ELISE SELL YOUR CAR FOR FREE – SEE PAGE 102 LOTUS The most fun you can have for £6000?
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Vol.15 No.12 November 2009
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A FAIR WEATHER FRIEND OR A GREAT ALL ROUNDER? FIND OUT INSIDE MGA IN AFRICA
SEVENTIES’ COMPETITION CLASSICS MINIS
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Classic Car Mart
CONTENTS
NOVEMBER 2009 WWW.CLASSIC-CAR-MART.CO.UK
94 �Those ‘Coke-bottle’ hips were daring at the time, but it wasn’t just the styling that appealed to drivers – it was the choice on offer�
E U S IS W E N T A E R G R U O IN Y 08 PLUGS & LEADS Morris Minor faces an uncertain fate while Vauxhall’s lies in Canadian hands
14 NEW PRODUCTS Frost unveils its hand impact wrench while Vintage Tyres provide rubber for H-vans
19 WHAT’S ON A review of this year’s Goodwood Revival and a preview of Mini Magic
21 DRIVE ON Summer might be over, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had. WIN A FANTASTIC MODEL!
23 POSTBAG Your motoring memories, plus the prize crossword ON THE COVER
27 COMPETITION Your chance to win a battery charger worth £269.99
ON THE COVER
ON THE COVER
30 PRIDE & JOY
40 FROM THE WORKSHOP
The cars that make your day, including a Fiat 500R and AC Petite
How to build a hot Austin A35 and cure rich running
34 BURIED TREASURES
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ON THE COVER
94 CORTINA BUYER’S GUIDE Ford’s fleet favourite finally comes of age.
102 CARS FOR SALE Find your next classic with our extensive range of cars for sale
40 ON THE COVER
176 CLUB GUIDE Our comprehensive list of UK classic car clubs ON THE COVER
48 MERCEDES SL
89 MODERN CLASSIC
Think you can’t afford one? Think again, says Keith Moody
Raw, sporty and sexy – the SI Lotus Elise makes a belting modern
ON THE COVER
56 THE LOST TRAVELLER Steve Wilson tracks down a restored MGA in South Africa
66 SECRET HISTORY Drama, intrigue, betrayal… the story of Triumph’s Dolomite has it all ON THE COVER
75 SIX SEVENTIES’ STUNNERS Paul Guinness chooses his favourite motors from the era that fashion forgot
85 TRADING POST Classic Car Mart’s Buying Section starts here
87 AUCTON NEWS E-Type makes a record £70k, plus auction dates for your diary
90 BOOK REVIEWS Get between the covers of the latest motoringrelated books
91 PRODUCT GUIDE We look at seven great ways to rid your car of rust
87
180 CLUB FOCUS Meet the people behind the Reliant Owners’ Club
186 BACKWARD GLANCE Another helping of nostalgia with our regular selection of ads from yesteryear
190 WHEEL NUT Paul Wakely hunts down the craziest car names on the planet
192 NEXT ISSUE Find out what’s coming up in December
CHECK OUT LOADS MORE NEWS AT WWW.CLASSIC-CAR-MART.CO.UK
6,000-MILE ROVER SET TO BE CRUSHED NEW OWNER ‘I couldn’t believe it when I was told there FOR VAUXHALL was no alternative but to scrap the Rover,’
A
fter months of speculation, General Motors has finally confirmed the sale of a majority stake in Vauxhall and Opel to Magna International, together with its Russian banking partner, Sberbank. GM will retain 35 per cent of the company, while the remaining ten per cent will be held by an Opel employee trust fund.
Metros and Rover 100s in this condition are getting rarer.
A General Motors’ CEO Fritz Henderson confirmed that GM will ‘continue to closely collaborate with Opel and Vauxhall to develop and produce more great cars’, while UK business minister Pat McFadden said the British Government would continue talks with the new owners on the future of the 4,700 Vauxhall staff. McFadden confirmed that Magna had given a commitment to continuing production at the two Vauxhall plants in Britain: ‘We will now continue our discussions with Magna. They have told us of their commitment to continuing production at both Ellesmere Port and Luton, and we will work to make sure we get the best possible outcome for the UK,’ he said. The sale has been agreed on the basis that Magna can meet certain conditions, which have yet to be revealed at the time of writing. In addition, the deal must be approved by the relevant labour unions, and the German Government must agree a financing package.
