Magneto Magazine Issue 12: Winter 2021

ISSUE

12 WINTER 2021

AS TO N MA RT IN BU LL DO G 020 0 M PH IN 41 .5 YE AR S?

I T L I V E S ! B R M V 16 C O N T I N U AT I O N

F I R S T- E V E R C O U N TA C H L P 4 0 0

M E R C E D E S - B E N Z 3 00 S L R 72 2’ S L A S T O U T I N G

T H E T O P 50 M A R Q U E R E V I VA L S

IT’S BACK! FERRARI 365P TRE POSTI

£10 | WINTER 2021

PRINTED IN THE UK

fope.com

SOLD

SOLD SOLD SOLD

SOLD

1 of 2 Audi R8 LMP900s sold by Fiskens in 2021

1964 SHELBY AC COBRA

1 of 4 important racing AC Cobras sold by Fiskens in 2021

1904 PANHARD ET LEVASSOR 15HP Highly original and regular London to Brighton finisher

1934 ALFA ROMEO 8C ZAGATO SPIDER 1 of 2 notable Alfa Romeo 8Cs handled by Fiskens in 2021

1966 FERRARI 275 GTB

1 of 2 Ferrari 275 GTBs sold by Fiskens in 2021

1982 McLAREN MP4

Ex-Niki Lauda and 1982 British GP winner

1952 ASTON MARTIN DB3S/102

1 of 3 significant 1950s sports racing cars sold by Fiskens in 2021

SOLD

SOLD 2000 AUDI RS LMP900

TIME TO CONSIGN

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uring these past two years of uncertainty, Fiskens has determinedly maintained its reputation of finding custodians for the world’s greatest cars. Our specialist team handled the sale of a select portfolio of historic automobiles ranging from Edwardian leviathans to the pre-war marque legends and from elegant 60s grand tourers to the best Le Mans, F1 and Grand Prix racers from the 1950s right up to the LMP1 era. We have also been proud to handle two private collections this year alongside our list of private and retailed sales.

Thanks to our bespoke, targeted marketing and famous client relationships, we have had one of the best years in our 30 years of trading.

We are yet again putting together a collection of the world’s best cars that will be available for sale in our famous London showroom and at the 2022 Salon Retromobile. If you’re interested in how we can achieve the best result for your important historic automobile, on or off market, please get in touch for a confidential consultation. +44 (0)20 7584 3503 or cars@fiskens.com

14 Queens Gate Place Mews London SW7 5BQ www.fiskens.com

HERITAGE IS ABOUT

PLACES

In the completely renovated spaces of the Officine Classiche workshop in Turin, a team of experts is at your disposal to restore and certify any historic model of the Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia and Abarth brands.

Discover our world. www.fcaheritage.com

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20 COMING SOON The best of the rest of 2021 and which events to look forward to in 2022

29 S TA R T E R Concours on Savile Row; Porsche 356 on ice; Bond cars; Jackie Stewart Q&A; Morgan heads off-road; Dallara; Stirling Moss 300SLR 722’s final outing

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ASTON MARTIN BULLDOG

F I R S T C O U N TA C H LP400

C O U N TA C H L P 500 AND LPI 800-4

FERRARI TRE POSTI

Abandoned 1970s concept has been brought back to life at long last – and it has its original 200mph target firmly in its sights

Lamborghini remains the most outrageous car ever, as the wedge with the edge celebrates its 50th birthday

1971 concept stages a surprise resurrection, while latest model combines hybrid tech with classic styling cues

The 365P Berlinetta Speciale; the car that finally persuaded Enzo Ferrari to take the rearengined road-car route

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27 Janurary 2022 Scottsdale, Arizona

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10 Years of Scottsdale

Consignments Invited for 2022 2013

INQUIRIES +1 (415) 391 4000, West Coast +1 (212) 461 6514, East Coast motors.us@bonhams.com bonhams.com/sell-cars © 2021 Bonhams & Butterfields Auctioneers Corp. All rights reserved. NYC DCA Auction House License No. 2077070

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FA R E W E L L T O T W O TRUE CHARACTERS

BRM P15 V16 C O N T I N U AT I O N

LUDVIGSEN ON...

B U G AT T I E N G I N E S

TOP 50 M A R Q U E R E V I VA L S

Doug Nye remembers his close friends from the classic world – the muchmissed Adrian Hamilton and Robert Brooks

How the sound of the screaming V16 prompted the creation of an all-new Continuation from the historic backer of BRM

Designer and engineer Ettore Bugatti honed his eight-cylinder powerplants to perfection on road, on track and in the air

The comebacks and the knockbacks, the wild successes and the abject failures. We chart the brands that refused to die

179 ACQUIRE Buying an Alpine A110; why you should always purchase classic cars only for the right reasons, by Dave Kinney and Hagerty; collecting vintage oil cans, Leica cameras, art and watches; plus new products and books

204 LEGAL: CHANGE IS A COMIN’

206 COLLECTIONS: R O A D -T R I P T A L E S

208 HISTORIC RACING: R E V I VA L D E B U T S

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BEHIND THE LEGEND: I TA L I A N S I X A P P E A L Magneto

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Editor’s Welcome

12 In a few weeks’ time, I’ll have been doing this car magazine thing (with a brief interlude for motorcycles) for 30 years. Not only does that make me wonder where the time went, but it’s also got me thinking about all the weeklies, monthlies, quarterlies and neverending websites that I’ve been involved with.

Of all those, Magneto is the one I’m most proud of, and this issue in particular warms my heart. I don’t think I’ve ever known such a strong collection of cars in a single publication, starting with the outrageous, legendary, infamous Aston Martin Bulldog, in this case lit by lasers in the most difficult photoshoot we’ve ever attempted.

Then there’s the first-ever Countach LP400, chassis 001, followed by the stunning recreation of the Countach LP500 prototype. Throw in the just-restored Ferrari 365P Tre Posti, fresh from its Best of Show nominee excitement at Pebble Beach Concours, and the remarkable BRM V16 Continuation, and I hope you’ll see what I mean.

One last bit of trumpet blowing, if you’ll excuse such behaviour... we’ve just made it to the finals in five categories of the PPA Independent Awards. Plus, of the three finalists in the Outstanding Journalism category of the Royal Automobile Club Historic Awards, two are for Magneto articles: Land-Rover No. 1 by Martin Port, and Donald Campbell by David Tremayne (the third is for an excellent Giles Chapman piece on the Hagerty website). We’re keeping our fingers crossed – and remain truly grateful for your support.

David Lillywhite Editorial director

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CALIBER RM 07-01

www.richardmille.com

Contributors SIMON DE BURTON Journalist and author Simon de Burton is currently working on the official book on the history of the Aston Martin Bulldog, so no other writer knows more about its extraordinary life. He is also working on Motorcycles, a Century of Masterpieces, a companion volume to Cars, a Century of Masterpieces published in 2018.

SAM CHICK Sam started out as a magazine art director, working on the likes of GQ and Condé Nast Traveller, but ten years ago he went freelance as a photographer and creative director. When he saw the BRM V16 at Hall & Hall, he begged us to let him photograph the finished machine.

The results are suitably spectacular.

MASSIMO DELBÒ Not one, but two major features in this issue from Massimo, both reflecting his Italian roots. The day after judging at the Pebble Beach Concours he drove the newly restored Ferrari Tre Posti, while back in Milan he was able to spirit away the first-ever Countach LP400 for an evocative night shoot in the heart of the city.

Colin started at Car magazine in the late 1980s, moved to Autocar, and has been freelance for the past 20 years. He loves old cars, especially ones with V8 engines, rides motorbikes and built an aeroplane in his garden shed. For Magneto he tells of preparing the Stirling Moss 300SLR ‘722’ Mercedes-Benz for its final journey.

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I LLUST R AT IONS P ET E R A LLE N

COLIN GOODWIN

A U C T I O N S & P R I VAT E B R O K E R A G E

G O O D I N G C O .C O M

+ 1 . 3 1 0 . 8 9 9.1 9 6 0

ONLINE ONLY AUCTION OFFERING ON-SITE INSPECTIONS IN SCOTTSDALE FOR REGISTERED BIDDERS

FRIDAY JANUARY 28

1964 PORSCHE 356 C CARRERA 2 COUPE Rare ‘C’ Series Example with Single California Ownership for over Three Decades Coachwork by Reutter

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FRIDAY MARCH 4 LIVE AUCTION

1976 PORSCHE 934 SOLD FOR $1,380,000 Amelia Island Auction 2020

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Now Inviting Consignments CONTACT A SPECIALIST TODAY

Who to contact

Editorial director

Managing director

David Lillywhite

Geoff Love

Art director

Advertising sales

Peter Allen

Sue Farrow, Rob Schulp

Managing editor

Staff writer

Accounts administrator

Sarah Bradley

Elliott Hughes

Jonathan Ellis

Lifestyle advertising

West Coast US contributor

Sophie Kochan

Winston Goodfellow

Contributors in this issue Jonathon Burford, Nathan Chadwick, Sam Chick, Robert Dean, Simon de Burton, Massimo Delbò, Martyn Goddard, Colin Goodwin, Rob Gould, Rick Guest, Sam Hancock, Barry Hayden, Richard Heseltine, Dave Kinney, Evan Klein, Karl Ludvigsen, John Mayhead, Debbie Nolan, Doug Nye, Andy Reid, Clive Robertson, Max Serra, Amy Shore, Dr Fred Simeone, John Simister, Philip Whiteman, Rupert Whyte, David Zenlea

Single issues and subscriptions Please visit www.magnetomagazine.com or call +44 (0)208 068 6829

HOTHOUSE MEDIA Geoff Love, David Lillywhite, George Pilkington Castle Cottage, 25 High Street, Titchmarsh, Northants NN14 3DF, UK Printing Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE, UK Printed on Amadeus Silk supplied through Denmaur as a Carbon Balanced product.

Made from FSC® certified and traceable pulp sources Specialist newsstand distribution Pineapple Media, Select Publisher Services Who to contact Subscriptions and business geoff@hothousemedia.co.uk Accounts accounts@hothousemedia.co.uk Editorial david@hothousemedia.co.uk Advertising sue@flyingspace.co.uk or rob@flyingspace.co.uk Lifestyle advertising sophie.kochan2010@gmail.com

©Hothouse Media Ltd. Magneto and associated logos are registered trademarks of Hothouse Media Ltd. All rights reserved. All material in this magazine, whether in whole or in part, may not be reproduced, transmitted or distributed in any form without the written permission of Hothouse Media Ltd. Hothouse Media Ltd. uses a layered privacy notice giving you brief details about how we would like to use your personal information.

For full details, please visit www.magnetomagazine.com/privacy/

Magneto [mag-nee-toh] noun, plural mag·ne·tos 1. Electrical generator that provides periodic high-voltage pulses to the spark-plugs of an internal-combustion engine, used mostly pre-World War One although still fitted for emergency back-up of aircraft ignition systems.

2. Fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

3. Great quarterly magazine featuring the most important cars in the world.

ISSN Number 2631-9489. Magneto is published quarterly by Hothouse Publishing Ltd. Great care has been taken throughout the magazine to be accurate, but the publisher cannot accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions that might occur.

The editors and publishers of this magazine give no warranties, guarantees or assurances, and make no representations regarding any goods or services advertised in this edition.

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JANUARY 22-30 | SCOTTSDALE 2015 PORSCHE 918 SPYDER One of only 918 examples of Porsche’s hybrid hypercar produced. Powered by a 4.6-liter V8 engine backed by a 7-speed PDK gearbox and two electric motors for a total power output of 887hp and 944 ft/lbs of torque. Has 309 actual miles. NO RESERVE.

SELL YOUR COLLECTOR CAR WHERE THE BIDDERS ARE Over 200 World Records Broken In 2021 Contact a consignment specialist at Barrett-Jackson.com or 480.421.6694 Experience the Barrett-Jackson Auctions live exclusively on A+E Networks’ FYI and HISTORY channels.

ALL THE CARS, ALL THE TIME. Streamed live on Barrett-Jackson.com

Consign. Bid. Experience. Barrett-Jackson.com

More from Magneto

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NEW WEBSITE

70 YEARS OF PEBBLE BEACH

With improved design that makes it easier than ever to use, the all-new Magneto website is packed with the latest news from the classic and collector car world. Ordering issues and subscriptions is simple, and there’s a new, constantly updated events diary as well. Keep up to date digitally at www.magnetomagazine.com

Pre-order this beautiful collectors’ book, produced by the Magneto team on behalf of Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Standard Edition: Case bound, $90.00.

Publisher’s Edition: Limited-edition slipcase, $180.00.

Chairman’s Edition: Leather-bound, signed, $550.00. www.magnetomagazine.com/product/ 70-years-of-pebble-beach

SUBSCRIBE TO MAGNETO

MAGNETO SLIPCASES

Don’t miss out on issues of Magneto! Subscribe for one year for £48 ($90) or two years for £84 ($151), including p&p. Magneto is now delivered in new, stronger cardboard packaging to ensure your copies arrive in perfect condition. www.magnetomagazine.com or telephone +44 (0)208 068 6829

Slipcases are once again available to pre-order, each one designed to hold four issues. Each is cloth covered with an embossed Magneto logo. You’ll find them under the ‘Magneto Store’ heading.

Slipcase £40 ($65) including p&p. www.magnetomagazine.com

Magneto

© Pierre-Yves Riom

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efginternational.com EFG International’s global private banking network operates in around 40 locations worldwide, including Zurich, Geneva, Lugano, London, Madrid, Milan, Monaco, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, Miami, Bogotá and Montevideo. In the United Kingdom, EFG Private Bank Limited’s principal place of business and registered office is located at Leconfield House, Curzon Street, London W1J 5JB, T + 44 20 7491 9111. EFG Private Bank Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. EFG Private Bank Limited is a member of the London Stock Exchange. Registered in England and Wales as no. 2321802. EFG Private Bank Ltd is a subsidiary of EFG International.

New Trans-Mongolian Motor Challenge

Slip-sliding away at Austria’s GP Ice Race

Ypres to Istanbul Challenge looks great

Round-up of more of our favourite events

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Coming soon

T R A N S-M O N G O L I A N MOTOR CHALLENGE

GERARD BROWN

June 5-22, 2022 HERO-ERA has announced a new endurance event for next year, which will take entrants 6000km across Mongolia.

The 18-day Trans-Mongolian Motor Challenge 2022 will cover a vast and beautiful desert wonderland, including territory running past the birthplace of Genghis Khan.

Fifteen nights will be spent under canvas, while traversing the Gobi in probably the world’s most remote motoring event. This most northerly of deserts will throw up plenty of challenges, such as a 100kmplus stretch of corrugated desert in the Delgeriin Valley.

The longest half day will be 230km and the shortest 140km, with a 360km average per day.

There will also be four half days to relax or work on cars.

HERO-ERA expects the new event – which it says provides a deep-dive extreme-motoring adventure set in a genuinely desolate part of the world – to feature on its calendar past 2022, along with its Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, which has been rescheduled to 2023 due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. www.hero-era.com

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GP ICE RACE ZELL AM SEE January 28-30, 2022 The famous ice race at Zell am See in Austria first took place in 1937. It later took on a special meaning for Porsche fans, with a memorial event in 1952 for Ferdinand Porsche, who is buried nearby. The races continued into the 1970s – and were then revived in 2019, to much local excitement.

Now, competitive races take place on the ice between several different classes of car, including classics and modern GT and rally machinery – and also for cars towing daredevil skiers... Basically, if a vehicle can wear spiked tyres then it can take part.

For 2022, the GP Ice Race moves to a larger airport site and the use of a snowcovered 8oom runway. Entry starts at €75 per person. www.gpicerace.com

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SUMMER

AU T U M N

WINTER

SPRING

Coming Soon

Coming Soon

SUMMER

AU T U M N

WINTER

SPRING

YPRES TO I S TA N B U L CHALLENGE June 13-July 3, 2022

GERARD BROWN

Another new event is set for summer 2022, this time taking pre-1977 cars 5500km from Belgium to Turkey.

Featuring the de rigueur regularities and tests, Rally the Globe’s Ypres to Istanbul Challenge incorporates Flanders, the race town of Spa, the winding roads of Germany’s Eifel and a stay in Czech capital Prague.

Next it heads through Austria, Hungary and Romania to the shores of the Black Sea, before diverting back into the mountains around Plovdiv, one of Bulgaria’s major wine centres.

Once in Turkey, entrants will stay near the narrow straits of the Dardanelles before skirting the coast of the Sea of Marmara. Their final luxury accommodation in Istanbul will overlook the Bosphorus, the gateway to Asia. Sounds incredible! www.rallytheglobe.com

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Coming Soon

FINARTE PORSCHE AUCTION November 29, 2021 November sees Italian auction house Finarte’s online sale of a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS Lightweight, one of only 200 made. Matching-numbers chassis no. 113601443 has a 1974-77 Group 3 racing history, and comes with ASI and FIVA certificate and Porsche’s certificate of origin. www.finarte.it

CLASSIC 12 HOUR AND SEBRING HISTORICS December 1-5, 2021 Race cars and aeroplanes, on a 1950s air base... this year’s Sebring season finale has all the wheels and wings you could wish for.

Great drivers, stunning cars and a spectacular show, with a huge variety of racing classes. www.hsrrace.com

BELOW Rétromobile is huge and fun; Rallye MonteCarlo Historique is exciting and cold!

34th edition in 2022, and covers 500km with 65 precision time trials and six average tests, There will be two legs plus a knock-out session on a frozen lake. Open to models built until 1968, both front- and rear-wheel drive, in addition to a selection of collectable and special-interest cars produced before 1976. www.wintermarathon.it

ARIZONA AUCTION WEEK January 22-30, 2022 There’s nothing like this crazy week in and around Scottsdale, Arizona. Almost all the major auction houses hold sales, so collectors, dealers and potential buyers flock there, making for a heady party atmosphere and incredible selection of cars. The highlight is the huge BarrettJackson sale – don’t miss it. www.barrett-jackson.com

PA L M B E A C H C O N C O U R S

R A L LY E M O N T E- C A R L O HISTORIQUE

December 12, 2021

January 27-February 2, 2022

Staged at its new home of the Banyan Cay Resort and Golf, a Jack Nicklaus signature course, the concours will bring some of the most enviable automotive exhibits, from classics to exotics, and will introduce vintage motorcycles for the first time, too.

What a thrill to relive the escapades of Paddy Hopkirk, Jean Ragnotti, Björn Waldegård and so many more heroes of Rallye Monte-Carlo. It’s tough, though, with snowy cols to negotiate in the last pre-Monaco stages. Only cars of a type that took part between 1911-80 are eligible, and you’ll be mixing with a few rally greats, too, because drivers such as Ragnotti, Walter Röhrl and Bruno Saby still take part. For a slightly easier ride, the Rallye Monte-Carlo Classique follows mostly the same route but without some of the time-keeping elements.

www.palmbeachconcours.com

C AVA L L I N O C L A S S I C January 20-23, 2022 The ultimate Ferrari event sees the absolute cream of classic Prancing Horse models converge on Palm Beach in Florida for tours, track sessions, parties, seminars and, of course, a renowned concours. A chance for some winter sun and the best Ferraris in the world. www.cavallino.com

W I N T E R M A R AT H O N January 20-23, 2022 Fascinating seasonal racing from Madonna di Campiglio.

This traditional winter regularity competition for classics sees its

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www.acm.mc/en

RÉTROMOBILE February 2-6, 2022 Traditional season opener, draws 120,000-plus enthusiasts from across Europe and further afield.

You can count on it to offer something different to the norm, plus hundreds of classic vehicles, automobilia sellers, clubs and parts dealers, as well as auctions. www.retromobile.com

E A S T A F R I C A N S A FA R I C L A S S I C R A L LY February 10-19, 2022 The organiser tags it as “the world’s greatest classic rally” – and yes, rallying through Kenya and Tanzania is extremely tough.

The nine-day, 3100-mile event is open to two-wheel-drive FIA rally cars built before 1986, and you’ll need an experienced back-up crew. For unique, life-changing experiences, it comes top. www.eastafricansafarirally.com

1000 M I G L I A EXPERIENCE UAE February 18-22, 2022

AMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE March 3-6, 2022 As much to see as at Pebble Beach, but with an even more relaxed atmosphere and more eclectic displays, this Florida event has grown hugely in recent years, and now attracts several auction houses and a free Cars and Coffee.

Add in excellent seminars and plenty of manufacturer activity, and you’ve got one hell of a show. www.ameliaconcours.org

TECHNO CLASSICA ESSEN March 23-27, 2022 ‘Huge’ is always mentioned in any description of this event. So many halls, such an incredible choice of spares, automobilia and cars for sale, along with fantastic displays from the heritage divisions of the major German marques. www.siha.de

79 T H G O O D W O O D MEMBERS’ MEETING April 9-10, 2022

Inaugural Middle East edition is an invitation-only event for 100 owners of landmark cars. Over five thrilling days, participants will cross all seven Emirates, driving against the clock.

A thrilling weekend of epic racing, high-speed track demonstrations and fun-packed festivities.

Uncrowded, intimate and access all areas, it is exclusively open to members of the Goodwood Road Racing Club community.

www.1000miglia.it

www.goodwood.com

IF YOU LOVE THE LAMBORGHINI MIURA PUT THIS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE Whether you are a prospective, current or past owner, or simply a lover of the first Italian supercar, this exhaustively researched register containing information on every example built is a must-have addition to your library To purchase your copy go to www.miurabook.com

COLLECTOR CARS ONLINE AUCTION | 15-29 NOVEMBER WWW.FINARTE.IT

1974 - Rally di San Marino

1975 - Rally della Favera

1977- Rally San Martino di Castrozza

1973 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS Lightweight. | Chassis no. 9113601443 • One of the 200 in lightweight version • Always in Italy • Competitive history Group 3 with the driver Giorgio Taufer.

With Taufer, the car ran the seasons from 1974 to 1977, achieving three overall wins and five class victories, including the stages of the GR.3 1975 and 1977 European championship • Five-year restoration, carried out by the Melli brothers of Pentacar in Italy • Since the end of the works, the car has traveled just over 2.000 km • Matching numbers • It comes with ASI and FIVA certificate and Porsche certificate of origin Estimate: € 700.000/850.000. Buy Now Available.

NOW INVITING CONSIGNMENTS IN COLLABORATION WITH:

INFO: +39.02.3363801 | AUTOMOTIVE@FINARTE.IT | FINARTE - VIA PAOLO SARPI, 8 - 20154 MILANO | WWW.FINARTE.IT

Renée Brinkerhoff heads to Antarctica in her Porsche 356

Concours on Savile Row launches in London next June

Racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart talks about his career

The Dallara family tree; company’s full story at a glance

Stirling Moss’s iconic 300SLR has reached the end of the road

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Starter

The ice Porsche cometh Renée Brinkerhoff ’s epic commitment to charity fundraising by driving on seven continents is about to reach Antarctica – and so her 356 has needed a few modifications...

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Words David Lillywhite

Photography Mark Riccioni

RENÉE BRINKERHOFF IS A force of nature. When she decided to take up rallying, she started not with a novice event but with the famously dangerous Carrera Panamericana, driving a 1956 Porsche 356A. She finished first in class in 2014 and then went back in 2016, again finishing first in class.

She used the same 356 for the Rally Caminos del Inca, the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, the Targa Tasmania and the East African Safari Classic, in which she went flat-out to try to keep up with the pros in their specially prepared 911s.

Through most of these, Renée has been accompanied by daughter Christina, as photographic/film crew and, in the case of the Safari, her other daughter, Juliette, as navigator.

Renée insists on driving every mile.

Now she is setting out on a 356-mile adventure across Antarctica, which will be followed by an attempt at an ice speed record – all in the same Porsche 356. As you can see, it’s been through quite a few changes to cope with the icy conditions. I’ve been following Renée’s progress for several years, this time meeting her and her team in the studio as the finished car was photographed.

Denver, US-based philanthropist Renée chose to take on nearly 20,000 miles across these tough terrains over all seven continents in aid of raising funds and awareness for their campaign to end child trafficking. As we went to press, the plan was to start the Antarctica journey in early December 2021.

Renée’s Valkyrie Racing team has spent the past two years preparing

Starter

for this, bringing in UK engineer and extreme explorer Kieron Bradley to re-engineer the 356 for the ice. He quickly discounted the use of snow tyres, and proposed the ski and track combination; an ingenious track system at the rear and steerable skis at the front, along with crevasse bars to reduce the risk of the car dropping into deep but invisible rifts in the snow and ice.

Although this has significantly increased weight, the mass per square inch (the car’s footprint) using the ski and track system has been reduced to under four percent of the standard wheel displacement.

Explains Kieron: “The skis we have created must do 40-50 percent of the work, by compacting and prepping the snow for the track unit to follow over, with the underside

LEFT The skis pivot on the standard 356design suspension and hubs, with brace arms transmitting the loads into the body of the car.

RIGHT & BELOW The tracks are driven by the Porsche gearbox. Note the enclosed air filters, to minimise carb icing.

It’s all designed to cope with -50ºC.

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blade guiding the direction – this ensures the tracks will not submarine under the light snow.”

This conversion would have been easier had Renée not required that the 356 should be able to run on its wheels before and after the journey across the ice. It was also specified that the Porsche should retain its existing suspension and steering. The tracks and skis have subsequently had to be made removable even in basic conditions. At the front, removable brace bars transmit load away to minimise strain on the suspension uprights and hubs.

The tracks are powered by the 356’s familiar aircooled flat-four via the usual Porsche transmission, which has been fitted with oil coolers to reduce the risk of it overheating. The gearing from transmission to tracks is reduced by a ratio of 16:1, because the maximum recommended speed is 40mph.

Renée’s car has also been fitted

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ABOVE Skis and tracks mean the 356 will have even less impact on the snow than a footprint.

BELOW Renée’s daughter Christina will be among the support crew.

with extra safety and survival kit, including a 12-volt, low-temperature compressor and four-tonne bag jack to lift the 356 in soft snow. Its rear window has been made into an escape hatch, and there are solar panels on the crevasse bars.

Kieron clearly loves Antarctica, but he doesn’t sugar coat the dangers. “The Antarctic can change in a whisper,” he explains. “It can go from a perfect day to no light to full blizzard within minutes.”

What are the biggest dangers, I ask him. “The crevasses” Kieron says immediately, before nonchalantly adding that “frostbite is standard”.

He says that the team might pass two or three cross-country skiers in places, but will otherwise be alone in the vast, icy wilderness.

Renée’s navigator in the Porsche will be Jason De Carteret, a worldrecord holder in polar exploration, who has led more than 50 expeditions including those to both

the North and South Poles. In December 2011, he and Kieron claimed two world records for the fastest overland journey (39 hours 54 minutes) to the South Pole.

This time, Renée will attempt to set an ice speed record on a blue-ice runway in Union Glacier following the 356-mile trip across Antarctica.

Oxfordshire specialist Tuthill Porsche has been responsible for the technical preparation. Every component has been rebuilt, and Tuthill engineer Simon Redhead will accompany the expedition.

The team’s lead sponsor is golf research and development specialist PXG. There’s also an opportunity to donate; anyone who contributes a minimum of $356 will have their name inscribed inside the bonnet, plus receive a photograph of their name and an Antarctica Ice Challenge 356 hat to mark the endeavour.

Donations can be made directly to www.valkyrieracing.com/donate356.

Santander

Barcelona

11 days, 3,500 km of open roads and classic driving in beautiful surroundings

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24 April to 5 May 2022

he third in the popular ‘Carrera’ series of luxurious rallies, sees Rally the Globe back in Spain. Starting outside of Barcelona, crews will enjoy the best of the ancient kingdoms and principalities of the north of the country before finishing in Santander on the Cantabrian coast.

This sociable rally features carefully designed mountain-road regularities, adrenaline-fueled tests at purpose-built race circuits and accommodation in top quality and historic hotels.

with the 2021 Cloverleaf series

Sponsored by:

VINTAGE

RALLY

CHALLENGE

MARATHON

For more information and to register your interest visit www.rallytheglobe.com +44 113 360 8961 info@rallytheglobe.com The Carrera España is open to cars of pre-1977 specification, with a separate classification for pre-1946 specification cars.

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Words Nathan Chadwick

Photography Matt Howell

skilled staff. Meanwhile, a central stage will feature music performances and talks from designers, tailors, motor sport stars and manufacturers.

Exclusive Mayfair locations will host reception parties on both evenings. The concours will be free of charge for the public, but VIP area access will be via ticket only.

Sponsors confirmed include The Pollen Estate, Hagerty International, Fope and RM Sotheby’s, with more to follow. The tailors include Henry Poole, Gieves & Hawkes, Huntsman, JP Hackett, Ozwald Boateng, Dege & Skinner and Cad & the Dandy. A number of major car manufacturers will also be announced shortly.

See www.concoursonsavilerow.com.

ABOVE Cream of the automotive and tailoring worlds will come together at the first-ever Concours on Savile Row.

Tailor-made concours London’s inaugural Concours on Savile Row will combine luxury motoring and bespoke fashion in a prestigious twoday event next summer

THE INAUGURAL STAGING OF Magneto’s Concours on Savile Row is set for 2022 following two years of postponements, and the June 15-16 event looks to be very special indeed.

Around 40 classics, concepts and hypercars will take over one of London’s most prestigious addresses.

The craftsmen and women of the world-famous tailors will collaborate with manufacturers, classic car specialists and leading names in fashion for an exclusive concours, put together by the Magneto team working with The Pollen Estate, the historical owner of much of the Row. All tailors will be open for the twoday event, hosting VIP gatherings and demonstrations from their

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‘Central stage will feature talks from designers, tailors, motor sport stars and manufacturers’

Collection Bruno Lafourcade, architecte et esthète

2011 Peugeot 908 HDI FAP LMP1 #07 Winner of the Zhuhaï 6 Hours (Bourdais/ Davidson) © DPPI

RÉTROMOBILE 2022 The official sale Consignment deadline Mid-December

Auction

Contact

Friday 4th February 2022

Online catalogue Early January

Salon Rétromobile, Paris

+33 (0)1 42 99 20 73 motorcars@artcurial.com artcurial.com/motorcars

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Words Andy Reid

INTERVIEW

Behind the scenes with a real-life Q Special-effects supervisor Chris Corbould has worked on 15 James Bond movies, including No Time To Die. Here he talks amazing stunts and iconic cars – and reveals some tricks of the film trade

You are effectively Q in the 007 film process. What’s your favourite of all the cars you’ve messed with?

As soon as you get to do something out of the ordinary with the cars, it’s fun. One favourite is the V8 Vantage from 1987’s The Living Daylights.

I was responsible for the chase sequence on an Austrian ice lake.

The temperatures made it tough.

We stayed up all night to make the nitrogen cylinders and other effects work properly in the super-low temperatures. Back at the hotel, someone said to go to the bar, where Cubby Broccoli wanted to have a drink with me. He was that kind of a person to work with. It was fascinating when the same car came back in No Time To Die, 30-odd years later.

From a technical standpoint, it is Die Another Day’s cars on the ice, with all of the gadgets. We had to convert the Jaguar XKR to four-

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wheel drive to make it work on the ice the way we needed it to, and we had to make sure the vehicles did not fall through the ice. We created an inflatable float system for the cars in case they did end up going through.

There is a lot of Bond mythology around the Aston Martin DB5.

Does using it present obstacles because of how old the cars are?

First, we had to decide whether to use the old Goldfinger gadgets or to upgrade them. We have got a multibarrel Minigun behind the headlights instead of the old Browning singlebarrel machine guns, but we decided to keep the smokescreen. It was a nice balance of old and new, giving the audience something fresh along with the traditional stuff.

The DB5 figures prominently in No Time To Die. How many examples did you have for the film?

We had ten; two were real DB5s, because whenever Daniel Craig gets in and out of the car we want it to be seen in its full splendour. We had four stunt versions, with full rollcages and all the safety elements, and we had two with driving pods mounted on the roof. During the high-speed chase we had a British rally driver controlling the car from the roof while Daniel acted inside.

We also had two more in case one was damaged while filming.

Aston Martin made them all. I love working with Aston – they are

ABOVE Real-life Q who helps keep 007 fans on the edge of their seats. geniuses. It’s all hands-on. It’s not all filled up with robots; it is engineers and craftsman making the cars. They didn’t have much time, yet they got ten done. I have a lot of admiration for Aston Martin. And no, no DB5s actually ‘died’ during filming.

You also helped with the Goldfinger DB5 Continuation cars.

What was that experience like?

It was a great project to be a part of.

Together we worked on the smoke machine, the mechanism that makes the guns look like they are firing, the oil slick and other elements. They designed and created the bulletproof shield and revolving number plate.

Brilliant engineers! It was great fun working on the project without the stress of film deadlines. I loved it.

Which is your favourite of all the car special effects you’ve created?

On the third outing with BMW, they wanted us to use a Z8, but they only had two, which were prototypes, so we had to make another three exact copies. The one that was cut in half had to be built to allow the saw blades – which wouldn’t cut butter – cut the car in half. We made it using various materials such as foil.

A lot of the sequences you are responsible for look to be done in a single take. It’s that one take or

nothing; that’s got to be stressful?

Yes, I’ve lost a lot of sleep over those one-take wonders. When a lot of cash is spent building a set and you have one chance to get it right when you blow it up, it can cause a lot of stress.

How do you do your effects and action sequences in a way that labels them as being from a 007 film? What is the differentiator?

Others use green screen a lot, but we try to do as much as we can for real.

When our cars look to be driving fast, they are being driven fast. It is not through the use of green screen.

We want to use effects in Bond films when we need to, and not gratuitously, and we want to do them for real. We work to make the sequences rooted in reality, all the way back to Dr No, and we pride ourselves in preserving that legacy. I actively seek out directors to work with who like to do the effects for real.

How do you make new cars with huge performance limits look on the edge of being out of control?

It’s mainly camera work. We also modify chassis and suspension. One issue we had when shooting a big chase scene in Italy’s ancient village of Matera was that the streets were polished stone. We tried all different kinds of tyre compound. In the end, the stunt driver decided to spray some fizzy drink on the street; that gave us the traction we needed.

More on www.magnetomagazine.com

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Words and photography Patrick Steel

The last portraits

TO THIS DAY I HAVE ONLY ever posted one letter to somebody famous, and that letter was sent to James Hunt. I honestly didn’t think that I would hear back, but to my surprise James telephoned a couple of days later accepting my proposal of a one-to-one fine-art portrait session. We set a date for the following week.

I could not believe my luck.

Originally, we had arranged to carry out the shoot at his imposing house on Bathgate Road, Wimbledon.

However, he telephoned me at the last minute and changed the location to another secluded property, close by on Wimbledon Common.

It was a perfect summer evening on July 2, 1991 when I arrived at The Coach House on Windmill Road. At exactly 7pm, I knocked on the front door and James answered abruptly. He was wearing a blue singlet top with pale blue denim shorts and, naturally, he was barefoot. I wondered how on earth I was going to get him to change into something a little smarter.

I explained to James that in order to set up my lighting and background stands, quite a lot of the furniture would need to be moved. He bent over backwards to help; he was hyperactive, full of energy, darting around the house the whole time I was there, while his partner seemed very shy. I only caught a fleeting glimpse of her blonde hair when she popped her head into the room to see how we’d transformed the space.

Patrick Steel was just 21 when he photographed James Hunt in 1991, two years before the star’s death. He recently found the images in his attic...

LEFT Patrick with one of 15 mediumformat images from the shoot.

OPPOSITE These are thought to be the last formal portraits taken.

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A while later the stage was set, and so I called: “James, I’m ready!” Within seconds he burst into the room.

“Right, where do you want me?” he asked, quickly followed by: “Is this alright?” as he tugged on his top.

“Well,” I said in a respectful way.

“You wouldn’t happen to have anything black would you, like a crew neck?” He turned around and marched back toward the kitchen. A short while later he bounced back into the room sporting a black crewneck sweater, and our session began.

It was actually quite intense for both of us at first, so as soon as I’d captured the powerful portraits that I’d set out to achieve, I relaxed the mood and we shared a few laughs.

I had been there for over an hour, but the actual photoshoot lasted no longer than ten minutes, three rolls of medium-format film, one roll of colour and two black and white.

Only 30 frames were captured in all.

I don’t think the timing could have been any better. Both James’s hair and stubble were at the perfect length, and I’ve since learned that he was off cigarettes and alcohol at the time and very much into his fitness.

Once my car was packed, we shook hands and I thanked him very much. Just as I opened the car door he cupped his right hand around his mouth and called out: “Jolly good luck with your photography!”

It was a lovely thing for him to say, but little did I know that they’d be the last words he’d ever say to me.

See www.jh76prints.com for more.

‘I wondered how on earth I was going to get him into something smarter’

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How does it feel to return to Goodwood, Sir Jackie?

Good! Coming to Goodwood is a pleasure; it’s always nice to be here.

The Revival is beautifully done, and it’s so great to dress up for the mood of the time – and, of course, there’s the cars. A truly unique gathering.

What are your all-time favourite Goodwood memories?

I’ve been coming here for a long time; the first was when I was about 14. I came to watch my older brother race a C-type, and he won – I still have his trophy. I also got all the drivers’ autographs: Moss, Fangio, Farina, Villoresi, Taruffi – I still have them.

Goodwood was my introduction to motor sport down South. I went on to race here regularly when I was in Formula 1. I still have the lap record that I set in 1965. That was the same lap time set by Jim Clark – but I did it first, so I got the record.

Any bad memories?

No, not really. I wasn’t here when Stirling had his accident in 1962, but it was obviously well televised. I was shocked; he truly was a superstar.

Did you enjoy the Revival’s trackparade tribute to Sir Stirling?

The Duke of Richmond made a lovely speech. I drove in the parade with Stirling’s son, my godson, in Rob Walker’s Ferrari 250GT SWB. Stirling won the Goodwood TT in it, and Ross Brawn paid £7 million for

Words Elliott Hughes

Photography Guillaume Mégevand

it – it would have been a shame if I had crashed it. I’m a huge Stirling Moss fan; I spent a lot of time dealing with his illness right until the end. He was truly a great Brit.

to choose; there’s Verstappen and the Brits, but there are too many collisions that shouldn’t have happened.

Which was the most memorable circuit you raced at?

The Nürburgring was the hardest, at 17.4 miles long and with 187 corners; I’m dyslexic, yet I can still remember every corner of it. I was watching on TV when Niki Lauda had his crash in 1976, and they didn’t cover it well because the track was just so long.

That made the safety impossible.

You need firefighters, medical staff and marshals all around the track, and they just couldn’t do it, so they closed it to Formula 1.

What was a Monaco win like?

I won once in F3 and three times in F1. The F3 race was my first trip abroad. The first man to shake my hand was Juan Manuel Fangio – my hero. You got paid more for winning F3 than you did for second and third in F1 – a big day for a wee Scotsman.

Your thoughts on the HamiltonVerstappen crash at Monza?

It was very marginal. There are other corners where you can overtake; don’t choose the corner that your rivals can use against you. Crashes will happen when you’re leaning into each other, but I’m not a supporter. You’re better off holding back; they will make a mistake and you can pass them. Don’t be part of the mistake. I never drew blood from my body while racing.

You’ve got to stay out of trouble; to finish first, first you have to finish.

How did your long association with Rolex begin?

