Magneto issue 8: Winter 2020

ISSUE

8 WINTER 2020

B O N N E V I L L E

THE LAND OF SPEED

£10.00 |

WINTER 2020

+ JACKY ICKX ON PORSCHE 959 | LAND-ROVER 001 | CZECH FERRARI COLLECTION | 50 GREATEST COACHBUILDERS | McLAREN F1 PRINTED IN THE UK

Converting power into performance As a longstanding supporter of the historic car world, EFG has a proud association with events as diverse as Le Mans Classic, Salon Privé and the RAC Woodcote Trophy. As genuine lovers of classic cars, we share the same values of innovation, passion and excellence that drive restorers, collectors, racers and enthusiasts.

We also have a history of building unique, high quality and long-standing relationships with our clients.

It all starts with a conversation. efginternational.com

Private Banking 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.

The 26th Annual

Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island The Golf Club of Amelia Island

March 4-7, 2021

Honoring

Lyn St. James Featuring Hispano Suiza, Chevy Thunder, Porsche 935, Ferrari 275GTB, Electric Cars past and future, Shadow R acing, American Muscle 1970 Benefiting The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance Foundation a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corpor ation For Advance Tickets & Event Information, visit www.ameliaconcours.org photo credits: Michael Furman, Dubonnet Xenia; Zach Todd/Canepa, Ted7; Porsche, JPR Corvette; Peter Harholdt

ISSUE

8

18 COMING SOON Including Cavallino Classic, the Dakar Rally and a new one-day event from HERO

27 S TA R T E R The return of BRM by the family that backed the team; Andrea Pininfarina on his company’s 90th anniversary, Touring’s new AERO 3 and the 1930s Rolls-Royce desk set

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A HISTORY OF BONNEVILLE S A LT F L A T S

THE REMARKABLE STORY OF L A N D - R O V E R N O .1

JACKY ICKX, A PORSCHE 911 AND THE PARIS-DAK AR

G R E AT E S T F E R R A R I COLLECTION YOU H AV E N E V E R S E E N

A place of legends and dreams, where man and machine risk everything in the quest for speed

The world’s first production Land-Rover finally returns to the road after decades of dereliction

In his own words, the man who took a most unlikely contender to victory in the gruelling African rally

Are you ready to view the spectacular Collezione Michal Korecký?

Lights, camera, action!

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T H E F LY I N G BRICK IS BACK!

W H E N VA N WA L L TOOK ON THE I TA L I A N S

O S C A 1 6 0 0 G T,

BY DONALD OSBORNE

COUNTDOWN OF THE TOP 50 COACHBUILDERS

We drive a brand-new recreation of Volvo’s legendary Group A track monster

In the 1950s, Britain finally found its place in F1 racing – and it was all thanks to Tony Vandervell

Officine Specializzate Costruzione Automobili deserved to do better; this car is a prime example why

From Allemano though H J Mulliner to Zagato, we celebrate the best of the best carrozzerie

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M A R K E T WAT C H : MCLAREN F1

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M A R K E T A N A LY S I S : PA N D E M I C P R I C E S

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K N O W L E D G E : VAT WA R E H O U S E S

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COLLECTIONS: BRABHAM BT46B

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LEGAL: ONLINE AUCTIONS

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HISTORIC RACING: ZANDVOORT GP

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B E H I N D T H E LEGE ND: 007 C A R S MAGNETO

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E DI TOR’ S

W E LCOM E

Issue 8 It’s been a tough year, but as I write this the TV coverage and live streaming of Goodwood’s SpeedWeek are coming to a close, and I’m reeling from the final time-trial Shootouts, pitting historic Formula 1 cars against highly tuned 1990s road models, current GT3 racers and recent Le Mans cars. Seeing this machinery absolutely on the limit on the famous Goodwood circuit was something else – even on screen rather than up close and personal.

Such is current life. Goodwood pulled it out of the pandemic bag, with a line-up to match previous Festivals of Speed and Revivals.

And Goodwood wasn’t the only organiser to do so. The UK’s two leading concours – the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court and Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace – produced their best-ever events in September, in France Tour Auto blazed its way from Paris to the Riviera once again, and in the US a stonking 48 new records were set at the Bonneville World Finals.

Yes, it’s taken this long for me to get onto the subject of Bonneville.

But if a trip to the salt flats wasn’t previously on your bucket list, I very much hope that it will be after you’ve read our cover feature, written by expert Ken Gross with input from Bonneville racer and author ‘LandSpeed’ Louise Noeth.

Meanwhile, we’ve also been busy compiling our 2020 Concours Yearbook, which is surprisingly packed with concours reports and articles. You can find it at www.concoursyear.com.

David Lillywhite Editorial director

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HERITAGE IS ABOUT

THE FUTURE FCA Heritage is the department dedicated to protecting and promoting the historic legacy of the FCA Group’s Italian brands. For us, history is a cultural reference to understand the present, and a source of inspiration to design the future.

Discover our world. www.fcaheritage.com

Contributors JACKY ICKX If the thought of a Porsche 959 winning the Paris-Dakar rally still amazes and intrigues you, then who better to explain how it all happened than the man behind Porsche’s Dakar campaign, Jacky Ickx, talking to Magneto European editor Johan Dillen. And don’t forget, Ickx also achieved six Le Mans wins and eight F1 wins, and won the 1979 CanAm Championship.

DONALD OSBORNE You might know Donald from his valuations role on Jay Leno’s Garage or for his singing – he’s sung the Italian national anthem at the end of the Mille Miglia and The Star Spangled Banner at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. But for Magneto 8, know him for his superb feature on the Lopresto Collection OSCA 1600 GT, one of his favourite-ever cars.

KEN GROSS He’s a motoring journalist, a book author, a Pebble Beach Concours judge and a former director of the Petersen Automotive Museum. Ken’s first car was a hot rod, and that set him on the road to being a hot rod expert, which naturally led to a love and deep knowledge of the Bonneville Salt Flats – which he writes about for this issue’s cover feature.

Martin has always had a passion for classics, as proven by his 16 years as art editor on Classic & Sports Car and dogged determination to commute in a 60-yearold Land-Rover. His penchant for the marque was rewarded with a commission to document the resurrection of the firstever production Land-Rover – which is what he discusses in this issue of Magneto.