8 Classic Car Mart November 2009
s modern classics go, the Rover 100 might not be the most exciting choice. But there’s no denying that in its original Metro guise, this much-maligned car played a vital role in Britain’s motor industry – which makes the compulsory scrapping of this one-owner, 6,000-mile example seem particularly sad. The Rover 100 Ascot dates from 1998, the model’s final year of manufacture, and has become one of the latest victims of Britain’s scrappage scheme, after being part-exchanged for a brand new Honda. Classic Car Mart reader Chris Westwood came across the Rover 100 (thought to be one of the lowest-mileage examples in existence) while looking for a secondhand car for his son.
commented Chris. ‘This is the best example of its type I’ve ever seen – and yet it cannot legally be sold or used on the road ever again as it was acquired by a local Honda dealer as part of the scrappage scheme.’ By the time you read this, the Rover will have been destroyed, much to the annoyance of Chris: ‘The Metro and Rover 100 has its followers, and for such a superb, low mileage example to be scrapped in such a way makes me angry. How can that be seen as having a positive environmental impact?’ DO YOU KNOW of any other low-mileage or immaculate modern classics that have been lost via the scrappage scheme? If so, write to us at the usual Cambridge address or send an email to keith.moody@ cslpublishing.com.
Just 6,953 miles recorded from new.
THE TRABANT IS BACK!
I
f you fancy a retro-looker that runs on electricity, you might – just might – be able to buy a brand new plug-in Trabant in about three years’ time. Unveiled at the Frankfurt
Motor Show is this 21st century version of the legendary Trabant, shown by model maker Herpa Miniaturmodelle. Now all they need are some serious investors to bring the project to reality...
Plugs & Leads: News
Have you got a plug or a lead you’d like to promote through Classic Car Mart?
These pages can provide valuable FREE publicity for you, your company, your club or your organisation. Send full details to: Plugs & Leads, Classic Car Mart, CSL Publishing, Alliance House, 49 Sidney Street, Cambridge CB2 3HX. Or email Paul Guinness direct at: paul.guinness@hotmail.co.uk
CHEAP PARTS ONLINE
M
ail order specialist Car Parts Direct has launched a brand new website that’s aiming to take on the likes of eBay – by offering visitors a wide choice of clearance parts at around a quarter of their original prices. The company reckons that its new site (www.mcc-buy.com) offers around 80,000 car parts, manuals, tools and other items to clear – at 75 per cent less than their normal online discounted prices. Current stock
includes brake pads from £2, shock absorbers from £5 and complete clutch kits from as little as £10, with many of the most popular classics among the models covered. Workshop manuals are available from just £1 each. With more parts being added every hour, the new website could be worth checking out on a regular basis – especially with all parts being brand new and available for immediate despatch.
‘YOUNGTIMERS’ AT THE NEC
W
hile classics of all ages and genres will be on display at this year’s NEC Classic Motor Show, the organisers reckon it will be a particular treat for fans of modern classics – or, as German enthusiasts call them, ‘Youngtimers’. Most of the younger classics on show will be featured as part of the club displays – always a highlight of the event. And among the modern classics being exhibited, you’ll be able to see Club Peugeot’s 205 T16 and 205 GTi, Autobahnstormers’ Opel Monza GS/E and Carlton 3000GSI, the Fiesta Club of Great Britain’s pair of superb Mk I XR2s and the Ford RS Owners’ Club’s Sierra RS500 Cosworth and RS200 Group B rally star. Meanwhile, the MR2 Drivers’ Club will be celebrating 25 years of Toyota’s popular midengined sports car. According to show manager Andy Rouse, these are the classics that deserve particular attention right now: ‘This era of cars could be at risk of being severely depleted by the Government’s scrappage incentive. I think most enthusiasts – and people in general –
would far rather see a 30 year old car have some sympathetic modification work done, thereby giving it a whole new lease of life, than see it end up as a four-foot-square cube ready for the melting pot.’ And in an apparent attack on politicians’ attitudes towards modern classics, Rouse continued: ‘No doubt the current anti-fun committee – and the next one – will find other ways to condemn the actual enjoyment of cars and motoring as being inherently evil and perpetrated by an army of Satan’s howling minions, from their evil lairs, known as garages, lock-ups and yes, even sheds.’ To book tickets to the Classic Motor Show, which takes place at the NEC, Birmingham on November 13-15, log on to www.necclassicmotorshow.com. No shortage of modern classics at the NEC.
