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James Ellio Editor-in-chief
THE 100 GREATEST CLASSIC CARS is a pre y tough list to come up with. Especially when you consider all the factors that have to be taken into account and balanced, many such characteristics being opposites of each other. For example, there are some pre y obvious criteria such as rarity, desirability and value, but while a $50million Ferrari 250 GTO is unquestionably one of the greatest classic cars of all time, do such a ributes make it more important historically than the accessibility, popularity and a ordability of the Austin Seven, which more than any other car put Europe on wheels. Or a Mini, or a VW Beetle? Can it claim to have played a pivotal role in the biggest con ict in human history, like the Willys Jeep? No, of course not, so when everything is taken into account, we have needed to nd space for some pre y varied selections, o ering some glorious juxtapositions of ultra-high-end exotica and everyday classics!
Embracing a far broader topic than our previous ‘100 Greatest…’ projects (British Cars and Sports Cars, order them at octane-magazine.com/store) has necessitated a far more global view and more than ever we have sought out the opinion of US specialists and enthusiasts for their input and nominations.
Another consideration that we never anticipated at the outset, and one relevant only for a very small handful such as the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, is the question of a ainability and usability. Fabulous, world-famous cars no question, but you can’t have one. Should we really include it over the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, Jaguar E-type or Mini Cooper S?
As a result of all the above, inevitably, we ended up having to leave out more than half the cars that were on our shortlist (the long-list had over 500 cars on it!) and we are sorry if your favourite didn’t make the cut – many were so close that on another day with other experts on our jury, they may have done. However, please enjoy those that did get in and, if you think we have done a terrible job, consider that just for fun we asked AI to come up with its own list… and you can imagine what that was like.
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EVOLUTION OF THE CLASSIC CAR MARKET
Why are classic cars so expensive? When did they stop being just fun and start being investments? Hagerty’s John Mayhead answers these questions and many more
Browsing the classified advertisements in any old motoring magazine is a sobering business.
Fancy a 1965 Aston Martin DB5 in ‘immaculate’ condition for £1875 (current Hagerty Price Guide ‘excellent’ price £410,000) or a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing for £6500 (Hagerty Price Guide: £1.6M)? Both were advertised by British dealers in August 1975, and you can only hope their buyers held on to them. Back then, there was little talk of ‘classic’ cars in magazines, just the odd mention of vintage vehicles. Some, even a 1968 Ferrari/ Fiat (sic) 206 Dino and a 1973 Porsche 911 S were described as ‘used cars’ and offered with an 18-month guarantee. Times, as they say, have changed.
That change started at the end of that decade. US inflation peaked at nearly 15% in March 1980, then started to fall, and this, according to car dealers at the time, prompted the first embers of an early collector car market as the dollar became more powerful. Ferrari retail prices then started to climb, which made older Ferraris seem like a bargain and, in October 1987, the Black Monday crash made the dealers of Wall Street, Tokyo and the City of London look for other, more tangible places to put their money. This was the time of ‘greed is good’; flashy cars seemed a perfect place for their money. Stories tell of Ferrari 275 GTBs selling in the late 1980s for 20 times what their owners had paid just a few years previously and of Daytonas surging in value. Nobody expected prices to go anywhere but up.
During the 1980s, new, specialist magazines had sprung up, and supplements tracking values were published to feed demand. Then, the focus was firmly on older models and the list of manufacturers noted in a 1988 guide reads like a roll call of lost British brands: the ‘A’ section includes AC, Allard, Alvis, Armstrong Siddeley, and Austin-Healey. The cars really making big money then were the pre-war greats: the Alfa Romeo 2300 8C Monza was listed at £500,000 but the 1973 Porsche 911 2.7RS topped out at £36,000 in perfect condition. By the following year, the Dalton Watson Car Value Guide used the ‘I’ word on the cover, stating it was for the use of ‘investors’ as well as collectors. Left
There are some marques that over time will always go up in value, but expect plenty of rises and falls along the way.
On the other side of the Atlantic, prices started to soar. In August 1988, Enzo Ferrari died and days later, auctioneer Rick Cole sold a Ferrari 250P for a then unheard of $2.8m at Monterey. The following year, the big sales continued: Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction in January 1989 included a 1939 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster given to Stalin by Hitler that sold for $1.7m, and the following year $37.3m of cars sold at the same auction, a total that wasn’t surpassed for 14 years.
But that ‘I’ word was going to bite the nascent market in the backside. People who weren’t interested in cars as anything other than a way to make a quick buck were piling into the market, with houses and businesses even being mortgaged to fund the purchases. Cars, especially Ferraris, were being traded so quickly that they may have three owners in three different countries in a week, all speculators. Before the internet, before any sort of real structure to the industry, it was bound to fail.
And fail it did. The trigger was a triple whammy in the summer of 1990, started by the Bank of Japan’s decision to significantly raise interest rates for the second time that year to cool the country’s stock market, causing vast numbers of Japanese investors to cash in their chips and sell their cars. The recent failure of many US Savings & Loans companies that had specialised in fi xed-rate loans meant the US banking sector was already jittery, and then, on 2 August, Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait, doubling the price of oil almost overnight. Ferraris suddenly didn’t seem like the best place to hold money; the market was flooded, and prices
dropped. Banks called in loans, sellers panicked, and prices fell yet further.
A chart of the highest public sales in any one year shows the reaction: in 1990, just before the crash, the record was set by a Ferrari 250 GTO sold at Monte Carlo for $10.6m. The following year, the record was a fraction of that price: a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S, sold for the equivalent of $1.4m. That Bugatti set a new precedent. For the next few years, the top sales were the best cars from the pre-war and immediately post-war period: two glorious Alfa Romeo 8Cs, a 1912 RollsRoyce Silver Ghost, a Ferrari 166MM, a Jaguar D-type. These were the hero cars of the generation then at peak earning capacity: those born before 1945. These were the best cars, not for people who wanted to make money, but for those who loved to drive. The rest of the market followed suit: pre-war MGs, Rileys and early Jaguars started to dominate the enthusiast media and grow in value, too.
In 1998 everything changed again. Now it was the Baby Boomers’ turn, and for the next 20 years the records were dominated by their automotive heroes, the Enzo-era Ferraris, taking 15 of the annual top spots. During this time the internet became established, feeding car enthusiasts with information and opinions, as did magazines and TV shows. At the peak in 2003, the leading UK car magazine was selling nearly 240,000 copies per month, and by 2007 Top Gear was being watched by 12% of the UK population each week and 350million people worldwide, a record for a factual TV programme. Classic car events boomed: 1998 marked the start of the Goodwood Revival, the Monaco Historic Grand
Far left and above left Roland Duce advert dates from summer 1975; this magazine launched in the teeth of the first big boom, but lasted just a year before boom turned to bust.
ANNUAL GLOBAL AUCTION RECORDS
In the last 35 years, a Ferrari has been the most expensive car sold publicly more than half the time; only Mercedes comes close. Yet Mercedes now claims the all-time favourite. (Public sales only, prices converted where appropriate to USD)
‘Live auctions have once again taken the lead over their online counterparts’
Prix became a biennial event in 2000 and the Le Mans Classic began in 2002. Until the crash in 2008, growth in the economies of the US, Europe and Great Britain enabled those with the means and motivation to spend more on luxuries, and the classic and collectable car market exploded.
2019 was another watershed year. We didn’t realise it at the time, but the world was on the eve of a pandemic, just at the point that Gen X was taking over the lead in the automotive world. Their tastes were an eclectic mix of the poster cars they had on their walls as kids, their TV heroes and the road cars they always lusted after: the Testarossa, Countach, 930 Turbo, Sierra RS500 and Audi quattro. At the pinnacle of the market the McLaren F1 took top spot twice in 2019 and 2021, but since then there’s been a mix, including Enzo-era Ferraris and one-off Mercedes-Benz models. During lockdown there was a surge in demand, fed by people who had spent months saving money, browsing the internet and looking at the car they’d always wanted. A realisation that life is fragile prompted many to take the step and commit to buy once it was all over. Supercharged by social distancing, social media and high-
speed internet, online auctions surged, even taking over from live auctions in volumes sold and prices paid in 2024. That was last year, but in many ways that seems a long time ago. You know the landscape we now live in: one of post-truth, rising inequality, economic turmoil and almost unmatched levels of uncertainty. Within this context there’s been a return to the basics: events from the tiny to the terrific feel energised again, as people feel the need to use their cars for the three best reasons they were ever there: to spend time with friends, enjoy a shared passion, and escape reality for a few hours. From the massive Goodwood Festival of Speed to the Hagerty Hillclimb at Shelsley Walsh, the events I’ve attended in 2025 have engendered a passion that I’ve not felt for a long time. Hagerty’s most recent analysis shows that live auctions have once again taken the lead over their online counterparts, and I’m not surprised.
Based on the trends we’ve seen previously, the Millennials should take over the market lead in around 2033, and their automotive heroes may be a different bunch again, maybe computer game stars or even the mechanical heroes of F1: Drive to Survive, a market area that has already seen extraordinary growth over the last few years. Net Zero targets and the move to hybrid and BEV power will compress things, and those final-generation analogue supercars that are already rising in price may be seen as the very last of an era. Some speculate that this could mark the end of the classic car market, but I think they’re wrong: it’s no accident that McKeel Hagerty’s unifying purpose for his company is to Save Driving, not to save cars. It’s the purpose that unifies us; if we learn anything from what’s happened over the past 50 years, it is that the cars change, but enthusiasts don’t.
Ever wondered what five classics would comprise your dream garage? Of course you have. But have you also contemplated what well-known collectors and designers would have in theirs? No? en read on
In our experience every enthusiast spends an inordinate amount of time speculating on how they would spend a he y lo ery win. And, naturally, their spending plans usually skip past practicalities like houses and holidays and head straight to the stu that really ma ers… their dream garage.
It is a question as old as the internal combustion engine, with in nite variables to keep it interesting. Some will try to keep it real and genuinely aspirational, others will embark on huge ights of fancy; some will try to balance the contents for a range of uses from school run to racetrack, or bodystyle and genre of car, others will blow the lot in a heartbeat on nothig but hypercars. Many will then try to condense their dream garage into a single car and, as o en than not, that turns out to be a Ferrari 250 GT SWB. Good choice.
While we were gathering opinions on the greatest classic cars of all time, it made sense to ask a selection of well-known classic cognoscenti what would be in their dream garages. e criteria were kept to a bare minimum: ve cars or fewer, no nancial limit or any other restraint, the selections could be make and model or a speci c chassis, our contributors were free to be sensible and have cars that cover all needs and purposes, or they could ll their garage with thinly disguised road-racers.
Here’s what they came up with…
Above and inset
Simplex was an eye-opener on the Brighton Run; 48 years and counting with his GTO.
NICK MASON
Pink Floyd drummer and ardent motoring enthusiast and racer with an extensive collection of classic road and race cars
1. Mercedes Simplex
The ideal car to obtain disqualification for arriving at Brighton too early on the Veteran Car Run! I think that was a record set by Tony Merrick and says so much about the joy of old cars. They can still impress!
2. Ferrari 250 GTO
Still the very best all-rounder. It’s been on the podium at Le Mans in 1962, taken daughters to weddings, and is the supreme historic Goodwood racer.
3. Ferrari F40
Really the original hypercar, and still capable of giving the driver a good fright, particularly if it’s a damp road! Beautifully analogue, simple and straight.
4. Alfa Romeo 8C
I sold mine to pay o some tax bills; I should’ve just gone to prison and kept the car.
5. Buga i Type 57 Atlantic
Something as beautiful as this would be a delight to take on a rather smart grand tour.
Below
Three Le Mans veterans (including sleek Bizzarrini and monstrous RSR) would make Meyer’s cut.
BRUCE MEYER
The ultimate enthusiast, founding chairman of LA’s Petersen Automotive Museum, creator of the Rodeo Drive Father’s Day meet and hot-rodder.
1. 1958 Reventlow Scarab
I’d be happy to have any of the three Scarab race cars. I love cars with race history.
2. 1965 Ferrari 275GTB Speciale (race number 24 at Le Mans)
I also love race cars that I can drive on the road, especially one that finished third at Le Mans…
3. 1962 Cobra CSX2001
The first Cobra.
4. 1973 Martini Porsche RSR (race number 46 at Le Mans)
The aesthetic must work for me, as I gain pleasure from the drive as well as just staring at the cars in my garage and vicariously enjoying their history.
5. 1965 Bizzarrini (race number 3 at Le Mans)
This A3C entered by Iso Grifo Prototipi Bizzarrini finished ninth overall with Régis Fraissinet and Jean de Mortemart.
KEVIN RICE
Italdesign alumnus and former Chief Creative O cer at Pininfarina designing cars since 1986.
1. 1967 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
It’s hard to imagine that Scaglione’s car was considered ‘old fashioned’ when it came out, in comparison to Gandini’s Carabo on the same chassis. It’s like a ballerina: lyrical, gracious, vivacious and taut in motion; powerful and poised when stationary.
2. 1955 Jaguar D-type Long Nose
The 1955 Long Nose with the high tail-fin behind the driver is my favourite. The first time I saw one was in a pub car park in 1975 and I remember being completely startled by it. It grabbed my soul.
3. 1975 Lamborghini Contact LP 400 ‘Periscopio’
It still befuddles my senses 50 years a er I first saw one. It’s not really a car, it’s a spaceship with wheels!
4. 1938 Talbot-Lago T150 SS Figoni & Falaschi
I was unconvinced about pre-war French styling until I came face to face with the Talbot-Lago. I wasn’t sure if it should fly, float or drive, I was speechless.
5. 1954 Maserati A6 GCS Berline a This exudes unshakable self-confidence. Others, like the 1954 Ferrari 375MM Scaglie i Coupé, are more classically beautiful but this is perfectly exaggerated.
Right and above
A D-type is a certainty for Rice, but it must be a long nose; Gou e d’Eau, or Teardrop, has timeless beauty.
MATT HOWELL
Below
Fond memories of the Ferrari 288 GTO and admiration for a car that averaged 97mph on the Mille Miglia.
THE EARL OF PEMBROKE
Noted enthusiast who has owned everything from Buga i Veyron to 300 SL Gullwing and has masterminded events at Wilton House
1. Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR ‘722’
The car in which Sir Stirling Moss and Denis ‘Jenks’ Jenkinson won the 1955 Mille Miglia.
2. 1908 GP Mercedes
The ex-Dieppe Grand Prix car, later owned and raced at Brooklands by my Great Grandfather; now owned by George Wingard.
3. 1932 Invicta Low Chassis
Competition Tourer
Fom my personal collection: first owned and raced by Raymond Mays, it is wonderfully original with full history from new.
4. Jaguar D-type ‘OKV 2’
Fabulous to drive, stunning to look at and with incredible history.
5. Ferrari 288 GTO
One of my favourite cars to drive, with wonderfully understated elegant design.
A car I reluctantly, but not resentfully, sold to acquire my Invicta.
Below RS2 saw Porsche and Audi combine to build the first super-estate; Clio V6 is a laugh-outloud joy to drive.
Above
Either A110 will do, current classic or shoo-in future classic; DS bringing you the future ahead of schedule.
PETER STEVENS
A bustling design CV ranging from Jaguar XJR-15 to McLaren F1.
Begs that as well as his five dream cars he also be permi ed to keep his 1925/32 Ford Alexander Special hot rod.
1. 1943 Ford GPW Jeep
Designed in Detroit by a bunch of contract engineers in just 50 days, it was tough, reliable and a very clever piece of product design.
2. Porsche 356 – Emory Outlaw Coupé
Forget mega-buck restomods, Emory produces very fine restored 356 Porsches; great value, restrained appearance, cool as a mountain lake.
3. Citroën DS
So far ahead of its time that it was developed on public roads because it was so futuristic that no one would be able to describe what they saw.
4. Alpine A110
The original or soon-to-be-deleted new one: they both adhere to the same formula of light weight, enough power to be fun and delightful handling.
5. Bellytank Dry Lakes racer
The big P38 tanks li ering the US at the end of World War Two were perfect for making 200mph Dry Lakes racers using flathead Ford V8s.
STEPHEN BAYLEY
Design guru, founding CEO of The Design Museum, columnist, author, critic
1. 1994 Audi RS2 Avant
Understated, but with subtle presence and a delectable engine. Best Audi ever?
2. 2026 Alpine A110
Clarity of responses makes a 911 feel like a fork-li truck; new shape combines ghosts of Michelo i’s fine original with a modern sensibility.
3. 1965 Fiat Abarth 595SS
The joy of the cinquecento was always its ludic character, made even more amusing with Abarth improvements. It can be driven flat-out, unlike, say, a Ferrari F40.
4. 1967 Rover P5B Coupé
A magnificent and completely original design by David Bache that combines English character with an Italian style he learnt from his mentor, Ricardo Burzi. The interior is especiallly good. Idiosyncratic American V8 makes this a unique amalgam of benign influences.
5. 2001 Renault Clio V6
The most outrageously laugh-out-loud car I have ever driven.
OUT OF THE SHADOWS
Unloved for decades, the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow is back in fashion and with good reason, argues Mark Dixon
Photography Sam Chick
There’s been a definite ‘back to the ’70s’ vibe in the UK of late. It isn’t so long since Paul McCartney was headlining at Glastonbury and Kate Bush was topping the charts, rampant inflation was sparking industrial unrest, and fuel prices shot up to record levels. And the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow became a cool car again. How so?
In the 1970s, a Shadow was the car to aspire to. It would almost be easier to compile a list of celebrities who didn’t own one than to name those who did. In particular, if you were a working-class kid made good, the Shadow was the ultimate sign of success: everyone from Jimmy Tarbuck (with his registration COM 1C) to, yes, Paul McCartney had one. The class-busting symbolism was perhaps less significant across The Pond but the Shadow was equally
revered over there, with mega-famous owners including Johnny Cash, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. Even counterculture types such as Andy Warhol couldn’t resist the lure of owning The Best Car in the World.
That was then, however. Time passed and the conservativelooking Shadow had started to look dated in the thrusting, greed-is-good world of the late ’80s. It didn’t help that RollsRoyce built so many of the damned things: more than 38,000 if you include the badge-engineered Bentley variants. And, it has to be said, the Shadow’s glamour started to fade in parallel with the reputations of their once-popular owners. Jimmy Savile had a Shadow. Enough said.
Which is all terribly unfair, because the Silver Shadow is a truly exceptional car. Just ask car video maker Harry Metcalfe, whose proverbial dream garage of exotic motors
also includes a 1970 Shadow. Harry drove his Shadow to the Arctic Circle for a feature in Octane magazine and wrote: ‘The trip was one of the most memorable ones I’ve done and the Shadow has become a firm favourite in the garage as a result, despite being surrounded by a gaggle of supercars…
I’ve ended up using it more than I intended, even taking it into central London, which revealed it to be a supremely relaxing way to travel in town.’
Those last few words sum up the appeal of a Shadow today. It is the ultimate feel-good classic, and much more suited to modern traffic conditions than you might expect.
Let’s explore the reasons why.
WHEN ROLLS-ROYCE announced the Silver Shadow in 1965, there were some who considered it ‘not a proper Rolls-
Royce’. The car looked completely different from the ’Royces of old: instead of being curvaceous (radiator grille aside), it had a three-box, slab-sided modernity, and – very significantly – it was smaller in every dimension than the Silver Cloud it replaced: 4¼in lower, 6¾in shorter and 3¼in narrower.
Just think about that for a moment. When was the last time you heard of a car manufacturer bringing out a prestige model that was considerably smaller than its predecessor?
But Rolls-Royce knew then what today’s automakers have forgotten: that more and more people driving cars means less space on the roads, which ought to necessitate smaller vehicles. Car ownership was increasing exponentially during the 1950s and ’60s, and the Shadow was Rolls-Royce’s response at a time when its customers were becoming owner-drivers rather than chauffeured passengers.
‘WHY ARE THEY SO DURABLE? THE OBVIOUS ANSWER IS BECAUSE THEY WERE BUILT TO ROLLS-ROYCE STANDARDS’
That didn’t mean any sacrifice in interior space. In the early ’60s, during a short-lived liaison between Rolls and BMC (the latter bought in the former’s F-60 straight-six for its Vanden Plas Princess), Rolls-Royce evaluated a new BMC 1100 and found its cabin was just as roomy as a Silver Cloud’s! The Silver Shadow offered more space inside than a Cloud, thanks to monocoque construction that allowed a lower floorpan as well as a lower roofline. It was still a large car in its day, but the supersized dimensions of 2022’s vehicles mean that a mass-market, mid-range family saloon will likely be longer and wider, if not necessarily taller.
Styled in-house by Crewe’s design team, led by John Blatchley, the production Shadow evolved from a series of slightly ungainly prototypes into a deceptively simple and elegant form. The car featured here, a very early example that was ordered on 15 December 1965, shows this to perfection. First owned by the then-Earl Spencer –grandfather to Lady Diana – it features red-and-white coachlines in which the red was specifically matched to the colour of the jerkins worn by his carriage drivers… Which helps explain why the Shadow wasn’t delivered until 18 February 1967. The owner when we photographed this car, Mike Martin, has around 60 A4 pages of factory build records just for this one. He bought the car on 19 September 1979 and it has covered 191,000 miles. Already the reasons for the Shadow’s resurgence as a car to own and drive are becoming evident: it’s not particularly large, and if it’s looked-after it will be incredibly reliable. The specialist who has looked after Mike’s car for 40 years, Ray Hillier of Hillier Hill in Olney, Bucks, also has a customer with a 1971 Bentley convertible that has covered 300,000 miles. Why are they such durable machines? The obvious answer is that they were built to Rolls-Royce standards. After delivery from Pressed Steel in Cowley, the bodyshells were subjected to two days of inspection and fettling, before being sprayed with 15 coats of paint. Interiors were trimmed in Connolly leather and burr walnut veneers, while electric windows, power seats and even a remote fuel filler release were all standard. This was heady stuff in 1965, but it was also a nod to the all-important US market, where such gadgets were commonplace on relatively ordinary cars. There was nothing revolutionary about the drivetrain –which in itself helps explain the model’s proven durability. The basic engine was the 6230cc V8 first used in the Silver Cloud and Bentley S2; it was designed in-house to a conventional specification, with overhead valves actuated
by short pushrods from a single camshaft mounted in the vee. Carburation was by two SU HD8s. By American standards, it was not particularly special, but it was exceptionally well put together.
Even Rolls-Royce bowed to US expertise for the Shadow’s automatic gearbox, however, which was a GM400 (fourspeed on early cars, changed to three-speed in 1968). It was one of the toughest features of the car; garagiste and rally driver Bill Bengry, who drove a near-stock Shadow on the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally, ended up using it to slow the car repeatedly when the brake fluid kept boiling on steep mountain passes.
The combined braking and suspension system was, in fact, the most radical feature of the Shadow. Both employed high-pressure hydraulics – up to 2500psi – based on components built at Crewe under licence from Citroën, although the suspension operated in quite a different manner. Rather than being entirely hydraulically suspended, like a Citroën DS, the Shadow had coil springs all round, with hydraulic self-levelling assistance. This meant that the springs could be kept soft to give a good ride, but the selflevellers would come into operation when passengers or luggage were carried, or the fuel tank refilled. It turned out that the front self-levellers weren’t really necessary and they were deleted in 1969.
Suspension front and rear was mounted on subframes, insulated from the bodyshell by cylindrical wire-mesh Vibrashock mounts rather than the more usual rubber pads. They may have been reminiscent of Brillo pan-scourers but the density of the mesh acted like miniature variable-rate springs to give unparallelled isolation from road-induced noise and vibration. Incidentally, Shadows built for the UK and Europe had slightly firmer suspension than those sent to the USA, and there was a special heavy-duty option for countries with less-developed roads. Presumably without any sense of Swinging Sixties irony, this was referred to as the ‘Colonial’ specification.
ENOUGH TECHNICAL STUFF. What is a Silver Shadow like to drive? Let’s take Harry Metcalfe’s Shadow for a spin. It’s by no means a concours car – he bought it on eBay for just £4100 and spent £2500 on sorting it out – but Harry likes his cars to be ‘right’ and so it’s a good ’un.
Close the driver’s door behind you and you’re ensconced in a surprisingly cocoon-like cabin that engenders an instant sense of wellbeing. Being a 1970 example, it doesn’t have the
Above and below This is what a proper Shadow dashboard should look like –the one in later cars isn’t as elegant; after what had come before, the Silver Shadow was very low and compact.
The
‘Chippendale’ dashboard of the earliest Shadows, such as Mike Martin’s, and safety crash-pads encroach top and bo om, but it’s more classic than the compromised design of the Shadow II, where a bank of rectangular warning lights sits slightly incongruously with the circular dials and ignition panel.
Turn the delicate li le ignition key and the engine res immediately, making its presence felt more than you’d expect. Harry’s is one of the last cars to be ed with the original ‘6¼’ engine, before it was enlarged to 6.75 litres in 1970 to cope with forthcoming US emissions legislation, and he reckons it’s actually punchier than the bigger one. Certainly, it provides what Crewe would describe as ‘adequate’ take-o from the line, the automatic gearbox slurring almost imperceptibly between changes.
By far the most striking characteristic is the steering. Apart from recent Bilstein dampers, this car is as it le the factory and it has the recirculating-ball system that was superseded by rack-and-pinion for the Shadow II. It is very power-assisted and has no ‘feel’ whatsoever… and yet, somehow, that doesn’t seem to ma er. It’s surprisingly precise and, because you must use the gentlest of hands to guide the car with that big, thin-rimmed wheel, it positively obliges you to adopt a relaxed approach. An aggressive driving style just won’t work; instead, sit back, breathe slowly and minimise your inputs. You’ll nd you can cover ground pre y quickly with a total absence of stress.
On the move the engine is almost inaudible. You really can hear the ticking of the electric clock, plus the occasional tiny squeak of leather (Ray Hillier says that cars ed with the rarer Parkertex velvet are notably silent). e ride is exemplary – even though Harry’s car is still wearing the
Bridgestone winter tyres that were ed for his Arctic adventure. eir relatively sti sidewalls may account for a slightly compromised secondary ride – the response to minor road imperfections that you tend to notice more at lower speed – but there’s no doubt that the Shadow is one of the all-time great ‘wa ers’.
Tyre choice is important, of course. Originally, crossply tyres were speci ed because of their greater sidewall compliance, but radials are now almost universally adopted. Dougal Cawley, proprietor of vintage and classic tyre supplier Longstone Tyres, himself drives a late Shadow I and says: ‘If you’re a passenger you may prefer Avons, but for the driver it has to be Michelins. e Avon is all about ride comfort and the Michelin gives just a li le more directional stability and makes the car handle be er, although Shadows were never renowned for their sharp handling.’
at said, it’s possible to improve the handling greatly by ing an a ermarket kit, the most famous of which is made by Harvey Bailey Engineering. Developed several decades back by suspension guru Rhoddy Harvey-Bailey; the car pictured here had one ed 30 years ago. It consists of uprated springs and anti-roll bars, and was endorsed by no less a driver than the late Tony Dron, who installed it on his own Shadow. Other kits have more recently become available from specialists such as IntroCar, a package that has particularly impressed Ray Hillier of Hillier Hill.
ROLLS-ROYCE MAY at times not have been the most forward-thinking of manufacturers – the Shadow was its rst model to feature disc brakes, for example – but it was very good at constantly improving a design over time. At launch in 1965,
Above
This Silver Shadow has the earlier, 6230cc V8 engine, which gives nothing away to its bigger, 6750cc successor – some say it’s even better.
the Shadow was produced as a four-door saloon, and also as the Bentley T, the bonnet of which was subtly reshaped to match its curvier and lower-profile radiator grille.
In 1966, two-door body styles were added. Most of these were by Mulliner Park Ward, with an attractive and sportier Coke-bottle treatment of the flanks, but there was also a small run of two-door cars by James Young, which looked much more like the regular saloon. In 1967 came a convertible version of the Mulliner two-door, and this and the hardtop equivalent were relaunched as the Corniche in 1971, with a raft of changes that included the new 6750cc V8, a more modern facia and a smaller three-spoke steering wheel.
That year turned out to be a particularly miserable one for Rolls-Royce, when a crisis in its aero engine division drove the whole company into receivership; fortunately, the planned launch of the Corniche went ahead and is credited with restoring a lot of confidence to buyers and suppliers. Appropriately, journalists were flown to the South of France to test it; such apparent profligacy made more sense when the car division’s MD pointed out that the whole event cost less than half the retail price of a single Corniche (about £12,800).
As the ’70s progressed, the Shadow and its siblings were always evolving – faster-acting steering, better ventilation, impact-absorbing bumpers – but by far the biggest changes came in 1977, when the Shadow II and Bentley T2 were launched. US-style deep, rubber-faced bumpers and a ‘bib’ front spoiler were the most obvious external mods while, under the skin, rack-and-pinion steering improved the handling significantly. The air-conditioning system was said to have the cooling effect of 30 domestic fridges, while the heater was powerful enough to warm a three-bedroom house! Which, when you consider that a Shadow II cost 25% more than the average UK house in 1977, seems highly appropriate.
Shadow II and Bentley T2 production continued until 1980, when both were displaced by the all-new Silver Spirit and Mulsanne, respectively, but the Corniche convertible
‘THE ENGINE IS ALMOST INAUDIBLE. YOU REALLY CAN HEAR THE TICKING OF THE ELECTRIC CLOCK’
enjoyed a phenomenal swansong, soldiering on until 1995 (all Corniches were rebranded as Continentals from 1985). It had no directly comparable rivals by that time and was particularly popular in California, which accounted for a full quarter of total sales. Remember Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers in TV’s Hart to Hart? The series ran from 1975 to ’84, and the Harts owned a dark green Corniche convertible, still the ultimate status symbol for ‘a self-made millionaire’ who was also ‘quite a guy’.
We shouldn’t forget the long-wheelbase Shadow, either, a relatively rare model introduced in the late ’60s and given its own identity as the Silver Wraith II in 1977. And we definitely can’t forget the Shadow’s most outrageous variant, the Camargue, based on the Shadow platform but with Pininfarina styling apparently inspired by Lady Penelope’s ‘FAB 1’ from Thunderbirds and with an equally out-of-thisworld price tag. At launch in 1975, it was the most expensive production car you could buy. Talking of which…
‘WHAT’S IT WORTH, mister?’ It’s not very long ago that you could pick up a decent Shadow for £10,000 – but, then, that seems true of so many classics. The reality now is that you’ll have to double that figure for anything in good shape, and you could easily spend twice or more again for a really nice one. Mike Martin’s ex-Earl Spencer Shadow is insured for £55,000 [October 2022], the ‘Lady Di’ family connection accounting for about 15-20% of that valuation.
Ray Hillier, with Tony Hill, co-founded Hillier Hill in 1985 and originally trained as a Rolls-Royce service apprentice in the 1970s. He agrees that the Shadow and its siblings are no longer cheap classics. ‘A top-notch one is worth £40-00050,000 and a nice original and usable car is probably mid-tohigh 20s. Condition is everything, and service history. Colour is slightly less important than it used to be. Certain colours –dark green, for example – will always be popular, but the ’70s browns that were once reviled are now back in fashion.’
Bentleys generally command a premium, because fewer of them were built and many people prefer their more understated look. Ray predicts that any two-door Bentley is likely to prove a sound investment. ‘ ey’re rarer than some Astons, and right-hand-drive convertibles particularly so. I think values are going to y.’
When it comes to choosing between early or late cars, whether Rolls or Bentley, it really is horses for courses: the rst-generation cars are arguably more elegant, while the later models have be er handling and are more evolved. e parts situation for all models is generally very good, thanks to specialists such as Flying Spares and IntroCar, and there are good-quality repair sections available. Your biggest potential bill could be for repairs to the high-pressure hydraulics and, if you want to have the many seals changed for peace of mind, a full service costs around £3000 plus VAT. Discounting the rarer coachbuilt models, you still don’t need to spend a huge amount to own a Silver Shadow or T-Series, one of the nest saloon cars ever built. ey are
not perfect but – as Harry Metcalfe, Dougal Cawley and Mike Martin can a est – they are the sort of cars with which you ‘make memories’. And while high fuel consumption has always been their Achilles’ heel – road-testers typically returned 11-12mpg – you may feel it’s a price worth paying. ere is one tantalising alternative. e idea of converting a classic car to electric power is anathema to many, but a Shadow might be the exception to the rule. Its V8 petrol engine is not the car’s de ning feature; replacing it with an electric motor is not such a heretical suggestion. ink about it: near-silent operation, be er weight distribution (so less understeer), and of course today’s allimportant green credentials. e Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow is a superb town car already, but think how much be er an electric version could be. For enthusiasts like us, an electric Shadow really could live up to the title of e Best Car in the World.
THANKS TO the car owners and to Ray Hillier, hillierhill.co.uk.
BUGATTI
EB110
Even now, the EB110’s specification seems extraordinary. Introduced amid much fanfare at the Place de La Défense, Paris, on 14 September 1991 to mark Ettore Bugatti’s 110th birthday (hence the initials and numerical designation), there was nothing quite like it. Here was a car that boasted a carbonfibre monocoque and an all-alloy 60-valve V12 equipped with four turbochargers. Power was transmitted to all four wheels via a six-speed gearbox, while suspension was by conventional double wishbones and coil springs with twin spring/ dampers units at either end. The platform/
superstructure was clothed with a hand-formed aluminium skin.
Marcello Gandini styled the car, aided by Giampaolo Benedini among others. While perhaps not a work of great beauty, it was undeniably dramatic, the EB110 being much more compact than photos might have you believe. It was also the fastest production car on the planet, Michelin having developed special tyres for a machine that during the homologation stage established a top-speed record of 212.5mph. What’s more, project instigator Roman Artioli insisted that the EB110 GT would be sold with a three-year
warranty covering all servicing costs, including consumables such as brakes and tyres.
Deliveries started in December 1992, just in time for a global economic meltdown. Sales never got close to the once-mooted 300 per year. A mere 85 GT editions were made (one in RHD), along with 30 carbonfibre-skinned Supersports and 13 test hacks before the firm crashed in 1995. However, that wasn’t the end of the story. Following the bankruptcy sale, former Le Mans-winner Jochen Dauer bought a batch of partially built EB110s. His team completed them while incorporating a few development tweaks of their own. 99
How many vehicles can claim to have won a war? The brief for the Jeep was laid out in June 1940 by the US Quartermaster Corps. It published requirements for a compact four-wheel-drive ‘quarter-ton truck’ with potential contractors having only a month in which to build a functioning prototype. 125 firms were approached but only two took up the challenge: tiny Detroit outfit American Bantam, and Willys-Overland, the latter requesting an extra 45 days in which to ready its test mule.
Bantam’s design won, but the US Army feared that this very small company wouldn’t be able to produce enough vehicles against the
backdrop of war. It took the blueprints and handed them over to Ford and Willys to move the concept forward. Ford initiated its own take, the Pygmy, which was identifiable by its flat grille, while the Willys ‘Quad’ retained the Bantam-style rounded front. Willys won the toss with its revised version and landed a contract, but so did Ford: it made a near-identical car, the General Purpose Willys – or GPW – being referred to as the ‘Jeep’ by the army. By the end of the War, Willys had produced 361,349 Jeeps and Ford another 277,896; Bantam made just 2675, while in 1954 Hotchkiss started to rebuild old Jeeps then went on to produce 27,500 new ones, each one a direct copy of the Willys.
ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA SPIDER
The Giulietta helped propel Alfa Romeo from a small-scale manufacturer of exotica into the mainstream. However, it was a niche-filler that arrived first rather than a mass-produced variant. The Sprint coupé was announced in 1954 with styling by Bertone’s chief designer, Franco Scaglione. The four-door Berlina saloon with which it shared its running gear was introduced a year later, as was the two-seater Spider. Pinin Farina beat Bertone to land the contract to design this open variant, with an array of further iterations following that decade, including the Scaglione-designed, superstreamlined SS and the Zagato-bodied SZ.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1954
Engine 1290cc four-cylinder, naturally aspirated
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 65bhp Torque 80lb ft
Top speed 103mph 0-60mph 13sec
JAMIE
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1948
Engine 1995cc V12, naturally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 110bhp Torque 120lb Top speed 106mph 0-60mph 10sec
The 166 in any of its many con gurations played a major role in establishing Ferrari on the world stage. Initial modes were cycle-winged a airs, the Spyder Corsa tag later being changed to Inter. With wings removed, they were eligible for Formula 1/Formula B races. A ‘Barche a’ version with a full-width body by Carrozzeria Touring claimed honours at Le Mans in 1949, while the ‘MM’ edition denoted the Mille Miglia on which Ferrari excelled.
e Inter tag was borrowed from Scuderia Inter, which had enjoyed great success elding 166s, and it was also applied to a
Touring-bodied coupé. No two 166s were alike, with a variety of wheelbase and V12 engine options.
e coupé variant was rst seen at the Turin motor show in November 1948. It marked the arrival of the rst two road-going Ferrari GT cars although, typically, many were also campaigned. Also, just to add confusion, the name was also used for cabriolet versions. While the Inter in closed form is most commonly associated with Carrozzeria Touring, other coachbuilders also cra ed bodies including Pinin Farina. As many as 38 ‘road’ Inters were made to 1950.
VOLVO AMAZON
The 120-series Amazon enjoyed a reputation for arch-practicality and ubiquity. One writer in period likened the handsome Volvo to a Zippo lighter or a Dr Martens boot. There was no planned obsolescence here. Amazons were produced from 1956 to 1970 with virtually identical bodywork and parts interchangeability between variants. They were built to last and helped solidify Volvo’s reputation for reliability and robustness. The Amazon also transformed the fortunes of the firm, which had been in financial di culties at the time of its launch. The styling by Jan Wilsgaard remained largely unchanged to the end.
Power 59bhp Torque 82lb Top speed 90mph 0-60mph 17.8sec
TRIUMPH
The TR2 launched a sports car dynasty. In 2018 Andrew English drove
OF WILL
Photography Paul Harmer
Modern Land Speed Records tend to be marked by four-figure target speeds and toiling teams of race and aerospace engineers, but it wasn’t always so. At one time the production 2.0-litre sports-car record was held by this car, MVC 575, an achingly modest Triumph TR2. In May 1953, this geranium-green 2.0-litre machine achieved a class record of 124.899mph at the Jabbeke highway in Belgium.
Back then, Jabbeke was a bit like the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife is for today’s hot-hatchback makers in terms of setting records. On that early motorway-graded road (with no barrier to separate record-breakers from normal traffic), in front of great-coated timing experts from the Royal Automobile Club Of Belgium, plus Brilliantined TV crews and a suited-and-booted press corps, Ken Richardson, a skilled engineer and plucky test driver, sitting on a cushion and crouched behind a tiny aero-screen, coaxed out a new speed record. This was almost two months before production of the TR2 began at the Coventry suburb of Canley, and the car’s only modifications were the optional undershield, rearwing spats and a potentially lethal metal cockpit cover. Lethal? It certainly feels that way sitting where Richardson sat 64 years ago in MVC 575, albeit in a proper seat, with that metal cockpit cover just brushing the back of my neck. With no seatbelts, rudimentary drum brakes and ethereal grip from its Excelsior crossply tyres, it wouldn’t take much of a drama to have your correspondent’s head bouncing free of its body down the road like an ancient leather football. In fact, this faithful recreation of the car’s long-lost original metal tonneau normally sports a non-original safety head restraint to try to prevent drivers literally losing their heads.
This decollated end could also have been Richardson’s on that record-breaking run, as he recounted in an article in Triumph Over Triumph magazine in 1998. In an unauthorised modification, the shepherd’s crook-shaped engine breather pipe had been extended downwards below the level of the undershield, where the low pressure created a siphoning effect and sucked out the sump oil. So the record-breaking run, he recalled, ‘was very nearly ruined by inept
interference. The whole of the underside of the car was plastered in oil… Had the oil reached the rear wheels on my practice run, I could have lost control of the car and shot over the central reservation and into the oncoming traffic.’
Richardson blamed a senior engineer on the team, who eventually owned up, but bad feeling remained. Which is strange, because Richardson got on reasonably well with Sir John Black, the controversial chairman of Standard Triumph. With his impulsive manner and tendency towards depressive moods, by all accounts including Richardson’s, Black wasn’t always the easiest to work with.
With the announcement of the new Triumph TR2 just months away in early 1953, Black had read of Sheila Van Damm achieving a speed of 120mph over a measured mile at Jabbeke in a 2.0-litre Sunbeam-Talbot Alpine. Concerned that this would affect his launch, Sir John told Richardson to organise a rival record attempt. A few days later, Black summoned Richardson to tell him the Jabbeke highway was booked for 20 May. Richardson was ‘flabbergasted’. He thought the risks of car problems or bad weather meant a two-day window was the bare minimum for such a speed record attempt. Typically Black brooked no opposition: ‘Everything’s organised now, so we’ve got to get on with it.’
Richardson wrote: ‘When Sir John says “Get on with it”, you get on with it.’
Staying at the Queen and Castle pub near Kenilworth (it’s still there), which became an unofficial base for the record-breaking run, Richardson and his small team would rise early for what became known as ‘red-eye special’ speed tests on the Bicester road near Oxford; they’d measure the road and stick in marker posts. Again disaster could have struck: ‘Those icy roads were damn dangerous,’ recalled Richardson. ‘A patch of ice caught me out on the Bicester straight, which caused a bit of a moment.’
It doesn’t bear thinking about – an engine seizure at speed, say, throwing this narrow prototype sports car into an uncontrolled slide that even a skilled and resourceful driver such as Richardson would have been able to do nothing about.
‘They had wanted to let the press drive the car after the run,’ says Glen Hewett, boss of Triumph specialist Protek of Wallingford, ‘but they couldn’t because the engine was knocking for all it was worth and there was oil all over the rear bodywork and even on the rear tyres.’ It was Hewett who tracked down MVC 575, purchased it in November 2015 and over the following 18 months painstakingly restored it.
You can see how important this run was in a film made by Standard Triumph (now online at tinyurl.com/bddkt3h8).
With cut-glass commentary from Raymond Baxter, the faded film shows Sir John Black, managing director of Standard Triumph, dapper in a trilby and overcoat. ‘It was important enough to warrant a film crew,’ says Hewett, ‘but it’s doubly important as the boss is there.’
Facing page and left
‘Guillotine-like’ tonneau cover, aero-screens and rear-wheel spats streamlined MVC 575 to the degree that it achieved nearly 125mph at Jabbeke in 1953.
As the film shows, not just Black but the cream of the European press corps, including Basil Cardew of The Daily Express, Courtenay Edwards of The Sunday Telegraph, Peter Garnier of The Autocar, Laurie Cade of the London evening newspaper The Star, and Paul Frère. All told there were about 70 people at the eve-of-run dinner hosted by Black, all corralled by jovial PR chief Ivor Penrice in a bowler hat.
But that’s really only half the story for this extraordinary car. Like so many prototypes, MVC was then used as a testdepartment hack in the factory (it was Richardson’s personal car for a while) and was sold on in October 1956 to a Mr John Hedger. Hewett has the original bill of sale for £650 from Welbeck Motors of London W1, where it was part exchanged for a Ford Popular. But through two more owners and the passage of years, it was driven into the ground until it was eventually dismantled with the intention of a restoration in 1976. And it was in that dilapidated state, spread around several lock-up garages, that Hewett tracked it down after persuading its reclusive owner to sell.
SO I’M THINKING about all this and the current value of this car (in excess of a quarter of a million) as I climb in, which is a struggle. Leg over like a Tory MP, then wobble upright standing on the driver’s seat and, with both hands on the metal tonneau in support, you waggle your feet under the big wire-spoked Bluemels steering wheel before, with a pouf!, you disappear like a magician’s assistant into the cockpit with your head just poking out of the top. There’s time to note the contrasting blue interior (Hewett is now convinced, with some justification, that MVC 575 was originally painted blue) and the virtually standard trim.
While Richardson notes that, sitting on the floor, the runs ‘were not particularly comfortable’, TR seats of this vintage feel like over-stuffed parlour chairs with no discernable side support. The blue-trimmed dashboard is straight out of the production brochure with, in splendid isolation on the left, a push/pull overdrive switch operable on all gears except first.
A bit of choke, press the starter and the old Standard Vanguard engine burbles into life. This cast-iron, pushrod four-pot (also used in the Ferguson tractor) always sounds breathy and MVC 575 is no exception. Hewett did little to it other than making sure it had good balance, so gently engage first with that rifle-bolt precise lever and let up the light clutch. The small-diameter SU carbs and soft cam profiles allow it to pull hard from about 1500rpm, and it feels quite brisk without you ever needing to take the revs above 4000rpm.
So many TRs have been modified for practicality, safety and reliability and that’s a shame: MCV 575 is a delight at medium speeds. It floats on those Excelsior tyres, there’s a directness and lightness to the worm-and-peg steering and a woofly exhaust note that remind of times gone by, and full throttle demands dainty feet. In that respect MVC 575 feels like a very well-maintained original TR: even the aero screens were an option all the way up to late TR3a models, so the wind blast is familiar. It’s only the inability to hook yourself in place with your elbow over the cutaway door that tells you this is a different sort of TR. Which is all fine and good if you don’t want to go fast. When you do, however, this is a highly alternative kettle of fish.
1953 Triumph TR2
Engine 1991cc four-cylinder, OHV, twin SU H4 carburettors
Power 90bhp @ 4800rpm
Torque 117lb ft @ 3000rpm
Transmission
Four-speed manual with overdrive, rear-wheel drive
Steering Worm and peg
Suspension Front: double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers. Rear: live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs, leverarm dampers
Brakes Drums
Weight 955kg
Top speed 120mph 0-60mph 11.9sec
Below
Ken Richardson was able to coax 125mph out of the TR at Jabbeke, but almost came a cropper thanks to leaks soaking the car’s underside with oil.
Painfully twist your foot to get full throttle, the engine revs manfully and the gearchange slots cleanly even if the synchromesh action is best described as stately. The damping isn’t bad, and the springs are stiff enough to resist too much body roll, but the tall tyres squish through the turns, which makes the steering feel disconnected. The outside front tyre squeals in protest at any form of spirited cornering and you need to plan hard stops with an early balancing push to get the drum brakes synchronised. This is nothing to do with Hewett’s expert preparation, it’s how they were. And all the while that metal tonneau brushes hungrily at the back of your neck…
‘Richardson was a brave man alright,’ says Bill Piggott, noted historian of all things Triumph and author of over 15 books. ‘You need to remember that he had been BRM’s test driver and drove that difficult V16 on the track and the road between the works at Bourne and the Folkingham test track.’
But Richardson’s role wasn’t just as a speed record driver; he’d been involved in the TR story from much earlier, which brings up the other remarkable part of this
car’s history. Whichever way you shuffle it, MCV 575 is important. There’s little still extant from the earliest days of Triumph’s sports car series, which ultimately begat the TR range from TR2 to TR7, the GT6 and the Stag. You see just a handful of the ex-works rally cars in various stages of originality, along with some of the earliest long-door TR2 models, so this early pre-production TR2 has a huge significance – but it doesn’t stop there.
This wasn’t Black’s first attempt to challenge MG and Sunbeam in the lucrative sports-car market. Triumph’s first post-war model was the Two Litre (as driven by television detective Bergerac), which was slow, ponderous and oldfashioned – one of the last new cars to have a dickey seat. A second shot was the 20 TS prototypes (later erroneously known as TR1s); most historians concede there were at least two. These Manx-tail sports cars had ghastly flexible chassis and sleepy Vanguard engines and were roundly condemned by the press on a test drive. This is where Richardson, hired from BRM, comes in. On his first test drive, he is reputed to have described it as ‘bloody awful’.
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars Triumph TR2
‘There’s a directness to the steering and a woofly exhaust note that remind of times gone by, and full throttle demands dainty feet’
Richardson stayed with the project, which went back to the drawing board. Harry Webster improved the chassis, Lewis Dawtrey teased 90bhp out of the tough wet-liner engine, Walter Belgrove redesigned the body with a longer tail and a more practical boot, and Richardson tested and fed back. The resulting TR2 was unveiled in March 1953 at the Geneva show.
And what became of those two 20 TS precursors? Things moved too fast at Standard Triumph in those days to keep accurate records and they had no money. ‘They wouldn’t have thrown anything away,’ says Hewett. ‘There simply weren’t the resources.’
So when Richardson required a pre-production TR for his record attempt, whence did he acquire the donor car? The solution became clear to Hewett as he revealed the secrets beneath the bespoke coachwork and lovely special bonnet badge of MVC 575. Riveted parts, special panels and hand fabrications, including a cover plate for the 20 TS’s strange single-sided rear trailing arm, persuaded him that MVC had been built up from one of the two 20 TS models.
Piggott, too, is convinced and says that Hewett’s car was in fact the second of the two 20 TS prototypes to be converted into a prototype TR2; the first being MWK 950, which used the uncompleted second 20 TS as a base. ‘That other prototype also exists,’ he says, ‘and we know that it was the first car to be converted as its surviving logbook shows it as registered in January 1953, two months before MVC 575 was first registered.
‘When I spoke to Ken [Richardson] he couldn’t remember which one was the Geneva show car, but it was
in fact MVC 575, which was also the one he’d jollied up with an aerodynamic kit to get the record. There is a third prototype as well, ORW 666, but that right-hand-drive car wasn’t based on a 20 TS and no one is sure exactly what happened to it.
‘And yes, it [MVC 575] is an important car. It proved that a production 2.0-litre sports car could do preposterous speeds; 125mph is a speed that not many cars can do today. And it gave credibility to Triumph’s sports-car project.’
He’s not alone in that point of view. While introducing MVC 575 at the RAC Club dinner in its honour, Tom Purves, then-chairman of the RAC Club, referred to it as ‘the most significant car Triumph ever built’. This former head of BMW UK and Rolls-Royce hillclimbs his Hewettprepared TR3A and he has a special place for Triumph in his heart. ‘I like Triumph for personal reasons,’ he explains. ‘I think they did a good job of exploiting their export potential and they were very avant-garde using the Italian design house Michelotti. It’s an unappreciated part of the British Motor Industry.’
There’s an interesting footnote to the story in that Purves’ former employer BMW owns the Triumph name, which it picked up along with Rover in 1994. Indeed, there are some folk who think that BMW might one day disinter the famous Triumph marque, particularly as its own sports cars have had an occasionally patchy history – witness the company’s collaboration with Toyota for a third-generation Z4.
Perhaps MVC 575 might inspire them? Who knows, but hopefully whatever might come out of such an idea would be a little less like a four-wheeled guillotine than this extraordinarily important record-breaking prototype.
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The 100 Greatest Classic Cars
MATRA DJET
The Djet was arguably the first mid-engined production car. Its lineage can be traced to a pair of class-winning René Bonnets fielded in the 1962 Le Mans 24 Hours. A road-going variant arrived in October of that year, but fewer than 200 Djets were made before René Bonnet folded in September 1964. Matra rescued the Djet, and a new company, Matra Sport, was formed with the ‘new’ Matra Djet V launched in 1965. It remained on sale until 1967, with 1492 examples made in all.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced aspirated drive
Top speed
MASERATI
A6GCS/53
There were several strains of A6 Maserati, to the point that it became a catch-all term. However, it was only after the arrival of the A6GCS that road-going Maseratis attained any appreciation with the target audience. Power came from a Vittorio Bellantini-devised straight-six that was referred to internally as a ‘road engine’ but which appeared similar to the firm’s F2 powerplant. Pinin Farina’s Aldo Brovarone produced a memorable design, with Alfredo Vignale and Pietro Frua acting as coachbuilders. 52 cars of all types were made.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced aspirated drive
Top speed
LOTUS ESPRIT S1
Lotus vanquished all-comers on-track during the 1960s, while its road cars also punched above their weight. However, marque instigator Colin Chapman was keen to project a more aspirational image during the 1970s. He and the firm’s future MD Mike Kimberley had been impressed by the Giorgetto Giugiaro-styled Maserati Boomerang and Porsche Tapiro during a visit to Turin, the upshot being that a lengthened Europa chassis was dispatched to Italy, which Giugiaro set about clothing. The resultant concept car, referred to as ‘The Silver Lotus’, was displayed at the 1972 Turin motor show to great acclaim.
This car, in turn, spawned the production Esprit, with Lotus’s in-house designer Oliver Winterbottom providing input. Power came from a 1973cc (later 2.2-litre) ‘907’ twin-cam four-cylinder unit that was sited amidships and mated to a modified Citroën SM transmission. The Esprit earned a massive promotional boost following its appearance in the 1977 James Bond film was subsequently hired to style the Turbo variant. The Esprit lived on until 2004, with V8 editions and styling makeovers by Peter Stevens and Russell Carr being added to the mix along the way.
put it into context. When the original design brief was laid down in 1935, its competition wasn’t a car specifi c purpose: as rugged, basic transportation of 37mph, and boast a fuel consumption of 56mpg.
blight progress. Then World War Two intervened. When the defi nitive 2CV was launched at the 1948 Paris motor show, it employed a new air-cooled, 375cc horizontally opposed two-cylinder engine restricted to 9bhp with a four-speed gearbox. Its simple steel body with fl at glass sat on a sheet-steel platform chassis, with e ective (if unorthodox) interconnected coil-spring suspension.
More powerful iterations followed, as did commercial variants plus stand-alone models such as the Ami and Méhari. More than 3.8million 2CVs were made to the end in 1990.
RENAULT 4
Like the Citroën 2CV against which it is o en compared, the 4 was designed to meet specific objectives. The car was conceived in 1956, Renault’s president Pierre Dreyfus requesting a replacement for the rear-engined 4CV that had entered production in October 1947. The new car would be a significantly di erent proposition. It would have generous interior space but small overall dimensions. It would be moderately priced and have su cient suspension travel to allow the car to traverse uneven terrain. It would be rugged, require minimum servicing and have a body with panels that could be unbolted and replaced easily. These objectives were a ained and more, the first batch of cars rolling o the production line in August 1961. This front-wheel-drive machine was embraced by the French public in an instant, its hatchback confi guration being something of a novelty in period, but a boon for loading and unloading. Dreyfus had demanded a ‘hold-all on wheels’ and he got his wish. While the car’s four-cylinder engine would undergo changes of displacement ranging from 603cc to 1108cc over ensuing decades, the basic design remained fundamentally the same to the end in 1992.
It may seem improbable, but the inspiration for the 1963 Buick Riviera was a Rolls-Royce. General Motors’ styling czar Bill Mitchell was beso ed by an older model during a visit to London. He was taken by the lack of ornamentation, its angular lines and use of flat planes. It struck a chord so, on returning to Detroit, he instructed his designers to come up with something similar, only lower and wider. His proposed ‘alternative car’ was initially pitched as a La Salle. Mitchell was keen to revive the pre-war brand and this was his chance.
However, GM’s management had other ideas and it emerged in production as a Buick. It did so following an inter-marque ba le with Oldsmobile and Pontiac, which also petitioned to adopt it.
The Riviera was one of the most beautiful cars
of its era regardless of nationality, although it was otherwise conventional. It had a separate chassis rather than a monocoque body, and much of the running gear was shared with the Buick Electra, the biggest model in the line-up. The secondseries Riviera arrived in 1966, and the name was applied to another six iterations before time was finally called on the model altogether in 1999. Buick continues under GM’s stewardship; it’s the US’s oldest car brand that’s still active.
Transmission Dynaflow two-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive Power 325bhp Torque 445lb
Top speed 122mph 0-60mph 7.4sec
FERRARI TESTAROSSA
Outlandish in a manner more o en a ributable to arch-rival Lamborghini, the Testarossa came to represent the 1980s to a legion of adolescents thanks to a pre-eminent role in the TV drama Miami Vice. Put simply, the Testarossa was the landmark supercar of its generation. While based on the outgoing 512 BB, the new strain was faster, be er-handling and more humane in terms of driver comfort. It was a car that you could conceivably enjoy driving over long distances, rather than making allowances for.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1972
Engine 4942cc flat-12, naturally aspirated
ve-speed
Typically, Ferrari’s favoured styling house, Pininfarina, was responsible for the dramatic outline – or rather, its designer Leonardo Fioravanti was. The car’s most distinctive characteristic was the use of strakes along the flanks that inspired myriad copyists. Beneath the striking body lay a tubular-steel chassis that was home to a 4942cc flat-12 engine that produced 390bhp. The car was capable of 0-60mph in 5.2 seconds on its way to a top speed of 180mph.
The model was launched at the 1984 Paris motor show and remained in production to early 1992, when it was replaced by the closely related 512TR, which in turn was superseded by the F512M in 1994. Testarossa production ran to 7177, with 2280 512TRs made and 501 F512Ms.
Auburn’s final masterpiece arrived in 1934, its raked-back grille, bobbed wings, serpentine external exhausts and boat-tail rear end resulting in an outline unlike anything else on the market. The styling has been a ributed to Gordon Buehrig, whose résumé also included the Cord 810/812 and Lincoln Continental Mark II. It took some cues from a prior design by Alan H Leamy. Power came from a supercharged ‘flathead’ straight-eight engine, the post-1936 852 variant being visually alike save for the badging. Auburn folded in 1937, by which time only 143 boat-tail Speedsters had been made. A far greater number of replicas have been built since then.
Seldom has an advertising slogan been more accurate. The ‘Fabulous Hudson Hornet’ was precisely that. It emerged in 1951 and was radically di erent in terms of packaging, engineering chief Arthur Kibiger designing it so the fl oorpan was a ached to the base of the chassis members rather than to their tops, as was then customary. At a stroke he increased interior space, provided be er impact protection, and also lowered the car’s centre of gravity. The straight-six-engined ‘Step-Down’ Hudson dominated stock car racing from 1951 to 1954, its superior handling making up for the horsepower disparity relative to V8 opposition.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1950
Engine 1991cc four-cylinder, naturally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 95bhp Torque 117lb
Top speed 96mph 0-60mph 11.2sec
MORGAN PLUS 4
For so long it appeared as though the world had changed, but nobody at Morgan’s Pickersleigh Road factory in Malvern had noticed. The Plus 4 in its many guises had been introduced as far back as 1950, initially in ‘flad-rad’ form – the original featured a blu , perpendicular radiator grille rather than the subsequent (and characteristic) rounded cowling. It continued to be sold until 1969, and the name was reanimated in 1985. This second-series iteration continued to employ the time-honoured formula of a hand-beaten body over an ash frame, plus a steel chassis with sliding-pillar front suspension. The thirdgeneration version was sold from 2005 to 2020.
WINNERS
Whether in road or track format, the Jaguar D-type was all-conquering. In 2017 Mark Dixon joined its greatest convoy, including the 1957 Le Mans 1-2-3 finishers
Photography Matthew Howell, Chris Brown and Mike Dodd
For drivers approaching the A5/A43 Towcester roundabout in Northamptonshire, not far from Silverstone, it must have been an unforgettable sight. And the sound must have been equally memorable. Five Jaguar D-types, blasting away from the roundabout and onto the dual carriageway.
Genuine race cars on the road.
But only the true cognoscente – or, if you prefer, D-type anorak – will have recognised the significance of those cars. Between them, these five account for all four of the longnose D-types still in Europe today; all three of the Ecurie Ecosse long-nose cars; and the Ds that finished one-twothree at Le Mans in 1957.
It’s to celebrate that final, stunning achievement in 1957 that we’re making a D-type pilgrimage today. We’re driving from the spiritual home of classic Jaguars – the company’s Classic Works facility at Ryton, on the southern outskirts of Coventry – to the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court. And we’ll be calling in at a few interesting places along the way.
Thursday dawns bright and clear (thankfully) as the D-types assemble outside Jaguar Classic Works. Until 2007 the old Peugeot factory stood here, a relic of World War Two, when the Rootes Group built a ‘shadow’ factory well away from Coventry city centre to keep it safe (relatively speaking) from German bombs. Engines for Bristol Blenheims were once assembled where Jaguar’s XK straightsixes are now rebuilt.
Inside Classic Works, there’s human as well as mechanical history, too. Jaguar has wheeled out some of its metaphorical big guns to mark today’s occasion. Mingling with the car owners and partners drinking coffee in the lobby are legendary test driver Norman Dewis, who celebrated his 97th birthday just a few days earlier; ’50s Le Mans mechanic Ron Gaudion (more about him later); and more recent luminaries such as Jaguar’s director of design Ian Callum. Engaging and amusing as ever, Ian lets slip that he’s just bought a childhood dream car: a 2.3-litre Vauxhall Chevette HS. In silver with red stripe, natch.
But the clock is ticking. We have other places to visit, promises to keep, and miles to go before we sleep. Lined up in the car park with noses facing out, ready to rumble, are the five D-types.
Three of them are Ecurie Ecosse machines in the team’s trademark metallic blue, with white stripes across the nose. They are, respectively, chassis XKD 606 (one stripe), the 1957 Le Mans winner that’s now owned by the Louwman Museum; XKD 603 (two stripes), second at Le Mans in ’57 and belonging to Clive Beecham; and XKD 504 (three stripes), which is still being raced in the hands of owner Christian Gläsel.
Then we have the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust’s XKD 605, in British Racing Green, winner of the 1956 Reims 12 Hours. And last but very much not least is XKD 513,
This page, top to bottom Norman Dewis was a huge part of Jaguar’s story and very sadly missed since 2019; a quick chat before the engine is fired up; not the toughest of assignments for Dixon, who is in the lead car, XKD 504, which is still actively campaigned in historic racing.
‘Mingling with the car owners drinking coffee is legendary test driver Norman Dewis’
painted the vivid French Racing Blue in which it finished third at Le Mans in 1957 behind the two Ecurie Ecosse D-types. It’s now owned by Austrian enthusiasts Jörg and Günther Holleis.
Oh, and there’s another Jaguar works team vehicle: Clive Beecham’s 1950 Bedford 30cwt lorry that he’s had restored as an exact replica of the works’ parts van. The Bedford will be trundling its way to Hampton Court, too, albeit at a rather more sedate pace.
For the first leg of our journey, Octane’s man is deputed to ride with Christian Gläsel in XKD 504. Carefully opening the light-as-paper alloy door, I search out the most rigidlooking parts of the cockpit surround for my hands to lower myself inside the bathtub-like passenger compartment. It’s certainly cosy in here but not too uncomfortable, once you’ve acclimatised to the semi-foetal position required.
Christian has owned this car since 2013. ‘It’s a car I’ve coveted since I was a child: cooler than a Ferrari and such an icon because of its dominance in the mid-’50s. While I’m a little nervous because it’s so historically important, I do race it and will continue to do so in selected events for the foreseeable future.’
Racing instincts to the fore, Christian fires up 504 and noses the car out behind the new Discovery that will be filming the convoy as we head to our first destination: Sir William Lyons’ former home, Wappenbury Hall. We’re not even out of the car park and I can tell that this car is something of a handful in its competition state of tune. The
clutch is either in or out and, with ‘hot’ spark plugs installed, the engine is a bit fluffy at low revs.
But what a noise! At idle it sizzles like a country-sized slice of bacon in the world’s largest frying pan. When Christian gives it some right foot, it emits a raw, animalistic blare that is intensely exciting. As former D-type mechanic Ron Gaudion describes the sensation later: ‘It sets up a tingle in your stomach that runs right down to your feet.’
Just a few minutes’ rumbling through the Warwickshire lanes brings us to Wappenbury Hall, Sir William Lyons’ home. The cars line up for a photocall, and peace descends briefly as engines are switched off and passengers uncurl their legs. With its immaculately tended, slightly garish herbaceous borders and warm red bricks, the Hall makes a strikingly 1950s backdrop for the D-types, as though they’re waiting for Sir William to step out and give his blessing for the convoy of works-backed racers, en route to La Sarthe 60 years ago.
And it was this concept of driving the works cars from the Coventry factory all the way to Le Mans ahead of the race –something that seems so unthinkable today – that inspired D-type owner Clive Beecham to initiate the tour. Fortunately, Jaguar Land Rover, the Royal Automobile Club and the Concours of Elegance were all keen to help out.
Our chat is cut short by the signal for ‘Gentlemen, to your cars!’ – gentlemen and one lady, that is, for Quirina ‘Queenie’ Louwman, daughter of museum founder Evert (who’s also here), is driving 1957’s winning car with her
‘We’re in a 60-year-old Jaguar and it’s accelerating like a modern supercar’
English husband James Wood. Queenie and James are both highly experienced race drivers; have a guess how many Mille Miglias Queenie has done. Would you imagine 19? Yes, one-nine!
But Christian and I are still leading the pack as we snap, crackle and pop out of the Hall gates and set course for Silverstone, where there’s the promise of a couple of hot laps. D-types were frequent visitors to the circuit back in the day; indeed, their first public outing in 1954 was to have been at Silverstone’s International Trophy Meeting, only for the two works entries to be pulled at the last minute in the frantic dash to be ready for Le Mans.
The old A5 trunk road has been largely superseded by the M1 motorway that shadows it, and which opened just two years after the D-type’s one-two-three at Le Mans, but its long straights, bounded for mile after mile by trees and hedges, are perfect for evoking 1950s high-speed motoring. At least, they would be, if the traffic permitted. These cars just feel so constrained at a legal limit of 60mph; they are geared to do another ton or so beyond that, and you can be damn sure that Jaguar’s works drivers didn’t worry too much about sticking to the rules when they were dashing to make the ferry or the airport, six decades ago.
Different times, though… For amusement’s sake, I ask Christian to slow right down and then gun XKD 504 through the lower gears. He’s more than happy to oblige. Whooo-ah! The exhausts erupt in a savage, brassy blare, the
nose rises like a speedboat’s prow, and the JLR camera car that was a couple of hundred yards in front is suddenly being reeled in as though we’re in a movie on fast-forward. Christian barely has time to get into third gear before he has to back off. It’s just incredible – we’re in a 60-year-old Jaguar, and it’s accelerating like a modern supercar!
And then it gets better, because we’ve arrived at the roundabout where we turn right onto the A43 dual carriageway, and by some miracle all five D-types have a clear path together away from the traffic lights that control our exit. We’re still in the lead and, as Christian stands on the loud pedal, our fellow Tourists respond just as enthusiastically and all of a sudden we’re on the opening lap at Le Mans on 22 June 1957…
OK, maybe that’s stretching the imagination just a little too far, but to be a part of this convoy, to witness from the hot seat these five cars hammering along a fast dual carriageway towards Silverstone, carving past trucks and vans as if they are standing still, is almost heart-stopping in its emotional charge.
And then it gets even better than that. Much better. After we’ve arrived at the circuit and the marshals have been cajoled to let us have a few minutes of precious track time for our cover shot, Clive Beecham tosses me the keys to XKD 603 (two stripes, remember) and suggests I lead the formation. To put that act of generosity into context, consider that the 1956 Le Mans-winning D-type, XKD
501, another Ecurie Ecosse car, sold at auction for $21.78 million only a year before.
Fortunately, Clive’s car is rather more tractable than Christian’s at the speeds required for photography; and I know from having piloted Jaguar’s prototype D-type, XKC 401, from Coventry to Norman Dewis’s home in Shropshire that there’s nothing to fear – other than running into the back of the camera car, of course.
That’s the glory of the D-type. It’s a full-house 1950s racing car, the apogee of motorsport technology in its day, and yet it’s as easy to handle as an MG or Triumph. I’m not kidding. The steering is beautifully light, the gearchange positive and mechanical in feel, the brakes superb, and the ride more supple than any mass-market sports car’s. It is just unbelievably good.
Pushing that heavily cranked-forward gearlever into first, I ease up the clutch and start rolling behind Matt Howell’s camera car, shifting up a couple of gears as we move into our allotted positions. As soon as Matt has nailed the shot, the camera car pulls off, and suddenly there’s a chance to hustle the Jaguar rather more quickly. We’re a long way away from touching 170mph down the Mulsanne Straight, of course, but as I double-declutch, downshift and feel the car roll mildly through Brooklands and Luffield corners, straightsix yowling, I feel like I’m king of the world.
This car finished second at Le Mans in the hands of Ninian Sanderson and Jock Lawrence. Incredibly, five of the top six cars that year were D-types, the sole interloper being a Ferrari 315 S that came in fifth. What was really remarkable, however, was the performance of the sixth-placed D-type, driven by Hamilton and Gregory. Having dropped down as far as 20th due to the exhaust burning away part of the cockpit floor – really! – they clawed their way back to sixth
by driving the car absolutely flat out for 15 hours. You could do that in a ‘D’ and get away with it.
Heroics like that won’t be needed today, but we do need to push on to our penultimate destination: Williams Advanced Engineering near Wantage in Oxfordshire, the home of Williams F1. It’s mostly dual carriageway to get there, with a few miles of M40 motorway, and for the first time we get a bit of rain. I’m hunched in the passenger seat of Clive’s D-type with the raindrops stinging my face like shotgun pellets, and you know what? It’s just fantastic.
With the D-types having arrived safely at Williams – the Bedford van has manfully made it, too – there’s time for a bite of lunch and a whistlestop tour of the F1 museum and the workshops (the bits that aren’t top-secret, anyway). But the highlight of our visit is when Frank Williams himself appears to greet us and say hello. Perhaps he has a special affinity with Jaguars because, in a way, he owes everything to the marque: it was a teenage ride in a friend’s XK150 during the late ’50s that got him hooked on cars.
The rest of the journey south, to the RAC Country Club at Woodcote Park, in Surrey, where the cars will rest up overnight, is eventful only for the amount of traffic we encounter; Christian Gläsel’s XKD 504 runs out of fuel literally yards from its parking space. But everyone has made it. Yes, there has been the odd glitch with rough running along the way, but nothing that a bit of fettling wasn’t able to cure. Not bad for a clutch of 1950s racing cars.
I once asked Norman Dewis whether he would have made any changes to the D-type, with the benefit of six decades of hindsight. ‘Not really,’ he replied. ‘It was just right, from the beginning.’
And that’s about the best seven-word description of a D-type it’s possible to make.
Above, left to right
In a D-type, even the A43 is exciting; Sir William Lyons’ former home, Wappenbury Hall, makes an evocative backdrop; on the Brooklands banking – a nod to the Monza race in which Ecurie Ecosse D-types competed straight after Le Mans in 1957.
‘The point was rather lost on the Ferrari faithful, given that this was a Ferrari product, rather than a Ferrari model’
FERRARI DINO 206GT/246GT
It seems inconceivable now, but the Dino 206GT wasn’t universally loved when it was introduced at the Turin motor show in November 1967. The Ferrari faithful were up in arms. It had a V6 engine – in the middle, no less – with a displacement of a mere 2.0 litres. Not only that, but the Prancing Horse logo was nowhere to be seen. The point was rather lost on them given that this was a Ferrari product rather than a Ferrari model. Dino was a subbrand, and one that was intended to take the fight to the Porsche 911 and other continental rivals.
The Dino 206GT was named after Enzo Ferrari’s only legitimate son and heir. Alfredo (affectionately ‘Alfredino’, Dino for short) died from leukaemia in 1954. To honour his memory, the name was applied to sportsracing cars before becoming a marque in its own right. The heart of the car was an alloy V6
engine designed by Franco Rochi, mounted transversely behind the occupants. The car’s outline was in essence a co-production, being derived in part from the one-off Dino Berlinetta Speciale and the three-seater 365P that were styled by Aldo Brovarone. Design cues were appropriated for the 206GT and distilled by his protégé, Leonardo Fioravanti.