I was driving for Texan oil man John Mecom, and he paid me some prize money for doing well in qualifying at

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Indianapolis. I used it to buy a solid gold Day-Date, and then signed a deal with Rolex. Such a company only wants to be associated with the very best, because it is the very best.

Do you still have your first Rolex?

No, I lost it. Flying to the French GP, I’d left the plane and was washing my hands, and I suddenly realised my watch had gone. It was still there in the cabin, but I never found it.

Now I have about 20 Rolex watches.

How can Magneto readers help with Race Against Dementia?

Our charity has got all the right ingredients, but we need more money. Any contribution, no matter how modest, would be enormous.

More Brits die of dementia than of any other illness. The medical field has been working on it for over 40 years, yet there is no cure.

Who’s the greatest driver ever?

Jim Clark was head and shoulders above anyone, except for Fangio. He taught me a huge amount and we were good friends. Stirling, Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna are all up there, but I’d put Clark and Fangio above them. I carried Fangio to his last resting place in Argentina; he was such a hero. Nowadays it’s awkward

INTERVIEW

F1 legend Sir Jackie Stewart The legendary three-time World Champion looks back on his career and gives his verdict on the 2021 Goodwood Revival Magneto

41

Fresh ground for old master Morgan’s tough new CX-T pays homage to the brand’s off-road trialling heritage by mixing rally technology with traditional styling cues.

Magneto has driven it 42

Magneto

ABOVE Morgan’s bold ‘lockdown project’ excels in the rough. RIGHT Rally Raid UK was drafted in to give new model authentic offroad credentials.

Words Elliott Hughes

Photography Nick Dimbleby

NO CAR BRAND CAPTURES traditional English eccentricity quite like the Morgan Motor Company.

Scratch the surface, and Morgan’s penchant for ash frames, sweeping front wings and running boards exudes dour English conservatism.

But we Britons have a secret – it’s often the most outwardly traditional corners of our culture that are the wackiest. Morgan is no different.

Every ten years or so, it produces something brilliantly mad that often harks back to its storied past; first there was the modern interpretation of the three-wheeler, and now there’s the CX-T, which pays homage to Morgan’s off-road trialling heritage.

Refreshingly, the CX-T isn’t a swollen SUV – Morgan’s design head Jonathan Wells recoils at the thought. Underpinned by the same aluminium CX platform as the new Plus Four and Plus Six, and sitting on the same footprint, the CX-T still has Morgan’s signature styling cues including quaint triple wipers. The familiarity is contrasted by knobbly Maxxis tyres, an ‘exo-skeleton’ roll cage, and a steel skid plate protruding from beneath that familiar grille.

“It’s an interesting mash of two worlds,” says Morgan’s marketing head Toby Blythe; an understatement reflective of both the car’s styling and its mechanical componentry. All that remains from the original Plus Four are the nose, the doors and the BMW-sourced 255bhp four-cylinder turbo, albeit with revised mapping.

The resultant transformation is the work of Dakar Rally specialist Rally Raid UK, which Morgan enlisted to adapt the Plus Four into a bona fide off-roader. “It was quite a random project,” muses Rally Raid UK boss and Dakar veteran Mike ‘Beady’ Jones. “So many hours went into it that, without COVID-19, we just wouldn’t have had time to do

Starter it. It really is a lockdown project.”

The attention to detail is superb.

“Some of the changes are obvious, others not so much,” Beady says.

“Throughout the design process we were simply thinking: ‘What will stop the car? What will leave you stranded in the middle of Africa?’ So, the radiator is armour plated, the bonnet is raised and there are extra cooling ducts. Everything underneath is tucked away, and there are bash shields everywhere.”

Under the bonnet, the battery and ECU are mounted higher than in a standard Plus Four to protect them from water ingress. Then there’s the airbox plenum, which leads out of the engine bay and into one of the wheelarch-mounted saddle bags.

“A Dakar-spec airbox is hidden in there. The filter is from Donaldson, which supplies filters for Blackhawk helicopters and tanks. We had to put the airbox on the outside, because the washer bottle and ABS use up so much space in such a narrow engine bay. I had the idea of concealing it in one of the saddle bags that we were originally going to use for tools. The cool thing about it being there is that you can really hear the induction noise when you’re driving along.”

Rally Raid UK’s influence can also be seen in the motor sport-spec EXE-TC dampers, military-spec sand ladders, tool kits, adjustable map light, food bags, differential switches...

There’s even a pouch attached to the roll cage to stash the spotlight covers.

Unfortunately for marque fans, a mere eight CX-Ts are slated for production, at £170,000 each. Toby says there is a silver lining, though: “We’d love to do more, but we need to be careful not to stray too far from our core products – and we’ve got a lot going on at the moment with the new 3 Wheeler. But never say never; watch this space.”

‘It has EXE-TC dampers, sand ladders, food bags, adjustable map light, diff switches...’

Magneto

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Words Nathan Chadwick

Digging for victory The path to manufacturing glory is long and varied, and some names more readily associated with Le Mans victories have been known to lap far less illustrious courses. Here are four brands for whom the paddock was home, in both racing and farming

LAMBORGHINI

PORSCHE

FORD

DAVID BROWN

What’s the story?

Ferruccio Lamborghini first used old military apparatus to build his Lamborghini Trattori Cariocas in 1948.

His clever fuel atomiser allowed his Morris-engined products to be started with petrol and then switched to diesel, to great acclaim. The firm was further helped by 1950s government incentives to buy Italian tractors.

Back in 1937, Porsche launched its first tractor in association with German company Allgaier GMBh and Austrian firm HofherrSchrantz. Both concerns would use the Porsche engine design until 1957, when Porsche took over all production and the tractors were named Porsche-Diesel.

There were just four models: a one-cylinder Junior, two-cylinder Standard, three-cylinder Super and four-cylinder Master. All were aircooled diesels, which proved useful in remote, cold farms because there was no need to worry about antifreeze.

The Fordson pioneered mass-produced petrol tractors in 1907. It was cheap, tough and reliable, and soon 75 percent of all US tractors wore the Blue Oval badge. In 1928 US production was shut down in the face of increased competition, but it was restarted in Cork, Ireland and, later, Dagenham, UK. US tractor production restarted in 1938, and it would work closely with European operations from 1964. All tractors wore the Ford brand.

David Brown started as a pattern manufacturer in 1860, but within 13 years had begun to focus on gear systems and, later, machinecut gears. David died in 1903, and his sons increased making gear-related, er, gear. From 1908-15, the firm developed the Valveless car. Its first tractor was a link-up with Harry Ferguson for the imaginatively titled Ferguson-Brown tractor, launched in 1936, and it initially used a Coventry Climax engine. Ferguson would later briefly team up with Ford. David Brown’s VAK1 heavy tractor was immensely popular during World War Two, selling 7700.

What’s the fastest classic one?

The 1968 R 480 was the first high-power Lamborghini tractor, but in 1991 the RACING range adopted Electronic PowerShift transmission – all the better for those swift downchanges in the sugar-beet field.

The four-cylinder Master produced 50bhp from its 3500cc engine, giving a top speed of 20mph.

The 1983-196 Ford TW-35 packed 193bhp from its six-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine, complete with 517lb ft of torque to haul you across hill and dale.

In the 1960s, the firm developed a prototype large tractor for the North American market. The Z’s six-cylinder engine put out 100bhp – but the model was scrapped and photographic records are scarce.

What happened next?

Infamously, Ferruccio fell out with Enzo Ferrari over the 250GT’s inoperable clutch, and set up his own car firm. The tractor side of the business was sold to Società Accomandita Motori Endotermici (SAME) in 1973, and is now part of the SAME Deutz-Fahr group. A vast range of tractors is available.

In 1963 sales started to dwindle and so, almost overnight, Porsche shut down its tractor arm to concentrate on cars. It sold the business to Renault, which wanted to expand its dealer network.

Ford acquired the SperryNew Holland tractor business in 1985, but the Blue Oval would hold on to it for only five years, selling out to Fiat in 1990. The Ford badge would eventually disappear altogether in 1999, to be replaced with New Holland branding.

Flush with VAK1 cash, in 1947 grandson David Brown bought Aston Martin, then Lagonda and Tickford. Debts forced sale to Company Developments in 1972, and the tractor side sold to Tenneco; production went on until 1988. David Brown Santasalo still builds transmissions for industrial, defence, railway and marine.

What’s the fastest modern one?

The Mach VRT 250 is said to offer “unrivalled power, productivity and style” from its 246bhp 6.1-litre sixcylinder. Torque is a suitably stump-pulling 981lb ft.

Things to think about when turning up to a concours event in a classic version

Consider covering it in neon LEDs to bolster your bitcoin billionaire credentials.

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Heard of the phrase ‘pulls like a train’? For 25 years David Brown Santasalo gear systems have been used for a variety of projects, such as London Underground trains.

It’s aircooled, so therefore it’s apparently considered a ‘proper’ Porsche.

Stick an RS badge on it and jack up the price by at least 50 percent.

Certain Aston Martin road cars have, ahem, agricultural gearchanges, after all.

1963 ASTON MARTIN

DB4 SERIES 5 VANTAGE Presented today in California Sage with Suede Green leather, this no expense spared full body off restoration was completed by us in July 2019, with the car having covered very few miles since. Optional extras include an

RESTOR ATION

Aston Engineering handling kit, 4.2L capacity engine, electronic power steering and 15” Borrani wire wheels together with matching 3 eared spinners. A car ready to be used and enjoyed by its new owner. £POA

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ENGINES

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Words Nathan Chadwick

FORMULA 1 ISO-MARLBORO IR/ WILLIAMS FW (1973-1974) Originally called the Iso-Marlboro IR before both names pulled out, this John Clarke-designed car required Dallara’s help in the latter part of the 1973 season.

Dallara’s dalliances Now 85, Giampaolo Dallara has had a hand in some of the world’s top race chassis.

Nurtured by Enzo Ferrari, he went to Maserati at 25, and then to Lamborghini and De Tomaso. Since he formed Dallara Automobili in 1972, his empire has become the world’s prime single-seater choice

BMS SCUDERIA ITALIA (1988-1992) Steel tycoon Giuseppe Lucchini’s Brixia Motor Sport team turned to F1 after Alfa Romeo pulled out of Touring Cars. Dallara F188 build delays meant a hapless Alex Caffi arrived at the 1988 Brazil season opener in little more than an F3000 chassis, and was 18 seconds off Senna’s pole lap.

The Cosworth-powered F188 turned out to be reliable, and had

some top-ten, albeit non-pointspaying, finishes. Andrea De Cesaris would later finish third in Canada in a second car, while Caffi would come home fourth and sixth in Monaco and Canada.

While running second in the US he hit a barrier trying to lap De Cesaris, and had to retire.

De Cesaris would return for 1990 with Gianni Morbidelli and Emanuele Pirro, but a Dallara would see the flag just six times.

Pirro would continue for ’91 with Judd V10 power alongside JJ Lehto; the latter’s third at San Marino was a rare highlight. For ’92, now sporting Ferrari V12s, Lehto drove with Pierluigi Martini – the latter would take sixth in Spain and San Marino in a reliable if poor-handling car.

I N DYC A R (1997-)

HONDA RA099 (1998) With Harvey Postlethwaite design and Dallara build, this was to be Honda’s first return as constructor since the 1960s, but Postlethwaite died of a heart attack during Jos Verstappen’s Jerez testing. Honda shelved the plans, and supplied Jordan and BAR for 2000. It’d eventually buy BAR and compete as a constructor until 2008.

MIDLAND (2004) Ex-Stewart, Jordan and Jaguar F1 designer Gary Anderson arrived, and in 2004 the Midland team announced Dallara would be building a chassis for the 2006 season. In 2005, however, Midland bought the Jordan F1 operation, and although Dallara provided technical support, a Dallara F1 chassis never appeared.

When the Indy Racing League outlawed old CART chassis in 1997, Dallara and G-Force stepped in. By 2011 all teams had switched to Dallara, aside from some Panoz/ G-Force Indy 500 entries. From 2012, Dallara’s provided the new IndyCar Series with monocoque and suspension parts; other manufacturers supply the aero.

MAJOR F1 FEEDER SERIES F3 (1978-2009) Having started building F3 chassis in 1978, Dallara became market leader in 1993 and has dominated single-seater formulae ever since. Notable champs include Daniel Ricciardo, Jan Magnussen, Oliver Gavin, Takuma Sato and Mike Conway.

GP3 replaced F3 in 2010.

GP3 (2010-2018), F3 (2018-) Dallara provided three evolutions of GP3 chassis in the eight seasons the championship ran. F3 was reinstated in 2018, and again Dallara would provide the chassis.

F3000 (1987) The Dallara 3087 was used by EuroVenturini and Forti Corse, and powered by a Cosworth DFV. Its only points came via Marco Apicella at Spa Francorchamps that season; Forti would continue for 1988 but didn’t score points.

GP2 GP2 replaced ailing F3000 in ’05, as the final stepping stone to F1.

All cars used a Dallara chassis, with three evolutions in 2005, 2008 and 2011. Notable winners who went on to F1 include Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hülkenberg and Romain Grosjean.

F2 GP2 was rebranded as F2 for ’17, with a 3.4-litre Mecachrome turbo.

Notable victors include future F1 stars Mick Schumacher, Charles Leclerc and George Russell.

CAMPOS META 1/HISPANIA (2009-2010) No money, no testing and no points: always chronically underfunded, Dallara was out of pocket to the tune of €7 million. With a change of team ownership over the winter prior to the 2010 season, the car itself had no preseason testing, and Dallara soon parted company with the project.

HAAS F1 (2015-) NASCAR Cup Series co-owner Gene Haas picked up the assets of the Marussia F1 team and contracted Dallara to build the VF-16. The quality of the work was exemplified with Grosjean’s exit from the 2020 Bahrain GP, which saw him escape with minor burns from a hugely violent accident that tore his car in two.

ENDURANCE RACING

LEFT The first Dallara chassis was the SP1000 built to Group 5 Sports Car rules. RIGHT Dallara’s first road car, the Stradale, was launched to mark Giampaolo’s 81st birthday.

SP1000 (1972) Starting with just a team of three and working from the family home, the first Dallara chassis was the SP1000 built to Group 5 Sports Car rules. This version was swiftly followed by the 1300 (1973) and 1600 (1974).

DALLARA ICSUNONOVE (1975)

ROAD CARS

BMW

Basically a Fiat X1/9 on steroids, the Icsunonove was built for the Group 5 Special Production Class in the World Championship of Makes. With a bespoke 16v cylinder head and extensive body and suspension revisions, it proved highly competitive in hillclimbs well into the 1980s.

WALTER WOLF LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH (1975)

Giampaolo Dallara himself designed the M1’s tubular spaceframe chassis, but pretty soon rifts between BMW and Lamborghini (which was sub-contracted to build the car) meant the entire project was brought back under Germany’s direct control.

DALLARA/WOLF WD1 (1976) This Can-Am car was the first Gilles Villeneuve drove as a pro – and the last Chris Amon drove as a pro. Of five races it finished just one, a third place for Villeneuve at Watkins Glen in 1977.

When Austrian-Canadian multimillionaire and F1 team owner Walter Wolf decided he wanted the ultimate Countach, he turned to Giampaolo Dallara to make the original LP400 capable of handling all the power. Dallara would flare out the bodywork and fit a huge rear wing, and tune the V12 for 500bhp. These changes would go on to influence regular Countach production.

MASERATI The MC12 dominated mid-to-late 00s GT1 racing, and Dallara was a key part of its success, refining the Giugiaro-Stephenson design in its own wind tunnel. The new MC20 also involves Dallara knowhow; who’d bet against similar racing success this time around?

BUGATTI Dallara worked on the Veyron from 2001, helping to design the suspension and chassis, and finetune the dynamics and aero. It was involved with the Chiron, too.

ALFA ROMEO TOYOTA (1997-1999)

Dallara first became involved with Lancia with the Beta Montecarlo Turbo. Built to Group 5 spec in the under 2-litre class, the 400bhpplus 1.4 turbo won its class in 1979 and went on to take the overall World Championship of Makes title in 1980 and 1981.

The engine would go on to be used in the Dallara-built LC1 for 1982, which took three victories in the Group 6 World Endurance Championship. A switch to Group C rules for 1983 saw the LC2’s arrival, which Dallara worked on alongside Abarth. It was very fast, but reliability issues meant it would win only a handful of races next to the dominant Porsche.

While factory support pulled out, the car would compete until 1991 with limited success. The chassis almost had another life with a stillborn Alfa Group C project, but the priority would be Touring Cars from the 1990s-on.

Toyota Team Europe and Dallara staged an assault on the WSCC rules, but despite exploiting every loophole the GT One failed to achieve Le Mans success due largely to poor luck. It achieved second (and first in class) in 1999, before Toyota set its sights on F1.

FERRARI (1993-1996) Dallara first worked on a WSCC Ferrari for Giampiero Moretti, and then, when Ferrari itself fancied its F50 for the new BPR Global GT Series, Dallara co-developed the F50 GT with Michelotto. However, taking umbrage at the FIA’s ‘innovative’ approach to homologation for the new FIA World Championship, Ferrari sold off the three cars built and concentrated on F1.

AUDI (1997-2011) Audi hit Le Mans in 1997, yet not until Dallara and Joest’s R8 Spyder arrived in 2000 would it dominate the LMP900 class.

Dallara would play only a small part in the R10 TDI replacement, but it would go on to provide the carbonfibre-composite aluminium monocoque for the R18 – although this arrangement would end for 2014.

Dallara honed the Alfa 8C’s shape in its wind tunnel, and would go on to refine the chassis for 49:51 weight distribution. It went much further with the 4C, designing the carbon tub. This work then informed the Dallara Stradale.

KTM X-BOW Dallara added its technical nous to the KTM X-Bow, an ultra-light, Audi-powered sports car.

DALLARA STRADALE To celebrate Giampaolo’s 81st birthday, the firm launched the first Dallara road car. The trackday special uses a 400bhp Ford EcoBoost engine, and can pull in excess of 2kg in corners, and at 80 percent of its top speed it can generate 400kg of downforce.

LAMBORGHINI (2014-2015)

CADILLAC (2001-2016)

Lamborghini’s Gallardo series had proved popular with gentlemen racers, and the firm would turn to Dallara to develop the Huracán LP620-2 Super Trofeo car. The lessons learned here would go on to influence the GT3 model, which would appear a year later.

The SP1 for LMP900 privateers led to Dallara’s 2017 P217. Cadillac would adapt it and dominate in the 2017-2018 Daytona Prototype International class. The two will now enter for IMSA Sports Car Championship’s LMDh prototypes.

BMW A new BMW-Dallara partnership will see a 2023-on LMDh assault.

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Countach’s capers for the camera Ahead of the Evoluzione’s 35th anniversary, Martyn Goddard recalls the time he photographed the car in 1987 – a memorable assignment, if not entirely without incident...

WE PARKED OUR NEW LANCIA Integrale at the gate of Lamborghini’s Sant’Agata Bolognese factory, despite this being mid-afternoon – and knocking-off time. The day shift, riding bicycles and Vespas, streamed out of the gate. It was 1987, and respected automotive journalist Ray Hutton and I were on assignment for Car and Driver magazine and the Sunday Express to produce features on the 25th anniversary of the Italian marque.

We toured the factory and arranged to photograph the 25th Anniversary Countach alongside the first 350GT, then to drive to a castle in a nearby town to shoot the as-yetunseen new car away from the Italian paparazzi. During our tour the name Horacio Pagani came up, together with his work on restyling Gandini’s original Countach design and his use of carbonfibre in its construction. We

‘It wasn’t the stuff of Countach posters that adorned many a 1980s teenager’s bedroom wall’

were then shown a rather drab test mule parked in the corner of a garage, which Pagani used in the design process. The car was a mixture of unpainted brushed aluminium and black woven-carbon panels. It wasn’t the stuff of Countach posters that adorned many a 1980s teenager’s bedroom wall. The cabin was no better, with gauges fitted into ad hoc aluminium panels and the loom laid around the stripped-out cockpit.

I think it was Ray who asked the question: “Any chance of taking the Evoluzione prototype out for a few photographs tomorrow?” Silence from the PR before, outnumbered, he made a phone call. He returned with a smile: “Be at the factory at 10am tomorrow to meet our test driver Valentino Balboni.”

Upon our arrival the prototype’s V12 was burbling by the factory gate.

Valentino wasted no time belting Ray in, and then we were off, speeding across the Panaro floodplain close to Sant’Agata. I piloted the Lancia camera car in pursuit of our test driver along roads he had travelled thousands of times in hundreds of cars. As always, writers forget they have a photographer in tow. Scribe and driver were having far too much fun – but I did, via the radio, demand

ABOVE Evoluzione prototype on location near Sant’Agata. BELOW Car-rescue service proved LM002’s ‘Rambo Lambo’ credentials. a photo stop at a run-down group of farm buildings in the countryside.

However, in my haste to survey the location I pulled the Integrale onto the verge only to drive into a drainage ditch covered by freshly cut grass. The other members of the convoy seemed to think this was comical, especially because there was no visible damage. Attempts to drive the 4x4 hot hatch out of trouble failed, so Mr Balboni decided to call

for assistance from the factory.

I shot photos of the Evoluzione as planned, until the sound of a V12 heading our way halted proceedings.

In no time, an LM002 SUV was parked in front of my Lancia, and a strap attached. With evidently gentle use of the throttle, the NATO-spec vehicle hauled my car onto the road.

Drama over, I then accompanied Valentino back to the factory in the LM002. On one memorable 90º lefthander, he accelerated, the SUV jumped the ditch and we drove across a ploughed field to rejoin the highway further along – both driver and passenger wearing a huge smile.

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Words David Lillywhite

Photography Evan Klein

Never lift!

Bruce Meyer, one of the most pivotal people in the US West Coast car scene, turns 80 in December

FROM TOP Bruce at the wheel – and on Rodeo Drive leading his cars to Petersen Museum.

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THERE ARE CERTAIN PEOPLE in the worldwide collector car scene who just seem to pop up at every event, and be a part of every major happening. Bruce Meyer is one of those – and he is universally known around the Los Angeles area as the “car guys’ car guy”. In December 2021, he turns 80.

Even if you don’t know Bruce, you’ll probably know his cars. They include one of the most successfulever privateer Ferraris, a 625/250 Testa Rossa, which won 11 races during the 1957 season before being uprated by John von Neumann from a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine to a 3.0-litre V12.

Then there’s the first production Shelby Cobra ever built, chassis CSX2001, the 1965 Le Mans classwinning Iso Bizzarrini AC/3 Competition, the Le Mans classwinning 1961 Ferrari 250GT SWB ‘SEFAC Hot Rod’, a 1960 Briggs Cunningham Chevrolet Corvette, the famous So-Cal Belly Tank Racer, the first Ruf CTR ‘Yellowbird’, the Pierson Brothers Coupe, a Don Prudhomme drag racer, the 1979 Le Mans-winning Porsche 935, the famous Nickel Roadster 1932 Ford, several motorcycles, a speedboat, a Gullwing and plenty more.

It’s quite a collection – but Bruce insists that he’s not a ‘collector’, because he’s all about the driving and the bringing together of a car community. For the former category he joined the famous Bonneville 200mph Club in 2012, driving his ’32 Ford Roadster and cementing his “never lift!” catchphrase.

In the latter category, bringing people together, the sight and sound of Bruce introducing one car guy to another is an everyday occurrence, but it was also he who helped to create the now world-famous Petersen Automotive Museum in LA, which opened in 1994 with Bruce as its founding chairman.

He went on to form the Checkered Flag 200, the Petersen’s premium membership level and almost certainly the most successful fundraising group for any existing automotive museum in the world.

On Rodeo Drive, where the famous Meyer family gift store Gearys is located, Bruce has run several major auto events. Above some of the luxury shops live his cars and man cave, the location of many gatherings – most recently the celebrations of the 99th birthday of So-Cal legend Alex Xydias and the 100th birthday of tuner Ed ‘Isky’ Iskenderian.

This barely scratches the surface of Bruce’s involvement with LA, Beverly Hills and the global car scene – he’s even involved with the California Highway Patrol 11-99 Foundation – but at least you know now to say hi to him and wish him a happy 80th birthday...

‘Bruce is universally known around the Los Angeles area as the “car guys’ car guy”’

Foto: Steering Media/Ondrej Kroutil

20TH – 23RD JULY

THE LAST PARADISE 2022

DRIVING IN

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ONE EVENING IN THE SPRING of 1955, 12-year-old Peter Stevens was asked to telephone his uncle Denis to ask him if he’d like to join a family party the next weekend. “I’d love to,” replied uncle Denis, “but that weekend I will be navigating for Stirling Moss in the Mille Miglia.”

The Denis is, of course, Jenkinson, and his young nephew is legendary car designer and hot rodder Peter Stevens. Today, Stevens has navigated his way from Suffolk, dodging climate activists blocking the M25 motorway en route, to MercedesBenz World at Brooklands in Surrey for a very emotional occasion. Moss and Jenks’s Mille Miglia-winning Mercedes-Benz 300SLR ‘722’ is at Brooklands, where it is being fettled for a visit to the Goodwood Revival and, more poignantly, for a run through London’s Mayfair to the home of Sir Stirling Moss.

Moss died in April 2020 right in the middle of the UK’s first COVID-19 lockdown. His funeral, which should have been a joyous celebration of the life not just of one of the world’s greatest-ever racing drivers, but of a

Words Colin Goodwin

Photography Barry Hayden

great character and inspiration, was attended by only ten people. To see the magnificent 300SLR and hear the noise of its engine bouncing off the buildings around where Moss lived for most of his adult life will be a belated but fitting tribute to his achievements. He’d have approved.

Mercedes-Benz has not said anything official, but the consensus is that this is the last time 300SLR chassis 0004/55 will be run. The car is considered to be beyond value historically; Mercedes does not want to risk any mechanical damage to the original engine. Remember, not only did this chassis win the Mille Miglia in ’55, but in Moss’s talented hands it also took the RAC Tourist Trophy at Dundrod in Northern Ireland and that year’s Targa Florio (with Peter Collins). It was a sportscar season dominated by the bulletproof and super-fast SLRs. While the punters at MercedesBenz World peruse the shiny new cars in the multi-storey showroom, and wonder whether they want the optional Premium Plus pack on their Mercedes A-Class, in a small

workshop around the back of the facility another retiree is carefully attending to 722.

Gert Straub’s long career at Mercedes-Benz finishes at the end of this weekend. Straub is the only technician in the company who is trusted to put his spanners deep into the workings of this car, and the only person in the world permitted to actually drive the 300SLR. This is turning out to be a day full of emotion.

Presumably Straub will miss the pleasure of working on such a magnificent machine. “No,” he replies in perfect English. “It’s very stressful worrying that the car will fail on such a special occasion.” On Monday he will return to Stuttgart, start getting his book collection into order and perhaps give his R129 SL a bit of love.

Straub started as an apprentice at Mercedes-Benz in 1975, and worked in various engineering departments including engine development until moving to the newly created classic department in 1993. Since then he has worked on virtually all the great racing cars, including the pre-war Silver Arrows. With him

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will go an enormous amount of hands-on knowledge.

Both of Straub’s sons work at the company, as did his father, his grandfather and – get this – his great-grandfather. “I never met my great-grandfather, but he was there at the beginning and presumably knew Karl Benz. My father Horst was in the development department and very keen on motor sport. In the 1956 Mille Miglia he codrove with Wolfgang von Trips in a 300SL Gullwing, but unfortunately withdrew after an accident.”

Straub’s first task is to check the SLR’s clutch adjustment. Apparently it’s critical if clutch slip is to be avoided. The measurement is taken using a simple carpenter’s rule.

Funny, you’d expect a more technical device for such a complicated machine. And what a fantastic mechanical treasure this car is. With the bonnet removed there is a perfect view of the incredible engine that produces around 300bhp and enabled Moss and Jenkinson to hit speeds of over 170mph and complete the 1000-mile course at an average

Time’s up for the greatestever race car We join a special passenger as Stirling Moss’s Mille Miglia-winning 300SLR prepares for its last-ever outing. ‘722’ has reached the end of the road – but wow, what a journey!

ABOVE Peter Stevens (in cap) prepares to get a taste of his uncle Jenks’s ride of a lifetime in the legendary 300SLR.

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speed a whisker under 100mph.

The engine is a naturally aspirated straight-eight that’s almost identical in layout to the powerplant used in the W196 Formula 1 car. In the Mercedes-Benz numbering system the unit in the F1 car is a Type M196, and in the sports car M196S. Both engines share the same 78mm stroke, but the SLR engine has a 78mm bore to the M196’s 74mm to give a swept volume of 2979cc.

The major difference between the two motors is in the construction of the crankcase, which in the 2.5-litre F1 engine follows Mercedes’ pre-war technique of fabricating the case from steel, whereas in the M196S powerplant the crankcase is in cast aluminium.

It is the most incredible engine and, as proved in the 1955 season, extremely reliable. Recounts Straub: “Mario Illien [joint founder with Paul Morgan of Illmor racing engines] once said to me that racing engines start simple in concept then become complicated in execution, but the 300SLR’s engine started complicated.” He goes on to say: “I

think that the engineers wanted to prove after the war that Germany was still capable of great engineering feats. They worked on this engine then went to bed. No time off.

Total commitment.”

Because torsional vibration would have been an issue on this eightcylinder engine, the power was taken off the centre of the crankshaft via gears that turned a layshaft to which the clutch was fitted. The crankshaft itself runs in roller bearings, and is bolted together (with roller bearings you can’t have a conventional, onepiece crankshaft) with the big-end bearings also roller bearings.

Getting a good gas seal between cylinder block and cylinder head was always an issue with very highperformance engines, and MercedesBenz had got around the problem in its pre-war racing units – and during the war with its DB600 series of water-cooled V12 aero engines – by using a one-piece head and cylinder unit, thereby doing without a joint requiring a gasket.

A straightforward solution, but not when it was combined with the

stand-out technical feature of the M196 engine family: the use of desmodromic valvegear. Instead of using a spring to close the valve, the valves in an engine with desmodromic valvegear are closed positively by a rocker. Valve bounce at high rpm is eliminated, allowing for higher maximum revolutions and therefore more power.

As Straub explains: “The problem is that because the cylinder and head are one piece, the valves have to be fitted from the bottom. Unlike with conventional valvegear, the stems on a desmodromic valve aren’t constant diameter, because a fork has to grip the valve to close it. The designers got around the problem by making two-piece valve guides that were fitted after the valves were inserted.”

The next job after checking the clutch is to remove the spark plugs and fit hot plugs for warming up the engine. Once it’s hot, they are taken out and replaced with colder plugs for when the engine is used in anger. In our modern times of sophisticated computerised engine management, highly tuned racing

engines tick over calmly without fouling their plugs. Not so in the 1950s. Fuel in the M196S is supplied

by Bosch direct injection as developed on the aforementioned DB600 series aero engines.

Because there are two plugs per cylinder, each one of the pair fired by a Bosch magneto, changing all 16 is a time-consuming business.

Fortunately there’s an access panel in the car’s offside front wing above the exhaust exits, which can be removed to aid access to the plugs.

I had hoped to get my hands dirty on the SLR, but any thoughts of asking to have a go on the spanners are trounced by the thought of cross-threading one of the plugs as it goes into the head. Besides, Straub already has a trusty assistant on hand. Ron Pellatt is a classic British race mechanic; been there, worked there, done everything.

“I was one of James Hunt’s mechanics at McLaren,” explains Pellatt, extracting a quite fabulous photograph of himself, Hunt and a couple of other mechanics next to Hunt’s McLaren M23. Ron’s Zapata

‘Gert Straub is the only technician in the company who is trusted to put his spanners deep into the workings of this 300SLR’

ABOVE AND OPPOSITE Gert Straub and trusty assistant Ron Pellatt ready the 300SLR for its test run around the track.

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moustache is not quite to its glorious 1970s specification, but decades of experience at McLaren, Brabham and other teams make him a safe pair of hands for today’s job. Straub requested Pellatt’s help here, as the latter often travels to Germany to help M-B Classic look after the McLarens in its collection. Pellatt is also a mate of Peter Stevens, which is how Jenks’s nephew knew about today. Small world, motor racing.

While the boys are carefully taking out and replacing the plugs, I have an opportunity to nose around the rest of the car. The engine is canted over by 30 degrees, meaning that the layshaft, which is below the crankshaft, is heavily offset to the driver’s side of the vehicle. Look into the cockpit, and you’ll see the bellhousing right in front of the driver, which in turn meant that the clutch and brake pedal were placed to the left of it and the throttle to the right of it, giving Moss

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ABOVE This is one of the last times 722 will ever run, prior to its Goodwood Revival appearance and final trip through Mayfair to Sir Stirling Moss’s home.

‘For me a car is not a piece of art.

It is a breathing, roaring and vibrant machine that has to be in action to be truly appreciated’

a rather splayed-legs driving position.

The SLR features a five-speed transaxle with synchromesh on all gears except first. There’s a flip-over guard to prevent accidental selection of reverse, and also a button on top of the gearlever that operates a lockout which stops you going straight from third to first by accident. You can spot Moss’s car from other SLRs because he asked for a three-spoke steering wheel instead of the fourspoker fitted to other cars, in order to better see the instruments. The one on this car isn’t the original; that is on Moss’s study wall at home, along with the bent Lotus steering wheel from his Goodwood accident.

Straub and Pellatt have finished fitting all the hot plugs for starting.

The crankshaft barely turns more than half-a-dozen revolutions and the engine bursts into life. It’s not often that you get to hear a straighteight – certainly not one this sophisticated and highly tuned. Like a straight-six but with the base cranked up to wall-cracking levels.

The engine is dry sumped, and because all the bearings are rollers, it runs at a low oil pressure of around 1 bar when warm. The oil tank holds 24 litres; this big to allow for loss over a 1000-mile race.

We stop for lunch while the plugs cool enough so that they can be removed without burning gloves and fingers. Afterwards there’ll be a test drive on the Mercedes-Benz World track, and we’re going to be allowed to ride shotgun.

Not surprisingly, 722 is one of Straub’s favourite cars in the classic collection. “It is down to the connection with Moss, because the human element is what makes a car really special. My other favourite model is the 1994 Penske PC23, which used a bespoke pushrod Mercedes V8. I was actually at the ’94 Indianapolis 500 and saw Al Unser Jr win in the car. The example we have in the collection is the Emerson Fittipaldi version which crashed in that race.”

I met Denis Jenkinson a few times, and I’m amazed he could hear what I was saying. The noise from the passenger seat of the 300SLR can only be described as brutal. The exhausts are very close to your ears, and would have been even closer for the 5ft 3in Jenkinson. No wonder that he and Moss had devised a

system of hand signals for the Mille Miglia. The M196S sounds amazing, but much less mechanical than I expected. A Ferrari GTO’s engine has far more valvetrain noise.

Perhaps it is down to the SLR’s desmodromic valvegear.

Straub drives 722 precisely, but he doesn’t pussyfoot around the track.

Steering is tested, and the brakes – big inboard drums that were renowned for overheating. “They even fitted a system to squirt oil onto the friction surfaces,” reports Straub. “The engineer in charge of brake design didn’t believe in disc brakes. He actually became my father’s boss, and told him that disc brakes would never be used and certainly not on road cars.”

A few laps in this incredible machine is an experience to never be forgotten, but to see Peter Stevens step into the seat where his uncle sat 66 years ago is incredibly emotional.

I’ve know Stevens for 30 years, and never have I seen his bottom lip wobble at the frequency that it does as he sits in the tartan seat (a different colour pattern for each driver so they didn’t get mixed up).

“Of course I’ve seen this car many times,” says Stevens. “But I’ve never sat in it, let alone been driven in it. Denis was such an influence in my life. It’s amazing.”

After a few more laps Straub and Stevens return 722 to the workshop, where it is shut down. It will be at the Goodwood Revival and then the Moss celebration event in London.

Then it will return to Stuttgart and – apparently – be silent for eternity.

The M196S engine has a proven record for reliability, and if it is maintained by technicians as skilled and fastidious as Gert Straub, then I see no reason why it would throw a rod out the side or drop a valve.

And what if it did? What’s the difference between a static exhibit with an engine that can’t be run due to damage, and one that won’t be run for fear of that damage occurring? Besides, 722’s bodywork already had to be replaced due to accident damage decades ago.

Such a shame. For me a car, and particularly a racing machine, is not a piece of art. Well, not art as in a painting or sculpture. It is a breathing, roaring and vibrant machine that has to be in action to be truly appreciated.

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Words David Lillywhite

Photography Barry Hayden

LEFT Thundering along Whitehall to The Cenotaph, in tribute to Stirling.

RIGHT Son Elliot meets Gert, 722’s mechanic, at the Moss residence.

722’s last day After Brooklands and Goodwood, MercedesBenz took 722 for one last blast, through the streets of London to the home of the late Sir Stirling Moss

HOW BEST TO PAY ONE LAST tribute to the great Sir Stirling Moss?

Mercedes-Benz had shown his famous 300SLR, known as ‘722’, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the British Grand Prix, Brooklands and then at the Goodwood Revival, where it led the Stirling Moss parade with Lady Moss in the passenger seat.

And then, without publicity, 722 was secreted away from Goodwood and transported into central London, to be driven through the streets early on the Sunday morning. The destination would be the famous mews house on Shepherd Street, Mayfair, in which Stirling had lived from 1962 until his death on April 12, 2020, in the midst of the lockdown.

“We wanted to do something noisy and spectacular, and 722 had never been in London,” says Mercedes UK’s Rob Halloway, who oversaw the tribute – a short film of which is currently being produced. “So many people wanted to help, just because it was for Stirling Moss.”

To film anywhere in London is difficult. To film a multi-millionpound race car in the early hours, from both ground and air, required many permissions – from the capital’s authorities, from the Civil Aviation Authority for the helicopter, and from the Metropolitan Police. All were granted without question, and the Met even provided motorcycle outriders.

Most importantly, the tribute required the approval of Lady Susie Moss and son Elliot, who embraced the idea.

“We wanted to pay tribute to Stirling at his home, which we never managed to do in his lifetime,” says Rob. “The film tells a story that will

keep the purists happy, but will work for those who don’t know about Moss and 722. There are even a few ‘Easter eggs’ in there for superfans to spot.”

Gert Straub, 722’s long-time mechanic featured in the previous pages, was once again in the driving seat, starting the car on a previously quiet street just after 6am. With flames spitting from its exhaust, 722 was warmed up before setting off through London, exhaust drowning out the sound of the helicopter.

The route took in favourite haunts of Sir Stirling’s such as the Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall, The Steering Wheel Club and The Ritz, before pulling up outside 46 Shepherd Street to be greeted by Lady Moss and Elliot. Later, there was one last leg of the tribute to be completed; a short drive to St John’s Wood, where Elliot has recently opened his new restaurant, PLU. And that really is the end of public outings for 722. It’s a car that was built for a single season of racing – which it completed in remarkable style, winning not just the 1955 Mille Miglia but later that year the Dundrod TT and the Targa Florio in Moss’s hands. It was also loaned to Fangio for the Le Mans 24 Hours, and was running in first place when MercedesBenz withdrew from the event.

Since then, it’s been raced and demonstrated the world over, but it’s now too valuable both in monetary terms and as an artefact of historical importance for Mercedes-Benz to run it again. And so, in London on September 19, 2021, 300SLR 722 and its faithful mechanic Gert Straub both retired for good.