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I LLUST R AT IONS PE TE R A LLEN

MARTIN PORT

AUCTIONS & PRIVATE BROKERAGE

GOODINGCO.COM

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W HO

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C O N TAC T

Editorial director

Managing director

David Lillywhite

Geoff Love

Art director

Advertising sales

Peter Allen

Sue Farrow, Rob Schulp

Production editor

Lifestyle advertising

Sarah Bradley

Sophie Kochan

West Coast US contributor

Australian editor

European editor

Winston Goodfellow

James Nicholls

Johan Dillen

Contributors Ted7, Jason Barlow, Carrstudio, Robert Dean, Dirk de Jager, Johan Dillen, Dale Drinnon, Martyn Goddard, Rob Gould, Ken Gross, Sam Hancock, Richard Heseltine, Matthew Howell, Karl Ludvigsen, John Mayhead, Louise Noeth, Debbie Nolan, Donald Osborne, Martin Port, Andy Reid, Clive Robertson, Amy Shore, John Tallodi, Jeremy Taylor Single issues & subscriptions Please visit www.magnetomagazine.com or call +44 (0)1371 851892 For US orders or renewal www.imsnews.com/publications/motorsports/magneto or call 757 428 8180 Single issue with P&P £12.50 (UK), €16.50 (Europe), $20 (US), AUS $28 (Australia and New Zealand) Annual subscription £38 (UK), €52 (Europe), $60 (US), AUS $80 (Australia and New Zealand) Subscriptions managed by ESco Business Services. US subscriptions managed by IMS News

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 Finesse Silk from Denmaur Paper Specialist newsstand distribution Pineapple Media, Select Publisher Services Contact For subscriptions and business enquiries geoff@magnetomagazine.com For editorial enquiries david@magnetomagazine.com For advertising enquiries sue@flyingspace.co.uk or rob@flyingspace.co.uk

©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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MOR E

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THE CONCOURS YEAR

CONCOURS VIRTUAL

Despite the pandemic, many top-level concours took place worldwide. See them all, along with insightful articles on concours, in The Concours Year 2020.

Standard edition £60 plus p&p, slipcase limited edition £80 plus p&p. www.concoursyear.com

With the disappearance of car events worldwide, we organised a new kind of concours, online. Running from June 29 to August 9, it has featured 245 stunning top-level cars judged by 40 leading experts.

It remains online, and is open to donations to Unicef. www.concoursvirtual.com

MAGNETO SLIPCASES

2020 ISSUES + SLIPCASE

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 £35 plus p&p. www.magnetomagazine.com

If you’d like all four 2020 issues in their own Magneto slipcase, this is your chance – but don’t hang around because the 2019 copies are now sold out. You’ll find the 2020 sets under the ‘Magneto Store’ heading.

Four magazines and slipcase for £78 plus p&p. www.magnetomagazine.com

MAGNE TO

C O M I N G S O O N

PER ARDUA AD INFINITUM

WILL BROADHEAD

December 19, 2020 Amid current COVID-19 restrictions, HERO-ERA has condensed its RAC Rally of the Tests and Le Jog event into a new, one-day festive rally challenge on December 19, based at Bicester Heritage.

The Per Ardua Ad Infinitum (Through Endless Adversity) rally will compress non-stop competition into a single day, with 13 tests on private land, three regularities on the public road, then a final regularity within the confines of Bicester Heritage. Route instructions will be a mix of route book and OS maps.

Starting at 8.30am, crews will go right into six non-stop speed tests at Bicester before the first ‘Ardua’ (hard) regularity, then another two tests and a regularity, before heading back to Bicester for more action, finishing at 3pm. www.heroevents.eu

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D A K A DR ARKAALRLYR A&L LY & D A K A DR ACKLAARS SC ILCA S S I C January 3-15, January 20213-15, 2021

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GETTY IMAGES

Further on Further in thison issue, in this issue, we have Jacky we have Ickx’s Jacky tales Ickx’s tales of competing of competing in the Parisin the ParisDakar rally Dakar during rally the during 1980s.the 1980s.

It was madness It was madness back thenback – then – and it stilland is now, it still although is now, although security threats security inthreats 2008 in 2008 caused subsequent caused subsequent runningsrunnings of the Dakar of the to Dakar move to toSouth move to South America and America then,and for the then, for the 2020 edition, 2020toedition, Saudi Arabia. to Saudi Arabia.

For 2021,For the 2021, Dakarthe is once Dakar is once again in Saudi, again in butSaudi, the thrills but the thrills and challenges and challenges are still up are still up there with there the original’s. with the original’s.

This year’s This edition year’stakes edition a takes a round route, round starting route,and starting and finishing finishing in Jeddah, inwith Jeddah, a with a rest day in rest Ha’il dayhalfway in Ha’il halfway through the through 12 days. the 12 days.

What really What excites really usexcites is us is that alongside that alongside the modern the modern rally is the rally Dakar is the Classic, Dakar Classic, which allows which the allows cars and the cars and trucks that trucks tookthat parttook in part in the Dakarthe or Dakar other major or other major rally-raidrally-raid events before events thebefore the 2000s. It 2000s. promises It promises to be the to be the most amazing most spectacle, amazing spectacle, viewable viewable on various onTV various TV channels channels (including (including NBC in NBC in the US) orthe byUS) streaming or by streaming on the official on the website. official website. www.dakar.com www.dakar.com

SUMMER

AU T U M N

WINTER

SPRING

C O M I N G

S O O N

C O M I N G

S O O N

SUMMER

AU T U M N

WINTER

SPRING

C A V A LCL AI NV OA L L I N O C L A S SCI LC A S S I C January 21-24, January 202121-24, 2021

GETTY IMAGES

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In the Ferrari In the world, Ferrari it doesn’t world, it doesn’t get any better get any thanbetter Cavallino than Cavallino Classic. Now Classic. coming Now upcoming for up for its 30th running, its 30ththis running, event this event is where the is world’s where the greatest world’s greatest Ferraris gather Ferraris for tours, gathertrack for tours, track time and concours time andin concours the sun in the sun at Palm Beach, at Palm Florida.

Beach, Florida.

The four-day Theevent four-day event starts on the starts Thursday on the Thursday with welcome withsessions welcome and sessions and a private track a private day at track Palm day at Palm Beach International Beach International Raceway. Raceway.

The FridayThe is a Friday public is track a public track day and the day famous and the Cavallino famous Cavallino driving tour driving – quite tour a sight – quite a sight – and outdoor – and symposiums. outdoor symposiums.

The Saturday TheisSaturday the big one; is the big one; the Ferrarithe concours.

Ferrari A concours. win in A win in that is the gold that is standard the goldfor standard for Ferrari owners.