A mere 152 206GTs were made over two years before the emergence of the 246GT. While visually very similar to the outgoing model, its body was made of steel rather than aluminium, while the V6 engine had a castiron block and a capacity of 2418cc. The GTS variant, complete with a removable roof panel, arrived in 1972. Both iterations remained on sale up to May 1974, by which time 3569 cars had been made. The Marcello Gandini-styled Dino 308 GT4 2+2 that followed was critically mauled at launch, but critically reappraised decades later.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars
The 02-series BMW was ushered in at the 1966 Geneva motor show, and came into its own following the insertion of a 1990cc four-cylinder engine two years later. The 2002 helped establish the company’s reputation for engineering excellence and driving pleasure. In Germany, it was known as the Flustern Bombe (‘whispering bomb’); the model also proved a big hit in the UK and the USA. A ra of body configurations followed, including a targa-topped Cabriolet and a three-door hatchback, with power outputs ranging from 100bhp to 170bhp in the 2002 Turbo.
Chrysler embraced the prevailing Art Moderne trend with the Airflow. Launched in 1934, its signature features included faired-in headlights, a ‘waterfall’ grille and monocoque construction. Eight-cylinder engines boasted displacements of 4.9 and 5.3 litres. A variant was also o ered under the DeSoto nameplate with a straight-six (it was sold in the UK as the Chrysler Croydon). Being daring came at a cost because the Airflow wasn’t a commercial success. It was discontinued in 1937 a er 26,400 cars of all kinds had been made.
Jaguars fi rst participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1950. Three near-standard XK120s were fi elded and they showed great pace against purpose-built sports-racing cars. The car driven by Bert Hadley and Leslie Johnson in particular excelled, and it appeared set for a top-three fi nish until it was forced to retire late in the day. Marque founder William Lyons and chief engineer Bill Heynes had been spectating and they were su ciently enthused as to initiate a competition variant. Initially dubbed XK120C (‘C’ denoting ‘Competition’), the new car would borrow its engine and transmission from the regular production model, albeit uprated accordingly, but the rest was largely new.
The basis for the car was a tubular chassis with the front and rear bulkheads incorporated as sti ening elements. The voluptuous body was designed by Malcolm Sayer, its bonnet and wings being a single-piece a air for ease of access to the 3.4-litre straight-six engine. The C-type famously won the 24-hour race at its fi rst a empt in 1951, and it claimed repeat honours two years later. While created with endurance events in mind, the shapely Jaguar also excelled in sprint races. 53 cars were made.
There was a time when the MGB represented virtual street furniture in the UK. Given that the vast majority were sold overseas during its 18-year life, that’s remarkable in itself. This is a car that was successful for a reason. The MGB was more advanced than many cars competing in the same market segment when introduced in 1962, monocoque construction ensuring that it was more rigid than a roadster with a separate chassis. Its 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine was ruggedly reliable, it was pre y, and it was relatively practical. The MGB also proved to be a natural fit for motor racing, not least at Le Mans, where the model recorded three consecutive finishes in the 24 Hours race.
The arrival of the MGB also proved a boon for outside tuners, a ermarket outfi ers and coachbuilders alike. It gained a stablemate in October 1965, the roadster’s Don Hayter-penned outline being massaged by Pininfarina to create the fi xed-head GT variant. A straight-six-engined model, the MGC, was o ered from 1967 to ’69, while a Rover V8-powered GT was available from 1973 to ’76. Rubber bumpers were adopted for the roadster and GT from 1974 to meet increasingly stringent US safety regulations.
The final MGB of the 513,276 built was made in October 1980. Its smaller stablemate, the Midget, had been axed a year earlier.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1962
Engine 1798cc four-cylinder, naturally-aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 94bhp Torque 110lb
Top speed 103mph 0-60mph 12.2sec 78
FORD BRONCO
Ford’s rival to the Jeep CJ-5 and Toyota Land Cruiser was conceived by Donald N Frey, the Ford product manager who also ushered in the Mustang. It was a proto-SUV, of sorts, and o ered in di erent configurations including a two-door ‘wagon’, a half-cab pick-up, and two-door convertible. The first-generation variant went on sale in 1966 and initially proved a strong seller. It also gained a promotional boost a er former Indy 500 winner Parnelli Jones won several high-profile o -road events driving for Ford. Styling cues were later appropriated for the ‘retro’ sixth-generation model, which went on sale in 2021.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1966
Engine 3276cc straight-six, naturally aspirated
Transmission Three-speed manual, four-wheel drive
Power 85bhp Torque 151lb
Top speed 78mph 0-60mph 20sec
SEVEN RULES FOR LIFE
The Lotus 7 and the Caterham it begat have been thrilling drivers for nearly 70 years. In 2017 Octane marked its 60th anniversary by driving a Twin Cam SS
Words Glen Waddington Photography Malcolm Griffiths
Certain years are etched upon the mind with greater clarity and definition than others, especially when we’re talking car launches. Take 1962 as an example: the Ferrari 250 GTO, the MGB and the Ford Cortina were all released that year, each an icon in its own distinct way. Or how about 1948? That year saw the Citroën 2CV, Jaguar XK120, Morris Minor, Porsche 356, the Bristol 401, even the Tucker 48, all unleashed on an unsuspecting world just beginning to recover from the calamity of war.
But now turn your mind to 1957. Back then a few remarkable cars were launched, not least of all the Fiat 500. The Lotus Elite, Lancia Flaminia, Mercedes 300SL Roadster, Aston DB MkIII and Maserati 3500GT that were launched the same year don’t quite resonate like the swell of seminal groundbreakers that exploded onto the scene nine years before.
One car stands out, however, as much for its longevity as for its importance at the time. After all, Colin Chapman’s Lotus Elite was arguably a greater technical achievement, a car more in line with some of those 1948 epics in every respect bar cultural significance. Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Lotus stand at Earls Court in 1957 stood the 7. A tiny, spidery roadster, more clubman’s special than roadgoing sports car, which achieved Chapman’s ideal of lightness – for handling perfection and to make a little power go a long way – by being dainty and minimalist, rather than employing a structural method so outlandish that, in the case of the Elite’s glassfibre monocoque, it went straight to the end of the cul-de-sac with no sane followers.
Not so the 7. Now, 60 years on, it’s still in production, as a Caterham rather than a Lotus since 1974, and recognisably the same car despite myriad improvements, departures and
the odd blind alley since. The 7 followed on, naturally, from the Mk6, Lotus’s first ‘series production’ car, available in kit form since 1952 following Chapman’s self-made rudimentary trials cars and sports racers. At its heart was a lightweight spaceframe chassis, to which the builder would add Ford Prefect suspension components and running gear. The Mk6’s popularity – 100 were built in its first three years – established Lotus as a manufacturer and gave Chapman the confidence to pursue his burgeoning genius as a racing car designer.
Crucially, the 7 followed the Mk6 in its simplicity, with stressed aluminium panels over a spaceframe chassis that was closely related to the Eleven racing car’s, all of which could be supplied in kit form for the home builder – or you could buy one ready-built by Lotus, for which the launch price was £1036. Building it yourself, however, meant you could avoid
Clockwise, from above Lotus’s twin-cam seems perfectly at home here, yet such a version didn’t form part of Colin Chapman’s plan; stark interior is just perfect; instant grin when you drive it, especially when there are corners involved.
Torque 116lb ft @ 4500rpm Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Steering Rack and pinion Suspension Front: double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar. Rear: live axle, A-frame trailing links, coil springs, telescopic dampers Brakes Discs front, drums rear Weight 570kg Top speed 110mph 0-60mph 7.1sec
purchase tax and save yourself £500 in return for your labour. If you followed that path, you had to bear in mind that the Inland Revenue had decreed that no assembly instructions could be included – but there was no rule about ‘disassembly’ instructions. Customers simply had to follow them in reverse…
Drum brakes and a Burman steering box were combined with a Nash Metropolitan live axle and coil/wishbone front suspension, typically with 1172cc Ford sidevalve power, though options later included a Coventry Climax engine, or even BMC’s 948cc A-series, and the steering box quickly gave way to the Morris Minor rack-and-pinion set-up, also used to terrific effect in the Austin-Healey Sprite.
That latter change alleviated the terrible contortions forced upon the driver trying to operate the clutch in the earliest cars, as the steering column goes through at such an angle between clutch and brake pedals that space for your left foot is restricted to the extent that you’re better off driving barefoot. With the rackand-pinion system, the column was handily lifted out of the way, though slim driving shoes are still a must. Chapman, though a bit of a yo-
yo with his weight, was compact at 5ft 9in. He didn’t design cars for giants.
Yet we are talking about a giant-killing sports car, one with proprietary mechanicals and a measly 40, maybe 50bhp to shove it along. ‘Chunky’ Chapman’s obsession with weight (the car’s, not his own) was the key. At Earls Court in 1957, Lotus’s show car weighed in at a mere 329kg. A driver weighs a quarter of that.
More modifications followed during the 7’s 16 years in production as a Lotus. The Series 2 arrived in 1960, with a simplified chassis, better location for the rear axle, Triumph Herald suspension uprights at the front, and bigger, more powerful Ford engines with Cosworth tuning. So which to choose as an exemplar for the breed? Well, you want an early car for its purity, but even better to have one with sufficient power to exploit that delectable handling. It should be a Series 3, as that version, in effect, is what Caterham still builds.
First, though, feast your eyes on this delectable 1969 Twin Cam SS, one of only 13 built with the Elan’s Ford-based, Lotusdeveloped 1558cc twin-cam four-cylinder, in this case modified further by Holbay with
bigger valves and wilder cam profiles. It starred on Lotus’s motor show stand at Earls Court in 1969, and a couple of years later became the property of Graham Nearn, a Lotus dealer based in Surrey, just south of London. In a town called Caterham.
And that’s a huge clue as to what happened when Lotus, faced with the demise of purchase tax (which rendered kit cars little cheaper), decided to go exclusively upmarket with its Elite, Eclat and Esprit models, offloading the production rights to the 7. More of that later.
Time for a drive first. No doors, so you hop in over the side, swinging back the sidescreens first, feet on the seat (a simple vinyl-trimmed cushion, fixed in place) then drop, sliding your legs forward and under the wheel. Doublejointed knees would help, but, once ensconced, you’re snug, wedged between the outer spaceframe and the transmission tunnel, the tiny wheel vertical above your lap, toy-like gearknob a handspan to its left.
Turn the key, then grope for the starter button, under the dash on the bulkhead. That twin-cam erupts with a gruff bark, and burbles at idle. A twin-cam 7 was never envisioned,
Chapman having been of the belief that it wouldn’t fit until a 7 owner proved otherwise, but it feels entirely natural, at home in this roller-skate of a car, making it more of a thoroughbred: the automotive equivalent of a watch with an in-house movement.
It might have a swept volume of only 1558cc, but it feels so much bigger-lunged than that. The combination of decent power and tiny weight is always going to create that illusion, but there’s more to it than statistics. The noise, for a start, a deep grumble that builds to a bellow in direct proportion to the pressure exerted by your right foot. And there’s the electrifying throttle response, the kind that modern fuel injection just can’t replicate: twin Webers are where it’s at.
The four-speed gearbox has a brilliant shift (thanks, Ford); you snick from one ratio to the next with the tiniest, deftest flick of the wrist, grinning at the well-oiled-machine nature of it, no motion lost, just a satisfying sensation as the bolt clicks home. Then you’re straight back on the power to be treated to another kick in the back, matched by the snort and growl up ahead.
There’s 125bhp on tap, though you’d swear it’s more, and the raw acceleration figure of 0-60mph in 7.1 seconds sounds longer than it feels. Equally, the top speed of 110mph is irrelevant. Those billowing glassfibre front wings (the earliest 7s had alloy cycle wings) will have you airborne well before you hit Vmax. So, yes, it feels quick, but the 7 is obviously more about the handling. And this prime example of a Lotus is about as good as it gets. There’s a live axle bumping away under your behind but it’s actually more supple than you might expect, keeping you well in touch with the road surface yet rarely bouncing you off it. And it engenders supreme adjustability through corners: apply a bit more throttle, feel your angle of attack tighten, but back off and it won’t bite you like some cars will.
The 7 is sharp, agile, yet it is rarely edgy. And you can feel absolutely everything it’s doing, especially through that tiny wheel, via which hints from your wrists translate to instant reaction at the front wheels.
This special 7 is all the more amazing because
it spends so much time on display at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, Warwickshire, where it’s on loan from Graham Nearn’s son Simon. So it doesn’t get driven hard often. But when it does, boy, can it deliver. It’s a beautifully patinated device, no trailer queen, and the only evidence of any recent restorative work is in the seat cushions, whose white piping has yet to fade to cream and match that of the seatback.
That something so simple can deliver such massive (and honest) pleasure is the purest testament to the genius of Colin Chapman. I can remember, in my early teens, when Car magazine ranked a 7 in its Top 10 cars of 1986 (it was usually in there, year in, year out, along with a 911, a motley selection of Citroëns and the odd Jag), and the reason I recall it so vividly is that the car seemed such an anachronism even then – more than half its lifetime ago.
Only it wasn’t broke, so Caterham didn’t fix it. Instead, it has honed and improved the breed over the years, and there are many different versions to suit many different tastes, each brilliant in its own way.
‘The 7 is sharp, agile, yet it is rarely edgy. And you can feel absolutely everything it’s doing’
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars
TOYOTA MR2
Small, affordable mid-engined sports cars were a rarity prior to the MR2’s arrival in 1984. Fiat had hitherto produced the X1/9, only to lose interest. Toyota’s take on the theme was markedly more sophisticated, with a transversely mid-mounted 1.5- or 1.6-litre DOHC four-cylinder engine. The car’s suspension was honed by Lotus Engineering, ensuring fine handling. Its name was changed to MR in French-speaking markets because MR2 sounded like a rude word (merdeux). Two further generations followed before the end in 2017.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1984 Engine 1587cc four-cylinder, naturally aspirated Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Power 122bhp Torque 105lb ft
Top speed 122mph 0-60mph 8.7sec
STUDEBAKER AVANTI
The Avanti was widely admired for its individualistic styling. Penned by Tom Kellogg, Bob Andrews and John Ebstein and largely unadorned, the car was introduced in 1962 just as tailfins were starting to go out of fashion. Beneath the skin it borrowed its running gear from the Studebaker Lark. Sadly it was too little, too late, and the Avanti died in 1963; Studebaker followed in 1966. That wasn’t the end though. The car lived again after the design rights passed to a couple of Studebaker dealers, with Avanti becoming the marque name.
The Mercedes-Benz 600 was the most expensive production car in the world when launched at the International Motor Show, Frankfurt, in September 1963. It was a technical tour-de-force, the signature feature being its Komfort Hydraulik System, which afforded a serene ride quality. In period the Pope had one, as did John Lennon, while the German government continued to use 600s to ferry around visiting dignitaries for 50 years. This 6.3-litre super-saloon became a symbol of status-radiation, power and celebrity, and 2677 ‘regular’ cars were made to 1981. An additional 300 long-wheelbase Pullman versions were also built, along with 124 six-door editions. Of these, 182 Pullmans were sold in Africa, and that’s before you consider the ultra-exclusive Landaulet version. Infamous Ugandan leader Idi
Amin had several, acquiring two in 1976 alone. Jean-Bédel Bokassa ordered a fleet of 600s to celebrate his self-appointment as Emperor of the Central African Republic. President Mobutu of Zaire kept six at his summer house. Moving further afield, Mao Tse Tung owned 25 600s, while the penultimate Landaulet headed to Iraq in 1981. While Mercedes-Benz generally tailored cars internally, one was reworked by French coachbuilder Henri Chapron, complete with a partially glazed roof.
Alessandro (né Alejandro) de Tomaso began constructing racing cars under his own name in the early 1960s. These included single-seaters up to and including a Formula 1 car with a flat-eight engine. None met with success. From 1963 the Argentinian émigré began placing greater emphasis on road cars, starting with the pretty Vallelunga, which was one of the first ever mid-engined production cars (‘production’ being a relative term). This four-cylinder, Ford-engined machine was in turn followed by the V8-engined Mangusta, which foretold the Pantera. This strikingly attractive supercar was powered
ESSENTIAL
FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1970 Engine 5750cc V8, naturally aspirated Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Power 310bhp Torque 380lb ft Top speed 159mph 0-60mph 6.2sec
by a 5.7-litre Ford V8 and styled by Tom Tjaarda. The Pantera was officially launched at the 1970 New York Auto Show, and sold in the USA via selected Lincoln-Mercury dealers. However, relations between the various parties soon soured and Ford withdrew its support. Unbowed, de Tomaso continued to sell variations on the Pantera theme in Europe as late as 1993, each being wilder – and faster – than the last.
The final iteration, the 90 Si, was restyled by Marcello Gandini. One was fielded at Le Mans in 1994, 22 years after the Pantera first made an appearance in the 24-hour race.
SAAB 92
Saab’s first automobile was forward-thinking, if idiosyncratic. Power went to the front wheels from a twin-cylinder, two-stroke engine with a 764cc displacement. It produced a meagre 25bhp but the 92 weighed only 765kg. It was also remarkably aerodynamic, boasting a drag coefficient of just 0.30. Launched in 1949, the model was initially offered only in dark green, because a large batch of paint had been acquired by the Swedish army, only to be deemed unsuitable. Saab bought the lot at a discount rate and applied it accordingly. Subsequent models proved immensely successful in rallying with Erik Carlsson at the helm.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1949 Engine 764cc two-cylinder, naturally aspirated Transmission Three-speed manual, front-wheel drive Power 25bhp Torque 52lb ft Top speed 65mph 0-60mph 46sec
In the eyes of many, the Pontiac GTO was the first true muscle car. While most American manufacturers were building ever larger and more luxurious cars, Pontiac chose to drop a big-block V8 engine into the relatively compact body of the Tempest coupé. By doing so it broke GM’s own rules: in 1963 it had decreed that no new high-performance models could be made, because driving fast was considered socially unacceptable. Thankfully Pontiac’s chief engineer John Z DeLorean found a loophole: the GTO would simply be a Tempest option pack, which brought a 345bhp 6555cc (400ci) V8 engine along with quicker steering, firmer suspension, twin exhausts and wider tyres, and all for a $300 premium over the regular Tempest.
Pontiac shamelessly stole the GTO’s name from Ferrari, two years after its 250 GTO first started to achieve great things in competition. Such antics led to anger on the part of Road & Track, which wrote: ‘Let it be understood we disapprove of name stealing… There is an unforgivable dishonesty in such a practice… and [with the GTO] the insult should be sufficient to prevent any intelligent person from regarding it with anything but derision.’ Car & Driver was more relaxed about the whole thing, but what mattered was that both high-profile magazines were deeply impressed by the GTO’s many talents. Road & Track reckoned those included being ‘quiet, smooth, docile, relatively inexpensive, and definitely a touring car, not a racing car’.
Pontiac’s Gran Turismo Omologato proved a hit, and for 1965 there were stacked headlights and a large scoop to feed air to the three carburettors. By 1966 GM had rescinded its moratorium on fast cars, because Ford and Chrysler were having a field day selling them as fast as they could make them, and it made no sense to hand all of that ready business to the competition. DeLorean celebrated by making the GTO a model in its own right, giving it a facelift in the process. GM still banned multiple carburettors though, so Pontiac opted for a single-carb 7457cc (455ci) V8 rated at 370bhp. More updates came each year, but the final GTO was made in 1971, by which point almost half a million examples had been made, in both coupé and convertible forms.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1964
Engine 6375cc V8, naturally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 348bhp Torque 428lb ft
Top speed 115-135mph 0-60mph 5.7-6.6sec
(both depending on the rear axle ratio)
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars
CITROËN
SM
A Citroën halo product had been on the cards as far back as 1962, but matters moved on apace following the acquisition of Maserati in 1968. Initial plans called for assorted SM variants including one with a four-cylinder engine, but this was nixed by Citroën president Pierre Bercot.
Maserati’s resident genius Giulio Alfieri was tasked with concocting a V6 for the proposed Franco-Italian flagship, although he cut corners by deriving this brave new world from a stillborn 3.0-litre V8 designed some years earlier. It therefore sported a 90 º vee-angle, and was capable of being built on Maserati’s existing V8 tooling. Not only that, Alfieri was instructed to ensure the engine weighed no more than 140kg. After lopping off one cylinder from each bank and adjusting bore and stroke, resultant capacity was initially 2760cc and later 2965cc. The V6 was shared with Maserati’s Merak.
The car’s monocoque incorporated two massive longerons that swept forward to accept the power unit and front suspension, the engine being sited well back, behind the gearbox. This being a Citroën, the SM was crammed full of tubes and pipework. In addition to hydraulics for steering, suspension and brakes, the inner pair of headlights swivelled as you turned the wheel. 12,920 were made up to 1975. While not a commercial success, the SM hasn’t lost the power to enthral.
TVR displayed two prototypes at the 1990 British Motor Show: the wedge-shaped Speed Eight and the Griffith, the latter of which took its name from a range-topping model from the 1960s. The former was soon consigned to history as all eyes were on the Griffith; TVR claimed that it received 350 orders for this during the event. Shaped in the main by John Ravenscroft, it was a masterwork of simplicity. The stylised gap between the front wing and the doors was a particularly neat and practical piece of design. Getting shutlines to match was always a problem, so this issue was eliminated at a stroke.
Beneath the skin the Griffith employed a multitubular steel backbone chassis derived from the one that underpinned the race-only Tuscan, while power came from 4.0- and 4.3-litre Rover V8-based units. Production got underway in 1992, with the option of the BV (Big Valve) package, should 280bhp in 4.3-litre form be deemed insufficient. A 4.9-litre Griffith 500 edition was unleashed a year later. The same basic outline remained largely unaltered to the end in June 2002, save for the occasional detail revision. According to factory records, a total of 2451 Griffiths were made over the nine-year production run.
MAZDA RX-7
No other company promoted the rotary engine with such zeal as Mazda. It employed them to propel everything from luxury saloons to buses via Le Mans winners. It also famously powered the RX-7. With the third-series iteration, aka the FD-3S, Mazda created a world-class sports car that was widely lauded in period for its striking looks and performance. Created under the direction of Takao Kijima, this new strain retained the same 1.3-litre 13B twin-rotor engine as the previous-generation model. However, here it was equipped with a pair of Hitachi turbochargers.
Near-fanatical emphasis was placed on weightsaving. The result was a 1310kg junior supercar capable of sprinting to 60mph from a standstill in 5.3 seconds and on to a top speed of 156mph. Mazda’s stylists Tom Matano and Wu-Huang Chin, working under design chief Yoichi Sato, created an outline that looked unlike anything else, with curves coalescing into curves. It was announced in 1992, and around 66,500 cars were made to the end in 2002. Only 210 were officially sold in the UK due in part to its lofty price tag, with exports to Europe having been suspended by the mid-1990s.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1992 Engine 1308cc rotary, twin-turbocharged Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Power 240bhp Torque 218lb ft Top speed 152mph 0-60mph 5.3sec
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1968 Engine 6974cc V8, naturally aspirated Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Power 425bhp Torque 490lb ft Top speed 152mph 0-60mph 4.9sec
The eighth-generation Skyline of 1989 entered into everything from British ProdSaloons racing to the Bathurst 1000 in Australia. This four-wheel-drive GT
‘RB26DETT’ straight-six unit that in race trim could produce up to 1000bhp. One of the rarest versions was the NISMO-developed R32 built to homologate the car for the Group A category of racing. 560 were engines, the top-of-the-range R/T (Road/Track) had production run, detail revisions including a change homologation special, with the grille moved forward,
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1989 Engine 2568cc straight-six, twin-turbocharged Transmission Five-speed manual, four-wheel drive Power 240bhp Torque 260lb ft Top speed 156mph 0-60mph 5.6sec
OBVIOUSLY, IT’S NOT
Passers-by may think it’s a relic of the red-braces era. But boxy proportions hide a racebred
Words John Simister Photography
ABOUT THE LOOKS
soul the like of which can’t be bought new today. This is the legend of BMW’s E30 M3
Photography Alex Howe
There was a time when I thought the original BMW M3 to be the best high-performance car in the world. Not the fastest, the grippiest, the most glamorous or the most challenging, nor the most sonically pleasing or dramatic-looking. Just, simply, the best. As a package of usability and bringer-on of intense desire, the E30 M3 was the one.
March 1987 was when this Damascene moment took place, at Estoril in Portugal. It was not long after the M3’s international launch at Mugello, in August 1986 – almost a year after the M3 had been revealed to the public at the 1985 Frankfurt show. From a report in Motor magazine of this launch by my then-colleague David Vivian I shall now extract a fragment. DV is being driven by ace BMW racer Dieter Quester, and an enjoyably longdrawn-out drift has just been enacted.
Here’s what David wrote. ‘The feel is different,’ said BMW’s articulate racer. ‘More safe.’ More safe for Quester was turning in early
and pressing the lightweight trainer on his right foot so hard it left the imprint of its sole there… in a regular 325i we would have been pointing in the opposite direction long before the end of the bend. Probably upside-down.’
This was remarkable. People today might have forgotten just how remarkable. The regular E30 generation of the BMW 3-series, made from 1982 to 1991, was a good car in many ways but had a deserved reputation for sudden-death oversteer if a powerful version was driven with excess machismo. Its E21 predecessor was even more wayward. Some pundits blamed the camber changes of the semi-trailing-arm rear suspension, but strong initial understeer and slightly slow-witted steering made matters worse after their large-holed safety net had lost its hold. Back off to quell that understeer or, more bravely, add traction-threatening power, and suddenly you were over the knife-edge and fighting to tame the tail.
Not in the M3, though. Here we found quick, consistently meaty steering, a properly
planted front end, a deliciously long phase of handling neutrality as front and rear axles shared the pre-oversteer cornering loads, and ultimately a perfectly predictable, benign build-up into the sort of oversteer anyone could control with confidence. A friendlier car you could not hope to meet.
How could this be? How could the M3 feel so dramatically different from other E30s while still having the same rear suspension?
Development over design, or did Porsche own that particular escape route? Perhaps just designing the M3 properly in the first place, and crediting drivers with skill and instinct that BMW couldn’t afford to take for granted among those driving lesser E30s, even though they turned out to be harder to control in a crisis.
The quickest, hardcorest, raciest E30 turns out to be dynamically the safest and easiest to handle. Why couldn’t all E30s be that way?
That they weren’t just added to the aura of miraculousness that surrounded this M3. Yet there was nothing ‘trick’ about the
Suspension Front: MacPherson struts, lower wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bar. Rear: semi-trailing arms, coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar
Brakes Vented discs
Weight 1200kg
Top speed 143mph 0-62mph 6.7sec
transformation. Before I go into the details, come back with me to that day at Estoril. It was a test day organised by tyre company Continental to try out the then-new Sport Contacts, and the M3 was by a big margin the best car of a group that included Porsche 944, Toyota MR2, Audi 80 Quattro and a Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16. There was no Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, but that would have been similarly annihilated for the lack of finesse in its turbocharged power delivery. It was a shame in a way, because to have gathered together the Sierra, the 190E and the M3 would have given us the three most-talked-about homologation specials of the time, three arch rivals designed to bring honour and fame to their makers in the world’s Group A saloon-car races. Of the three, the BMW did the job the best and the most often on the racetracks, and it even had a brief but successful foray into rallying, although that was more the Ford’s domain.
As a road car, the M3 had the highest state of innate tune because it produced its 200bhp without a turbocharger. The Sierra managed 201bhp from a smaller capacity (2.0 instead of 2.3 litres) but needed a turbo to do it, while the Benz’s 2.3 litres generated just 185bhp. Yet that didn’t make the M3’s engine a highly strung piece of peaky truculence, even if power did pour forth with unabating vigour right up to the 7000rpm limit.
On the sweeps and straights of Estoril the M3 was magical. I did many laps and wanted it never to stop. I was still new to motoring journalism and this day remains one of the most intense bursts of skill improvement I have ever experienced, because the M3 just let me explore everything a car can do.
Brake late and pitch the car into the corner? Brake earlier, be smoother? Floor the throttle at the apex? Get on the power more gently and exit more tidily? The M3 lets you do what you
want, and doesn’t admonish you if you make a hash of it. Confidence in your car, and your ability to control it, is vital if you’re to go properly fast. Seldom does a car flatter its driver more than this one. And not a single electronic aid in sight as the engine howls its crisp-edged, fizzing, mechanical howl that’s so far removed from a straight-six’s silkiness, promising 0-62mph in 6.7sec and 147mph all-out.
A car brilliant on a track often is much less so on the road, but the M3 excels at both. It rides properly, with a suppleness seldom found in today’s fast cars, and its power steering has a subtlety of feel and progression too easily blustered past on a track where grip, balance and predictability are the main requirements. On the road, this steering helps you feel exactly what is happening and lets you alter it instantly and precisely, which is missing from lesser E30s. That’s where the confidence comes from. And even as M3s evolved, that trait never changed.
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The M3’s dash will be instantly familiar to anyone who has owned or driven a regular E30. The big difference is the fitment of chunky Recaro seats.
There have been three Evolutions: the Ravaglia, Cecotto and Europameister, as well as two power levels of the standard saloons. There were also convertibles, 787 of them (one a Sport Evolution) out of the M3’s total production of 16,202 cars. The hottest road engine was the Sport Evolution’s 2.5-litre unit with 238bhp at 7000rpm, achieved by both boring and stroking. Otherwise it was 2.3 litres with 200bhp at the start (or 195bhp with a catalyst and the reduced compression ratio that went with it), rising to 220bhp for the Evo II or 215bhp if catalysed, all at 6750rpm.
Of the outer skin panels, only the doors, bonnet and roof are carried over from the regular E30, and the last of these looks different thanks to its extra, separate cowling over the rear window aperture. This gives the window a racier rake and flows into a higher bootlid made from composite plastic, helping towards a better aerodynamic drag coefficient (0.33) than the boxy shape suggests. Both front and rear screens are bonded in for greater rigidity.
Front and rear wings are bulged out to cover the (relatively) wide wheels, and rather wider ones used for racing, and they lack the usual edge lips. Front and rear valances, sill covers and a large rear wing spoiler give the basis for the race cars’ aerodynamic packages, yet the effect is far from lurid or aggressive, not least because the E30’s small, square-cut, demure demeanour remains largely intact. Most people would think an M3 to be simply a regular 3-series with a boot spoiler.
Inside it’s similarly normal bar some racier fabrics, the Recaro front seats and an illuminated gearlever knob showing first gear’s gate position as a left-and-back dogleg. Underneath, though, things are very different, particularly at the front. Here, there’s three times as much caster as in a standard E30,
‘ON THE SWEEPS AND STRAIGHTS OF ESTORIL THE M3 WAS MAGICAL. I DID MANY LAPS AND WANTED IT NEVER TO STOP’
achieved with different hubs and strut bodies that also incorporate 5-series wheel bearings. The anti-roll bar’s drop links are attached directly to the struts instead of to the wishbone below, greatly improving the immediacy of steering response and effectively doubling the roll stiffness relative to a standard E30.
Stiffer springs with gas-filled dampers are used all-round, while the BBS cross-spoke wheels (very 1980s) wore 205/55 VR15 tyres originally, 225/45 ZR16 on later M3s such as our Ravaglia – whose rims are an impressive 7.5in wide. And then there’s the engine, the other big part of the M3’s drive-me nature, whose four-cylinder architecture gives a youngat-heart, tell-it-like-it-is eagerness somehow more instant and uncomplicated than the character of a sophisticated six-pot. The E30 was the only M3 so endowed; later ones became sixes, then a madly-revving V8, with
a twin-turbo six taking the line into the later 3-series generations.
The engine’s core is the final development of the M10 cast-iron block, first used in 1962’s BMW 1500 and strong enough to cope with a qualifying-spec 1400bhp in a turbocharged Formula 1 Brabham-BMW. Closing off the four cylinders is a head that, in prototype form, really was an M1/M5 casting with the rear third sawn off. The production cylinder head was a unique casting, of course, but the combustion-chamber design with its four valves was the same, as was the disposition of the twin overhead camshafts above it. Bosch ML Motronic management supplies fuel and sparks.
THAT, BROADLY, is the M3. It cost £22,750 new in 1987; you can expect to pay three or four times that for a good early example now. The problem comes with finding one, especially unmodified. ‘Among the standard cars I’ve seen only one good one in three years,’ says Dan Norris, owner/director of long-time fast BMW specialist Munich Legends. ‘Typically they’ve done maybe 170,000km and have been through hell and back, changing hands, often having unknown foreign histories and becoming trackday weapons. Now people are trying to tart them up. If I had a pound for every time someone comes to me with a car and says it’s in pretty good condition… usually it needs thousands worth of work straight away.
‘The Sport Evo is a different matter. Just 600 were made and it sits at the top now; people pay a huge premium for a low-mileage one as this is the car that brings the most memories. Maybe 400 are still left in a pure state.’
That’s the 2.5-litre car with 238bhp and bigger arches. ‘But,’ says Munich Legends’ technical expert Stuart Draper, ‘I have driven Sport Evos that feel no better than a standard
200bhp non-cat car. A 195bhp catalysed car to a Sport Evo is a big difference, though. Those early non-cat cars can feel far better than expected.’ On such M3s was my early M3 lust based. How will it hold up today, when I drive our featured Ravaglia?
First, though, some words of advice if you’re tempted to go M3-hunting. ‘They’re all old now,’ says Stuart, ‘and most have lived outside. You can get access to see if the sills have rusted, despite the covers, but the scuttle panel is the biggest problem. The repair includes removing and refitting the bonded windscreen, although the panel itself, which has to be ordered with the chassis number stamped into it, is not expensive. Check for a damp and rusty floor, too; water can come in through bulkhead grommets, or it can run down the outside of blocked sunroof drain tubes or along the loom into the car.’
The mechanical parts are robust, although oil leaks and perishing bushes inevitably accompany high miles. The Getrag gearbox is very strong. So is the engine, but the timing chain really has to be replaced at 100,000 miles and people don’t like paying the hefty bill. It’s not just chain wear: the sprockets, the valve guides, the tensioner all wear and, as it’s a head-off job, you might as well do the lot.
‘Clattering at start-up is the key indicator,’ says Stuart. ‘The hydraulic tensioner gives no tension until the oil pressure builds, so a worn chain can make itself heard. We can fit a later tensioner, which doesn’t bleed off the pressure, but while it hides the start-up noise it doesn’t mean there’s no wear.’
IN THE RAVAGLIA’S diagonally striped driver’s seat, I feel familiarity flooding back. There’s that angular binnacle with its simple, red-needled instruments bathed at night in a red glow, and a centre console angled hard towards the driver as BMW consoles were back in those Ultimate Driving Machine days. In the console’s lower left corner is a bank of three heater sliders and a rotary temperature knob, a brilliant system giving a versatility of temperature and air distribution denied to drivers of modern cars. Ahead is a nonadjustable steering wheel surprisingly far from the vertical, whose column appears to aim towards the M3’s centre line.
This is a catalysed car, from a time when cats took the edge off pace, and I have to say it doesn’t feel as quick as I remembered. That it’s mechanically an Evo II-plus-cat, and so has a longer final drive ratio (3.15 to one) than the earlier cars (3.25 to one), might partly explain
this, but the throttle feels initially soft instead of linearly crisp the whole way through. At 4750rpm, though, the engine’s character changes; the note hardens into the fizz typical of tuned 16-valvers of the time, and we’re still pulling hard as the rev limiter intervenes. That’s better. It just needs exercise.
The other attributes are as they were: the easy gearchange once you’ve remembered the layout, the remarkable ride, the feeling of tactile one-ness with the steering, the handling, the friendliness. That ability to trust the M3 come what may, to feel it join in your pleasure even on an icy road (as in the day of my reacquaintance): it’s all just as it was and unmatched by anything BMW makes today.
