship, it’s very possible that you weren’t even aware of the model. If you weren’t a motor sport fan, the E30 M3 was just a very expensive four-cylinder BMW with a bodykit. They were all left-hand drive, and in reality the company struggled to sell more than 50 per year in the UK. Instead, the true M3 icon is the E36. A controversial opinion, yes, especially since it was launched to a somewhat muted, disappointed critical response. Pained prose from leading hacks bemoaned that the new car lacked the hardcore focus of the E30 M3 – too plush, too comfortable and too easy to drive fast. Even BMW M’s boss at the time, the late Karl-Heinz Kalbfell, had campaigned against naming

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THIS SPREAD With its subtle bodykit, its various bodystyles and its six-cylinder power available in several guises, the E36 M3 was the consummate executive express.

‘It was all thoroughly modern: more exploitable, more of the time’

THIS SPREAD The E36 M3 was the ‘acceptable’ sports car that looked as at home in the paddock as it did in the company car park.

the car the M3; instead, he saw it in the same vein as the M635 CSi, and so he wanted to call it the 330 CSi. The marketing department overruled him, however.

We motoring journalists rarely live in the real world, however – and the truth was that the E30 M3 was itself little more than a marketing tool, rather than a concerted sales effort. A highly developed one, full of bespoke body parts and chassis tuning, and a high-revving four-pot – but all that mattered was BMW selling 5000 (plus specials) for it to compete in touring cars.

The collapse in the world economy at the end of the 1980s, which hung over into the early ’90s, meant that such flights of fancy were no longer possible. The new E36 M3 had strict sales obligations: the original plan was to sell 24,000 examples from 1993 to 1999, with 250 per year coming to the UK. Yet such was the demand for the car, BMW even brought forward its introduction to these shores by six months.

Ultimately, 46,535 coupés, 2114 droptops and 12,603 saloons were built. Of those, 9795 were sold here, spread between the 3.0- and 3.2-litre models. The E36 was a smash hit – and this visibility on UK

‘Its shriek as it red lines is a truly great adrenaline booster’

roads is why I believe it is the true M3 icon.

Unlike the E30, which was rarely seen anywhere other than on TV accompanied by an excitable Murray Walker voiceover, the E36 M3 was real-world motoring royalty. It was styled impressively – the subtle bodykit gave it a sharper edge but wasn’t as lairy as that of, say, a Ford Escort RS Cosworth – and it was the ‘acceptable’ sports car that looked as at home in the Brands Hatch paddock as it did in the company car park. It was the consummate executive express, and instantly desirable. Sporty 3-Series six-cylinders had been seen before – and with the M-tech kits, they certainly looked the business. But for all the creamy six-pot surge from the standard E30 model’s characterful M20 engine, they

were never the last word in handling excellence. Compared with the Mercedes 190E, the rear suspension layout was archaic, and this, combined with a somewhat relaxed steering ratio, meant that a six-pot E30 was more than a handful on anything other than bone-dry roads. Bits of them might still be found dangling off trees in the stockbroker belt, victims of damp weather and perhaps ’80s excesses of another kind.

The E36 M3 was an entirely different proposition: its chassis could keep up. Key to this was its new and transformational Z-axle multi-link rear suspension, which banished ‘tricky on the limit’ handling to history. The E36 M3’s power-assisted rackand-pinion suspension was also much quicker than the E30 M3’s set-up. It was all thoroughly modern – but more importantly, it was more exploitable, more of the time. It wasn’t perfect, however. Drive an early 3.0-litre car compared with a later 3.2 Evo, and you might notice a slight slowness around the steering’s middle. It was set up for high-speed stability, and the Evo rectified this with a slightly quicker rack – 0.2 fewer turns lock to lock.

The cherry on top has to be that S50

straight-six. At 282bhp in 3.0-litre form it had enough oomph to blow away the 268bhp 993 Carrera 2, while 1995’s 3.2 Evo, which saw horsepower rise to 316bhp, trumped the 993 Carrera S – and the RS, too.

Impressive performance stats aside, the S50 is about so much more than numbers. The intensity of its shriek as it red lines at 7000rpm is one of motoring’s truly great adrenaline boosters. The 3.2 added double VANOS variable valve timing on both camshafts, more power and a higher red line, but some aficionados swear by the single VANOS shriek of the original 3.0. Either way, the E36 M3 is a potent reminder of the joys of high-revving naturally aspirated engines.

No, it wasn’t as hardcore as the E30 M3 that went before – cue upset journalists and a minority of owners – but for the majority it offered all the badge, poise and performance you could ever need.

The E46 M3 that followed further refined

THIS SPREAD Highquality E36 M3s are rare today, especially in tin-top form. Unusual variants such as the GT and GT2 are even more uncommon on the secondhand market.

the breed, with more power and better build quality, especially in the interior. This model was an even bigger success, relegating the old E36 M3 to ‘cheap RWD car’ territory; truly mint examples used to change hands for as low as £4k, and many were sacrificed on the altar of track-day over-enthusiasm.

As a result, the number of truly excellent E36 M3s that remain is painfully low, and of those you are more likely to see the unfancied SMG (semi-automatic) and convertible models for sale. The tin-tops are remarkably rare. As such, those same excellent-level E36 M3s start at £18k according to Hagerty’s valuation tool, and you can pay a lot more for unusual variants such as the GT and GT2, and even for iconic colours such as Dakar Yellow.

Driving an E36 M3 today is a remarkably analogue experience. There’s the glorious engine for one, as well as a manual-gearshift option and a steering feel that, CS and CSL models aside, you simply don’t get in the E46 M3. It’s not perfect, of course – the steering is still not the most communicative set-up, while the rubbery manual shift wasn’t that great when new, and after 30 years of enthusiastic use the bushings will almost certainly need some love.

All this doesn’t stop the M3 being a true modern classic. It was the model that elevated BMW to being a true rival to the Porsche 911 in the usable day-to-day performance-car stakes. It may not have had widespread critical love when new, but now it deserves to be cherished as the true blueprint for how we perceive the M3 today. See you at 7000rpm.

Specifications

Engine 2990cc/3201cc straight-six, naturally aspirated, DOHC

Transmission RWD, five-/six-speed manual/SMG semi-automatic

Power 282bhp @ 7000rpm/ 316bhp @ 7400rpm

Torque 236lb ft @ 3600rpm/ 258lb ft @ 3250rpm

0-60mph 5.4sec/5.3sec

Top speed 155mph (limited)

Weight: 1460kg/1515kg

Hagerty Valuation Guide (3.0 coupé)

Fair £8800

Good £13,100

Excellent £18,500

Concours £37,100

WHEELS

One of the hardest-working men in show business, Wheeler Dealers star Mike Brewer says he’ll never tire of the buzz he gets from buying and selling cars

AND DEALS

MIKE BREWER

Words Mark Dixon Photography Sprite Photography

IMAGINE YOU’RE AT A POSH AWARDS ceremony, and David Beckham darts across the room to you and asks if he can take a selfie. It happened to Wheeler Dealers star Mike Brewer. “I said yes, if I can have one with you,” he laughs, clearly still a little bemused by the encounter.

He shouldn’t be, because the reach of his best-known TV show, Wheeler Dealers, is absolutely huge. Now in its 22nd series, the most recent one was watched by 200 million people around the world. It’s not surprising that Brewer gets recognised by the most unlikely viewers.

He was working in a friend’s car showroom back in 1997 when he took the phone call that would change his life. “A female TV researcher was cold-calling dealerships for a new show about buying and selling cars,” he recalls. “She liked the way I sounded over the telephone. She came down a couple of days later, filmed me and insisted on putting me in this new show for Channel 4 called Deals on Wheels. The rest is history.”

That lucky break led to a whole slew of other car-related series, of which the most durable by far has been Wheeler Dealers. Launched in 2003 with co-presenter Edd China, it began as a low-budget programme with, as Brewer says, “little more than a socket set and a screwdriver in Edd’s workshop”. It was a steep learning curve: one early purchase, a Suzuki SJ410, was so rotten that it proved impossible to MoT and Mike ended up having to sell it to a farmer to use off-road.

As its popularity took off, Wheeler Dealers was able to spread its wings, first to Europe and then to the US; so much so that Series 12 to 16 were based in Huntington Beach, California. “We lived in a house that was literally on the beach; you stepped out the back door and onto the sand,” recalls Brewer. But this happy experience was blighted when China suddenly decided to leave the show, and Mike found himself on the receiving end of a lot of flak, however unfairly. The experience affected him deeply.

“People make out that I was the one jilting him, when it was the opposite way around,” he laments. “I’ve tried reaching

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Scan the QR code for Wheeler Dealer Live ticket discount. Exclusive for HDC members – use the code HDCMEMBERS

out to him but he’s not interested and, frankly, neither am I now. We’ve not spoken for the past eight years.”

Ant Anstead was recruited as Brewer’s new co-presenter and mechanic for Series 14. He, in turn, decided to stay on in the US when Wheeler Dealers returned to the UK, and since Series 17 Brewer’s co-presenter has been Marc ‘Elvis’ Priestley. The pair will be hosting Wheeler Dealer Live presented by Hagerty Drivers Club at Bicester Heritage on June 1. “It will be like a kind of tyre-kickers’ event, hopefully with about 10,000 fans, where people can buy and sell vehicles. We will have a team of experts helping out, including big-name influencers who will share their advice to both parties.”