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Words Elliott Hughes

Photography Patrick Gosling

RECENT YEARS HAVE SEEN no-nonsense, uncompromising offroaders come under threat. Land Rover has repositioned itself as a luxury marque in an agrarian mould, with the Mercedes G-Wagon going in a similar direction. Toyota’s Land Cruiser seems to straddle the luxury and utilitarian worlds, and falls short on both. The new Suzuki Jimny was an outlier before emissions legislation saw it unceremoniously culled from the UK automotive market.

However, it was the death of the ever-present Defender in 2016 that thrust this trend into the spotlight.

Its replacement was far more refined and technologically advanced, but bore little resemblance to the old car’s simplicity and functionality.

The Defender’s demise led to a conversation in a London pub between Jim Ratcliffe, owner of British petro-chemical giant INEOS,

and his friends. At that point, the apparent extinction of the unapologetic off-roader sparked the idea for Ratcliffe to create his own.

“Jim simply thought: ‘What am I going to do now?’” says Gary Pearson, INEOS’ head of marketing.

The Grenadier was the result, named after the very pub where the idea was consummated.

“He has driven Defenders and similar vehicles extensively in Africa, and he’s been to both Poles. He knows exactly what he’s talking about, and he has driven the Grenadier at every stage of its development. He is customer and test driver number one.”

Ratcliffe’s passion for adventure characterises the entire project.

Firstly, there’s the design of the Grenadier itself, which forgoes the complexities of air suspension, touchscreens and the kind of

‘Jim’s driven the car at every stage. He is customer and test driver number one’

BELOW INEOS Grenadier revives the authentic off-roader ethos left behind by more mainstream rivals.

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complicated electronics that would be difficult to repair in the wilderness.

Instead, there’s a steel ladder chassis, Magna-sourced beam axles, three mechanical locking differentials and a choice of BMW-sourced sixcylinder engines.

Form is defined by function on the exterior and cabin, too. The vents surrounding the rear window may look like frivolous styling touches, but they exist only to let dust escape the interior. The spare wheel has a lockable compartment inside, in which to stow muddy

Keeping it real The new INEOS Grenadier takes up where the previousgeneration Defender left off.

So how can it make that work when Land Rover can’t?

boots, while the cabin switchgear is modular and can be replaced with the twist of a screwdriver. Other controls are placed on the interior headlining to be easily accessible while negotiating harsh terrain.

“It’s a business born from a billionaire enthusiast, and I think that makes such a difference,” Gary explains. “A large manufacturer usually cannot specify a ladder chassis as a platform for multiple cars, yet that is the advantage niche manufacturers such as INEOS have. Smaller, specialist vehicles are now the domain of smaller, specialist companies.”

The INEOS Grenadier is slated for release in July 2022, and the fledgling marque’s honest approach is already paying dividends: “We can’t talk about specific numbers, but we’ve had a healthy amount of reservations,” Gary smiles.

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Words Nathan Chadwick

S-Class; the engineers’ last hurrah What went wrong with the Mercedes-Benz W140? As the luxury behemoth marks its 30th anniversary, we look at how its legacy set the brand on a new ‘efficiency’ drive

YOU CAN TANGIBLY SENSE Bruno Sacco’s bemusement as he surveys what might have been the coupé version of the W140 Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

The story of the W140 is a tragicomic tale of engineering fanaticism, corporate dick swinging and pure bad luck. This was the last car in which the Three-Pointed Star’s engineers would hold sway over the accountants, and its late, overbudget DM1 billion legacy would set in motion a ripple effect that led to a disastrous tie-in with Chrysler and sharp nosedive in quality.

The project was already on the back foot after BMW announced a V12-powered 7-series; corporate pride dictated that the W140 would need one, even if the V8 models comfortably outdid the Munich upstart on output. The resultant M120 was created in just 18 months.

The real turning point, however, came when chief engineer Wolfgang Peter and car-line manager Rudolf Hornig tried out a mock-up of the

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seat-layout ergonomics. In just a few seconds, the W140’s fate was sealed with the thunk of two scalps hitting the roof.

Hornig and Peter were tall, thickly set guys, both topping out at 6ft 3in.

The buck was fitted with a removable roof, and as panicked staff rushed to raise it to give the gents some space to get out, the two men chorused: “That’s great now!”

To the dismay of the styling team, Peter and Hornig demanded the roof be 2cm taller. The design department protested, saying it looked like a top hat, but CEO

‘At its Geneva show launch, the W140 was greeted by Greenpeace demonstrators’

Werner Niefer insisted on making the car not only taller but wider, too, in order to dominate the road.

You can see the effects of this on the W140 today – look at the way the light clusters don’t quite fit the surrounding shapes, and the oddly asymmetrical dashboard. Then Mercedes-Benz’s head of styling, Bruno Sacco’s dreams of Jaguar XJstyle delicacy lay in tatters.

Hornig, meanwhile, had become obsessed with an idea inspired by old horse-drawn carriages. He proposed that the model’s body be suspended separately to the chassis for ultimate passenger comfort. He spent 18 months researching this, only to run out of time to get the technology to work. In the end, the W140 would use conventional subframes.

Dynamic tests at the Nürburgring then showed the car to be almost dangerous, requiring extensive reengineering of the brakes and the development of a stability-control system. Meanwhile, Lexus launched the LS400, which had more tech, a more fuel-efficient engine and a lower sticker price. A 4in-shorter

ABOVE What could have been; Bruno Sacco reflects on the S-Class before the accountants muscled in.

W140 was hastily drawn up, putting the project further behind.

Things got no better when it was launched, two years late. Not only were sales of luxury cars on the floor due to a global recession, but the ecolobby was gaining ground in Germany.

At its Geneva Motor Show launch, the W140 was greeted by Greenpeace demonstrators with a huge pile of oil cans, demonstrating how many the car would use in its lifetime. The S-Class became a political issue.

Despite the hostility, MercedesBenz still backed the car, but most of the development team was sacked. The final straw was a painful miscalculation of maximum payload – when carrying five passengers, anything more than hand luggage would make the car dangerous. As Peter wound down his career at the truck division, new boss Jürgen Hubbert set about making the company 30 percent ‘more efficient’.

The accountants had won.

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The Archaeological Automobile Collector and intellectual Miles C Collier has written a book on how the past of a car can touch us in the present.

This extract sees him relating “the historical versus the archaeological automobile”

BELOW Memoryevoking, 1960 Targa Florio-winning Porsche Spyder in its full glory.

Words Miles C Collier

SOME YEARS AGO, FOR THE purpose of a Porsche advertisement, we were asked to return my 1960 Targa Florio race-winning Spyder to its winning venue in Sicily. While it was there being filmed: “...We had people walk up to it, touch it and realize it is the Porsche that won the Targa Florio, and then they would break down, kiss it and start crying.

It is because they remembered it, meeting it in the 1960s.” [Nadia Fugazzi Volpi, How We Filmed Derek Bell and Two Porsche 718s in Sicily, Petrolicious].

As is typical of the particular to the general, the artefact becomes a multi-temporal place where the past inhabits the present through the personal memories of the individuals who had encountered the car at the long-gone race. They remember seeing it, being touched by it somehow. The car became their personal memory made incarnate almost 70 years after the event. The Porsche is inhabiting two times simultaneously: the past of memory and the present of lived experience.

It becomes the point of many small, remembered personal vignettes, some perhaps so trivial that they had never been articulated until the car reappeared in the present. The power of memory is reactivated as culturally and socially illustrative description: “I did this,” or “I remember that,” rather than as historical explanation.

Let us imagine an elderly Sicilian woman in the present day who

‘Car became their personal memory made incarnate 70 years after the event’ 64

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remembers a picnic day out with her family in 1961, and how, seated atop a stone-faced embankment, they watched the racers flash by in the sun; and how she got into a squabble with her sister.

In this particular-to-general narrative structure of archaeology lie those evocations of memory. Firstperson stories about small acts and recollections may be aggregated from innumerable human recollections of the moment to build a picture of the past from the constituent matter of the automobile of the moment.

Given enough aggregation of such personal vignettes, the shadow of large themes or events may begin to appear: history.

Narrative must be inferred through conjecture and inference.

These personal stories may be as varied as the automobiles they describe, the circumstances, and the individuals telling the story. They emerge as memory, or its more powerful relative, nostalgia. They contribute to personal identity and ultimately, when aggregated over a lifetime, into what it is to be a specific individual. This is the nature of archaeological memory: something precipitated by rediscovered matter.

And archaeological memory is what our resourceful Revs Institute team uncovered through applying archaeological imaginations to the examination of century-old images of the 1919 Ballot Indy effort.

This $149.95 book can be ordered from www.thearchaeologicalautomobile.com.

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With this platform, climate awareness can rapidly turn into climate action. NET-HERO’s AAA+-rated programme helps motorists offset internal-combustion engine emissions for as little as two pence per mile. Each carbon credit contributes to high-quality projects around the world, including afforestation, restoration of peatlands and grass protection. This rating has

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Tomas de Vargas Machuca, chairman of HERO-ERA explained: “HERO-ERA was the first classic and vintage car event platform to become carbon neutral for 2020, offering all our competitors an environmentally responsible platform in which to enjoy motoring. It was only natural that we were to become a strategic partner with NET-HERO, which allows the individual to offset emissions outside our events.

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BRITAIN HAD A LOT GOING ON BACK IN 1978. The world’s first test-tube baby was born; top politician Jeremy Thorpe was charged with murder; Princess Margaret filed for divorce; the BBC began filming Parliamentary proceedings; and, believe it or not, there was rejoicing over news that the rate of inflation had fallen to 9.9 percent – the first time it had seen single figures since 1973.

On that basis alone, one wonders whether or not there could have been a worse year for a niche automobile manufacturer that had already survived several bankruptcies to announce its intention to produce the world’s fastest and possibly costliest road car of its time. But that was the decision made by former Aston Martin managing director Alan Curtis, who thought creating such a machine would be an ideal way to promote Tickford, the coachbuilding company Aston acquired in 1955.

Curtis’s plan was to return Tickford to its original role as an engineering subsidiary capable of providing specialist services to other vehicle makers. What better way to demonstrate its abilities than to build a radical-looking car that could smash the 200mph barrier at a time when the quickest ‘off-the-shelf’ offering was Ferrari’s GT4 Berlinetta Boxer that was claimed to be capable of a mere 186mph (although Autocar never got it past 163mph on test)?

The project was code-named ‘DPK901’ – and quickly shortened in-house to ‘K9’, a moniker that was on every sci-fi fan’s lips as 72

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OPPOSITE Complete with wedge profile and gullwing doors, Bulldog’s radical styling typified the era’s automotive design cues.

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that of the robotic dog that had been introduced the previous year as the protagonist’s companion in the hit TV series Doctor Who. In reality, the project was dubbed ‘Bulldog’ after the Scottish Aviation Bulldog two-seater training aeroplane in which Curtis travelled the country.

But he didn’t need to fly anywhere in order to find the man to pen the lines of the ambitious new supercar. The obvious choice was William Towns, the somewhat eccentric English designer who had followed his creation of Aston’s American-inspired AMV8 by envisioning a decidedly far-out luxury saloon for its Lagonda stablemate two years earlier.

Like no other Aston ever produced, the Lagonda was a vast, wedge-shaped interpretation of the classic 1970s ‘folded paper’ design motif seen in rivals such as the Lamborghini Countach, DMC DeLorean and Lotus Esprit.

At 17 feet long and powered by Aston’s trusty 5.3-litre V8, it was lavishly appointed and even featured the world’s first digital dashboard.

Being rare, flash and expensive, the Lagonda was just the sort of car beloved of the Middle Eastern oil sheiks who (thanks to soaring fuel prices elsewhere) were about the only people who could afford to run one. No fewer than 645 examples were built before production ended in 1990 – and Aston Martin Lagonda would almost certainly not have survived without them.

Indeed, it was the Lagonda’s success that encouraged Aston Martin’s then chief engineer

LEFT FROM TOP Modern engineering techniques melded with craftsmanship ensured as much originality as possible was retained while making the Bulldog more robust and safely capable of achieving the intended top speed.

Photography Amy Shore

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OPPOSITE Staff at Shropshire-based Classic Motor Cars (CMC) stripped the Aston Martin to its individual parts, identified areas for improvement and painstakingly rebuilt it to the very highest standards. Next stop, 200mph...

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OPPOSITE From vision of the future to prince’s plaything, the Bulldog has certainly lived a life – and now it’s been given the attention it deserves to return to the public eye.

RIGHT FROM TOP Connolly leather authentic to the car was used for cabin trim, while liquidcooled Garrett turbos are far more efficient than the 1970s originals.

Mike Loasby to put to Curtis the idea of something even more radical in the form of an ‘ultimate’ mid-engined supercar, with Loasby envisioning several versions of such a creation, possibly with a range of performance options that would culminate in an 850bhp ‘super GT’.

Towns had left Aston’s employ before the first Lagondas rolled off the line, deciding to go it alone as a designer of everything from cars (of course) to lawnmowers. Yet with business initially slow, he was only too happy to be asked back to render the Bulldog on a freelance basis.

What he came up with could be described as a low-flying, two-door, hyper-sports version of the Lagonda. With its wedge-shaped front, hard-drawn swage lines and acres of triangular and trapezoid-shaped glass, Towns’s 15ft 6in Bulldog might have been just 43 inches high – but it sure looked ready for a fight.

Despite Curtis’s initial enthusiasm for the project, it stalled after lead engineer Loasby left Aston to join the fledgling DeLorean company.

But, six months later, new engineering boss Steve Coughlin was tasked with putting together a team to finish what Loasby had started.

The man chosen to lead it was Keith Martin, a hugely talented young engineer who’d arrived two years earlier from the Department of Transport to help ensure the AMV8 and Lagonda cars were able to meet the needs of the recently introduced European Type Approval scheme.

Martin recruited seven colleagues, resulting

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LEFT With the help of twin turbos, the midmounted 5.3-litre V8 produced an estimated 700bhp.

In a road car.

In 1978...

in a team of two engineers, two draughtsmen, two sheet-metal workers and two fitters, all of whom – apart from freelance design engineer and draughtsman Mike Duff – were already employed at the Newport Pagnell works.

The unique nature of the Bulldog meant that it had to be worked on entirely separately from the mainstream production. As such, a ‘special projects’ area was created at the back of the service department complete with stud-wall offices, air lines, power points, welding facilities and a drawing office. During this time Martin and team had the opportunity to take stock of what Loasby and Towns had created thus far.

“Towns was a pure stylist,” says Martin. “He was very good indeed at designing, drawing and bringing ideas to the table. What he was not all that good at was considering how to package everything. He was the sort of guy who needed a very strong character to steer him, otherwise he would design from the outside in without giving much consideration to how components were going to be contained.

Getting everything to fit into the Lagonda, for example, had been a real ‘knife and fork’ job.”

The team faced what was effectively a giant ‘kit’ of often incongruous parts, with many key components missing – and barely any ‘instructions’ as to how to put it all together.

“We had an engine and gearbox transaxle unit, a tubular chassis with no suspension, and a few loose, unfinished body panels,” recalls Martin. “There was a full-sized wooden ‘eggcrate’ body buck, plus a single full-scale drawing of the body and a quarter-scale one of the chassis – neither of which was complete. In total, we found 60 incomplete engineering 82

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drawings compared with the 4500-plus that were needed for a typical production car.”

Loasby, meanwhile, had conceived an impressive but complex suspension system.

This involved his invention of a device called the ‘Loasby link’, with the front wheels being attached to a solid axle with inboard brakes and turned by a bell-crank arrangement.

“We kept most of the suspension design, but substituted Mike’s idea of torsion bars front and rear for coil springs with adjustable dampers. However, the steering system was simply too ambitious for us, so we played safe and started afresh, eventually using a modified DB6 rack and a V8 collapsible column without power assistance.”

Early in the project the team resolved to convert the Bulldog to left-hand drive on the basis that it was likely to be exported to a rightside-driving country. They also opted to equip the cabin with liquid-crystal instrumentation in a bid to reduce wiring complexity and to save space. This was entirely appropriate for the generally futuristic Bulldog, but a bold move in light of the problems that had been caused by the similar system used on the Lagonda.

Martin again: “We all took a hand where we could, and everyone chipped in to perfect important details. I also approached suppliers to make special components, many of which were given to us free of charge by firms who wanted to try out their products on such a highperformance car. This really helped, as some items – such as the specially made window glass – could leave big holes in our budget.”

But other parts had to be designed, developed and fabricated from scratch specifically for the

Bulldog, including the electrically driven ‘gullwing’ doors, and the complex gearchange mechanism that was required to run from the car’s cockpit and around the huge engine block before eventually reaching the transaxle more than eight feet away.

Martin and team were also highly conscious of the need to make the Bulldog as safe as possible for its occupants. To that end, a special fire-proof, aluminium-based board called Vernaware was used to seal the bulkheads, the three fuel tanks were lined with race-approved Explosafe, and the doors were double latched.

And to ensure the Bulldog really did have the necessary ‘go’ to crack the magic double ton, it was decided to again use the 5.3-litre V8, but this time mid-mounted and with the addition of not one, but two Garrett AiResearch turbos.

The result: an estimated SEVEN HUNDRED horsepower. In a road car. In 1978...

Within eight months the Bulldog was up, running and ready for its first shakedown run at the Millbrook Proving Ground. There, the aptly named Martin gingerly took the car up to 70mph before handing the wheel to development engineer Steve Hallam. He fearlessly cracked 135mph on his first lap, slowing down only when the Bulldog’s temporary front panel was ripped off by the wind pressure...

By March 1980, the Bulldog was ready to be officially ‘launched’ to the international motoring press. After this, further testing saw an effortless 172mph at the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) test track where, in May 1981, the car was to come tantalisingly close to its target with a verified 191mph.

Soon afterwards, special Pirelli tyres were

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fitted, and a higher final-drive ratio was installed that would give the Bulldog a calculated maximum of – believe it or not – 237mph.

But the sale of Aston Martin and an inevitable change in management meant it was not to be.

Curtis had left to be replaced as chairman by the ebullient and well liked Victor Gauntlett.

Recognising the marque’s precarious financial state, Gauntlett decided it would be prudent to end development of the Bulldog and to sell it in its up, running and completed state.

Negotiations with a young Saudi prince called Mohammed Bandar Al Saud proved fruitful. He duly handed over £130,000 (the equivalent to around £400,000 today), paying for the car with traveller’s cheques before being waved off up the road in the direction of London, blissfully free of the numberplates, road tax and insurance required by UK law.

But within hours the Bulldog was back at the ‘works’ with a blown engine and wrecked gearbox. His Highness had, so legend has it, shifted from top gear to second at a somewhat illegal speed, trashing the carefully built, twinturbo motor in the process. It was soon repaired, however, and the prince returned to collect the car in the company of an American friend named Bradford Romano, who to this day clearly recalls the bizarre hand-over.

“We’d travelled from London, and arranged to meet the people from Aston on a motorway off-ramp near Newport Pagnell, where the Bulldog was waiting,” he says. “The idea was that the prince should drive back to the capital accompanied by someone from Lloyds of London – but he told me to get in the passenger seat instead, leaving the Lloyds guy at the side of the road. I remember the journey mainly

‘The prince would enjoy high-speed night runs in the Bulldog along arrowstraight desert roads’ because it was as hot as hell inside that car – I actually thought we might catch fire. The prince wanted to go to a bar called Blushes in Chelsea’s King’s Road, so that’s what we did. But the Bulldog was so loud that a woman living in an apartment above threw a flower pot at us in protest. It crashed down onto the car’s roof.”

The following year the prince had the Bulldog shipped to his home (or, at least, one of his homes) in Seattle, US. By this time, says Romano, it had been given some “gaudy embellishments”; he remembers a miniature golden palm tree and a small golden sword somewhere around the console area. Its trim had also been changed from brown leather to white, and the two-tone silver and cream paintwork was substituted for green.

In subsequent years, Romano says the prince – who kept a collection of supercars at another property in Finisterre, Arizona – would occasionally enjoy high-speed night runs in the Bulldog along arrow-straight desert roads, often drag racing against friends and lackeys whom he had tasked to compete with him in BELOW Microdot, Minissima, Bulldog, Tracer and Hustler; William Towns’s extraordinarily wedgy creations gather together at long last.

his Ferrari F40, Testarossa or gold-coloured Lamborghini Countach.

Public sightings of the Bulldog were few and far between, however, and by the late 1980s the car was in a sufficiently poor state to be consigned to Young Motor Cars in Scottsdale, where it was largely dismantled in anticipation of a major overhaul. At which point, the firm went spectacularly bust.

Around five years later the mechanic who had been tasked with working on the Aston, Al Kurdzialek, was contacted with news that the car had been abandoned by the prince. He was then asked to pick up the pieces and rebuild it at the garage of which he was now proprietor, Anything Automotive in Fountain Hills.

“It seemed that the prince had just left it behind. It came to me with a lot of major parts missing, including the fuel-injection system, the clutch and the flywheel,” recalls Kurdzialek.

After more than two years of steady work, which included converting the Bulldog to run on quad Weber carbs and machining a new flywheel from scratch, he got the car going again. He was promptly called into a discussion with lawyers who, as a result of the prince’s untimely death (a whole other story), were looking for ways to sell the Bulldog.

Kurdzialek looked after it for a while longer, fettling it as best he could in respect of its ‘prototype’ status, even enjoying an epic blast on an abandoned road – during which he achieved “close to 200mph” despite the old tyres. Soon, however, a buyer was found, Kurdzialek’s bill was settled and the Aston was paid for in full before heading to the UK. “That was in around 1995, and was the last I saw of it,” he says...

In the event, the car entered a long period of storage in England before returning to the public eye at the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it formed part of a display of similarly futuristic concepts from the same era. It appeared again four years later, this time as a key element ofAston Martin’s centenary celebrations.

The Bulldog again vanished from view until late 2019, when it was acquired in an underthe-radar deal by US collector Phillip Sarofim after RM Sotheby’s rediscovered it among a vast, single-owner car collection in Asia.

Sarofim promptly tasked Richard Gauntlett, son of the late Victor, to arrange and oversee the comprehensive restoration by Shropshirebased Classic Motor Cars (CMC) that Magneto has been following and which is now approaching its final stages.

The car arrived at CMC in October 2019, still wearing its all-over coat of pale-green paint and showing numerous signs of long-term neglect, including a battered chassis, tired mechanicals

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Aston Martin Bulldog

and a shabby interior – complete with of-theera CB radio set screwed into the headlining.

Starting in early 2020, the team stripped the car to its bare bones and commenced not only restoring it from the ground up, but sympathetically improving the many decidedly quirky 1970s engineering features that very much pointed to the Bulldog being a prototype rather than a production model.

CMC’s managing director, Nigel Woodward, has welcomed the input of several original members of the Bulldog project, including the aforementioned Keith Martin and the man who built the engine, David Morgan: “David and Keith have shown us why the Bulldog was built in a certain way, along with its idiosyncrasies. This helped us to rebuild it into an aesthetically faithful representation of the car as they would have known it 40 years ago.”

To that end, the body has been refinished to pristine perfection in the correct colour scheme. Meanwhile, the interior has been brilliantly retrimmed by CMC’s Liz Collings using an original roll of Connolly leather which is exactly the same as that used in the 1970s – an indisputable fact, since Jonathan Connolly discovered a 40-year-old sample at the tannery with the name ‘Bulldog’ written on the back.

And, it has to be said, the work is of a far higher spec than that of four decades ago. The tubular chassis has been rebuilt to a superb standard, with one important section – which doubles as a coolant conduit – having been replaced with a freshly fabricated, superior component.

The engine, meanwhile, has been reworked with modern, better-engineered components and the twin turbos – previously remounted on the chassis at the rear of the engine bay – have been returned to their original positions on the cylinder block. The overheating issues that likely instigated the move have been overcome by using liquid-cooled Garretts that look almost identical to the originals but whose ceramic bearings make them far more resilient to heat.

Says Woodward: “The owner decided that the best way to approach the restoration was to maintain as much originality as possible, but to make the car more robust and safely capable of achieving the originally intended 200mph.

“The challenges were engineering sufficient mechanical strength into it and, of course, dealing with the fact that we had to create new parts for a prototype that came to us with very little information about what it was originally like. We only wish Aston had invested in a decent camera in 1978; then we might have had a few more useful photographs to work from.”

But the applause with which the Bulldog was greeted when it was first unveiled in its nearly 86

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ABOVE Restored Bulldog received a suitably British welcome at its recent Concours of Elegance unveiling at Hampton Court Palace.

completed state at September’s Hampton Court Concours of Elegance confirmed that CMC has done a remarkable job of saving and reviving a unique and historically important car.

And as this issue of Magneto went to press, Woodward and team were preparing to hook up the mighty V8 to the dyno for some final tuning of the fuel-injection and management systems. This was in advance of entrusting the car to Aston works driver Darren Turner, who has been charged with completing the business left unfinished by the original sale of 40 years ago; to drive it at an officially recorded 200mph.

Before he does that, however, Turner has promised to give a certain Lizzie Cariss the first passenger ride in the completed car. She was married to Towns from 1966 until his untimely 1993 death from cancer at 57.

She helped William to build his freelance business, Interstyl, to the point where Towns was so busy that he had to invest in a personal Robinson R22 helicopter in order to save time travelling to meetings around the country.

She says: “Because the Bulldog was designed after William had left Aston Martin, most of

‘CMC has done a remarkable job of reviving a unique and historically important car’

the work he did on it was carried out at our home studio. I remember it being around for quite a while when he was perfecting certain details, and I still have a photograph of it sitting on a trailer outside one of our barns, roughly covered over with a tarpaulin.”

So radical was the Bulldog’s design that it was featured in numerous magazines around the world as well as on several TV programmes.

Invariably Towns would drive it into shot before emerging from behind the (incredibly heavy) hydraulic gullwing doors, stylishly dressed in a quintessentially 1970s three-piece suit.

Remarkably, Lizzie had also kept several examples of some of her late husband’s other avant-garde designs, namely the Tracer, a small, convertible sports car; the Hustler, an extraordinary, multi-use vehicle that could be adapted to serve as anything from six-wheeled off-roader to pick-up truck, wood-bodied station wagon and more; and a pair of tiny, forward-thinking city cars – the Minissima and the brilliantly named Microdot.

Until Lizzie was contacted by Gauntlett on behalf of the Bulldog’s new owner – who had tasked Richard with putting as much of the Bulldog puzzle together as possible – the four extraordinary vehicles had languished in a storage unit on England’s south coast. Now, however, they have been purchased to sit alongside the Bulldog in order to make an impressive ‘part-set’ of Towns creations.

Never again must it be said that the 1970s was the era that style forgot…

Thanks to Phillip Sarofim, Richard Gauntlett and everyone at Classic Motor Cars, www.classicmotor-cars.co.uk. Next year will see the launch of the definitive Bulldog coffee-table book, written

by Simon de Burton with images by Amy Shore.

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First Lamborghini Countach LP400

MARCH 11, 1971 – 10AM. AT THE GENEVA Motor Show’s Carrozzeria Bertone stand, Automobili Lamborghini unveils its newest ‘idea car’, the Countach LP500 – and immediately the model becomes the star of the event. It does not take too long before various Lamborghini enthusiasts show up, chequebook in their grasp, asking to buy it on the spot. Despite the generosity of their offers, however, they all go home empty handed. The one-off simply can’t be sold. It runs, but it is not ready to be driven.

A few months before that fateful Thursday in Geneva, Ferruccio Lamborghini had expressed his vision of the future to his men in Sant’Agata Bolognese. The Miura was a best seller; since its introduction in 1966, it had sold many more units than initially forecast, and in doing so it had put the still-young brand at the top of the exclusive ‘cool’ manufacturer list.

After five years, however, the model had started to show two distinct limits.

From a technical point of view, the car needed to be refreshed in order to address some issues from the original project. This was the reason why the very same 1971 Geneva show saw the debut of the Miura SV – the final, and by far the best, Miura ever.

Then there was the model’s market image. At the beginning, in 1966-67, the Miura was sold to a ‘who’s who’ clientele. With the passage of 90

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Words Massimo Delbò Photography Max Serra

OPPOSITE First-ever Countach LP400 was resurrected having spent much of its life hidden in a barn.

First Lamborghini Countach LP400

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First Lamborghini Countach LP400

ABOVE Excavating the mustard trim the car wore when rediscovered revealed two further layers – in green and, beneath that, in black.

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OPPOSITE Model’s LP400 moniker reflected the 4.0-litre V12 engine, which was longitudinally mounted behind the gearbox.

First Lamborghini Countach LP400

First Lamborghini Countach LP400

OPPOSITE Just look at it! Has any other car continued to make such an impact 50 years after its debut?

the years, however, used examples were offered at a very devalued price, and so entered the parallel world of the ‘wannabe’. Such customers created a serious problem for the brand’s image. Ferruccio – who you must remember was both a marketing genius and a great visionary – had something else in mind, too.

Because the technological step forward offered by the Miura had benefitted his brand so much, Lamborghini decided it was time to show the market that this high-tech approach was not a one-shot of luck, but instead an integral aspect of the firm, part of its DNA. It was time, he declared, to stun the world again, showing something not only advanced but also completely different.

Shortly after, Marcello Gandini’s telephone at Carrozzeria Bertone rang. To choose the same stylist who shaped the Miura was a natural choice; he proved to be both amazingly talented and wonderful to work with. With his Alfa Romeo Carabo (based on 33 mechanicals), as presented at the 1968 Paris Motor Show, he was deemed to be the one shaping the new stylistic form for 1970s cars – all sharp edges and straight lines. Gandini would confirm his credentials at the 1970 Turin Motor Show, where Bertone displayed his Lancia Stratos Zero, the most wedge-shaped car ever.

“When I was asked to design the new Magneto

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First Lamborghini Countach LP400

Lamborghini, I was given a lot of freedom,” Gandini recalls. “Little had been decided, aside from the general overall dimensions, mechanical layout and size of the engine to fit in the rear bay. I was told to make it special, and different.

I immediately went for vertical-opening doors, and from the first sketch the car was there.”

He continues: “Other prototypes were using the same style, but Lamborghini deserves credit for being the only company who decided to move forward, transforming it into a production car. My real concern was the timing, because we had very few months to design and manufacture what was supposed to be an ‘idea car’, to see whether people would like something so extreme. We discovered that they did.”

In the meantime, the technical father of the LP500 (denoting Longitudinale Posteriore – longitudinal rear – and a 5.0-litre engine), engineer Paolo Stanzani, was hard at work. As Lamborghini’s general manager and technical director, his main issue to solve was the positioning of the motor and gearbox. The V12 is a wonderful creation, but rather large to accommodate. Relatively early in the process the decision to go longitudinal and not transversal, as in the Miura, was made.

“From a technical viewpoint it was a perfect solution,” declared the late Stanzani. “But it left me with a difficult problem to solve; the height of the engine positioned it above the propeller shaft. It was simply too high, and would have forced Gandini to shape the rear of the car around it. A gearbox on the back of the engine, suspended, would have been terrible for handling, so I put it on the front, virtually between the two seats. Then I created a passage for the propeller shaft in the block, thus saving several centimetres in height. Once the idea was on paper, my hardest job was to convince Ferruccio that the solution would be reliable.

To my knowledge, in 20 years of Countach, not a single car had a problem because of this.”

An experimental engine was fitted into the prototype, too. However, while it was claimed to be a 5.0-litre unit – that 500 in the name, remember – it was most likely a 4.2, although there is no real evidence. “The yellow LP500 was a real car,” underlines Gandini. “Due to the race against time to be at Geneva, we drove it onto the stage. However, we had to do it in second gear, because there was no way to engage first.”

Immediately after the successful show the LP500 went to Sant’Agata, because there was no doubt that the Countach would enter production. However, the race against time to make it road ready was a tough one, because the LP500 was a very different car from every Countach that would follow. To 100

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ABOVE LP400 was first Countach to feature a Lamborghini, not a Bertone, chassis number.

save manufacturing time, the chassis was a steel platform instead of the planned tubular type, the Pirelli tyres were of a dedicated /60 size that would never enter production, and the dashboard looked like something out of science fiction, with little more than coloured warning lights to indicate potential issues.

The car had less than 1km on the clock, and unfortunately the experimental engine blew up in its very early days as a test mule. An important point should be made here, at least from an historical perspective; the Countach LP500 wore not a Lamborghini chassis number, but a Bertone number instead. The alloy tag indicated ‘Telaio *C*120001*’.

The LP500 was soon heavily modified in terms of air intake and hot-air dissipation. As for engines, standard 4.0-litre units were used because they were more than enough in terms of maximum output. Inside the cockpit, the futuristic panels gave way to more conventional analogue instruments. Test driver Bob Wallace would do an amazing job, covering thousands of kilometres day after day, testing and developing every single component. The quantity of work done by this car was amazing, and until spring 1973 it would remain the only Countach in existence.

“We had very limited resources,” Stanzani would recall, “as in 1970 Lamborghini Trattori (tractors) suffered an unprecedented economic

‘The LP400’s shape was similar to that of the previous LP500, but it was different in every respect’

crisis linked with the Bolivian Government not paying for an order of 5000 tractors. In 1971 this forced Ferruccio to make cash by selling 51 percent of Automobili Lamborghini to a Swiss investor. The LP500 was still being modified, and there was no point in making a second unit.”

It was only once the production model’s main parameters had been defined, in early 1973, that the firm finally built the first, 17kg-lighter, tubular-chassis Countach LP400. Chassis no.

1120001, with its 1.2 mm-thick aluminium alloy body, was painted red and sported a black interior, and it was completed just in time to be displayed at the Geneva Motor Show, opening on March 15, 1973. It was shown as a production car, but still was – even in the most optimistic scenario – a pre-production model, sporting several differences from what would be the final product. It is also worth remembering that, until car no. 6, every Countach would be quite different from the previous one, each edging further away from chassis no. 1 and closer to the final, standardised product.

The LP400 show car’s shape was similar to that of the previous LP500, but it was different in every respect, including length, front and rear bonnets, bootlid, roof and shape of most of the air intakes and the rear lights. Trademarks included chrome taillight surrounds, a different shape to the opening part of the side windows, body-coloured NACA air-intake inner sections, and a front ‘bumper’ with no foglamps and newly positioned air intakes. There were also two windscreen wipers, which were hinged in the centre and rested in a wide ‘V’ position.

Inside, the dashboard was covered with suede and the seats in black leather hide. There was a long gearlever, while the right sill featured a lockable enclosed space – a solution that would return only in the 1988 Countach 25th Anniversary. The LP400 also had a heightadjustable steering wheel, an instrument cluster and a normal rear-view mirror, and the central tunnel – complete with ventilation controls – was now extended to reach the dashboard. Tyres were Pirelli 205/70 VR-14 front and 215/70 VR-14 rear, mounted on slightly different rims than before.

After Geneva the LP400 had a second life as a test model. On June 4, 1973 it was famously shot for the August ’73 issue of Car by editor Mel Nichols, parked in front of Monaco’s Hotel de Paris. With Bob Wallace at the wheel, Nichols would be driven back to Sant’Agata Bolognese, and his series of pictures showed among other things the Lamborghini being admired at the French/Italian border and at high speed. The ‘red’ car was then photographed several other times in different locations, by

WAY MORE THAN JUST VEHICLE STORAGE. WWW.HENRYSCARBARN.CO.UK

different photographers, until it seemed to disappear at the end of June.

Come September 13, 1973, and the opening of the IAA Frankfurt Motor Show, a green Countach LP400 appeared – and for years it was believed to be a new car. For a long time this was one of Lamborghini history’s unanswered questions, because in many period reports there were references to two models – the red one and the green one – sporting some differences. On the flip side, older Lamborghini workers recalled only one car being assembled.

With the LP400’s eventual reappearance in 2003, historians were finally able to link all the dots and find some evidence that the red and the green machines were one and the same.

It was in July 1973 that the Lamborghini had entered the third stage of its life, being repainted in Verde Medio (medium green) with the interior reupholstered in Verde Chiaro (light green) leather. It was to be displayed, as a fresh unit, during the autumn show season. Modifications included a single-arm wiper blade and a different front bumper that incorporated two foglamps and a pair of small, riveted air intakes for the cooling of the front brakes.

As soon as it returned from Germany, LP400 chassis no. 1 was sent to Orbassano, in the suburbs of Turin, to the shop of elm-wood modelling specialist Mr Rainero. Here, the body was taken as a reference to create the correct ‘test rig’, and from then on, for many years, this master was used to shape test for conformity the hand-made alloy pieces on every successive Countach. Soon after that the car was off on its travels again, and the first week of October 1973 saw it on display at the Paris Motor Show before it headed to London’s Earls Court event. In the meantime, it was photographed for the first Countach sales brochure and used for further testing.

It was only on April 6, 1974 that the LP400 – by now sporting mustard trim – was formally delivered to Switzerland’s René Leimer, the businessman who had just bought Ferruccio’s remaining 49 percent of company stock. To get an idea of the timing, chassis no. 1120002, the first production LP400, sold to Lamborghini dealer Achilli Motors in Milan, was shipped from the factory a week later. From then on very little was known of the green car – so much so that, to many, it was considered lost until 2003, when it reappeared in a Swiss barn.

“I do remember this car very well – even if, in period, I never drove it,” says legendary Lamborghini test driver Valentino Balboni. “It was under the full ‘ownership’ of ‘Reparto Esperienza’ (today we’d call it R&D), of Bob Wallace. I’ve been involved in two moments in 102

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ABOVE LP400 chassis no. 1120001 in its first incarnation, as prepared for 1973 Geneva show.

this car’s life, both quite interesting. The first was in early spring 1973, when Italy was in fierce political turmoil and many foresaw an historic victory for the Communist party at the closerun elections. At Lamborghini there were strong conflicts between management and the unions.

“One day, together with the late Mioli of the tyre shop, we had to loosen LP400 no. 1’s spare wheel from the rim, and bring both to the offices. After an hour we were called back to collect the tyre, still loose on the rim, full of paper. Documents? Money? Both? We had, and still have, no idea, but we didn’t ask. We reinstalled the spare tyre on its rim, fitted it in its space under the front bonnet, and the following day the car went off to Switzerland.”

Fast forward to 2003, when rumours arose about a green early Countach hidden in a Swiss barn in the middle of the Alps. Shortly after, Balboni – who back then was still a Lamborghini employee – was sent to look at the car, together with the then-aftersales manager and engineer, Giorgio Gamberini.

“We got the information that what could have been this car was in a mountain barn. With detailed whereabouts supplied by a friend, we drove an Audi Allroad up to the place,” remembers Balboni. “Lamborghini, purchased

by Audi Group in 1998, was establishing its own museum, and this car, if real, could have been interesting. I’ll never forget what I saw

‘Rumours arose about a green early Countach hidden in a Swiss barn in the middle of the Alps’

when the doors opened; a wooden scaffolding, with a scruffy utilitarian car on top and, underneath, covered by several layers of very dusty tarpaulins, there was the first LP400. I immediately headed to the front and, even before looking for the chassis number, I checked the spot where I remembered I had drilled a couple of holes to attach a bracket.”