MG ROVER BOSSES TO FACE BAN?
T
he former bosses of MG Rover gave themselves ‘unreasonably large’ payouts, according to the official report into the collapse of the manufacturer. The report – which runs to 820 pages and has cost the British taxpayer £16m to produce – claims to explain why the firm collapsed in April 2005, with the loss of 6,500 jobs. The so-called Phoenix Four (John Towers, Nick Stephenson, Peter Beale and John Edwards), who bought MG Rover from BMW for £10 in 2000, are criticised in the report – along with chief executive Kevin Howe – for taking pay and pensions worth £42m during the five years that they ran MG Rover. And according to the British Government, the men could now face a ban from running other companies. The Phoenix Four, however, described the report as a ‘witch-hunt’ and a ‘whitewash for the Government’, adding: ‘Our remuneration was not the reason for the collapse. The real reason is the government bungled the last chance to save MG Rover.’ But Business Secretary Lord Mandelson criticised the men for not showing ‘an ounce of humility’ and has called on them to apologise. He is planning legal action to ensure they can’t become directors of any other UK companies.
Metro finally gets its own ‘proper’ club.
Classic Car Mart November 2009 9
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A COUPE FOR ALL SEASONS Owning an SL doesn’t mean you have to break the bank – you just need to keep an open mind, says Keith Moody
T
he SL badge is one of the most desirable in the world of classic motoring. Many people also think it’s the most expensive – but they’d be wrong. Okay, so if you’re after a Gullwing or a Fifties’ roadster, then you’re going to have to dig deep. If you’re willing to look towards the ‘pagoda’ roof series, you might find a bit more left in your wallet than you expected. But look even further into the Mercedes cannon and there’s an even bigger surprise waiting for you: a two-plus-two convertible sports car for less than ten grand.
48 Classic Car Mart November 2009
Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But the fact is that the R107 series is cracking value right now. And because it draws on a rich heritage – from podium hogging racers to uber-desirable roadsters, gorgeous coupes and earthstopping supercars – you can be sure it drives as good as it looks.
SL STORY Legend has it that Mercedes first got the idea for the SL when they saw a 3.4-litre XK120C bombing round Le Mans in 1951, averaging 105mph and winning by more than 60 miles. But as well as seeing the
winning car take the chequered flag, they also saw two of the three XK C-types expire. The men from Germany liked the idea of creating a lightweight sports car with a production-based drivetrain and nifty aerodynamics. What they didn’t like was the poor reliability exhibited by the British cars. So they took the concept and improved it. The rest, as they say, is history. From early tests at the Nurburgring using nothing more than a rolling chassis made from dozens of steel tubes (albeit a proper spaceframe rather than glorified ladder chassis), Mercedes knew it was �
Road Test: 1988 Mercedes 300SL
Classic Car Mart November 2009 49
94 Classic Car Mart November 2009
Buyer’s Guide: Ford Cortina Mk III (1970-1976)
LIFE ON MARS?
After years of languishing in the doldrums and being written off as just another old banger, Ford’s Cortina Mk III, a Seventies best-seller, has become cool and desirable once more thanks to the cult BBC television series Photos: Magic Car Pics (www.magiccarpics.co.uk)
W
ith the Seventies now back in vogue thanks to TV programmes such as Life on Mars, now is the time to start looking for a Cortina of your own. When the Cortina Mk III arrived in October 1970, it was astonishingly modern after the conservatively styled Mk II. Those heavy swage lines and pronounced ‘Coke-bottle’ hips were daring at a time when predictability was the order of the day for mass-market saloons. However, it wasn’t the styling that appealed the most – it was the choice on offer. There were so many combinations of trim level,
body style and engine size available that it was possible to tailor the car to your exact requirements. From a sporting twodoor saloon to an economical five-door estate, Ford could give the customer exactly what they wanted. That’s why the car was always one of the UK’s best sellers: in a production run that lasted six years, 1,126,559 Cortinas were built. But the cars have never been valuable, which is why few remain. While values are unlikely to rise sharply any time soon, at least the cars are now sought after once more, thanks to the power of telly. So if you’re after a truly practical classic, the Cortina Mk III has all the right ingredients – but with each passing year it’s getting ever harder to find a good one. �
Classic Car Mart November 2009 95
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