The success of Wheeler Dealers has more than made up for one of those ‘might have

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been moments’, when Brewer was invited to join Top Gear but turned it down. “You have to remember, this was before the programme became the monolith it turned into, and by then I’d already started to carve out my own niche. I take a little bit of pride in the fact that I put forward Richard Hammond for the job. He was working as a press officer for Renault at the time, and I’d screen-tested him for Driven and remembered what a laugh he was.”

Most of Brewer’s shows have been car-related programmes, but there have been one or two diversions along the way, such as Remote Madness, a kind of pentathlon challenge for owners of remotecontrolled model cars, planes and boats. Rather more serious was his 2010 series Frontline Battle Machines, which took him to the conflict in Afghanistan and where he very nearly lost his life.

“This was at the height of the war, and I was flying in a Chinook when a number of live rounds pierced the cockpit,” he recalls. “One of them hit the helmet of the pilot, Ian Fortune; it fragmented, and a piece of shrapnel went through his cheek. The rounds also took out the gearbox hydraulics, but Ian managed to nurse the helicopter back to Camp Bastion before the transmission seized up.

“While this was all going on, I was utterly terrified and convinced I was going to die. But my cameraman was filming throughout and, of course, it ended up making great TV. The best bit is that Ian was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and he invited me to his investiture. We still speak on the phone every so often.”

Cars have always and will always be the lifeblood of Brewer’s career, however, an obsession that was fuelled from very early on. “My dad’s passion was building custom cars, and from when I was a baby he would take me along on the Chelsea Cruise that was held in London on the last Saturday of each month. Everyone except my dad worked at IPC Magazines, and so did I when I left school. I ended up as a typesetter for Motor; my brother worked in the warehouse alongside three guys called Tony Hadley and Martin and Gary Kemp, who had dreams of becoming

‘It will be like a kind of tyrekickers’ event, where people can buy and sell’

seriously ill in hospital with meningitis that turned into septicaemia, and then Black Wednesday happened. I took my foot off the gas at work because all I wanted to do was be at my wife’s side, and by the time I got back to work the used-car business had gone. We ended up selling our clothes, our furniture, just to survive, and then the house was repossessed.”

pop stars – whatever happened to them...?”

Brewer realised there was more money to be made in flipping cars than in printing when he bought a Mini 850 that needed work, did it up and sold it for three times what he paid for it. He’s been selling cars ever since, juggling this business alongside his TV career since the late 1990s. Mike Brewer Motors – which sells new and used modern vehicles – is based in Sheffield, while One Automotive in Leamington Spa retails classics alongside the moderns.

“I don’t have a favourite era for cars – I like ’em all,” he explains. “I’ve just bought a Porsche 992 Targa and I absolutely love it. Then again, I get just as excited about my 1964 Mini Cooper S. However, while I understand and appreciate electric cars –and I sell them, too – at the moment they’re not for me. There’s something lacking in the driving experience; there’s no soul in an EV.”

When asked which car he’d keep if he lost it all, Brewer simply says: “I’ve already been there. Me and my wife Michelle lost literally everything back in 1992. She was

In typical Brewer fashion, however, he turned things around. “I was handing the keys back at the solicitor’s office and I noticed that, on the form that listed all the fittings I was leaving behind, the one box I hadn’t ticked was for the light fixtures. There was a chandelier that Michelle really liked, so me and my brother went back to the house with a ladder. Then the new owners walked in and there was a bit of argy-bargy because the wife really wanted the chandelier. I persuaded them to buy it from me for four grand, and I made the guy come with me to the bank to draw the money out in cash.

“That evening, I bought a Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 and a Renault 5 GT Turbo from the local car auction for £1700. Next day we bought a bucket, sponge and some Fairy Liquid, and me and Michelle cleaned those cars up like you wouldn’t believe. We advertised them in the free-ads paper Loot and doubled our money, then we just did the same again, and again, and again.”

Brewer’s deep affection for his wife is evident whenever he mentions her, and they’re in the process of making a reality documentary series about their daily lives; a kind of Meet the Brewers, as Mike puts it. He never stops working: also in preproduction is Wheeler Dealers Global, which will travel the world, exploring local history through car culture in different places. “We buy, fix up and sell motors incountry, which is really interesting because car people are similar wherever you go but the challenges are very different.”

Will he ever retire? “I keep saying I will, that Michelle and I should enjoy the last 15 good years we may have left, but she won’t let me. I dunno why: I think she just likes to get me out of the house… But I’d never fully retire anyway. I’d keep buying and selling for the fun of it – I just can’t help myself.”

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF VILLA D’ESTE

The concours might be the focus of Italy’s Villa d’Este, but this scintillating May event is about so much more

Words Nathan Chadwick

Photography BMW Group Classic

HAGERTY

VILLA D’ESTE

THE CLASSIC CAR WORLD IS OFTEN unglamorous, despite what we might tell ourselves. From cold, damp garages in the depths of winter to wads of invoices and, of course, unfortunate roadside breakdowns, old-car ownership is not as debonair as fashion marketing may suggest.

However, as the sunlight glints off the exquisite chrome of an impossibly rare example of automotive glitterati, while Lake Como’s cool blue water gently laps the Villa d’Este shoreline… well, it’s all forgotten. Since 1929, the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este has maintained its status as Europe’s most prestigious concours. Collectors from around the globe converge on the historic hotel for a chance of showfield glory, and restorers go all out to display their talents.

Here you’ll see not only the finest cars on the planet, but also some of the rarest and most storied. Those with histories worthy of big-screen stardom – from Hollywood glamour and socio-political intrigue to legendary racing warriors – you can find them on these perfectly manicured lawns.

The event is held with BMW Group Classic, so not only do you get to view spectacular, rarely seen exotics from the firm’s heritage department, but each year BMW brings a new concept. You can also see the latest examples of Rolls-Royce’s bespoke craftsmanship. Do not expect it to be all about BMWs, though – the entry list is vast and varied, from pre-war Bugattis and Bentleys to mid-century exotica from Ferrari and Aston Martin, and from coachbuilt gems to the sharpest hypercar silhouettes.

As you can imagine, entry isn’t cheap, at €595 for a Saturday ticket. As for the threeday ticket including the VIP party on the Friday night? That’s €10,000-plus...

However, the weekend is about so much more than the Saturday concours – and thankfully you can experience the same cars the day after, at a far more reasonable €35. They leave Villa d’Este early on Sunday and drive through the beautiful streets of Cernobbio to the picturesque Villa Erba. There you can see them up close, meet the owners and then watch the judging parade. There is live music, great food and a true festival atmosphere, too. There’s also likely

THIS SPREAD From the latest hypercars to the most exquisite concours classics, the Villa d’Este weekend has something for everyone, displayed in the most picturesque setting imaginable.

to be special themed displays – such as last year’s tribute to the late Marcello Gandini. Meanwhile, on the Saturday Villa Erba plays host to Amici & Automobili – Wheels & Weisswürsch, a cars & coffee-style event. It hosts weird and wonderful classics from across the spectrum, and costs only €5 to enter, with all proceeds going to Cernobbio children’s activities and projects. Several villas also host pop-up celebrations and parties, with supercar and hypercar brands displaying new wares. By far the biggest is FuoriConcorso, which is a 30-minute stroll around the lake from Villa Erba.

Set across villas Del Grumello, Sucota and Olmo, it boasts rare heritage cars from a wide pool of manufacturers, hypercars from the likes of Koenigsegg and Zagato, plus

‘The Villa d’Este weekend should be on every petrolhead’s bucket list’

exquisite collector cars. In 2023 Villa Olmo was Porsche fan’s dream, with concepts, racing machinery and super-rare road cars arranged around the vast gardens in honour of the marque’s 75th birthday. We can’t wait to see what’s planned for this year…

The Villa d’Este weekend should be on every petrolhead’s bucket list. Even if the concours is beyond your means, there’s still plenty to do, while the Alfa Romeo Museum is only a short drive away in Milan. Then there’s Lake Como, the local food, the drink... all of which are beautiful. Clear your diary for May 23-25. After all, little is more glamorous than slinking around Lake Como in your classic pride and joy… See www.concorsodeleganzavilladeste.com and www.fuoriconcorso.org for more details.

Auction action

In 2025, Broad Arrow Auctions, a Hagerty company, makes its Villa d’Este weekend debut by hosting an auction at Villa Erba, just a short ferry ride or walk from Villa d’Este. It will be held in the wonderfully sci-fi Villa Erba exhibition space, which last year hosted BMW and Audi’s motor sport icons, and you can expect 70 of the highest-quality collector cars. Consignments are now being accepted. More details at www. broadarrowauctions.com.

SAYING GOODBYE AT

THE TOP OF

THE WORLD

This deeply personal classic car road trip to the Arctic Circle lent new meaning to the phrase ‘a fond farewell’

Words and photography

Charlotte Vowden

IN THE SOPORIFIC GLOW OF THE midnight sun, on the threshold between one day and the next, I set a little of my late grandfather’s ashes free across the sea at Nordkapp; the closest I’ll ever get to the top of the world. At 71 degrees north, it lies five degrees within the Arctic Circle, and is quite literally the end of the road. As the furthest place to which you can drive in mainland Europe, only an archipelago and polar bears separated me from the North Pole.