He continues: “In seeing them, I was already sure. In the meantime Gamberini, without saying we were from Lamborghini, was already involved in the price discussion. We ended up with an agreement – but we had to buy the compact car, too. The next morning we loaded the two onto a truck, and just few kilometres later we offloaded the second vehicle and gifted it to a service station. For us, it just was extra weight and extra paper to prepare for customs.”

Back in Sant’Agata the first LP400 was immediately well taken care of – but it was not fully restored, because it wasn’t in need of this.

Further clues as to its originality were soon discovered; hidden spots revealed signs of red paint, while it was still possible to feel, under the green paint, the welding covering the two holes from the initial windscreen-wiper set-up.

In the cabin, dismantling the seats revealed bulkhead mounting points for the Britax fourpoint seatbelts, as depicted in pictures of Bob Wallace in the car. As final confirmation, under the mustard upholstery lie two further layers of trim – in green and, beneath that, in black.

Now part of Lamborghini’s MUDETEC – Museum of Technologies – in Sant’Agata Bolognese, the car spends its time being shown to the public and, once in a while, travelling around the world to attend the most prestigious events. Its most recent appearance was at Pebble Beach 2021 where, alongside the last Countach manufactured, it enhanced the class dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the model.

Talking of concours, in 2020, during full lockdown, LP400 no. 1120001 achieved something extraordinary, winning the Poster Car of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s class in the Magneto-organised Concours Virtual. Enlisted as ‘for display only’ by Automobili Lamborghini – cars belonging to manufacturers are usually shown in this way in concours to ‘protect’ private owners – it was so iconic and beautiful that the judges asked the marque for authorisation to judge it anyway.

It’s yet another memory in the life of this amazing car, which today is the oldest LP400 in existence. And as for that 1971 LP500 – which was destroyed after being crashed at MIRA in March 1974 during homologation testing – it has its own unique story to tell.

Read on to find out more...

MEL NICHOLS/NOSA INTERNATIONAL CORP.

First Lamborghini Countach LP400

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OPPOSITE Lamborghini’s Polo Storico heritage division reconstructed the LP500.

Words Elliott Hughes

LAMBORGHINI HAS RESURRECTED THE iconic Countach LP500 50 years after the concept shocked the world at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show. Three years after that momentous day, the car was crash tested to destruction at the UK’s MIRA proving grounds.

Few would have predicted that the LP500 concept would ever turn a wheel again, but that all changed when an important collector commissioned Lamborghini’s Polo Storico heritage division to recreate the car.

Months of analysis followed, as Polo Storico compiled as much archival material as possible to make the ambitious project possible. Polo Storico has performed plenty of stunning restorations over the years since the division was created in 2015, but it had never attempted anything as challenging as this.

“The collection of data was crucial. There had been so much attention paid to all the details of the car, to their overall consistency and to the technical specifications,” said Giuliano Cassataro, head of service at Polo Storico. But this material alone wasn’t enough.

Polo Storico had to enlist the help of Lamborghini Centro Stile, which was tasked with developing a 1:1-scale styling model just as was used in period, so that the final car’s remanufacture could be made possible. The original model was lost over time, so Lamborghini Centro Stile had only the basis of Polo Storico’s archive material to work from.

“The biggest challenge was to create the exact volume of the car, and for this we took a 3D scan of our LP400 (chassis 001), which was an enormous source of information. It took us 2000 hours of work to arrive at the final model with lines that satisfied us. The exact same procedure was followed for the interior,” explained head of design Mitja Borkert.

Once the scale model had been completed, Polo Storico could finally start building its masterpiece. Work began with the platform, which posed a quandary; it is totally different from the tubular frame that underpinned

production Countachs. Polo Storico had to completely redesign the original chassis from drawings, and it used modern technology to ensure the dimensions were millimetre perfect.

Once that was done, the chassis was arduously remanufactured by hand which, for authenticity’s sake, used original production methods.

The same philosophy was employed for the Bertone-designed body. Cutting-edge tech created the blueprint, but a ‘battilastra’ was tasked with skilfully beating the sheet metal by hand – ironic for a car that still looks futuristic 50 years on. A similar process was then used to remanufacture the interior, which included the illuminated diagnostic instruments featured specifically on the LP500 prototype.

Originality was also the focus of the car’s mechanical components, from the powertrain to the brakes and suspension. Consequently, only original Lamborghini spares or restored period components were used.

The Pirelli tyres are identical Cinturato CN12s to those that shod the car in 1971, specially recreated by Pirelli for the LP500 project. The tread pattern and aesthetics of the rubber remain identical, although the construction and compound have been modernised for safety and performance purposes.

Polo Storico’s finishing touch was the Giallo Fly Speciale paintwork, made with the same chemical composition as was originally used.

No fewer than 25,000 hours later, the restoration was finished. The car was displayed in the concept class of the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in October 2021.

‘Polo Storico has performed plenty of stunning restorations, but never anything as challenging as this’ Magneto

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“IT IS SOMETHING SO SPECIAL THAT Lamborghini never did it before,” says the marque’s chief technology officer, Maurizio Reggiani, of the new LPI 800-4.

“Nothing was easy in creating its design,” adds Mitja Borkert, Lamborghini Centro Stile director. “We wanted to keep the magic feeling of the 1971 LP500 concept, while creating the shape of a Lamborghini representing the 21st-century tech of a hybrid supercar, with 800bhp-plus and capable of 220mph.”

The LPI 800-4 is a tribute to the LP500, which stormed the automotive design and supercar worlds, and created the style DNA still used today in Sant’Agata Bolognese cars. As underlined by Reggiani, it is the first time Lamborghini has celebrated a past model in such a remarkable way, but the opportunity offered on the occasion of the original car’s 50th anniversary was too unique to ignore.

The LPI 800-4 is a state-of-the-art supercar, originally derived from the Aventador and Sián.

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(rear-longitudinal) 6.5-litre V12, paired with the Sián’s supercapacitor electric system. The total generated is 803bhp – impressive for a car with a 3516lb dry weight. The 0-62mph sprint happens in 2.8 seconds, while the maximum speed is 220mph.

A supercapacitor-powered, gearbox-mounted 48-volt e-motor helps give immediate response; it is the only mild-hybrid technology to create a direct connection between electric motor and wheels, preserving the pure V12 behaviour.

A carbonfibre monocoque and body panels give a power-to-weight ratio of 503bhp/tonne.

Moveable air vents are made with 3D-printing tech, and a photochromic roof changes from solid to transparent at the push of a button.

“Despite its historic inspiration, this is a supercar for the 21st century,” says Reggiani.

“The distinctive silhouette – with the essential lines running front to rear, sharp angles and idiosyncratic wedge shape – innovated modern super-sports designs, and set the styling DNA for all the following Lamborghini models.”

“The first Countach serves as the perfect reminder to design every future Lamborghini in a visionary and futuristic way,” adds Borkert.

“The final outline of the 800-4 is pure and uncluttered, with a distinctive, assertive and low face inspired by the Quattrovalvole edition.

Its greenhouse’s sharp inclination adopts the straight lines of the original, and the air scoops are integrated in the car’s strong shoulders, embellished with distinctive slatted grilles.”

Iconic NACA intakes cut into the side and doors, and the distinctive Periscopio roof lines appear to float towards the rear, while the LPI 800-4 also sports the Countach’s quad exhaust, connected within the carbonfibre rear diffuser.

Access is, of course, via the legendary scissor doors, which were introduced on the Countach and have become a Lamborghini V12 signature.

Only 112 LPI 800-4s will be built – a number picked from the original project number LP112, denoting the engine’s Longitudinale Posteriore position and 12 cylinders. A price of £1,700,000 ($2,359,174) has been mooted.

Photography Evan Klein

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Words Massimo Delbò

The power of three

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Ferrari Tre Posti

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Enzo Ferrari was reluctant to follow the rear-engined road-car route, but when Sergio Pininfarina

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and Luigi Chinetti dreamed up the 365P Berlinetta Speciale Tre Posti, he soon changed his mind

Ferrari Tre Posti

BELOW & OPPOSITE Ground-breaking 365P was Pininfarina and Chinetti’s brainchild.

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IN EARLY SPRING 1966, ENZO FERRARI was a successful 68-year-old entrepreneur. His company was formally 21 years old, but its roots extended well before that, to when a young Enzo was a racer in the aftermath of World War One and then the brains behind the Alfa Romeo racing department in the years leading up to World War Two. In this first half-century of activity in the automotive world, Ferrari had established himself as being rather difficult to handle – a man of strong character and specific ideas, who was not inclined to change his mind. Not only this, but his approach to disagreement was somewhat drastic, as he’d later demonstrate with the 1961 ‘Palace Revolt’ in which he, well aware of the consequences, fired all of his company’s managers in a single shot.

One of his oft-heard statements was linked to the position of the engine. To him, there was no doubt about it: “The horse has to pull the cart, not push it.” This credo, so widely espoused, slowed the modernisation process of his beloved racing cars from 1958 to 1960. He relented only after an incredible effort from his engineering team (particularly Mauro Forghieri) proved to him, with hard data, the effectiveness of a rearengined solution. No one inside the company dared attempt to convince Enzo that he should follow a similar technical path for his Gran Turismo cars. These models would continue with a more traditional front-engined layout.

Indeed, the first to breach this wall was an outsider, Pininfarina’s highly talented chief designer Aldo Brovarone. He was the first man brave – and capable – enough to shape the inaugural road-going show car with a rearpositioned ‘Made in Maranello’ powertrain, the six-cylinder Dino Berlinetta Speciale (no. 0840) revealed at the October 1965 Paris Motor Show.

It is not by chance that this first ‘experiment’ used the Dino brand, so as to gently test Enzo’s reaction before planning for the future.

According to those close to Ferrari, his response to this prototype, built on a racing chassis but supplied with an empty engine and gearbox, was one of disdain. However, the oneoff’s beauty and public success moved the stubborn but very smart Enzo at least to a point of listening for a further new proposal.

In today’s terms, we would say: “You made me curious; now you have my attention.”

If there were two men to whom Ferrari would listen, they were Luigi Chinetti and Sergio Pininfarina. The first, because of his amazing contribution to the success of the early Ferrari company. As both a racer and a US

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THIS PAGE Everything in the Tre Posti, one of the milestones of Ferrari history, reminds one of its origins as a racing and show car.

The racing fuel tank is an art form in itself, as is the air intake for the carburettors. The dial design is unique to this car. “I always loved her shape,” says its current custodian.

“It’s so innovative and modern even by today’s standards.”

THIS PAGE Lower cockpit air exits were added after the car’s debut, while the plexiglass – even if not perfect – is the original.

The gearlever is located on the right side of the centrally positioned driver’s seat, and the fuel cap moved position between motor shows.

“The Tre Posti is a perfect, if expensive, solution to driving a racing Ferrari together with the family.”

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Ferrari Tre Posti

OPPOSITE & ABOVE Stunning lines and an unusual cockpit marked out Tre Posti as a winner from the start.

marque importer, he’d consistently proven over the decades that he had a smart vision for the future. And the second, the son of Pininfarina (Pinin Farina pre-1961) founder Battista. Sergio had been in charge of handling the relationship with Enzo Ferrari since he joined the family firm at the end of the 1950s, and he’d shown since day one that he was the right man for the job.

Even for these two, however, it is easy to imagine a certain awe in driving to Maranello to ask for a 365/P2 racing chassis, the only one available for a rear-engined Ferrari, to use for a one-off car wearing the Prancing Horse badge and equipped with the Maranello firm’s iconic, big-capacity, 12-cylinder engine.

In order to avoid controversy – or worse, to displease the boss – the strategy to obtain a green light for the project (or even just a ‘why not?’) was already established. Chinetti and Pininfarina would assure Enzo that the project would not cost the Ferrari company a penny, for Chinetti would pay the expenses for the chassis and a good proportion of the body.

Their plan succeeded, and so with Ferrari’s blessing Pininfarina immediately put Aldo Brovarone to work, with the aim of creating something spectacular and so far advanced in every aspect that Enzo would fall in love with it. The new show machine was planned to be both revolutionary and beautiful – and, if approved, easily transformed into something more real, a car that could be manufactured in series. To heap further pressure on poor Brovarone, there was the timing question; what about having it ready for the Paris Motor Show, planned for October, just few weeks away?

To kick things off, Ferrari manufactured a dedicated chassis – a lengthened version of the 250LM type labelled Type 577A, with a 2600mm wheelbase and stamped with no. 8971. It was paired with a matching-number Colombo SOHC V12, taken from the 365P2. The 4.4-litre (4390cc) unit had a 81mm x 71mm bore and stroke plus a maximum of 352bhp at 7300rpm, fed by three Weber 40 DFI/4 carburettors.

In the meantime, the genius that is Scaglione crafted the stunning shape, with its short front, long tail and very slim pillars. The cockpit was characterised by a central driving position, allowing a single row of three seats. This inspired the model’s name, Tre Posti – three places in Italian. When the finished car – Pininfarina job no. 99667, painted in Bianco Gardenia with black vinyl seats, red carpet and transparent roof – was shown in Paris, it attracted huge public and press attention.

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is quite a stretch,” underlines a smiling Paul Russell, the renowned restorer in charge of the team that refreshed the Tre Posti’s condition on the behalf of its current US owner. “It was more a show car in the making. When we did the historical research, we studied all the pictures of every different event it attended in period.

“There were a lot of images, because from October 1966 it went to the Salon de l’Automobile du Paris, Earls Court Motor Show in London and Salone Internazionale dell’Automobile di Torino, while in 1967 it travelled to Salon de l’Automobile de Bruxelles, Salon de l’Auto Genève, Concorso di Eleganza di Sorrento, Concorso di Eleganza di Firenze, Los Angeles Imported Car Show and a promotional event for Johnson Wax, with Stirling Moss, at Bridgehampton, New York.”

Russell continues: “Each time it was slightly different, and more and more complete. And it went on to be modified well into its early private ownership to adapt it to its owners’ needs. That is why the first decision to make was when to ‘freeze’ the car in time, and return it to that very condition. As the aim was to preserve, we chose the final display version, from the September 1967 LA show. This is when no. 8971 completed its evolution from show car to an independently moving object that was offered for sale through Luigi Chinetti and could have been used on the road.”

The extraordinarily original condition of the 365P Berlinetta Speciale made it clear to the team that their work should prioritise conservation over restoration. Russell says: “Wherever possible, we would stabilise and conserve rather than replace. Traditional restoration techniques would be reserved for items beyond repair, and for returning postshow history modifications to the 1967 LA event ‘point in time’. The plexiglass is probably the most visible evidence of this approach, because the original front light covers and rear windows all sport some light cracks. We simply improved them as much as possible, without replacing them with brand-new, reconstructed components – but that’s just one example.

“We retained the original roof glass as well, together with the chrome trim and badging, headlamps and marker lights, down to less visible details such as the wiring harness and fuse panel. For the interior, we kept the original upholstery, dash, door panels, instruments and trim, while we had to replace the carpet and rear parcel-shelf vinyl. As to the paint, even though the car was resprayed some 30 years ago it was still presentable. We proceeded with 118

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some localised repairs and touch-ups only, then finally polished the whole surface.

“The original mechanicals were all cleaned, serviced and sorted. During the process of removing the engine for servicing, we came to understand that to take out the unit we’d have to cut two of the chassis tubes. When we took the paint off that part, we saw it had been welded in period in the exact same spot. That made us 100 percent sure we were correct, and that there was no other way to accomplish this task. Winning the class at Pebble Beach 2021 affirmed for us that these types of conservation examples were the right approach for this special car.”

When first shown in Paris the Ferrari was an immediate hit, resulting in something unforeseen happening. Upon seeing it, Fiat owner Gianni Agnelli – a powerful man to whom nobody in the automotive world was willing to say no – asked Pininfarina to create a second, lightly modified example for him. This is the reason why the one-off 365P Speciale, chassis no. 8971, has a sister. The counterpart wears a different colour and originally was not equipped with a transparent roof, but did have a substantial rear spoiler. It was different in many smaller details, wearing chassis no.

8815. In this case, the lower chassis number

ABOVE Rear-engined layout marked new era for Ferrari – once Enzo had been convinced.

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Ferrari Tre Posti

does not indicate an earlier build date.

As Paul Russell’s already underlined, several modifications were performed on the car between the events. On one hand, Pininfarina was perfecting his design details. After all, this show car was increasingly seen as the first example of a shape that could be used to create future rear-engined GTs from Maranello. On the other hand, he was finishing a hurried project, making parts operative and solving mechanical issues neglected in earlier stages.

“We can see both kinds of upgrade during this evolution from the first to the last show,” explains Russell. “From a more technical side, we have rocker-panel louvres added in front of the B-pillar, the number of air inlets on the front lid changed from 11 to 12, and air outlets were created in the top of engine lid.

“From an aesthetic perspective, we see the fuel filler relocated from side glass to sail panel, the taillight mock-ups changed to functional 500 Superfast types, front marker lights relocated from flush body mount to bumper, a Ferrari script added to the engine lid, hand slots added below said script, chrome wheeltrim detail removed, the exhausts changed from slender chrome tips to mini megaphones with rolled edges, the licence-plate frame changed from Euro to US style, and the NART badge added to the plate itself.”

On July 28, 1967, while the car was in Italy being prepared for air freight to the US, SEFAC Automobili Ferrari Modena issued a $9600 invoice for a chassis type 365/P2 no. 8971 complete with an engine of up to 5000cc ($6350) and cost of tooling for the manufacture of this special series of chassis ($3250), to Chinetti. Shortly after, Pininfarina did the same, invoicing Chinetti on August 1, 1967 for a special three-seater body assembled on Ferrari chassis no. 8971, type 365/P2, colour white with black upholstery ($7650) plus the cost of tooling for manufacture of this special series of bodies ($3910) for a total of $11,560.

The car arrived at JFK airport with a declared – and rather optimistic – net weight of 522kg.

Chinetti paid a grand total of $21,560 for it plus shipping, and immediately sold it to Marvyn Carton of New York. The sale invoice is dated August 11 and worth $26,000 less $8000 for the trade-in 1965 Super F500 no. 6041 (yellowblack) plus $360 for the NY state sales tax.

We are talking $18,360 plus $8000 in 1967 dollars – about $215,000 today – back then enough to buy a beautiful home in Manhattan.

Chinetti noted on the invoice: “We will make every possible effort to supply air-conditioning at your expense, but we can’t guarantee an installation.” We now know that Carton, the 120

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ABOVE Restorer Paul Russell, also responsible for the 2021 Pebble Beach Best of Show, in 365P.

executive vice president of the Allen & Company investment bank, would never receive his aircon, and would end up not getting much use out of the car. By March 1968 he’d made an agreement with Chinetti to trade in the 365P to buy what was promised to be the first 365 2+2 delivered in the US, complete with the coveted air-con. He also cashed the sum of $5000.

On May 20, the Tre Posti was sold to the Netherlands’ Jan De Vroom, a supporter of Chinetti’s NART. A resident of Palm Beach, Florida, he paid $18,052 in total, the transaction involving the trade-in of his 1967 275GTB/4 (chassis 10827) for $12,000 and paying the rest in cash. Soon after that the car was back in Europe, as evidenced by some wonderful period pictures at Cannes harbour. From here, 8971 was returned to Ferrari for a full service, and then moved to Modena’s Carrozzeria Drogo for some modifications. These helped improve cockpit cooling, while further practical features included a lock for the rear hood.

By 1969 the Tre Posti was back in the US, having travelled in the Michelangelo cruise ship.

It was traded back to Luigi Chinetti, in whose family it would remain for the next 48 years.

Recalls Luigi ‘Coco’ Chinetti Jr: “My dad really liked this car for its shape. It was not a model to drive – too rare, and even back then too economically and historically precious – but to look at it was a real pleasure. We never went

‘Ovation heard as the car was named First in Class proved that its effect on the public is as strong as ever’

to buy an ice cream in it, but we often showed it at events such as Pebble Beach, Concorso Italiano and Philadelphia’s Simeone Museum, and our customers loved to see it in our headquarters. When I sold it in December 2017, the car had covered an unsurprisingly low 8000km from new.” In this long-term family ownership the Ferrari was well preserved but not reworked, and the modifications sustained during the two previous ownerships remained.

Well aware of the historical importance of Maranello’s very first rear-engined GT, the new owner was determined to put the car back to its LA Motor Show guise. This included returning the exhaust tips to the mini megaphones, the fuel supply rail to the original orientation, and the oil cooler and plumbing to how they would have been. The engine-cover lock and release door went back their authentic configuration, while the team reapplied the correct fuel-tank paint, restored the longer-type air-cleaner inlets on the air-filter housing, removed the periodincorrect brake boosters, and returned the original carpet type and pattern to the interior.

Today the Tre Posti still looks very modern.

The many amazing details include the central seat partially turning to help the pilot get into position, and an underbonnet courtesy light that looks like a period home appliance and is safely stored in an alloy tube when not in use.

Says Paul Russell: “The car was a neverending surprise, such as when we discovered that one of the dash toggles was wired to turn on the reverse light. This was necessary because the ZF racing ’box case has no provision for a back-up switch. Actually, there isn’t much of a rear-view mirror, so reversing is best avoided.

“Driving is easy because you have a good perception of the surroundings. However, you have to get used to the central seat and to having no place to brace yourself apart from the steering wheel. The clutch and gearbox are, without a doubt, racing derived, as is the direct, light steering.”

‘Coco’ Chinetti, who has most likely piloted it the most, says that he prefers to drive a 250LM instead, because it is more compact and reactive. Yet the Tre Posti has such a relevance in automotive history, and is so beautiful to look at, that if ever there was a car able to steal the attention from a 250LM, it’s this one.

The ovation heard on the lawn as the Tre Posti was named First in Class at the 2021 Pebble Beach Concours, and later as a nominee for Best of Show, proved that even after 55 years its effect on the public is as strong as ever.

After all, its name is Speciale – appropriate for a car that made Enzo Ferrari change his mind.

Thanks to Paul Russell and Company.

HILL ENGINEERING

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Words Doug Nye

Illustrations Peter Allen

TWO TITANS By a cruel twist of fate the classic car world lost two huge characters within hours of each other this year. Close friend Doug Nye looks back on lives very well lived 118

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Brooks and Hamilton farewell

OVER THE LE MANS 24 HOURS RACE weekend last August, within hours of one another, we lost two true British titans of the Historic and classic car scene.

Robert Brooks had begun his car-world career as an aspiring Formula Ford racing driver, before becoming an auctioneer with the Christie’s motor car department, then founding his own Brooks Auctioneers company in 1989. This tall, handsome, genial man – with a core of steel – grew that enterprise so effectively he later took over Bonhams and took on… the world.

From an earlier start, Adrian Hamilton was the big, burly, extrovert, classic car-dealer son of Jaguar’s 1953 Le Mans 24 Hours-winning driver, Duncan Hamilton. As with his father, ‘Hammy’ was a genuine 1950s-style character – a genial, friendly, bouncy ball of energy, as personally engaging as he was commercially hard nosed. Both Robert and Hammy were true star players within their field…

Hammy excelled within the British and international classic car market for over 50 years. He was in many ways the archetypal ‘British gentleman’ wheeler-dealer; a blazerwearing Barney Bear of a man, hugely extrovert – so genuinely big hearted and generously inclined that if anyone within his world was in trouble or in need, or hurting, Hammy would instinctively just wade in and help – quite frequently with all the finesse of a well meaning bull in a china shop….

Father Duncan had founded the family company, Duncan Hamilton Ltd, in the year Adrian was born, 1948. Hammy was always protective of its standing, declaring: “My father risked his life to found this company; I’m not about to risk its reputation today!”

While poor Robert succumbed to cancer aged only 64, Hammy suffered a fatal stroke at 73. They were themselves good friends, often allies yet – as is the way within that wheelerdealing world – equally frequent rivals. For them it was all part of a richly competitive game in which both excelled.

I had known Robert Brooks ever since the late 1970s, when he was a teenaged, browncoated porter working for his rugged wartime RAF Lancaster bomber-pilot father Bill in the Christie’s auction house in South Kensington, London, which Brooks Sr headed. They held regular sales of motoring literature that were frequented by my racing-photographer pal Geoff Goddard. I tagged along.

Lanky young Robert was even then a frustrated racing driver, whose ambitions to be the next Jackie Stewart or James Hunt had fizzled when he crashed his Dastle Formula

Ford expensively. Walking back into the Snetterton paddock, he was met by Dastle constructor Geoff Rumble asking: “What should I bring – the trailer or a shovel?” Robert just loved to talk racing in between being bawled at by his tough dad from the rostrum: “Hold the Lot higher, boy! Higher!”

His auctioneering hero at that time became the Hon Patrick Lindsay – the aristocratic ERA, Maserati 250F and Napier-Railtondriving (also Spitfire, Morane-Saulnier and Fieseler Storch-flying) director of the Christie’s Old Masters’ painting department. He also ran classic and vintage car sales almost as a hobby.

Robert became Patrick’s car department assistant, and at Christie’s record-breaking Strathallan Collection Sale he was able proudly to announce, as a Merlin-engined Spitfire was heard: “Ladies and gentlemen – our auctioneer is overhead.” Robert became the department’s director, and – aged only 27 – a director of Christie’s. By age 30, on precocious merit, he was appointed to the company’s main board.

From the famous Christie’s BRM Sale of 1981, he built a team including yours truly as consultant historian. We all worked together as a close-knit unit until he and his similarly car-crazy Dutch business partner – European Toyota and Yamaha importer Evert Louwman – finally sold their Bonhams group in 2018.

Over the decades we had all shared fascinating and entertaining times.

Robert saw no reason why great classic automobiles should not be recognised as works of art. He had conceived a new genre of highprofile, focused sales of truly significant classic cars. His enterprise accelerated tremendous price appreciation, not least when – in 1987, one month after the Black Friday stock market crash – he knocked down the unique Bugatti Type 41 Royale Kellner Coupé for the thenworld-record price of £5.5 million.

Having promised its American vendor “a really special sale”, he had hired London’s Royal Albert Hall for 24 hours. A giant, temporary ramp was needed to access the main floor, below street level. The sub-contractor had mismeasured the massive Bugatti, however; the car would not fit through the entry doors, and their removal was insufficient. Near 2am, Robert approached despair. His long-loyal lieutenant James Knight ordered him home to bed: “You’ve got to be on form to take the sale later. We’ll handle it.”

As Jamie recalls: “The RAH’s night watchman – protecting the listed building – recognised the pickle we were in, and said: ‘I’m just going to check the other side of the building – might be some time.’” A chisel promptly Magneto

123

Brooks and Hamilton farewell

RIGHT Robert Brooks in full flow on the Bonhams rostrum in 2012 – never a dull moment when he was in action...

removed the doorway’s architrave, and the 21ft x 7ft-wide, three-tonne Royale squeezed through. Architrave replaced, world record set…

RB chafed against conservative Christie’s practises. In 1989, funded by former clientturned-backer Evert Louwman, he left to found Brooks Auctioneers. A measure of the man was that his entire Christie’s car department team accompanied him. He was a friend – one never slow to criticise or correct – and a truly charismatic leader. The Brooks company was established in a former taxi garage on Clapham Common, punching way above its weight globally: “More front than Sainsbury’s!” But then, through 1990-91, the over-heated classic car market collapsed.

Brooks survived, RB reinforcing his team with a talented group from Sotheby’s car department headed by Malcolm Barber.

Malcolm’s more grounded approach augmented Brooks’s idealism, and as the market recovered so they grew the company.

Motor sport was at the core of Brooks’s diverse interests, and he succeeded not just at amateur Historic racing level but also in international contemporary competitions.

From childhood he had longed to wear that coveted British Racing Drivers’ Club badge. He began driving Evert Louwman’s cars – Jaguar D-types, an XK-SS, a pre-war Maserati 8CM, and more – at Historic level. At first, ambition often exceeded skill. At a 1992 Goodwood sprint as he took out his D-type, the shout went up: “Everyone down to the chicane to see Brookie spin off!” And he did.

Robert had funded new timing equipment for the VSCC, but in the Pomeroy Trophy at Silverstone he pitched Evert’s XK-SS just too ambitiously into Woodcote Corner. He 124

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spun wildly across the track into the pit wall – writing off, happily not the car, but that new timing equipment.

Veteran dealer/racer John Harper joined the little Brooks team, and Robert learned rapidly – not least one early day at Donington when he (arguably) sparked a multiple collision. Beside himself, he rushed around the paddock offering to pay for the others’ repairs, only to be almost literally wrestled to the ground by a hissing ex-paratrooper Harps: “You don’t do that! It’ll queer the pitch for the rest of us.”

Friend and car preparer David Noble and I both pointed out that Evert’s Lotus 15 would be a better prospect than the magnificent, but hefty, D-types, and Dave insisted Robert should seek driver coaching. The great chain-smoking racing-driver guitarist Rob Wilson filled that bill admirably, and at the inaugural 1998 Goodwood Revival RB excelled, driving in one of the most dramatic Historic races ever run (see YouTube) to win in the fleet Lotus… This was after barging John Harper’s Cooper Monaco aside in the chicane in what John described (not altogether unjustifiably) as “a totally despicable move”. They could still laugh about it – sportsmen with the accent on the second syllable.

‘Established in Clapham Common, Brooks punched above its weight globally: “More front than Sainsbury’s!”’

Robert would often fulminate at the BRDC’s insistence upon international success in modern cars (which held little interest for him) to qualify for membership. We hammered it into him that he had to race something current to qualify, and finally he did – with Rob Wilson and Tony Dron – and did well.

He not only won a European Touring Car Championship title – okay, Group N – but also competed in the German Nürburgring 24 Hours, the American Sebring 12 Hours and the Australian Bathurst 24 Hours. He was accepted as a full member of the BRDC, quickly voted onto its board and served as club chairman through the negotiations with disinclined Formula 1 head Bernie Ecclestone which saved the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

In fact, RB had history with Mr E, who had let him drive his Ferrari Dino 246 front-engined Grand Prix car at Goodwood. Robert had set class FTD, and sent his winner’s bottle of Champagne and laurel wreath in thanks to Bernie’s office the next day. We learned later that Mr E’s long-time car-dealing pal ‘Noddy’ Coombs had been on the telephone to Bernie when mention was made of RB’s nice gesture.

“Huh – he kept the prize-money cheque then?” asked the always-mischievous Noddy.

Within seconds, RB received an icy call from Mr E: “Might there be something you haven’t mentioned to me, Robert?” asked that quiet, measured, menacing voice… Coombs dined out on the story later, hapless RB having struggled to convince the F1 supremo that Goodwood really did not pay prize money.

Robert Brooks and Goodwood principal Charles March – today the Duke of Richmond and Gordon – became firm friends while fighting flinty eyed over each new sponsorship

. s . . r a ged c t s n e e t l l a a e r h c g e e b h t to e r e h ome W c

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Photo: Andrew Coles

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Brooks and Hamilton farewell

deal. This remarkably entrepreneurial pair were really kindred spirits, relishing each other’s successes while each seeking to maximise his own.

By 2000 Brooks Auctioneers could acquire Bonhams. In 2001-02 both the Phillips UK auction business and the American Butterfields company were also absorbed. The Brooks name was dropped in favour of the Bonhams “founded 1793” brand.

Robert then launched a New York HQ in 2005, moving it onto Madison Avenue in 2008. In 2007 an Asian HQ in Hong Kong followed. Brooks’s total commitment to any project peaked in 2013 with the £30 million redevelopment of Bonhams’ New Bond Street hub, master-minded by architect friend Alex Lifschutz. Within it, Brooks opened a 25-cover fine-dining restaurant, chef Tom Kemble rapidly earning a Michelin star. Brooks’s main focus was never profitability. He just wanted to do amazing things and build a fine brand, and profit would follow…

Under his charismatic leadership Bonhams blossomed from a regional UK auction house into a truly global enterprise, its 600 staff incorporating leading specialists across many disciplines. Notable sales included a Fragonard portrait of the Duc d’Harcourt sold in benefit of UNICEF for £17,106,500, and Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1955 Mercedes-Benz sold at Goodwood for £19,601,500.

Robert collected early cars, and was a great supporter of the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run for pre-1904 models, of which he owned several – the Brighton Run becoming a major annual Brooks family frolic. On an early edition, RB taught me why it’s called the Brighton Run. As the heaviest passenger I was thrown overboard at every hill and had to run alongside… most of the way. My, how he laughed.

He had also been an enthusiastic private pilot of pre-war biplanes including a De Havilland Tiger Moth and Stampe, and proudly claimed never to have flown himself without his head in the open air. He had also – perhaps wisely – learned to parachute. He had an enduring interest in military history; as a keen supporter of such charities as Combat Stress, Help for Heroes, the RAF Benevolent Fund, Waterloo Uncovered and numerous others, he often conducted charitable sales for numerous causes. On the rostrum – wielding what had been his father’s gavel – he excelled.

When he had presided over his independent new company’s maiden Monaco Sale in Prince Rainier’s motor museum, the old car market had just entered free-fall. RB’s friend and legal advisor Anthony Maclean recalls how: “Robert 126

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ABOVE “One racing driver in the family is enough,” Duncan Hamilton would say. Twoyear-old Adrian clearly disagreed.

‘The sight of Hammy and little Willie Tuckett in the C-type looked like “the King of Tonga and his lunch”.’

was really struggling to get the lots away. On one he’d run out of bidders at 100,000 Francs – way below reserve – when my four-year-old son, Jamie, slipped from my clutches and, clad in a newly laundered white romper suit, tottered down the red-carpeted steps towards the rostrum. Bidding had stopped; I became invisible with embarrassment.

“But in a flash Robert called: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, new bidder! The next bid is 150,000 Francs.’ That was three stops higher than it really was, and amidst the laughter the car finally sold for 200,000-plus.” Robert had tremendous rostrum presence. He was an artist at squeezing blood from a stone. He frequently spent longer wheedling bids to sell a £20,000 no-hoper than to sell something totally charismatic for £20 million.

Another aspect of his auctioneering style was demonstrated at an early Goodwood Sale, with an eager would-be punter energetically signalling bids only to be studiously ignored by RB despite pantomime cries of “on your right”.

Instead, Robert took every last-possible bid from elsewhere, before very slowly turning on the rostrum, folding his arms, and leaning forward from his great height to make direct eye contact with the long-ignored bidder. And he said: “Now sir – you have my full attention. And the next bid is...” He quoted the previous bid plus some ten percent, and the still-eager beaver – played like a rod-caught salmon – went for it…

When South Australian enthusiasts Dean Rainsford and David Edwards created their Classic Adelaide Rally, they visited Robert in his then-Clapham Common auction HQ to seek an ‘international’ entry. They were staggered when his instant response was: “Oh, a phone call would have done – I’m sure with a few friends we could bring a couple of D-types, the Le Mans-winning C-type, how’s about a TT-winning Ferrari SWB, or a GTO?” Back then, in the late 1990s, he – and occasional sparring partner Hammy – could do just that.

During his rather longer career, Adrian Hamilton – like Robert Brooks, standing well over six feet tall, but in his case almost as wide, with a booming, cultured voice and bouncy energy – handled or helped negotiate the sale of no fewer than nine Ferrari GTOs, literally dozens of Ford GT40s, numerous Porsche 917s and many, many more, over succeeding decades… He sold D-type and C-type Jaguars in volume, in addition to Duncan’s 1953 Le Mans-winning C-type which he preserved so proudly until it became expedient to accept an eye-watering offer for it as well…

One sun-soaked South Australian morning, the Classic Adelaide starters were lined up,

Brooks and Hamilton farewell

waiting to be flagged away from the city’s Hilton Hotel forecourt. One regulation insisted that every driver be breathalysed pre-start.

When the SA Police constable reached Hammy, seated in his 1953 C-type, he said: “G’day sir, how are you this morning?” Only Hammy could beamingly respond “Fine, thank-you officer – apart from the most crashing hangover…”

Hammy and his C-type actually featured in many classic car tours and rallies worldwide, often navigated by D-type-owning friend, diminutive former racer Willie Tuckett. The sight of Hammy and little Will in the C-type was described as looking like: “The King of Tonga and his lunch.”

Hammy had been five years old in 1953 when his father, Duncan, had won Le Mans with Tony Rolt. He grew up with the Major’s similarly racing-minded son Stuart as a friend from childhood; another was Patrick – now Sir Patrick – Head of Williams Grand Prix fame, son of fellow contemporary Jaguar owner/driver Colonel Michael Head.

Hammy would almost certainly have raced, but for Duncan’s disapproval. “One racing driver in the family is quite enough,” he’d rumble. Young Adrian was no great shakes academically – proudly claiming in later life: “I have never, ever failed an exam.” He would then explain (with equal pride): “I was too thick ever to take one!”

Partly in consequence, Adrian was sent to sea as a Merchant Navy trainee. He would recall his two years afloat on the MV Crystal Gem – “of which it was neither” – as tough but life enhancing. He certainly learned the world; not least on the dockside one night in Valparaíso, Chile. “But we won’t go into that,” he would guffaw…

Once opting for life ashore in 1968-69, he began work in Duncan’s quality-car business on the High Street, Bagshot. He first had to clean vehicles “properly – which took four days, right down to polishing the tool kit”. The first car Adrian actually purchased for the business was a 1956 Jaguar MkVII with sliding invalid passenger door: “Bought for £150, sold for £200 – I was clearly a genius!”

Some American contacts nicknamed him ‘The Duke of Bagshot’. His impeccable British tones worked superbly when telephoning a restaurant reservation in the US: “It’s Lord Bagshot hyar – reserve me a table for ten.”

He still operated successfully for all manner of owners, racers, companies, teams and collectors spanning the motoring world. He sold the only 1955 Mercedes-Benz W196 free of institutional captivity to collector Jackie 128

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ABOVE Robert won a dramatic Sussex Trophy at the inaugural Goodwood Revival in 1998.

Setton for a long-lasting world-record $20 million – the same car Robert Brooks later resold for that figure in pounds sterling.

Hammy organised his own classic car tours for friends and clients, beginning in the early 1990s with his initial Tour of the Loire. It was there that Charles March of Goodwood mentioned his idea to run a hillclimb to Robert Brooks. The suggestion “run it for Historic and classic cars” was made, and the Festival of Speed as we know it was the result.

On a later Hamilton Tour of Sardinia, Anthony Maclean witnessed Hammy at his best: “We came round a corner to see Simon Draper’s McLaren P1 in a lay-by surrounded

by Italian police, with Hammy looking on.

Speeding/huge fine/car to be confiscated?

None of those things… Hammy got the cops to pose with the P1 while he took photos for their girlfriends, booming at them: ‘Come on chaps, pull yourselves together. Stand up straight. Hats on!’”

In more recent years, after securing a GulfJW team Ford GT40 for German oilman Roald Goethe, he was asked his ideas for the private collection Roald was keen to assemble. Hammy suggested one of each Gulf-sponsored racing car, and some 42 such pale-blue-and-orange classics duly grace Roald’s remarkable ROFGO Collection today. This was perhaps Adrian’s proudest achievement in the car world.

He was always an unfulfilled racing driver,

‘I hope you’ve brought your chequebook this time, because if you haven’t you can just p— off’

but when a race for road cars was organised at Thruxton he entered a company Grosser Mercedes-Benz 600. Friends spectating at the chicane with his delightful mum, the longsuffering Angela, marvelled at his car control – Lord knows he needed it.