Ferrari The owners. last day The is last day is Classic Sports Classic Sunday, Sports open Sunday, open to non-Ferraris to non-Ferraris – and some – and some stunning ones stunning at that. ones at that. www.cavallinoclassic.com www.cavallinoclassic.com

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SUMMER

AU T U M N

WINTER

SPRING

C O M I N G S O O N

BELOW Amelia Island Concours, Florida, US.

SCOTTSDALE AUCTION WEEK January 16-24, 2021 Who knows how it will look in 2021... but this week of collector car sales in the Arizona winter sun is usually quite the circus, based around the huge Barrett-Jackson set-up. All the players are there, though: Worldwide, Gooding & Co, Bonhams, RM Sotheby’s, Leake, Russo & Steele, and more. www.experiencescottsdale.com

R A L LY E M O N T E CARLO HISTORIQUE January 30-February 3, 2021 Run by the Automobile Club de Monaco, this rally is the real deal, taking in tough regularity stages through the infamous cols of the Alps. It’s open to cars that have entered at least one Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo between 1911 and 1983. For 2021 it will start and finish in Monte-Carlo rather than the usual multiple starts. www.acm.mc

RÉTROMOBILE February 3-7, 2021 Even by the time you read this, it may have seemed naive to have included an indoor show. But it’s so good, it would be tragic to lose Rétromobile to the pandemic.

Great auctions too, particularly Artcurial’s within the Paris Expo. www.retromobile.com

WINTER CHALLENGE

RACE RETRO February 19-21, 2021 It’s not the most glamorous of the UK’s shows, but just look at who it attracts – the greats of motor sport past and of historic motor sport present. It’s treated as the season opener for the race and rally fraternity for good reason.

The outdoor rally stage and the auction add extra appeal. www.raceretro.com

RETRO CLASSICS February 25-28, 2021 Stuttgart’s big indoor classic event, now moved from April to February. It’s packed with interesting machinery – there’s even a hall specifically for classic commercial vehicles – and it’s pleasingly easy to visit from other countries because it adjoins Stuttgart airport. www.retroclassics.de

SYDNEY HARBOUR CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE March 4-6, 2021 The third edition of the AXA Sydney Harbour Concours d’Elegance will once again take place in the gardens of Swifts at Darling Point, one of Australia’s finest mansions, built in 1875. A varied selection of historic cars is promised – previous editions have seen everything from Muntz Jet to Miura. www.sydneyharbourconcours.com.au

AMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE March 4-7, 2021 Everyone loves Amelia Island. It’s friendly, it’s fun, it has the greatest variety of cars and it’s right on the Florida coast. The 2021 edition will allow more space for social distancing on the show field and at seminars and dinners, but it still promises to be a great show, this time honouring racer Lyn St James.

www.heroevents.eu

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Who wouldn’t be interested in a rally with this name? Canossa Events, which runs Italy’s Modena Cento Ore, takes its organisational skills to the spectacular scenery of South West America. Just 15 cars can enter, and the emphasis is on luxury – hence the $32,000 entry. www.canossa.com

www.ameliaconcours.org

THREE CASTLES TRIAL

G E N E R A T I O N S R A L LY

June 8-11, 2021

March 26-28, 2021 A new event from Rally the Globe to introduce younger generations to historic rallying. Each crew should consist of two distinct generations. It’s run from one location in the UK’s Lake District, and includes training sessions. www.rallytheglobe.com

The Three Castles Trial runs from Llandudno, North Wales, so there’s no moving from one hotel to another – and it takes in the wonderful Snowdonia scenery.

Open to pre-1986 classics. www.three-castles.co.uk

E N N S TA L C L A S S I C July 21-24, 2021

February 7-11, 2021 HERO’s popular Winter Challenge to Monte-Carlo will for 2021 cut out the less challenging roads and take place on French roads only, to get straight to the snow stages that competitors love. Be prepared for much sideways action.

R A L LY O F E N C H A N T M E N T May 17-23, 2021

Goodwood’s fantastic miniRevival (left), open only to GRRC members and associates – and rammed with the best racing.

The Ennstal Classic has been with us since the early 1990s. It attracts famous drivers and over 100,000 spectators along the route, with two full days of driving through the Austrian Alps. It’s open to all pre-1973 cars of historical interest.

www.goodwood.com

www.ennstal-classic.at

MEMBERS’ MEETING April 10-11, 2021

back We’ll in 20 be 21!

21 –24 JULY st

th

WWW.ENNSTAL-CLASSIC.AT/EN/HOME

2 to 12 October 2021

10 days, 2,400 km / 1,500 miles of Italian mountains and lakes

T

he steep and twisty mountain roads of the Gavia and Stelvio Passes, mind-blowing scenery of the Dolomites, spectacular lakeside views, luxurious hotels and welcoming Italian restaurants are all on the agenda for Carrera Italia 2021. This sociable event starts and finishes in Sanremo, with the competitive all-asphalt route including visits to Lake Como, historic-rallying renowned Cortina d’Ampezzo, Verona and the rolling hills of Tuscany.

Open to cars of pre-1977 specification, with a separate classification for pre-1946 specification cars.

VINTAGE

RALLY

CHALLENGE

RALLY

26 to 28 March 2021

7 to 27 June 2021

2 to 7 September 2021

MARATHON

2 to 12 October 2021

29 Jan to 26 Feb 2022

For more information and to register your interest visit www.rallytheglobe.com +44 113 360 8961 info@rallytheglobe.com

June 2022

September 2022

Sponsored by:

S T A R T E R

34 Recreating a legend: a new V16 in-build at the UK’s Hall & Hall as part of a family relaunch of BRM

28 Car events during the pandemic | 33 Auctions find a new normality | 34 The return of BRM | 37 BAT cars 39 The second-ever 250GTO | 40 Rolls-Royce’s best-ever corporate gifts | 45 Paolo Pininfarina interview 46 Bentley’s Blower restoration | 49 Latest on Aston Martin Bulldog | 50 Touring’s new AERO 3 54 The latest books | 56 Concours on Savile Row | 58 Concours Virtual | 61 Trying out Aston’s 007 DB5

S T A R T E R

LEFT Scenes from the UK’s Hampton Court and Salon Privé events, where COVID-19 precautions meant that visitors could safely experience the greats of the automotive world.

AFTER A SUMMER of lockdown, entering a classic car event felt surreal; everyone said so. And most seemed surprised that they were there at all. Around the world, a handful of car events managed to run in mid- to late 2020 despite the pandemic – although sticking strictly to COVID-19 safety regulations.