You could de-cat this car quite legally; there’s even an adjuster on the Motronic system to recalibrate it once done. I would if it were mine, just to let the engine do what it can do so well. Meanwhile, if you crave an M3 –as I could easily do – but a Sport Evolution seems like fiscal overkill, you had better start hunting now. As Dan Norris said, good ones have become very rare. And you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
THANKS TO BMW GB and to Munich Legends, munichlegends.co.uk.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1984
Engine 2855cc V8, twin-turbocharged
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 395bhp Torque 366lb ft
Top speed 189mph 0-60mph 4.9sec
FERRARI 288 GTO
The 1980s witnessed the arrival of the homologation special supercar, the 288 GTO – like the 250 GTO before it –having been built with motorsport in mind. However, unlike its fêted ancestor, this competition tool never ventured trackside in anger. The GTO was conceived with the purpose of contending for honours in the Group B category of the World Endurance Championship, whereby 200 replicas needed to be sold (Ferrari exceeded expectations by producing 272) before 20 ‘evolutionary’ models could compete. However, while Group B rallying flourished – if only briefly – the circuit-rooted side foundered due largely to manufacturer indifference.
‘The GTO was conceived with the purpose of contending for honours in the Group B category of the World Endurance Championship’
Styled under the direction of Pininfarina’s Leonardo Fioravanti, the GTO shared only its steel doors and windscreen with the superficially similar 308 GTB. A longer wheelbase, extra ducts and louvres substantially altered the proportions, the GTO representing Ferrari’s belated acceptance of composite materials for body and chassis construction.
The tubular steel structure – borrowed if only in part from the 308 GTB – was significantly strengthened by a rear bulkhead made of two layers of Kevlar/glassfibre composite sandwiching an aluminium honeycomb core.
The GTO also marked Ferrari’s earliest attempt at applying forced induction to a
production car, save for the home market-only 2.0-litre 208 GTB, produced to keep taxation levels vaguely sensible for buyers. In the 288 GTO a brace of IHI turbochargers was fitted to the existing 32-valve V8, borrowed from the 308 GTB QV and destroked; power went from 240 to 395bhp.
Such were the internal changes, the GTO’s engine was closer in spirit to the ‘286C’ spec unit found in Lancia’s Group C sports prototypes. It was mounted in-line rather than transversely, with the five-speed transaxle slung F1-style behind it. When multiplied by the FIA’s 1.4-litre ‘turbo equivalency’ formula, for racing purposes this all-alloy unit mustered a notional 3997cc – or 4.0 litres – from 2855cc.
POWER to the PEOPLE
One of the all-time legends of the rally stage also makes for an extremely accessible road car
Words Matthew Hayward Photography Jayson Fong
Throughout the late 1980s, 200bhp was the sign of a serious highperformance car. The final roadgoing evolutions of Group A motorsport-derived legends such as the Lancia Delta HF Integrale, Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and BMW’s E30 M3 all peaked just above that magic figure. As the 1980s evolved into the 1990s, more mainstream cars were regularly topping 200bhp, and the goalposts for what constituted a genuinely fast car shifted towards the 250bhp mark.
While this barrier had been surpassed by more exotic machinery, a new breed of affordable, giant-slaying Japanese rally weapons was on the horizon. Not only were they unspeakably quick, they were easy to drive and genuinely affordable. Subaru’s Impreza officially came to the UK in 1994, and changed the face of performance cars forever. This compact saloon did everything an Integrale could – both on and off a rally stage – while offering Japanese reliability and build quality. More importantly, it did it at a price that the Europeans couldn’t match.
Although the Impreza Turbo’s power output started out at 205bhp when it arrived on these shores, the Japanese market had already been enjoying a more potent 240bhp WRX STi model since 1992, and it had a lot more to give. The combination of a long waiting list for UK-market Impreza Turbos – especially as McRae fever swept through the country – plus the desire for some of the hotter Japanese versions led quickly to an influx of grey imports. It was big business at the time, with countless importers selling sufficient numbers of new and nearly new cars direct from Japan to unsettle the official Subaru importer, International Motors. So much so, in fact, that IM sanctioned its own ‘official’ higherperformance editions – including the RB5 and P1 – to combat the issue.
I could spend all day explaining the Impreza’s many different incarnations, but what we have here is a (deep breath) WRX STi Type RA Version 6 Limited, which was a model sold exclusively in Japan, and is in effect the final and most evolved version produced by Subaru. The Type RA was developed initially as a lightweight, stripped-out model to be bought and used for motorsport, although by the time the Version 6 was sold, Subaru had cottoned on that it was being bought by many for road use. This one belongs to photographer Jayson Fong, who loves them so much he bought a pair of RAs (one early, one late) in 2021. He had learned to drive in Imprezas when he lived in Australia.
Imprezas were genuinely street furniture when I was growing up in
the Northern Hemisphere, too, yet spying this gorgeous example arrive at our meeting point in the Sussex hills is a stark reminder of just how few you see on the roads these days. Especially cars as tidy and original as this one.
The Version 6, the last of the GC Imprezas, features adjustable DCCD (Driver’s Control Centre Differential), which gives the option of a 70:30 front:rear torque split or a 50:50 locked mode. Other delights fitted to this car include a quick steering rack, close-ratio five-speed gearbox, lightweight 16in alloys, blue seats… The list goes on, but the most important bit of kit that makes the RA unique (and identifiable) is the WRC-style roof scoop. The 276bhp engine and stiffened suspension were all standard STi items, but the RA was also lightened via the deletion of unnecessary sound deadening, and there’s no ABS, although these later examples came with air-conditioning.
I’m buzzing with excitement to experience the Impreza. People often criticised its interior in-period for being dull, and, while it’s hardly the most inspiring place to sit, the instant that flat-four fires into life I honestly couldn’t care less. Jayson gestures that I should open the roof flap for the photos, which makes us all giggle as it pops up.
Out on the road, the RA immediately feels settled. I was expecting the suspension to feel a little on the firm side, but it’s just about perfect for this environment. Although the redline is apparently close to 8000rpm, there’s really no need to rev out so far. It delivers a gut-punch of torque from about 2500rpm, and continues to hit hard right through the midrange up to about 6000 revs. Thanks to the close-ratio gearbox, it’s rather effective at building speed, and the notorious Subaru burble makes the experience all the more entertaining.
The roads are cold and damp, but the Impreza just digs in and grips. There’s definitely a little more playfulness to the chassis than the Impreza P1 can muster, but the overriding feeling of security is the same. There’s so much mechanical grip – helped in this case by a set of fresh Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres – that it encourages you to push harder through each corner. There’s plenty of feel to the weighty steering, and the incredibly short and tight gearshift makes accelerating
‘It delivers a gut punch of torque from about 2500rpm, and continues to hit hard right up to about 6000 revs’
Clockwise, from right
A humble saloon that delivered on big aspirations; Subaru’s turbo flat-four is a characterful powerhouse; WRC-style vent flap is effective; blue trim is specific to Impreza Type RA Version 6.
The
2000 Subaru Impreza WRX Type RA STi Version 6 Limited
Engine 1994cc flat-four, DOHC, 16-valve, turbocharged, electronic fuel injection Power 276bhp @ 6500rpm Torque 249lb ft @ 4000rpm Transmission Five-speed manual, four-wheel drive, adjustable centre differential, front helical diff, rear mechanical LSD Steering Rack and pinion, power-assisted Suspension Front and rear: MacPherson struts, coil springs, anti-roll bar Brakes Vented discs
Weight 1260kg Top speed 140mph (est: originally limited to 112mph) 0-60mph 5.2sec
Left and below
Cabin is pretty low-rent, but it works well in terms of ergonomics and comfort; remove the rear wing, and the Impreza is remarkably discreet for something so incredibly capable.
through the ratios feel almost seamless. Its drivetrain feels rugged, but at 1260kg the Impreza is impressively lightweight for something with four-wheel drive, four doors and four seats.
The longer I drive the Subaru, the more it all comes together. It’s devastatingly effective as a driver’s car and hugely rewarding, too. The Impreza made a huge mark when it was current, and it’s one that is still felt today, long after Subaru stopped rallying. This was confirmed by Jayson, who explained that when he took this car on a trip to Edinburgh, he was swamped by love from the locals who still have fond memories of the McRae era.
There’s no denying that the Impreza still feels quick, but there’s so much more to the driving experience than pure speed. There’s a real mechanical purity to the Impreza – it feels old-school, but in the most brilliant way possible.
While many might have predicted that the Impreza would become more valuable as time went on, this is a car that forged its legacy when it was a genuine working-class hero. The good news is that, if you avoid the most collectable versions (which this one most definitely is), there are still some affordable, fun and unrepeatable experiences to be had for relatively little money. A budget of £15-20k gets you into a reasonably tidy WRX, but if your pockets aren’t that deep you could always opt for one of the later bug-eye models, which currently aren’t as collectable –maybe they never will be, but you get a hell of a lot of ability for your money. Otherwise, swot up on your JDM knowledge, search out the finest ’90s Impreza that you can afford, and you too could own one of the best 250bhp heroes that money can buy.
‘The Impreza made a huge mark when it was current, and it’s one that is still felt today’
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars
PORSCHE 928
The 928 marked a radical departure for Porsche. It was conceived as a replacement for the 911 which, by the early to mid-1970s, was in danger of being sidelined by increasingly stringent emissions and safety regulations. The 928 was all new, with a front-sited 4.5-litre V8 and a choice of manual or automatic transmissions. Launched at the 1977 Geneva motor show, it went on sale 12 months later. The 928 was widely lauded by the motoring media, and garlanded with the European Car of the Year award. It was continuously updated during its 18-year run, with 61,056 being made to 1995.
Lotus’s first attempt at a production sports car, the Elite, almost bankrupted this fledgling outfit. The Elan did away with the Elite’s glassfibre monocoque construction; in its place was an easy (and cheap) to fabricate steel chassis with a separate body. Launched in 1962 with a 1499cc twin-cam engine, the capacity was soon raised to 1598cc. The 126bhp Elan Sprint came in 1971; production ended in 1973.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1962 Engine 1558cc four-cylinder, naturally aspirated Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Power 105bhp Torque 108lb ft
Top speed 115mph 0-60mph 8.7sec
The Veyron was a money-no-object supercar that never threatened to return a profit. It was conjured up by Volkswagen Group’s notoriously selfdirected principal, Ferdinand Piëch. The firm acquired the rights to the name for a rumoured £20m and spent considerably more attempting to realise a near-impossible brief: to build a road-going 250mph supercar that produced a minimum of 1000bhp. Various proposals were put forward, static concept cars were unveiled, and an 18-cylinder engine was created in 1999. However, a further two years passed before the Veyron specification was finally decided upon. Even then, the first prototype wasn’t completed until 2003.
Power then came from an 8.0-litre, 16-cylinder engine that was, in essence, two 4.0-litre narrow-angle V8s on a common crankshaft. It was equipped with four turbochargers and coupled to a Ricardo-developed dual-clutch, seven-speed transmission. Following further delays, the four-wheel-drive Veyron EB 16.4 was officially revealed in 2005, with a claimed power output of 1001PS (987bhp). That April,it recorded a top speed of 253.81mph at the Ehra-Lessien test track. Other variants followed, including the heavily re-engineered Super Sport, which packed 1187bhp and had a top speed of 267.8mph. A total of 407 Veyrons were made up to 2013.
FORD SIERRA RS COSWORTH
BENTLEY R-TYPE CONTINENTAL
One of the most graceful cars ever to turn a wheel, the R-Type Continental was developed by Bentley’s parent company Rolls-Royce Ltd, and coachbuilder HJ Mulliner & Co. It was designed by Ivan Evernden and styled by Stanley Watts with input from Milford Read. The Continental used the 4.6-litre straight-six from the R-Type saloon when introduced in 1952 (albeit with upgraded carburettors and exhaust manifolds), but it was usurped by a 4.9-litre unit in 1954. The Continental was the fastest four-seat production car in the world at the time of its launch, being capable of 120mph outright.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES Introduced 1986 Engine 1993cc four-cylinder, turbocharged Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Power 204bhp Torque 206lb ft Top speed 149mph 0-60mph 6.2sec
Ford enjoyed great success in Touring Car racing until the early 1980s, after which it was largely relegated to the smaller-engined classes. It needed a new frontline weapon in its armoury, hence the creation of the Sierra RS Cosworth, which was first seen in concept form at the Geneva motor show in March 1985. Power here came from the 2.0-litre ‘Pinto’ four-cylinder engine, which gained a 16-valve cylinder head courtesy of Cosworth, along with a turbocharger and fuel injection. Homologation requirements called for 5000 cars to be made, after which ‘evolutionary’ editions could be built for racing.
Officially launched in July of that year, 5545 were manufactured in total, of which 500 were dispatched to outside consultant Tickford to be turned into the RS500. It built them in just six weeks. Announced in July 1987 and homologated a month later, this latest variant featured a ‘YBD’ engine, which was based around a stiffer cylinder block and came equipped with a massive Garrett T04 turbo. From a road car perspective the differences weren’t that marked – a 20bhp hike to 224bhp – but race-tuned engines could exceed 500bhp. All cars were right-hand-drive and for the UK market only.
In the spotlight again
This Austin-Healey 100 BN2 made its debut at Earls Court 70 years ago. After its meticulous restoration, in 2017 Octane charted its history
Words Andrew English Photography Paul Harmer
You’d have wanted to carry an umbrella to the first day of the 40th London Motor show on 19 October 1955. The exceptionally hot summer that followed the big freeze of 1954/1955 broke on that very day.
Temperatures plummeted and more than 27mm of rain fell on London, so Earls Court visitors would have been in danger of a bath as they walked along, humming snatches of that year’s hot release, Rock Around The Clock from Bill Haley and His Comets.
More than half-a-million visitors came to the ten-daylong motor show, keen to see the all-new Jaguar 2.4-litre saloon, as well as the UK debuts of the MGA, Triumph TR3 and Citroën DS19, the last of which had already set benchmarks at the Paris Salon earlier that month, when it
took a record 743 orders in the first 15 minutes of the show’s opening and 12,000 in the first day…
‘Cars for the family man; for the sportsman; for the millionaire and for the lady driver; indeed cars to suit every walk of life,’ boasted the Earls Court programme.
Over at the Austin-Healey stand, the news was the introduction of the mark-two version of the two-year-old Austin-Healey 100, which came with a visual kick that Donald Healey, ever the showman, exploited to the full. Along with slightly bigger front wheelarches, a four-speed gearbox to replace the BN1’s three-speeder (actually four ratios but with the lowest slot in the gate blanked off), and a stronger hypoid rear axle, the ’Healey 100, for the first time, became available with the option of two-tone paint. That classic ’Healey curving swageline, penned with such deft skill by Gerry
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars Austin-Healey 100 & 3000
Above and opposite
As stunningly bright inside as it is outside, the Earls Court ’Healey was trimmed to match its effervescent Florida Green paintwork.
Coker and much copied since, could be used as a visual paint division, and the two-tone Big Healey was born.
Two cars were produced in what was called Florida Green over Old English White (not surprisingly, North America was a huge market for the Big Healey). These pistachio-green, two-tone 100 models not only had track-stopping exteriors, but, with the leather and trim colour matched to the Florida Green coachwork, they were a visual feast in the cabin as well.
The first car, registered TAC 620, was the Earls Court demonstrator, a tuned 100M kept in the car park to impress customers, who (so it’s rumoured) weren’t told of that car’s enhanced specification. The second car, the one you see here, registered TAC 787, was the Earls Court stand car, appearing alongside the debuting pink-and-black 100M. Both TAC cars were the first ’Healeys to be painted in this Florida Green shade and the colour-matched trim was also a first, although not available in production models, which were trimmed in black.
A number of details were re-discovered during its immaculate restoration by Stephen Norton and his team of engineers and craftspeople at Cape International, the ’Healey parts and restoration specialist. The company had previously restored Austin-Healey’s 1953 Turin show car and some details were common to both, including the pencilled ‘Show’ on the back of cockpit trim parts and the chrome-plated wiring loom clips in the engine bay.
The car was a star lot at the Bonhams auction at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in June 2017, when it sold for £113,500 including buyer’s premium. That’s quite some stretch from the £1060 it would have cost in 1955, even if the Bank of England inflation calculator indicates that value would translate as £24,156. Bonhams auctioned the sister
car, TAC 620, in 2013 at its December sale, with the hammer coming down at £161,660 including premium. Jamie Knight, Bonhams’ managing director, is something of an Austin-Healey fan and owns an original 100 BN1 in what he calls ‘mid-life crisis trim with a leather bonnet strap’.
He was the auctioneer on the day for TAC 787 and was looking forward to it. ‘I’ve certainly got a soft spot for ’Healeys,’ he says, and, while he admits that the Florida coachwork is fairly lurid, it was the key to getting attention at the show. ‘Donald Healey was a master at getting a hell of a lot of bangs for his bucks in those days,’ he comments.
What a beautiful thing that Earls Court ’Healey must have seemed when it was unveiled; it certainly had significance well beyond its sun-kissed paintwork. The UK was only five years out of fuel rationing and meat rationing had ceased only in 1954; Anthony Eden had replaced Sir Winston Churchill as leader of the Conservatives and had won the May General Election, Newcastle won that year’s FA Cup for the sixth time, The Dam Busters movie was released, Stirling Moss won the British Grand Prix at Aintree, and that long hot summer had turned everyone’s thoughts to a better post-war life – less grey and a lot more fun.
It also had significance as far as Austin-Healey’s moneyed backer, Austin, was concerned. The famous verbal deals between its chairman Sir Leonard Lord and Donald Healey were already the stuff of legend. ‘One problem with this was that no-one kept notes of the meetings… Everything was done on the basis of trust and understanding,’ wrote Geoffrey Healey, Donald’s son, in his book The Healey Story.
It was on the basis of such a verbal deal that Austin provided engines for the first Austin-Healey 100, from its A90 Atlantic, a heavily US-influenced convertible launched
in 1949. This bumbling cabrio hadn’t pulled up many trees sales-wise and had been heavily overshadowed by Jaguar’s sleek XK120, launched the year before. These were still the years of ‘Export or Die,’ as Britain attempted to manufacture and sell itself out of wartime debt.
Leonard Lord saw sports cars as a way of gaining valuable export currency from America, as well as leveraging his company’s manufacturing expertise and capacity. And those export markets were strong – out of 4604 AustinHealey BN2s built, only 165 were UK right-hand-drive cars. Things were going so well that Lord initially refused permission for his own MG marque to replace its MG TD model, but falling sales in the US forced a change of heart, hence the introduction of the MGA at the 1955 Frankfurt show and its UK debut at Earls Court at the same time as the introduction of the Austin-Healey BN2 100.
It’s arguable that decisions like this and the internal tensions they created helped destroy the partnership between Austin and Healey in 1967, when the last Big Healey left the production line. US emissions and safety legislation almost killed off the sports car anyway, but Lord’s legacy of sprawling and disjointed model ranges and marques, at what became the British Motor Corporation, was a teetering edifice that proved impossible to maintain.
Not that any of that bothered Lieutenant Colonel Hyde of Woking, who visited the show, saw TAC 787 and pulled out his wallet, taking delivery of this very show car that November. Colonel Hyde had a fair old stable. He also owned, or went on to own, another ’55 Earls Court debut, a Jaguar 2.4, as well as a Mini, a Vespa and a Vincent HRG.
Hyde kept the car for eight years, putting some 45,000 miles on the odometer and having it regularly serviced. Then it was purchased by Alan Wayland, who we’ll return to. Just £395 sealed the deal for this man from Plaistow in Sussex, who put 10,000 miles on the clock touring in Europe, including a visit to the Italian Lakes. Bills and paperwork show that Wayland looked after his car well, with regular servicing, a new clutch at 45,300 miles, an engine overhaul at 50,465 and a repaint in its original Florida Green/OEW combination. In 1965 he sold it with about 55,000 miles on the clock for £325.
It then passed through a couple of owners’ hands, moving from Woking to Ashford, in Kent, and to Luton, before being purchased by Keith Boyer, a noted Aussie AustinHealey collector and parts supplier around 1983.
‘He knew exactly what it was,’ says Norton, who was building up his parts and restoration business at the time, and regularly traded with Boyer. ‘It lived in his back garden,
‘What a beautiful thing that Earls Court ’Healey must have seemed 62 years ago; it certainly had significance well beyond its sun-kissed paintwork’
half under a tarp, and wasn’t in great condition. It took me about five years to persuade him to sell. He told me to put a figure on a piece of paper, which I gave to him. “Does that buy it?” I asked, and it did.’
That was 1997, but Norton didn’t touch the car for a long while. ‘Since we’d done the Turin car, I knew it was a mountain to climb.’ But eventually he set to and the car revealed itself, ‘layer by layer’.
One bonus was tracking down Alan Wayland, who proved a fount of wisdom on the car and also had some evocative photographs of it touring in Italy (see overleaf), as well as bills, MoT test certificates and even the rare, original BMC travel rug he kept in the car. Wayland was terribly ill, though, and died before the restoration was complete. ‘He was brilliant, an enormous help, and it’s a terrible shame that he didn’t get to see the car fully restored,’ says Norton.
Painstakingly the car was stripped, and its useable parts conserved, including the Trico vacuum-powered windscreen wipers, which were put on the show car by Austin-Healey – neither the BN1 or BN2 models had washer jets as standard.
‘Austin-Healeys by their nature are really a two-part restoration because of the inner body,’ says Norton. He explains how the inner body has to be restored and painted
1955 AustinHealey 100 BN2 Engine 2660cc four-cylinder, OHV, twin SU carburettors Power 94bhp @ 4200rpm Torque 150lb ft @ 2000rpm
Transmission Four-speed manual with overdrive, rear-wheel drive Steering Worm and peg Suspension Front: double wishbones, coil springs, lever-arm dampers. Rear: live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs, lever-arm dampers
Brakes Drums Weight 983kg
Top speed 111mph 0-60mph 10.3sec
‘That coachwork evokes a Californian summer day by the pool like nothing else’
Left
During his two-year tenure with the car in the early 1960s, former owner Alan Wayland took TAC 787 on a tour of Italy.
first, then the mechanicals fitted into it. After that the outer coachwork is fitted and painted, followed by the exterior trim. ‘I took 500 photos of the work in progress,’ he says; ‘some of them weren’t pretty. Doing this you need to be extremely careful and mindful of what you are trying to recapture.’
It’s hard to see this as anything other than the car that appeared on the show stand 62 years ago. The panel fit is extraordinary, the gaps near-perfect, the trim ruler-straight, and that coachwork evokes a Californian summer day by the pool like nothing else. In fact, during the late stages of the rebuild, Norton managed to track down a black-and-white photograph of the ’55 Earls Court stand and there it is, TAC 787, facing three-quarters away from the camera.
It’s tight and new and, although it starts on the button, it’s done only 30 miles since being rebuilt, so any criticism of its driving qualities would be inappropriate. What you can say is that, while the look is modern, the driving position is rather more pre-war in nature. You slide one leg under the wheel, and then move your posterior into the back of the seat squab before bringing the other leg into the car. Even with the seat in its fully rearward position, that big steering wheel brushes both thighs. With coil-sprung wishbone front suspension, a leaf-sprung live rear axle, lever-arm dampers all round and A90 worm-and-peg steering, you’d expect that an hour behind the wheel would be more than enough for most spines, not to mention the slightly alarming prospect of getting it stopped using the standard 11in Girling drum brakes.
Yet it’s so charming, with its beguilingly simple four-dial dash and huge overdrive toggle switch. ’Healey 100s also had a tilting windscreen, which leaves your fizzog feeling like the cratered surface of the moon after a brisk drive, but improves the aerodynamics and the looks. Must have been expensive, though, as it was dropped for the following year’s ’Healey 100/6. The relatively unstressed 2.7-litre Austin A90 Atlantic pushrod lump thumps out 150lb ft of torque at 2000rpm and is best driven gently in top, with the overdrive engaged (it works on third and fourth gears), enjoying the scenery while everyone else enjoys the look of your car.
Not that TAC 787 is likely to be driven that much. Norton freely admits that ’Healey 100s that are built to be driven regularly and to hold their own on modern roads will be fitted with a lot of subtle modifications to make them steer and corner better, go faster, and to be more reliable and less prone to the corrosion that decimated so many back in the day. ‘About 65mph is all you really want to do in this car as it is,’ he says. ‘After that it gets a bit exciting.’
After sale in that Goodwood auction, I ask Norton if he misses such an important piece of history. He thinks hard. ‘This car was always going to be a reward for effort rather than a keeper, and it was all about enthusiasm rather than speculation – it’s the first ’Healey with any provenance I’ve owned. Cars are the glue that keep relationships together and that’s how it was with this car and Keith Boyer and me.’
Profound words from the man with engine oil under his fingernails, but true as well. This Austin-Healey is a deeply covetable machine that deserves to be used, even if only on very special occasions.
THE SPARK THAT IGNITES YOUR LOVE FOR THE ROAD.
IT’S NOT JUST A CAR. IT’S THE SPARK THAT IGNITES YOUR LOVE FOR THE ROAD.
Turn your dreams into reality with A.H. Spares - Delivering quality Austin Healey parts and exceptional service for 53 years.
Turn your dreams into reality with A.H. Spares - Delivering quality Austin Healey parts and exceptional service for 53 years.
LINCOLN CONTINENTAL
The emergence of this square-rigged saloon in 1961 marked the death knell for the chromeand-tailfins era of American automobiles. It arrived at a time when Ford was losing patience with the Lincoln brand due to slow sales, the irony being that the design was rooted in a proposal first suggested for a Thunderbird. The ‘three-box’ outline was a ributed to Elwood Engel who subsequently reinterpreted the design for a line of Imperial models on jumping ship to Chrysler. La erly known as the ‘Clapdoor Lincoln’ on account of its rear-hinged doors, the Continental is widely hyped as being a Modernist masterpiece.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1961
Engine 7046cc V8, naturally aspirated
Transmission Three-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive Power 300bhp
Imposing and powerful, the Mercedes-Benz 540 picked up from where previous 380 and 500K models le o . Power came from a 5.4-litre straight-eight engine, which in supercharged 540K Kompressor form produced up to 180bhp. Unusually, the supercharger could be operated in two ways: engaged manually for short bursts, or automatically when the thro le was fully open. Designed by Friedrich Geiger (who later orchestrated the 300SL ‘Gullwing’), the 540K was o ered in a variety of confi gurations. These included two- and four-seater cabriolets, two-seater roadsters, a four-seater coupé, and a seven-seater limousine.
The model was launched at the 1936 Paris motor show, the 540K swi ly becoming a favourite with the German elite at the expense of Horch and Maybach rivals. Twelve specially-made longwheelbase saloon/cabriolet cars were made for the Nazi Party hierarchy, complete with armourplating. However, plans to o er a more powerful variant, the 5.8-litre 580K, were interrupted by World War Two.
Production of the 540K continued to 1940, although some cars weren’t finished for a further four years. The most famous example was the 540K Special Roadster built for Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering. It was dubbed The Blue Goose on account of its ‘Lu wa e Blue’ hue.
TALBOT-LAGO T150-C-SS
While its model name may lack elegance, the Figoni et Falaschi-bodied T150-C-SS represented the pinnacle of automotive glamour in the late 1930s. The coachbuilder, located in Bologne-sur-Seine, Paris, was established by Italian-born Joseph Figoni. He’d arrived in France in 1897, aged three, and by the early 1930s had earned fame for bodying the likes of the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1933. Ovidio Falaschi became a business partner in 1935, the Tuscan being an entrepreneur with a taste for exotic cars. He repositioned the business as an automotive couturier rather than a mere coachbuilder.
This approach was brought into sharp focus with the Talbot-Lagos with their race-proven 4.0-litre straight-sixes. The goutted’eau outline was first seen in 1937 and became known as Teardrop (the literal translation is ‘water drop’). While notionally a study in streamlining, the swoopy, sculptured look wasn’t aerodynamically efficient. Figoni et Falaschi bodied 14 cars, none of which were alike, with deviations in wing style, window profile, headlight design and roof angle. The looks weren’t just for show, though, with period figures quoting top speeds ranging from 115 to 137mph, depending on engine spec.
Launched in late 1962, the A110 was a fabulous road car. It comprised a glassfibre body, a backbone chassis and a raft of parts robbed from Renault’s parts bin, with four-cylinder engines of varying capacities being slung behind the rear axle. Renault’s diamond-shaped badge first appeared on the A110’s nose five years later. Bit by bit, Renault increased its investment, helping to finance Alpine’s competition bids while basking in the reflected glow of motorsport success.
Jean-Claude Andruet’s 1969 European rally title was merely the opening salvo. Production ended in 1977, but more recently the tag has been revived for the ‘retro’ A110 – a car that’s more than worthy of the A110 tag, and which is already assured classic status.
‘Ilike going fast,’ says Amanda Stretton simply, when I ask this racing driver, journalist and broadcaster why she bought her immaculate 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28. ‘My dad, Terry Cohn, owned lots of fabulous cars, pre-war Alfa Monzas and so on, and shortly before he died he bought a Hertz Mustang GT350. It was the only car of his that I really wanted, because it was a kind of “f*ck off” car. I just thought it was really, really cool.’
Ah, OK. So what happened to the Mustang? ‘After dad died, the executors wouldn’t let me have it unless I paid above the best commercial offer. GT350s were out of my price range and I also realised that if I bought one, everyone would assume it was a replica. So I started to think again, and
then my friend Simon Drabble found this Camaro tucked away in Barrowin-Furness, and I went “Ohhh, it’s perfect!” and bought it.’
What Simon/Amanda had found was a real unicorn: a very lowmileage, extremely original example of the ‘hot’ Camaro, the Z/28. Chevrolet built only 7199 of them in ’68 and the survival rate is in the low hundreds. Introduced in 1967 to take on Ford’s Mustang, the stock Camaro spawned a variety of souped-up versions – RS, SS and Z/28 –of which the Z/28 was top of the tree. It was kept very much under the radar, however, and it doesn’t even appear in the brochure advertising the ’68 range, even though the RS (Rally Sport) and SS (Super Sport) both feature heavily.
GREEN AND MEAN
Rare in the USA, let alone the UK, this ultra-low-mileage performance Camaro has had notable racing driver owners –both then and now
Words Mark Dixon Photography Jonathan Fleetwood
The reason for this low-key approach seems to be that GM was specifically targeting the racing market with the Z/28. It was offered with a range of V8s, starting with a 302ci unit that, most significantly, had been cleverly designed to scrape under the Sports Car Club of America’s race series capacity limit of 305ci by combining a 283 crankshaft with a 327 block. Official output was 290bhp but rumour has it the reality was closer to 360bhp, and you can probably add another 40lb ft to the claimed 290lb ft maximum torque figure. Amanda’s car has the 302 and is appropriately finished in British Green, although it was sold new in the States and didn’t arrive in the UK until the early 1970s. No-one knows who brought the car over but its history from then on
is immaculately documented. Think Camaros and think racing in the UK, and one name immediately springs to mind: Stuart Graham, the only man to win a TT race on both two wheels and four. A hugely successful motorcycle racer in the 1960s, he then switched to cars and repeated his success in Group 1 Touring Cars in the mid-70s – with a Camaro. Stuart was the man who really introduced Camaros onto the UK racing scene, winning the big-capacity class in 1974 and ’75, and finishing third overall both times, before going on to have similar results with a Ford-backed Capri 3.0-litre. And it just so happens that Stuart bought and sold this Camaro in the UK when it was nearly new, and bought it back again several years later.
More accurately, Stuart and his brother Chris bought and sold the car. Both had trained at Rolls-Royce, but Stuart left to go racing motorcycles while Chris stayed on at Crewe as an engine builder, before they reunited in 1968 when Stuart retired from the bike racing and Chris joined him in purchasing a small garage business in rural Shropshire. Chris loved V8 engines and so they naturally gravitated into buying and selling American cars.
Fast-forward to June 2018. ‘Amanda got in touch to say she’d found this Camaro up in the north-west,’ says Stuart, ‘and when Chris checked it out for her, he realised it was a car we’d sold in the early ’70s to a local man. He kept it for years and years, until we bought it back from him.’
Chris fills in some more detail: ‘The chap we sold it to was called George Sumner and he ran the Swan Inn at Marbury, near Whitchurch. This was in January 1974. He didn’t use it a lot; he just liked having it and kept it covered up inside. We bought it back in September 1986.
‘Because it had been covered over, it had got damp and the paint had microblistered. We sold it to another local chap we knew, Eric Price, who was an ex-Rolls-Royce painter. He stripped it down and restored it to asnew condition, just for his own satisfaction. We were very familiar with the quality of his work because he had also painted our first racing Camaro in its Brut 33 sponsor’s livery during the early ’70s.’
It should be noted that the Camaro that Stuart raced, and for which Chris built the engine, was the second-generation model, introduced in 1970. ‘Les Leston, the car accessory guy, was racing a Camaro at Silverstone but it wasn’t running right, so Stuart suggested I see if I could sort it out for him,’ explains Chris. ‘I set it up by ear in the paddock and Les was so delighted, he sent the car over to us for prepping afterwards. Then, when Les was away on a business trip in Hong Kong, he asked
Stuart to race it for him at Oulton Park, and Stuart put it on pole and won easily, so we decided we really needed to get ourselves a Camaro!’
‘Camaros were very underrated until then,’ confirms Stuart. ‘I was running an E-type as a road car but I needed something a bit bigger and when I tried a Z/28 I thought “Crikey!” It left the E-type for dead, and it looked pretty attractive, so it made a great fun car. We started selling Camaros to some of our pals and then, as the racing developed and Camaros were being used for club events, we built up a business selling parts for them, and engines that were built by Chris.’
After Chris had reported back to Amanda that the car she was interested in was a really good example, she commissioned him to get the engine running properly – the fuel pump was faulty and it needed a good tune, but little else was required. ‘I was genuinely impressed by its condition,’ Chris adds. ‘After Eric had finished restoring it in 1994, he used it only for shows and otherwise kept it in a “bubble” with fans for ventilation.’
‘Restoration’ is too strong a word, really, because the Camaro needed little more than new paint and some service items such as wheel cylinders and an exhaust system. The windscreen had to be replaced due to a wiper scratch, and both bumpers renewed, but the interior is entirely original, right down to the pedal rubbers and the door seals. These details, along with MoT certificates from 1975 and ’76 that show the recorded mileages of 15,900 and 19,269 respectively, corroborate today’s figure of 22,636 miles. This has to be one of the most remarkably untouched examples of a 1968 Z/28 to be found anywhere – including the States.
And now it’s time to drive it. First impression – apart from its incredible condition, surely even better now than when it left the Norwood, Ohio, factory in late April 1968 – is how big it looks compared with my own 1966 first-gen Mustang. The muscle car race was well into its stride by ’68, and
even supposedly compact pony cars such as the second-gen Mustangs and their GM rivals had grown exponentially, along with their horsepower. It is, frankly, a little intimidating, particularly since it’s sitting on deep-dish wheels – the Z/28-only 15in version of the ‘Rally’ type with turbine centre caps – and very butch-looking tyres. More on those later.
Open the hefty driver’s door, slip behind the faux walnut, plasticrimmed wheel, and it’s standard-issue late-60s US automobile. Seat coverings, doortrims, dashboard: they’re all black plastic and vinyl, enlivened with bright-metal embellishments and, yep, more fake wood on the centre console. But the upside of that is that this interior has lasted fantastically well. When, in 1967 movie The Graduate, Mr Maguire collars young Benjamin Braddock at his graduation party and delivers the immortal line: ‘I want to say one word to you, Benjamin. Just one word. “Plastics,”’ before going on to explain that there is a great future in plastics, he isn’t wrong.