He also ran the family ex-Girling Ford GT40 that Duncan owned for some 13 years – not only in the Brighton Speed Trials and Blackbushe Dragfest, but also as his wedding car. And as entrant-cum-team manager he ran several cars at Le Mans, including his great friend Paul Vestey’s Porsche 956. When driver Alain de Cadenet brought it skewing into the pits to report a puncture, it was Hammy who looked around it, snorted, and told Alain: “Some bloody puncture – you’ve only got three wheels!”

Running a frontline Group C Porsche at Le Mans could have been horrendously costly, but Paul recalls how “…with de Cad bringing Rollei sponsorship and then Hammy just doing a brilliant job of reselling the car post-race, we more or less broke even”. What Hammy and PV had done between them was to buy wisely, promote the car by racing it, then sell it so well – because it was no ordinary Porsche 956, but one of only two private examples ever to beat the Rothmans works cars, and the only 956 to have won in period on both sides of the Atlantic. These things matter.

Hammy’s business approach depended on situation. Despite his often breezily insouciant facade, he was actually as highly skilled as RB in assessing a potential client’s preferences, strengths… and weaknesses. One, Hammy might earnestly advise with seductive reason: “Buy the right motor car and it will look after you – if both the car’s provenance and quality are impeccable, its investment value will surely soar.” Sizing up another client as needing a jolt, he could be bluntly direct: “If you don’t buy this car, you’re a bloody fool – you will never get another chance!”

His long-time colleague at Duncan Hamilton Ltd, Nick Maton, recalls having invested tremendous time in courting a painstakingly cautious would-be buyer. He would have a test drive, retreat to study a spreadsheet, return for another test drive – then need further thought. Nick: “I was making us all a coffee when my potential buyer arrived in the car park. Before I could react, Hammy had opened the door and bawled at him: ‘I hope you’ve brought your chequebook this time, because if you haven’t you can just p— off!’

Fortunately we were able to pass it all off as a joke – and the client did finally buy…”

Colleague Jack Tetley recalls: “Every day (literally) another incredible story would

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Brooks and Hamilton farewell

resurface… Shortly before he died, he handed me Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant’s biography, and said: ‘When I was in charge of Led Zep’s road and air transport, Grant asked me to organise a special present for his son who loved motorbikes… So I bought him the latest whizz-bang scrambler and we helicoptered it hanging on a rope from Alan Mann’s place in Byfleet to Grant’s garden, so the young lad could watch his surprise arrive by air. Only problem was that the helicopter arrived without the bike… we’d dropped it somewhere in Surrey!’”

Hammy never took himself too seriously.

Nick Maton: “Of course, the fantastic deals he put together were carried out with great focus, and customers had the ultimate service, but he never lost sight of the fact that we are really an unruly bunch of misfits selling wonderful toys to clients who want to have FUN! Hammy would jump up and boom his way to the door before greeting visitors like old friends… whether he’d met them before or not. They’d always leave with a complimentary copy of his Dad’s autobiography Touch Wood, often freshly signed ‘Duncan Hamilton’. ‘Why would they want my bloody name in it? I didn’t write it…’ Hammy would snort.”

Both Hammy and Robert felt similarly protective, not just of their companies’ public standing but also – in RB’s case – of the entire auction world. When some dodgy enterprise pulled a ghastly stroke, he could explode: “It’s bad for the industry as a whole, we all get tarred with the same brush.” So he was early in ringfencing clients’ purchase and sale monies from his own company’s operating funds.

Yet the urbane, sophisticated, socially very aware politician and diplomat in RB could reveal another side. With a skeleton crew to dress and run Christie’s first car sale in Monaco’s Loews Hotel, he had rented the small Villa Sunshine in nearby Beaulieu-surMer to save on accommodation costs. Postsale jumping off a top-floor balcony into the villa’s tiny swimming pool became a thrilling challenge – especially since a metre too far in trajectory meant a 50-60ft plunge into the adjacent railway cutting.

Spinning the villa’s rotating cocktail table at peak revs, its stainless-steel sheathing sprang free and sliced the top off my left index finger.

Claret everywhere, the wound was bound with a strip of dish towel. Later that night, RB drove me back to the Loews, with me holding my wounded digit high to minimise bleeding.

Throughout the half-hour drive – as my finger waved over every agonising bump – he just took bids off me… We circled the world on 130

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ABOVE Father, son and 1955 Le Mans-winning D-type in the Duncan Hamilton showroom.

several trips inspecting old cars – and aircraft – throughout Europe, in the US, Argentina, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand... We also marvelled at military exploits in Normandy, Berlin and even the Falkland Islands.

In New Zealand, one time Robert got absolute hysterics at the Kiwi pronunciation of ‘e’ as ‘i’. We’d just commented to an airline assistant on how empty the concours at Christchurch airport seemed, and she said innocently: “Oh you oughta see it at holiday time – this whole area is just jammed with chickens with their kids and luggage.” She meant, of course, ‘check-ins’ but Robert just could not stop laughing hysterically at the image, tears tumbling down his cheeks while he complained “it hurts – it hurts!”

Of one racing trip to Montlhéry Autodrome, his friend and car preparer David Noble recalls: “Robert could sometimes really surprise. One evening in the hotel bar, a prominent lady within the old car world who was on her second bottle suddenly announced: ‘I’ll give £10 to the first person to jump in the pool fully clothed!’ At that moment, Robert had just walked in. Without a word he strolled straight past, and splosh! into the pool. He then squelched back to his room, merely remarking ‘you owe me a tenner’.

“There was also a big tower in the middle of the Montlhéry paddock with, right at the top, an advert for Canal Jimmy on each of

‘A privilege to have known – and worked, travelled, learned and larked about with – each of them’

its four faces. Robert was gone for a while, then returned, looking terribly pleased with himself. When I asked what he’d been up to, he just pointed at the tower. On each of the adverts he had racer-taped over the ‘C’… Schoolboy stuff.”

While he maintained a frenetic business pace, RB encouraged and fostered many new, young talents. In one respect he absolutely matched Colin Chapman of Lotus for his persuasive eloquence. Several of his team recall rebelling at his ‘Victorian mill-owner tendencies’, offering quite mean pay for absolutely 24/7 hours of hard-working, total commitment. But a visit to his office would see them leaving it thinking “aah – if only I’d realised times are that bad” – only to jerk back to reality hours later, with the realisation that “dammit! He’s stitched me up again!”

When he encountered some health problems, it was time to find a company buyer. On August 22, 2018, Bonhams was sold to UK equity house Epiris. With his adored (and oh-so-patient) Canadian wife Evelyn (whom he had met at Christie’s and married in Montreal in 1981) he retired to the part-arable farm he had bought and restored in Somerset, raising pure-bred Black Angus beef cattle.

Robert Brooks was totally devoted to his family – children Sarah, Charlie and John, and to his nine grandchildren.

A strong-minded son of a firm father, he had a short fuse, but he seldom bore grudges.

When any detonation proved unjustified, Robert would be the first to apologise and offer redress. And he could – and did – occasionally fly his staff to interesting venues for memorably team-enhancing ‘jollies’. His team respected and admired him – some of the younger ones perhaps with that little frisson of fear... but get it right, and he would support them to the hilt. They were used to tall Brooks ‘doing a meerkat’ – head back, eyes lasering the viewing or saleroom, all-seeing. They valued his commendation, and his long-loyal team would follow him through fire...

Hammy, even more than Robert, lived his life absolutely pedal to the metal. His first wife Judy died some 13 years ago, after they had divorced and he had married second wife Laura. Despite another divorce they remained on good terms, and we also extend our sincerest condolences to her, and to his children Dominic and Emily, to Katalina, professional racing driver/instructor Archie, Eddie and Henry.

These were two truly memorable car-world titans. What a privilege it has been to have known – and worked and travelled and learned and larked about with – each of them…

Hand-built restorations & bespoke enhancements of classic Land Rovers and Range Rovers WWW.WINDSORCLASSICS.CO.UK

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ABOVE A fresh casting of one of the four cylinder heads (per engine) is machined to shape at Hall & Hall. Most of the 36,000 parts are made there.

OPPOSITE Magneto was at Hall & Hall to witness the first trial fitting of the engine in the chassis. It’s a tight fit, as you can see.

“I WANT NEW GENERATIONS TO HEAR the sound of a BRM V16 being thrashed,” says John Owen, son of former British Racing Motors team principal Sir Alfred Owen – and owner of the first of a planned three V16 Continuation cars, as you see before you.

Any motor-racing fan of John’s generation will tell you that a BRM V16 at full chat was a sound that once heard, was never forgotten.

The same can be said for the story of BRM itself. After World War Two, ERA founder Raymond Mays worked tirelessly to unite British industrialists in bringing motor-racing greatness back to Britain, and defeat the likes of Ferrari and Alfa Romeo.

The result was the British Motor Racing Research Trust, established in 1947 to promote, finance and develop BRM. From its launch in 1950, BRM’s remarkable team devised the P15, an ambitious Formula 1 racing car.

Perhaps too ambitious. The complications of a supercharged 1.5-litre, double-overheadcamshaft V16 producing 600bhp at 12,000rpm Magneto

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BRM P15 V16 Continuation

XX

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BRM P15 V16 Continuation

from an all-new team working in austerity-hit Britain proved a step too far in many ways.

Let’s not forget, either, that it wasn’t just the V16 engine that was ground breaking; the Type 15 used aircraft-developed air-strut suspension and (in 1952) became the first Formula 1 car to feature disc brakes.

Many components were made and/or donated

by British companies recruited by Raymond Mays, but they didn’t always arrive on time.

The project was delayed and the P15 was then hit by reliability problems, none more obvious as when a driveshaft failed on the startline of its debut event, the August 1950 Daily Express non-championship race at Silverstone. This in front of Their Majesties the King and Queen, Princess Elizabeth and 150,000 spectators... It turned out to be a fault with the steel supplied, but that was cold comfort at the time.

Two wins in sprint races at Goodwood followed in September, and by the 1951 British Grand Prix BRM was able to field two V16s.

The longer race showed up a serious flaw, 140

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OPPOSITE Hall & Hall has more than 20,000 original BRM drawings, but there are still some V16 parts for which no records exist.

Many were updated several times, too.

ABOVE Hold it right there! In goes the new V16 powerplant. The snail-shaped casting you can see on the side of the block is the combined oil and water pump.

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BRM P15 V16 Continuation

though – the cockpit-routed exhaust causing burns and heat exhaustion for drivers Reg Parnell and Peter Walker. Even so, starting from the back of the grid they finished a respectable fifth and seventh.

Work to address reliability issues continued, but race results were sporadic despite the great promise. Fangio drove the V16 in 1952 and declared: “I consider it to be, basically, the best Formula 1 car ever made. All it needs is improvement in certain details. No car has ever given me such a thrill to drive, or a greater sense of absolute mastery. I will stand by it.”

Mike Hawthorn, on the other hand, was less enamoured, complaining of the lack of power below 8000rpm. Still, there was great promise from what was essentially an engineering marvel, but the managing trust had had enough and put BRM up for sale.

This is when the Rubery Owen Group, headed by Alfred Owen, stepped in. The industrial giant was there for Graham Hill’s World Championship-winning season of 1962 – the only championship victory for a car designed and built in Britain, with all British components and with a British driver – as well as F1 debuts for Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda, a win in the fastest F1 race of the 20th century (Peter Gethin, Italian GP) and a collaboration with Rover to produce the gas-turbine Le Mans car. It continued to finance BRM beyond the

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last factory team entry in 1974 but, in 1981, Rubery Owen was forced to sell off the BRM assets in a sale at Earls Court, London.

Sir Alfred Owen (knighted in 1961) suffered a stroke in 1969 and died in 1975, so sons David, Jim and John had stepped in to run the Rubery Owen Group. The Group still exists and still owns the BRM name, and three of Sir Alfred’s grandsons, Nick, Paul and Simon Owen, have now dedicated themselves to protecting the BRM legacy with the full approval of the board.

Nick, for example, is cataloguing and digitising the remarkable BRM archive that’s now safely stored at the Silverstone Interactive Museum.

Even more ambitiously, the grandsons are overseeing the Continuation cars. There’s only one original BRM P15 V16 Mk1 in existence, chassis 1/01, owned by the National Motor Museum. After years of fundraising the museum has been able to return the car to running condition for demonstrations, but it’s too valuable to risk driving at high speed.

There’s also a privately owned Mk1, chassis 1/02/2, built from parts from the Earls Court sale for Tom Wheatcroft, then-owner of Donington Park Circuit. That car, pale green, has recently been returned to running order.

Chassis 1/03 was written off in period.

There are also only two original Mk2s in existence, one of which is in Bernie Ecclestone’s incredible collection. So you can understand

OPPOSITE As with many single-seaters, the V16 is angled to allow the driver to sit next to rather than above the propshaft.

The disc brakes were the first used in F1.

ABOVE This is the view once seen by Gonzalez, Fangio, Hawthorn, Parnell and other BRM racing greats. The cockpit is relatively wide but short.

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the wish to create a line of Continuation cars.

“Growing up, I was very aware of the old man’s passion for the BRM V16, especially the sound it made,” says Simon, son of John Owen.

“Like most of my generation I never had the privilege of hearing it race in anger, but now we are all very keen to change that and bring the BRM experience to a new generations of fans.”

Now 82, father John was just ten when he first saw – and heard – a BRM V16 in action.

“Watching the likes of the Pampas Bull [Gonzalez] and, in particular, Fangio, master the power of the V16 was very special,” he says.

“The fabulous noise of the engine still rings in my ears 70 years on. In a selfish way I have always dreamed of hearing that sound again, but now I’d also love to share that sensation with others. To hear the V16 screaming at full tilt for the first time is something special.”

If you know your BRMs, you’ll know there’s only one company that could produce these Continuation cars: Hall & Hall, based in BRM’s home town of Bourne, Lincolnshire, UK. Rick Hall joined the BRM engine shop nearly 50 years ago and continued there until the late 1970s, when the team hit difficulties; to survive, he began to restore older BRMs. Rick’s son Rob joined the business aged 18, and together they’ve turned Hall & Hall into 146

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ABOVE The BRM V16 on the Hall & Hall dyno, deep in rural Lincolnshire, where its ear-splitting scream at 12,000rpm is less likely to offend...

arguably the world’s most respected Historic race-car preparation and restoration workshop (for all marques). It is effectively a continuation of the BRM team, possessing more than 20,000 original engineering drawings.

Rick and Rob are passionate about the marque – “the British Ferrari” because, as with Ferrari, BRM made all its own parts – and about BRM and Hall & Hall’s spiritual home, Bourne. They’ve driven every model of BRM, and at the Goodwood Revival’s marque 70th anniversary display, Hall & Hall was looking after 31 of the 37 BRMs there, with 12 of them competing – and the P25 winning its race.

The discovery of three assigned but unbuilt P15 chassis numbers (1/04, 1/05 and 1/06) within the BRM archives provided the final push for the Owens’ plans to commission an FIA-spec P15 V16 Mk1 that could be raced and demonstrated. And then it was over to Hall & Hall, with the build to be overseen by Rob Hall.

The company was already manufacturing replacement spares for the V16 engine. But to build a complete car? That’s something else entirely, with around 36,000 individually

engineered parts – yes, you read that correctly – including more than 4000 for the engine alone; the majority have had to be made inhouse at Hall & Hall, with additional help from Laranca Engineering and Ark Racing.

“We have worked closely with BRM ever since I joined the team at the end of 1972, and we needed every bit of that experience to bring this truly awesome racing car to life,” says Rick Hall. “This has been an incredible journey for all of us.”

Engineer Ricky Horne was assigned to the project early on, and takes up the story. “We were closed down for the first six weeks of lockdown [in 2020],” says Ricky. “I’ve been on it since then. The fabrication shop made the chassis rails, but I’ve made every single bracket for it. Sometimes it would take two days just to make one bracket.

“The V16s were experimental cars, designed from a clean sheet, and there were often several evolutions of each part. Some changed completely for the P15 Mk2. In places they’re massively overcomplicated, and everything is such a close fit. The engine is too big for the chassis really, and clearances are tight.

“BRM made almost all its own nuts and bolts, except for a few aircraft fasteners it used; it had the facilities to make them to its exact

BRM P15 V16 Continuation

specifications. [Ricky holds up a bolt with two precise steps in its shank.] Every part has to be fettled; to fit a bolt, the hole has to be reamed, then the bolt cut to length and drilled for a split pin. It takes a lot of time.

“Some components had drawings, but for a lot of the smaller parts there are no specific drawings – or not that we have found yet.

However, we do have other cars for reference.”

Ricky has lived and breathed this car, and knows it inside out. His respect for the engineering is clear, but he can see where the design has had to be compromised or adapted.

He holds up the steering shaft as an example; to squeeze it past the huge engine it needed three universal joints – and, of course, each joint is custom made and, well, quite beautiful.

There are countless examples of this. Even the P-clips that hold the ignition leads had to be precisely made, with those for the rear leads smaller so as not to touch the chassis.

The engine and transmission were also made in-house at Hall & Hall – something that the company has at least done before. The cylinder heads (four for each engine), cylinder block, supercharger and dry sump are cast by an outside company, but are machined and assembled at Hall & Hall.

This V16 is basically two 750cc 135-degree V8s running back-to-back, and the individual cylinders are so tiny that each piston is less than 50mm in diameter. The long crankshaft was designed to spin at 14,000rpm, although the power was strongest between 8000rpm and 12,000rpm, after which valve bounce would set in. At that engine speed the Rolls-Roycedesigned two-stage centrifugal supercharger is spinning at close to 50,000rpm.

These were strong engines, but Hall & Hall uses pistons and conrods made from more modern materials for safety. The single biggest improvement to the V16’s reliability and smooth running, though, is magneto design.

The four magnetos, each one firing four cylinders, could provide a stronger spark than the coil-and-distributor systems of the time.

They tended to track between the cylinders at high engine speeds, though, causing the misfires and backfires for which the BRMs became infamous. Hall & Hall has long built magnetos with stronger magnets and improved insulation, proving that a BRM V16 can indeed run cleanly.

As for the rear-mounted gearbox, it’s another complicated piece, with fine tolerances. It’s driven via an offset (to sit alongside the driver) propshaft, its front half solid and able to slide in and out of the hollow rear section. The de Dion axle is located by a sliding block on the gearbox to allow it side-to-side movement.

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ABOVE Fully clothed, wearing the famous BRM badge on that gaping nose. That cowl behind the seat is the large single-skinned fuel tank.

And then there’s the suspension, which eschewed conventional springs for air struts sourced from the aircraft industry. Each one has an oil compartment at the top of the damper and an air compartment at the bottom, with several valves in each damper to regulate the movement of the oil and air. Getting the air pressure spot-on is crucial, but the parameters change as the dampers get hot.

Gradually the car came together. The engine was run up and tested in Hall & Hall’s dynamometer at RAF Folkingham, Lincs, where the BRM F1 engineering team worked during the 1950s, far from noise-sensitive neighbours. It was filmed in spectacular flamespitting action by Simon Owen, with a cameo appearance by former BRM mechanic Dick Salmon. You’ll find the film, The Chrysalis, on YouTube and the British Racing Motors website (where the historical links are also explained).

By August 2021 when we last saw the project in build, the chassis was near complete but – crucially – awaiting the rear axle. And then came the final push for the Goodwood Revival, with the team working late every night to finish

‘I’d always dreamed of hearing that sound again, but now I would also love to share that sensation with others’

the car. Outside of Hall & Hall there was no word on progress until, with one week to go, a session at Blyton test track was announced.

Dick Salmon gave it a full inspection, and declared the car perfect except for one thing; the steering wheel was missing the machined indentations on the back of the rim (already noted and since rectified).

The engine was fired up outside the workshop, but it was impossible to try the car until it arrived at Blyton, watched over by John Owen.

Hall & Hall runs the V16 on a mix of methanol, pump petrol and acetone. Fuel pressures were tweaked, the timing on one magneto adjusted slightly, suspension settings experimented with, and the V16 was off, driven by Rob Hall.

“The car is fundamentally superb,” Rob said at the test track. “Of course, it still needs a few tweaks and adjustments, but this is to be expected in such a complex package. We took the engine up to 9000rpm, but got a ticking-off from the circuit staff because I think we exceeded their 95dB noise limit.”

“Hearing that V16 again after so many years was an incredible moment, and a dream come true,” said an emotional John Owen.

“It took two years, from original blueprint right up to shakedown,” added Rick Hall. “But there are no short-cuts when you’re working to the level of quality, detail and authenticity we needed. With the first of the three new Mk1 V16s now complete, we will turn our attention to the two remaining chassis numbers. With all the technical hurdles now safely overcome, we are supremely confident that we can create a truly magnificent, brandnew, historically authentic yet entirely raceable 1950s Formula 1 car.”

A week later, this first BRM P15 V16 Mk1 Continuation was unveiled by the Duke of Richmond at the Goodwood Revival, watched over by John Owen and other family members, along with former BRM employees. Then it was onto the track for the first of three noisy parades celebrating the belated (from 2020) 70th anniversary of the BRM team.

Another two weeks on from Goodwood, we were reunited with the Continuation car at one of BRM’s former test grounds, now highsecurity private land, for the photography you see here. It was an early start, and autumnal mist was still swirling across the fields as the gates were unlocked and the V16 rolled out of the trailer. What Raymond Mays, Alfred Owen and co would have made of this is anyone’s guess, but the sound of their V16 won’t be forgotten.

Thanks to everyone at British Racing Motors, www.britishracingmotors.co.uk, and Hall & Hall, www.hallandhall.net.

SPEEDMASTER SPECIALIST IN HISTORIC AUTOMOBILES Tel: +44 (0)1937 220 360 or +44 (0)7768 800 773 info@speedmastercars.com www.speedmastercars.com

JORDAN 191 - FORD HB 1933 TALBOT AV105

Michael Schumacher’s Grand Prix cars car –produced used by by Michael at Spa Francorchamps 1991. The 191 was the firstand Jordan F1 car, for One of only a handful offirst Alpine-bodied the Works in period.

Matching in numbers, continuous history well-known, thisthe is a team thatcar has now the Aston Martin F1 Team.

ThisHampton car was driven

by Andrea de Cesaris, Schumacher and Alex Zanardi, in fantastic for thebecome world’s best motoring events, including Court, Goodwood, Mille Miglia Michael and Le Mans Classic. With a 3.4-litre engine De Cesaris’s hands it came tantalisingly close to winning A project which was than indirectly bycars. pop music’s biggest star setting and pre-selector gearbox, it a is GP. faster and easier to drive manyfunded post-war his hair on fire, lost a driver to incarceration and gave the debut to one of F1’s all-time greats, the 191 could have its own feature film.

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SPEEDMASTER SPECIALIST IN HISTORIC AUTOMOBILES Tel: +44 (0)1937 220 360 or +44 (0)7768 800 773 info@speedmastercars.com www.speedmastercars.com

1996 WILLIAMS - RENAULT FW18-3

One of the most successful F1 cars of all time the FW18 won 12 of 16 races and the World Championship in 1996, designed by Adrian Newey the car dominated the opposition. This car was driven to 2 pole positions, 3 Race Wins and 2 Second places by Jaques Villeneuve and only decided the World Championship at the last race of the season. Offered complete in running condition and with a complete set of running equipment including pre heaters, jacks and 2 sets new wheels.This car remains eligible for the Williams Racing Heritage program and has most recently been run by Williams. A rare opportunity to acquire a multiple GP Winning car in running condition.

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Ettore Bugatti

and the straight-eight

Words Karl Ludvigsen

An extraordinary creator of extraordinary cars, designer and engineer Ettore Bugatti honed his eight-cylinder powerplants to perfection on road, on track and in the air

Bugatti straight-eight

LEFT Bugatti’s rear-mounted quarter-elliptic leaf springs guided the driving axle of the Type 14, whose radiator was cowled and whose twin engines had twin bonnets.

A NOVELIST WOULD FIND IT IMPOSSIBLE to invent a character with the startling originality, creativity and eccentricity of Ettore Bugatti. He invigorated the 1920s and 1930s with new ideas in Grand Prix car design and engineering, and created some of the most beautiful racing cars ever made – some say the most beautiful. They were extraordinarily successful, not least because they were reliable and numerous, racing throughout the known world in the hands of both aces and amateurs.

Ettore was the youngest son of a Milanese artist and furniture designer, Carlo Bugatti.

Born on September 15, 1881, he came into the world just in time to be captivated by the new age of speed. Ettore combined an artistic sensitivity with an appreciation of mechanics that was – and so far remains – unique in the history of the automobile. Addicted to speed after racing motorised tricycles, at the age of 21 he was already designing cars that were produced under his name.

In 1910 Bugatti settled in Molsheim in Germany-held Alsace, where he set up workshops of the highest quality and lived the lifestyle of a landed seigneur. He had a base in Paris as well. He designed aero engines there during the Great War, in the 1930s retreating to the city when he felt unappreciated by his restless Alsatian workforce. Bugatti died in Paris in 1947 after creating some of the most mouth-watering fast cars ever made.

Although engineering experts declared astonishment at the strange induction arrangements and lack of cylinder-head cooling of Bugatti’s Type 35 Grand Prix car, the vehicle itself didn’t seem to mind. His engine technology took a leap forward with the Type 51 of 1931, its twin-camshaft head inspired by the designs of Harry Miller. Bugatti’s chassis looked disarmingly ingenuous, but his cars won many races by virtue of their superb handling and remarkably adhesive cornering.

As with Henry Ford, Bugatti designed by inspecting and correcting the threedimensional sketches and wood models of key parts made by his craftsmen. A spate of failures was traced to a period when the correction in his spectacles had been made too strong; the parts were not actually as big as he perceived them to be. Behind the scenes, labouring anonymously, were capable engineers such as Antonio Pichetto, who provided the technical foundation that Bugatti lacked.

While in a villa in Cologne, Germany in 1909, Ettore Bugatti designed and built his Type 10 prototype in its basement. Boasting 1208cc (62mm x 100mm) in four cylinders, the T10’s engine had its cylinders and head cast as a

single unit. All Bugatti units to World War Two had this design feature, which gave the ultimate in robust top-end design and free flow of cooling water. This iron block was mounted on an aluminium crankcase, from which a vertical shaft drove a single overhead camshaft.

From his T10 Bugatti derived his first production engine, the T13 of 1910. With three main bearings, its bore was enlarged to give it 1327cc (65mm x 100mm). Although the cars that used this pioneering unit were Types 15 and 17, and later Types 22 and 23, depending on wheelbase, Bugattistes are happy with Type 13 and ‘Brescia’ as shorthand. Customers found it appealingly lively, revving normally to 2300rpm and capable of 3000rpm – high for a pre-World War One road car. Power approached 30bhp.

Bugatti’s ambitions were betrayed by a sketchbook entry entitled “September 1912, 68mm x 110mm – four and eight cylinders”.

Those dimensions would give fours of 1.6 litres and eights of 3.2. He prepared for this transition in the spring of that year by commissioning his experimental Type 14, powered by two Brescia fours to give a swept volume of 2655cc. Retaining their own crankcases, they were connected behind the flywheel of the front engine by what one source described as a “leather-rubber joint”.

Twin engines required a longer wheelbase, which Ettore’s mechanic Alex Schnell sourced from the early production of the Type 15. This brought one of the first appearances of Bugatti’s reversed quarter-elliptic springing for the rear axle. A pulley from the rear of the camshaft of the hindmost engine drove an oil pump that piped lubricant to two inlets atop each engine’s cam box. Two water pipes ran forward to the radiator, whose capacity was enhanced.

On a wheelbase of 2400mm (94.5in), the Type 14 scaled 752kg (1658lb) with its final boat-tailed racing bodywork, which had a separate bonnet for each engine and a vertical slot for air entry to its radiator. It was fielded for the October 1, 1912 hillclimb at Gaillon, with the reliable Ernest Friderich at its wheel.

This test outing revealed an unsurprising reluctance of the Brescia transmission to cope with twice the usual torque. Also observed was the overheating of the rearmost engine. As well, handling in trials was considered “unbalanced”.

“In 1913-14,” wrote Laurence Pomeroy Jr, “Bugatti built a second version of this engine with 68mm-bore cylinders, and thus had a very simply produced straight-eight 3.0-litre.” In fact displacing 3196cc, the engine was said to have three-valve cylinder heads in the arrangement preferred by Ettore: two inlet and one exhaust. Minus one engine, this unique Bugatti was claimed to have competed at Magneto

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Bugatti straight-eight

Brooklands in 1914, possibly the entries of Harold Lambert. Thereafter the experimental Type 14 was used around the works. It was last seen in Paris in 1921.

Learning the Type 14’s lessons while implementing the plans from his 1912 notebook entry, Bugatti proceeded to design an integrated straight-eight. In so doing he leap-frogged the six-cylinder option. Asked about this in 1921

by WF Bradley, Ettore replied that “the sixcylinder must be abandoned for racing purposes on account of the inherent difficulties of balancing it. Rolls-Royce, it is true, has succeeded in producing a well-balanced six, but this result has only been obtained by mechanical tours de force. There is no doubt that this firm could get better results in the matter of balance by the use of eight cylinders in line and without any of the accessory organs which have had to be incorporated to overcome these balancing difficulties.”

Ettore’s mention of Rolls-Royce was not by chance. When the T13 was first exhibited at Paris in 1910 it was greatly admired for its novelty and style by Dr Gabriel Espanet, a physician who was taking a special interest in the new field of aviation. Mutual admiration between Espanet and Bugatti was of benefit in providing sounding boards for the ideas of both. As well, Espanet was easily able to afford Bugatti’s creations.

Writing to Espanet on April 11, 1913, Bugatti said: “As for the eight-cylinder, it is on the drawing board but not yet in production.” He added that it “will have an engine with 100mm bore but the stroke has not yet been decided. It will be larger than a Rolls-Royce but lighter; with a closed body it will reach a speed of 150km/h and I hope to make it quite silent.

When the first [car] is on test I intend taking it

RIGHT Drivers of the radical Bugattis in the 1922 French GP were (from left) third-placed Pierre Marco, fifth Jacques Mones-Maury, second Pierre de Vizcaya and retiree Ernest Friderich.

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on a long journey, and we shall not fail to come and see you to have an opinion of it”.

“There is no doubt that Bugatti was thinking of producing an expensive car,” said historian Jonathan Wood, “for he goes on to tell Espanet that its production would be ‘very limited’ and the model would consequently be ‘extremely dear but will bear no comparison with any other of its kind. If I succeed in what I am striving for, it will undoubtedly be a car and a piece of machinery beyond all criticism’.”

Here was Ettore’s first voicing of his ambition to create his Type 41, the astounding and indeed incomparable Bugatti ‘Royale’. Above all it was to be a straight-eight, a concept that was in Bugatti’s mind from early 1912 when he took the initiative to build his T14 as an experiment to test the idea.

With his Molsheim works in Alsace a German territory at the outset of World War One, Ettore Bugatti decamped to Paris in 1914, setting up shop in the city’s Grand Hotel on the Place de l’Opera. There he contacted the French Section Technique de l’Aéronautique Militaire which, according to Ettore, ‘mobilised’ him on May 23, 1915. At the hotel he set to work on the design of a 200bhp aero engine. This, Ettore’s first true straight-eight, measured 120mm x 160mm for 14,476cc (883ci).

Although this eight had many of the features that would mark Bugatti’s engines of the 1920s, such as a shaft-driven single overhead camshaft and vertical valves, it differed in having four valves instead of three, a fabricated steel structure which he patented and – a novelty at the time – a reduction gear to the propeller.

A French prototype of the 14.0-litre eight was given a preliminary test at the workshops of the Count de Guiche at 86 rue Chaptal in Levallois-Perret. Bugatti based himself there

during the war as guest of the scientifically minded Count, who “was impressed by the strength of his creative imagination”. The test was sufficient to attract the interest of Delaunay-Belleville, which acquired a licence to build the engine on November 16, 1915.

Ettore also offered the eight to Diatto in Turin, Italy, which reported the completion of a successful 50-hour test late in 1916.

Neither in France nor in Italy did Bugatti’s first pure straight-eight have significant issue.

Demands in European aviation were accelerating beyond its modest output. Ettore addressed this with a revised straight-eight with the same 160mm stroke and bore size reduced to 110mm to accommodate a new construction of cast-iron integral blocks and heads on an aluminium crankcase, now with three valves per cylinder. In spite of his new eight’s 16 percent reduction of swept volume to 12,164cc, Bugatti expected a power increase thanks to improved lubrication that would raise the safe engine speed to 2300rpm.

A novelty was the eight’s drive to its overhead camshaft by pairs of bevel gears and a vertical shaft positioned between the two four-cylinder blocks, which also drove accessories at the sides. Ready for trials in 1917, the revised eight “did not realise more than 210-220hp” on test, said Bugatti, “but it can turn without difficulty between 240-250hp as long as you wish… You can also obtain 260-264hp,” referring to his eight’s potential for higher revolutions.

In parallel with his new eight, Ettore had been working on a pairing of two such engines to drive a single propeller through reduction gearing. The revised eight became one half of the Bugatti U-16 aero engine of 1917, which married four four-cylinder blocks above two crankshafts in one aluminium crankcase. In

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RIGHT Introduced in late 1927, the 3.0-litre Type 44 was the full realisation of Bugatti’s straighteight production-car objectives, with 1095 made through 1930.

fact the eights were mirror imaged so their exhausts emerged at the centre, giving space along the sides for carburettors. Sharing the eight’s dimensions, the Bugatti U-16 displaced 24,329cc (1484ci). A touted advantage of the engine was its ability to accommodate an aerial cannon between its cylinder banks, firing through the propeller hub.

Chosen by an American military commission as desirable for production in the US, the prototype U-16 and a licence for its design were acquired by the American Government.

A heavily revised version was manufactured in the Elizabeth, New Jersey facilities of the Duesenberg brothers. From June through August of 1918 five test engines were put through their paces. After experiments with a variety of carburettors, a test with Zenith instruments gave 500bhp at 2300rpm, validating Bugatti’s prognostications for his eight-cylinder forerunner.

In France a licence was negotiated with Peugeot to produce the Bugatti U-16, but this alliance gained no traction before the Armistice.

Only from 1920 did aircraft manufacturer Breguet at Vélizy-Villacoublay decide to enter the aero-engine field by obtaining rights to the U-16. With the further guidance of Ettore, Breguet manufactured this not just in its original format but also in amazing 32-cylinder Breguet-Bugatti configurations, some with the ability to declutch one unit from the other. This was not a long-lasting enterprise.

In 1920 well-informed journalist William Fletcher Bradley reported that “Bugatti has not lost any of his faith in the eight-ahead, for he is still working on this type of engine and intends to have it on the market this year. The delay is attributable entirely to the war, for the Bugatti factory was in the hands of the enemy until 156

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after the Armistice. After being returned to him in 1919, it had to be re-equipped with machinery to replace the plant taken into Germany.

“The reasons given by M Bugatti,” continued Bradley, “for the adoption of the eight-ahead are: (1) Perfect balance, for all the parts in movement maintain equal angles on the connecting rods during their cycle of rotation; (2) more efficient cooling for a given piston displacement, thus making it possible to run the engine at a higher speed and, in consequence, to get better efficiency; (3) no need for a flywheel. Aviation engines with eight and 16 cylinders have operated without a flywheel, driving a propeller with reduction gear, without any trouble developing and with silent operation of the gears, this being possible because of the absence of variations in linear velocity in the cycle of rotation.”

A practical benefit to Ettore Bugatti was that the post-1918 settlements incorporated the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France, including Molsheim and the Bugatti demesne.

He moved immediately to create the prototype of a straight-eight passenger model. This was his Type 28 touring car, revealed at the 1921 Paris and London auto shows.

As in the U-16, Bugatti drove the T28’s single overhead cam and 24 valves by a vertical shaft placed at the centre of the engine between its two four-cylinder blocks. With a capacity of 2991cc using proven T13 dimensions of 69mm x 100mm, its crank carried in nine plain bearings, the T28 founded a new Bugatti engine family. Although the eight-cylinder model was not produced at that time, it provided the block, valve gear, rods and pistons for the new Type 37 four-cylinder unit introduced in 1925 to replace the veteran Brescia.

A smaller-sized eight was at the heart of

another new Bugatti engine family, which made its bow in 1922 as the Type 30. This was destined to evolve into one of the most hailed and heralded of all Bugatti’s motors, and indeed an iconic sports and racing power unit. As the T30 it made a modest bow on the Molsheim stage, powering touring Bugattis from the end of 1922. In the latter role it made a good contribution, powering 585 cars produced over a four-year span.

In addition, the new eight was installed in racing cars for the French Grand Prix of 1922, Indianapolis cars in 1923 and the Type 32 Grand Prix cars also of 1923. Each of these applications was radical, for Ettore was groping his way toward the best format for a racing car.

“They were practically experimental cars,” wrote historian Erwin Tragatsch, “to try out engines, chassis and body shapes and – as Bugatti hoped! – at the same time to end the relevant races successfully.”

The new engine was a 2.0-litre eight with dimensions that were entirely fresh to the Bugatti canon of 60mm x 88mm for 1991cc. Its two iron four-cylinder blocks with three-valve heads were spigoted deeply into an aluminium crankcase, with the bevel and shaft drive to the camshaft placed at the front. Closing the bottom of the crankcase was a deep and robust aluminium casting that also carried the four bearers that attached the engine rigidly to the frame and added to the latter’s torsional stiffness. Tubes from front to rear of the wet sump passed air to help cool the oil.

The first appearance of this important new engine was in the 1922 French Grand Prix.

“Considerable interest is centred on the new Bugattis,” said The Autocar, “which are rumoured to be exceedingly fast and which have many unusual details in their design,

One of these 6 exclusive Bugatti Royales recently flew halfway around the world to a new owner after sleeping in a secret California location for 36 years. No prize for guessing who was chosen to handle it.

Bugatti straight-eight

though they are not quite as unconventional as was expected when first the new straight-eight Bugatti appeared on the market. It is stated that some of the racers have been sold and that the others will be disposed of immediately after the Grand Prix.”

“The participation of the Bugattis had been doubtful until the last moment,” added WF Bradley in The Autocar, “for unexpected difficulties had been encountered in the construction of the new eight-cylinder racing machines. M Bugatti only decided to start at the very last moment.” Less difficulties than opportunism, it seems, because Bugatti reportedly had been assisting Ballot with the reworking of its camshafts for the race. He may well have had a glimpse of Edmund Moglia’s new low-drag bodywork for Ballot’s 2LS racers.

Ettore’s most experienced driver, Pierre de Vizcaya, urged at the 11th hour that the four Type 30 racers be similarly rebodied. Bugatti recruited a coachbuilder in Strasbourg – the scene of the race – to construct Ballot-like circular-section bodies from whose pointed tail the exhaust debouched. A strange oval-shaped port on the right side gave access to the engine.

Bradley observed that: “On the Bugattis an enormous tank of oil was placed under the cowl and, by turning a tap, a smaller tank below was filled. The contents of this tank ran slowly into the sump.” Relevant here was the comment of Erwin Tragatsch that the Bugatti drivers had the “handicap that they had to keep their engine revolutions relatively low if they wanted to finish a long Grand Prix race, on account of the lubrication. And this in spite of the fact that they adjusted the oil delivery to ‘very rich’, whereupon the car was followed by a long smoke trail”.