In the UK, it was the London Concours that provided the first glimpse of hope for most of us. Run

by Thorough Events, rescheduled from its usual June slot to midAugust, the concours’ City venue of the Honourable Artillery Company’s five-acre outdoor space proved to be perfect. Numbers were restricted, entry was by advance ticket only and hand-cleaner dispensers were seen everywhere, of course. Programmes were given out individually rather than left in germ-prone distribution bins, and outdoor dining tables were widely spread out under open-sided marquees. It worked.

The effect that the success of the London Concours had on other UK events was beyond expectations.

Where car owners and potential visitors had been holding back, unconvinced that events would be able to operate safely, suddenly the news that the London Concours had worked out prompted an escalation in advance ticket sales and car entries for events such as Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court and Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace.

In mainland Europe, there were similar experiences and, although the majority of static and motor sport events remained cancelled, a few were able to run, including

Events that beat the pandemic Careful planning, restricted numbers and innovation have allowed a small number of top-level classic car events to take place MAGNETO

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LEFT London Concours (bottom left) in August proved to the world that events could be run safely; others followed, such as Modena Cento Ore (far left) and Salon Privé (left).

Germany’s prestigious Classic-Gala Schwetzingen, near Hockenheim.

In the US, COVID-19 severity and rules varied between states, but a few concours managed to run restricted events, the most successful of which was arguably Greenbrier in West Virginia. Meanwhile, the Radnor Hunt concours ran a limitednumbers garden party and the Audrain’s Newport Motor Week organisers put on a simple classic car tour and outdoor cars and coffeestyle meeting in place of what would have been their second full concours.

Back in the UK, the Concours of Elegance and Salon Privé had always relied on overseas owners for many of their star cars, but that wasn’t going to happen in these COVID-19 times – save for the generosity of a small number of overseas owners

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such as Anne Brockinton Lee and Peter Mullin, who sent cars anyway.

Instead, a number of previously unseen star cars came from within the UK, with the result that both events had line-ups as good, perhaps better, than in any previous years.

Probably the most extensive COVID-19 precautions were at Salon Privé. As with all events, numbers were restricted, entry was by advance ticket only and food was served in COVID-19-safe sealed hampers. But visitors were also asked to download the Liber check and trace app, and temperatures were taken at the entrance gate.

Salon Privé’s recently introduced ICJAG-standard judging seemed unlikely to be feasible, particularly as highly experienced chief judge Ed Gilbertson is US based. But then the

judges cooked up a remote-judging scheme using video. We’ll let Ed Gilbertson’s reaction during the event speak for itself: “It works!” wrote Ed in a jubilant group email. “Remote virtual chief class judge Chris Current with team judges Paul Russell and Nigel Matthews, plus reserve remote judge Richard Adatto and on-site field manager Cici Muldoon, are remotely judging for originality, authenticity and condition using standard ICJAG judging forms and judging guidelines.

“It was a hell of a lot of work in a short time, and we will further refine the process for general use.

But everyone including Salon Privé chairman Andrew Bagley pitched in and worked all hours. ICJAG technical director Chris Kramer is the project manager. It is all volunteer. Pebble Beach chairman Sandra Button said if anyone could do it, it would be us. What a great ICJAG crew. It is just a first trial, but we have done it!”

The importance of this is that

‘Several meetings have now been able to run safely, though entirely without spectators’

future events can be judged safely, assuming numbers are restricted and other precautions kept in place.

The bulk of rallies and driving tours were also cancelled, but a few went ahead, including the everpopular Modena Cento Ore and, of course, the Mille Miglia, both in Italy, where COVID-19 numbers are currently low. Entry capacity for the Mille Miglia was reduced to a third of the usual numbers, strict restrictions were placed on those allowed into scrutineering and preparation areas, and temperature checks were carried out on staff and entrants at checkpoints throughout the event.

As for historic motor sport, several meetings have now been able to run safely, though entirely without spectators. The excellent Lime Rock Historic Festival in the US did exactly that, and in the UK Goodwood did its best to compensate for the loss of its world-beating regular events by combining them into the circuit-based SpeedWeek. The superb racing and time trials were broadcast via TV and live streaming.

Others events have adapted in different ways, from classic car drive-in movies to online concours such as Isolation Island, Concours Virtual and the excellent Petersen Virtual Car Week. Auctions, too, have moved quickly to online sales.

And 2021? It’s anyone’s guess, but at least there are clear ways forward.

10th Edition

27th - 29th August 2021

Let’s celebrate our 10th Anniversary!

For further information and registration: www.passione-engadina.ch

August 15, 2021 70th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance

We can’t wait to start our engines, shift into gear, and gather with our friends again — and we will.

Stay connected with us through the Insider — a monthly digital magazine sharing inspiring stories, insights and information about the Pebble Beach Concours and the collector car community.

Sign up at pebblebeachconcours.com/insider ©2020 Pebble Beach Company. Pebble Beach®, Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance®, and their underlying images are trademarks, trade dress and service marks of Pebble Beach Company.

S T A R T E R

A U C T I O N WAT C H

Back in the real world In-person auctions are making a comeback as the world adapts to the COVID-led ‘new normal’.

Sales are strong, if not quite business as usual...

ABOVE FROM TOP 1959 Porsche 718 RSK Spyder, 2005 575GTZ Zagato and 1966 Ferrari 275GTB Long Nose all sold strongly at auction this year.

IT MAY SEEM strange but for the first time since March, I am actually able to give a real-market report on the collector car world based on auction results. The pandemic has set the planet on its head, but somehow the collector car industry responded quickly and set about returning to business, although sometimes in a different way than before.

The overall trend is that cars are selling – and often for strong prices.

One of the hottest segments of the market is for the more affordable models: cars such as the BMW 2002, which often sells for more than £40,000, and the Datsun 240Z, with prices at the same level or above. Even

the once-maligned Porsche 914 frequently sells in excess of £30k.

‘Big’ cars are moving, too, with Gooding & Company selling a 1966 Ferrari 275GTB Long Nose for $3,080,000 at its August Geared Online auction. This saw a 71 percent sell thru, with 55 of 77 lots sold. Of those 55 cars, five sold for more than $1 million. The other million-dollarplus cars were a 2003 Ferrari Enzo selling at $2,354,000, a silver 1995 F50 at $2,134,000, and a 1992 F40 that changed at hands at $1,628,000.

Other cars of interest at Gooding were a 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider Veloce that sold for $121,000 and a 1990 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II that changed hands for $258,500, showing the strength of these respective markets.