Standard transmission for the Z/28 was a four-speed Muncie manual, and its chrome flat-sided lever projects from a curious (to UK eyes) open gate on the centre console. Check it’s in neutral and turn the key. Wow!
The 5.0-litre V8 sounds as meaty and threatening as the dramatic exterior has promised, erupting into life with a pulse-quickening rumble. Slot the Muncie-embossed lever into first and ease away, however, and the noise becomes surprisingly creamy and smooth, maintaining that refinement as you accelerate up through the gears; it’s by no means a raw race-engine kind of voice, even though plenty of the 302 V8s saw track action.
The engine is a bit fluffy at low revs, so you need to goose the throttle to get it cleanly off the line, and here’s where the foot-operated parking brake proves a disadvantage: turning uphill out of a junction, say, you really need to come to a complete halt, apply the brake, put the transmission into neutral, then juggle clutch and throttle – and the motor
‘GENERAL MOTORS WAS SPECIFICALLY TARGETING THE
RACING
MARKET WITH THE Z/28’
Opposite and below GM didn’t market the Z/28 too aggressively. This one is finished in a hue called British Green, even though it looks closer to black in most lights.
Steering Recirculating ball Suspension Front: unequal-length wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar. Rear: live axle, leaf springs, telescopic dampers Brakes Front discs, rear drums, power-assisted Weight 1676kg Top speed 132mph 0-60mph 6.9sec
is going to bog down if you don’t feed it enough revs, remember – at precisely the moment you pull the brake release lever. If ever a situation is going to make you wish you were driving an automatic, it’s this one. First and second gears are also quite high, which doesn’t help.
The steering is also unbelievably heavy when making a turn from rest. At first glance, I’d assumed the car was shod with wider-than-standard tyres – and, in fact, the rears are indeed wider than the fronts (245/60 R15 versus 215/65 R15) – but the fronts are actually about the right size. The Z/28 was specified to take the old US tyre size F70x15 all-round and that translates approximately to the metric size on the front now. Comparing a period brochure with our photographer Jonny Fleetwood’s excellent set of pics, however, the new versions definitely appear to fill the arches more, so the mystery isn’t yet resolved. Is it a profile quirk, something to do with the actual shape of the tyre?
On the straightaways (sorry, slipped into US jargon for a moment there) the steering proves accurate and sharp – ‘the steering is fast ratio,’ claimed Chevy’s promotional leaflet in ’68 – with just a trace of numbness around the centre. There’s no anxiety here about using the ample performance, which is particularly evident in the mid-range, the tall gearing seeming to fractionally blunt this car’s off-the-line getaway. Make no mistake, it’s quick – but it’s not dragster quick, at least initially. Given the Camaro’s physical size, maybe that’s a blessing on UK roads.
It certainly rides well, though, with any low-speed jiggliness tending to disappear at speed as this big car steamrollers the bumps into submission. As a package – barring a little wind rustle – it’s actually a very civilised way to travel, with plenty of room for front-seat occupants and, of course, a boot large enough to dispose of at least one body. That wonderful V8 exhaust soundtrack never fades away completely but it remains a pleasant companion rather than an irritating distraction, and it strikes you that this would be a fantastic machine for properly long road trips. Mechanically, it is surely bulletproof – Chris Graham claims that none of the many Camaro engines he built for race and road customers ever gave any trouble.
The Z/28 has huge character and that means it has one or two flaws, as with any memorable car. The minor instruments are tucked away at the base of the centre console, so you have to take your eyes well off the road to check their readings – and you’ll be doing that quite often, just to watch the fuel gauge dropping. The speedo and rev-counter are deeply cowled, too, so their fine needles aren’t that easy to discern when you’re in a hurry. But these are minor quirks. If it were mine, I’d fit an EZ power steering conversion (bolt-on and reversible, so no risk to that precious originality) and then I reckon it would be near-perfect. End
Below 5.0-litre V8 was the smallest offered in the Z/28, but it still puts out well over 300bhp; the cabin is roomy enough – it easily accommodates our 6ft 1in writer.
THANKS TO Jack Tetley at Duncan Hamilton ROFGO, dhrofgo.com.
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars
CORD 810/812
The Cord 810 emerged in late 1935 and was widely lauded. It marked a radical departure in terms of American automotive design, not least the adoption of unitary construction and front-wheel drive, while the styling by Gordon Buehrig was also startlingly original. The body here did away with running boards and a traditional radiator grille, the ‘co n nose’ and pop-up headlights lending the car a look of its own. Power came from a Lycoming V8 engine allied to a pre-selector transmission, the subsequent 812 edition also boasting a supercharger. A ra of body configurations were available, including a four-door saloon and two-door convertible.
The Jaguar XK120 – or XK Open Two-Seater Super Sports as it was called originally – caused a seismic impact when it was unveiled at the 1948 International Motor Exhibition at Earls Court. The world’s motoring media was sent into a tailspin, but marque founder William Lyons didn’t foresee the car having a future. The XK was a rolling laboratory; a test bed, a er all. It wasn’t intended for volume production, but demand for Jaguar’s new sports car was such that the coachbuilt approach soon became untenable.
Hand-beaten aluminium bodies (over laminated ash frames) made way for pressed-steel items (with aluminium doors, bonnet, and boot-lid) a er the first 239 cars had been completed. Even then, demand outstripped supply by a big margin because the XK120 was that rarest of things: a bargain. Priced at £998, nothing could touch its
specification or speed for the money. Powered by an all-alloy twin-cam straight-six engine, the ‘120’ part of the nomenclature was in place to signify ultimate velocity in miles per hour.
Predictably, the XK120 (X for experimental, K the sequence of engine design designation) excelled in motorsport. Ian Appleyard in particular heaped glory on the brand, taking an International Alpine Rally hat-trick over 1950-52 along with RAC Rally of Great Britain and Tulip Rally honours in 1951 aboard NUB 120, the sixth of six pre-production cars. The fixedhead coupé variant appeared in the spring of 1951 (followed by the drophead coupé two years later), which was similarly well-received. With the arrival of the less overtly sporting XK140 in 1954, the bloodline would continue, the bigger-boned XK150 appearing in 1957. It was only ousted by the arrival of the E-type in 1961.
This Bavarian supercar was shaped by Giorge o Giugiaro and inspired by the brace of 1972 Turbo concept cars styled by Paul Bracq. A prototype was displayed at the 1978 Paris motor show and the reaction was euphoric. A er initial consultancy work by Lamborghini, Trasformazione Italiana Resina was enlisted to mould the M1’s glassfibre body, with Modena’s Marche i constructing the chassis. Bodyshells were bonded to their frames at Italdesign in Turin, before being transported to Baur in Stu gart to have their drivetrains installed. 453 cars were made from 1978 to 1981, the M1 being one of few ‘exotics’ of the period that was usable in the real world.
Power 118bhp Torque 135lb Top speed 112mph 0-60mph 12.3sec
LANCIA AURELIA B20GT
The arrival of the Aurelia saloon in 1950 was met with muted praise. It looked unpretentious but that belied the advanced engineering invested in its make-up. The shorter, more powerful B20 GT arrived a year later and earned instant stardom, but did so without making a fuss. This was a discreet Gran Turismo, and one which gave the world the GT name as a model designation. The Ghia-styled, Pinin Farina-cra ed body was graceful and reasonably powerful thanks to its 1991cc (later 2451cc) V6. A near-standard B20 GT came second overall on that year’s Mille Miglia, beaten only by a Ferrari with twice the engine capacity. However, by the time protectionist tari s and purchase tax were taken into account, it cost more in the UK in 1954 than a Jaguar D-type. As such, only 25 cars were ever imported in period. The B20 GT was sold in six distinct series, with 3121 being made to June 1958.
The Minor was conceived as far back as 1941, but it emerged at the International Motor Exhibition at Earls Court seven years later. The car was designed by Alec Issigonis and initially o ered in two-door open and closed forms. Power came from a 918cc four-cylinder engine (capacity was raised to 948cc in 1954 and then 1098cc in 1962). Subsequent variants included the half-timbered Traveller estate, a pick-up, and a two-door van. Sales had exceeded one million by 1961 and Morris marked the occasion with the Minor Million, 350 of which were made, all wearing lilac paintwork. The Minor was finally axed in 1971.
THEY BITE
The Cobra, from gentlemanly AC Ace to final venom-spitting Shelby 427: Robert Coucher and Stephen Bayley are your guides to the genesis of this ultimate road-burning icon
Photography Charlie Magee
Humans are hard-wired to run from snakes, as our Asian, Australian, African and American readers will understand. Snakes are not populous in Thames Ditton, Surrey, the original home of the Cobra, begat by Auto Carriers with a degree of help from Carroll Shelby in the USA. Soon the denizens of this leafy English enclave learnt that snakes are capable of serious speed.
A Cobra is one of the most iconic and recognisable classic cars, even though only around 1000 (real ones) were ever built. It cost $7500 new but today prices start at six figures and go well into the millions for the best examples.
In 1952, British manufacturer AC was looking to replace its aging 2-Litre model and decided upon a design by John Tojeiro that had a ladder chassis, independent suspension, lightweight spaceframe and gorgeous Ferrari Barchettainspired aluminium two-seater coachwork. Early Aces were fitted with AC’s elderly straight-six, which produced a lazy 85bhp. In 1956 AC got its hands on the aristocratic Bristol engine, a development of the superb BMW 328 straight-six
that produced nearer 125bhp. In this guise an AC Ace-Bristol raced at Le Mans in 1958, and in 1959 it won its class and finished seventh overall – the same year one Carroll Shelby finished first overall with Roy Salvadori in the Aston Martin DBR1. With only 460 Bristol-engined cars built, it has become a favourite among well-heeled racers; no surprise they are the most desirable examples today.
Supplies of the sweet Bristol engine began to dry up, so in 1961 AC turned to a 2.6-litre Ford Zephyr engine that, with its Ruddspeed-tweaked head, knocked out a useful 170bhp – enough for 130mph. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The lovely example you see here is a 1957 AC Ace-Bristol, chassis number BE232, a works car until recently owned by Historic racer Kevin Kivlochan. It has a special lightweight body fitted at the factory and significant racing history from 1957 to 1962, after which it was laid up and stored in a barn for 45 years. Carefully restored between 2013 and 2015, the Ace has recently raced at the Le Mans Classic and Goodwood Revival. Even though it is in race trim and its aluminium shell remains unpainted, to look at, this is one of the finest sports
cars of the 1950s. The styling is elegantly restrained –Tojeiro’s take on the Ferrari Barchetta is understated and refined, with its clean coachwork set off by the lovely Borrani wire wheels shod with skinny tyres. A standard Ace promises a 0-60mph dash in nine seconds with a top speed of 125mph, but this lightweight, with its tuned engine producing around 160bhp, is significantly quicker.
Unlike its successor, the Ace is a case of ‘less is more’. The six-cylinder Bristol engine is refined but still loves to rev and emits a very fruity exhaust note. The worm-and-peg steering is a bit woolly straight ahead but tightens up as you start to use it, offering a nice, sharp turn-in. Underpinning it is a ladder chassis with independent suspension via rather rudimentary transverse leaf springs front and rear, yet it works well and the Ace remains balanced and poised, allowing it to punch above its weight thanks to the overall package being so in-tune.
The Cobra that evolved out of the polite Ace is a case of ‘more is more’. Much more! As we know, Texan Carroll Shelby had been looking around for a sports car project in
the late 1950s, and he persuaded AC to ship him an Ace without an engine and gearbox. He determined that Ford’s then-new 221ci smallblock V8 could be shoehorned under the bonnet and mated to a tougher gearbox and rear end. With the chassis suitably gussied-up, the Cobra worked. It was then fitted with a larger 260ci V8 for production and, of course, went racing.
The Cobra’s first race was in October 1962 at Riverside Raceway, California, with Billy Krause driving chassis number CSX 0002. Shelby’s first victory soon followed there, in February 1963. With Dave MacDonald driving, the Cobra ran away from all the Corvettes, Jaguars, Porsches and Maseratis. And later that year a 289ci Cobra, fitted with a hardtop for reduced drag, finished seventh overall at Le Mans, driven by Ninian Sanderson and Peter Bolton. The fast and furious Cobra had struck and it went on to dominate motor racing as it still does today in Historics.
Said racing driver and Cobra development driver Bob Bondurant: ‘When the Cobra came along, the writing was on the wall. Shelby told me he had a Corvette-beater and when I
AC
first drove it I realised it handled better than the ’Vette. The Corvette was unbeatable but Shelby had really hit on something. The Cobra was lighter for a start, and the brakes were a lot better.’
Bondurant and Ken Miles did most of the early testing of the Cobra, which was tasked with taking on the Chevrolet Corvette that Bondurant had raced before joining Shelby as a driver. Bondurant went on to take a GT class win at Le Mans in a Shelby Team Cobra in 1963. ‘People said it would never happen,’ he laughed.
The rather fiercer-looking weapon here is a 1964 Shelby AC Cobra, also owned and raced by Kivlochan, who competes in it at the sharp end of leading events including Goodwood, Silverstone and Le Mans. It runs in full Competition guise with thinner-gauge aluminium bodywork, wider ’arches and marvellous Halibrand alloys.
This 289 Cobra is known as The FoMoCo Blue Demo, because it was shipped when new to Lew Spencer’s Hi-
1957 AC Ace-Bristol
Engine 1971cc OHV straight-six, three downdraught Solex carburettors
Power 125bhp @ 5750rpm (standard) Torque 122lbft @ 4500rpm
Transmission Four-speed manual plus overdrive, rear-wheel drive
Steering Worm and peg Suspension Front and rear: lower wishbones, transverse leaf spring, telescopic dampers Brakes Discs front, drums rear Weight 845kg Top speed 125mph 0-60mph 9sec
Performance Motors in Los Angeles on 29 January 1965 as a demonstrator. He was involved in the creation of the Cobra from the start with Carroll Shelby, as well as being a distributor and team driver.
Peter Brock, the designer of the later Cobra Daytona coupe and the split-screen Corvette, worked for Shelby from 1961 to ’65 and took many customers out for demonstration runs in this car. He told me: ‘It had such incredible performance for the time, going from rest to 100mph in 12 seconds. We had a sort of arrangement with the police back then. There was a regular route, where we could get up to 100mph in third gear!’
Pushrod valve actuation notwithstanding, the American smallblock V8 is an outstanding engine and can be ranked alongside Ferrari’s classic V12, Jaguar’s venerable straight-six and Porsche’s air-cooled flat-six. The small V8 was rated at 270bhp (more than double the Ace’s straight-six muscle) but, most importantly, it had 270lb ft of torque: in a car weighing a smidge under 1000kg, the result was electrifying.
Cobra
‘GIVEN MORE JUICE, THE 289 WILL SNAP INTO IMMEDIATE TYRESMEARING, FULL-ON POWER FURY’
This
The
Carroll Shelby continued to develop his Cobra engine while strengthening and improving the design of the chassis, adding better brakes and offering his successful racers over 350bhp. The 289ci Windsor engine in road trim is superb. It makes the Cobra feel racing-car light and is a doddle to drive because of all the luxurious torque from the off: smooth as double cream and relaxed yet sharp, with the most amusing soundtrack. The thing about this smallblock is that it will pootle happily but, given more juice, it will snap into immediate tyre-smearing, full-on power fury if you want to give yourself a heart massage.
The smallblock Ford V8 added a real slug of increased performance when dropped into the unsuspecting Ace chassis, morphing it into the fabulously powerful, raceproven Cobra. So in 1965, Carroll Shelby, a man known to push his luck, decided that more grunt would be even better, in the shape of a massive 427ci V8. That’s fully 7.0 litres…
This ‘side oiler’, equipped with a four-barrel Holley carburettor, promised 425bhp and stump-pulling torque of 480lb ft at just 3700rpm. It’s what powers the third car you see here, finished in this very attractive Rangoon Red.
Shelby realised that the by-then rather antiquated AC chassis had to be replaced for this MkIII Cobra, so a much more robust design was engineered that incorporates chunkier four-inch main chassis tubes and a sophisticated coil-sprung independent suspension all-round. Madder and
badder than ever, the 427 big-block broke all sorts of records as the fastest car on the planet. It was certainly going to try to kill you; many people have been frightened to near-death by it. Bill Cosby, famously sold his Super Snake because he felt it was just too dangerous to drive. Even shot beautifully here in a quiet studio, this muscular 427 looks downright dangerous.
But there was a problem. Shelby’s new racing car missed the all-important homologation date in 1965 and only 50 of the 100 planned cars were produced, 19 as pure Competition cars, the remaining 31 converted into roadgoing Cobra 427s. Ford effectively killed the car off as a racer with its high-tech, mid-engined GT40, but no-one told Bob Bondurant and David Piper. So they gave this baddest of Cobras its first taste of victory in Europe in 1966, winning the Brands Hatch Ilford 500 six-hour race outright, in torrential rain, beating Peter Sutcliffe’s Ford GT40 into second place, in the famous Chequered Flag Shelby Cobra 427, painted in Wimbledon White with a black bonnet and wearing the registration LOV 1. Of that car, David Piper said: ‘The 7.0-litre Cobra was prodigiously quick, especially in a straight line and quite a handful on the bends in the wet, which this race was.’ Hmm, that’s some understatement.
The 427 MkIII S/C you see here, provided by gentleman trader Julien Sumner, is one of the 31 Cobras detuned and made road-legal that became known as Semi-Competition cars. And although the 427 has a reputation for being an animal, its heavily reworked Shelby chassis and suspension render it a more comfortable and manageable ride than the edgier 289 MkII. Obviously the throttle pedal has to be treated judiciously, but once that’s understood the snake can be driven on its prodigious torque without much recourse to the gearbox. Top speed? A rather worrying 165mph… Robert Coucher
WITH GREAT AND enduring poetry, Carroll Shelby, a one-time dump-truck operator and failed chicken-farmer from Leesburg, Texas, declared ‘Ferrari’s ass is mine!’ He was talking about his fabulous Shelby American Cobras and how in the mid-1960s his redneck confections, more hot-rod than applied science, threatened the aristocratic red-painted Ferraris in the glamorous arena of international motor racing.
First there were the grunting old-school Goodwoodflavoured roadsters, with modern Ford V8s robustly debauching a prim English chassis, cars as Anglo-American as Long Island Iced Tea. Next, the special-bodied Daytona coupes, as sinister and effective as the ’planes emerging from Lockheed’s Skunk Works in Burbank: as purely American as a burrito or a Frankfurter.
Ferrari’s ass duly became Shelby’s when a Cobra Daytona won the FIA International Championship for GT Manufacturers in 1965. Just a year before, a Cobra Daytona had scored its first victory in the Sebring 12 Hours. And after just two years, the Cobra Daytona’s competitive life was over: the last front-engined car to make its mark in racing. Phil Spector acquired one of the six retired racers for road use. He added carpet to mute the V8’s thunderous Wall of Sound: ankle-deep, mountain high, perhaps.
In one of my other lives, I am proud to be the visiting honorary professor in Liverpool University’s distinguished School of Architecture, where long ago I began teaching the history of art and architecture. Understanding the history of art is not about understanding how to stand in a limp-wristed ecstasy of appreciation before the pure effulgence of tooled
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silver 1957 AC Ace works racer is even more special than most, featuring a lightweight body and 160bhp tuned Bristol engine. The blue 289 was Lew Spencer’s famous FoMoCo Blue Demo.
gold in a Fra Angelico altarpiece (although that is certainly part of it). Instead, it teaches an understanding of symbolism, meaning and contextual analysis.
Certainly, you can learn a lot from simply looking at a car, as connoisseurs do simply by looking at a painting. But there is always more to it. Indeed, there is often an awful lot more to it than meets even the most discerning and critical eye. And you can look at a Cobra in the way you look at a painting.
Aesthetically, the Cobra story ends and begins with Ferrari. In 1948, Enzo Ferrari began building a production version of the Colombo Grand Prix car, which he called the 166 Inter. At this stage, Ferrari himself had no interest in aesthetics beyond the results of engineering imperatives arising in the machine-shop. Accordingly, the first 166 Inters had bodies by Farina, Ghia and Vignale. Aesthetically, the first Ferraris were circumstantial and had no consistent artistic direction.
But then in 1949, Felice Bianchi Anderloni of Milan’s Carrozzeria Touring made a body for the 166 Inter. This was to Ferrari what Watson and Crick were to genetics: providing a model that could be emulated, but not improved. The Touring 166 had sills that tucked under, a hip line swooping over the wheels, a simple, but emphatic, oval air intake (which created the car’s distinctive face) and a cockpit orifice trimmed with a roll of leather. It had an utterly distinctive mould line. The Italian press thought it looked like an American power-boat… so it became known as the Barchetta.
Meanwhile, back in England, men in leather helmets were re-enacting the heroics of the Battle of Britain in club racing on airfield circuits, Goodwood and Silverstone included; only guns were missing. A leading ace was Cliff Davis, who in the early 1950s successfully raced a spaceframe Cooper with an MG engine. But Davis despaired of the car’s appearance and commissioned a Barchetta copy to disguise the tubes with flair. When he needed an entirely new car, he asked John Tojeiro to knock-out another spaceframe. And, at the same time, another copy of the Barchetta’s body.
John Tojeiro deserves a chapter in any history of English eccentrics, a tribe justly famous for amateurism and enthusiasm. He was born in Estoril, but came to England as a child. At The Perse School in Cambridge he met Brian Lister, later the builder of Jaguar-engined specials. But Tojeiro was an unpromising pupil and by every account not academically inclined. Instead, bypassing the Max Planck Institute, he was apprenticed to Shelvoke & Drury, a garbage truck builder from Letchworth. In this way, he confirmed the central role of rubbish in the curriculum vitae of the Cobra’s progenitors.
In The Fleet Air Arm, Tojeiro had admired the structure of the Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bomber, a bi-plane of struts and spars known as the ‘Stringbag’. Then he became a selftaught welder. In the mythology of creatives in the 1950s, welding often plays a part. The artist Eduardo Paolozzi and furniture entrepreneur Terence Conran both claimed welding for their portfolios. Looking back, we can see that this thing about welding was a last gasp of affection for the old industrial ways in a country that was fast de-industrialising.
In between races, Tojeiro took his car to AC in Thames Ditton and persuaded them to productionise his splendid lash-up. The lovely compound curves Tojeiro required were made possible by an archaic metal-pressing machine from the horse-and-cart era. Such processes were familiar in Surrey: when Tojeiro presented his design, AC was still using
‘JOHN TOJEIRO DESERVES A CHAPTER IN ANY HISTORY OF ENGLISH ECCENTRICS, A TRIBE JUSTLY FAMOUS FOR AMATEURISM AND ENTHUSIASM”
1964 AC Cobra 289
Engine 4727cc OHV V8, four twin-choke carburettors (this car) Power 350bhp+ @ 6000rpm Torque 300lb ft @ 4500rpm Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Steering Rack and pinion Suspension
Front and rear: lower wishbones, transverse leaf spring, telescopic dampers Brakes Discs Weight 950kg Top speed 150mph 0-60mph 5.0sec
AC Cobra
the straight-six designed by John Weller in 1919. I like to imagine that a conversation took place at a Thames-side pub, with warm beer and crisps in waxed paper bags, and which resulted in the AC Ace. It appeared at Earl’s Court in 1953.
Six years later, Carrol Shelby won Le Mans in an Aston Martin. Heart problems forced his retirement in 1960, although not before he had raced with cardiac-assistant nitroglycerin pills in the cockpit and dallied with Aston Martin’s eccentric F1 effort. It is fair to say that Shelby had acquired an understanding of English sports cars from heartstopping Swarfega-in-the-nails first principles.
But back home, he occupied himself with his West Coast distributorship for Goodyear racing tyres and set himself up as a performance driving instructor and as a fast-car wizard in Dean Moon’s hot-rodder shop at 10820 South Norwalk Boulevard in Santa Fe Springs, Los Angeles. This was, with pom-pom and cheerleader yee-hah, called Shelby American. Here several interesting things happened. First, Shelby’s
mind began to wander towards Ferrari’s ass and, simultaneously, towards under-exploited English sports cars. Second, by what source of inspiration we can only guess, he conceived the simple, but dramatic, idea of using brute American power to animate polite English cars.
Soon, Shelby received advanced versions of Ford’s new 221ci V8, intended by Dearborn to make the plodding Fairlane compete with John DeLorean’s more dynamic Pontiac Tempest. But he also received a rolling chassis of the AC Ace from Thames Ditton. They had, to complete a story of component-part miscegenation, MGB steering racks and Volkswagen steering columns.
He decided to call the car a ‘Cobra’ and the badge shows a threatening, hooded snake ready to strike. The coinage is significant. In Thames Ditton they had been happy with the more pusillanimous ‘Ace’. A reminiscence, perhaps, of Battle of Britain heroics or of bridge and genteel card games in Home Counties parlours. But American taste tended towards
Transmission
Suspension Front and rear; independent, upper and lower wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers
venomous reptiles. And the feral-aggressive agenda was on American car-makers’ minds. So soon, from elsewhere, would come the Mustang and the Barracuda.
Shelby’s Cobras were built in the Venice, California garage where Woolworth heir Lance Graf von HaugwitzHardenberg-Reventlow had based his Scarab operation. By car No.76 Cobras were using the Windsor 289 HiPo V8 and the activity was underwri en by Ford’s Lee Iacocca, who had a salesman’s intuition that racing would be good for the bluecollar Blue Oval. e shape of Shelby’s Cobra stayed essentially true to the Tojeiro Ace, which is to say the Ferrari Barche a, although the extended nose gave it a more threatening pout.
As Shelby had a competitive eye on Enzo’s ass, so Iacocca also had a corporate eye on Europe and Le Mans. e Cobra roadsters had impressed with brute force and drama, but drag from the ancient body would cost perhaps 20mph on the
Mulsanne straight, relative to Ferrari, a disadvantage that even ferocious acceleration could not outweigh. Shelby’s rst employee, Pete Brock, began work on a streamliner. As a 19-year-old prodigy at GM, Brock had just nished working on the Corve e Sting Ray, bringing yet another semantic element to the Cobra story.
In describing his Cobra Daytona, Brock namechecked Wunibald Kamm, as well as Volkswagen and Porsche designer Erwin Komenda, the rst engineers to give symbolic form to aerodynamic theory. But Brock also namechecked GM’s outrageous Harley Earl and his disciple Bill Mitchell, the greatest maestros of unabashed styling.
Shelby died in 2012. Ironically, the true American cobra, or eastern coral snake, does not rear and display a hood when surprised. Shelby’s famous snake motif was an import, like his rst car. Yet wholly American nonetheless.
Stephen Bayley
‘THE FERAL-AGGRESSIVE AGENDA WAS ON AMERICAN CAR MAKERS’ MINDS’
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars
DELAHAYE 135M
Born in 1895, Delahaye made commercial vehicles and rather mundane road cars to the mid-1930s, when it changed tack appreciably. The reasoning was simple: there was greater profit in making luxury machines in small numbers. The move followed the arrival of engineer/designer Jean François, who took an existing straight-six engine and produced a 3227cc (later 3557cc) powerplant that became a marque constant. While rooted in a truck engine, it powered everything from GT cars to Le Mans racers (a variant of the 135 won the 24 Hours in 1938). It was generally allied to either a Wilson pre-selector transmission or a Cotal electro-magnetic unit.
The ’M’ model was introduced in 1936 and offered in various states of tune. A raft of leading French coachbuilders clothed Delahayes in period, the likes of Jacques Saoutchik, Henri Chapron and Marcel Pourtout among them. However, the most celebrated outlines were produced by Figoni et Falaschi. The Paris firm created bodies for the 135 and its 165 descendent that were renowned for their styling flourishes, not least the use of wheel spats to cover all four wheels. Variants of 135 continued to be produced to 1955.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1936
Engine 3557cc straight-six, naturally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 120bhp Torque 173lb ft
Top speed 100mph 0-60mph 16sec
ASTON MARTIN
DB4 GT ZAGATO
One of the all-time great Aston Martins, this Italian take on the DB theme was styled by Ercole Spada. Remarkably, the then-future head of BMW design was just 22 years old when he penned the DB4 GT Zagato, although it shared some cues with a previous one-off Bristol that had been bodied by the Milanese coachbuilder.
It was unveiled at the London Motor Show at Earls Court in October 1960, with plans initially for a limited run of 25 Zagato-bodied DB4 GTs, all built to challenge the Ferrari 250GT SWB on-track. Instead, just 20 were made from 1961 to 1963 (including two cars that shared the same chassis number).
Rolling chassis were dispatched to Milan to be clothed with lightweight aluminium bodies. With power from the DB4 GT’s 3.7-litre twincam straight-six, this was a blisteringly quick
car for the period: 0-60mph took just 6.1sec. The first was entered in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 1962 for Mike Salmon and Ian Baillie. However, despite showing considerable pace, the car dropped out in the ninth hour.
The two most famous exponents were former Le Mans winner Roy Salvadori and Jim Clark, who drove for John Ogier’s Essex Racing Stable. Both claimed wins at national level. While sales didn’t live up to expectations in period, demand outstripped supply by the time it had reached classic status. So much so, Aston Martin initiated official Sanction II recreations in the late 1980s. A further pair of Sanction III cars followed in their wake. Their bodyshells were crafted by former Zagato employee, Mario Galbiatti. In 2019 Aston Martin announced plans to build another run of 19 cars under the DBZ Continuation banner.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1960
Engine 3670cc straight-six, naturally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 314bhp Torque 278lb ft
Top speed 154mph 0-60mph 6.1sec
BENTLEY SPEED SIX
During the Roaring Twenties the white heat of technology had created an automotive arms race in the western world, and Bentley Motors was a leading protagonist. Personal freedom was becoming more attainable thanks to rapidly advancing mechanisation, and at the forefront of this technological drive was the automobile industry. Based in Cricklewood, North London – a world away from Motown, Detroit – Walter Owen Bentley built his first 3 Litre in 1919, and in 1924, privateers John Duff and Frank Clement won Le Mans in a Bentley that put the marque on the shopping list of every fast-driving motoring enthusiast, many of them ex-servicemen and intrepid adventurers who had no fear of living life on the edge. The Bentley Boys had arrived with a ‘bloody thump’, the epithet applied to the engine noise of the original 3 Litre Bentley by none other than WO Bentley himself.
Bentley quickly established an unbeatable reputation thanks to its dominance on both road and track, setting records and standards for all other manufacturers to follow. From winning Le Mans five times and setting highspeed records at Brooklands, to offering fiveyear warranties on its motor cars, Bentleys were built to last the distance.
Bentley launched its first production model – the 3-Litre – in 1919, and this was followed up with the 6½ Litre seven years later. It was priced at a massive £1450 just for the chassis, there was an all-new 6597cc overhead-cam engine with four valves per cylinder (decades before such technology became the norm),
JAYSON FONG
and, thanks to the fitment of a single-plate clutch and a right-hand gearchange, it was much easier to drive than the 3 Litre.
With 140bhp, the 6½ Litre was immensely powerful for its day, but there were those who wanted more: cue the arrival in 1928 of the Speed Six, with an uprated 6.5-litre straightsix engine rated at a hefty 180bhp. Even RollsRoyce was impressed. After test driving the first production Speed Six in 1929, its Major LW Cox wrote: ‘I pushed it up to 82mph without any sign of effort on the part of the car, and the silence of the engine and its smoothness were remarkably good. There was certainly an atmosphere of RR about it.’
High praise indeed (Rolls-Royce would go on to swallow up Bentley in 1931), but it was well-deserved because Bentley craftsmanship was of the very highest order. WO Bentley himself had designed aero engines in World War One, and there was an ethos at the works that, just as an aeroplane has to be built without compromise because its pilot’s life depends on it, Bentley cars would be built to the same standard.
From this no-nonsense base, however, luxury cars could be created that were as glamorous as anything emanating from Paris or Turin. But the Speed Six wasn’t just about glamour, because works-supported cars took first places in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in both 1929 and 1930, completing a straight run of four outright wins for Bentley since 1927. Cast the net a little wider and you find that, in the 11 major races in which the works Speed Sixes were entered between 1929 and 1932, they achieved four first places and three seconds. At the time, that was a record that was unmatched anywhere else.
We’re so used to hearing the term ‘race car for the road’ nowadays that it comes across as nothing more than marketing speak, but the Bentley Speed Six really was a road car that you could buy if you had deep enough pockets (a very big if), and be victorious in contemporary endurance races. Very few other cars from any era can claim the same.
‘The overhead-cam engine had four valves per cylinder, decades before such technology became the norm’
David Ayre Cars has over 30 years experience in the Vintage Car Industry with a world class reputation for the restoration of 6 cylinder Bentleys, Lagondas & Invictas. We manufacture and sell new parts manufactured to the original plans and highest specifications. We’re also recognised as the go-to vintage car specialists if you want to enter internationally recognised concours events, competitively rally your car anywhere in the world.
Prompted by economic austerity in Italy in the immediate post-war years, Fiat introduced the 600 in 1955. This 633cc, rear-engined saloon in turn led to an even smaller machine, the twin-cylinder Nuova 500. It borrowed much of the 600 template but was diminutive in the extreme. Similarly conceived by Dante Giacosa, it was a miracle of rational design that remained in production from 1957 to 1975, by which time more than three million cars had been made. Fiat revisited the car’s outline in 2004 via the Roberto Giolito-designed Trepiuno concept car. It foretold the ‘modern’ 500, which went on sale in 2007.
The Sprint GT employed the running gear from the Giulia saloon to winning effect. This Giorgetto Giugiaro/Bertone offering received relatively few styling updates during its lifetime, which is testimony to just how ‘right’ the design was to begin with; the open-top GTC version was the work of Touring of Milan. Power came from a melodic twin-cam four-cylinder unit with displacements over time ranging from 1290cc to 1962cc.
Variations on the theme remained on sale from 1963 to 1977. The GTA and GTAm variants starred in touring car racing and the two-litre category of the TransAm series in the USA.
HONDA NSX
Launched in 1989 and on sale a year later, the NSX upstaged existing supercars by dint of being reliable and user-friendly. It raised the bar for what was expected of exotica, not least in terms of its architecture. The NSX was the first production car to employ aluminium semi-monocoque construction, its mid-mounted V6 VTEC engine boasting variable valve timing. A variant with a Targa-style lift-off roof panel was offered from 1995, late-run cars having fixed rather than pop-up headlights. Production ended in 2005. The NSX also claimed class honours at Le Mans at its first attempt in 1994.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1989
Engine 2977cc V6, naturally aspirated
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 270bhp Torque 210lb ft
Top speed 168mph 0-60mph 5.9sec
CITROËN TRACTION AVANT
It was in many ways a masterpiece, although there were umpteen variations of Traction Avant. The name was a catch-all tag, the literal translation being ‘forward traction’. Its arrival in 1934 represented a watershed moment for Citroën. The Traction Avant was new from end to end, and marked a significant divergence for a marque that had hitherto produced cars that were simple, sturdy and bargain-priced. Here was the first mass-produced car to wed monocoque construction and front-wheel drive; torsion bar springing featured too.
It was unconventional, left-field and brilliant in part, but development costs almost pauperised marque founder André Citroën. A selection of models were produced with four- and six-cylinder engines. Saloons came with a choice of three wheelbases and four distinct shapes referred to widely as Légère, Normale, Familiale and Commerciale, the latter being arguably the world’s first hatchback. There were also attractive fixed-head coupés and roadster variants, while British-built cars differed from their French counterparts, not least in terms of details and trim levels (home-market cars were more austere).
Known affectionally in its homeland as the Reine de la Route (‘Queen of the Road’), the Traction Avant remained in production for 23 years, with 759,111 being made up to 1955.