Although at average speeds 10mph lower than those of the winning Fiat in the French

RIGHT Ettore confessed that in planning his Type 35 for the 1924 season he was aiming for a less controversial appearance that would “facilitate sales”. He succeeded with a design that for a decade communicated the essence of ‘racing car’.

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race, two Bugattis were the only other finishers in second and third places. WF Bradley found this paradoxical, for “the Bugattis were certainly the least prepared cars and, were preparation everything, did not deserve to finish two rounds. It shows something of the genius of Bugatti that a car fresh, as it were, from the drawing board should be so successful, especially when one remembers that the whole chassis is Bugatti’s. He owes nothing to anyone else save such things as the carburettors and wheels, which are not usually considered part of the designer’s work.”

The next stages in the evolution of the 2.0litre racing Bugatti were Indianapolis and the French GP, both in 1923. For the high-speed US race Ettore asked Louis Béchereau of the SPAD aircraft concern to design new low-drag singleseater bodies, since from that year riding mechanics were no longer mandatory. Other modifications were a higher 7.5:1 compression ratio to use benzol fuel and quadruple Zenith carbs. All this availed little, for the sole finisher of five starting Bugattis was far back in ninth place.

Both Voisin and Bugatti amazed with lowdrag machines for the 1923 French Grand Prix, to be held on a fast triangular circuit at Tours.

The shape of the Molsheim entries resembled the cross section of a chunky aeroplane wing, into which the four wheels were recessed. As Ettore explained: “The thick airfoil section of this little car has only been achieved by the chassis and all the rolling mechanism being designed to be totally enclosed by a small envelope.” Its frame was specially designed, the three-speed transmission built into the rear axle and the engine moved well to the rear in intimate proximity to driver and mechanic.

A 78in wheelbase combined with a low polar moment of inertia created a car that was barely

manageable. Nicknamed the Tank, two of the four entries crashed and the others retired. “The brakes were bad,” said racer Elizabeth Junek.

“The whole car started ‘swimming’. In no way did it have the advantage of good roadholding for which Bugattis were then famous.”

Rejecting these experiments, Ettore declared that he was reverting to a more classical line for his racing cars “to facilitate sales”. He also released the constraints on his straight-eight by ceasing to combine plain connecting-rod bearings with ball-bearing mains. In this arrangement it was not easy to get enough lubricant to the rod big ends. In 1924 Bugatti adopted roller bearings for the connecting rods and, with them, one-piece big ends. The result, made possible by a built-up crankshaft, was an outstandingly light yet stiff connecting rod that was one of the speed secrets of Bugatti engines.

Fed by a pair of sidedraught carburettors, developing 100bhp at 5000rpm and capable of 5500rpm without damage, this 2.0-litre eight was at the heart of the new racing model that Bugatti unveiled with justifiable pride at the 1924 French Grand Prix: the immortal Type 35.

With its tapered tail and horseshoe-shaped radiator, the T35 was not only gorgeous – helping account for the 340 made between 1924 and 1931 – but also a race winner in both works and private hands.

Although thereafter Ettore Bugatti would design and produce some four-cylinder engines, usually closely related to his eights, he remained the most consistent and persistent advocate of straight-eight units to power both racing cars and road cars. This even inspired Gioachino Colombo to choose a straight-eight to power an all-new Bugatti Grand Prix car for the 1955 season – and put its engine crossways in the back of the car.

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Top 50 marque revivals

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C I S I TA L I A

R U S S O - B A LT I Q U E

AS a rule, marque revivals are attractive to start-up operations for one simple reason: acquiring a defunct name and then riding on the back of its accomplishments offers a shortcut to brand recognition. That said, it helps if the world at large has heard of the original marque.

In the case of Russo-Baltique (aka Russo-Balt), this is unlikely given that the original Russian firm was shuttered in 1923. The brand was revived in 2006 with the Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG-based Impression (above), a neo-classic coupé that could have been yours for a mere €1.5m. Plans to sell 12-15 cars came up short.

THIS influential, if ill-starred, marque was reheated in concept form in time for the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. The 202 E (below) was produced by Turin’s European Institute of Design, and despite the final character of its name alluding to the contrary, it was petrol engined rather than battery powered. Its 450bhp V8 of indeterminate origin was in marked contrast to the Fiat 1.1-litre four-banger that powered the original 202. While it was built in association with Cisitalia Holdings, this was merely a styling study; there was never any question of the design being adopted for a production model.

EXCALIBUR

ONE of the more improbable marque revivals of recent years, and one that is still in the throes of creation, is Excalibur. The Wisconsin marque, which grew out of a concept car for Studebaker in 1964, became a byword for excess, its pastiches of pre-war Mercedes-Benz and Bugatti models once being the darlings of Hollywood glitterati. The original firm folded in 1986, only to be revived (this time making an AC Cobra clone), but it was all over by the early 1990s. And the really strange bit? The new operation is to be based in… Scotland. Oh, and the man behind it is singer Susan Boyle’s brother.

D AT S U N

NISSAN branding had usurped the Datsun nameplate in all territories

by March 1986. However, it made an unlikely comeback in 2012 as the Japanese giant attempted to create a budget sub-brand for India, Russia, Indonesia and South Africa.

That was but a mere opening salvo, too, for Datsun entered Kazakhstan three years later, and Belarus and Lebanon in 2016. What’s more, this brand revival was championed

by Nissan CEO turned international fugitive Carlos Ghosn. Given his standing within the firm in recent years, it is perhaps no great surprise that the Datsun nomenclature was quietly dropped again in 2020.

TRIDENT

ONE of the big surprises of the 1998 British International Motor Show was the unveiling of a quad-cam Ford V8engined two-seater (above)

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FRANK Costin evangelised about aerodynamics, but he didn’t care a jot about aesthetics. As such, his protean output oscillated between works of beauty and utter grotesquerie. If a car looked good, it was merely a happy by-product of his calculations. While his name had been associated with other marques, his attempt at producing his own car in the early 1970s wasn’t successful; the Costin Amigo found few friends. Attempts at a late-1980s revival with a Cosworth DFV-engined supercar never made it beyond the scale model stage. The Sports Roadster (below) was Frank’s last project before his death.

that employed the Trident nameplate. The original brand grew out of TVR, which led to much acrimony among various parties, and Trident keeping a relatively low profile through the late 1960s and much of the 1970s. Several years in gestation, the new model vanished almost immediately, only to reappear in 2000 as the Trident Iceni. It has made fleeting comebacks since then, not least as a 6.6-litre diesel-engined would-be GT racer, but it remains something of an enigma.

Top 50 marque revivals

43 40 41 44 42 AT S

FA I R T H O R P E

FAIRTHORPE always flew beneath the radar, and its second coming was even more obscure. At the Pathfinder’s April 1988 launch, it was said to be “a sports car with style and performance, at a most competitive price”. Just eight were made. A new front-wheeldrive model was due in 1990.

There was also bold talk of a diesel that could do 100mph and 100mpg. Neither of these schemes reached fruition.

TECNO

DESPITE a lack of publicity, Tecno’s rebirth isn’t without ambition. Instigator Fulvio Maria Ballabio says his latest design is the fastest supercar to run exclusively on Autogas (liquefied petroleum gas).

The original Tecno concern produced a raft of successful single-seaters and several less successful F1 cars. The Nanni Galli V8 Ecoracing uses a 503bhp Alfa V8, the styling apparently evoking the Tipo 33’s. It also borrows much of its architecture from a previous Ballabio supercar, the Monte Carlo ALA 50 that emerged in 2004.

FRAZER NASH

FOR full disclosure, we should point out that the Nimar (above) was a product of Frazer-Nash Research rather than the associated

THE ATS 2500 GT was arguably the world’s first mid-engined supercar, and one conceived by Ferrari’s recently exiled brains trust.

Having arrived in 1963, it comfortably pre-dated the Lamborghini Miura.

However, the marque soon tanked, in no small part due to squabbling among the shareholders. That, and a lamentable campaign in Formula 1. More recently the ATS name has been reanimated, firstly with a swoopy roadster (below) that looked uncannily like a Ginetta G20 kit car. The name is currently applied to assorted boutique supercars that are essentially reskinned McLarens; ones with suitably lofty price tags and made in limited numbers.

ERA

ERA made an unexpected return in the late 1980s with a customised Mini that was among the better conversions of its type. However, while the logo remained much as before, the acronym now stood for Engineering Research and Applications rather than English Racing Automobiles. The intention had been to produce a series of upgraded production cars, a Skoda Rapid among them, but only the turbo Mini with a Dennis Adams-penned bodykit reached fruition. The ERA is currently associated with a Lotus 23 lookalike and a ‘retro’ single-seater from Tiger Racing, a firm better known for making Lotus Seven-esque kit cars.

– but long-dormant – Frazer Nash marque (note lack of hyphen). This wild-looking concept car was something of a trailblazer in that it employed a hybrid method of propulsion: a set of four motors plus an on-board rotary ‘engine generator’.

Styled by Italdesign, it emerged at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show and ran under its own steam at that year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

According to its maker, it was good for the 0-60mph sprint in 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 187mph.

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R A I LT O N

WILLIAM Towns created many landmark classics and just as many oddities. Having previously devised the Guyson E12 Jaguar E-type reskinning exercise, he revisited the concept in the late 1980s with his Railton-branded XJ-S convertibles. However, in marked contrast with his prior glassfibre-panelled effort, the Railtons boasted aluminium skins crafted

by Park Sheet Metal (which also made Jaguar XJ220 and Bentley Continental R bodyshells). Launched at the 1989 London Motorfair in F28 Fairmile and F29 forms – the latter being identifiable by its different headlights and rear wheel spats – prices started at an eye-watering £88,775. There were no takers.

I N V I C TA

THIS great British pre-war marque was reanimated in the immediate post-war years with the Black Prince.

It didn’t find favour. The name made the briefest of comebacks in 1982 with two models: a boxy convertible that was meant to evoke the ‘low-chassis’ S-type of old, and the Tredicim. The latter was a pseudo Jaguar XJ13 clone (Tredicim being Latin for 13). Neither car entered series production. The marque was rebooted for a time in 2004 with the carbonfibre-bodied S1 coupé, which was largely the work of ex-Marcos men Chris Marsh and Leigh Adams.

Production didn’t breach the double-digit barrier.

36 38

ERMINI

ANOTHER remnant of Italy’s once-glorious sports car past, Ermini had been dead for more than half a century when the

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name made a surprise reappearance at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show. Osella co-authored the design, which was aimed squarely at the track-day market.

The Seiottosei (above) was a two-seater barchetta with tubular underpinnings and swooping carbonfibre bodywork. It employed a mid-mounted Renault F4Rt RS engine that produced 261bhp. Power was transmitted to the rear wheels via a six-speed sequential gearbox. The model name Seiottosei denoted ‘six-eighty-six’ in Italian. That was the car’s weight in kilograms.

VA N WA L L

ONE of countless would-be supercars of the late 1980s and early ’90s, the Vanwall revival attracted plenty of talent and finance. The design was rooted in the one-off GKN-Lotus 47D supercar, the plan being to update it

35 MARCOS

for contemporary audiences.

Nevertheless, despite plenty of motoring-media coverage, this Simon Saunders-styled machine didn’t escape the prototyping stage. The name was then licenced to one Arthur Wolstenholme, who created a series of aluminium-bodied machines with Jaguar running gear (plus a Ferrari-based car) that loosely resembled 1950s GP single-seaters. The last was made in 1994. Now, Hall & Hall has been commissioned to build six 1958-spec Continuation cars.

MARCOS is a marque that has refused to play dead. Jem Marsh’s original operation foundered in the early 1970s after 27 cars were impounded in the US. With no revenue coming in, the firm was sold and essentially asset stripped thereafter. Marsh set up shop offering spares, and in 1981 he began offering the classic ‘coupé’ outline in kit form.

Marcos would undergo serial ownership into the 1990s, producing such models as the Mantara (above), while also returning to frontline motor sport that stretched to Le Mans bids. The final curtain descended in 2007.

Top 50 marque revivals

34 PRAGA

PRAGA is a name that resonates in its native Czech Republic and Eastern Europe, not least because its lineage as a car maker stretches back to 1907. Nevertheless, it is rather better known for commercial vehicles, aircraft and the production of military vehicles. As such, the name appearing on a blisteringly quick track weapon in 2011 after a lengthy hiatus came straight out of leftfield. Nevertheless, variations on the sportsprototype theme have proven hugely successful in Europe.

In 2016, the marque in its current guise released the R1R (above), the first road car to wear the Praga logo since 1947.

ISO

33

ISO made a return to the exotica firmament in 1991, the Grifo 90 boasting a turbocharged 5.7-litre Callaway-tuned Chevrolet V8. Marcello Gandini’s aluminium body was draped over a tubular-steel platform, while Gian Paolo Dallara’s engineering consultancy designed the chassis and suspension. A 190mph-plus top speed was trumpeted, but the stats were hypothetical; the car never entered production. However, that didn’t stop one enthusiast from fashioning a functional Grifo 90 as its maker intended.

Zagato is now building a modern interpretation of the classic Rivolta models.

32 BIZZARRINI

WHEN it comes to Bizzarrini’s backstory, it’s hard to differentiate the actual from the apocryphal.

Several prototypes have been built over the past half a century, many conceived by Giotto Bizzarrini. However, the GT Strada 4.1 Concept displayed at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show was produced by the new owners of the name. It was powered by an Alpine-BMW V8 and purportedly capable of 200mph-plus. A prototype, the Ghepardo, was displayed at the next year’s Ville d’Este and used a 550bhp 4.1-litre Mecachrome V8; however, series manufacture never happened. Bizzarrini has recently revealed plans to build the 5300 GT Revival Corsa, a recreation of the original 1960s 5300 GT.

ABOVE Ghepardo never made it beyond prototype stage, but Bizzarrini now has big plans for the 5300 GT Revival Corsa.

TVR TVR production ground to a juddering halt in 2013 after Russian owner Nikolay Smolensky vacated the scene. We had to wait a further four years before a new TVR broke cover; it did so at the September 2017 Goodwood Revival meeting amid much hoopla. With design deity Gordon Murray lending his genius, and Cosworth modifying a 5.0-litre Ford Coyote V8 for this application, great things were expected of the Griffith (below). However, bids to make the car in Wales rather than the marque’s spiritual home of Blackpool have thus far come to naught. Plans are afoot to raise further capital, so it may still happen.

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EVER since Packard turned turtle in 1958, there hasn’t been a shortage of would-be revivers. Notoriously, these included C Budd Bayliff, whose efforts in the 1970s and ’80s mostly comprised Buicks and Fords with comedy grilles glued to them.

In 1992, he sold the rights to the name to Roy Gullickson for $50,000. This self-styled entrepreneur then set about mapping out a new car – and not for him some remodelled saloon from the Big Three.

In January 1994, work began on a bold and as-yetunnamed machine. It was designed by Gullickson and mechanical engineer Lawrence Johnson, with exGM man Don Johnson and industrial designer Arunas Oslapas shaping a full-size mock-up. The new Packard Motor Company’s Twelve (below) was announced in October 1988, the prototype sporting a surprisingly exotic spec. For starters, it had a 525ci all-alloy V12 and permanent all-wheel drive.

However, development costs proved crippling. By 2000, Gullickson claimed he’d received orders for 70 cars but had taken no deposits.

Unwilling to throw more money onto the pyre, he threw in the towel instead.

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PACK ARD

29 28 OSCA

THE renaissance of OSCA after two-and-a-bit decades followed a tortuous path.

Construction of the prototype was financed by Japanese entrepreneur Shozo Fujita, and built in collaboration with Andrea Zagato. It was styled by former Zagato and BMW design chief Ercole Spada, and featured many Zagato trademark design cues, not least the ‘doublebubble’ roofline treatment.

This was not a product of the Zagato studio per se, however. What’s more, irony

upon irony, it was originally going to employ the longdormant Carrozzeria Touring nameplate. That didn’t happen, even if Touring would subsequently make a comeback in its own right. The partners settled on OSCA instead, the name having previously been part of the MV Agusta combine.

Powering the prototype was a mid-mounted, 2.5-litre Subaru Legacy flat-four engine, the prototype emerging in 1999.

The preferred – and original – model name, Dromos, was soon dropped due to objections from Fiat, which had already registered the moniker. Ultimately, this would-be Lotus Elise rival unfortunately didn’t make it into production. Only a single car had been made by the time the project stalled in 2001.

V E R I TA S

YOU could argue that few of us were clamouring for a revival of Veritas, the original manufacturer having folded in 1952. Equally, you could claim that the reheated brand clung to life even longer than the original did.

However, the key difference is that Veritas way back when actually made cars in series, albeit not many.

Even so, that isn’t to suggest the VerMot AG start-up operation behind the revival was lacking in ambition or talent. Quite the opposite.

The first prototype appeared in 2001, the RS III (above) boasting wild, almost piscine styling and a 670bhp BMW V12 powerplant. A slightly less hardcore 5.0litre V10 unit featured in subsequent prototypes, and in 2011 plans were announced for a hybrid variant and a fully electric version. However, neither reached production.

Nor, for that matter, did the RS III in the accepted sense. Despite plenty of positive ink in the specialist press, it failed to find favour.

It would appear that the near-$500,000 price blunted demand. Nothing more was heard of Veritas after 2014.

DUESENBERG THE original Duesenberg concern ended production in 1937, but the name still had currency Stateside. In the 1960s, Fritz Duesenberg – son of marque co-founder August – teamed up with former Chrysler man Virgil Exner to create a new line of super-saloons. Duesenberg Jr had been inspired by an article in Esquire in which Exner envisaged a series of ‘Revival Cars’ that showcased how famous, if defunct, US brands might have evolved stylistically had fate been kinder.

The car that emerged in 1965 used an Imperial chassis and 425bhp Chrysler V8, Exner’s renderings having being interpreted

by Carrozzeria Ghia in Italy.

The Duesenberg Corporation of Indiana promised a car that “set the standard for luxury automobiles throughout the world”.

Making its bow in the run-up to the 1966 Indy 500, the Duesenberg II – or Model D – caused a furore. However, the dream soon turned sour.

Exner was left out of pocket while other financiers fought among themselves to recoup their investment.

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Top 50 marque revivals

BITTER

26 AVA N T I

STUDEBAKER’S Avanti was a machine admired by many.

Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, and this once-proud manufacturer produced its final vehicle in early 1966. But that wasn’t

the end of the Avanti, which famously lived on after the design rights passed to a couple of enterprising Studebaker dealers. Avanti – the Studebaker model – thus became a marque in its own right.

Scroll forward to 1988, and the then-rights holder was being hounded by angry backers. However, just as night follows day, the saga continued to unspool under new ownership until it flatlined in 1991. Then, after a brief hiatus, a new ‘teaser’ arrived out of nowhere, but this time it was essentially a reskinned Pontiac Firebird.

The first AVX prototype, meanwhile, was revealed

by Pennsylvania hot rodder Bill Lang in early 1996.

Reaction was such that two more prototypes were built before the AVX (AVanti eXperimental) went on sale in June 1997. However, despite all sorts of talk, not much happened thereafter – although one of the principals behind the scheme subsequently served time for an unrelated fraud.

THE German Bitter brand has enjoyed a renaissance of late. It currently offers gussied-up Opel Adams.

However, when it returned in the late 1990s its status as an auto builder had long been over save for the occasional concept. That said, it’s easy to forget the brand’s brief foray into motor racing. Former touring car and sports car colossus Toine Hezemans attempted to keep Lotus’s ill-starred Elise GT1 programme afloat in 1998.

The thing is, in order to run his Chrysler V10-engined machines, they needed to be recognised as production cars.

Accordingly, Hezemans Sr turned to his friend and former on-track rival, Abarth importer-turnedmanufacturer of boutique GTs, Erich Bitter. The cars were henceforth known as Bitter GT1s. Unfortunately, the rebranded racers proved even less competitive than the models that bore them.

In fact, history shows they competed only once.

The Bitters participated in the 1998 Silverstone 500 Kilometres, where the torque from the Viper engines lunched the Hewland ’boxes.

The car of Hezemans/Jan Lammers managed only two laps before retirement…

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23 24 LEA-FRANCIS

MONTEVERDI

PETER Monteverdi became a Formula 1 team boss in 1990 after acquiring the majority stake in the ailing Onyx squad. The plucky team had punched above its weight for much of the previous season, only to come unstuck. This was due in part to financier (and future jailbird) Jean-Pierre van Rossem’s capricious tendencies.

Monteverdi, who had bowed out of making cars in the early 1980s, stepped into the breach, the team being renamed in his honour.

Inevitably, his wreckingball approach to man management ensured the team didn’t see out the season. Matters took an even stranger turn when the Swiss returned to car production – of a sort. Buoyed by the speculative exotica boom of the early 1990s, he ushered in a new hypercar in 1992.

Powered by a 3.5-litre Cosworth DFY V8 Grand Prix engine, the Hai 650 F1 could have been yours for a mere £300,000.

The only flaw in the plan was the plan itself; the car wasn’t road legal.

Two complete models from the intended run of 12 (plus a full-size mock-up) were completed before the global economy tanked.

THE revival of Lea-Francis was protracted, that’s for sure. The motormanufacturing side of the business had gone into receivership as far back as 1962, the name being acquired by well known Bugatti man Barrie Price.

In the summer of 1977, the Midlander and friend Peter Engelbach set about devising a new breed of roadster. A Jaguar-based prototype was completed three years later which, in turn, spawned a two-door pre-war-style saloon that emerged at the British Motor Show. The car’s ‘razor-edged’ styling was much commented upon, too, not least because the front end housed rectangular headlights from the Austin Metro.

Further ‘Ace of Spades’ prototypes were completed (as many as five in all) before Lea-Francis headed in a different direction; it set about making a modernist take on the Daimler DS420.

This stately seven-seater was to have been powered by a Jaguar V12 engine, and the chassis was exhibited publicly in October 1996.

However, the production variant didn’t materialise.

Price’s team also produced the Vauxhall V6-engined 30/230 sports car in association with legendary Jaguar engineer Jim Randle.

This car similarly didn’t make it into production.

LEFT Bitter resumed small-scale production with 2007’s Vero, en route to today’s tweaked Opel variants.

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AC

PEGASO

IN 1989, Spain’s ENASA contracted International Automotive Design of Worthing to develop a new strain of Pegaso. The two-years-in-the-making Z-103 Spider broke cover in the summer of 1991 and, outwardly at least, it appeared identical to a 1950s Serra-bodied roadster save for the steeper windscreen, frameless side glazing and different rear light clusters.

Beneath the skin, however, it was markedly less exotic. Powering this new strain was a 3.9-litre Rover V8 engine allied to an Alfa Romeo 75 five-speed transaxle. It was also equipped with Borrani wire wheels clad with crossply tyres in order to mimic the handling characteristics of its inspiration. The project was almost undone after Iveco acquired ENASA six months before the Z-103 was revealed, but ex-director Acacio Rodríguez was able to find backers to fund a production run of 200 cars at around £100,000 a pop.

The first ten Pegasos were completed in the IAD workshops, each resplendent in ivory white paint with a sumptuous leather interior

by Artespaña. However, only one further example was finished elsewhere before the axe fell.

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YOU will have to bear with us here, because untangling the AC narrative of late is a mite confusing. By this, we of course mean ‘utterly baffling’. Under Brian Angliss, the marque enjoyed a renaissance during the 1980s with the Cobra-shaped MkIV. However, he fell out with sometime shareholder Ford, which was eager to acquire full rights. This, allied to the crippling costs of developing the ‘new’ Ace, saw the receivers called in.

That was in 1996.

Since then, umpteen programmes have been announced. There were plans to make cars in Malta. Then there was the short-lived link-up with Carroll Shelby International.

Then there were intentions to make as many as 1000 Zagato-styled coupés in South Africa.

Following something of a gap, a new parent company was incorporated on an island in the Caribbean, which was roughly around the time that a German firm unveiled AC-badged composite-bodied Cobra clones with – purists look away now – Chevrolet engines. Presumed to be finally dead, AC appears to be back with – brace yourself – an electric ‘Cobra’. That, and a 2.3-litre petrol version.

THERE is no kind way of putting this, but Borgward’s much-vaunted comeback at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show was a shambles. There was just a large-ish stand that was empty save for a classic model produced by the original firm 55 years earlier.

Oh, and Stirling Moss was there from time to time.

Nevertheless, despite appearances to the contrary, this was a serious project.

Christian Borgward, grandson of original marque founder Carl FW Borgward, claimed the relaunch was: “A childhood dream that was becoming a reality.”

However, this German marque revival wasn’t quite what it appeared, as it was financed by Chinese backers.

Foton, a subsidiary of the state-owned BAIC, had acquired rights to the brand in 2014. Borgward envisaged making 800,000 units per annum, with three distinct models being brought to market each year.

From what we can ascertain, there were only two – and both were SUVs. According to one source, Borgward sold just 30,000 of its BX7 (below), the smaller of the pair, in 2017. However, the company’s website doesn’t appear to have been updated since 2018.

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I S O T TA F R A S C H I N I

ALTHOUGH one of the most hyped marque revivals of the past three decades, Isotta Fraschini’s comeback ended badly. The original brand, once deemed Italy’s answer to Rolls-Royce, had petered out in 1949. It fell to industrialist

LOPRESTO

21 19 22 B O R GWA R D

Giuliano Malvino to initiate a rebirth, having enjoyed success with the RaytonFissore Magnum 4x4. He found a foil in entrepreneur Gian Mario Rossignolo.

The basis for what was intended to be a luxurious exemplar of Italian artistry?

Audi’s A8. Malvino said he’d entered a deal whereby cars would be sold through Audi’s dealer network. The Tom Tjaarda-styled T8 convertible (below) made its debut at the 1996 Geneva Motor Show.

It then went quiet until the Paris expo two years later, when the more rounded T12 was touted with unspecified V12 power (Audi’s sole V12 was a diesel). In 1999, Isotta Fraschini Fabbrica Automobile SpA filed for bankruptcy, Rossignolo later being mired in the De Tomaso revival scandal.

MAGIC CAR PICS

RIGHT AC’s chequered history included its ‘new’ Ace, which contributed to the brand’s downfall in the mid-1990s.

Top 50 marque revivals

BRISTOL

18 ALLARD

ALLARD also refused to remain buried. Self-styled designer Chris Humberstone licenced the name in the late 1980s and went for broke.

The brand would return to the track with the Cosworth V8-powered J2X-C Group C car. Sadly, this revival didn’t heap glory onto the marque, particularly after Group C’s collapse in 1992.

Allard Holdings went bust after only one car had been completed. It was acquired for £76,000 by racer/collector Robs Lamplough, who raced it in an IMSA GTP race at Laguna Seca in 1993, where he came ninth. Concurrently, Humberstone also attempted to produce Allard-branded Lexus LS400 saloons, but the scheme amounted to little.

Classic models are now being produced by members of the Allard family.

AFTER Bristol Cars folded in 2011, the project rights were acquired by Kamkorf, a Surrey-based holding company which traded as Frazer-Nash Research. It planned to revive the brand with a raft of new hybrid and range-extending vehicles.

Only one was ever seen; the Bullet (below, aka Project Pinnacle) emerged at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed in honour of Bristol’s 70th year. It was essentially a 407 ‘speedster’ reimagined by Fulvio Fantolino at Turin’s F&F Design Studio.

Intriguingly, underpinning the Bullet prototype was a platform borrowed from another historic brand – Morgan’s Aero 8. The Bullet was intended to be a teaser for the Fighter Sport Coupé (a modern prestige GT), and the Blenheim (Bristol’s first SUV).

Both were being shaped within the F&F styling house, and the latter had reached the full-size mock-up stage, when the rug was pulled in February 2020. Moves are afoot to relaunch the marque, though.

16 15 17 CONNAUGHT

TONY Brooks’ victory for Connaught in the non-points 1955 Syracuse Grand Prix famously marked the first win at this level for a British driver in a British car since 1923. However, this underfunded constructor entered its last F1 race in 1959. Thirty years later, renderings appeared of what seemed to be a miniature

sports-prototype bearing the Connaught logo. One of the partners in the scheme was John Jobber, a giant of kit-car manufacturing.

It all went quiet thereafter.

However, an unrelated revival made headlines in 2004 when the Connaught Type-D Syracuse GT (above) was announced. A brainchild of Tim Bishop and Tony Martindale, this lightweight coupé was powered by a 2.0-litre V10 unit allied to a hybrid set-up. What’s more, the ultra-compact engine was mounted between the seats. Unfortunately, promised funding from the Welsh Government did not materialise and the project was annulled. It fell to Tesla, which had been lagging in the technology race, to make hay.

The rights to the name are currently owned by Bevan Davidson International, which plans to complete a batch of five Type-D Syracuse GTs.

BRM

ONCE-great BRM had been dormant for over a decade when John Mangoletsi announced plans to revive the brand in late 1990. It would be a two-pronged affair; BRM would field a top-flight Group C car on track (P351), and also build a supercar (P401). The sportsprototype was constructed in nine months and featured a 3.5-litre V12 devised by Graham Dale-Jones and built by Terry Hoyle’s JHS. The prototype was shown in December of that year.

Unfortunately, the FIA had axed Group C a fortnight earlier; 1992 would be the final season. The car did race, including at Le Mans, but sponsorship evaporated – as did the touted supercar.

BRM’s 1997 comeback with a Nissan V6-powered sportsprototype in Mangoletsi’s International Sports Racing Series saw no great reversal of fortune, but now that the Type 15 V16 Continuation has been unveiled, the firm’s future looks bright.

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RM SOTHEBY’S

14 HUMMER

TO be filed in the ‘What the…’ category. The original Hummer brand was freighted with military connotations. That, and profligacy. It departed for the afterlife in 2009 due to the parlous state of parent company General Motors.

Scroll forward to January 2020, and a series of teaser films appeared, including one during the Super Bowl.

They confirmed rumours that had been circulating of a revival of the brand – but not the sort of monstrous gas-guzzler that was once Hummer’s stock in trade.

Nope, the new breed would be powered by batteries.

Two models were touted, albeit with Hummer as a model name rather than a marque in its own right.

The inelegantly named GMC Hummer EV SUT would be an electric pick-up, the Hummer EV SUV an, er, SUV. The former broke cover in October 2020, the latter in April ’21. Whether the world is ready for such vehicles remains to be seen, but the prospect of 1000bhp and a three-second 0-60mph time in top-flight trim is tantalising. And a bit scary...

RIGHT Promise of De Tomaso Deauville came to naught after the boss was jailed for misappropriation of Government funds.

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DE TOMASO DE TOMASO’S reappearance at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show heralded a period that was murky, at best. Two years earlier, rights to the dormant trademark had been acquired by former Lancia CEO Gian Mario Rossignolo. Big things were promised, not least a new two-seater sports car, a ‘crossover’ SUV-type

13

machine, and a luxurious super-saloon.

Only the crossover was seen publicly. The big reveal in Switzerland was without razzmatazz, the use of the Deauville tag also representing a revival of a De Tomaso model name of old. This square-rigged machine was to have been available in petrol- and diesel-engined forms, with manufacture taking place at the former Pininfarina plant in Grugliasco. However, the new operation soon came apart at the seams; Rossignolo was arrested for the misappropriation of around €7.5m of Government and EU money. In 2018, he was sentenced to five-anda-half years’ imprisonment.

Rights to the De Tomaso name were subsequently acquired by Norman Choi of Ideal Team Ventures. The retro-styled P72 supercar was launched at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

12 11 MERCER

THE car pictured above cast a long shadow. Its creation arguably denoted the firstever marque revival. As with the Ghia-crafted Duesenberg, the roots of the Mercer revival lay in an article that appeared in the December 1963 edition of Esquire. George Hartley, president of the Copper Development Association of New York, wanted to produce a show car that made use of copper, bronze and brass, as he was eager to make the auto industry aware of their properties and potential applications. He fell in love with Virgil Exner’s rendering of a modern-day Mercer.

Exner agreed to create a full-scale version, with Turin’s Sibona-Bassano being tasked with creating the body on a Shelby Cobra platform that had been lengthened by 381mm (15in).

The finished article took its bow in December 1964 as the Mercer Cobra. Unique features included swing-out headlights along with coppercoated bumpers, grille and wheel covers. Then there were the copper disc brakes and lines, radiator tank, instrument bezels…

LAGONDA

LAGONDA’S narrative is one of peaks and troughs, from victory at Le Mans in 1935 despite bankruptcy hearings.

That, and William Towns’ ‘wedge’ saloon that saved parent firm Aston Martin from ruin 40-something years later. There have been a few fallow periods, though, with only the odd stretched Virage-based four-door and equally infrequent concept maintaining the line since.

The name was revived in 2009 when Aston unveiled an SUV concept. Reaction to this huge car was mixed, but the firm followed through with the fabulous V12 Taraf super-saloon in 2015, with 120 sold at $1m a pop.

Lagonda as a brand is unlikely to disappear again any time soon, the name being touted as a super-luxurious brand of autonomous EVs for the near future.

Top 50 marque revivals

9

HYMAN

JENSEN

10 STUTZ

YET another product of Virgil Exner’s fertile imagination, the ‘new’ Stutz arrived in 1969. Funded by New York banker James O’Donnell, the prototype was crafted by Ghia and based on a Pontiac Grand Prix. The second Blackhawk made, this time by Carrozzeria Padane, was sold to Elvis Presley. ‘The King’ would subsequently acquire three more, one of which was customised by George Barris. Other showbusiness

glitterati – including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Lucille Ball and Johnny Cash – followed his lead.

Exner was working on a range of sister models when, in December 1973, he died after suffering an aneurysm.

It fell to others, including former Pininfarina man Paolo Martin, to realise subsequent variations. And there were many, each seemingly more extravagant than the last.

Each model employed adapted GM-sourced chassis, including a run-out SUV based on a Chevrolet Suburban platform. Options included a machine gun.

Naturally. As many as 600 Blackhawks and associated spin-offs were reputedly made to 1987.

WEST Bromwich’s greatest export closed its doors in 1976. However, the Jensen name has since made repeat comebacks, none of which has prevailed. The S4 emerged at the 1983 London Motorfair, which foretold a run of Interceptors in all but name (the show car was actually a heavily reworked series 3 Interceptor).

It was a big money spinner. That was followed by a brief attempt at a revival with a car shaped by Simon Saunders (it remained a model). Then there was the all new retro-styled coupé engineered under John Mangoletsi, who reanimated BRM shortly thereafter. That didn’t came to pass, either, although the chassis was completed and a Chevy V8 engine with a bespoke ally block fashioned.

Scroll forward to 1998-2000, and the unrelated Jensen SV8 and CV8 (below) broke cover. The distinctive Ford V8-engined SV8 roadster entered production in Speke, Liverpool, in August 2001. The firm entered administration a year later. The name has been kicked around ever since, most recently in 2015 when pics emerged of a clay model of a new Interceptorstyle vehicle to be made by The Jensen Group.

87 BRABHAM

BRABHAM is one of the greatest names in postwar motor sport history.

Nevertheless, the brand as a constructor was sullied during the fag-end years of the early 1990s. After dismal performances in 1992, the game was up. However, David Brabham, the third son of three-time World Champion Jack, returned to the category as a driver in 1994 with Simtek. He would go on to enjoy a strong career in sports cars, which culminated in victory at Le Mans in 2009.

Having driven for the Brabham F1 squad in 1990, he had seen how poor results and a lack of finance had negatively affected the family name. That, and the standing of the brand, the glory days of the team under Jack Brabham/Ron Tauranac and then Bernie Ecclestone being a thing of the past.

Repeat attempts at a revival, not least by Franz Hilmer in 2010, had come to naught. In 2013, David wrestled back control of all rights to use the family name, and five years later he ushered in the BT62 hypercar.

M AY B A C H

MAYBACH was one of the great German marques prior to World War Two. However, production of motor cars didn’t recommence after the end of hostilities, and rights to the name passed to Daimler-Benz in 1960.

A new standalone model would not be seen publicly until an ultra-luxurious saloon was shown in concept form at the 1997 Tokyo Motor Show. Five years later, the huge Maybach 57 and 62 (above) entered production, their numerical designations denoted their lengths in decimetres. Obviously.

With Nick Faldo onboard as a brand ambassador, all looked rosy. DaimlerChrysler predicted sales of 2000 cars per year, with North America accounting for half that figure. However, customers seemed rather hard to come by, and manufacture ended in 2012.

As of 2018, a mega-luxurious variant of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class has been offered under the MercedesMaybach banner. It is, we’re told, aimed at those who don’t want to make a statement. Expect more Maybach-ised super-Mercs in the immediate future, too.

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6 4 RIGHT So far, beautiful build quality and jewel-like detailing haven’t been enough to keep Spyker in business.

ALAMY

AUDI

IN terms of generating a profit, Audi has made more money in the past 24 hours than most of the other marques mentioned here combined. And yes, Audi is a revived marque, even if disentangling its lineage can be migraine inducing.

In a nutshell, August Horch’s attempts at making cars in his own name ran into the thicket of trademark infringement. He wasn’t allowed to use his own surname any more, hence he went with Audi. ‘Horch’ is a derivative of horchen, which means ‘to listen’. The Latin

ABARTH

translation of horchen is audiere, a verb that when conjugated becomes audi.

The upshot was that the first Audi, the Type A, was launched in 1910. Audi merged with DKW and Wanderer in 1932 to form Auto Union. The DKW brand was the dominant partner, so the Audi brand was axed in 1939. Scroll forward 25 years, and VW acquired Auto Union from Daimler-Benz and the Audi tag was dusted off. This is but a thumbnail sketch of what transpired, but the revived marque went on to do rather well for itself. And how.

SPYKER SO, where to begin? Ever since the ‘new’ Spyker company emerged blinking into the light in 1999, it hasn’t failed to make headlines. It offered some of the most outré supercars ever to turn a wheel; the sort that appeared a mite odd, with packed cabins that made those found in Pagani Zondas appear pedestrian.

Oh, and then it entered Formula 1 by acquiring the Midland (né Jordan) team

ahead of the 2007 season. It then vacated the scene after just a year. And then this tiniest of boutique brands ‘rescued’ Saab from oblivion, only to then ‘un-rescue’ it.

Meanwhile, there are all the various ‘financial restructurings’, the most recent bankruptcy taking place in January 2021.

Given all the noise surrounding the marque, it’s easy to forget that Spyker products have generally been beautifully made, sounded like thunder, only angrier, and had jewel-like detailing. There’s a reason why Louis Vuitton was an official partner, providing bespoke luggage. You could never accuse Spykers of being to all tastes – or of being tasteful – but they have always had character and charm in abundance.

LEFT Audi remains a rare marque revival success story, but disentangling its early years can be migraine inducing.

MORE a brand revival rather than a marque revival per se, the rebirth of Abarth in 2007 nevertheless was a cause of much rejoicing for lovers of historic Italian makes.

The scorpion logo had, for much of its time under Fiat, been underused save for merchandising keyrings and other tat. That said, when Abarth was reborn there were plans to produce standalone sports models as well as hotted-up production cars. At one point, there was talk of an Abarth-ised Lotus Elise. Similarly, the Alfa Romeo 4C was rooted in an unrealised Abarth project.

Abarth has been successfully revived, though, the name being applied to the sort of products that were once synonymous with the brand to the wider populace: small Fiats. In fact, the number of different iterations of Fiat 500 has been utterly bewildering, seemingly multiplying exponentially each week.