RM Sotheby’s also saw strong numbers with its August Shift online sale. High fliers from that auction were a 1967 Ferrari 275GTB/4 coupé at $2.3m, a 2005 575GTZ Zagato coupé selling for $1.5m and, the high sale of the event, a 2001 550 GT1 Prodrive race car that changed hands for $4.29m. The Shift auction saw a total of $31,258,650, with 81 of 105 cars achieving a sell-thru percentage of 74 percent.

Bonhams, Mecum and Worldwide all held successful online live and hybrid sales. Bonhams’ Los Angeles event held on August 14 saw 61 of 99 cars sold for a total of $12,552,662.

Highlights included a 1959 Porsche 718 RSK Spyder selling for $2,232,500, a 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Offener Tourenwagen tourer for $1.2m, and a 1934 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Joseph Figoni Décapotable cabriolet that went for $4.6m.

Bonhams also had some success with its Simeone Auction, where it sold 30 of 58 cars for a total of $3,271,932. Top sellers were a stunning 1931 Bentley 8 Litre Touring that found a new owner for a strong $885,000 against a presale estimate of $775,000-$875,000.

Mecum held its Indianapolis event in person on July 10-18, and saw 1329 of 1749 cars sold for a 76 percent sell thru and a total of $63,501,655. Highlights were a pair of Shelby Mustangs – a 1965 GT350R prototype which sold for a staggering $3,850,000, and a 1966 GT350 convertible which sold for an equally impressive $1.1m.

Now on to Worldwide, which held its Auburn, Indiana event live on September 5. This successful auction saw a sell-thru rate of 87.5 percent with 56 of 64 offered cars sold, totalling $6.9m. That might not sound high, but last year’s auction sold 76 of 92 cars for a total of $3.9m.

But by far the most anticipated auction of the year was the Gooding Passion of a Lifetime sale at Hampton Court, UK. The event was postponed until September 5, and is one of the miracle events that somehow managed to actually take place in 2020. It was also Gooding’s first auction outside of the US. Calling it a wild success is an understatement, with 14 of 15 cars sold for a total of $45,046,701. If anything displayed the strength of this market, this sale did, setting seven world-record prices.

This has to be one of the most significant single collections of cars ever offered at a sale event. They included a works-entry Targa Florio 1928 Bugatti Type 35C that sold for a record $5,230,000, a 1937 Bugatti 57Ss Atalante that sold for a record $10,450,000, a 1971 Lamborghini Miura SV that sold for a record $4,270,000, and my personal favourite, a 1955 Aston Martin DB3S that sold at a reasonable $3,983,554.

So, plenty of evidence that the market is stable, if not strong – and it isn’t only on the auction side.

In the collector car dealer/private sector, things are booming. Every dealer I spoke with is selling all they have, and is constantly looking for more models to offer.

Girardo & Co’s Max Girardo stated: “The great thing is that the market is alive and well, and while many other markets in the economy are up and down, people are still buying collector cars.” In partial explanation, he continued: “Our market is more resilient as it is driven by passion. Despite somewhat shaky economics in other market segments, people are buying.”

It seems that many people have inadvertently saved money they would have otherwise spent on air travel and hotels. They’re choosing to spend that money on cars instead.

My advice is that if there’s a car you long to have, and if you have the money to buy it, then why not treat yourself? Enjoy life! Andy Reid

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BRM’s legendary V16 returns Two new Type 15 V16 race cars are currently being built at the request of the family that rescued the BRM team back in the 1950s

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE The original Type 15 V16 and the tiny pistons and conrods of the all-new engine; finishing touches to the cylinder head at

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Hall & Hall in BRM’s home town of Bourne; and the near-complete chassis awaiting its engine, transmission and body in the Hall & Hall workshops.

THE OWEN FAMILY, associated with BRM since the early 1950s, is behind the creation of two new Type 15 V16 continuation cars, currently under construction at Hall & Hall, the world expert on BRM’s complicated but revolutionary V16.

The project was inspired by John Owen, son of Sir Alfred Owen, whose Rubery Owen engineering group (under the guise of the Owen Racing Organisation) took control of BRM back in 1952. One of the new cars is for John himself. Now in his 80s, he wants to relive the memories of visiting circuits in his short trousers with his father, watching González and Fangio in the V16s – and he wants others to experience the sound of the V16 “being thrashed”.

The project is being overseen by Nick, Paul and Simon Owen, Sir Alfred’s grandsons. When Sir Alfred suffered a stroke in 1969, his sons David, Jim and John stepped in to run the massive Rubery Owen Group. Times were tough, though, and in 1981 the company was forced to sell off much of the BRM team’s assets, including cars, in a now-famous sale that took place at Earls Court, London.

The BRM team’s last Owenbacked Formula 1 race appearance came in 1974, though the team continued until 1977. Over three decades it had become known for remarkable technical innovation and ambition, sometimes beyond all practicality and funding.

Since then, the Rubery Owen Group has had many approaches over the use of the BRM name, but has generally turned them down, except for a Group C/Le Mans car with John Mangoletsi, an electric hillclimb car, and a branding exercise

with Rover, which helped the Owen family keep the trademark legally alive. However, it has long been the ambition of Sir Alfred’s sons and grandsons (some still involved with Rubery Owen) to bring the BRM name back in an appropriate way.

“We want to celebrate BRM,” says Simon, “but we want to do everything with authenticity and true to the principles of BRM.” The only surviving Mk1 Type 15 V16, of the three built, is displayed at the National Motor Museum, and is considered too important to be driven hard (search ‘BRM’ at www.nationalmotormuseum.org.uk for its clocks made from original V16 pistons and conrods). Two Mk2s are in private hands and rarely seen.

Rubery Owen’s BRM archives – noted by historian Doug Nye as “probably the finest archive I have ever encountered in motor sport” – contain more than 20,000 original technical drawings, around 5000 of which relate to the Type 15 V16.

Some date back to 1948 and ’49, and are branded as ERA, the forerunner of the BRM team.

These drawings are being used for the construction of the two new cars. To top off the authenticity, Hall & Hall is in Bourne, Lincolnshire, where BRM started out, and employs several former BRM staff.

John Owen’s car should be ready by late spring 2021. The plan is to then demonstrate it at events around the world, taking it places where the original never went, including the US and Australia.

“We hold the BRM name on trust for the nation, for all those that made it happen and for future generations,” says Paul, hinting at further BRM news to come.

See www.britishracingmotors.co.uk.