From the precipice of a 600-millionyear-old cliff edge, where my eyes could make out the curvature of the earth, I bid adieu to my late grandfather, affectionately known as Dodo. I whispered “safe travels” as the will of the wind set his course, and he dissolved into the air with an ethereal grace. It felt becoming of the man he once was, and I wondered, somewhat wistfully, where his next destination might be.

Life, we’re wisened to philosophise, is about the journey, and the waypoints en route – but in this tender toodle-oo moment, with Dodo’s faithful MGA by my side, all meaning was anchored to the significance of the location we had reached. Almost three thousand driving miles from home, we had motored to Norway’s most extreme locale. This represented the summit of our most ambitious expedition to date – it was the point of purpose on our map – but classic cars aren’t known for having a sympathetic sense of occasion, and on day one of this considerable challenge, it looked as though it was over before we’d properly begun. It was in my father’s silence that I heard everything I needed to know. A mechanic by trade, who takes a pragmatic approach to life, he’d diagnosed a potentially terminal problem. A leak had manifested from the engine’s rear main, causing the loss of half a litre of oil. On measure, it was a catastrophic amount. Exposing the MGA’s vital components to the risk of irreparable damage, it also threatened to contaminate the clutch. In all probability we’d have to abort our mission in order to protect the car – but all hope, dad said, was not lost. If it was safe to do so (ie the rate of loss

THIS SPREAD Breathtaking scenery and the occasional helping hand awaited Charlotte and her dad on their very personal drive to the top of the world.

lessened), we would proceed, but the fivelitre canister of oil we had on board may not be sufficient to replenish the sump. I did what I could to help. I put in a mayday call to UK oil manufacturer Morris Lubricants, and it promised that a shipment of 20W-50 would be waiting for us in Norway’s capital – if we made it that far.

A dally with jeopardy had been expected – it comes with the territory on this type of trip – but the fact that fate had written it into our journey’s narrative so early on? Well, it felt desperately unfair. The days that followed were, as you can imagine, quite fraught, yet we have always been a resilient father-and-daughter team. Ramping up the en route maintenance routine, we stopped more frequently and for longer periods of time. We gave the oil sufficient time to cool, meaning a more accurate reading could be obtained. Checking the engine’s dipstick became a task to dread, but it didn’t always indicate the worst of our fears.

Enduring a heatwave through congested parts of central Europe, FSK 302 – also known as Frisky – performed heroically for up to 14 hours per day. The same can be said for us. When the cabin temperature peaked at 49°C, we knew that we too had to keep our fluid levels topped up; I guzzled six litres of water in one day. Avoiding the temptation to speculate about what might happen with FSK 302, we entertained one another with (what we consider to be) witty bants. Impulse purchases made at petrol stations helped us (me) feel jolly, too; I never can resist the opportunity to tuck into a weird-looking packet of sweets.

Sharing the awe of what we saw through FSK’s windscreen, dad and I embraced the sense of freedom that classic car road tripping can provide. As an all-consuming and highly sensory activity, it tests your proficiency as well as your nerves. It grants the rare opportunity to be wholly present, too. This proved particularly useful when the wing bolts that secure the A’s roof came loose on Denmark’s 11-mile Great Belt Bridge – the first time this technical hitch had ever happened. We fought the force of

‘We embraced the sense of freedom that road tripping can provide’

the howling wind to heave the hood rail back into position: it was an exhilarating stomachdrop interruption, and we congratulated one another on how swiftly we had taken action in that moment of duress.

Finding accommodation was a daily todo, by design rather than poor planning. Without the limitation of having a specific A to B, we felt better able to enjoy, and occasionally deal with, what we discovered, encountered and experienced while on the road. Securing somewhere with appropriate parking was, of course, a non-negotiable condition. Taking every precaution to reduce the chance of theft, we carried locks that dad had customised to fit the handbrake, rear wheels and clutch. Erring on the overkill side of caution is more conducive to a restful night’s sleep...

So too was the plate of hot brownies and ice cream the proprietor of a truck stop prepared for us when we checked in one night rather late. From a timber cabin built on a family farm at the turn of the last century, to a rustic off-grid lodge that was popular with geologists, and a motel on a town’s edge, we were thrilled by the variety of places we were able to hit the hay.

On day four, to our great relief, we reached Oslo. Even better, Morris Lubricants had delivered the goods. Restocked but tired and

emotionally drained, we checked into a hotel near the famous Holmenkollen ski jump. Preferring a view of FSK 302, we sat with our backs to the metropolis as it glittered in the fading light. Dad held my hand as I cried.

Soon, we made acquaintance with the Scandinavian summer; the sun’s refusal to retreat beneath the horizon has a beguiling, slightly eerie effect. Our body clocks, already slightly out of sync from long days on the road, were only negligibly further skewed.

As per my father’s wishes, I was in the driver’s seat when Frisky’s front wheels entered the Arctic Circle. The invisible line that marks its boundary is in constant flux – every year it shifts by around 14 metres – so pinpointing a precise crossing is

‘The endless forest filled FSK’s cabin with the divine fragrance of fir and pine’

nigh on impossible, but we celebrated the approximation nonetheless. In classic ‘been there, done that’ style, we made a pitstop to purchase T-shirts from the souvenir shop, which lies at 66° 33’N.

On day eight, we arrived at Nordkapp. With FSK’s roof down and the wind speed up, as was Dodo’s preferred way to travel, I donned his flat cap as a triumphal tribute. It also helped to tame my hair. So far from the equator, Frisky purred contentedly at a steady cruise in the cool Arctic air. With thousands of miles behind us, and so little of the E6 ahead, dad and I settled into a reflective hush. I was proud of him, and felt such privilege to be with him. This time I resisted the urge to cry. He’d sacrificed so much to ensure I never went without while growing up, but finally he’d given himself permission to down tools and explore the world. Even if it meant taking his overalls with him. This road that led nowhere is uncommon territory for classic cars, and I was delighted when an indigenous reindeer herder took a photo of FSK and I. He’d never seen one that far north, let alone one piloted by a woman. He festooned the grille with a piece of antler, giving her a mean(ish), well travelled look. Passing by in waves of up and up, and down, the rhythm of the rolling landscape set a meditative flow. The sky was ablaze in

shades of peach, lemon and mauve. We three had driven hard to make this once-in-alifetime adventure come true. Braving subsea tunnels thick with salty fog, vertiginous hairpin bends and crumbling forest tracks, we’d overlanded through France, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Norway on our journey from the UK. When it rained, we ploughed on through it. When it shone, we marvelled at the rainbows that came out to play in the after-storm mist.

I had unceremoniously carried Dodo’s ashes in a sandwich bag, while his photograph, taped to the windscreen, kept watch. It was at dawn on my 36th birthday, when pm switched to am, that Dodo made his own onward journey from the headland at Nordkapp. The only option for dad, FSK and I was to turn round. First treating ourselves to a 50/50 gin and tonic with ice – Dodo’s favourite – as well as the luxury of a little rest, we booked a two-night stay in a fishing village called Kamøyvær. The pause in our ‘wake up, get organised and get on the road’ routine was restorative, but it also afforded one of our trip’s most extraordinary moments.

Waking up to find FSK surrounded by reindeer, casually grazing on coarse grass, gave my spirits more spark than a double espresso ever could. I fizzed and squealed with excitement. In his usual outwardly underwhelmed way, dad was astonished, too. As chief mechanic and caretaker, the fact that he might be nervous about the herd of antlered animals that were closing in on the car hadn’t occurred to me – but this wasn’t our only encounter with the nomadic caribou. We enjoyed eating this staple of the Norwegian diet, too; as steaks, as burgers and in hearty stews.

Driving south through Finland for a change of scenery on our return, the endless forest filled FSK’s cabin with the divine fragrance of fir and pine. In these largely unpeopled landscapes, strangers soon became friends. It was while eating a cinnamon bun with Jan and Solveig on the veranda of their Swedish summer house that I considered how wonderful forging such fleeting connections can be.

It was in the German port of Flensburg that I found myself feeling unsettled by our return to urban life. The dirt, homelessness and price tag of hospitality filled me with despair. For 18 days, the MGA had been the

bubble from within which dad and I had looked out. She’d become a mobile home, of unconventional sorts, that had shown us wonders of the world. She had transported us without hesitation, or complaint. Her oil leak had stabilised, but seemed to worsen at high revs. Her heart will have to come out for the issue to be resolved, but on this expedition, it didn’t miss a beat. “Dodo will be that roar in the engine,” my mum had said before we left. Both superstitious and sentimental, I’ll always be inclined to believe.

On the ship home from the Hook of Holland, FSK 302 was the anomaly in a swathe of unremarkable cars. Exceptional, remarkable, she was a warrior at 64 years old. Torrential rain waited for us in Harwich. It washed away much of the adventure dust that coated her Chariot Red curves, but I had one more mission. A pilgrimage to Dodo’s favourite stretch of road seemed a fitting finale for this trip. My mum, Dodo’s daughter, accompanied me to reminisce.