In many ways this steroidal hatchback foretold the Group B era of rallying. The 5 Turbo was conceived in 1977 with motorsport in mind. It was Renault’s retort to the Lancia Stratos, but one that used proprietary parts wherever possible: the rear suspension was derived from the Alpine-Renault A310, the gearbox came from the 30 TX saloon, and so on. Power, meanwhile, was provided by a mid-mounted 1397cc four-cylinder unit fed by Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection, and equipped with a Garrett AiResearch T3 turbocharger. It won first time out in the World Rally Championship, Jean Ragnotti claiming Monte Carlo Rally honours in 1981.
BUGATTI
TYPE 57 & ATLANTIC
The Atlantic – of which only two original cars exist, the third being rebuilt a er a major crash and the fourth, La Voiture Noir, remainng elusive – is the ultimate expression of Buga i’s masterpiece Type 57. The T57 emerged at the 1934 Paris Motor Show and became an instant classic and the premier Grand Routier of its day. Its 3257cc straight-eight was a work of art, producing up to 200bhp when supercharged. Five ‘standard’ Type 57 outlines were o ered: the four-seat, four-door Galibier; the Stelvio convertible; two-door, four-seat Ventoux; two-seater notchback Atalante; and the ultra-exotic Atlantic coupé.
The original T57 was followed by the lower, shorter, and sleeker T57S in 1935, while a supercharger became an option from 1938, creating the 57C (for Compressor) and SC editions. Type 57s fared well in competition, with Earl Howe third in the 1935 TT aboard a cycle-winged example. A year later, Buga i dominated the French Grand Prix for sports cars at Montlhéry, Jean-Pierre Wimille and Raymond Sommer sharing honours in their 57G with its radical-looking, fully-enveloped body.
Outright wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1937 and 1939 merely cemented its standing.
‘250,000 Model Ts were made in 1914, more than the rest of the American motor industry combined’
FORD MODEL T
Henry Ford conceived the Model T as a ‘universal car’ that would be produced globally. is was underlined by the choice of venue for the car’s launch: the London Motor Show that was staged at Olympia in November 1908 (cars were built in Britain from 1911). Prior to the introduction of the Model T, virtually every other car-maker had fashioned engines with a cast-iron cylinder block bolted onto an aluminium crankcase. In order to simplify the manufacturing process, here they were cast in one piece. Over time the build process became increasingly rapid as Model Ts were made on assembly lines in Dearborn, Manchester and elsewhere. By 1914, it took a mere 1hr 33min to complete the build of each car. at year alone saw 250,000 Model Ts made, which was more than the rest of the American motor industry combined. Such was the popularity of the ‘Tin Lizzie’, 16.5 million were sold to 1927, making it the most numerically successful car ever. It held that record for 46 years, until it was nally eclipsed by the Volkswagen Beetle. However, far from being available only in black as per popular legend, a ra of hues was o ered until 1914.
Does any car epitomise the spirit of the supercar better than the original Lamborghini Countach LP400 Periscopio? Harry Metcalfe travels to Italy to find out
Photography Dean Smith
The Countach’s visual shock factor is alive and well in Rimini on this winter morning. We thought we’d found a quiet spot at the far end of a barren dockland pier, but the locals take no time to discover us and now the cameraphones are out in force.
It’s easy to see why it’s drawing a crowd, because this LP400 Periscopio already has me under its spell, too. It’s helped considerably by being painted a very 1970s purple hue (Viola Metallizzato in Lamborghini speak) with a crisp white leather interior, which is exactly how it was spec’d by its original owner, Michael Noss, described as a ‘flamboyant Swedish entrepreneur’ in the notes supplied by the current owner. Noss epitomises for me the Countach customer profile, but then you could paint a Countach mud brown and it would still make you stop and stare, such is the superstar quality of Marcello Gandini’s original design.
What I find more surprising is just how tiny an early Countach is in the metal. The Countach is shorter than the Miura (163in plays 172in), despite the latter’s transverse engine layout that should make it the more compact. Roof height is near-identical at 42in apiece, but the Countach is wider by 4in, at 6ft 2in across the beam. Quite how Gandini managed to fit a longitudinal V12, five-speed gearbox, two 60-litre fuel tanks, a decent boot, air-conditioning and space in the nose for a full-size spare, in a car with a footprint that equals a three-cylinder Ford Fiesta’s, is one of the great wonders.
But there’s a snag: interior space is tight and headroom is almost non-existent. Turns out that the pre-1980 Countach has a lower roofline (they’re referred to as ‘low-bodies’ by those in the know), meaning you can fit behind the wheel of an early Countach only if you are well under 6ft tall, and I’m not.
I discovered Countach interiors come in two sizes back in 1999, after making enquiries about a ’76 LP400 up for sale at a London dealer called Garage on the Green. The Countach in question was yellow with a black interior, it had been part-restored and was available for a mere £40,000. I didn’t know much about them at the time but the engine looked nice and shiny, if a little scary to work on, but I walked away because I would fit inside only if I could find a way of removing my head.
I tried another LP400 a few years later but it was the same problem. Then Octane asked me to drive this one, owned by the collector and broker Simon Kidston. He’s 6ft 4in tall but has had a section of chassis below the seat invisibly
dropped so that he’ll fit. I jumped at the chance. There’s always something special about driving the first edition of anything. It’s generally the purest and that’s definitely the case with the Countach. Wind back the clock to when Lamborghini maestros Paolo Stanzani (who took over as chief engineer at Lamborghini after Giampaolo Dallara left in 1968) and Bob Wallace were dreaming up how they might replace the Miura. The key areas they wanted to improve were high-speed stability, chassis rigidity and gearchange quality. It was Stanzani who had the brainwave of turning the Miura’s transverse V12 engine through 90º and bolting the gearbox to the front of it, positioning it down the backbone of the car, between the two seats in the passenger cabin. The net result was direct operation of the gearbox and better weight distribution.
The only problem was how to get the drive from the gearbox back to the rear wheels. The solution was an enclosed driveshaft running from the side of the gearbox, through the base of the engine to a differential at the rear. It’s this layout that later allowed Lamborghini to develop four-wheel-drive Diablos with relative ease, by fitting a second shaft running forward from the central gearbox.
It’s time to swing the driver’s door up and see what this LP400 is like to drive. Slide in over the sill and – finally – I fit! It’s a joyous moment after decades of access denied. I should add here that I ended up buying a ‘high-body’ Countach Quattrovalvole back in 2010, which I have since enjoyed over some 25,000km. I’m intrigued to find out how this daintier LP400 compares to my more powerful but fatter and heavier QV.
I give the tiny key an initial twist and hear two electric fuel pumps get to work; that’s different from my QV, which just emits a high-pitched whine at this stage. Carbs primed, I twist again to engage the starter. The V12 comes to life, as first
‘HOW WILL THIS DAINTIER
LP400
COMPARE TO MY MORE POWERFUL BUT HEAVIER QV?’
eight, then ten cylinders clear their throats before all 12 chime in. This engine already sounds great and settles into a 1000rpm tickover as I depress the clutch and select the dogleg first. Clutch, steering and throttle all immediately feel lighter than in my QV, while visibility is a revelation. Not having the QV’s power-dome over the engine makes the rear window seem enormous, although the indented roof channel that gives the Periscopio its nickname – it has its own tiny rear window and was originally intended to house a periscope, an idea that never got off the drawing board – doesn’t noticeably provide any extra light into the cabin. The mirrors are clamped more closely to the windows and are more useful than the tinted electric ones on my QV, which sit at the end of droopy stalks.
Now to extract this Countach from downtown Rimini and head to the hills. Wow, this car is low. In traffic, you can sidle up alongside some modern SUV and find the roofline of the Countach is below its windowline. So no eye-contact, but everyone knows you’re there, thanks to the sound of a racy V12. It’s not loud like today’s shouty supercars; rather there’s a deep underlying bellow that penetrates your inner being.
The dash instruments are smaller than in my QV too, yet they are easier to read as the speedo
displays only km/h and not mph as well, so the digits are that much larger. I love how the odometer is stacked vertically (showing 60,500km incidentally) and spend the rest of the time it takes me to leave Rimini trying (but failing) to think of another car with this feature.
After several minutes of urban crawl a brief section of dual carriageway appears and gives me the chance to push on a bit. The easy-action throttle is so much nicer than in my car, which is handicapped by being right-hand drive, the convolutions of which force extra resistance through the initial travel. Combine this with the greater visibility and narrower track and my confidence in placing the LP400 builds quickly.
The quality and depth of the 2016 restoration by Bacchelli & Villa are starting to shine through, too. This was a complete stripdown and rebuild, rather than merely a titivation exercise. When Kidston bought the car it was finished in yellow, but when the technicians took the windscreen out in preparation for its respray, they discovered the car was originally painted the purple colour you see here.
More digging revealed a Swedish magazine article done with the first owner soon after delivery, and one of the photographs showed a large white telephone on top of the dash to the right of the instrument binnacle. Sadly the phone is no more, but to have a purple Countach complete with fitted car-phone in the 1970s has to be the definition of living the dream!
ANYONE WHO HAS experienced the run to San Marino during the Mille Miglia will know this is a short but crazy section of road, with gradient, serious bends and roundabouts thrown into the mix, and I’m loving it. The gearchange needs a firm hand; it’s tempting not to use it much and rely on the elasticity of the engine instead, but this stretch of Italian madness is my first proper go at using the revs.
Anti-clockwise, from below left Longitudinal V12 makes a noise you feel; in some ways the earlier dashboard is more ergonomically sound than the later ones; lowered seat means 6ft-plus Harry fits; purple and white colour scheme is pure Lamborghini; surely the most dramatic-looking car ever?
‘THE
RUN TO SAN MARINO IS A SHORT BUT CRAZY SECTION OF ROAD, AND
I’M LOVING IT’
Peak power is 375bhp and arrives at 8000rpm, which is just where the red paint starts on the tacho. Peak torque is 266lb ft and arrives quite late too, at 5500rpm, which is thanks mainly to the engine having a short (62mm) stroke relative to its 82mm bore, making it over-square. That’s because Bizzarrini originally designed this V12 as a race engine, but made a more road-biased version when Mr Lamborghini came knocking at the door. Those racy characteristics are still there, though, and it’s a pleasure to pile on the revs whenever the chance arises. As we climb further up the hill, the low-fuel light starts winking at me so I pull in at the nearest petrol station for a refuel and a bit of a breather.
On these early cars you get a fuel filler on both sides, each hiding inside the NACA duct ahead of the radiator. As the attendant plops €50 of his finest 100-octane into the right-hand tank, I take the opportunity to check out the tyres, which turn out to be Michelin XWXs, 205/70 VR14s at the front and 215s at the rear. The rears look particularly tiny today, especially when you view the car from dead-on. Compare those with the pumped-up Pirelli P7s on the back of the later Countach, 345/35 ZR15s that make the LP400 look like it’s on space-savers!
It wasn’t meant to be like this, though, as Bob Wallace was promised by Pirelli that the new generation of performance tyres it was developing would arrive just in time for the Countach’s launch in 1974. They were late and, while Wallace wanted to delay the car’s release, Ferruccio needed the cash and pressed ahead. Wallace left Lamborghini soon after Stanzani in 1975, so it was left to enthusiastic owner Walter Wolf to contact Giampaolo Dallara to help develop the Countach to take the new Pirelli P7 tyres when they finally arrived.
Fuel-stop completed, we leave San Marino and head for a more challenging stretch of road that leads to the pretty town of San Leo. The Countach is nicely warmed through now and showing a bit of January road grime down its flanks. Still, it’s not snowing like it has been closer to Modena, where our day began, so we count ourselves lucky and press on regardless. The road turns into more of what I was hoping for and, as the traffic disappears, the route twists and turns at random, up one hillside and then down another.
I’m liking this Countach a lot. There are no bangs or crashes from the suspension, despite the badly weathered road surface, and the damping feels tight with much of the springing medium coming from the tall tyre sidewalls, rather than the quad springs at the rear (two spring-and-damper units on each side). A good Countach should feel tight, as the suspension is linked to the (beautiful) tubular chassis via Rose joints all round, rather than the rubber/ metal joints you find on most cars, and in part that’s why I’m finding this such a straightforward car to read as I start to push harder.
It’s easy to kiss the 8000rpm redline unintentionally, so happily does this engine build revs. You use first a lot as it takes you all the way to 64mph, second is closely stacked and gets you to 81mph, while third is good for 108mph.
What’s shining through is the quality of the chassis and how I can nibble at the tyres’ limits, or push just a little more and break through the grip to enjoy the rear slipping slightly wide before dropping back into line as the corner starts to straighten out. This is joyous and nothing like my QV, whose limits are so much higher, particularly at the rear, so understeer dominates the experience most of the time, unless you are seriously determined to find
where the outer extremes of rear grip really are.
As we reach San Leo I’m relieved to have finally found an LP400 I can fit into and drive, and also to have discovered this stretch of road, where I can explore the outer edges of the car’s handling without anyone else around. There’s no question in my mind that the more enjoyable experience would be in this LP400 Countach over my QV. The chassis is easier to read from the driver’s seat, and the smaller brakes aren’t the worry I expected them to be either, with more initial bite than those on my QV, despite being an inch smaller in diameter due to the smaller wheel size of the LP400.
In the QV it’s the butch looks and the matching punch of that 455bhp engine and the still-quick-today performance it engenders that leave the most lasting memories. The LP400 is altogether a more intimate experience: its looks arrest your eye in a different way, and the balance of the chassis and the free-revving nature of the engine make it feel quite dissimilar. That’s what I came away enjoying the most.
There’s one thing that has always troubled me about the LP400 and that’s how on earth chief test driver Bob Wallace managed to fit inside when he was developing the car. He was a lanky 6ft-plus individual. I finally discovered when reading a rare interview in a recently published book on his life that actually he didn’t fit inside the LP400 prototype either. In the end, he had to remove the driver’s seat completely and create a padded aluminium sheet to sit on, then did all development driving using this, rather than a standard seat. I’m not saying you should take such drastic action but if you ever get the chance to drive a properly sorted LP400 then grab it with both hands. I’m glad I did. It was worth the wait. End
Above and right
Everything about the original Countach shocks: the silhouette, the door arrangement and (in this case) even the colour; after the curvaceous Miura, the sharp lines of the Countach are far more dramatic, however you look at it.
1977 Lamborghini Countach LP400
Engine 3929cc mid-mounted V12, DOHC per bank, six Weber 45 DCOE carburettors Power 375bhp @ 8000rpm Torque 266lb ft @ 5500rpm
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Steering Rack and pinion Suspension Front and rear: double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar. Springs and dampers twinned at rear Brakes Vented discs Weight 1370kg Top speed 192mph (claimed) 0-60mph 6.8sec
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1984
Engine 2849cc flat-six, twin-turbocharged
Transmission Six-speed manual, four-wheel drive
Power 444bhp Torque 369lb ft
Top speed 197mph 0-60mph 3.7sec
32
This elegant roadster was created at the behest of BMW’s East Coast concessionaire, Max Hoffman. The Austrian émigré was convinced that there was a market for such a car in the USA. It proved to be a rare mis-step because only 252 cars were built from 1956 to 1959, which was a long way short of the 5000 units per year mooted at the outset. High development costs and BMW’s parlous state at the time blunted its chances. The irony is that this 3168cc V8-engined machine is now highly coveted, with seven-figure price tags to match. Owners in period included Elvis Presley and John Surtees.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1956
Engine 3168cc V8, naturally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 155bhp Torque 175lb ft
Top speed 122mph 0-60mph 11.1sec
PORSCHE 959
First seen at the 1983 Geneva motor show, Porsche’s Gruppe B design study foretold the 959. However, despite resembling a 911, the 959 shared little with its mainstream sibling, the only carryover being the tail light clusters. Even the glazing was bespoke. The outline was created to cleave the air efficiently, complete with a flat floor panel to harness airflow beneath the car as well as above it. The drag coefficient was an impressive (for the time) 0.31.
The car’s flat-six engine was a technical marvel, with air-cooled cylinders and watercooled cylinder heads, dry-sump lubrication and a sequential turbocharger set-up. In true Porsche style, the 444bhp unit was sited behind the rear axle line, but permanent four-wheel drive ensured it had ample grip. Given that the specification also stretched to anti-lock brakes, adjustable dampers, a six-speed gearbox and run-flat tyres, it is no surprise that, despite the lofty £140,000 price tag for each of the 283 built, Porsche didn’t recoup its investment.
The 959 excelled in competition, memorably on the Paris-Dakar rally-raid where René Metge claimed honours in 1986. The 961 variant took class honours at Le Mans that same year.
MAZDA MX-5
The 1980s weren’t kind to the two-seater roadster. There was a dearth of models offered by mainstream manufacturers until Mazda re-invented the affordable sports car. The MX-5 was launched at the Chicago Auto Show in February 1989, the same event that witnessed the debut of two other important Japanese sports cars: the Nissan 300ZX and Honda NSX. Nevertheless, it was the MX-5 – or Miata in the USA, Eunos Roadster in its homeland – that captivated. The motoring media was quick to point out that it represented a distillation of British sports cars of old. This was understandable given that the Type 26 Lotus Elan served as inspiration both mechanically and stylistically. Power came from a twin-cam four-cylinder engine that, in initial UK-spec, developed 114bhp. It had a top speed of a relatively modest 121mph, with 0-60mph taking 8.7
seconds, but it was the way the car handled that impressed most. The pert Mazda was fun, involving and intimate. It had charm, which would explain why more than 140,000 had been sold by the end of 1990. Not that it was immune to criticism, the biggest complaint in the UK being the lack of power. The British concessionaire responded by teaming up with Brodie Britain Racing to offer a fully warranted turbocharged variant that produced 150bhp.
Over time the MX-5 would be offered in a raft of trim and spec levels, with various power outputs in 1.6- and 1.8-litre forms. Demand never slackened, with 431,506 first-series cars being made to 1997, of which 312,969 were exported. Three further generations of MX-5s followed in its wake, Mazda also inspiring other manufacturers to add sports cars to their ranges. It may have been small but the firstseries MX-5 cast a long shadow.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1989
Engine 1598cc four-cylinder, naturally aspirated
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 114bhp Torque 100lb ft
Top speed 121mph 0-60mph 8.7sec
SUBJECT OF
OF DESIRE
Not all valuable classic Ferraris are bought as investments. This one is used by its enthusiastic owner for undertaking road trips all over Europe
Words Glen Waddington
Photography Tim Andrew
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars Ferrari Daytona
You know, you’re quite lucky that it’s looking so shiny,’ smiles Bertie Gilbart-Smith with a glint in his eye. ‘I don’t polish it very often. But I’m chief steward for the Concours of Elegance and, even though the Daytona wasn’t taking part at Hampton Court this year, those chaps from Autoglym insisted on polishing every car that was there. I simply had to chamois it before bringing it to the studio.’
The impression might be of a car that’s not cared for, but that is very clearly not the case. Bertie has owned the Daytona for many years and loves it to bits. And it’s to his credit that he derives his enjoyment from driving it rather than looking at it, gorgeous though it is. Some years ago I wrote of the Daytona that ‘it’s diabolically beautiful, with stupefying proportions that pin down your aesthetic senses, only for its deft and subtle detailing to coax them back’. Purple prose that applies equally to this purple car. It’s still knock-emdead, and I’ve been up close and personal with quite a few in-between.
And much has happened in the Daytona’s world in that intervening period. Is there another car that’s seen such volatility in its values? The ’68 car that I drove in 2001 was valued at £85,000, way down on previous peak prices (£500,000 in the late 1980s), and I’ve driven one since – a decent one – that was on the market for £55,000. Such days are gone; the best are now easily beyond those previous boom prices. I’m not going to embarrass Bertie
here and ask what he paid for his or what it’s worth. Safe to say that in 2007 a Daytona would have bought quite a comfortable home, and now it’d buy a more comfortable one.
That colour, though. We don’t really call it purple. I’ve seen the bill of sale. It’s Viola. And it comes with a restrained (and wholly original) black hide interior. The glorious hue of that paint was a second thought, when the factory order was modified from the intended Grigio Ferro. Changes of mind don’t come much more, well, vivid than that.
‘If you can live with the colour, you’ll never get a better car,’ says Bertie. ‘That’s what I was advised. Well, in the pictures it had looked blue, so it was something of a shock to the system when I went to see it. But the grey would have been a bit dull, perhaps, and I really don’t like them in red. As with any car, you buy the best there is. It’s always cheaper in the long run.’
And this was the best there was when Bertie went hunting. ‘I’ve had my AC Ace since 1965, when it was five years old. Lord Cross [the first British person to buy an AC Cobra, the fourth in Europe] bought his Cobra just a few months ahead of that and he did so much with it – I would have loved that car. When he died, I’d hoped to buy it but it wasn’t to be. And I had all my ducks in a row, so to speak. I’d never dreamt before that I could own a Daytona but I started looking. I wanted right-hand drive, Plexiglas headlamps, and I saw quite a lot. But nothing appealed until I saw this one.’
And to want one, whatever the colour, is entirely understandable.
IT’S WORTH, at this point, decoding the car’s nomenclature: 365 GTB/4 Daytona. The latter word is an epithet coined following the Scuderia’s 1-2-3 finish in the 24-hour race at the Florida circuit in 1967 – not with a 365, even a Competizione, but with a 330 P3/4, a 330 P4 and a 412 P.
Naturally, the Competizione racing version followed in 1970, two years after the road car was launched, and a year after an aluminiumbodied car had raced (and crashed out) at Le Mans. The Competizione scored multiple class wins, notably at Le Mans among privateer entrants (including fifth overall in 1971). A total of 15 were built, in three batches of five (the last in 1973), all with lightweight aluminium and glassfibre bodywork, Plexiglas windows, and an engine tuned from the standard 352bhp of the first cars up to 400bhp and then 450bhp in the second and final batches respectively.
But the Daytona was really a road car. There were 1284 closed coupés (the ‘B’ for berlinetta) produced between 1968 and 1973, plus 122 GTS spider versions, all with the same 4390cc four-cam Colombo V12 (365cc per cylinder, hence the ‘365’; ‘4’ for the camshafts). Mechanically, the car followed on from the 275 GTB, with a five-speed transaxle transmission and coil-sprung wishbone suspension allround, all seen for the first time on the 275, which had made its debut in 1964 and marked the end of live axles for the company.
Equally, that four-cam V12 was a development of the 275’s, and part of the long line of V12s developed by Gioacchino Colombo that could
Above and right
Bertie Gilbart-Smith has owned this 1970 Ferrari Daytona for almost two decades and driven all over Europe in it.
‘It’s to Bertie’s credit that he derives enjoyment from driving it rather than looking at it, gorgeous though it is’
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars Ferrari Daytona
Right Black hide interior is entirely original bar the bins mounted on the console by a previous owner. ‘They’re extremely useful for maps on a Continental run,’ says owner Bertie Gilbart-Smith.
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars Ferrari
Daytona
chart its heritage right back to the first 125 S of 1947. The 275’s 3.3-litre was the last development to share the original’s 58.8mm stroke, and can be considered the final step beyond the definitive 3.0-litre 250 engine, which was so successful in racing yet spawned equally iconic road cars. The final 275 GTB/4 featured a dry sump, six-carb induction and a four-cam cylinder head configuration, with the valve angle reduced to 54º for compactness. The twin-cam-per-bank layout meant all 24 valves were aligned perpendicularly to the camshafts.
Colombo’s engine had been upgraded for the 4.0-litre 330 of 1963, its new block featuring wider bore spacings. The Daytona’s engine included many of the 275’s developments, and took as its basis the 330’s block but with a wider bore. It was the first 365 model to feature a drysump, four-cam layout; in other applications (such as the California, and the GT 2+2) the engine was run in softer tune, appropriate for more luxurious GT cars. And while the Daytona was certainly a GT, and one that could race, it was also Ferrari’s first true supercar.
Yes, while the Daytona looked back over a proud 20-year history, it marked a new direction for Ferrari. The first cars were built during the takeover by Fiat, so the company was changing – a sign of the times. And while the 275 GTB could be called the last of the classical Ferraris, there’s no shame in suggesting that the Daytona was the first of the modern era. Its styling, by Pininfarina’s Leonardo Fioravanti, nodded towards the future, with wind-cheating lines in place of classical curves and Plexiglas fairings over the headlamps… until US legislation forced a move to retractable covers in 1971.
If the Daytona’s front-engine, rear-drive layout was a step behind the competition at Lamborghini, the company explored the possibilities of a mid-engined road car right alongside, with its junior brother, the Dino 206. It took the next generation of Ferrari supercar – the 512 BB of 1973 – to follow the Miura’s lead, though Ferrari’s car owed more to its own racers than it did to developments at nearby Sant’Agata. And anyway, the Daytona had already earned the mantle of fastest road car of its day.
THAT’S ENOUGH of a history lesson for now. With practised ease, Bertie swings open the Daytona’s door, falls into its low-set seat, and reverses it from its parking barn in a single arc. Time for a drive.
‘One of my favourite things about it is the way it starts,’ he smiles. ‘That voice as it turns over and fires, it just gets the hairs on your neck. And it’s so effortless to drive. The only problem is that it’s at its happiest at 90mph – way happier than it is at 70mph. You just can’t drive it as it’s meant to be driven very often, these days.’
He’s a confident driver, placing the Daytona
Right
It’s easy to assume that the Daytona’s most eye-catching angle is from the front, but this rear three-quarter shot looks pretty alluring.
‘While the Daytona looked back over a proud 20-year history, it marked a new direction for Ferrari’
The
perfectly on the road and unafraid to explore the rev range once the oil is warm. ‘There’s so little body roll and it barely dips under braking. Yes, it has a very firm ride; you need to try one before you buy it, and to accept it for what it is. That’s the whole point. But Continental trips are wonderful.’
Long trips are at the root of Bertie’s love for the car. ‘Back in the 1980s I was invited by a friend to drive his Daytona from Colorado to Pebble Beach. There was a Ferrari Owners’ Club meeting at Laguna Seca and we hurled the Daytona around there. It was the first time I’d driven one and I found they’re totally different at high speed – they’re not designed to do anything other than be driven hard. And when it’s hot – really hot – the gearshift is like a knife through butter.’
There have been long drives in this one, too: ‘My longest was to the Modena Cento Ore rally – 3500 miles in total. We drove to the start in Rimini via the Stelvio Pass and I stayed on after with friends to do the scrutineering at Monza,
then headed back through Switzerland via as many passes as possible. That was a fun trip.’
He pulls over and invites me to take the wheel. I pull away and gradually build speed, reminding myself of the way every millimetre of throttle travel translates not only into increased pace but also changes in the V12’s tone, from the busy bluster of its idle via a wailing mid-range to a full-on roar by the upper reaches of the rev-counter.
Bertie is a calm passenger and relays some of his car’s history: ‘It was in OK condition when it was sold in 1977. The engine, transaxle, bearings and brakes were all rebuilt by the second owner, Jim Whitehouse. He owned it until 2006, and it was resprayed in the original Viola during that time, too. He was a BRDC member, and the owner of Mini racing specialist Arden Engineering.’
The car came with no bills because all the work had been done in-house. ‘I was told Jim Whitehouse was “just a garage owner”. But he was one of the best garage owners who could
1970 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Engine 4390cc V12, DOHC per bank, six Weber 40DCN20 carburettors
Power 352bhp @ 7500rpm
Torque 318lb ft @ 5500rpm
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel-drive Steering Worm and roller Suspension Front and rear: double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar
Brakes Vented discs Weight 1633kg
Top speed 173mph 0-60mph 5.9sec
have owned it. There are so many notes in the handbook, all the settings he worked out so it would run at its best for his use.
‘When I found it, it was spotless underneath. So original everywhere, too, especially under the bonnet. People ask why I don’t replace the fusebox, as the labelling has faded. But why? It’s part of its history.’
The going gets a little twistier and the steering certainly gives you a work-out, yet the gearshift’s movement through the open gate responds positively to an assertive left hand.
Regular use and maintenance ensure that the Daytona still drives with great verve: there’s no stickiness in the controls, and no dead spots as you accelerate. Equally, there are no creaks in the body or through the suspension, and the car feels wonderfully tight, yet alive with it.
‘There’s been no need for any major work in all the years I’ve owned it, just maintenance. Most recently I replaced the limited-slip plates in the differential. It’s over 50 years old! And I’ve never had any problems. I don’t do trackdays, they don’t appeal. I would rather drive to a track I’ve never been to before and enjoy the journey. I can’t think of many cars I’d rather drive a long way in. It even has a decent-sized boot.’
Bertie combines his love for the Daytona with another occupation. He says: ‘I began scrutineering in the late 1960s and I go all over Europe with the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association. I drive to every race in one of my cars, including the Daytona. I bought it to enjoy it. Cars can get damaged but they can also be repaired. If it rains, it rains. If you were worried about where to park it, you’d never use it. We’re only custodians. If you use them they work better as a result.’
And he’s equally nonchalant about what it might be worth. ‘There’s no point buying a car and hoping it will increase in value. That’s a bonus if it happens, but you have to keep it going along the way and invest in maintenance and repairs. I don’t play golf but many that do come back with a smile on their faces. That’s why they pay green fees. And it’s exactly the same with a car.’
It’s difficult to disagree with that.
THE ONLY AUTHORISED WORLDWIDE FERRARI CLASSIC PARTS DISTRIBUTOR
TOYOTA 40-SERIES LAND CRUISER
Toyota introduced its first four-wheel-drive Land Cruiser in 1951, but it was the third-gen model that became a global hit, with North America proving especially susceptible to its charms. Launched in 1960, the 40-series model remained on sale to the mid-1980s. O ered in umpteen configurations including convertible, two- and four-door estates, and pick-up trucks, it was powered by unkillable straight-six engines, with four-cylinder diesels also o ered in some markets. Variations on the theme and spin-o s were also built outside Japan, not least the Venezuelan Toyota Macho. A Brazilian-made model remained in production as late as 2001.
ESSENTIAL
FACTS
AND FIGURES
Introduced 1960
Engine 4230cc straight-six, naturally aspirated
Transmission Three-speed manual, four-wheel drive
Power 133bhp
Torque 173lb
Top speed 81mph
0-60mph 18.7sec
PEUGEOT 205 GTI
Few cars are more redolent of the original hot hatch movement than the Peugeot 205 GTI. The basic 205 in its various guises arrived in February 1983 and was praised for its ride and handling. The 205 GTI was introduced in 1984, the same year that saw the emergence of the three-door body style. If the outer cladding, badging and pepperpot alloy wheels weren’t su cient pointers that this was something special, its aluminium alloy inclined overheadcam four-cylinder engine unquestionably was. Equipped with Bosch L-Jetronic injection, it produced 105bhp at 6250rpm.
The claimed top speed of 116mph and 0-60mph in 8.5 seconds were more than just PR smoke. Peugeot didn’t rest on its laurels, though. In 1985 the 205 GTI received a power hike to 115bhp. At the end of the following year there was also an alternative engine option: the all-aluminium ‘XU’ unit retained the same cylinder bore dimensions but gained in stroke to increase displacement from 1580 to 1905cc. Power was also raised to 130bhp. Scroll-forward to 1995 and the last 205 GTI le the line in Spain (they had previously been assembled in Mulhouse), its legendary status already long assured.
General Motors was at its creative best under design czar Bill Mitchell. The 1960s saw the biggest of Detroit’s Big Three usher in umpteen milestone classics. None was more dramaticlooking than the C2-generation Corve e which emerged in 1963. It was o ered in open and closed forms, and the coupe initially featured a central divider that separated the rear screens; Mitchell claimed that he had been inspired by the Alfa Romeo BAT 9 show car, designed by Franco Scaglione. O ered with a variety of small- and big-block V8 engines, the C2-series model remained on sale to 1967, by which time 117,964 had been made.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1972
Engine 3003cc straight-six, naturally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 200bhp Torque 200lb Top speed 133mph 0-60mph 7.3sec
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1963
Engine 5358cc V8, naturally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 360bhp Torque 357lb
Top speed 135mph 0-60mph 5.8sec
BMW 3.0 CSL
The CSL was created as a retort to the Ford Capri RS2600. Built in conjunction with Alpina in 1971, the original CSL had been 200kg lighter than the regular CS coupé, but only 165 cars were made rather than the 1000 needed to appease the rule-makers. BMW responded by taking ma ers into its own hands. The 1972 variant was equipped with a straight-six unit from the 3.0 CSi which gained Bosch fuel injection and a displacement hike to 3003cc. Inevitably, there was a bit of a homologation fudge, and not all of the 929 cars made were particularly light; most of the 500 cars sold with right-hand drive had electric windows, glass in place of Perspex, and so on. Nevertheless, they served their purpose and from 1973 BMW fi ed a 3153cc engine plus a large front spoiler, a full-width roof deflector to guide the flow of air over the rear screen, plus a boot-mounted aerofoil above the existing spoiler. BMW’s ‘Batmobile’ continued to clean up on-track in Europe and North America.
LOTUS ELISE
The Elise marked a return to lightweight, barebones sports cars for this storied marque, the remarkable part being that it was born from a secret project undertaken by Lotus Engineering for Land Rover. It was keen to learn about the methodology of constructing cars with extruded and bonded aluminium panels that echoed techniques employed in the aerospace industry. A batch of prototypes was built and field-tested by Lotus, but the scheme wasn’t adopted for production. Knowledge gleaned from this experiment led to what was originally meant to have been a doorless roadster in the same vein as the Lotus/ Caterham Seven.
Matters snowballed after Romano Artioli of Bugatti Industries acquired Lotus in August 1993. He was keen to create something more contemporary-looking. He was also eager to use Italian styling houses to shape what in time became known as the Elise. Tom Tjaarda of Dimensione Design
and Giorgetto Giugiaro submitted proposals, but ultimately an in-house pitch by Julian Thomson was adopted. He looked to previous Lotus models for inspiration, not least the Type 23 sports-racing car from 1962/63, but the outline was fresh and original and devoid of wild styling flourishes.
Supporting the glassfibre bodyshell was a revolutionary bonded extruded aluminium structure that weighed just 68kg, while the 1.8-litre Rover K-series engine was sited amidships. Top speed was modest at 124mph, but the Elise could sprint from zero to 60mph in just 5.9 seconds. Power was subsequently increased to 145bhp and then 190bhp, variations on the theme including the wild 340R and the Exige, which was a track-ready hardtop version. It also spawned the Vauxhall VX220/Opel Speedster. Lotus hoped to sell 900 Elises in three years, but demand soon outstripped supply: 8631 were made to 2001, when the Series 2 variant came online.
‘The remarkable part was that it was born from a secret project undertaken by Lotus Engineering for Land Rover’
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1996
Engine 1796cc four-cylinder, naturally aspirated
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 118bhp Torque 122lb ft
Top speed 124mph 0-60mph 5.9sec
THE VICTORY MACHINE
With three World Rally Championships and three Monte Carlo Rally wins in its genre-defining career, the Lancia Stratos was built purely to come first. This is its story
Words Brett Fraser Photography Matthew Howell
‘The sole purpose of the Stratos was to go rallying. To go rallying to win. Everything’
Ahead the view is panoramic; behind, the refined snarling of a Ferrari V6 booms forth from the engine bay, filling your head with its intensity. You’re more or less sitting on the floor, and from beneath you comes the rattle and clatter of suspension working hard to provide a surprisingly good ride quality. And you’re nervous. The car is twitchy. Very twitchy, courtesy of extremely light, hair-trigger steering that translates every wriggle of your wrist into a darting movement of the nose. This excitability of the chassis is exacerbated by its cruise-missile eagerness to follow the terrain beneath the tyres, keenly seeking the lowest point of the road, which is inevitably the gutter. Your guard is up constantly, because it has to be, your hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, your concentration levels in the red zone.