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BAT car triptych auction surprise Legendary Bertone-built Alfa Berlinetta Aerodinamica Technica concepts are being offered as one lot in RM Sotheby’s art sale

ABOVE Alfa’s revolutionary BAT cars from the early 1950s were created by design genius Scaglione – and this is a once-in-alifetime opportunity to purchase them.

WE’RE ON DANGEROUS ground here, as Magneto prepares to go to press just days before the surprise sale of the three Alfa Romeo BAT cars at an RM Sotheby’s art sale in New York… but this could prove to be the single auction lot of the year.

We’ve already seen the remarkable Gooding Passion of a Lifetime sale of 15 important cars from one collection, postponed from April to September and Gooding’s first-ever UK event. Now, the sale of the three legendary concepts designed by Franco Scaglione and built by Bertone could add to the againstthe-odds highlights of the year.

The three models are, thankfully, being offered as one lot, estimated at $14 million to $20 million. However, they were never displayed together when new, and individually went through periods of low fortune as brilliantly described by Winston

Goodfellow in Magneto issue 5.

But as each of the BAT cars came to the attention of collectors in 1987, concours organisers began to dream of assembling all three in one exhibitive setting. When Nuccio Bertone visited California’s ArtCenter College of Design in 1989 to receive an honorary degree, Pebble Beach Concours organisers invited the three BAT owners to that year’s show, and Bertone was encouraged to travel up the coast for the occasion.

Recognising the unique appeal of keeping the BATs together, a private collector made an offer to each of the keepers, and the cars became united in ownership as well. Together, the BATs travelled to Europe in the early 1990s, before returning to the US to be displayed in the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, CA for over a decade. In August 2005, the three BATs returned to Pebble Beach, and in 2009 they were presented at Concorso Italiano. In 2016 they formed part of a carefully curated collection of significant Italian cars at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, and in 2019 they were briefly displayed at the Phillips auction house in London.

Magneto contributor Ken Gross was behind the Nashville display, and recalls his thoughts: “Shocking when they first appeared, built on the sporty Alfa 1900 chassis, the trio of streamlined and stylishly

aerodynamic BAT coupés are lovely to look at, and they each fire up with an excited snarl that underscores the potential of the 90bhp inline four.

Thanks to their slippery shape, despite their relatively low power rating, they can reach 120-125mph.

“The cars sit very low. All three cockpits are tight, cramped and a tad claustrophobic, but once you’re ensconced into a deep bucket seat, each coupé quickly shrinks to fit and you’re ready for a spirited drive.

Vision to the rear is very limited, especially in the finny BAT 5 and BAT 7. Unfortunately, my experience was short lived. I was only able to ‘drive’ each car off its transporter, and then just a few hundred yards, straight to the art museum’s entrance.

“All three BAT cars have been together for many years, and they’re seldom shown outside the Blackhawk Museum. They represent a rare opportunity for a fortunate collector to purchase truly exquisite rolling sculpture, that’s also functional. I suspect once they’re sold, they won’t be available again for years, if ever.

From a rarity perspective, there’s only one of each BAT and they are best enjoyed and displayed together.”

So, by the time you read this you will know whether or not they sold. Meantime, if you want to read all about them, you can order issue 5 in print or digital form at www.magnetomagazine.com.

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DARIN SCHNABEL RM SOTHEBY’S

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GTO test car hits the show circuit Second Ferrari 250GTO built seen back in Europe after lifetime in US; stars at Concours of Elegance after exacting restoration

ONE OF THE stars of September’s Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court, UK was the rare appearance of Ferrari 250GTO chassis number 3387GT. It is the second 250GTO ever to be completed, as well as being the only one to feature a pop-riveted rear spoiler.

Fresh from restoration and back in Europe after spending almost all its life in the US, 3387GT was a huge hit at the concours, forming part of the Ford vs Ferrari display in front of Hampton Court Palace. Originally finished on March 16, 1962, it was put on testing duties at Monza for Scuderia Ferrari in order to assist the further development of the 250GTO. At the end of that month, the car was delivered to New York’s Luigi Chinetti Motors where, as a Ferrari North American Racing Team entry, it became the first 250GTO to officially compete in a race. And not without success, either, finishing second overall and first in class at the 1962 Sebring 12 Hours, driven by Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien.

In June of that year the car was sold to Robert Grossman of New York, who promptly entered it in the 1962 Le Mans 24 Hours. He and stock car racer Edward Glenn ‘Fireball’ Roberts Jr finished sixth overall and came first in the experimental 3000cc class, making the most of the 250GTO’s compact V12. As a tragic footnote, Fireball Roberts was so named for the speed of his baseball throws, but he died several weeks after suffering second-

and third-degree burns over 80 percent of his body in a terrible crash at the 1964 World 600 NASCAR race.

His death prompted much-needed research into fire-retardant materials and new regulations on the use of fireproof overalls in motor sport.

Following eight more meetings, Grossman sold 3387GT at the end of the season to fellow New Yorker Mike Gammino, who raced it with quite some success in local series.

Its final competitive outing was in

the 1965 Nassau Tourist Trophy, where it won its class.

It has since passed through the hands of a number of well known collectors, and finally found its way back to Europe in 2017 after spending more than five decades in the US. It was restored most recently by Ferrari Classiche and Joe Macari, who spent three years returning the car to the specification in which it is known to have left the factory. It now forms part of a private collection.

ABOVE Scuderia Ferrari originally used 250GTO number 3387GT for testing at Monza, before the car was shipped to the US.

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Ecstasy on your desk The rarest of all Rolls-Royce automobilia is the full set of sterling-silver gifts given out in the 1920s and ’30s

NEVER HAS THE corporate gift shone so bright. When Rolls-Royce launched what was then the New Phantom, now referred to as the Phantom II, in 1926, it was decided to mark the occasion with a special gift to the most esteemed customers, VIPs, successful dealers and leading distributors. It was one of the first true examples of the automotive corporate gift, and has arguably never been beaten in terms of desirability.

Rolls-Royce chose a silver cigar ashtray for that first gift. Just 100 were made, and they were not

ABOVE Machine-turned pillar-box lighter dates from 1934, while barometer’s style and desirability outweigh its actual usefulness in today’s climate.

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Khachadourian of the renowned Pullman Gallery in London has seen, in the 40-plus years he has been dealing with automotive and aeronautical objets de luxe.

Although it’s thought that 100 of each piece were made, some are now much rarer than others. Years ago Simon assembled a set for a collector, but the 1936 gift – the rose bowl – is so rare that it’s only relatively recently that he’s acquired another one; the first he’s seen since 1979. He values it at £35,000.