THIS SPREAD A G&T raised to Dodo marked the culmination of his family’s unique mission in his cherished MGA. An adventure never to be forgotten – but an appropriate adornment remains as a keepsake.

Twenty days, eight countries, (nine if you include the UK), almost 6000 miles, four and a half litres of oil and one row; those are the standout vital stats. Quantifying such an odyssey helps to make sense of it, but there’s no way to neatly summarise the impact it had on my body and mind. Exhausted, yet invigorated, I found it hard to re-adjust to the tempo of normal life in the weeks that followed. The sensible cure? To plan the next grand tour – but how do you better a road trip to the top of the world? With each expedition my father and I grow closer: even this one proved not to be an adventure too far.

Just get in your car and drive...

Looking for a reason to wheel out your classic car? Here are a few to get you started!

MARCH

Malvern Autojumble

March 16

Three Counties Showground, Worcestershire

100-plus autojumble stands with all the parts you could need. classicshows.org

Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show

March 21-23

NEC, Birmingham

Whether you’re weighing up a project or in dire need of parts, this should have you covered. necrestorationshow.com

APRIL

Salon Privé London

April 10-12

Chelsea, London

Innovative concours where every entrant is for sale returns for fourth year. Expect the most exotic classics and hypercars. salonpriveconcours.com

Goodwood Members’ Meeting

April 12-13

Goodwood, Sussex

Spectacular historic racing combined with more modern machinery for an early-season extravaganza of two and four-wheeled excellence. goodwood.co.uk

Brooklands Easter

Classic Gathering

April 19

Brooklands, Surrey

Great event promises a diverse range of cars, live music, trade stalls – and even a barbecue. brooklandsmuseum.com

Drive It Day

April 27

Nationwide Huge initiative encourages owners to get out and drive their cars, with destination events throughout the UK and fundraising for charity. driveitday.co.uk/events

Sunday Scramble

April 27

Bicester Motion, Oxfordshire

Magnificent mixture of behindclosed-doors insight into historic auto businesses, special displays and workshops. Be sure to pop by the Hagerty Clubhouse, too. bicestermotion.com

MAY

Donington Historic Festival

May 2-4

Donington Park, Derbyshire

Historic racing from touring cars to endurance legends on world-famous circuit. doningtonhistoric.com

Gaydon Land Rover Show

May 3-4

British Motor Museum, Warks

Celebrate the 76th anniversary of Land Rover at the home of British motoring, with all facets of the Green Oval on display. britishmotormuseum.co.uk

How Many Left?

May 11

Grampian Transport Museum, Alford, Aberdeenshire

Celebrate the rarest cars around in beautiful Grampian – and the museum is excellent, too. gtm.org.uk

Hagerty Hill Climb

May 17

Shelsley Walsh, Worcestershire

Imagine roaring up Shelsley’s historic hill – the world’s oldest motor sport track – surrounded by eclectic cars from ancient classics to modern marvels. That is the Hagerty Hill Climb magic. HDC discounted rates. hagerty.co.uk

Beaulieu Spring Autojumble

May 17-18

National Motor Museum, Hants In need of a part to save your resto? You’ll find it here – and plenty of other distractions. beaulieu.co.uk

JUNE

Wheeler Dealer Live

June 1

Bicester Motion, Oxfordshire

The no. 1 tyre-kicker show, with Mike Brewer and friends. Introducing cars, traders, show ’n’ shine, live auction and more. HDC discounted rates. wheelerdealer.live

London Concours June 3-5

Honourable Artillery Company, London

‘Mike Brewer and friends introduce cars, traders, show ’n’ shine, live auction and more’

Spectacular classic machinery and hypercars converge on the capital city for a luxury delight. londonconcours.co.uk

JULY

Goodwood Festival of Speed

July 10-13

Goodwood, Sussex

The world’s greatest automotive garden party, with manufacturer stands, rallying stage, the legendary hillclimb, classic auction – and far more, too. goodwood.com

Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional

July 26

Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincs

A classic car show like no other, celebrating automotive quirks from the ’70s to the 2000s. This year sees the cars eligible for the Concours de L’Ordinaire cross into the 21st century. HDC discounted rates. hagerty.co.uk

HAGERTY HANGOUTS

Hagerty Clubhouse, Bicester Motion, Oxfordshire

Our informal meet-ups take place on one Tuesday evening a month between 6:00pm10:00pm. Here are the planned dates for 2025 – why not get in your car and join us?

April 8

May 13

June 10

July 8

August 12

September 9

Elevate Your Driving Experience with Our High-Quality LED Lighting Solutions.

Perfect Upgrades for Classic, Modern and Recreational Vehicles.

LEDs reduce load dramatically and greatly improve visibility at great value prices. They will help you see and be seen. Part upgrades and complete vehicle upgrades available with positive and negative earth options which we post worldwide daily. All items come with a warranty of up to 5 years. MOT Compliant H1 & H4 LED headlight conversions available in Cool White and Classic Warm White. DISCOUNT CODE HAG2025

PRODUCTS AND BOOKS

Cool stuff

Round-up of the latest automotive-inspired products and books

The mid-engined Renault 5 Turbo remains a rallying icon to this day, and this tribute pays homage to original concept drawings. Available in black or white, and in sizes XS-3XL, it costs £24.99 in standard fit and £29.99 in heavy fit. HDC members get ten percent off on Takona T-shirts: use code HDC10. www.takona.co.uk

Takona R5 Turbo Designers Edition T-shirt

Laudo Racing Fiat Uno Turbo

The Uno Turbo was a 1980s hot hatch hero, and this beautifully produced 1:18 model brings it to life. Also available in grey, white, blue and black, it costs €115.90. www.laudoracing-models.com

Prodrive: 40 years of Success

Brimming with insider insight and superb photography, Ian Wagstaff’s 192-page book looks at Prodrive’s incredible motor sport achievements. Great value at just £39. www.porterpress.co.uk

Hot Wheels Maserati Shamal

If the Ghibli Cup in our Bull Market has you hankering after some boxy Gandini goodness, then this latest, £2.30 addition to Hot Wheels’ Metro range will surely delight. www.smythstoys.com

Farer Tonneau New York

This 1970s-inspired watch has a 35mm stainless-steel case, wrapping a Sellita SW300-1 Special Elaboré Grade movement. The blue vapour-coated rotor has up to 56 hours of power. It costs £1095 with either a tan or blue Granolo leather strap. www.farer.com

Against All The Others: Porsche’s Racing History, 1968

Randy Leffingwell’s $99, 432-page first volume in a year-by-year series diarises the marque’s motor sport efforts during 1968. www.bullpublishing.com

Brawn BGP 001/02: The Autobiography

David Tremayne’s 320-page, £69 story of Brawn and Button’s 2009 F1 victory is an excellent account of a unique season. www.porterpress.co.uk

CAR STORAGE

Making space

It may be the final frontier for the Star Trek crew, but for most car fans space is the cruel constraint that curbs their enthusiasm

Words James Mills

Alamy / Racing Green Car Storage

ALL TOO OFTEN IN THE LIFE OF A car enthusiast, the driveway, garage or both end up full to bursting. It’s at around then that a bad dose of ‘man maths’ kicks in, another vehicle is bought and there’s no room at the ranch to house it.

That’s especially acute in a post-pandemic world. Garages have been converted to gyms; driveways have been cleared to make room for a garden office pod; homes have been extended and the old lean-to is long gone. In short, we often find ourselves running out of space to keep our cars – and that’s where storage companies can help.

These are growing in popularity as ever more people become comfortable with the concept of entrusting their special car or collection to a firm that will care for it on their behalf. The past decade has seen rapid growth in this niche, meaning you could probably place a pin anywhere on a UK map and find a wide choice of local storage providers. More than 16,000 cars are now estimated to be placed in professional facilities, and the fast-growing sector is said to be worth tens of millions of pounds. As with so many things, it follows a trend that began in the US.

In 2023, after more than three decades as an automotive writer, I took a leap of faith and co-launched a storage business of my own: Racing Green Car Storage (www. racinggreencarstorage.co.uk), which by the

way is offering all Hagerty Drivers Club members five percent off fees at its facility in Kent (use discount code HDC5). Over the next year, I researched the ins and outs of storage, and built up a real understanding of the good, the bad and the ugly. Trust me, there is a significant difference between the slick operators and the shambolic ones.

Given that you’ll typically need to agree to a minimum term – usually three months – and the cost can range from £160 per month in the sticks to £850 in central London, it pays to do your homework. It also pays to treat the process like you would when buying a used car or a new home; spend at least one day out and about, visiting sites and sifting the good from the bad. Make a list of what you want, and use the following to shape that list and help you pick the right storage for you.

THIS SPREAD From dedicated, covered transportation to certified security doors and robust gates, a top storage provider will offer a comprehensive all-round service.

Photography

Who uses car storage?