As of 2024, however, expect all Abarth-branded cars to be electric. Given that the marque is rooted in the manufacture of exhaust systems – and loud ones at that – the irony of it making near-silent cars won’t be lost on the brand faithful.

3 MAGIC CAR PICS

LISTER

THIS tiniest of British makes is this high up in the listing for one simple reason: the second coming added further lustre to the original Lister name.

The story began in 1984, when Brian Lister granted Jaguar specialist Laurence Pearce permission to use the revered moniker. This led to a series of outrageous XJ-S conversions such as the Le Mans and Mk3, before thoughts turned to producing a supercar of its own. Joining the herd and making something mid-engined was never on the cards, though.

Basis for Pearce’s frontengined super-GT was a monocoque comprising thin outer sheets of aluminium that sandwiched a honeycomb centre section. The heart of the beast was Lister’s Jaguarbased V12 – complete with twin Albrecht superchargers – that was allied to a six-speed Getrag ’box. The shape of the car was to some extent dictated by the method of construction, honeycomb

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sandwich ally not being the easiest material to contort into curves.

Unveiled at the 1993 London Motor Show (né Motorfair), the Storm caused a furore, as much for its radical outline as for its claimed power. According to the factory bumf, the car’s 6997cc V12 produced a huge 594bhp at 6100rpm and 580lb ft of torque at 3450rpm.

And while conceived as a road car, the Storm proved a dominant player in GT racing. In 2000, Julian Bailey and Jamie Campbell-Walter claimed five wins, with the works squad taking the teams’ crown.

It didn’t end there. Works and privateer cars also gained eight wins in the 2000 British GT Championship. Lister Storm Racing followed through in 2001, with David Warnock and Mike Jordan taking seven wins. The brand is currently enjoying another renaissance under Lawrence Whittaker, not least for its Continuation cars and new Jaguar-based offerings.

ALPINE IT may come as a surprise that Alpine is this high up here, not least because the resurgent brand has been making cars again for only three years. You shouldn’t be shocked. It’s here because it has burnished the standing of the original marque. And how. The original outfit under Jean Rédélé punched above its weight time and time again. Under full Renault ownership it did more of the same. This marque accrued countless victories in blue-chip rallies – not to mention the Le Mans 24 Hours.

That Alpine is back is something of a miracle given that it exited in 1996 with barely a whimper. However, around 2010 news leaked that the brand could possibly, perhaps, maybe being making a comeback.

The Renault Alpine A110-50 concept car of 2012 looked sexy, but it was only ever going to be a one-off. A much-publicised tie-up with Caterham Cars faltered, which left Renault to go it alone. Jumping forward in the narrative, the new A110 came online in 2018 upon which it prompted a torrent of purple gush in the motoring media. And with good reason; it’s a credible rival to the Porsche Cayman.

Not only that, but the name is back in motor racing – and at the highest level.

Strictly speaking, Alpine’s arrival in F1 in 2021 marks a rebranding of the existing Renault Sport squad (itself formally Toleman, Benetton and ‘new’ Lotus…), but there is no denying the ambition to further the marque’s reach on the global stage.

Victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix for Esteban Ocon is, we suspect, just for openers. Throw in a 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship, albeit with the brand employing a proprietary chassis, and what’s not to love?

ABOVE Launching a credible Porsche rival is always going to get you places, as Alpine has found with its A110.

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THERE was only ever going to be one winner. While definitely not to all tastes, latter-day Bugattis make other hypercars appear unimaginative. Nothing about them is in the realm of the ordinary. Consider the spec of the EB110 (top left) that was unveiled at the Place de Défense, Paris on September 14, 1991. Here was a car that boasted an all-alloy, 60-valve V12 equipped with four turbos.

The carbonfibre ‘tub’ was made by French aeronautics company Aerospatiale, the super-structure skinned in hand-formed aluminium.

Oh, and this 4WD wonder established a 212.5mph top-speed world record.

Of course, the small matter of the world’s economy crashing blunted its chances. Deliveries began in December 1992 and ended in September 1995, by which time 85 GTs had been made, plus 30 carbonfibre-bodied Supersports (and 13 mules).

Following the bankruptcy sale, Le Mans-winning team boss Jochen Dauer acquired a batch of partially built cars and added a few tweaks.

Matters then took a turn for the fascinating; VW acquired the rights to the name for a rumoured £20m before unleashing the jaw-dropping Veyron. The thing is, the end product (left) didn’t quite match up to the brief.

And it was the notoriously self-directed VW Group czar Ferdinand Piëch who gave his put-upon factotums the craziest of mandates; build a 1000bhp hypercar capable of

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B U G AT T I

at least 250mph. Following repeat delays, the 16-cylinder Veyron 16.4 was officially revealed in 2005. It let the side down rather by having only 987bhp on tap (1001 when measured in PS…).

Never mind; the model was clocked at 253.81mph at the Ehra-Lessien test track in Lower Saxony. Inevitably, other variants followed, not least the Targa-topped Grand Sport and Grand Sport Vitesse plus, of course, the 1187bhp Super Sport that was capable of 267.8mph.

Despite price tags of more than £2m, VW lost a fortune on all 407 Veyrons made to 2013. Yet it seemed happy to toss millions more onto the pyre with the creation of the otherworldly Chiron.

Mirroring Piëch’s prior mandate, former Porsche R&D chief turned Bugatti/ Bentley boss Wolfgang Dürheimer gave his engineers one instruction: “Make the new car better than the Veyron in every respect.” They did just that.

While the fundamentals were familiar – a quadturbo W16, carbonfibre body, Ricardo trans and Haldex allwheel drive, this was more than a Veyron makeover.

Let’s process the stats: peak power – 1479bhp at 6700rpm. There’s 1180lb ft of torque from 2000-6000rpm.

It can accelerate to 60mph from a standstill in 2.4 seconds and hit 0-300km/h (0-186mph) in 13.6 seconds.

Oh, and in one independently verified record run, a Chiron was guided from zero to 400km/h (249mph) in 32.6 seconds before returning to a standstill 9.4 seconds later.

Nevertheless, when the car was first revealed in 2016, some quarters of the media couldn’t help but point out that it was slower than the Veyron Super Sport. Bugatti claimed it was limited to 261mph for ‘safety reasons’.

As to where Bugatti goes from here, not least in regards to a forthcoming joint venture with Porsche and EV superstar Rimac, who knows? All we can be sure of is that it will redefine our understanding of what constitutes a fast car.

Roach Manufacturing Ltd Off Whitemoor Lane, Ower, Nr. Romsey, SO51 6AJ Tel: +44 (0) 23 80 814287 Email: enquiries@roachmanufacturing.co.uk

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Market Watch: We look at Alpine A110 rally star

Watches and art: The retailer’s role, and David Chapple

Automobilia: What is the appeal of vintage oil cans?

Collecting: Leica cameras are now highly desirable

Books and products: From Miura Register to half-scale 917 art

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M A R K E T WAT C H

Alpine A110 The rear-engined French rally star comes in many guises – but if you choose wisely, any variant should be delightful to own and exhilarating to drive Words John Simister Photography Magic Car Pics

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FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS, the motoring press has raved about the fantastic, relatively affordable mid-engined sports coupé that isn’t a Porsche Cayman. It’s the current Alpine A110, a car that has held a special mystique for British buyers because, long ago, they were denied its forefather.

That influencer is the old A110; France’s Lotus Elan/Europa rival, the winner of the first World Rally Championship of Makes, a vision of low, rounded sleekness usually painted in metallic blue. And not mid-engined but rear engined. So it’s France’s Porsche 911 as well.

The Alpine story even began in a Porsche-like way. Founder Jean Rédélé built his first few sports coupés on a Renault 4CV platform.

Officially inaugurated in 1955, his firm was named Alpine because Rédélé had enjoyed traversing Alpine passes in his own tuned 4CV. The first production cars were dubbed A106, and by 1959 they were being built on Alpine’s own tubular backbone chassis design.

An A108 appeared in 1960 with Dauphine Gordini mechanicals. It set the style for the A110 Berlinette, revealed at the 1962 Paris Motor Show with Renault R8 mechanicals under the glassfibre skin. The Dauphine-like air intakes ahead of the rear wheels were deleted, although the indentations that led to them remained – and are reprised in the current A110.

The first A110 offered just 55bhp from its 956cc ‘Sierra’ five-bearing engine, yet Alpine claimed it would still breach 100mph. A further 28 variations would emerge from the Dieppe factory until production of the final 1600 SX model ceased in 1977, including 1100s, 1300s, just 44 1500s and a good many 1600s.

Even those nominal engine-size designations saw variations from standard Renault capacities, and in power, too, thanks to Gordini or Mignotet tuning ministrations. A 1300, for example, could have an engine of 1296cc, 1255cc or 1289cc from 1966 through to 1976, while power progressively dropped from 120bhp down to 81bhp.

The 1600s, conversely, gradually became more potent; 92bhp from

OPPOSITE AND ABOVE Plenty of A110s have been used for motor sport, as with this 1974 example. a Renault-standard 1565cc in 1969, rising to 140bhp from 1605cc (to put the A110 in a higher-capacity competition class) in 1973. From this base came the 1800 Gp 4 Usine, the ready-to-go rally car with 185bhp from 1798cc that was even faster than 1972’s 1600 S Gp IV (1596cc, 172bhp).

The exception to this risingpower trend was the final 1600, the 1976-77 SX. Its 1647cc managed a gentle 109bhp, not least because it used a single downdraught Weber rather than hotter A110s’ pairs of horizontal twin-chokes.

Crucial when considering any A110 for sale is to discover exactly what you are looking at – and to check that what it really is corresponds with what the seller says it is. Consider the intriguing matter of the non-French Alpines...

Most numerous of these are the 1566 cars built from 1967 by Spain’s local-market Renault assembler FASA. All had regular Renault capacities; 1108cc, 1289cc and 1397cc, the last of these never used

‘Over-restored Alpine A110s are frowned upon.

It’s tantamount to vandalism’

in Dieppe A110s. An A110 1400, then, is by definition Spanish built.

Manufacture from 1977-78 made the 1400 the A110’s final flourish a year after French production ended.

It’s also possible that you might find one of the 500 or so A110s built in Mexico by DINA (Diesel Nacional). These Dinalpins were made from 1964-72, and were of 956cc or 1108cc. Or even a 1108cc Bulgaralpine, built from 1968-70 from 200 kits supplied by Dieppe.

While it’s not known how many kits became completed cars, this did enable the Alpine to be homologated for Bulgarian motor sport.

For that was what had become the A110’s key role; to compete in rallies, or at least to look like it was going to. “The attitude among owners is that it’s your car, so you can make it just as you like it,” says Tim Moores, former A110 registrar for the UK’s Club Alpine Renault and owner of a rally-spec A110 originally owned and campaigned

by French rally star Christine Dacremont. “They are all a bit different. Jean Rédélé noticed a crack in my car’s bodywork. ‘Bon! C’est la guerre,’ he said. Overrestored cars are frowned upon.

It’s tantamount to vandalism.”

T H E VA L U E P R O P O S I T I O N Market dynamics clearly differ from what is the norm for highvalue cars. Provenance counts, of course, but ‘correctness’ is flexible.

Matching-number fans will find an A110 unsettlingly uncertain here, because the factory didn’t record

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VA LU E S F R O M HAGERTY PRICE GUIDE

VA LU E P E R FO R M A N C E

Many different engines, conditions and race histories result in a big spread of prices and a lot of research to do when shopping for an A110. In general, the later and hotter rally-spec cars are the most valuable; the current auction record is €369,520 (about $418,500), which bought an ex-works Portugal-Rally winner in Paris 2019.

Because most A110s are in Europe, a search for a good one will likely lead you there. Launch of the new A110 in Europe appears to have had little effect on the US classic A110 market.

Unsurprisingly for a model of this age, A110s are disproportionately popular among older buyers. Boomers make up 47 percent of interest, even though they account for just 37 percent of the collector car market as a whole.

As demand for A110s grew, Alpine contracted out construction to firms in Spain, Brazil, Mexico and even Bulgaria. Most of the foreign-made ones were built by FASA-Renault in Spain, but the ones seen most in the US are the Mexican Dinalpins. The contract-built cars are essentially identical, and are rarer, but command rather lower prices than home-grown A110s, making them tempting value.

the engine numbers. None of this has prevented values from rising rapidly over the past decade or so. From being as affordable as an Elan or 911 once was, with £15,000-£20,000 sufficient to secure a really good one, Alpines are now typically at least £50,000 – and usually rather more.

Hagerty’s valuation tool shows us the current state of the A110 as an appreciating asset. The cheapest way into this international ‘family’ of owners is with the V85, or lowtune 1300 as it became, of 1970-76.

With a single Weber 32 DIR carb, four-speed gearbox (most A110s have five ratios) and just 81bhp, it’s the least glamorous A110, and a tired one can be yours for around £28k. That’s if you can even find such a car, given that total Dieppe production of all A110 Berlinettes was just 7176 units.

That base 1300 rises to £62k for ‘concours’, but you can double that

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£120,000

£100,000

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CONCOURS

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EXCELLENT

3

GOOD

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FAIR

ALPINE A110 1600 SC ALPINE A110 1300 S

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£60,000 3

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£20,000 2012

and more for the most lusted-after production A110, the 1600 S with its 138bhp or 140bhp and twin 45s.

These start at £50k for a ‘fair’ car, rising to £78k for ‘good’ and busting £100k for ‘excellent’. The 1300s are less costly, the 1300 S with twin 40DCOEs and 120bhp starting at £41k and peaking at £98k; lower-tune (but still twincarb) 1300s are a little less.

From 1974, the 1600s gained the double-wishbone rear suspension of the larger A310, spelling the end of that madly negatively cambered look that went with swing-axles

‘Even without the flared arches of the later rally cars, it looks lean, lithe and ready to hurtle’

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and a low ride height. It made for rather more benign handling, but it doesn’t help values today. Both the 140bhp 1600 SC and the final 109bhp 1600 SX start around £40k and peak around £95k, with £78k buying a very smart example.

A 1600 SC, then, might well be the ‘value’ choice. Unless, that is, you favour an earlier car, perhaps pre-1971, which was when Renault took over Alpine. Among such cars, a 120bhp 1300 S matches those 1600 SC values quite closely.

There’s an interesting wild card to ponder, however. The first and purest examples of a breed often attract great interest – think 1959 Mini, flat-floor E-type – and it seems to apply to A110s, too.

Hagerty reports that early 1100s with just 66bhp – the 70 – more or less mirror the 1600 S for values across the condition spectrum.

Strange, perhaps, but true.

And those Spanish cars? They

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are worth maybe five or ten percent less than those from Dieppe, which sounds like a bonus to us.

T H E D E S I R A B I L I T Y FA C T O R In 1960s and ’70s Britain we were deprived of new A110s, all of which were left-hand drive. So we had to make do with reading rally reports and driving impressions to give us glimpses into this car’s high-octane life. For us it was an unattainable exotic, even though it was made in a factory just a shortish ferry crossing from Sussex.

What glimpses! Those negatively cambered rear wheels, ready to dig into a bend. The lowness. The aura of a car for the lithe and fit, because otherwise you won’t get into it.

None of this has diminished Quite the opposite – next to a modern A110, the original seems tiny. But even without the fat wheels and flared arches of the later rally cars, it looks lean, lithe

TIMELINE

1962

A110 Berlinette with 956cc engine is revealed at October’s Paris show.

1967

The 1.0-litre model has gone and the 1100 is joined by two tunes of 1300 plus a 1500. Spanish production begins.

1968

Renault allows Alpine to use its dealer network.

In return, the A110 gets a Renault badge on its nose and Alpine Renault badging on the tail.

1969

The nose gains inner headlights, rare cabrio and long-wheelbase models are deleted, and the 1600 S is revealed.

1971

A110 wins European Rally Championship for Makes.

1973

A110 wins first World Rally Championship and Renault takes a majority stake in Alpine.

and ready to hurtle; the bestlooking A110s are the more subtle ones, with gentle arch-lips intact.

It’s a great shape, the work not of Giovanni Michelotti as is often supposed, but partly of Serge Zuliani, a young graduate in industrial design hired by Rédélé to remodel the tail of the A108.

That car, whose forward sections were carried over to the A110, had been shaped by Philippe Charles.

You’re very low to the ground once installed in an A110. You sit with your knees high, your legs out in front over a transverse hump beneath which lies a stout chassis crossmember, and pointing slightly, like your arms, towards the car’s centre line. Your left shoulder is in intimate contact with the door.

It’s cosy, but not claustrophobic, because the glass area is large and the pillars slender. The two tiny rear seats are better used for luggage.

Ahead are hefty, chrome-ringed

dials and switchgear – three stalk controls and a lighting master switch. Under the front-externalhinged bonnet are the fuel tank and spare wheel, with little space for much else. Engine accessibility depends on model year; a panel behind the rear seats comes out to reveal some of what can’t be seen from the bay, and double-rearwishbone cars have a removable tail transom to enable the engine to be withdrawn rearwards.

All A110s have that particular rear-engined rortiness than comes from a necessarily short exhaust.

Combined with the inhalations of most versions’ four carb venturis, it makes for a fittingly eager soundtrack for a car that even at its heaviest weighs just 750kg.

Most A110s weigh around 700kg or less. Quick rack-and-pinion steering and precise yet supple suspension make this a car that just flows along the road. The

tail-heaviness does not manifest itself provided you let the Alpine settle into a bend before powering out: gently in, fast out.

To sit beside an A110 expert, as this writer did next to racer and rally driver Alain Serpaggi a few years ago on an icy Alpine col, is to see all fear of tail-waywardness transformed into total control as you powerslide through bend after slippery bend. The tail-happiness of a swing-axled A110 seems quite benign and highly entertaining. My own experience of driving a late, double-wishbone car revealed its extraordinary keenness to change direction, and its equal enthusiasm to tell me exactly what was happening under its wheels so it never once felt wayward.

It was a total joy. Jean-Claude Andruet, Ove Andersson (Monte winners both in A110s), Michèle Mouton, Bernard Darniche, JeanPierre Nicolas, Jean-Luc Thérier

1974

Double-wishbone rear and a five-speed ’box for 1600s; Michèle Mouton becomes European Women’s Rally Champion in an A110.

1975

Mouton repeats her feat, and tightening emissions rules lead to the 1600 SX with a 1647cc Renault 16 TX powertrain.

1976

The 81bhp 1300 and the 1600 SX are the only A110s left in production, high-power models having been deleted.

1977

Dieppe build ends; final 1600 SX is metallic green.

1978

Spanish production ends; final car is a Spain-only 1400.

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and all the others, we can see just why you were able to do such magical things with these cars on Europe’s rallies. No wonder the brief to the creators of the Lancia Stratos was “Beat the Alpines”.

T H E N U T S A N D B O LT S The glassfibre body is made from two halves; a lower one with floor, wheelarches and bulkheads, and an upper one with the superstructure and fixed outer panels. Its tubular backbone chassis and associated reinforcements are bonded to it.

Despite its light weight, the A110 is anything but flimsy. In fact, it’s famously strong and durable.

The transverse crossmember can corrode at its outer ends, but repairs are possible in situ, while any body cracks tend to be minimal, superficial and, as Rédélé said, seen as authentic war wounds.

A110 lore says that Spanish bodyshells are made from thicker glassfibre, and so are heavier – deemed not to be a good thing. Tim Moores, however, dismisses this as “an old wives’ tale”, pointing to minimal disparity in the overall weight of French and Spanish cars, and revealing that Spain even supplied some shells to Dieppe. It’s useful, though, to know how to identify local content that qualifies Spanish Alpines as being so built.

Slightly larger Perspex covers for the outer headlights is one marker, the cars’ unique three-pointed-star wheel pattern is another.

Various ID plates contain much useful data, although the chassis itself is not always numbered. In French cars, the diamond-shaped plate reveals the type of Alpine, eg A110V85, and the number of the particular car. The oval ‘carrosserie’ plate details body type and kit, and the rectangular plate shows the paint brand and type (acrylic, cellulose etc), and colour code.

Decoding these details, using information from the owners’ club or from specialists (of which there are many in France, few in the UK), will tell you what a given car is meant to be. It’s impossible to go into all of the variations here.

As is usual among low-volume specialists, Alpine used many parts

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ABOVE Alpine A110 was rallied in period by the likes of Andruet, Andersson, Mouton and Darniche. from mass-production cars. As well as the obvious Renault-based mechanicals, the firm incorporated components from Peugeot, Simca, NSU and even, for late taillights, Alfa Romeo. Double-wishbone cars (type VD and VH on the diamondshaped plate) look a little different from those with swing axles, not only underneath at the back where a sheet-steel, turreted construction replaces the former tubes, but also outside with push-button doors instead of regular handles, deletion of the air slots below the outer headlights, and four-bolt (instead of three-bolt) wheels in the smooth, dished, slim-slot style of the Renault 5 Alpine (Gordini in the UK).

So, what goes wrong? Nothing dramatic, says Tim Moores – just the usual wear-and-tear items and

‘The version doesn’t matter all that much as long as it’s sound and proper’

a gradual increase in scruffiness in neglected cars. Do check on the gearbox mountings, which tend to delaminate, and the rear wheel bearings, which originally are single row. If you can wobble a back wheel, the bearings probably won’t have had the common upgrade to two-row items.

Despite being tucked away in the engine bay, the radiator easily keeps the motor cool. Earlier cars rely on the fan for air throughput; later ones have scoops on top of the rear wings and a ducting system to the radiator by which an oil cooler, if fitted, resides. If one is not fitted, it’s vital that the aperture that feeds it is closed off, otherwise air intended for the rad will escape.

A110 parts are readily available from France, including panels and a complete chassis. Tim Moores reckons supply now is better than 15 years ago, which bodes well for the future. He describes routine maintenance as easy, but changing the brake master cylinder less so.

And he warns against cars built from pieces of diverse A110s in the hope of making a quick killing.

“Know what you’re looking at,” he says, “and beware of cars described as something they are not, or which have been in the hands of non-experts.”

T H E D E TA I L S 1966-71 ALPINE A110 1300 S ENGINE

1296CC OHV FOUR-CYLINDER

POWER

120BHP

TOP SPEED

137MPH

0-60MPH

8.0 SECONDS

THE FINAL DECISION The choice for sale is never large – fewer than 100 are thought to be in the UK, for example – so it could be tempting to leap on a car that suddenly appears in the classifieds.

Armed with your research you’ll be able to gauge provenance and authenticity, so then it comes down to whether it’s the version you want.

All have their merits; all are lively, agile and great to gaze upon.

Even the cheapest, lowest-powered model will be a blast to drive, and no one will mind if you tune it up with A110-appropriate parts. A hot 1300 is a hoot, a hot 1600 is the pinnacle, a final 1600 SX is gentler but relaxed and surprisingly refined.

Frankly, the version doesn’t matter all that much as long as it’s sound and proper. It doesn’t even have to be metallic blue. Original colours include yellow, aubergine, coral pink – and a choice of two blues.

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A C Q U I R E

M A R K E T A N A LY S I S

Buy for the right reasons ‘Buying as an investment’ should be well down on your list of reasons to purchase a classic car – but if you insist, make sure you follow our advice Words Dave Kinney

UNLESS YOU ARE IN THE business of buying and selling automobiles, here is some helpful advice. You should always buy for enjoyment, never for the potential investment. That said, a large percentage of people seem to ignore this guidance. This article, therefore, is for you – the ones (myself heartily included) who tend not to listen to advice, even when it’s good advice.

Buying a car for a long-term investment can be fraught with potential missteps, many relating to the vehicle’s physical structure.

We can address that one in a few simple words; unless you are very handy with all kinds of automotive DIY, buy the best example you can afford. Period. It’s better to borrow the money than to constantly fix, restore or redo. So let’s go look for

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our collector car as an investment.

First, do your homework. You can’t just buy with passion when looking for your next collectable auto. You have to keep an open mind. Brand loyalty? Best to put that aside, even when it hurts to admit that possibly your dream car no longer suits your investment plan. Your dream model is your dream, and it might not be the same for the next person. Dealers have a saying: “You make your money when you buy the car, not when you sell it.” It pays to keep that in mind, even if you are in for the long term.

Let’s start with the best advice I can give. Buy your investment car from a generation or two down. If you are in your 60s, buy one that appeals to someone in their 30s or 40s. If you are in your 40s, buy a

car that tempts a 20-something.

Hagerty has charted some of the models that appeal to many of its North American Generation X and Millennial buyers, and while this is just a snapshot, not a complete list, it makes for interesting reading.

Why buy younger? Just like when you were in your 20s or 30s, there is a desire to buy but not the resources. Education, housing and childcare expenses come first when you are younger, but after a few decades of work (at least in theory) you might have the spare cash for an indulgence. And for many, that extravagance just might be that car they have desired ever since their second or third decade, the model that they imprinted on and always coveted. When that generation has the ready cash, history shows that prices start to move upwards.

Importantly, the car absolutely has to appeal to you, the investor, as well. If you’re not into it, just buy an index fund or something that takes no passion.

Next up are the storage and use questions. Do you have a safe and secure place to store your investment? Is it on property that you already own, or is it leased, or borrowed from a friend or neighbour? If you are in control of your storage space, then good on you. Remember, though, if you were to rent that space out, this might be a better way to make money rather than owning a car. Why? If

ABOVE & LEFT Nissan Skyline and Subaru WRX STI have Millennial appeal, says Hagerty.

‘If you’re not into a particular car, just buy an index fund or something that takes no passion’

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you had rented that space out for, say, a very reasonable $200 per month, then each year your investment auto will have to beat $2400 in appreciation to match the lost-opportunity cost of renting that space to others. In ten years, that number reaches $24,000, even if you don’t raise the lease price.

What about those other expenses that may come back to bite? Did you remember to calculate the cost of taxes, licence and usage fees? How hungry are the little critters in your garage? Mice, moths and other beasties can do substantial damage if your storage is not drum tight, and sometimes even if you think it is.

I once looked at a Ferrari Daytona that had been improperly stored for nearly 30 years. A small stream of water from a roof leak had, over time, ruined the paint on one fender through calcification, and had started to rust through the metal. And that small amount of water pooled on the opposite side, causing more rust.

Had it been a less expensive car, its value would be for parts only.

Properly stored, it would have been worth about 75 percent more.

Barn-find cars are all the rage right now, but will the market have a different sensibility in 25 years?

I’m not willing to take that gamble.

Will you use the car or put it into suspended-use mode? Should you ‘pickle’ it, drain all fluids, remove the battery (or batteries…)? My feeling is that you should use the car, even if you put, say, only 200 miles per year on the clock.

Automobiles like it better when they are driven. Remember, this isn’t a brick of silver but a working, complicated mechanical device.

Where 200 miles a year might work for some, 1000 might be a better goal for many. That way (dare I say) you might get some real enjoyment out of your investment.

While automotive systems will go bad when not used, repairing a

1970s car with bad brakes, for example, is mere child’s play when compared with replacing brakes on something from just two or three decades later.

I pick my cars for enjoyment, not investment – or at least I did, until earlier this year. Let me know in 20 years if you are looking for the only unmodified, nevervaped-in, low-mileage, all-original Subaru WRX STI, the one with the boy-racer wing and in World Rally Blue. And yes, I loved it even before I bought it. As an added bonus, it makes me feel a few decades younger when I drive it – and how does one put a value on that?

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WAT C H E S

The stamp of authenticity When it comes to watch collecting, the original retailer’s role is as important as that of the brand in creating the mystique Words Jonathon Burford

I’M VERY AWARE THAT IN THE modern world a mechanical watch, especially a vintage one, can be perceived as an obsolete and often expensive indulgence by those who don’t understand the passion many of us feel for these mechanical marvels. Our attachment is often based in romance, in our belief that watches tell us stories about these incredible watchmakers and the times they were working in, and the people who owned them. This helps to explain the desirability of watches with military-, diver- or explorer-related provenance.

Another way we connect these stories is through the first retailer.

Who was buying these beautiful, complicated Patek Philippes from Venezuela’s Serpico y Laino or Uruguay’s Freccero? Before wide international travel and brand boutiques in every city, these small retailers were the gatekeepers, selling the most important watches to the most interesting collectors.

Take Gondolo & Labouriau. In the early 1900s, Brazil’s gambling ban led to the creation of the private-members’ Gondolo Club.

Each member was required to buy a Patek Philippe for 790CHF, and they also received a unique number via raffle. Each member then paid 10CHF per week until their watch was paid for; however, Gondolo & Labouriau would host a weekly draw in which the initial winner received his watch for free, the second week’s winner had to pay a minimal amount and so on. By the 79th week, the remaining members

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had to pay the full amount for their watch – an ingenious circumvent of the gambling laws.

For years the brands’ retailer was their only access to these clients located all over the world, and the retailer/client relationship was as strong as that between brand and client. Primarily, these retailers would add their names to only the most important watches they sold, such as complicated Pateks or Audemars. However, there are also some unexpected and rare retailerstamped watches such as Hermes’ unique gold Rolex Daytona with Paul Newman dial, and another by Van Cleef & Arpels, or seldom-seen examples of sports Rolexes with Cartier-stamped dials retailed from the brand’s Fifth Avenue flagship for a short period in the 1960s.

London’s Asprey not only added its name to the dials, but struck a unique agreement with Rolex and other brands where it added the Sultan of Oman’s Khanjar to the

dial, sometimes even replacing the Rolex text below the coronet.

Probably the most famous and continuous relationship is between Patek Philippe and Tiffany & Co. Their formal agreement started circa 1876 with a handshake between Charles Lewis Tiffany and Antoni Patek, and Tiffany & Co remains the only retailer worldwide allowed to dial stamp Patek’s watches with its logo.

Given their inherent rarity on an already supply-restricted market, examples that come to sale publicly achieve significant premiums. In 2019, Sotheby’s auctioned two Patek Philippe Reference 2499s in the same auction. Both came from the same original owner, who had taken delivery of them 11 days apart in July 1984, and both remained in matching superb condition. Going under Sotheby’s hammer an hour apart, the standard watch ended up selling for $450,000 while the Tiffany-dialled

example went for $800,000.

Tiffany also used to retail Rolex watches, but the relationship ended in 1990, apparently acrimoniously.

Again, retailer-stamped Rolexes sell at a significant premium to standard variants, often up to double or more if they retain their papers. Given such premiums and continued demand, it is no wonder that some unscrupulous forgers have taken to ‘recreating’ retailer logos on standard dials. So, how do you avoid these watches?

Firstly, buy from a respected seller, as recourse in the event that an issue is discovered is essential.

Also, don’t expect the brands or retailers to have kept sales records; as a rule, they don’t (Beyer in Germany being an exception).

Scrutinise any paperwork that a watch may come with, because the retailer’s details are often noted on the certificates or warranty papers.

This isn’t foolproof, however; I’ve seen many badly added inauthentic

MOTORING ART

LEFT Patek Philippe and Tiffany & Co have had a formal relationship since around 1876.

retailer stamps on vintage papers.

Secondly, inspect the dial print under magnification. Retailer fonts used on Patek and Rolex dials vary greatly, and the location of the stamp is era and model specific.

For instance, Patek stopped retailers from placing their logo above the Patek one c.1960; Tiffany had a habit of doing this. Also look for blotchy or sloppily applied text, and check the alignment. Retailers apply their names locally, using the décalque technique of transferring the ink from an engraved metal plate via a silicone stamp, so these are not always perfectly executed.

Also, check for case engravings.

Tiffany usually scratched, and Argentina’s Joyeria Ricciardi often engraved, inventory numbers under the lugs, while Asprey (opposite) engraved its name on the case back.

Serpico Y Laino did similar with its initials and a metal designation (18k, or ACERO for steel).

Another thing to check is that the retailer in question was both in business and an authorised retailer when the watch was first sold; I was recently offered a Rolex with the stamp of Cuba’s Joyeria Riviera; it was an early 1970s watch, years after the retailer closed. In general, if you have any doubts, walk away.

But if you can acquire a good one, you will have one of the more storied, evocative and interesting niches in watch collecting.

Jonathon Burford is vice president and specialist at Sotheby’s watch department. For its ongoing Watches Weekly sales see www.sothebys.com.

A passion for excellence US artist David Chapple; an artist driven by colour, form, shape and the quest to continually hit the highest standards Words Rupert Whyte MANY OF THE MOST CREATIVE and unique styles to be practised among automotive artists can be found within (geographic) Europe, and in particular the UK. It is these artists who most successfully bridge the perceived gap between automotive art and fine art in the wider sense.

As illustrative storytellers, the artists on this side of the pond seem to have the market covered, too; for many years, the big automotive event organisers in the US have turned to British artists to produce their advertising poster images.

Nevertheless, my recent dedicated search through a wealth of American automotive artists – painters in particular – yielded an artist whose style and approach seemed a little more unusual. One who is not afraid to use bold colourways along with creative viewing angles and perspectives to produce striking artworks.

To say ‘an artist driven by colour, form, shape and excellence’ would be to describe David Chapple pretty well.

Formally trained in fine art at Hope College, Holland, Michigan, he has been painting cars his

whole life. His first commission was for his student union, and the work has kept on coming since. Now 52, Chapple still loves what he does. In fact, speaking with him it’s clear that he doesn’t feel like it’s work at all: “It really feels like I’ve been retired my whole life – never having to check into work is great,” he says.

That’s a perfect place to be as an artist if you want to keep the creative juices flowing.

It clearly works for Chapple.

Having also moved successfully into 3D works – unusual furniture and wall sculptures – he still paints in the traditional sense, and is always looking for new and creative ways to express his art. The walls of his studio are covered with notes and sketches of ideas that are yet to come to fruition, just waiting in the wings for the right time to emerge into reality.

Right from the start of his career, Chapple has tried to see his subject matter differently and develop his own unique style uninfluenced by other artists – although he admitted to studying and admiring the photorealist movement while at college, in particular American

artists Richard Estes and Robert Cottingham. However, his focus on gaining no influence means that even if he sees another artist’s work on the internet or social media, he will purposely avoid looking at it in order that his approach to his own art remains unadulterated.

That takes discipline and great belief in oneself.

Chapple is very exacting in his approach to producing new work. His 3D pieces typically take three to six months to complete, from sketching ideas and creating the individual pieces of the final wooden form by handcrafting locally sourced, air-dried poplar, to painting and many hours of lacquering, sanding and finishing before final assembly. More traditional paintings take between two and four months in general.

From the fortunate position of being able to sell pretty much everything he paints, David Chapple is content to depict what he wants to rather than be guided by a specific car, the market or whatever he thinks will sell. “I’m being true to myself,” he explains.

The conclusion is that he is very happy with his work and his own beliefs – and that relaxed, cheerful persona definitely comes out in his art.

Original paintings start at $6500 and sculptures from $8900.

Rupert Whyte runs Historic Car Art, www.historiccarart.net, selling original works and posters.

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AUTOMOBILIA

Is this the earliest automotive oil can?

Vintage oil cans can be deceptively absorbing, as their many fans will attest. We look at the niche petroliana branch of the collector world Words and photography Dr Fred Simeone

IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE motor car, adding, changing and discarding motor oil was much more commonplace than it is today. In the event that your automobile needed new oil, you would simply drive up to the nearest petrol station and request a top-off from the attendant. They would grab a fresh tin from their inventory, add it to your engine and discard that empty can.

Unbeknownst back then, these ‘empties’ with seemingly little value are now considered to be among the most coveted collectors’ items for enthusiasts.

At the time the standard volume was a quart, but tins were made available in sizes up to ten gallons, depending on the particular brand.

Since the vast majority of oil cans were discarded, those that remained unopened and in good condition were often the rarest and most desirable to collect.

Their accessibility, combined with their diversity in design, size and shape mean they have only gained in popularity in the succeeding years, becoming one of the more exciting things to collect and talk about in the world of petroliana. In fact, the massive amount of interest they generate is far more extensive than one might assume; a swift Google search will reveal multiple websites, collectors’ groups and pages dedicated to photographs and discussion.

It doesn’t matter whether these oil cans are common or rare – people like to talk about them, and

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on topics ranging from the analysis of their overall economic value to what criteria should be included when determining exactly how special each one is.

Here at the Simeone Museum we’re not in the oil-can business, but it would appear to us, as relative amateurs, that the most significant factors in their evaluation would be, in order: their age – the older the better; a compelling image or logo – the more interesting the better; their condition – the better…

One of the better-known and more highly collectable oil cans is an early Harley-Davidson version, which fetched well over $10,000 in a recent eBay auction. Another relatively early and hard-to-find example is a five-gallon Gamages can, probably from the late 1920s or early 1930s. Featuring an easily identifiable supercharged racing Bentley, just such an example can be found in our own collection.

This leads to the particular oil can shown here, which we have very recently discovered and is now also a part of our library’s collection. Based on our research, we think this might be the oldestsurviving oil can in the world. We

‘It doesn’t matter whether these cans are common or rare – people like to talk about them’

believe this very clear image is that of an 1897 De Dion-Bouton. The clarity is remarkable, especially when you consider this can will most likely be 125 years old next year. The young lady, dressed in what appears to be Victorian garb, only strengthens our belief that our estimation to its age is correct.

On the back are embossed the words “Société de Colombes”.

This translates loosely to “society of doves” – the name of the defunct manufacturer, about which we’ve so far been unable to locate more information. Below it we find “Exiger le Plomb de Garantie”, or loosely “require the guarantee seal”. Speaking of seals, notice the craftsmanship of the secure cap and spout, which add immensely to the overall look and wonderful

ABOVE Featuring a Victorian lady with a 1897 De DionBouton, this oil can is unique. aesthetic of this historic piece.

We can find zero evidence of surviving automotive oil cans from pre-1900, and the earliest ones that we do know about are from 1910 and later. When we consider all of these facts, we think it is safe to assume that this example is indeed from 1897 – which, given the absence of any others from the period, would make this the earliest-surviving automotive oil can in existence.

What do you think?

Thanks to Dr Fred Simeone of www.simeonemuseum.org and to Automobilia Resource magazine, www.automobiliaresource.com.

MATTHEW HILL COACH TRIMMING Untitled-1 2

interior restoration to the highest standard

www.matthillcoachtrimming.com info@matthillcoachtrimming.com +44 (0)1403 740182

18/10/2021 09:45

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COLLECTING

Leica cameras While most film cameras can now be had for junk-shop prices, Leicas – and Leica lenses – are soaring in value

WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES Leicas so collectable? The simple answer is that German optical company E Leitz of Wetzlar not only invented the 35mm camera, but also made some of the most finely engineered photographic equipment of any kind.

Other still cameras that used cine film had already been made when, on the eve of World War One, Leitz engineer Oskar Barnack designed the first prototype of what in 1925 became the Leica (‘Lei’ for Leitz, previously known for its microscopes and general optical equipment, and ‘ca’ for the manufacturer’s first-ever production camera).

Marketing a camera with such a small format – running cine stock sideways in his still camera, Barnack had turned the frame sideways and taken the opportunity to enlarge it to 24 x 36 millimetres – was a huge risk in the 1920s. Film sensitivity was incredibly low by our modern standards, equivalent to singlefigure ASA/ISO ratings where we now enjoy numbers in the thousands and tens of thousands, and fine-grain emulsions were yet to be developed. However, Barnack was not just an engineer but a good photographer in his own right, and he knew that the Leica’s handiness outweighed the limitations of the small negative.