“We’ve always had four or five

pieces in stock,” says Simon, “but when it got to six or seven I thought maybe I should make the effort to build the complete set. They are rather special things. They would have cost more to make than the car mascot itself; they’re much rarer and they were never sold.”

That first cigar ashtray was created by Crown jeweller Garrard of Regent Street, but after that all the gifts were handmade by Saunders & Shepherd, a well known silversmith and jeweller that had started out in 1867 and by the 1920s had outlets

around the world and factories in London, Birmingham and Glasgow.

The company went on to create a gold bracelet for Lady Diana Spencer’s 20th birthday in 1981, which she later wore on her wedding day.

The first Saunders & Shepherdmade Rolls-Royce gift, for 1927, was the desk clock, wound via the miniature Spirit of Ecstasy on the top of the radiator-shaped case.

They must have been popular, because enough have survived that they still come up for sale very occasionally, valued at around

ABOVE Silver cigar ashtray marked the launch of Rolls-Royce’s New Phantom in 1926; rarest of all the pieces, 1936 rose bowl is valued at £35,000.

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PHOTOGRAPHY: MARTYN GODDARD/PULLMAN GALLERY

available for sale. The tradition continued annually until 1937, with a break in 1931 that may have been to do with the ill-feeling caused by the Rolls-Royce takeover of Bentley, the economic depression or some other reason lost in time.

The result, though, was a desk set of sterling-silver Spirit of Ecstasythemed gifts that are now rare – to varying degrees – and very highly sought after, although their existence isn’t widely known of.

How rare? Well this complete set is only the second that Simon

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‘No records of the creation of the gifts seem to have survived. Not even Rolls-Royce owns a full set’

£15,000. The clock was followed by the beautifully made 1928 cigarette box – everyone smoked! – and the 1929 radiator inkwell, the top of which opens to reveal a neat little removable glass liner. For 1930, a bonbonnière (used for distributing confectionery) was chosen.

After that break in 1931, the gifts were back in 1932 with the ink blotter. In 1933 the popular style of the clock was repeated, although this time for the barometer. This is still sought after today, tending to sell for around £8000 – even if, as Simon points out, there’s little practical need for a barometer these

days. For 1934 the gift was a pillarbox lighter, which really shows off the thought and craftsmanship that went into these pieces. The lighter body is machine turned so as not to show fingerprints, and the flint is flicked to spark by a silver gearlever.

In 1935, the gift chosen was a silver salver, beautifully engraved with a Spirit of Ecstasy. For 1936, it was the turn of that now-rare rose bowl – once again, superbly crafted – and the final gift in 1937 was a pair of marble and silver bookends.

So what happened after that?

Nobody is sure why the gifts didn’t continue at least until the outbreak

of hostilities, and in fact no records of the creation of the desk-set gifts seem to have survived. Not even Rolls-Royce owns a full set.

How much would it cost to assemble a full set? Well, if you had the patience to buy piece by piece over (likely) many years, then around £100,000 should see you through… but in this case an existing complete set is certainly worth more than the sum of its parts, and Simon values the full set at the Pullman Gallery to be worth £150,000. And no, he won’t be splitting it.

Thanks to the Pullman Gallery in St James’s, www.pullmangallery.com.

ABOVE Ink well, blotter, bonbonnière, salver, bookends and clock make up just some of the pieces in Pullman Gallery’s supremely rare complete desk set.

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Some of your 90th anniversary celebrations had to be cancelled.

What did you do instead?

We launched our new Pininfarina 90 book at the Milano AutoClassica Fair on the stand of ASI, which promotes Italian motor heritage. Two concours displays were scheduled this year, in Torino in May and at Pebble Beach in August [now moved to 2021].

see him on occasions such as Christmas parties; he’d put great gifts under the tree… When he got sick, seeing him became harder. Later, most of the memories came from the stories my father told about him.

Which are your favourite designs?

Pininfarina has worked on the design of more than 600 cars. These are all listed in the book, and nine of them have been selected to be the icons of each of the decades. So let me take one car per generation: Cisitalia 202, Dino and Battista.

Who most influenced you?

My father, Sergio. He didn’t even need to convince me to study mechanical engineering and spend my working life at Pininfarina. I learned a lot from him; the ethical values and how to behave within the company, with clients and people in general, how to discover and show my creativity. His best advice? “Never get too excited in good times and never get depressed in bad times.”

What do you recall of [Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina], your grandfather?

When he died in 1966, I was less than eight years old. My first memories probably date from 1963; I recall that my family considered him a mythical personality. I understood that he was very special for everyone. We’d

How did you cope with the loss of your brother Andrea, and your new responsibilities?

It all happened suddenly, but I was the best candidate [to take over]. In 2008 I was already vice chairman. I was nearly 50, and I had over 25 years’ experience in the company. I

am quite different from Andrea; he was more energetic, but I have inherited my father’s irony and calm, which have been helpful in hard times. I immediately decided to focus the company on design, and I established a vision where everything – products or projects – had to be innovative, essential and elegant.

I remained chairman, and Silvio Angori was named as CEO. My experience with non-automotive design was helpful, and the company continued to jump a high bar.

Which Pininfarina designers do you most admire?

I could express my preferences – but I never have. It was the same when I wrote the Pininfarina 90 preface.

My grandfather could have said ‘I’ designed the Cisitalia, for example, because he was the founder and the master architect. However, my father represented the ‘we’ generation. I like to underline that design is the result of teamwork, and I believe the best designer is the company.

What are the most exciting Pininfarina projects right now?

I’m quite excited by the Battista, which will be delivered to clients early next year. I look forward to driving this outstanding electric hypercar. Outside of automotive, we are making a consistent effort in the interior-design and architecture sectors, with relevant projects in Europe, Brazil and the US. And what of Pininfarina’s future?

The future could look bright, because there’ll be more need for innovative ideas to redesign living environments and mobility systems. The crisis we are living through is an opportunity to rethink the future of our society.

What would your grandfather have thought of the Battista?

From above, he is certainly happy.

He had the dream of speed and excellence, and the Battista will deliver performance and style. Being extremely innovative, it will be a perfect car for the Pininfarina brand.

INTERVIEW

Paolo Pininfarina As his family’s legendary company launches a new book to celebrate its 90th anniversary, the Italian design brand boss celebrates the past and looks to the future

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INTERVIEW BY DAVID LILLYWHITE, PHOTOGRAPHY BY AUTOMOBILI PININFARINA

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RIGHT Stripdown revealed evidence of an earlier, less accurate restoration.