There can be a variety of reasons to turn to a professional storage provider, not least because automotive enthusiasts have a habit of ending up with more cars than they have space to accommodate them – always a nice problem to have. Sometimes we turn to outdoor covers to protect our ‘excess’ cars from the elements. However, the use of even the most expensive cover won’t necessarily provide long-term protection for a precious motor. Over time they can cause abrasion as they move with the wind, and because they hold the damp they can cause microblistering of paintwork. Also, storing any car in plain sight is leaving it vulnerable to theft. Then there are the collectors. Often, as a collection grows, it becomes apparent that the ‘simple’ job of managing all the cars isn’t so simple after all – it’s time

consuming. Passing that workload to a reputable third-party is an appealing prospect. An insurer may also ask for a collection to be split up. By having it in more than one suitable location, the risk can be reduced to both owner and insurer.

Relocation, relocation

Another common user of car storage is the expatriate. These often move abroad for work, for years at a time, which requires them to let their home and clear everything out – including their cars. They can’t bear to part with their classic, but don’t have friends or family to store it on their behalf – a big ‘ask’ at the best of times, let alone for several years. This is where the professionals will ride to the rescue, providing long-term storage and complete management of the car until the client returns to the UK.

THIS SPREAD There are major differences between the slick operators and the shambolic ones, so make sure you do your homework before choosing who to entrust your pride and joy to.

Convenience versus quality of facility and service

Given the growth in availability of storage facilities, you should be able to find a relatively local one to you. But first, do weigh up the convenience of the location against the quality of the facility and the level of service offered. Arguably the most important aspect is whether or not it is dehumidified; an industrial dehumidifier can maintain the optimum level of 55 percent relative humidity within the largest of buildings – the level at which nasties such as rust and mildew are kept at bay, but rubber and leather won’t dry out, while all electronics and sensitive mechanical components remain healthy.

However, because these systems are very expensive to buy and install, not all facilities have them. Don’t be shy: always ask what provision has been made for controlling humidity. Industrial machines are easy to spot, because they’re substantial lumps of stainless steel and incorporate ducting that runs the length of the building, ensuring even humidity throughout.

Privacy and security

When it comes to location, privacy is another consideration when choosing a provider. When my two partners and I were searching for the right building in the right location, nine times out of ten the

available units were located on industrial estates in plain sight to all passers-by.

We didn’t feel comfortable with that, and we didn’t think our prospective clients would, either. In the end, we found a brandnew barn on a farm, which was hidden from the outside world and offered us the opportunity to plan and fit out the building exactly as we wanted. An added benefit of this for us was there is only one way in and out, and our landlord lives on site.

It goes without saying that the security systems should be the best of the best. Ask whether the business has keyholder notification for its alarm and fire systems, together with 24/7 monitoring by a reputable security company plus police and fire link-ups. Also check for CCTV

with remote access and live notifications. You should look out for certified security doors and robust gates, intercom entry and a certified safe for car keys – labelled according to the number block on each vehicle’s roof, in case you were wondering…

Insurance

On your long list of questions to pose to anyone on your car-storage shortlist, insurance coverage has to be up there. Check whether the company has liability coverage in case of damage or theft that may occur while your vehicle is in storage. Reputable providers will always offer complimentary comprehensive insurance up to an agreed sum, usually £100,000. It’s worth having, because why should you claim on your own insurance because of someone else’s mistake, such as a dinged door? Do discuss this in detail with the storage provider, though.

Access and services

Sometimes a spontaneous outing in your car will be called for, so check how much notice you’ll need to give to collect it. Slick operators will offer a same-day service.

‘More than 16,000 cars are now estimated to be placed in storage facilities’

Also compare the services included and don’t get hung up on price – look at the value and what’s included that will most benefit you. Our own simple structure ensures exacting care for every car, which means we have one price and an all-inclusive, premium standard of service. We’ll collect and deliver your car with our enclosed transporter, perform a documented inspection and health check, treat it to unlimited snow-foam washes, fit a CTEK smart battery charger and use a custom-sized, soft-stretch cover.

We also carbon-balance every vehicle –effectively making it carbon-positive, as they do far fewer miles than we allow for when offsetting a year’s emissions. We think

it’s the right thing to do as our hobby faces increasing scrutiny, and our clients love it.

We will cover all aspects of vehicle management, too. Whether it’s taking the car for an MoT or service, organising a trip to the paintshop, delivering it to a concours for display or showing it to a prospective purchaser, as with all the best outfits we make life easier for busy clients.

There’s one more factor to think about, and that’s who’s running the business. It’s always good to put a face to a name, meet them in person and get a sense of whether they’re as passionate and exacting as you’d hope for from someone you’ll be entrusting your car to. They should be true enthusiasts who understand the specific needs and, perhaps, quirks of your car; people who speak your language and are just as interested in a Ford Fiesta ST Performance Edition as they are in a Ferrari F40.

DRIVING TIPS

Mechanical

sympathy – an essential ‘tool’ for your classic

Getting revved up for the summer? Just don’t take things too fast...

HOW MANY OF YOU ARE LOOKING forward to spending more time in your classic this summer, and relishing its peculiarities, oddities and old-school feel?

Many of us enjoy the basic fundamentals of driving classic cars, where we meet the challenge of using less powerful brakes, conquering more ‘thought out’ gearchanges and getting to know the tyre-traction threshold when accelerating briskly or cornering on older, skinnier rubber. But

we wouldn’t live without them, would we?

I cherish their quirks and challenges, and I believe there is something special about the feel and connection you get from driving classics. The older electrical and fuel systems, the sounds of a carburettor-fed engine, the mechanical feel of the controls – it all makes for an experience that is truly unmatched.

It’s interesting how we reflect on the balance between driving our cars and preserving their value as investments. A lot of people tend to keep their vehicles pristine for resale purposes, but to me the joy of actually driving them is what makes them truly special.

There are several ways to enhance our love and ownership of classic cars, so that they not only last longer but also offer greater reliability and durability in the long term. Let’s start with the allimportant engine warm-up process, which can make a huge difference to the mechanical health of the vehicle. I always emphasise ‘mechanical sympathy’ during a cold start-up, because this is crucial to maintain the engine’s longevity.

Let me ask:

a) Do you drop the clutch so that the car fires up more easily (this helps the battery)?

b) Do you use the best oil that suits your

vehicle most effectively, regardless of cost?

The answer to these two questions should be YES – and here are a couple more:

a) Do you rev the engine once it starts?

b) Do you drive away as soon as you can?

The answer to these should be NO.

In fact, you should allow the powerplant to idle between 30 seconds and a couple of minutes before driving away. This improves oil circulation and ensures that important components are properly lubricated. If you have a carburettor, you may need to pump the throttle pedal once before starting, in order to prime the fuel system.

Drive gently during the initial warmup period, and avoid pushing the motor hard until it has had ample time to properly heat up and the oil has reached optimal temperature and viscosity. I would suggest that you try to keep the engine revs below 2000-2500rpm for the first few minutes behind the wheel.

Mechanical sympathy is all about understanding how delicate the start-up phase is for older engines. A little patience and gentle handling during the first few miles can go a long way to maintaining the powerplant’s performance as well as preventing premature wear.

Classic cars demand a different set of sympathetic driving skills and a more delicate mechanical mindset than modern vehicles do. When everything works in harmony, it feels like the car becomes an extension of yourself, which is what makes them so rewarding to drive. To some degree it’s about syncing with the vehicle and really understanding its needs and potential frailties, while in turn your classic delivers what you want from it in a fun and engaging way. With a great balance of simplicity and personality, it is the sheer old-school theatre that’s so brilliant about driving these great cars from another era.

In the next issue we’ll do a deep dive into the many different driving skills and techniques, so that you can enjoy driving your classic more and be as one with it on the open road. Go well. Be safe.

PAUL RIPLEY Award-winning drivingsafety expert shares his knowledge from the high-performance training industry.

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Vintage Classic Modern

Vintage Classic Modern

Vintage Classic Modern

01869 248805 guardians@historit.co.uk

01869 248805 guardians@historit.co.uk

01869 248805 guardians@historit.co.uk

A good start to the year, but sales are still shaky

Record prices at the high end can’t camouflage a currently uncertain climate for mass-market sales

2025 SEEMS TO HAVE STARTED WITH a bang in the world of the classic car market. The auction-season openers at Scottsdale in Arizona and Kissimmee in Florida are always headline-grabbers, with the two events competing for the biggest numbers in terms of both cars across the block and the most valuable offered.

Mecum’s January Kissimmee sale is not only the first major live collector car auction in the world, but also the largest, with 4400 vehicles consigned and offered by the end of proceedings. Hagerty’s results showed $224 million in total sales, yet with the sellthrough rate for $1m-plus cars down from 58 percent to 32 percent, year on year.

Top of the ‘no-sale’ list was a Porsche 917K owned by Jerry Seinfeld. This had been purchased new by Steve McQueen’s

Solar Productions, and starred as the hero car in his Le Mans movie epic. Bid to $25m, it didn’t sell. There were, however, some staggeringly high results for rare Corvettes, including a 1967 L89 Coupe that sold for $1.7m. That’s just outside the top ten most expensive Corvettes ever sold, and is remarkable for a model that was not previously considered that special.

Mecum followed up its car auction with a motorcycle-only sale in Las Vegas at the end of the month, securing another record: the first public sale of a bike for $1m-plus, when a 1915 Cyclone V-Twin sold for $1.32m.