There’s lots more performance to come and the engine’s ready desire to rev and the car’s palpable light weight are goading you to delve deeper into their package of dynamic delight. Your heart wants to respond to their entreaty, but your head sensibly overrules them: going quicker in this captivating yet nerve-wracking car would require the otherworldly skills of a championship-winning rally driver. No doubt about it, you can only be in a Lancia Stratos.
The Stratos seems too pretty for the rough and tumble of rallying. It’s small and neat and pert, not butch and aggressive or any of the other macho qualities you might expect of a car that needs to bully its way along rock-strewn goat tracks in Greece and snow-slathered Swedish backroads. It’s a mid-engined sports car for nice, smooth tarmac surfaces, surely?
But that’s the deceit of one of the world’s most attractive two-seater
designs, because the sole purpose of the Stratos was to go rallying. To go rallying to win. Everything. Lancia’s competition department, headed by Cesare Fiorio in the 1970s, was very focused on that last point – total domination of the world rallying scene was the only way to justify the huge cost of the exercise. So the Stratos was a car created from scratch specifically to roar around rally stages, rather than being a road car adapted to the task. As such it was the first of its kind, an extreme interpretation of the expression ‘homologation special’, and the success of the Stratos concept would later spawn the special-stage monsters of the Group B era.
It’s remarkable that the Stratos, especially looking the way it does, was sanctioned by Lancia’s management. Or by Fiat’s for that matter – by 1970 Lancia was part of the Fiat group, along with Ferrari. Rallying’s value to most of its participants is that the cars on the stages look much like the cars you can buy in the showroom. The Stratos was not like anything in Lancia’s showroom, or anyone else’s. Yes, a minimum of 400 road cars would have to be produced to homologate the Stratos for competition, but such tiny numbers would do little to appease Lancia dealers anxious for a tangible lure with which to entice customers.
The Stratos owes its existence to a perfect storm of happy coincidences. Chief among them was the permanent appointment of Cesare Fiorio as Lancia’s sporting director in 1969. His drive, determination and intimate understanding of the rules of rallying helped ensure that, despite several setbacks, the Stratos made it to the starting line.
And yet he couldn’t have done it on his own. Another key champion of the cause was Piero Gobbato, installed by Fiat as Lancia’s managing director towards the end of 1969. Although tasked with turning around
This picture
The colour scheme might be straight from a ’70s sit-com living room, but the ambience is strictly motor show – except for the doorbins, specially designed to accommodate crash helmets.
Lancia’s miserable sales and cutting costs, he was a sympathetic ear for Fiorio’s plan to boost the company’s image with a purpose-built rally car. And later in the Stratos’s protracted gestation, it was Gobbato’s wily political manoeuvring that finally made a reluctant Ferrari come good on its promise to supply 500 Dino 2.4-litre V6 engines.
Fiorio believed that a purpose-built rally weapon could revive Lancia’s fortunes. It would need to be mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive, small, light (less than 1000kg), robust and have adjustable suspension. It would also require about 250bhp. In 1973 there would be a new, more high-profile global series, the World Championship for Rallies, with new regulations. What caught Fiorio’s eye was the Group 4 category, which would accommodate modified and highly tuned cars, if at least 400 of them were constructed. The base elements for the Stratos were falling into place.
Yet another stroke of good fortune had come along in 1970. Carrozzeria Bertone decided it would like to shake loose a bit of Lancia coachbuilding business from the clutches of Pininfarina. Nuccio Bertone tasked his studio’s new signing, Marcello Gandini, with creating a shape that would wow Lancia at the Turin motor show in November, and while that first Stratos concept wasn’t so well received by the motoring press, it cracked open the doors at Lancia. There was never any intention to develop the Stratos Zero any further, but it awakened an urge within Lancia management to be bold and daring. Fiorio had already reached that
conclusion, but now others were on board with the idea. Bertone’s services were duly enlisted to create Fiorio’s vision and Gandini was once again put in charge of the project. By August 1971 Gandini had a full-size mock-up ready and at the Turin motor show that November, the Bertone Stratos concept car made its triumphant debut.
It wasn’t until October 1974 that the Stratos was able to run in Group 4 and score points towards the world championship. Much of the delay stemmed from the Ferrari factory procrastinating over the supply of the 2.4-litre V6 engine (despite Enzo’s own support for the deal). Even then the engines merely dribbled out of the Ferrari factory. Getting enough cars built to homologate the Stratos for motor sport became a nightmare for Fiorio and Lancia’s competition department. Hopes of competing in the 1973 season proved fruitless and for a while 1974 seemed in doubt, too. Rumour has it that a deeply frustrated Fiorio eventually signed paperwork claiming that all the required Stratoses had been built by October 1974, when in fact cars were still trickling off the line in the middle of the following year. Yet nobody seemed to mind, because the world’s rally stages were to become much more interesting with the arrival of the glamorous Stratos.
The Stratos might be a handful as a road car, but as a rally car in the mid70s it was imperious. Three World Rally Championships (1974, ’75 and ’76), numerous national rally championships and drivers’ championships,
1974 Lancia Stratos Stradale
Engine 2418cc V6, OHC per bank, three Weber IDF 40 carburettors
Power 190bhp @ 7400rpm Torque 166bhp @ 4000rpm
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Steering Rack and pinion Suspension Front: upper wishbones, lower radius arms, lower semi-trailing arms, coil springs, dampers, anti-roll bar. Rear: MacPherson struts, reversed lower wishbones, supplementary trailing links, coil springs, dampers, anti-roll bar Brakes Discs Weight 980kg Top speed 142mph 0-60mph 6.0sec
plus countless individual wins – including, in Group 5 form, the 1973 Giro d’Italia and 1974 Targa Florio – were emphatic vindication of Fiorio’s belief in a clean-sheet design to a very particular specification.
And yet the Stratos’s domination of world rallying – and the money being spent for it to do so – raised hackles and jealousies within the Fiat group. In 1977 Lancia lost the political battle and Fiat’s rallying muscle was placed firmly behind the 131 Abarth. The Stratos still competed in key events that season – Munari won his third successive Monte Carlo rally, for example – but Lancia announced that it wasn’t chasing another world title.
Game over for the Stratos? Not quite. Changes to world rally regs in 1978 meant that the car had to revert to its original specification, yet it was still victorious on the San Remo, Giro d’Italia and Tour de Corse. Without factory team support in 1979 it was assumed that the Stratos had nothing more to offer, but talented privateer and Monte Carlo expert Bernard Darniche had other ideas, placing his distinctive blue Chardonnet-sponsored Stratos on the top tier of the podium. Further points successes by privateers throughout ’79 meant that by the end of the season Lancia was fourth in the championship, despite not having officially entered it.
As Markku Alén (who used the car to win the 1978 Monte) once said of the Stratos: ‘It is the car made for rallying.’
FERRARI F50
The F50 was a car that promised not only Formula 1-like performance, but also the engine from a Grand Prix singleseater. There was no denying the ambition here, the F50 test mule utilising the V12 that propelled the 641/2 to six Grand Prix victories in 1990. However, only the dimensions of the engine block were carried over by the time the F50 was unveiled at the Geneva motor show in March 1995. Nevertheless, the unit employed here was a masterpiece of packaging that in true competition style acted as a stress-bearing member. It was bolted directly to the back of the bulkhead and carried the rear suspension on a yoke cast into the final drive casting.
The GP car’s 3.5-litre displacement was stroked to 4698cc, the final specific output being 109.2bhp per litre, which topped even that of the McLaren F1’s 103bhp. The factory claimed an outright 513bhp at 8000rpm and torque figure of 327lb at 6500rpm. That, and
a top speed of 202mph. The engine was enclosed by a full-length undertray mounted with two fans that extracted air from beneath the car and blew it over the exhaust manifolds and catalytic converters. Hot air was then dissipated through slots in the engine cover. The F50 was also Ferrari’s first composite monocoque supercar, complete with inboard, pushrod-operated suspension.
The F50’s outline was rooted in Pininfarina’s Mythos concept car, which had been unveiled at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show. However, the shape was reprofiled substantially, one of the F50’s standout selling points being its removable roof panel. Production was limited to just 349 examples, and the entire run sold out within only a few days of the car’s announcement. While the F50 languished in the shadow of the F40 for decades, it has since been recognised as being one of the finesthandling supercars of its generation.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1995
Engine 4698cc V12, naturally aspirated
Transmission Six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 513bhp Torque 347lb ft
Top speed 202mph 0-60mph 3.7sec
PAUL HARMER
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 2002
Engine 5998cc V12, naturally aspirated
Transmission Six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 651bhp Torque 485lb ft
Top speed 217mph 0-60mph 3.1sec
FERRARI ENZO
The arrival of the Enzo at the Paris Motor Show in 2002 wasn’t met with universal acclaim. The car’s outline, attributed to Pininfarina’s Ken Okuyama, was startlingly different and the motoring media didn’t hold back. The shape was a bit too radical for comfort, but it was a rational design all the same. The angular front end reflected Formula 1 thinking, the ‘stepped’ section in particular echoing themes first explored on the Tyrrell 019.The Enzo also eschewed the large rear spoiler of its predecessor, the F50. Active aero features included a small rear aerofoil that adjusted automatically, plus a rear diffuser and a flat floor.
The heart of any Ferrari is its engine, and the Enzo was powered by a 6.0-litre ‘F140 B’ V12 that produced 651bhp. It was allied to a sixspeed automated manual transmission with a paddleshift gear change. The car also employed pushrod-actuated dampers that could be adjusted from the cockpit. Ferrari claimed the
Enzo was ‘…the closest you can get to the F1 experience in a road car’, and this was more than hyperbole. The factory’s own performance figures – a top speed of 217mph and 0-60mph time of 3.1sec – were independently verified, so this really was a car that had the performance to match the looks.
Production was supposedly limited to just 399 examples, but Ferrari eventually built as many as 498 Enzos. In recent years the shape has also been critically reappraised, the Enzo being routinely cited as representing a step change in supercar design. The car subsequently spawned a track-only variant, the FXX, and also the Maserati MC12 which was homologated to compete in GT racing. 50 road-going MC12s were made in two batches of 25, while a further dozen MC12s were constructed for track use. The model first ventured trackside in late 2004 in the GT1 category, with factory-run and privateer MC12s going on to claim 40 wins in period.
PAUL HARMER
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars
PORSCHE
356
As with most legends, the 356 wasn’t an overnight success. Introduced in 1948, it boasted all-round independent suspension and a streamlined body, but it was otherwise unremarkable. While the car’s ‘bathtub’ outline would be deified in later years, it was considered clumsy, gawky even, at the time. However, the 356 was in keeping with Ferry Porsche’s deep-rooted philosophy that his cars should be businesslike and durable, with the ability to cope with all roads in all weathers. This struck a chord over time, particularly once the fledgling marque found a foothold in North America.
In many ways the 356 set the template for what we would come to expect from Porsche, the puny 40bhp 1086cc engine of the first proper production car having been relocated from the middle to the tail relative to the prototype. There it would remain to taunt the doubters; how could a true sports car have its engine behind the rear axle line? It worked, though. The displacement grew from 1286cc to 1488cc and again to 1582cc by the time the 356A was unveiled at the 1955 Frankfurt motor show.
Changes for the 1959-63 356B stretched to an alternative body style from 1961 (in essence a convertible with a fixed notchback roof), larger windows and twin grilles on the engine cover. Stylistically, some purity was lost in the conversion from coupé to cabriolet – by the likes of Reu er and Karmann – with the bulky hood upse ing the purity of line compared with the Speedster version. The irony is that the la er, with its raked-back ‘screen and minimal weather equipment, was the poor relation in period but is now the most sought-a er variant.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1948
Engine 1582cc flat-four, naturally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 75bhp Torque 86lb ft Top speed 107mph 0-60mph 13.5sec
CHARLIE MAGEE
FORD
GT40
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1964
Engine 4727cc V8, naturally aspirated
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 306bhp
Torque 329lb ft
The GT40 came to define corporate involvement in motorsport. It was a money-no-object sports prototype that vanquished Ferrari at Le Mans (eventually). It outlived its natural lifespan to win major races while also spawning a compelling road car variant. Its allure was such that Ford revisited the theme for two further supercars, all of which was remarkable given that the original car was conceived in a lean-to in Bromley, Kent.
Ford had famously attempted to buy Ferrari only to be rebuffed at the eleventh hour. This incensed Henry Ford II, who initiated the Total Performance programme. The problem was that the Ford Motor Company had zero experience of international motorsport. It approached various established constructors to act as a design partner before settling on Lola Cars, which had fielded a smallblock Ford V8engined sports-racer at Le Mans in 1963.
The firm’s founder, Eric Broadley, took a
year’s sabbatical to create a new car, with his paymasters establishing the Ford Advanced Vehicles Ltd facility in Slough, as a centre of operations. Success, however, was not immediate during its maiden season in 1964. Enter the GT40 MkII. Ford set up the Roy Lunn-fronted Kar Kraft subsidiary in Detroit to design and build prototypes, while Carroll Shelby ran the show from California. Two 7.0-litre MKIIs were fielded at Le Mans in 1965 along with four smaller-capacity cars, and each retired.
Consequently, it was argued that one team could run only three cars at a stretch, so, besides Shelby American, works entries were farmed out to famed stock car entrant Holman Moody and British squad Alan Mann Racing for the following year. John Wyer, meanwhile, was tasked with making the MkIII road car, of which only seven were made. Ford finally claimed honours in 1966 and took repeat wins every year to 1969.
FOR GENTLEMEN AND PLAYERS
Few other cars have shared the Ferrari 250 GT SWB’s combination of beauty, racing potential and roadgoing capability. James Page uncovers the story of one example that lived exactly according to that reputation
Photography Stephan Bauer for Auxietre & Schmidt Archive photograph courtesy of Daniel Siebenmann
Gordon Murray has said that he regrets not driving home in the McLaren F1 GTR that won the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours. Having initially been against the conversion of his road-going design into a racer, he’d watched as it took victory on the marque’s debut at La Sarthe. Three of the other GTRs crossed the line third, fourth and fifth, and helped to usher in a competitive new period of GT racing that would eventually include Porsche and Mercedes-Benz.
But while driving back to the UK in a front-running Le Mans car would have been a great publicity coup in 1995, it wouldn’t have raised so much as an eyebrow in the early 1960s. At that time, it was commonplace for cars to be driven to and from events, Ecurie Francorchamps memorably returning from Le Mans in 1963 via a late-night stop in the Pigalle district of Paris with its race-stained GTOs. This was the golden era of GT racing, when cars that could genuinely be used on the road without a second thought could also compete at the very highest level – and by far the best all-rounder was the Ferrari 250 GT.
The competition berlinettas from Maranello dominated that period and are now among the most coveted of all Ferraris. From 1956 until 1959, the Scaglietti-built 250 GT combined the 2600mm-wheelbase Type 508 chassis with Gioacchino Colombo’s ‘short block’ V12 engine, and would go on to achieve such success on the Tour de France that the event’s name would become an unofficial term of reference for the cars themselves.
The next major development came with the introduction of the 1960 250 GT. A subtly revised version of the Pinin Farina bodywork that had first been seen on the 1959 ‘Interim’ model was allied to the more compact Type 539 chassis; its reduced 2400mm wheelbase led to the model becoming known as the Short Wheelbase. Offered in both steelbodied Lusso form and as the stripped-down aluminium-bodied Competizione, it was refined throughout 1960 and 1961, culminating in the ‘SEFAC hot-rod’ cars that combined a unique development of the Type 539/61 Comp chassis with thinner bodywork and a more powerful engine. In both of those seasons, a Short Wheelbase won the Tour de France and the Tourist Trophy. In 1961 the model topped the GT class at Le Mans, Sebring and the Nürburgring, and won the Paris 1000km outright courtesy of Pedro and Ricardo Rodríguez.
As well as established stars racing for factory-backed concessionaires, the Short Wheelbase was the perfect weapon for gentlemen drivers. Among those was Swiss enthusiast Daniel Siebenmann, who was still only in his mid-20s when he acquired chassis number 2563 GT in 1962. Siebenmann was a reporter and photographer who covered European Grands Prix, and had previously competed in an Alfa Romeo Sprint Zagato that carried the registration BE 74827. That number was then switched to the Short Wheelbase, which had originally been sold on 15 May 1961 to an Italian by the name of A Demetriadi. It was a steel-bodied Lusso but featured the trio of Weber 40 DCL6 carburettors that were standard fitment on the Competizione cars, and it became Siebenmann’s daily driver. He’d take it to Juan-les-Pins for holidays, and in the winter he’d put some suitable tyres on it and drive to Gstaad.
He also raced it, often under the banner of Ecurie Biennoise, which was named after the town of Bienne on the shores of Lake Biel. The équipe comprised a group of Swiss racers who ran a disparate collection of cars but who came together in order to arrange entries and pool resources. Photographs exist showing 2563 GT lapping Monza but minus any sign of race numbers – the occasion was not an official meeting, but an Ecurie Biennoise test day.
Clockwise, from below The SWB looks delectable yet is devastatingly effective on the track; dashboard is focused, with no gadgets to distract the driver; cabin features characteristic bucket seats and diamondquilted trim.
‘HE’D TAKE IT TO JUAN-LES-PINS FOR HOLIDAYS, AND IN THE WINTER HE’D PUT SUITABLE TYRES ON IT AND DRIVE TO GSTAAD’
Siebenmann did, however, take part in three major events with the Short Wheelbase during 1963, two of which counted towards the International Championship for GT Manufacturers. That series – the World Sportscar Championship in all but name – had been expanded from 15 rounds in 1962 to no fewer than 22 via the addition of not only extra circuit races but also hillclimbs and rallies, the intention being to offer a more rounded test of a GT car’s abilities across the season.
First up for Siebenmann and 2563 GT was the Trophées d’Auvergne on 7 July. The three-hour race around the challenging Charade circuit attracted a strong entry that was led by works Ferrari driver Lorenzo Bandini in a Scuderia SSS Republica di Venezia 250 TRI/61. Carlo Maria Abate and David Piper would be at the wheel of GTOs, Lucien Bianchi was in a Maserati Tipo 151, Edgar Barth and Herbert Linge were in factory Porsches, and there were Lotus 23s for Tony Hegbourne and Mike Beckwith.
The Le Mans-type start was slightly chaotic, Bandini and Abate almost colliding and coming virtually to a stop as the field swarmed around them. Siebenmann was forced to the outside of the circuit by Bandini as he got away ahead of Jean Kerguen’s Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, but he stayed out of trouble for the rest of the race and crossed the line third in the 3000cc GT class. The other three Ecurie Biennoise entries all reached the finish, too – Sidney Charpilloz and Jörg Wyssbrod were respectively second and third in class in their Elvas, while Hermann Müller was a superb fourth overall in his Porsche.
The following month, Siebenmann entered the Ollon-Villars hillclimb. This was again part of the International Championship for GT Manufacturers, as well as being the Swiss round of the prestigious European Mountain Championship. Results were determined from the aggregate of two timed runs up the 4.97-mile hill, and the field also included single-seaters – Jo Bonnier took Best Time of Day in the fourwheel-drive Ferguson P99, while a young Jo Siffert was runner-up in the 1500cc class to then-two-times World Champion Jack Brabham. Abate topped the 3000cc GT class in the same GTO that he’d driven at Charade, while Siebenmann finished seventh in that category with a total time of 11min 0.2sec. Impressively, that was only about ten seconds slower than Armand Boller, who was fifth in class in his GTO.
The final competition outing for Siebenmann and 2563 GT was the Preis von Tirol meeting at Innsbruck on 6 October. The 2.8km airfield circuit was a very different proposition to Charade and Ollon-Villars, but Ecurie Biennoise was well represented in the over-1600cc GT class, Siebenmann having been joined by the Jaguar E-type of Charpilloz. Both of them had to give best to Peter Nöcker in his Lightweight E-type, who took the chequered flag ahead of the GTO of ‘Giulio Pavesi’ – the racing pseudonym of actor Gunther Philipp. Charpilloz and Siebenmann were fifth and sixth in class.
In an attempt to make his Short Wheelbase more attractive to potential buyers, Siebenmann had it resprayed red. Factory records indicate that it was originally Grigio Conchiglia (Seashell Grey) with a Pelle (Dark Red)
interior, but his son – Daniel Jnr – states that it was white with a black interior. Once Siebenmann had sold it, he took a train down to Modena to pick up the Lusso direct from the factory. After entering a few hillclimbs with that car, he decided to stop racing because he’d got married and had a young family to consider.
‘He was friends with Jo Siffert,’ recalls Siebenmann Jnr. ‘They continuously raced each other on the street, and my father often had trouble with the law. As you can imagine, in Switzerland we are very straight and I heard stories of people complaining! Siffert died in 1971 – I should have been his godson – and my dad died in 1977. I would love to have more stories to tell and to be able to ask him all the details. I just have his photo albums and the records he kept…’
At some point during the 1960s, 2563 GT crossed the Atlantic and spent more than a decade in the hands of American owners. It returned to Switzerland in 1979 via Charles Gnädinger and was sold to René Meister, at which point it was fitted with the engine from a 250 GT Lusso – more recently, a genuine Short Wheelbase block was installed by Ferrari Classiche. It was owned by Swiss collector Jean-Pierre Slavic for 17 years, before passing to Stanislas de Sadeleer in 2002. For the next four years before he sold it, the Ferrari competed in events such as the Tour Auto and the Le Mans Classic, and it was during this period that Siebenmann Jnr was invited to see the car and sit behind the same wheel that his father had all those years ago.
Although the GTO is often held up as being the ultimate all-rounder, the balance by then had definitely tipped more towards race car than GT, and opinion is split among owners past and present when you discuss driving it on the road. Some insist that it’s a poor excuse for a road car, others that it’s fine – as long as it’s not too hot, and you wear a headset so that you can talk to your passenger. The late Jess Pourret dismissed the latter because he preferred to let the V12 drown out any conversation.
There’s much less disagreement about driving a Short Wheelbase. Vic Norman owned the 1959 Paris Salon car during the 1970s and will argue with some vigour that it’s by far the superior road car. Clive Beecham, meanwhile, is the long-term custodian of 2735 GT, which was raced with such success by Stirling Moss for Rob Walker in 1961. It’s worth bearing in mind that, as a ‘SEFAC hot-rod’, it’s as uncompromising as Short Wheelbases come in terms of road use.
‘It’s a remarkable car to drive,’ says Beecham. ‘The gearbox is an absolute delight. You just feel everything coming to you through the seat of your pants and through the wheel, and it’s so easy to control. I’ve driven it to Maranello and back a couple of times, I’ve taken it on rallies up to Scotland – it’s a joy.
‘If you drive it in extremis, I think only the very best can get the best out of it, but the Short Wheelbase is very forgiving of lesser mortals and it’s very enjoyable to drive. You should never not mention the noise! It’s wonderful. There’s a rawness about that engine. Later in my life I had a
Below
Like so many examples of the 250 GT SWB, this one has period race history – though it’s a road-going, steel-bodied Lusso in spec, bar its Competizione carburettors.
1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Engine 2953cc V12, OHC per bank, three Weber DCL6 carburettors Power 280bhp Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Steering Worm and sector Suspension Front: double wishbones, coil springs, Houdaille dampers, anti-roll bar. Rear: live axle, longitudinal semi-elliptic leaf springs, Houdaille dampers Brakes Discs Weight 1100kg Top speed 149mph 0-60mph c6sec
four-cam engine and that’s beautifully silky-smooth, but I think you lose some of that raw growl you get with the two-cam.
‘When you’re on the move, it’s wonderfully tractable. You can hold it at 80-90mph, it’s not strained and it feels great. You can get more joy out of driving it at 60mph than you would from driving a 488 at 160mph. It’s not uncomfortable, it’s not overly firm, not jarring, and yet you can feel everything that you want to feel. It’s a delight.’
Beecham even reports that the boot is generous enough to smuggle a tall blonde across borders – a story for another time and not something he discovered personally – but there are countless other examples of its versatility. After 2735 GT had retired from the 1961 Le Mans 24 Hours, it went back to the factory, from where one of Walker’s mechanics drove it to Silverstone just in time for the British Empire Trophy.
‘Everyone was packing away because they didn’t think he was going to turn up,’ explains Beecham. ‘The car was still in Le Mans spec and this guy spoke about arriving at the circuit, slinging his luggage out of the car, pumping up the tyres, and Moss going out and getting pole position, then beating the E-types in the race. It had just driven all the way over the Alps from Italy – that shows you it was the ideal dual-purpose car.’
From using his own Short Wheelbase for holidays and winter excursions to racing it at the very highest level, no doubt Daniel Siebenmann would have agreed.
‘YOU CAN GET MORE JOY OUT OF DRIVING IT AT 60MPH THAN YOU WOULD FROM DRIVING A 488 AT 160MPH’ CLIVE BEECHAM
Below
Daniel Siebenmann in the SWB (number 9) at the start of the Auvergne Three Hours in July 1963. He came third in class.
‘A team of just five people was selected to work with Yamaha to undertake Project 280A’
TOYOTA 2000GT
Toyota first displayed the 2000GT at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1965: it was the best European sports car ever to have come out of Japan. Toyota had purchased a number of sports cars to ‘be inspired by’, including a Jaguar E-type, MGB, Triumph TR2, Porsche 911 and Lotus Elan. Prior to this project, Yamaha had started the development of a sports car for Nissan, only for the project to fizzle out, but Toyota picked up the baton and ran with it.
A team of just five people was carefully selected to work with Yamaha to undertake Project 280A under Toyota’s lead engineer Jiro Kawano, including stylist Saturo Nozaki. Kawano’s team plumped for a Lotus Elan-type backbone chassis and fully independent suspension, with stylist Nozaki taking inspiration from Jaguar’s beautiful E-type. The 1988cc six-cylinder engine is based on that of the Toyota Crown saloon, but enhanced with a Yamaha-designed twin-cam cylinder head and fed by three Mikuni-Solex 40 carburettors.
Capable on road and track, a 1966 2000GT finished third in the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji and won the Suzuka 1000 Kilometres later the same year, as well as the Fuji 1000 Kilometres in 1967. Carroll Shelby entered a pair of 2000GTs in the SCCA production car races in 1968 for just one season, and they performed well.
Road & Track opined after testing the preproduction 2000GT in 1967 that it was ‘one of the most exciting and enjoyable cars we’ve driven’. Captivating looks aside, the car feels so intelligently engineered, the build quality is unimpeachable, and the clean-sheet-of-paper concept is focused, pure and precise, rendering the Toyota more than the sum of its parts.
The 2000GT is an engaging, enjoyable sports car that’s such a joy to drive, so it’s a shame that only 351 were built between 1967 and 1970.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1967
Engine 1980cc straight-six, naturally aspirated
The
FORD MUSTANG
There was nothing innovative about the Mustang. Much of its running gear was robbed from Ford’s Falcon, but that wasn’t the point. It was an image builder, created to a ract a youthful audience, named a er World War Two’s P51 Mustang aircra . Body styles included coupe and convertible, and engines ranged from a 2781cc straight-six to a 427ci smallblock V8. There were also endless interior trim options. Introduced in April 1964, the Mustang appeared in more than 2500 media outlets inside 24 hours and it caused a furore.
Then there was the product placement, plus outings in motorsport within a fortnight of the big reveal. Everyone wanted one. Ford hoped to sell 100,000 cars in the first year, but couldn’t keep up with demand. Production hit the one million mark within 18 months, but none of the later generations have had anything like the impact of the original.
DUESENBERG MODEL J
Duesenberg was one of the pre-eminent marques of the pre-war era. The American outfit had enjoyed significant success in motorsport, not least by winning the French Grand Prix in 1921. However, the firm’s parlous financial state meant the firm was taken over by EL Cord of the Auburn Motor Company in 1926. The new keeper pushed through an exotic road car, the simply named Duesenberg J arriving two years later. Equipped with a 6.9-litre straight-eight engine, it subsequently gained a supercharged stablemate (the SJ) plus a short-wheelbase, supercharged variant (the SSJ). A hit with Hollywood gli erati, 481 were made to 1937.
AUDI QUATTRO
Audi famously ushered four-wheel drive and forced induction into top-flight rallying with the qua ro, to devastating e ect. It also resulted in a formidable road car that was first seen publicly at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show. Hannu Mikkola claimed maiden honours for the marque on the International Swedish Rally a year later. Success spawned success, Audi taking further scalps into the following season. A1 and A2 variants continued to be front-runners in 1983-84 before the German marque introduced the qua ro S1 with a 320mm shorter wheelbase.
Power 197bhp Torque 210lb Top speed 137mph 0-60mph 6.5sec 17 16 15
Transmission Five-speed manual, four-wheel drive
‘To some, it is the greatest road car ever to wear the much-revered Cavallino Rampante badge’
FERRARI F40
As geometric in profile as its predecessor was curvaceous, the F40 was the flipside of the 288 GTO coin in that it was designed as a road car as opposed to a track weapon. The F40’s outline was deemed controversial in period, in part because aerodynamic efficiency trumped architectural elegance. Beneath the largely composite skin, the twin-turbocharged V8 was borrowed from the GTO that bore it, but enlarged by 100cc (to 2936cc), while power rose by 20% to 478bhp. It was also the first genuine 200mph production car, as opposed to an existing car reworked by an outside tuner.
Unlike the 288 GTO, here there weren’t
even token nods to luxury. Instead the racer overtones were all too obvious, not least the exposed carbonfibre (some of it appliqué), pull-cords for opening the doors, and a lack of carpeting. However, save for a few outings in the USA in 1989, the F40 didn’t become a serious track weapon until after production had ceased in 1993, by which time 1315 cars had been made. It became a prolific winner in GT racing after the category was revived in 1994, and it gave the McLaren F1 a bloody nose as late as 1996, albeit not consistently.
All cars were officially sold in left-hand drive configuration only, and each was red, although it subsequently emerged that at least seven
were converted to right-hand drive and given a different hue for the Sultan of Brunei. The F40 remains a landmark supercar not so much for its looks, or even its specification, but because of the way it drives. Save perhaps for the 360 Challenge Stradale, Ferrari has yet to create a supercar that is so involving, so immersive. To some, it is the greatest road car ever to wear the much-revered Cavallino Rampante badge.
We tell the story of the ‘new’ Bond DB5, and take it in search of Skyfall
Words Mark Dixon
Photography Matthew Howell
What a relief. After all the hype, the endless trailers, it turned out that Skyfall is actually A Good Film. In fact, it may just be The Best Bond Film Ever. Yes, it has flaws, but overall it’s a remarkably satisfying movie. Bond is back, and in fine style.
Good news, too, is that cars feature prominently in Skyfall – including, of course, a certain Aston Martin DB5. And this time Bond’s most famous company car has more than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo. It made a brief appearance in the first Bond film to star Daniel Craig, 2006’s Casino Royale; it didn’t appear at all in the dreadful 2008 follow-up Quantum of Solace; but Skyfall has a fair bit of DB5 action. So Bond’s car is also back.
Heartened by the reappearance of the DB5 in a decent Bond movie, we rang Aston Martin Works (the ‘new’ name for Works Service, based in an impressively revamped building at the old Newport Pagnell site) to find out if they knew where the car was. ‘Sitting right outside my office,’ said general manager Graham Darby. ‘Do you want to borrow it?’
An hour later, a plan had been hatched. We’d take the Aston up to the Scottish Highlands, where the climax of the film occurs (for movie purposes, anyhow – more on this in a moment), and we’d try to photograph it at the same locations that appear in the film.
A few minutes’ Googling revealed that this wasn’t going to be as easy as we’d hoped. Mainly because Skyfall – which is the name of the Scottish manse where Bond lived as a child – doesn’t exist. Literally. It was a fake house, constructed for the film in Surrey rather than Scotland, with mountains added later thanks to the wonders of CGI. At the end of the film, the house is completely destroyed, and not a trace of it is now left.
However, there’s a scene in the film where Daniel Craig, who is driving Judi Dench (‘M’) to safety at his old childhood home, stops the Aston for a reflective pause. He and Dame Judi exchange a few words as they stare down a mist-shrouded glen. And that place does exist. It’s a real glen, with a public road that doesn’t go anywhere in particular. And we found it.
Two weeks to the day after that phone call to Aston Martin Works, photographer Matthew Howell and I are standing beside a Silver Birch DB5 in Glen Etive, a mile or two off the A82 near Glencoe. A fine, penetrating drizzle is beading the Aston’s flawless coachwork and gradually permeating our wet-weather gear. Naturally, we couldn’t be happier.
This DB5, which was given a cosmetic restoration in just seven weeks by Aston Martin Works to meet the filming deadline, belongs to a private customer, so to keep the mileage down we’ve transported it here. The prospect of driving it is making this seen-it-all-
‘Skyfall doesn’t exist. Literally. It was a fake house, built for the film in Surrey’
before journo feel like a ten-year-old who’s just unwrapped the Corgi toy on Christmas Day.
Two identical DB5s were used during the filming of Skyfall. No one, not even the people looking after the cars, can tell us which was used for the driving shots. By sheer fluke, however, it turns out there is one tiny difference between them – and close inspection of the film (Octane commandeered our local cinema for a freeze-frame viewing) conclusively proves that ‘our’ DB5 is the one that appears throughout. In fact, it may be the only one that is seen on screen; analysis of the recorded mileage reveals that it covered a very substantial distance during filming. Read on to find out what that crucial detail is…
Truth be told, I’m not expecting very much from this car. I’ve learned from experience that the primary requirement of movie cars is for them to look good; the way they drive is largely irrelevant. And given that this one has had little more than a paint job and a change of interior colour, I was fully prepared for it to drive like a dog.
That preconception changes the first time I turn the key, and the Aston’s straight-six coughs discreetly into life with an aristocratic woofle from its twin tailpipes. It sounds absolutely gorgeous, burbling smoothly and reassuringly. That’s quite remarkable, since this engine in what was until recently a solid but shabby DB5 received nothing other than a basic service and a tune-up during its brief visit to Aston Martin Works, and it will have spent many hours patiently idling away while waiting for its cue during filming. There’s no electric fan, and I find out later that the radiator wasn’t changed or even flushed out before filming began; yet the car never shows a trace of overheating during our photoshoot. My opinion of DB Astons goes up massively.
The slim chromed gearlever slips easily into first (this gearbox feels pleasantly loose and
Above left
Where it all began: Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench, as Bond and M, pause for thought in Glen Etive.
well-used) and, with a tug on the thin, woodrimmed wheel, we turn out of the layby and down the glen. It’s apparent within a few hundred yards that this DB5 drives very well indeed. The steering is nicely weighted and precise, the gearchange is only very slightly baulky, and it rides well, soaking up the peaks and troughs of what is little more than a Tarmac’d track. It actually copes better with this severely undulating road than the new Jaguar XJL that is our back-up car.
A small digression: you’ll notice that the road appears beautifully smooth on the opening spread of this feature. We couldn’t understand why such a minor road had been so carefully resurfaced – until a conversation with a local revealed that the movie people had had it done, after rather than before filming. It seems that they originally wanted a rough track, so they had the road surface dug up for a length of half-a-mile or more. After filming, the road was restored to pristine perfection, doubtless at huge expense – and the film of the Aston traversing the unmade track was never used. Truly, big-budget movies operate in a world of their own.
On this winding, narrow road, it’s barely possible to get the Aston out of second gear, and while it’s a good test of the car’s ride –
there’s a surprising lack of creaks from the delicate Superleggera-type coachwork – you can sense that the DB5 is just itching to be given its head. So, when photography is done for the day, I point it back towards the nearby A82 and open the taps.