Soon fitted with interchangeable, screw-mount lenses, the Leica I was then – in a stroke of genius – installed with an interconnected rangefinder to become the II, and with an additional slow

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shutter-speed escapement it next became the definitive III. Further development was denoted by IIIa, b, c, d (rare), f (there was no e) and g models, all using screwmount lenses and known today as Barnack Leicas in recognition of their original designer.

The M (which stands for messsucher – rangefinder) was a substantial redesign which incorporated the same focal-plane shutter with a hugely improved combined viewfinder/rangefinder and bayonet lens mount. The M series started in 1954 with the M3 (the M equivalent of the III) which was followed by the simplified, cheaper M2. Later models were numbered in sequence: M4 (1967); M5 (a none-too-successful, bigbodied version with a built-in light meter that appeared in 1971); and – now becoming collectable – M6 (introduced in 1984, effectively an M4 with a modern electronic meter).

So which cameras and lenses are the most sought after today?

“The low-production models and especially items in the best condition,” says specialist dealer Peter Loy. “Leica M prices have gone up a lot in the past few years. The Leica M3 is being bought by both collectors and ‘users’. Some of the younger owners have discovered film for the first time having started with digital, and many of them are buying M2s and M3s, which are a bit easier to use than the earlier screw-mount cameras.”

Loy continues: “There is also a lot more interest in the older

ABOVE M3 (top) and IIId among Leicas sold by Bonhams in recent years. Low production numbers and condition are key to value. lenses than previously, because they can be easily used on a huge variety of digital cameras, along with the film cameras they were intended for. There has always been a big demand from collectors and users in the Far East. Many of these buyers acquire lenses and have very large collections, but don’t really go for the cameras.”

But what about the Rs – the reflex Leicas? “Leitz’s SLR cameras have never had the same following as the rangefinder cameras,” explains Loy – indeed, the first Leicaflexes were known in some circles as ‘diesel Leicas’. “But as the rangefinder cameras have become more expensive, this has in turn pushed up the price of the SLRs.” Whichever Leica appeals to you,

he says: “Go for originality and condition. Be wary of buying on eBay or at auction, because the items are not always accurately described. You will pay more from a dealer, but you will also be able to return an item if it’s not as expected.”

As in the art and old-car world, fraud has reared its ugly head: “There are a lot of fakes of screw-mount cameras, based on Russian FEDs or Zorkis (Sovietera Leica copies), but with a little knowledge they are easy to spot.

“More of a problem are genuine Leica cameras that have been altered to look like a much rarer version. This includes special engravings, but also cameras that have been stripped of their chrome finishes and painted black. Some have been extremely skilfully done, and even major auction houses have been taken in.”

Thanks to Peter Loy of peterloy.com.

BONHAMS

Words Philip Whiteman

ASTON-MARTIN SHORT CHASSIS 15/98 YEAR:1938 | CHASSIS: C8/852/SO | £250,000 In 1936, following on from the highly successful 1.5-litre cars, Aston-Martin switched to producing 2-litre cars. The 15/98 model was designed as a collaboration between Aston-Martins long serving designer Claude Hill and R G Sutherland, who created a four-cylinder, single overhead camshaft design as per the 1.5 litres, but with the head flow reversed and a wet sump. A Moss gearbox, very effective Girling rod brakes, the chassis design, and the front suspension give this car exceptional handling and a very smooth ride. The 15/98 is an extraordinarily comfortable and swift car over long distances.

Having been completely restored and looked after by Ecurie Bertelli for many years, this car has seen many upgrades that include hydraulic brakes, alternator, ‘Speed Model’ clutch system, electric fan and uprated gearbox. The car has done a small amount of mileage since its restoration and is in immaculate condition.

This vehicle is a perfect car for touring, rallying or Concours.

A test drive is highly recommended.

+44 (0)1234 240024 | info@ecuriebertelli.com | ecuriebertelli.com | 53 Stilebrook Road, Olney, MK46 5EA, UK

SPEED

LEGACY

H E R I TAG E S E RV I C E A N D S A L E S F O R A L L JAG UA R S R E C O M M I S S I O N I N G F O R R OA D U S E | AU T H E N T I C I T Y P R E PA R AT I O N | M OTO R S P O R T ph | 61 2 9313 7866 • email | sales@paradisegarage.com.au • web | www.paradisegarage.com.au address | 25-27 Dunning Avenue Rosebery, Sydney Australia

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DIVERSIONS

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AMALGAM FORD GT40 1:8 SCALE

JONNY AMBROSE AUTO ART

This latest model lives up to Amalgam’s reputation for exacting standards; 4000-plus hours were spent developing the 1:8scale representation of Ford GT40 chassis 1075 as famously raced at Le Mans in 1969 by Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver. The model has been produced with the assistance of Ford and Gulf Oils. Just 199 are being made – and the first 50 buyers will also receive an art print of a Rainer Schlegelmilch photograph shot in the early stages of the 1969 24 Hours.

The model costs £10,350. www.amalgamcollection.com

Jonny’s sculptures blend modern manufacturing techniques with traditional hand-working skills.

His latest creation is a 2.5m-long, half-scale Porsche 917 in tubular carbonfibre and aluminium, connected by custom 3D-printed ‘organic’ joints. The stylised polygonal design creates a bold and playful 3D maze of interwoven lines at which to wonder.

The price? £37,900. www.jonnyambrose.com

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Compiled by Nathan Chadwick and Sophie Kochan

CHOPARD MILLE MIGLIA BAMFORD EDITION Formed via mutual love of automobiles, this specialedition chronograph brings Bamford’s more modern flourishes to the classic Mille Miglia design.

The 42mm-diameter case is made of bead-blasted stainless steel, which is designed to withstand any scratches (useful for those energetic mountain runs).

On the side, the crown is engraved with a steering wheel, and the pushers are piston shaped. The mixture of matt-grey dial and orange features are great for legibility, too.

Just 33 are being made, and each one costs £6950. www.chopard.com

FOPE FLEX’IT BRACELET WITH BLACK DIAMONDS This comfortable, adaptable bracelet from the EKA for Men collection is hand-crafted in Italy from 18 carat gold with either white-gold or rose-gold rondels with a black-diamond pave. Prices range from £3680 (16cm) to £3770 (17cm) and £3860 (18cm). www.fope.com

THE RUFFIAN EBIKE If the concept of eBikes appeals but the styling is a bit too modern for you, the Ruffian eBike range offers vintage motorcycle looks with electric oomph.

There’s a choice of 300Wh or 500Wh Bosch power packs that can charge on the move, connected to a Bosch CX motor with 75Nm of torque. The frame is made of aluminium, while the drivebelts are made from carbon for grease-free running. Prices start at €5299 for the Indian Red model shown. www.ruff-cycles.com

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DIVERSIONS

Compiled by Nathan Chadwick and Sophie Kochan

LOTUS X NORTON & SONS DRIVING JACKET Sorry, you can’t have one unless you’re buying an Evija, but we thought it interesting anyway, created as it is by Savile Row tailor Norton & Sons’ Patrick Grant and Lotus’s Russell Carr. Its shape echoes that of 1970s Team Lotus jackets, while the red stitching and three ventilation eyelets represent the taillights of the Evija and Elan respectively. www.lotuscars.com

ROGER DUBUIS EXCALIBUR SPIDER COUNTACH DT/X Seeing as it’s a Countach kind of issue, how about this timepiece, of which just eight have been made, inspired by Gandini’s masterpiece and priced at... $720,000.

We’re told that it’s influenced by the Lamborghini’s periscopio roof, NACA air intakes and rear light clusters, with the same hexagonal structure replicated and placed next to the ‘engines’ of the tilted flying double tourbillon.

The watch world at this level is a fascinating place. www.rogerdubuis.com

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MUDDUK LEATHER GOODS It’s time to start booking summer touring events again, and bespoke, fitted luggage simply makes life easier – as well as infinitely more stylish.

Bags such as the one pictured are hand-crafted to your specifications in Tuscany. Exact prices are available on request, due to the endless personalisation options from individual lining to initialisation and bespoke stitching. www.mudduk.com

The Vintage Watch Specialist We are qualified watchmakers with over 30 years of experience and source vintage watches that only meet the highest of standards.

Every watch we sell comes with the reassurance of a 24 month guarantee.

Buying, selling or need advice? www.watchesoflancashire.com Telephone 01254 873399

PERFORMANCE...not promises

TH3373 T Singer half page adv Magneto (93x248mm).indd 1

28-10-2021 10:46

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BOOK REVIEWS

The Lamborghini Miura Register The follow-up to Kidston’s now sold-out Miura book is no less essential – this isn’t a production record, it’s social history Review Nathan Chadwick

EVEN AMONG THE HARDIEST Miura fanciers, the concept of a book of build numbers might be perceived to be the preserve of only the most obsessed lover of Lamborghini’s first supercar. Far from it; the £350 Lamborghini Miura Register is a tome rich with intrigue, entertainment, tragedy, humour and everything in between.

Lavishly displayed, this volume has been a labour of love over two decades, which shows in the execution. The design is entirely suitable to the car itself, and the pictures of individual models are genuinely heart stirring.

However, it is the ownership stories that truly astound, such as the tale of chassis 01048, the 12th off the line. Sold originally to Italy, it found itself in Ireland, where it was involved in a fatal crash. A teenager by the name of Vaughan Henman – who had no licence and hitched from Norfolk to Kent – paid £2500 for the remains. The car is still around, although worth many more multiples of that.

The book is filled with such stories. Take chassis 5096 (P400 SV), ordered by Lamborghini GB in left-hand drive for Formula 1

‘Intimate shots of the Miuras integrated into everyday life really warm the heart’

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team owner Walter Wolf for use in Dubai, but crashed and abandoned in the desert for nine years. Or how about the one bought by Giuseppe Wilson, the Anglo-Italian footballer who played for Lazio from 1969 to 1979 and represented Italy in the 1974 World Cup? And what about... well, you get the idea.

All this is backed up with production records detailing what was specified where and by which dealer, and how the cars have moved across the globe in the decades since they left Modena.

As a finishing touch, the original Bertone ledger has been reproduced in glorious ‘Miuravision’ at the back of this 300-page book.

While there are many beautiful pictures of the cars at shows and on fashion photoshoots, as you would expect of an automotive supermodel such as the Miura, it’s the intimate shots of the cars integrated into everyday life – on driveways and Notting Hill streets and used as a children’s adventure playground – that really warm the heart. Of course, famous owners get a mention – and not just Rod Stewart’s multiple stewardship – with the likes of Elton John, Nicholas Cage, Jamiroquai’s Jay Kay and Eddie Van Halen cropping up. That said, not quite as often as a German writer of erotic fiction, who managed to own seven Miuras from across the epochs.

Many hours of fascinating reading lay in wait – never let it be said you haven’t been warned... www.miurabook.com

CLASSIC SHOWCASE CELEBRATING 60 YEARS OF THE E-TYPE

Great restored 1961 E-Types... Now Available technology

1961 JAGUAR XKE SERIES 1 OBL OTS CHASSIS No. 875132

1961 JAGUAR XKE SERIES 1 OTS CHASSIS No. 875781

1961 JAGUAR XKE SERIES 1 OBL OTS CHASSIS No. 875180

solution

Tyre flat spots never again!

Celebrate the 60th anniversary of the E-Type by experiencing one of our rotisserie-restored examples.

Now is your opportunity to own, drive, and collect an early first-generation XKE that exhibits everything you would expect from a Blue-Chip collectible.

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info@altairego.it

ALTairEGO tyre cushions sets are unique. 3 lines of products, Comfort, Showster and SToraway offering 14 different specific models ideal to preserve tyres’ vehicles with kerb weights between below 800 and upto 4000 kg. .

Brands here eventually represented are property of their respective owners.

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BOOK REVIEWS

Colin Chapman: Inside the Innovator Genius, ruthless, driven – Hethel’s maestro was a complex character, and this book doesn’t flinch from delving deep Review Nathan Chadwick

WITH THE EMIRA PUTTING Lotus to the forefront of people’s minds once again, Karl Ludvigsen’s insight into the company founder is very welcome. Colin Chapman: Inside the Innovator rightly pays tribute to his genius, but doesn’t shy away from some of the more awkward parts of his character, and the wider context of his actions.

Rather than produce a simple biography, Ludvigsen divides this £50, 550-page book into the thematic concepts with which Chapman always sought to push the envelope, such as concepts, structures, suspension, downforce, transmissions and aerodynamics.

Most telling? The chapter dedicated to his management style.

With testimony and input from great collaborators including Keith Duckworth and Ron Hickman, plus many more, we learn of how Chapman processed his ideas and built on them, taking influences from those he worked with. We also get insights into what the realities of living with a genius so driven must be like – such as the story of the Seven’s genesis, which was largely a way to avoid washing up the dishes after one Sunday lunch in the Chapman household.

‘Seven’s genesis was largely a way to avoid washing up after one Sunday lunch’

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It is these observations from those who knew the man best that elevate the story; the late Stirling Moss, for example, liked Chapman but compared him with trying to “look down a corkscrew straight – he had devious ways”.

Through it all we get a picture of Chapman’s determination and intriguing what-ifs; the story of what happened when Lotus was passed over for the GT40 project gives a real insight into his motivations. There isn’t a great deal on his DeLorean dealings, because, as the author himself points out, that story is best served elsewhere. However, the tale of life within Lotus is so in depth you can almost smell the glassfibre.

This is a must for any Lotus enthusiast. The detailed technical insight would be worth the price alone, but the extra human stories that pepper the book from the likes of Michael Andretti, Giampaolo Dallara and more will leave you coming back time and again. www.evropublishing.com

CAMEL TROPHY: THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY

XKD 603 ‘THROUGH THE LENS OF TIME’

Scintillated by Sandglow paint and overland adventure? This is your book. The Camel Trophy was the ultimate test of man and machine for 20 years. This gloriously illustrated tome really brings a sense of the adventure to life, detailing the personalities, vehicles and routes that helped make the Camel Trophy a worldwide phenomenon.

Written by Nick Dimbleby – an official snapper for the final four events – there’s true depth to the personal stories, with fantastic, never-before-seen photographs.

This £60 takes you so far into the action, you feel duty bound to wear insect repellent while reading it. www.porterpress.co.uk

With only a handful of long-nose D-types built, they’re all special.

XKD 603, however, appeared at Le Mans four times, its highlight being second in 1957 in an Ecurie Ecosse 1-2. Wide-ranging and beautifully rendered period images flow throughout the book, which details the Jaguar’s racing life, its opponents and the human stories surrounding it.

However, what really elevates the title are the snippets of life from within the Ecurie Ecosse team, and the humour that flows forth. A true labour of love from XKD 603’s owner Clive Beecham, this £145 book beautifully blends the past and the present, with insights from Lord Bamford, Gregor Fisken and Ian Callum. www.chaters.co.uk

TOM TJAARDA: MASTER OF PROPORTIONS

RALLYE MONTE-CARLO

Tom Tjaarda has designed some of the world’s most popular cars, from supercars (De Tomaso Pantera) and convertibles (Fiat 124 Spider) to hatchbacks (Ford Fiesta) – yet he isn’t as heralded in the annals of design as some household names. Gautam Sen seeks to redress this with this 474page, $150 book that examines the quietly influential American’s cars, influence and life story.

Tjaarda’s sharp wit is reflected throughout, and there are some fascinating ‘what might have beens’ as he later went down the path of concepts and one-offs. www.autobooks-aerobooks.com

The Rallye Monte-Carlo is for many the season highlight, with the glamour of the principality contrasted with the hardcore fans packing the snowbound Col du Turini stage at night. This 500page, €99 tome provides not only an A-Z narrative to the rally through history, but also a report on every event from 1949 to 2021.

There’s fascinating insight into the action and politics, backed up with 400 wonderfully evocative photographs from McKlein’s archive, including never-beforeseen material. This excellently detailed work deserves to be on the shelf of any ardent rallying fan. www.rallyandracing.com

Tyres for adventurous motorists...

The Dunlop SP Sport Aquajet was the greatest tyre of its era.

The original-equipment radial on the Jaguar E-type, it was the tyre of choice for sporting drivers in the Sixties and Seventies with its rain-defying and road-hugging qualities.

The original Aquajet man traded his safari shirt for a cardigan long ago, but the next generation of adventurous motorists can still buy the tyre he stood for.

Vintage Tyres has reintroduced the Aquajet in a wide range of 10in, 13in and 15in sizes. We can’t promise an international man of mystery lifestyle, but with a set of Aquajets on your classic,great grip in all conditions is guaranteed.

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AQUAJETS FIT HUNDREDS OF CLASSICS INCLUDING: ASTON MARTIN DB5, DB6, JAGUAR E-TYPE, XJ6, JENSEN INTERCEPTOR, LOTUS ELAN, 7, EUROPA, MINI COOPER AND COOPER S…

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BOOK REVIEWS

Enzo’s Ultimate Redhead A deep delve into the 250 Testa Rossa’s history, accomplishments and legends, complete with exquisite technical detail Review Nathan Chadwick

ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITALICAR THE (OFFICIAL) RETURN OF Ferrari to Le Mans via the brand’s LMh prototype car is an excellent prism through which to view its exploits with the 250 Testa Rossa.

Keith Bluemel’s Enzo’s Ultimate Redhead – The Evolution of the Ferrari Testa Rossa takes a deep look at the car’s development over the 1959 and 1960 seasons, with particular focus on chassis 0774 – the car that took Paul Frère and Olivier Gendebien to victory in the 1960 Le Mans 24 Hours.

As can be expected, there is of course exquisite technical detail, accompanied by beautiful period photography. Interestingly, Bluemel also details Ferrari’s opposition, setting up the Testa Rossa’s narrative like a prize boxing match.

Chassis 0774 enters the fray in 1959 with DNFs at Le Mans and Goodwood. It started 1960 with a bang, scooping victory in Buenos Aires, but Le Mans is naturally the star of the show. It began with controversy, with the use of windscreens mandated by the organisers. The wipers were useless, so the drivers perched themselves on cushions to see over the top. Frère is quoted as saying that although the car was

‘Crabbe’s late wife enjoyed taking the Testa Rossa for supermarket runs in rural England’

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25km/h slower than a Maserati on the Mulsanne Straight, the windscreen acted as the perfect airbrake. Frère and Gendebien benefitted from the Ferrari’s reliability and won the race, bringing the World Sportscar Championship title to Maranello.

Chassis 0774 would race for the Scuderia just once more. However, if anything, its post-racing life is just as fascinating as its on-track exploits. Its engine ended up in a Lotus 19, and was crashed by Innes Ireland. Ireland would bring the chassis to England, while the engine ended up at the same school as 250GTO chassis 3589.

After 17 years apart, the engine and chassis were reunited. There is lovely testimony from Colin Crabbe, who owned the car from 1971-76; his late wife enjoyed taking it for supermarket runs in rural England.

To finish, there are gloriously shot studio images, allowing you to really sink into chassis 0774’s intricate details. This £95 book is limited to 1000 editions; expertly researched and with beautiful contemporary and new images, it is well worth a look. www.speedagebooks.com

British brands have long looked to Italy for design inspiration, from the 1920s to the current day, and from Austin to Aston Martin.

Chris Rees’ £48 book takes an exhaustive but entertaining look at more than 40 marques and a diverse group of coachbuilders, from Ghia to Bertone and everything in between.

While the well known efforts from Michelotti, Pinin Farina and Zagato are delved into with gusto, it’s great to find detailed stories and pictures of even the most obscure one-offs. Although detailed, Rees’s easy-to-engagewith style propels the narrative forwards well, right along to next ‘what the hell is that?’ moment... www.quillerprint.co.uk

INSIDE CROSTHWAITE & GARDINER Crosthwaite & Gardiner is a name attached to some of the UK’s finest restorations, starting with early forays into Historic racing with a Maserati 250F. However, the skilled team of craftsmen and engineers have been involved with contemporary motor sport, such as running Alain de Cadenet’s 1970s Le Mans efforts, and being subcontracted

by TWR for work on the ’90s Volvo Touring Car programme – a crankshaft from which serves as a pictured doorstop.

This £40 volume tells the story of not merely the cars and the company, but of every staff member – and dog – that has helped to forge the company’s enviable reputation. www.crosthwaiteandgardiner.com

BADASS

LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH

A perfectly proportioned posterior is always a good indicator of excellent car design, but function is far more important. Bruce Meyer and John Nikas have assembled a strong cast of contributors to extol the importance of getting the back end just right, such as Andrea Zagato, Henrik Fisker and Gordon Murray.

Beautifully shot by Michael Furman, this $85 book spans the automotive ages, from a 1911 Hispano-Suiza 45CR to a 2018 Ford GT. We guarantee your next traffic-jam vista will induce much chin stroking about the car in front, even if it isn’t that exotic... www.autobooks-aerobooks.com

As chief author Thillainathan Pathmanathan asks himself, is there really a need for another book on the Countach? Written with Anne Christina Reck, this £60 volume aims to iron out the misinformation and myths that have grown up around the car and Lamborghini as a whole.

While there’s plenty to take in for ardent fans, the lack of fresh imagery for a book of this price is disappointing. However, the indepth technical analyses go some way to mitigate this, and it’s hard to ignore both authors’ passion for the subject matter, in which you can’t help but be caught up. www.evropublishing.com

Screen time Sometimes the best way to connect is to disconnect. And what better way to disconnect than getting behind the wheel?

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LEGAL ADVICE

Change is a comin’ – which is good and bad Although the legalities are still being debated, self-driving vehicles are no longer the preserve of sci-fi. Are you ready to relinquish control?

Words Clive Robertson, solicitor, Healys LLP

IN APRIL OF THIS YEAR THE UK Government announced that it “will set the world’s most ambitious climate-change target” to reduce emissions by 78 percent compared to 1990 levels. As part of this drive to clean up our climate, all new conventional petrol and diesel cars are to be banned from sale in 2030 (though hybrids will be allowed until 2035, and there’s no planned ban on the use of petrol or diesel cars).

Longer term, the classic driver’s best hope is that the cavalry comes charging over the hill in the form of the synthetic fuel currently being developed – and given a boost by F1’s pledge to switch from fossil fuel.

Aside from the ramifications of the loss of fossil fuel that are regularly aired by the popular press, there looms another less publicised but fundamental change to our daily driving habits; the spectre of ZVs – Zombie Vehicles, or more properly CAVs, being Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. ‘Connected’ denotes the ability of vehicles to communicate with each other and their immediate electronic hinterland, while a fully autonomous vehicle is defined simply by the Department for Transport “as one in which a driver is not necessary”.

Looking on the positive side, Parliament published a Research Briefing in May this year identifying a number of potential benefits of CAVs to “include making it more

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convenient and easier to drive, improvements to safety and in accident reductions, through reducing congestion, delivering associated economic and productivity benefits, and increasing the mobility of people currently unable to drive including elderly and disabled people”. The Briefing went on to acknowledge that public perception of CAVs will influence the level and pace of adoption, with surveys indicating that many people are mistrustful of the prospect of full automation.

Given all of the above, you might be forgiven for thinking that the whole business smacks of science fiction – something like the cityscape backdrops in the Star Wars movies, and for which others will find time to concern themselves over many decades to come. Perhaps not so; on April 28 the Government also announced the adoption of regulations for self-driving vehicle systems known snappily as ALKS – Automated Lane Keeping Systems – which will allow vehicles fitted with such set-ups to be self-driven on a single lane of a motorway when travelling in slow traffic.

The traditional Highway Code will be amended to ensure that drivers will be able retake control at any time, and to resume nonautonomous driving after prompting by the vehicle-control systems. The Society of Automotive Engineers has developed a system of

autonomous driving, from ‘1’, being full manual control, to ‘5’, being fully automated. ALKS sit at ‘3’ in the spectrum, which is classed as ‘conditional’ vehicle autonomy and permits speeds of up to 60km/h, but only on designated carriageways.

It seems hard to visualise a motorway left lane with a procession of vehicles all moving at 37mph.

In truth these regulations are but a first step in what will become a lengthy process of change and adaptation, where the legal framework will need to work hard to keep pace with the technological advances that are now in train. For example, last year Jo-Ann Pattinson of Leeds University authored, with others, a paper dealing with legal issues in autonomous vehicles, which critically examined the potential roles of consent and interactive digital interfaces – the question being how will legal liability be shared between the driver and the machine?

There are two problems which need to be considered in employing interactive digital interfaces to provide information and legal conditions to drivers. First, drivers involved in hand-over situations may fail to grasp their vulnerability, including their own skill deficit in managing the shared driving of a CAV and their potential misunderstanding of CAV systems.

Secondly, assuming that enough information can be accumulated, how is this intelligence presented to the user so they can take an informed decision on whether or not to operate the CAV in the first place? More particularly, safety requirements dictate that CAV drivers must be made to understand

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risk and responsibility, so that there can be a proper transfer of liability as between driver and vehicle.

If drivers are not provided with all of the relevant information, or that information is provided in circumstances where it is known they are unlikely to pay attention, then the validity of that necessary consent will be susceptible to challenge in proceedings following an accident. It will thereby weaken the predictability of liability and insurance frameworks.

It is recognised that specialised driver training will be needed to a level which matches the capability of CAV technology and to provide drivers with a realistic understanding of what will need to be done to operate the vehicle safely.

In addition, digital interfaces must be designed to support the legal elements of consent which must demonstrate that the driver has appreciated the nature and extent of the risk being undertaken.

Therefore, it is evident that CAV manufacturers and policy makers will have to cooperate closely to achieve the necessary balance needed in creating an equitable balance of culpability.

As to policy makers, the Law Commission set up a project back in 2018 to undertake a review of the legal framework for autonomous vehicles and their use as part of public-transport networks and ondemand passenger services. The Law Commission anticipated three rounds of consultation.

The first considered how safety could be assured before automated vehicles are marketed for sale. The second paper explored criminal and civil liability, while the final paper examined the need to adapt road rules for use with artificial intelligence. Final Recommendations are due to be published in this last quarter of this year.

In the late 19th century, my greatgrandfather drove an Argyll, a car of Scottish manufacture, which was preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag. Just over a century later, we appear to be at about the same point of step change.

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COLLECTIONS

Tales from the road From illicit border crossings to lessons in morality, cars feature strongly in our man’s holiday memories – as he reminisces...

Words Robert Dean

MY FATHER REALLY LIKED A nice car, and once his company started doing well he was able to indulge in some lovely examples.

Over the years there was a Vignale Jensen Interceptor in metallic green (as painted by Vignale) with a soft, cream, leather interior, a new Jaguar Mk2 3.8 in brown with maroon trim, and a Bentley S3 Continental convertible also in brown, which had been owned by Brian Epstein. A gentleman from Manchester came down one day with a briefcase full of money; dad did a deal with him, they shook hands and the gentleman drove back to Manchester in the Bentley. Very sad to see that go.

There were some other cars that these days seem a bit mundane, but in the early 1970s were considered to be the pick of the bunch. One of those was our 3.0-litre Granada estate, which was Ford’s answer to the archetypal suburban Surrey family Volvo 240L wagon made popular in The Good Life TV series.

My brother Chris and I liked the Ford better, because Detective Inspector Regan drove one in The Sweeney and so it was a bit more edgy than the Volvo – even if the latter was considered more of a ‘lifestyle’ car in those days.

Before Freddie Laker invented package holidays by air, mum and dad would plan driving holidays, usually to France but sometimes to Spain or Gibraltar. In 1969 we were in Gibraltar in the Jaguar Mk2 when the border with Spain was closed.

Dad had been tipped off that the situation was getting serious, and so we packed up and quickly drove to the border control.

There was one car in front of us at the barrier, and dad was one of many talking to the guards. He came back to the Jaguar, and we waited in the

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hot sun. Suddenly the barrier lifted and the car in front was allowed through, so dad fired up the Mk2, shoved it in gear and gunned the motor, passing under the barrier as it descended. There was a bump as the pole clouted the roof, and a lot of shouting, but we were away at some speed into Spain.

Later we heard that people had become stranded in their cars for weeks, and that there were all sorts of international recriminations. Don’t forget, in those days you could take only £25 out of the country when you went on holiday, so those poor people soon ran out of money.

One year we were in Paris in the Bentley S3, roof down in the summer sun. We stopped for lunch in a beautiful, cool, sun-dappled, treelined avenue, and Chris and I were shown how to play boules by some old gentlemen and asked to join in their game. It was idyllic – and 50plus years later I still remember it.

My brother and I learned a good moral lesson on that trip when Dad went into the bank and cashed some US$ traveller’s cheques. For those of you who are too young to remember, these were a cheque for 10, 20, 50 or 100 of your particular currency, which you could cash in at a bank so you didn’t have to carry lots of money around with you.

When he came back to our table, he realised that he had been given way too much money. He worked

‘Dad fired up the Mk2 and gunned the motor, passing under the barrier as it descended’

out that the young lady in the bank had mistakenly used the English exchange rate (because dad was English) instead of the US rate for dollars. We all sat looking at the money, and dad pondered whether we should simply walk away and spend the money, or do the right thing and return to the bank.

The conclusion was to go back and explain to the teller what had happened. When dad came back from the bank, he told us that the young lady was shocked and couldn’t believe he had returned.

She said she would surely have lost her job with the bank and her career would have been over.

Driving back home in the S3 Continental, we ran into a violent electric storm that rocked the car and was terrifying. When dad pulled into a garage, the owner came out.

Because the storm produced a huge amount of static electricity, he wrapped a chain round the bumper and lay the other end on the ground, which he said was to earth the car so as not to cause any damage to the electrical systems.

One year we drove the Granada to St Tropez. As usual on the return trip, the car was rammed with crates of wine and suitcases, as well as a pair of huge external antique lamps.

We put the Ford on the Motorail up to Paris and had a picnic in the compartment, and when we arrived it was -2ºC. Dad wanted to get the car off the train himself, but the rail workers wouldn’t let him. One of them jumped into our Ford, gave it a big bootful of revs from cold, and the engine stopped (we later found out that the fibre camgear had failed, which was a common problem until Ford started using steel camgears).

So here we were in Paris at 5:00am – two small boys, a broken

ABOVE An S3 Continental drop-top similar to this one left young Robert with happy road-trip memories. car, a furious father and a mum trying to keep everyone happy. A lovely, helpful porter came up and said he would ring his sister, who owned a garage. He pointed us in the direction of a café, where the owner made us all omelettes, fresh French bread and coffee even though he was only just opening up.

Returning to the car we found that the porter had indeed arranged everything, because it was hooked up and ready to be transported to the garage. There the staff inspected the damage and gave us all a splendid lunch – and, as is customary in France, we children could drink wine with water in it, much to the delight of my six-year-old self. It’s funny what you remember, isn’t it?

With the Ford being so new, parts had to be sent from England, so we hired a car and drove to Calais carrying the two antique lamps stuffed full of clothes for added protection. All was finally sorted out, and the garage that had made us so welcome had looked after all our possessions left with them as well as repaired the car beautifully.

Since then I’ve travelled many times to France and Europe in general, and had many adventures both in classic cars and on classic bikes. I can’t think of a time when the people I have met have been anything other than friendly and helpful. Next year I shall plan a nice holiday travelling around in something fun with the family, and we hope to have another adventure or two.

Be part of the machinery.

Former Ecclestone Collection manager Robert now runs Curated Vehicle Management. See www.c-v-m.co.uk.

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HISTORIC RACING

You always remember the first time...

Despite F1 World Champion status, Jenson Button was happy to do his Historics learning in public. And what better place to display your skills than at the Revival?

Words Sam Hancock

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while braking hard for the first time at the end of the Lavant Straight. After years of racing only high-powered single-seaters and prototypes, I had no feel for the delicacy required for a lightweight Historic sports car, and I simply hit the pedal too hard. Fortunately the Lotus emerged unscathed and I continued on my merry way, glad for a crash helmet to spare my blushes.

The next year, another baptism of fire; my first experience of an Historic GT car. While the Lotus may have surprised initially, it was at least light and responsive – and once dialled in, I found it to handle beautifully, in an almost single-seater-like manner.

A heavier GT car, however, was something else altogether.

Incredibly, I found myself entered alongside Gregor Fisken aboard ‘4 WPD’, one of just 12 of the genuine Lightweight Jaguar E-types.

Unaccustomed as I was to this – or indeed any – closed-roof competition car, the team kindly suggested that I take the priceless motor ‘up the lane for a spin’ on the eve of qualifying.

Well ‘spin’ I didn’t, but it felt like a distinct possibility at every turn. To me the car seemed utterly unpredictable and compelled to hurl itself at the scenery. Compared with everything I had known before, there was so much roll, so much bump steer, an abundance of power yet no meaningful braking ability to

tame it. I nearly quit on the spot.

Thankfully I held my nerve, and I was relieved to find the car overwhelmingly more friendly on the smoother surface of the circuit than on that of the bumpy local roads. Yet both brain and backside still needed to adapt to a plethora of new sensations; having to counter-steer a little while upshifting on a straight, for example, was certainly unsettling and unfamiliar. To me, the car felt so unsteady, I recall pitting to have the team check for a loose wheel nut... which, of course, there wasn’t.

And this is why I’m always gobsmacked at the apparent ease with which some modern racers adapt when racing at the Revival. Not all can get their heads around it, and some fail to return after their debut.

Others find pace quickly enough, but are too hard on the mechanicals and break the cars. A special few, however, have no such troubles, and humble us Historic ‘full-timers’ with the sheer breadth of their talent.

André Lotterer is the latest such phenomenon, with the likes of

‘By lap ten of the TT feature race, the penny had dropped and Jenson’s pace electrified’

ABOVE Jenson Button displayed a World Champion’s competitive spirit and versatility at Goodwood.

Romain Dumas, Tom Kristensen and Kenny Bräck among the standout drivers before him.

At first, I wondered whether Jenson would find the transition so straightforward. Having started the TT feature race sensibly aboard James Cottingham’s Cobra, one perhaps had the impression of a driver content to reach the pitstops intact, notch up a ‘faux-pas free’ Revival debut, and hand over to his more experienced team-mate, Alex Buncombe, to do the heavy lifting.

But such an assumption would underestimate the competitive spirit and versatility of a World Champion because, by lap ten, the penny had clearly dropped and Jenson’s pace electrified. The powder-blue Cobra surged its way back into top-three contention having dropped to as low as tenth place earlier in the race, and was being hustled with visible confidence.

Sadly, a mechanical gremlin then forced the car into retirement before reaching the chequered flag, but onlookers were left in no doubt that Jenson Button would prove a potent force at any future Goodwood Revival, should he wish to return.

One wonders what might have been had he had a little more testing.

No doubt we’ll find out next year.

JONATHAN JAMES WILSON

AFTER THE COVID-19-RELATED disruption to Goodwood’s premier race meeting last year, it was fabulous to see the Revival once again firing on all cylinders. As has become customary, the Duke and his team sprinkled their endless supply of fairy dust over the Sussex Downs to create yet another extraordinary event that continues to attract huge audiences and star drivers from around the world.

Clearly the headline act this year was none other than former Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button, who astonishingly chose this – the highest-profile, mostwatched Historic meeting on the planet – to make his competitive debut in a car older than he.

I chatted with Jenson briefly during the weekend, and was shocked to discover how little testing he’d had before the event; just a solitary day at Donington in the rain. I thought it testimony to not only his ability, but also his humility, that he was happy to do his learning in public.

I’m always intrigued, though, to follow the progress of such guest stars at the Revival. I remember, all too clearly, how hard the transition was for me when having to adapt from modern to Historic machinery at my own debut nearly 20 years ago.

Parachuting in from a Formula 3000 test straight into qualifying, I promptly spun the Twyman family’s pretty Lotus XI through 360 degrees

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BEHIND THE LEGEND

Why more isn’t necessarily more…

The Maserati Biturbo originally struggled with three valves per cylinder. Alejandro de Tomaso’s solution? Up that valve count to six Extract from Maserati: The Road Cars 1981-1997 by John Price Williams, Crowood Press, ISBN 978-1-861268-90-7

ABOVE Although Maserati’s six-valve head never made production, it helped development of the four-valve unit that would see use in the 430, among others.

IN THE SUMMER OF 1985, Maserati announced that it was working on a two-seater sports car.

The newcomer would be light – 1870lb (850kg), which was over 440lb (200kg) less than the Biturbo coupé – and have a 250bhp engine.

“Exciting news,” declared the publicity in Maserati Hi-Tech some months later. The car would be powered by a new twin-turbo, dohc, six-valves-per-cylinder V6. This was a formidable achievement, bearing in mind general manager and managing director Aurelio Bertocchi had declared a few years earlier that the Biturbo had only three valves per cylinder because it was not possible to put in four.

All 36 valves were to be in a 1996cc-displacement engine, ready to go into this new sports car, which would be officially announced in

1986. Maximum power was now said to be 261bhp at 7200rpm, which made it very high revving compared with the normal V6 maximum of 6250rpm.

The factory said it would offer “the sheer pleasure of driving a car that combines the prestige of a glorious sporting tradition with avant-garde technology”. Cynics might have remarked that they would prefer Maserati to get the existing technology right first.

A six-valves-per-cylinder, quadcam head was almost unheard of because of the complexity of casting and timing – four valves did what most manufacturers of the time needed. But Maserati went ahead anyway on the basis that the faster the fuel-charge mixture could be pumped into the cylinders, the more performance could be attained.

The engine was designated 6.36 for clear reasons. There were three inlet and three exhaust valves, which sounds obvious, but multivalve engines can have strange configurations; the Audi RS6 and S8, for instance, have five valves – three inlets and two exhausts.

With six valve seats ringing each combustion chamber, there was no room for anything else except the central spark plug. These chambers were claimed to operate at low temperatures because of the efficient coolant flow in the head, but the heat generated must have been enormous. The central valves

of the three inlets and of the three exhausts were inclined at different angles to give swirl in the combustion chamber. There was said to be a higher compression ratio than in the standard engine, too, although this was not specified.

There was an ingenious and simple method of valve operation, which Maserati patented; the overhead cam bore on a flat plate that linked together all three valves in the cylinder head, spreading the load and pushing them down simultaneously. Maserati called this “finger control”, claiming that its designers had avoided all possible complications and intricate parts, of the kind that would inevitably make an engine more delicate and “unacceptable on today’s automobile market”. The rest was standard Biturbo, having watercooled turbos, with the boost restricted to 0.8 bar.

Alas neither the engine nor the car were produced. “It was all bullshit,” says Giordano Casarini [Maserati’s then-technical director]. “People were talking of five-valve engines, and de Tomaso said he wanted six – to have more than the others.”

Nevertheless, the quad-cam experiment would stand Maserati in good stead for the four-valve engine, which would appear for the first time at the Turin Motor Show in 1988. This was to put out 245bhp, not far off the seivalvole’s 261bhp – without the complications of the six-valve configuration.

Magneto (ISSN No: 2631-9489, USPS number 22830) is published four times a year – in February, May, August and November – by Hothouse Publishing Ltd, UK. Magneto is distributed in the US by RRD/Spatial, 1250 Valley Brook Ave, Lyndhurst NJ 07071. Periodicals postage paid at South Hackensack NJ and other additional entry offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Magneto c/o RRD, 1250 Valley Brook Ave, Lyndhurst NJ 07071.

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