Scottsdale was all about the numbers, too – illustrated beautifully by January’s vast Barrett-Jackson sale. Virtually every lot was offered without a reserve, and $194.3m of vehicles found a new home;

huge, although $6m down from a 2024 high. As ever, the sale came with more than its fair share of celebrity cars, including an original Batmobile reportedly used in filming for the ABC television series and subsequent movie. Having started life as a 1966 Ford Galaxie, it sold for $495,000 –rather more than the standard Hagerty Excellent value of $24,000.

Across town, Bonhams managed a total of a mere $5.2m from the 52 vehicles that sold. Never a huge auction, it lacked the big-hitting cars it once attracted; two years ago, it was a $30m auction. RM Sotheby’s concurrent Arizona sale, held at the Biltmore Resort in Phoenix, did achieve that measure, with its $31.6m total including a 1958 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta ‘Tour de France’ that sold for $3.77m.

But for once, the biggest automotive headlines of the first six weeks of 2025 were written in Europe. As you may have read in my regular Hagerty Drivers Club email column, on February 1 RM Sotheby’s sold a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen (Streamliner) in a singlecar auction at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart for €51,155,000 including costs. The sum set a new price record for a Grand Prix car, and also made it the second most

HAGERTY

expensive vehicle sold at auction after the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé also sold by RM Sotheby’s, back in 2022 for €135m (£115m).

The W 196 R scored a victory at the 1955 Buenos Aires GP with Juan Manuel Fangio, and it achieved the fastest lap at the 1955 Italian GP at Monza driven by Stirling Moss. In 1965 Mercedes-Benz donated it to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) Museum, which has owned it ever since.

A few days after that sale, another former IMS car hit the block at the RM Sotheby’s Paris sale. Described as “highly preserved”, this was the Ferrari 250 LM in which Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt had

‘There seems to be a heck of a lot of money still available to buy old cars’

won the 1965 Le Mans 24 Hours for the North American Racing Team (NART). It was the only Enzo-era Ferrari to compete in six 24-hour races – three at Le Mans and three at Daytona. The sale price of $34.88m was a new record for the model.

So, there seems to be a heck of a lot of money still available to buy old cars. This morning, a friend in the industry asked me whether I thought these sales marked a turning point, and that the buying boom seen over the past few years had returned. My answer was cautious: probably not.

I believe we’re seeing a continuation of the trend that Hagerty has tracked over the past 18 months, characterised by buyers being extremely careful with their money except for truly superb examples of a particular model. This accurately describes the 250 LM, the MercedesBenz Streamliner and the 917K: all models were extraordinarily rare with superb provenance, with serious race history and in very original condition.

The prices they achieved were pretty much exactly as expected; even though the 917K didn’t sell, $25m seemed a very fair figure, and probably says more about Seinfeld’s need to sell and resultant reserve

price than it does about the high bid.

And yet, for the rest of the market, things are still slow. Dealers, auction companies that specialise in the more mass-market end of sales and private vendors are all reporting the same: there’s interest, but offers are hard to come by and deals, when they happen, take a lot of negotiation.

We’re living in a world where there’s an extraordinary amount of political and economic uncertainty, and it seems that’s still having an effect on whether people buy classics, or maybe put their money somewhere else; gold, generally seen as the investment of choice at such times, is incidentally at a record high price.

But things change: on the day this article was filed, UK interest rates came down, the weather was looking better, and we were weeks away from the start of this year’s season of classic events. Maybe things are taking a turn for the better.

JOHN MAYHEAD

Hagerty Price Guide editor, author, market commentator and concours judge.

Citroën DS

The DS’s innovation and design left a lasting impact on the motoring landscape

Words John Tallodi

THE CITROËN DS LOOKED LIKE NO other executive saloon on the road before or, indeed, since. Beneath that chic, curvy bodywork was a complex hydropneumatic system that powered the brakes, steering, suspension and gearchange.

This defined the DS’s character, and gave it a ride and handling balance surpassing that of just about any other car on the road in the mid-1950s. The hydraulic suspension initially allows the Citroën to roll, but it firms up considerably under load, and the ride comfort remains among the best in the world. Rolls-Royce later licensed the technology for the Silver Shadow.

Boasting a semi-automatic transmission and a 1.9-litre inline-four, the first DS 19

was a leisurely performer. However, the pillow-soft ride quality and sumptuous cabin trim clearly defined its position in the luxury executive saloon class.

The relatively high pricing limited the car’s sales potential, so the ID 19 was introduced in 1957. This offered a detuned 1.9-litre engine, low-spec interior, manual ’box and no power steering. A Safari estate arrived in 1958 in both DS and ID guises. The built-to-order Chapron convertible DS was offered from 1960 onwards.

Front-wheel drive and inboard front disc brakes were novel in the segment, and numerous updates and options arrived in the early 1960s. These included a more powerful 2.1-litre variant, a redesigned

Photography Magic Car Pics

nose and an even plusher Pallas trim level. The sole major facelift came in 1968, with directional high-beam lights joining the options list. The late 1960s and early ’70s also brought fuel injection, air-con and the use of mineral-based hydraulic fluid, while a now-rare three-speed automatic was made available. The DS 23 marked the ‘Goddess’s’ ultimate iteration. Producing 141bhp in its most potent injected form, it could hit nearly 120mph. DS saloon production ended at one month short of 20 years, with more than 1.4 million examples sold.

Engine and gearbox

The DS came with a range of four-cylinder engines, from 1.9 to 2.3 litres. Fuel injection

THIS SPREAD

Available as a saloon, estate and convertible, the Citroën DS came with a variety of drivetrains and was in production for two decades.

What to pay

Citroen DS 19

Fair £7900

Good £10,800

Excellent £17,600

Concours £27,400

Citroen ID 19

Fair £4100

Good £6100

Excellent £10,400

Concours £17,700

Citroen DS 21 Safari

Fair £9600

Good £14,400

Excellent £20,300

Concours £31,000

DS 23 Décapotable

Fair £116,000

Good £135,000

Excellent £185,000

Concours £235,000

* Prices from Hagerty Price Guide

was introduced as an option for 1970, yet the majority of the line-up was carburettor fed. The rest of the car might have been ahead of its time, but these powerplants are relatively simple, and regular basic maintenance can see them clock up big mileages. Watch out for oil leaks and loose or rattling timing chains. A noisy engine at idle could mean anything from valves that need adjustment to tired camshafts that require a rebuild.

Various gearboxes were offered over the years: a four-speed semi-automatic, threeratio auto and four- or five-speed manual units. All are relatively reliable, but look out for crunching synchros on the manuals and hesitation between changes on the Borg-Warner automatic. If the five-speed

Specifications

1.9-litre inline-four

Power 60-75bhp

Top speed 87-100mph

0-60mph 23 seconds (est)

Economy 30mpg

2.1-litre inline-four

Power 109bhp

Top speed 105mph

0-60mph 20 seconds (est)

Economy 28mpg

2.3-litre inline-four

Power 141bhp (injected)

Top speed 117mph

0-60mph 15 seconds (est)

THIS SPREAD

Stylish detailing in addition to supercomfortable ride gave this luxury executive saloon the edge over many rivals in period. The Safari estate can seat up to eight people.

manual whines in high ratios, this is indicative of dry and worn ’box bearings. An adjustment screw on the transmission bellhousing indicates how much life is left in the clutch; if it is all the way out, the unit is nearing the end of its life.

Suspension and brakes

The hydropneumatic suspension is not overly complex, but specialist knowledge is required to ensure that it functions as the factory intended. In the late 1960s a new mineral oil-based hydraulic fluid replaced the previous formulation. The systems require different types of seals, and interchanging fluids can easily damage the hydraulics. The newer LHM and hydraulic elements were green, to avoid confusion. Aside from general wear and tear, the

suspension is reliable; most issues usually stem from neglect or having unqualified technicians work on the car. When taking a potential buy for a test drive, listen out for knocking suspension at speed, because this could indicate worn balljoints. A permanently sagging car may very well have a hydraulic fluid leak that needs attention.

The front brakes can be difficult to access thanks to their awkward placement beneath the radiator, and calipers can stick on pre-1967 cars if the car has spent a long time stationary. The handbrake pads are part of the front assembly and can be pricey to replace, so check the car doesn’t move when the handbrake lever is engaged.

Meanwhile, the rear stoppers tend to last a lot longer, and they are easier to service when the shoes do need replacing.

Economy 27mpg

Model history

1955 DS 19 goes into production, with hydropneumatic suspension. Initially has 75bhp 1.9-litre inline-four, semi-auto

1957 Lower-spec ID has conventional steering, brakes and gearbox, still with hydropneumatics and detuned 66bhp 1.9-litre engine

1958 Safari estate has split rear tailgate and seats up to eight

1960 Special-order Chapron-created two-door convertible arrives. Manual now available; topspec Pallas trim introduced

1965 109bhp 2.1 DS 21

1968 Major facelift includes covered directional lights; LHM hydraulic fluid now used

1970 Injection option now available on manuals. Millionth DS built

1971 Fully automatic three-speed transmission is optional

1973 2.3 DS 23 introduced, with up to 141bhp in fuel-injected form

1975 DS saloon production comes to an end: approximately 1,455,000 built

1978 Last convertible built, for Alan Clark MP. Drop-top production ends.

Around 1246 made in total

Bodywork and interior

If corrosion takes hold of the frame, be prepared for a large bill. Rust on the body panels is less of an issue; aftermarket parts can still be found. Check for rot on the door frames, sills, footwells and suspension mounts. There are very few examples of the DS around that haven’t been restored or repaired by now, but make sure the work has been carried out to a high standard.