Oh, wow! This is what it’s all about. Press hard down on the throttle pedal and the straight-six responds eagerly, booming confidently as the rev-counter needle begins its steady clockwise sweep, and the ZF fivespeed gearbox – forgive me for what I am about to say – responds obediently to a firm hand. I use that dreadful cliché deliberately, for fact is that the DB5 really is a very appropriate car for James Bond, who in Ian Fleming’s books – and Daniel Craig’s interpretation – has more than a hint of cruelty about him. It seems to revel in being driven hard and fast.
The A82 has long, long straights in this part of the Highlands, and with traffic sparse it’s easy to wind the Aston up to proper Grand Touring car speed, shooting past the occasional trundling lorry. The people who live here –and quite a few who don’t; we’ve already encountered a couple of cars from the Continent whose occupants are searching out the Skyfall locations – all know that the movie was shot here, and I wonder how many will
Above
The DB5’s 4.0-litre straight-six runs far better than expected. On song, it sounds glorious and pulls with genuine gusto.
‘It’s apparent within a few hundred yards that this DB5 drives very well indeed’
recognise this distinctive DB5 as it spears along. It just looks so right in this setting, the Silver Birch paint blending with the muted, mist-laden tones of the surrounding moorland.
Howling along in fifth, this DB5 feels so selfassured, so capable, that it’s easy to forget it’s an as-yet not properly restored example of a handbuilt car. At high speed, when that long straight kinks into a shallow left, the limitations of its ageing suspension become apparent, as it pitches and wallows rather more than is comfortable. If I were the lucky guy who owns this car – and all that Aston Martin Works will say is that he’s an ‘international jet-setter’ – I’d go to considerable lengths to have the ride and handling thoroughly developed, because it has the potential to be a fabulous machine. Talking with the enthusiastic staff there, you get the sense that, while honoured to have been chosen to prepare the car for filming, they feel a little frustrated that time allowed for little more than a shiny paint job.
‘We received the phone call in the middle of 2011,’ recalls Works managing director Kingsley Riding-Felce, ‘and we had roughly seven weeks to do a job that would normally take about 14 months! Fortunately, one of our clients had just booked a car in for a full restoration and was happy to lend the car for filming. Because of the tight deadline, all we could do was prepare and
paint the body, and make the car road legal. We ended up having two guys working 14 hours a day from Monday to Sunday on the body to get it straight and painted.’
Whenever a DB5 appears in a Bond movie, a minimum of two identical cars is normally required. For the last four Bond films, ‘star cars’ and drivers have been provided by specialist company Action Vehicles, which is run by brothers Gary and Darren Litten. It was Darren who mainly worked on Skyfall: ‘Usually one car is needed for driving shots, while another may be used for “in car” filming on a low-loader – in fact it’s unusual to have just two examples of a principal car; we had no fewer than 16 identical Audi A5s for the chase scene in Skyfall. It’s difficult to keep track of which particular example has been used for a particular shot, and if we’re doing our job right it really shouldn’t matter anyway, because the whole point is that every one of those cars should look exactly the same.’
EON Productions owns a genuine Bond DB5, one of the two cars used for the chase scene in Goldeneye back in 1995, and because this car was also slated for the Skyfall production, the Works example had to be made to match. Michelle Harrison, the heritage restoration controller at Works, explains: ‘The EON car was trailered up to Works at regular
THE MAKEOVER
TAKE ONE STANDARD DB5…
By happy coincidence, Aston Martin Works had been about to restore this green DB5 for a customer when the film people called.
EMERGENCY
REPAIRS
With no time to do a full restoration, Works’ craftsmen could deal with only the most pressing structural work – such as this bodged floorpan.
ANY COLOUR YOU WANT
…so long as it’s black. Tan interior of the DB5 was recoloured black to make it ‘Bond spec’. Most of the trim was usable, including the seats.
DEVIL’S IN THE DETAIL
Comparing the EON car with the Aston Works example revealed that the clock bezels were different. So a new one was machined.
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
To ensure both cars were identical, the EON DB5 was trucked up to Newport Pagnell while the Aston Works car was being finished.
‘A very appropriate car for James Bond, who had a hint of cruelty about him’
intervals so we could compare the two. Changing the colour of the body and trim was relatively straightforward. The body had to be repaired and fully repainted anyway, while the interior wasn’t in bad shape and we were able to colour-spray the tan leather seats and some of the interior trim to turn it black, after which the seat facings were lightly “distressed” so they didn’t look too new. We tried dyeing the existing carpets, too, but ended up deciding to replace them.’
Making the colour changes was obviously time consuming, but even more of the precious schedule was taken up in correcting small points of detail. Because no one, not even the film makers, can know in advance exactly what will be visible in the finished movie, everything has to be just perfect – and the two DB5s were surprisingly different in detail.
‘The headlinings were different, there was a radio aerial on one car but not the other, “our” car had a door-mounted mirror whereas the EON car has bullet-style wing mirrors, and so on. These were all corrected during the refurb,’ continues Michelle.
But what about those all-important gadgets – the machine guns, the ejector seat, the primitive ‘sat nav’ guidance system? In Skyfall,
there’s a great moment when, shortly after escaping from London with ‘M’ in the DB5, Bond’s thumb jokingly hovers over the gearknob button for the ejector seat in response to M’s whingeing about the car being ‘not very comfortable’. That special gearknob is no longer fitted to the Works car – if it ever was.
‘The EON props people came up and testfitted a special centre console, but it was all a bit secret-squirrel and it wasn’t on the car when it came back to us,’ says Kingsley Riding-Felce. The machine guns that Bond uses to great effect at Skyfall Lodge aren’t fitted, either, although it’s believed they were added to the EON car. The only trace of any of ‘Q’s’ equipment is the outline of the ejector hatch in the roof of the Works car – depicted by a mattfinish line of textured paint.
Despite the fanatical attention to detail, there’s one small discrepancy between the two cars – something that wasn’t picked up by anyone at the time. Whereas the DB5 badge on the bootlid of the Works car is aligned with the centreline of the registration plate, on the EON car it’s a few centimetres higher. Thanks to that tiny difference – and some helpful close-ups of the back of the car during the movie – we know that it’s the Works car that’s
being used for all the driving shots.
Fortunately, although Bond’s beloved DB5 is comprehensively trashed by the machinecannon of an AgustaWhirlwind Merlin AW101 helicopter towards the end of Skyfall, no DB5s were harmed in the making of this movie; the wrecked cars were one-third scale models that had been 3D prototyped in plastic. A Porsche 928 bodyshell – which happens to have a similar wheelbase and screen rakes to the DB5 – was also dummied up with genuine but scrap Aston Martin panels.
Skyfall was a huge commercial and critical success, and deservedly so. It feels like a film that’s been made with love and respect for the Bond series’ 50-year-history. It is littered with subtle references, from the prominent ‘1962’ date on the bottle of alcohol proffered by Raoul Silver to Bond, to the fact that M’s flat in Cadogan Square was once the home of Bond theme tune composer John Barry.
However, the destruction of the DB5 posed a big question: would it return in future Bond movies? Of course it would, and in 2015’s Spectre and 2021’s No Time To Die it was, if anything, more prominent. Yet today, with Craig retired and rumours of dramatic changes for the next film, will the DB5 return?
ASTON
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Few cars have ever made such an instant impact as the DS. Introduced at the Paris Salon in October 1955, it appeared to have crash-landed from outer space. The DS tag was purportedly chosen because it sounded like Déesse (French for ‘goddess’), and there was something otherworldly about the car’s styling that originated from the pen of Flaminio Bertoni. As a replacement for the Traction Avant, the launch of which in 1934 proved an image-builder for Citroën, it was similarly avant-garde.
Like its predecessor, the DS was front-wheel drive and employed monocoque construction, though with quickly detachable exterior panels. Its elaborate self-levelling suspension featured front wishbones, rear trailing arms, twin anti-roll bars and a gas-filled suspension sphere on each wheel. The original ID19 edition, and most DSs that followed, didn’t have a clutch pedal. Instead, there was a semiautomatic set-up operated by a slim,
hydraulically assisted selector. Power came from a 1.9-litre four-cylinder, sited well back in the cavernous engine bay.
Larger displacements followed, peaking with the 2347cc unit employed in the DS23. The overall body style remained remarkably unchanged save for a front-end makeover by Robert Opron in 1967. Open Décapotable and Safari estate car versions served to broaden the DS’s appeal. There were myriad spec levels, too, up to and including the luxurious Pallas editions. In total, 1,330,755 of all variations were made to 1975, including some built in Slough from CKD kits.
Improbably, the DS also enjoyed a solid motorsport career. It claimed class honours first time out on the Monte Carlo Rally in 1956, and an ID19 variant claimed an outright win three years later. Then there was victory for the DS21 on this season-opening event in 1966, albeit only after the exclusion of all the cars that preceded it, and again in 1967.
The Autocar magazine coined the tagline ‘The best car in the world’ to describe the 40/50hp. It represented a massive leap forward in terms of quality. The 12th car made bore coachwork finished in aluminium paint and it was swi ly dubbed the ‘Silver Ghost’. The name was later adopted as an o cial designation. Variations on the theme remained on sale from 1907 to 1926, with 7874 being made. The Silver Ghost also had the distinction of being one of the few models of Rolls-Royce ever to venture into motorsport, victories including the Alpine Trial in 1913 and that year’s inaugural Spanish Grand Prix.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1907
Engine 7036cc straight-six, naturally aspirated Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Power 48bhp Top speed 60mph
VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE
It entered production in 1938 and was finally pensioned o 65 years later. The VW Beetle was assembled everywhere from Germany to Ireland, Indonesia to Yugoslavia, and no other car before or since has enjoyed such longevity. Initially known as the Type 1 (the Beetle tag wasn’t adopted for another 30 years), it was conceptualised by Adolf Hitler and mapped out by Ferdinand Porsche. The shape and rear-engine layout echoed the Tatra 97 of 1936, much to the chagrin of the Czech firm’s chief designer, Hans Ledwinka. Despite the connotations associated with its genesis, the ‘People’s Car’ went on to be a global hit during the 1950s and beyond. O ered in saloon and convertible forms, the basic design changed relatively li le during its lifetime despite ever-evolving engine displacements. The foundations also served as a basis for sister models from the pre y Karmann-Ghia to the utilitarian Type 181. German manufacture ended in 1974, but the Beetle remained especially popular in South America, with the final car being produced in Mexico in 2003, by which time 21,529,464 Beetles had been made.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1938
Engine 1192cc flat-four, naturally aspirated Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Power 34bhp Torque 56lb ft Top speed 68mph 0-60mph 20.5sec
MINI COOPER
Wizardry on wheels’ was coined by the BMC Publicity Department to describe its brand new baby car, the Austin Se7en and Morris Mini-Minor, at launch in 1959. In less than three years Alec Issigonis took Project ADO15 to production, but in early 1959 BMC management was worried about the Mini’s commercial prospects. To generate positive publicity, they put the car into the hands of ‘the right people’ before the launch.
One of the chosen few was John Cooper, who was quickly besotted by the Mini’s potential. He knew BMC was on to a winner, and was convinced that he could persuade the company to back his idea of a faster version conceived for motorsport, so he set about making the Mini go faster by adding more power.
In competition form the A-series could push out around 100bhp, but for longevity this was wound back to around 55bhp; still a useful improvement over the standard Mini 850’s
34bhp. Cooper showed Issigonis his hot prototype, but Issigonis was sceptical; to him, the Mini was an economy car. But that didn’t stop Cooper, whose next step was to get George Harriman, new BMC MD, to drive the peppedup Mini. He loved it but he wasn’t confident it would sell, so Cooper persuaded Harriman to sanction the car, with Cooper paid a £2 royalty on each one made. The go-faster Mini could be sold as an Austin or a Morris through the 5000-strong dealer network. BMC undertook the development of the production machine, and backed the Cooper Car Company as the official BMC Mini team in saloon car racing.
It was the deal of the century for BMC, and the making of the Mini, which was about to head into popular culture like no other post-war car. BMC’s engineers commenced Mini Cooper development with a target power output of 55bhp to give a maximum speed of 85mph.
The standard Mini 850’s engine was a
derivative of the 948cc A-Series, so it seems odd that this wasn’t used for the Mini Cooper. Instead a 997cc engine was created, longer in stroke but smaller in bore than the donor 848cc. It was the beginning of a string of uniquely sized A-Series engines, with other major upgrades including twin 1¼-inch SU carburettors, a remote gearchange and Girling disc brakes – a feature that Cooper specified for his prototype.
Development was brief, and in September 1961 the Mini Cooper went into production. Performance was suitably peppy for a sub1000cc baby car – a maximum speed of 85mph and a 0-60mph time of 17 seconds put this in the giant-killer category. But Cooper wanted more performance; the answer came from Downton Engineering, which had acquired one of the first Mini Coopers in late 1961 and turned it into a 108mph pocket-rocket that could scamper to 60mph in eight seconds, thanks to a 1088cc engine and improved carburation.
While the road car development continued, the Mini Cooper continued to conquer in motor sport. John Love won the 1962 British Saloon Car Championship for the Worksbacked Cooper team, but the Competitions Dept knew that a more powerful Mini Cooper could clean up in rallying; development of the Mini Cooper S was soon underway. The car’s 1071cc engine was co-developed by Downton Engineering, and featured nimonic valves and a nitrided crankshaft to help boost power to 70bhp. The brakes were also uprated to 7.5in.
The Cooper S created a revolution in rallying; it might have peaked with the Monte Carlo, but it had gained momentum in 1962. Pat Moss and Ann Wisdom took victory in May’s Tulip in a 997cc Cooper, following an encouraging 26th overall in that year’s Monte. By 1963, Moss
had taken three international wins in a row, followed by third overall on the Monte Carlo –an astonishing achievement.
More followed, including the homologationspecial 970S, and the legendary 1275S that followed up Hopkirk’s memorable Monte Carlo with a further two (1965 for Timo Mäkinen and Paul Easter, 1967 for Rauno Altonen and Henry Liddon) – it should have been three, had it not been for disqualification in 1966.
In touring car racing the Mini was also tough to beat. The Cooper S won the 1300cc class and finished second overall in the 1964 British Saloon Car Championship, while the 970S took the European Touring Car Championship. The following year, Warwick Banks won the 1.0-litre class in the British Saloon Car Championship.
The road-going 1275cc Cooper S was now the ultimate edition, and had established itself as a giant-killer on both road and track. With 76bhp it was nearly a 100mph machine, but more importantly the Mini had become a cultural phenomenon – the must-have ‘It’ car. The roster of famous owners included all four Beatles, Twiggy, Brigitte Bardot, Peter Sellers, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and Enzo Ferrari.
As a tuning and modifying industry grew to support the Mini Cooper, every young blade and stylish mum wanted one. They demanded posher, faster and more stylish versions, buying everything from chrome-plated nudge bars to 100bhp tuning kits. Cooper-mania swept the land, but it wasn’t to last.
In 1968 BMC’s parent company British Motor Holdings merged with Leyland Motor Corporation to create British Leyland, led by Donald Stokes, who focused on the corporation’s finances. Initial signs weren’t good. The Mini and 1100 were known loss-leaders with high warranty costs; Cooper was shown the door, then in 1969 the Competitions Department was ordered to run a team of Minis in the British Saloon Car Championship. It didn’t win. The Works Mini Cooper glory days were over.
The road-going Mini Cooper’s days were almost over, too. The Mini Cooper was facelifted into MkIII form in March 1970 but sales were fading away and BLMC closed its Competitions Department in October 1970. Eight months later the final Mini Cooper S came off the Longbridge line, bringing to an end a ten-year run that changed the way enthusiasts viewed small cars.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1961
Engine 997cc four-cylinder, naturally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power 55bhp Torque 54lb ft
Top speed 85mph 0-60mph 18sec
Multi Award Winning System including the most prestigious Design Council Award plus many more
As the years go by more and more people around the world have come to appreciate the level of protection Carcoon provides.
A great British invention, designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts.
Active Airflow within the Carcoon concept remains unique throughout the range, it’s the heart of the system.
‘The F1 was underpinned by a carbonfibre monocoque and powered by a bespoke BMW V12 engine’
Mc LAREN F1
The F1 is routinely touted as being one of the greatest road cars ever made. It also vanquished all-comers in GT racing. However, what tends to be forgotten is that it was never meant to venture on a racetrack in anger because there was nowhere to race such a car when it went on sale in 1992. The F1 was conceived by Gordon Murray, the South African designer having been one of motorsport’s great innovators during his stint at Brabham prior to jumping ship. He persuaded McLaren principal Ron Dennis to back his vision for a no-compromise supercar.
The F1 was underpinned by a carbonfibre monocoque and powered by a bespoke BMW V12 engine, with Murray dictating its size and packaging requirements. Distinct from its rivals, the F1 also placed the driver front and centre, with the two passenger seats staggered behind for a 1+2 configuration. The carbonfibre body was shaped by freelancer Peter Stevens, whose résumé also included the fourth-generation Lotus Esprit and the JaguarSport XJR-15. McLaren spent 1100 hours in the wind-tunnel honing the outline, with the F1 in its original form (impressively) being devoid of spoilers.
The move into racing occurred after the BRP Global Endurance GT series was introduced in 1994, initially without championship status. That changed in 1995, and gentleman drivers petitioned Dennis to provide an endurance racing package. Dennis capitulated with great reluctance and the F1 GTR variant of Thomas Bscher and John Nielsen went on to claim the inaugural title. However, the big news in 1995 was McLaren’s outright victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours. The F1 would continue to evolve into 1996, not least with longer LM-spec bodywork. The model was still competitive as late as 1998.
106 F1s of all types were made.
THANKS TO Petersen Automotive Museum, petersen.org
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1992 Engine 6064cc V12, naturally aspirated Transmission Six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Power 592bhp Torque 480lb ft
The 100 Greatest Classic Cars
LAMBORGHINI MIURA
Contrary to popular belief, the Miura wasn’t the first car ever to be dubbed a supercar. The term had been used as far back as the 1930s. It was, however, the car that established the template for what a supercar should be. Not that it was taken seriously by established players when it was first seen in bare-chassis form at the Turin motor show in November 1965. Lamborghini’s rivals even remained a mite sniffy when the completed car emerged barely five months later at the 1966 Geneva motor show. To everyone else, the Miura represented the future.
There was a Giotto Bizzarrini-conceived, Giampaolo Dallara-refined V12 engine sited amidships. Not only that, it was mounted transversely, with the block redesigned in a single unit with the transmission and final drive. Then there was the body, attributed to Stile Bertone new boy Marcello Gandini. The original Miura P400 (Posteriore 4-Litri ) caused a sensation. The first car was delivered in December 1966, with subsequent variations arriving in quick succession. Marque instigator Ferruccio Lamborghini reasoned that he might struggle to sell 50 Miuras, but production to the end in 1972 amounted to 762 cars across three different iterations: P400, P400 S and P400 SV, with a few specials thrown in for good measure.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1966
Engine 3929 V12, naturally aspirated
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 345bhp Torque 262lb ft
Top speed 171mph 0-60mph 6.3sec
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1924
Engine 1991cc straight-eight, normally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 70bhp Torque n/a
Top speed 90mph 0-60mph n/a
BUGATTI TYPE 35
Few cars have ever married engineering purity and physical beauty so absolutely as the Bugatti Type 35. This slender machine first appeared in 2.0-litre form in 1924, with a 1.5-litre (Type 39) following shortly thereafter. The best-known 2.3-litre variant was ready for the 1926 running of the Targa Florio, examples recording a 1-2-3-5 finish in the Sicilian road race. That same year also saw the arrival of a 130bhp supercharged version as a catalogue model (known variously as the 35B and 35C). The heart of any Type 35 was a single-cam straight-eight engine that was crafted to symmetrical perfection.
The Type 35 was also the first Bugatti to wear the characteristic cast aluminium wheels with integral brake drums, plus a chassis that tapered inwards to match the pointed tail. The Type 35 dominated various classes of racing. By 1929 the overhead-cam engines were deemed to be old-hat, but Type 35s continued to chalk up victories across Europe and beyond. The visually similar Type 51 and Type 59 picked up from where the Type 35 left off, to brilliant effect.
MERCEDES-BENZ 300 SL
It was – and remains – one of the most easily recognisable cars ever made, and one invariably referred to by its nickname. The Mercedes-Benz 300SL ‘Gullwing’ was a landmark GT car, and one rooted in a Le Mans winner. The W194 SL that bore it claimed honours in the 1952 running of the 24-hour classic and also that year’s Carrera Panamericana. That would have been the end of the story had it not been for the marque’s influential East Coast concessionaire, Max Hoffman. He argued that there was a market for a civilised road-going variant, and legend has it that he agreed to buy 1000 cars.
Given that the USA was the target market, the choice of venue for the car’s debut was apposite. A prototype was displayed at the 1954 New York International Motor Sports Show. The unadorned, gawky racer had morphed into a strikingly handsome road car, and one that was capable of 135mph thanks to its race-proven 3.0-litre straight-six engine.
Production of the coupé ended in 1956, with 1400 cars built. The Gullwing also spawned a roadster variant which was produced from 1957 to 1963. This would prove to be even more commercially successful than the coupé, with 1858 examples made.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1954
Engine 2996cc straight-six, naturally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 240bhp Torque 217lb ft
Top speed 135mph 0-60mph 7.4sec
ALFA ROMEO 8C
The 8C 2300 was a landmark classic, not least because of its incomparable record in motorsport. The previous 6C 1750 models in their various iterations often had better roadholding than their rivals, but not necessarily the outright pace to topple them. Designer Vittorio Jano responded by conceiving a supercharged 2336cc straight-eight that was installed in a chassis offered in two different wheelbases: the short chassis – or Corto – at 2800mm and the Lungo (long) chassis at 3000mm.
The 8C 2300 made its competition debut on the Mille Miglia in April 1931, with Tazio Nuvolari and Giovanni Battista Guidotti leading initially, only to come home an embattled ninth. A month later, Nuvolari battled miserable conditions to win the Targa Florio. However, it was in endurance racing that the 8C found lasting fame, 8C 2300s winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1931-1934. That the 8C 2300 emerged at all is remarkable given Alfa Romeo’s perilous financial situation at the time, the firm taking on state protection from 1933. Subsequent iterations of the 8C stretched to single-seater racing cars and the immortal 8C 2900 sports car in open and closed forms.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1931
Engine 2336cc straight-eight, supercharged
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 178bhp Torque 155lb ft
Top speed 106mph 0-60mph 9.4sec
PORSCHE 911
The Porsche 911 is the supercar that refuses to die. We’re now on the eighth-generation model and, while the latest 911 shares nothing with the original of 1963, the basic con guration – a rearmounted at-six engine – hasn’t changed. Designed by Ferry and Butzi Porsche, the 911 was intended to x the awed on-limit handling characteristics of the 356, and it a empted to do this by featuring a new torsion bar rear suspension set-up, although this still wasn’t a car for novices.
From the start there were a ve-speed manual gearbox, disc brakes all round, and a rigid steel bodyshell to give excellent agility when allied to snappy rack-and-pinion steering. In the tail was a 130bhp 1991cc aircooled at-six, to take the 911 to 130mph thanks to its slippery shape.
e 911 is now known for its bewildering array of model options and even as early as 1967 there was a choice of three power outputs, including the 110bhp 911T and a 170bhp 2.2-litre edition. From 1971 a 2.4-litre engine was ed, but it was the next year that one of the most collectable 911s of all went on sale: the Carrera RS 2.7. ings got even more exciting in 1974 when the 911 Turbo surfaced, with its tea-tray rear spoiler. Capable of 160mph thanks to a turbocharged 3.0-litre engine, it was hugely quick, but seriously tricky to drive with its on/o power delivery.
Up to the end of the 1980s there would be many more variations on the 911 theme, before a new generation arrived. at was the 964, in turn replaced by the 993 in 1993. is would be the last of the air-cooled 911s before the water-cooled 996 made its debut in 1998. And so began a new era.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1963
Engine 1991cc flat-six, naturally aspirated
Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 130bhp Torque 130lb
Top speed 130mph 0-60mph 8.3sec
‘The 911 was intended to fix the flawed on-limit handling characteristics of the 356’
JAGUAR E-TYPE
When launched at the 1961 Geneva motor show, the E-type caused a sensation. Here was an incredibly striking car, capable of 150mph, available for just £2097, which was a third of the cost of the contemporary Aston Martin DB4. Just a month after its launch Graham Hill entered an E-type in its first race at Oulton Park and won. The E was on its way, and in all Jaguar would make 72,000 between 1961 and 1974.
The E-type was the glamorous sports car of its time: modern, fast and incredible to look at, so it’s no wonder they were were snapped up by rock stars and celebrities alike. The looks were taken from the D-type racer, but in reality the E-type was not that aerodynamically efficient. Who cared? On Carnaby Street it looked fast standing still.
The tub and front subframe chassis were race-proven, and much lighter than the previous twin-girder chassis. Suspension was by torsion bars at the front, with a clever and revolutionary fully independent rear suspension set-up, along with inboard rear disc brakes. But 150mph was only possible
with larger racing tyres and a tweaked engine. No matter, the Jaguar was incredibly fast but remarkably refined, too; it made other sports and GT cars seem heavy and old-fashioned. Available in Fixed Head Coupé and Roadster forms, the E-type was initially offered in 3.8-litre guise with the triple-SU-carburetted straight-six engine from the XK150S. An improved 4.2-litre model was launched in 1964, with the unofficially named Series 1½ of 1967 shedding the faired-in headlights; the official Series 2 followed in 1968. The big change came in 1971, when the six-cylinder Series 2 gave way to the 5.3-litre V12-powered Series 3, a longer and wider car that was more of a grand tourer instead of a sports car. Production of the E-type ended in 1974, with the XJ-S arriving a year later.
ESSENTIAL FACTS AND FIGURES
Introduced 1961
Engine 3781cc straight-six, naturally aspirated
Transmission Four-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power 265bhp Torque 260lb ft
Top speed 150mph 0-60mph 6.9sec
THE ULTIMATE SCHOOL-RUN RACER
A GTO at Number 1? Allow Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason – who paid £37,000 for his 1962 250 GTO in 1977 and has used it extensively on road and track ever since – to explain why this rare Ferrari deserves the top spot
Words James Page Photography Dean Smith
The racing history of the Ferrari 250 GTO is wellknown: three consecutive World Championships; overall victories in the Tour de France and Tourist Trophy; class success in endurance classics such as Le Mans, Sebring and the Targa Florio; and wins in everything from short races on British airfields to epic Italian hillclimbs. For many people, that period in the early 1960s is all that matters – they have little interest in what’s happened to the cars in the decades since.
But to focus solely on a GTO’s frontline competition career is to overlook chapters in its life that still contribute to that car’s story. Take 3589 GT, for example, which Tom O’Connor donated to Victoria High School in Texas so that it could be used for the ‘auto mechanics’ programme; the
1same car was later left outside on a trailer for a number of years by subsequent owner Joe Kortan.
Then there are the GTOs that will forever be linked to their long-term custodians. Jim McNeil and Anthony Bamford have each clocked up more than 50 years, while those to reach 40 (and counting) include Paul Vestey and Peter Sachs – and Nick Mason, who bought 3757 GT in 1978.
Mason grew up in a motoring family. His father, Bill, was a documentary maker who worked for Shell and produced motor racing films. He also competed in a Bentley 4.5 Litre and would take Nick with him to race meetings. The automotive bug was duly passed from father to son, and Mason’s success in Pink Floyd enabled him to build a truly mouth-watering collection – although
The
1962 Ferrari 250 GTO
Engine 2953cc V12, OHC per bank, six Weber 38 DCN carburettors Power 300bhp @ 7500rpm
Torque 254lb ft @ 5400rpm Transmission Five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Steering ZF worm and peg
Suspension Front: double wishbones, coil springs, Koni telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar. Rear: live axle, locating rods, Watt’s linkage, semi-elliptic leaf springs, Koni telescopic dampers Brakes Discs Weight c1050kg Top speed c170mph 0-60mph c6.5sec (performance figures vary according to final drive)
‘The first Le Mans Classic was embarrassing because we won six or seven trophies’
describing it as such is perhaps slightly misleading, as if compiling it was a deliberate goal.
In reality it was more random than that. As he added cars, he found himself neither needing nor wanting to sell others, and by his own admission he ‘got a bit carried away’. There were worse vices for a rock star to have during the 1970s...
Although he owns a number of single-seaters, Mason confesses to having a particular soft spot for ‘Le Mans-type’ cars, and the GTO is almost certainly the most famous inhabitant of his bustling workshops. Having been supplied new to Jacques Swaters and Ecurie Francorchamps, 3757 GT made its competition debut in the Le Mans 24 Hours in June 1962 and finished third overall in the hands of Jean Blaton and Léon Dernier. Later that year it finished third in the Tour de France – an event that was even more of a challenge to man and machine than Le Mans.
That result owed much to a moment of… let’s call it ‘ingenuity’ by Jacques Swaters. The GTO arrived for the race at Spa-Francorchamps with a broken wishbone, but parc fermé regulations meant that it couldn’t be replaced. All the cars had to complete three practice laps before the race itself, a process that would take about 12 minutes. Swaters sent his mechanics out to the far side of the circuit and Gérald Langlois van Ophem set off for his three laps, but when he got to Malmedy he dived into a side-road and the repairs were hastily done out of sight before he drove back to the pits.
Officials then marched up to Swaters and said that the car hadn’t done its required three laps, but le patron showed them his lap chart, on which he’d entered fictitious times for the GTO. Swaters had a reputation as a superb timekeeper and argued that the officials must have made a mistake. They bought it, and 3757 GT was allowed to continue.
After the Tour de France, the GTO was sold to Guy Hansez and he raced it through 1963, mostly in domestic Belgian hillclimbs. It then passed to British enthusiast Peter Clarke and was used in everything from club meetings at Croft to the Nürburgring 1000km and Sebring 12 Hours, until its period competition career came to an end in 1966. By then it was simply an out-of-date racing car, and Avalon Garage in Kent paid Clarke £2000 for it.
Subsequent custodians included Headley Gué and Peter Newens, the latter being a great motoring enthusiast whose family ran a bakery in Kew. The GTO then had two owners whose names will be familiar to anyone with a knowledge of classic Ferraris. First was Vic Norman, a close friend of Mason who owned the 1959 Paris Salon 250 GT Short Wheelbase and later set up Rosso Racing. In turn, Norman sold it to Ronald Stern and Malcolm Clarke – Stern then bought Clarke’s stake, when he decided that the car needed to be restored. Not only did Stern go on to own both of the ex-Stirling Moss TT-winning Short Wheelbases, he has also acquired an unrivalled collection of Ferrari memorabilia.
It was from Stern that Mason acquired 3757 GT, already wearing the ‘250 GTO’ registration number. When Stern handed him the logbook, Mason noticed that it had previously been registered ‘4 HLY’, and only then did he realise that he’d taken a photograph of Peter Clarke racing it at Goodwood during the mid-1960s. ‘I’d bought a 275 GTB/4,’ says Mason, ‘which was so unsatisfactory. It had terrible problems with brakes, it had terrible problems with wetting plugs, and it was there because I couldn’t afford a GTO at the time. So, when I could afford it, I was really keen to get out of that and into a GTO.
‘I knew that it was one of the best in terms of the fact that it had just been rebuilt – it hadn’t been sitting in a garage somewhere. It was an expensive car but there was very rarely more than one for sale at any given time. It’s not like you could shop around. And if I really want a car I tend not to spend too much time talking about it. I never drove the GTO before I bought it, which is true of the D-type, true of the Birdcage. You know if you want it.
‘I bought the D-type before the GTO. I bought that because Michael Scott told me that he didn’t think, if I found
a GTO, the guy would want money. He’d want to swap it for something else. So I bought the D-type but it was completely useless because [Stern] wanted money – he didn’t have any interest at all in the D-type…
‘I love Ferraris dearly, but actually I have as much loyalty towards the [Aston Martin] Ulster, or the Birdcage. Ferrari is the iconic brand, so you spend more time talking about Ferrari than anything else. Having said that, I didn’t know quite how good the GTO was.’
Mason started competing in the car as soon as he’d bought it. His first outing was in the Vintage Sports-Car Club’s Pomeroy Trophy – ‘I think I ran into a Frazer Nash on the coming-in lap, which was a bit embarrassing’ – and the GTO became a regular at the Goodwood Revival.
‘Doing the Revival with it is absolutely a highlight, but also the first Le Mans Classic, where we ran the car with Mark [Hales]. I had to leave early and Mark said it was stunningly embarrassing because we won, I can’t even remember, but we must have won six or seven trophies from one meeting. There were three races, all of which we’d been at the front of, plus first Ferrari, plus something else. By the
Facing page and above
No speedometer in the main instrument pack, which centres on the rev-counter, but making the GTO road-legal means installing one on the transmission tunnel. Gloriously patinated leather seats and wood-rim wheel are testament to decades of use.
‘You wouldn’t want to get stuck on a motorway, but it’s good through Italian towns’
end of it, people were booing when he got up to pick up another trophy! That was possibly the most successful meeting we ever had with it.
‘I’ve always said it’s the ultimate amateur’s car. If you’re a good driver, you can do really well. If you’re a bad driver, you’ll still do quite well, and if you’re a superstar you’ll win the race. Balance is the key word. It’s the fact that the brakes are about right for the weight of the car and the power of the engine. All that produces something that you can drive. By the time you get to something like the 512S, that’s a big boy’s car. There weren’t many gentleman drivers by that time.’
Talk to enough past and present owners of a GTO and you’ll soon find those who will argue that it’s far from ideal on public roads. Among them is Vic Norman, who is quite adamant when he states: ‘It looked fantastic, but as a road car – it’s not a road car. It was so bloody loud inside.’
His friend Mason disagrees: ‘[It’s] a perfectly good road car. It’s noisy, but I’ve driven it to the Nürburgring, raced it there, and driven it back. And there are stories in period of cars being driven from the factory to races. It’s one of the last cars you could do that with. I took both my daughters to church in it for their weddings, and there were one or two occasions on which it would be the only car that would start in the morning and I’d take them to school in it.
‘The people who tell you that [the GTO] is not really as good as you think, nearly always you discover they own a Short Wheelbase. It’s not quite as versatile as a Short Wheelbase, but part of the problem is that everyone who’s raced GTOs – and I include myself in this – goes through the process of endlessly stiffening the damn thing trying to make it a little more raceworthy. Actually, once you take all that trick stuff off, the car’s no slower.
‘Yes, you do need to wear ear-plugs or, ideally, headsets, but it’s OK. It’s got good visibility, and if you put a fan on it… You wouldn’t want to get stuck on a motorway, but it’s pretty good through Italian towns or wherever. The view down the bonnet is just wonderful, and for what it’s worth the GTO has far more luggage space than a LaFerrari or any of the hypercars – you can actually get a reasonable-sized bag behind the seats.’
Mason admits that, while it used to be something of a ‘point of honour’ to race a GTO, it’s ‘starting to look more and more unwise’. For one thing, a GTO in standard trim won’t be competitive against many of the cars currently running in historic racing. Even so, he is emphatically not one to wrap up his cars in cotton wool.
‘When Martin Brundle drove the car a few years ago, he more or less asked, “How hard do you want me to try?” My response was to point at it and say that I didn’t want it coming back looking like that, where it was highly polished and looking far too new and lovely. I’m still perfectly happy with some battle damage.
‘It’s testament to the car that, although the owners change, nearly all of them have competition licences and an interest in motorsport. Despite the enormous values of the cars now, they tend to be real enthusiasts. I think that’s important – they are a delightful bunch to hang out with.’
Even though picking a favourite from his collection is akin to picking a favourite child, it’s clear that the GTO holds a special place in Mason’s affections. With the obvious exception of his father’s Bentley, he admits that it would probably be the last car he’d part with – and without doubt his ownership has added much to its story.
‘It’s a great all-rounder and it’s given such great service,’ he concludes. ‘It’s part of the family.’