Plusher Pallas variants had unique body mouldings, so ensure these are still present. As these Citroëns hide their rot well, get your potential buy checked by a specialist.

Seat upholstery was most commonly done in fabric, although leather was optional on top-spec variants and some cars have been retrimmed in this way. Certain specialists still offer a ‘turn-key’

‘Its ride and handling surpassed those of just about any other car’

retrimming service for the DS, although finding replacement switches and various trim pieces can be tough.

Air-con is most often found in the Pallas variants. Meanwhile, early cars came fitted with a rectangular instrument binnacle, while later models featured circular gauges.

Which to buy

The DS is a great classic, and the later cars benefitted from more power, upgraded hydraulic fluid and, in the case of the Pallas, a host of extra kit. The Chapron convertibles are beautiful, rare and costly.

If you’re looking to regularly drive your DS, a post-1969 manual model may be the best choice. In early cars the hydraulic fluid is hygroscopic, tends to leak and is corrosive to the bodywork and seals.

Aside from proof of regular maintenance, the most crucial aspect of any pre-purchase inspection is the condition of the chassis. An overly corroded car is expensive to repair, and very keenly priced models may be hiding all manner of evils. Find the right car, though, and you’ll be transported back to a time when the DS reigned supreme.

CLASSIC CHOICES

Riding on the wave of nostalgia

A transformative era during which motorcycle technology really came into its own, the 1980s spawned many two-wheeled legends. Some 40 years on, it’s time to get back into the saddle

Words Jim Moore

THINK ‘CLASSIC BIKE’ AND YOU’LL likely conjure up an image of something British, adorned in chrome and not dissimilar to what your dad owned in his youth. Indeed there are many fabulous old machines that fit that description – but there is also a whole different world of preloved motorcycles out there ready to turn the accepted notion of ‘classic’ on its head.

The 1980s was an unprecedented time for biking. In just ten years we went from bombing about on air-cooled behemoths with skinny tyres, inadequate brakes and frames barely able to cope with the engines they cradled, to scraping our knees through corners like Grand Prix racers, aboard fully faired race reps boasting forced induction, adjustable damping and fat radial rubber. There hasn’t been a more revolutionary period in biking, before or since.

The introduction of fresh, exciting tech,

THIS SPREAD Size doesn’t matter: 1980s bike fans embrace icons of all capacities, from the RD350LC to the FZR1000 superbike.

myriad new model classes and rapidly rising power outputs changed what were little more than motorised bicycles into the sophisticated, cleverly packaged creations that we now know as modern motorcycles.

What makes 1980s machinery so irresistible is the sheer variety of models on offer. Everything from small two-strokes and dual-purpose on-/off-roaders to race replicas, turbocharged middleweights and range-topping superbikes. In short, there’s a bike for every pocket, occasion and whim.

Adding to their appeal is the fact that electronics were in their infancy at that time. Traction control, riding modes and OE-fitment ABS were more than a decade away, and fuelling was almost exclusively through carburettors rather than injection, meaning most bikes of the era pose no issue to a competent home mechanic.

In terms of the way they ride, 1980s bikes deliver a purer connection between motorcyclist and machine than modern offerings. Handling, performance, braking... all took huge strides forward during that time, allowing riders to finally exploit the

‘Most bikes of the era pose no issue to a competent home mechanic’

true potential of game-changing engines. The kick of a Yamaha RD350LC coming on pipe, the howl of a Honda RC30 screaming beyond 12,000rpm, or the feeling of a Kawasaki ZXR750 slaying a winding B-road with pin-point accuracy are just a taste of why 1980s bikes are so satisfying to own.

For pure adrenaline you won’t go wrong with a race replica – motor sport-developed models often built with production racing in mind. Machines such as Yamaha’s 250 and 350LC, Kawasaki’s KR-1 250 and Suzuki’s GSX-Rs (both 750 and 1100) filled proddie grids throughout the decade. If you’re intent on a race rep, expect headdown, rump-up ergonomics that leave little scope for comfort, however. These bikes demand 100 percent commitment; give it, and the reward it huge.

Fortunately, less focused sports bikes such as Honda’s outstanding VFR750F, Yamaha’s innovative 20-valve FZ750 and Kawasaki’s seminal GPZ900R offer similar thrills and performance to equivalent race reps without the discomfort.

Nostalgia drives most purchases. Riders

now in their 50s want to relive their formative years, so small-capacity machines of the era are as popular – if not more so – than many larger models. Therefore, values rarely correlate with engine size. Asking prices for two-strokes have shot up in recent years, particularly in the 250cc and 500cc category. Bikes such as Yamaha’s RD500LC and Suzuki’s RG500 Gamma –both reps of the GP bikes ridden by World Champs Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene – can now make £20,000-plus, four times what they were fetching only 15 years ago… Similarly, values of 250 race reps have tripled or quadrupled in the past decade. Sport Production (SP) models make the strongest money. Limited numbers were built for homologation purposes and often have higher-spec suspension, close-ratio ’boxes and lightweight magnesium wheels. Early Suzuki RGV250s and import-only Honda NSR250R MC18s were both sold in SP spec. Kawasaki’s rapid yet fragile KR-1 and early-’90s KR-1S enjoy special kudos as the fastest-ever production 250s; they could do 131mph and 140mph-plus respectively. Not all ’80s bikes cost a bomb, though. Some remain affordable despite their market impact. Kawasaki’s GPZ600R effectively created the Supersport class in ’85. Honda’s CBR600F set the class standard from ’87

‘Values of 250 race reps have tripled or quadrupled in the past decade’

THIS PAGE Classic

1980s Japanese machinery perfected a performance and ride formula that ticks all the right boxes to this day.

– its brilliance on road and track was unmatched and yet values remain modest, with minters rarely seeing more than £3500.

It is the same story with Honda’s VFR750F, a bike so massively overengineered (it had to be to banish the previous VF750F’s grim reliability record) that it’s said Honda lost money on every one sold. As a package the VFR is bulletproof, all-day comfortable, impressively specified and beautifully put together. Yet, like the CBR600F and the Kawasaki GPZ900R, well kept examples still command less than many sports mopeds of the era…

Bikes from the 1980s do have their quirks, however. A brief fashion for 16-inch wheels limits tyre choice on some models; anti-dive front forks went into the dustbin of history as damping tech improved; and the Japanese dalliance with turbocharging was short lived – Kawasaki’s Z750 Turbo is the only one worth considering.

Whatever you choose, interest in 1980s bikes is huge, and the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club grows with every passing year. Members access a world of knowledge about pretty much every machine of the era, where to get spares and how to keep an ’80s classic on the road. And once you’ve got one, you’ll want to do exactly that, because riding them is the greatest reward of all.

From the paddock to the road: top 1980s legends

Hooligan two-strokes, Italian exotica, cultural icons and the decade’s fastest superbike – from £2000 to £40,000

Kawasaki GPZ900R

Ground zero for modern motorcycling, and a package so strong that it outlived not only its GPZ1000RX replacement, but its replacement, the ZX-10, and remained in production for almost 20 years. As well as delivering 150mph thrills, fine handling, all-day comfort and striking looks, the 900R – or Ninja – became a cultural icon as Tom Cruise’s Top Gun ride. Today, £3500 buys a tidy runner, £5k bags a minter.

Honda VFR750R RC30

Nothing compared to the RC30 in 1988. Looking just like a roadgoing version of Honda’s RVF750 factory TT-F1 racer, the RC won World Superbikes in both 1988 and ’89. Most were raced, but a few made it onto the road. Everything about these V4s screams exotica, from gear-driven cams and titanium conrods to the hand-built construction. Prices are eye-watering, however – from £25k to £40k.

Yamaha FZR1000 EXUP

At the start of the ’80s superbikes were heavy, air-cooled behemoths with dubious handling and poor brakes. By the end of the decade this Yamaha was the blueprint for the genre. With its 1002cc inlinefour boasting 5v per cylinder and the ingenious EXUP variable exhaust valve, the FZR1000 delivered 170mph with super-agile handling. Still potent now, clean runners can be had from just over £2000.

Yamaha RD350LC

Yamaha’s RD350LC appeared in 1980 alongside its then-learnerlegal 250cc stablemate. Its raucous two-stroke motor, agile handling and tunability gained it a reputation as a hooligan’s tool – and made it a thieves’ favourite. It can now command staggering money (£10kplus). The later YPVS model is faster, more powerful and technically superior, but lacks the LC’s exciting all-or-nothing power delivery.

Suzuki GSX-R750

In 1985 the GSX-R750 was as close to a four-stroke racer for the road as you could buy. Light (176kg dry), powerful (100bhp), aggressively styled and bristling with tech, it was the original four-stroke race rep. Loved by speed freaks and proddie racers alike, it has a bad-boy rep that adds to its mystique and appeal today. Mint original examples can command £8000-plus – but originality is key (and getting rarer).

Ducati 851

Ducati was in the doldrums until Massimo Tamburini’s all-new liquidcooled, 4v-per-cylinder, 90° V-twin – which would become the heart of the 851 – gave it fresh purpose. As with Honda’s RC30, the 851 took on WSB, eventually winning a trio of titles (1990-92) and kickstarting Ducati’s rebirth as a global player. The bike oozes character and style, underpinned by that thumping motor. A bona fide Italian classic.

Suzuki RGV250

Two-stroke race replicas were hot news during the 1980s because of their likeness to GP bikes. The RGV250 was arguably the most desirable. Making a genuine 200bhp per litre (the first road bike to do so) and wrapped in a high-tech aluminium chassis, it was to the late ’80s what the LC was to the start of the decade. A mint 1989-90 model will rush you upwards of £8000; an SP spec £10k-plus.

HAGERTY STAFF CARS

Putting on the miles

Hagerty’s staff walk the walk as well as talk the talk – as these tales of their own classic cars prove

Dan Cogger

2001 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage

Owned for: 18 months

Mileage: 41,000

Best driving road: B2116 Ditchling to Offham

Dream car: Bugatti T35b ‘4914’ would do – or DB4 GT Zagato ‘1 VEV’

First car: 2004 Fiat Punto Sporting

Favourite parents’ car: None. But my nan’s Golf GTI Mk2 was formative in my early years

IT STARTED WITH THE BOOK CARS by Martin Buckley and Chris Rees. Its title was my religion, and those weighty, 500plus pages were my bible, bringing to a small Sussex boy the worldly and unpronounceable names of Facel Vega, Pegaso and Cisitalia. Its collapsed spine and curled edges are testament to how often I’d read that book – and on the inside front cover, glanced at every opening, was an early Aston Martin press shot of the DB7 Coupé and Volante. That repeat exposure clearly informed

something subliminally, because my Matchbox DB7 avoided the dining table offramp and the Hammerite repaint that befell my Jaguar XJS. Come Christmas 2002, Bond was back with a new Aston in Die Another Day, but the BBFC’s 12A rating prevented me from seeing it – I was only eight. The next April, I was taken to see a new, PG-rated spy film for a birthday treat. As Johnny English became Agent One in the opening sequence, a panning shot revealed his mode of transport – a dark blue DB7

Vantage, dramatically lit against the grey of a multistorey carpark. Aged nine, I knew I had to have that car. It was my ‘Connery DB5’ moment. The prospect of ownership at that time was ridiculous; no one we knew – of any age – had cars such as that.

At 20 I began my first proper job in the old-car world, selling E-types for specialist Eagle. Among like-minded colleagues, lunch breaks were spent either mending our own motors or browsing the classifieds. Saving for my first house relegated me to mere window shopping, but I declared that I’d own a DB7 Vantage before I turned 30.

That decade evaporated and, while I bought a house, I was no closer to keeping that promise. Fate intervened in August 2023 when a friend invited me to navigate on a rally, and I was paired with Rupert Hunt, son of esteemed London car dealer Graeme. The model he had chosen from the company stock? None other than an Antrim Blue over Parchment DB7 Vantage, with optional mesh grilles and large-bore exhaust – aka Johnny English spec.

It was the first time I’d ever been in one, and spending the day in it confirmed two things: the DB7 ain’t perfect, but I had to have it. And Rupert knew it. He had the same look on his face that I used to have on mine when I knew I’d sold an E-type. ‘Man maths’ dictated, obviously, that I could not actually afford the car, and I proceeded to apply for a loan while submitting an unfunded and extremely cheeky offer. News that it had been accepted came as a surprise, as did the breaking news that the Bank of England would be raising interest rates… the next day. With my loan approved just in time, it was do or die. So, at 29 years old, I did.

I’ve had cheaper hobbies, and the Aston reminds me of how Simon Kidston once described the upkeep of his McLaren F1: “Open-wallet surgery.” In truth, the car is a fabulous example – HWM demonstrator and cosseted by owners far wealthier than I. The niggles I’ve had are the just the result of a lack of use giving way to enthusiastic use: nothing severe, just expensive.

Shortly after I bought the Aston, I met Rowan Atkinson at a heatwave-stricken Goodwood Revival, while both seeking shade in the Drivers’ Club. I was able to thank him for my new level of personal debt. Returning to the car, my smugness vanished. The headlining adhesive had melted in the heat, and the spectacularly drooping Alcantara now resembled a Bedouin tent...

‘At Goodwood I was able to thank Rowan Atkinson for my new level of personal debt’

Nathan Chadwick

2004 Alfa Romeo 147 GTA

Owned for: Eight years

Mileage: 90,000

Best driving road: A427 Oundle to Corby

Best driving song: Source Direct: The Crane Dream car: Maserati Ghibli Cup/Alfa SZ

Favourite parents’ car: Mum’s Talbot Horizon – on two wheels when late for school

IT’S DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE I HAVE owned this car for eight years now –although I use it somewhat less than I once did. After all, I now own my dream car –the Ghibli Cup featured in our Bull Market List feature. Surely I’d rather be out in that?

Both cars are maximalist experiences, but the Ghibli is much better on longer trips, mortifying fuel economy aside. The Alfa 147 GTA’s ride was terrible as standard, but when I first got it I thought I’d improve the handling and steering feel – and decided to go with the most teethshattering set of Eibach coilovers available.

While it goes round corners in a way that you’d never believe in a car with the weight distribution of an anvil in a gym sock, the bad news is that I left my molars somewhere in a local pothole a long time ago. It’s all worth it, however. While the chassis isn’t as nuanced as, say, a RenaultSport product, it’s hugely exciting. With a 250bhp Busso V6 in the nose and a very busy front LSD, it’s engaging in a way that’s truly addictive. I do keep getting tempted to add to the Chadwick stable, however. Maybe an Alfa Romeo SZ, or a Maserati Shamal. Either would need the garage space the GTA occupies. So, should it stay or go?

Then I drive it, feel that LSD do its work on a sharp left-right-left series of bends, and hear the Busso powerplant roar to 7000rpm... and the Alfa is clamped to my heartstrings again. Decisions, decisions.

REARVIEW MIRROR

Feed the hobby, see it grow

You get out what you put in, particularly when it comes to enjoying old cars

THE TWO BEST THINGS ABOUT OUR annual Hagerty UK Bull Market List are, first, its value in helping car lovers identify and buy classics that are likely to be worth more in the coming years. Everyone likes a deal. Second, the list is almost guaranteed to spark a spirited pub debate among friends, which is simply a lot of fun. Our selection of the 1994-2000 Toyota RAV4 is a case in point. People who own them adore them, but others will no doubt roll their eyes.

I get it. If our list had been around when the first RAV4 rolled off the line, I might have said the car was certainly novel, in that it is considered one of the first compact SUVs. And after driving it, I might also have said, sure, it’s sporty, nimble and kind of cute. But an in-demand future classic? Not likely.

Yet to each his or her own, right? What I’m reminded of each time we publish our list is that our shared enthusiasm is becoming more egalitarian every year, and I love that. Who is to say, after all, what’s a classic and what’s not? In my view, a classic car is what you define it to be, whether it’s a RAV4 or a vintage Ferrari. All that truly matters is that you enjoy it, and that the car hobby continues

to grow. It will, I am convinced, but let’s not take anything for granted. If we want car love to endure, it’s incumbent upon us all to keep the fires of it alive in our own hearts and light it in the hearts of others, especially the young. Here are a few ways to do that:

Take at least one road trip this year

I can’t tell you how many people I know who say: “This is the year I’m going to take that bucket-list drive I’ve always dreamed of.” Then they don’t. The next year, guess what – they say the same thing again. And again. Interrupt that cycle. Just do it. Life is short. Don’t wait. The road beckons.

Involve young people in your life

My dad had an agreement with my sisters and I. If we picked out an old, cool car, he’d help us fix it up. When I was 13, I chose a 1967 Porsche 911S that we found in pieces in a snowbank by a barn. I bought it for $500. Rebuilding it with dad forged an incredible bond between us. Involve the people around you in your love of cars, whoever they are, whether it’s routine maintenance, solving the mysteries of a manual ’box or

going for a lazy Sunday drive. They’ll likely fall in love with cars, just as you did.

Take part

Keep your car love alive by building friendships with like-minded people. Attend local shows or events (like Festival of the Unexceptional). Or start a local car group based on your favourite vehicle. You may think your tastes are too off-centre to be shared by others, but I guarantee you’re wrong. Every car ever built has its fans.

Start a car tour

Home-grown car tours are becoming a ‘thing’, according to Hagerty Media chief Larry Webster, who hosts one each spring for a changing group of aficionados in a picturesque back-country region with extratwisty roads. He loves curves. They drive all day and gleefully rehash the day’s adventures (and some misadventures) each evening. “Everyone loves it,” he says. Memories.  I am sure you have other suggestions about how to grow the hobby. If so, share them with me at mhagerty@hagerty.com. Until next time, keep on driving.

MCKEEL HAGERTY CEO and chairman