It’s all part of the Bentley’s history, of course, but not strictly correct...

New lease of life for Birkin Blower Hi-tech techniques used in renovation prompted by Bentley’s project to build 12 Continuation Car recreations of racer

AT SALON PRIVÉ back in late September, Bentley showed off its 1930 Birkin Blower Team Car, back together after a stripdown for full digital scanning – and subsequent restoration after it was found that the famous car wasn’t all it should have been. Company CEO Adrian Hallmark, who arrived in his own recently bought Bentley Brooklands, explained the progress of the restoration, which was prompted by the project to build 12 Continuation Car recreations of the Birkin Blower.

“To really understand the car, we had to strip it,” said Adrian. “My first thought was that we’ve got to fix the car up, we have to elegantly restore it back to what it should have been.

Then when we started the research we found that the body isn’t original.

It was restored in the mid-1950s, and they changed the body covering; the original flags and numbers are in Bentley Drivers Club (BDC) HQ in frames. The material is incorrect, it’s

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not even the right Rexine, the seats are not the original seats... With the BDC, all the experts, [we thought] what on the car is original? If we’re going to touch things, let’s not copy the copy, that’s wrong; let’s get it back to the way it should be.

“We’ve very carefully stripped the car down and scanned it digitally.

We’ve also found things like the brake multipliers adjusted to the point at which there was no leverage, which explains a lot... For example, why does the steering wheel do that [shows it flexing] – it’s because when you’re braking, the only way to get any brake pressure is to pull on the wheel like your life depends on it, and that’s why it’s flexed so much over the years and snapped.

“If you look inside the engine bay, at nearly 100-year-old components – and it’s been used, it’s not been stuck in a museum and closeted – all these are original: carb, magnetos, everything. It has been thoroughly

cleaned mechanically, electrically revamped where needed. The seat frames are the originals, the backs and cushions were replaced. These should be fluted… In the 1950s, what would this model have been worth? I know it’s a rare car, but it never won Le Mans, and these cars weren’t that valuable even in the 1970s and ’80s.

So they’d have gone ‘that will do’, throw the old seat coverings out, use cheaper material to cover the body, put a few stickers on it, job done.

“We microscopically analysed the body fabric on the BDC walls to look at the Rexine weave, the material size, and we’ve got it down to three microns. The authentic colour, too, because we’ve got the original bill of sale for the material. So we now have a new body, on a new ash frame, ready to go on [the restored chassis currently wears the original body].

“We will keep the displaced components – the old floor, all the switchgear, everything; we’ll take these and put them onto a new chassis for exhibition. The seats and anything else we displace will go into this jig. But the car will be returned to the original, exact spec of the 1930 Le Mans, even if that means new parts.”

Meanwhile, the first of the Bentley Blower Continuation Cars – the engineering study ‘Car Zero’ – has been completed and is undergoing the first of two 8000km tests. The first customer cars are expected during the first half of 2021.

ABOVE Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark talked us through the restoration of 1930 Birkin Blower Team Car, which was on display at this year’s Salon Privé.

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Fighting dog muscles up

AMY SHORE

Under-restoration 1970s Aston Martin Bulldog is boosting its strength as part of its ultimate bid to run at 200mph. We’re tracking its progress

THE ONGOING RESTORATION of the Aston Martin Bulldog continues to reveal new aspects of the legendary supercar, and the way it was built.

It’s even captured the imagination of the UK media, recently appearing in national newspapers and on TV. As work continues at Classic Motor Cars in Bridgnorth, UK, the construction of the one-off Bulldog has been shown to, unsurprisingly, lack the structural rigidity and rollover protection we’re now used to seeing in equivalent supercars and hypercars. When it was built in 1979, the Bulldog was expected to be capable of 200mph, and although it never quite reached that target it was clocked at 192mph at the MIRA testing ground. Once finished, the plan is to run the car again at top speed, to finally prove that it can reach the double-ton – so some element of safety will be crucial.

“The car is dramatically designed in every way, and has inspired the restoration team like nothing else we’ve worked on,” says Classic Motor Cars boss Nigel Woodward. “As it has been dismantled and revealed its history, it has prompted numerous questions as to why certain elements of the car were built in a certain way.

“It’s almost like an archaeological dig. You find something interesting, and then must work out why it was constructed in that way, how to put it back together and whether it should be improved while ensuring the car’s historical integrity remains.

“What has been revealed is that the basic structure showed a lack of torsional rigidity by today’s standards, and a total lack of roll-over protection.

A concealed internal cage is being designed and constructed to correct

these issues without interrupting the originality. For a car with such huge performance, we felt this was an essential safety improvement to allow it to be driven in the manner for which it was designed.”

Progress on the renovation is so strong that since we spoke with Nigel, the concealed cage has been installed, repairs have been made to the original roof skin, and restoration work to the rear louvres is nearly complete. In addition, new front and back suspension has now been fabricated. It’s also been discovered that the car underwent a number of modifications early in its life in relation to exhaust-outlet positioning.

“When you first see the Bulldog it appears to be a flat-faceted design, but it’s not,” says Nigel. “The car has subtle compound curves in many of its panels, and it is essential that we retain those. The English wheel will certainly not be redundant here.”

Project leader Richard Gauntlett, son of the late Victor Gauntlett (former Aston Martin CEO and chairman), is project managing the restoration and overseeing the car’s exciting future: “The first six months of this heroic project have been truly fascinating,” he says. “The restoration is absolutely forensic in every respect.

We’ve seen the car offer up its past, we’ve located and spoken with every member of the core team who built it, and we are compiling every piece of information we can find regarding its extraordinary history.

“This Aston Martin illustrates that British ingenuity in the face of financial adversity can be deeply impressive, which seems so relevant at this time. The future’s bright, the future’s Bulldog!”

ABOVE Bulldog’s restored body now hides a roll cage; the non-original upholstery has been carefully unpicked; and new rear chassis frame is now in place.

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Touring AERO 3’s fin-ishing touch Celebrated Milanese design house Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera rolls out its most striking commitment yet to both past and future

RIGHT Modernday homage to Touring’s past masters is as beautiful on the concours lawn as on the road.

FROM THE VERY start of our story planning, there was no way London Oxford Airport would not be part of this photoshoot. The happy coincidence of a screaming red Touring auto sculpture wearing the big, bold Race Number 19, and less than three miles from its official Salon Privé 2020 world premier, to find a matching runway number One Nine marked in numerals even bolder and bigger was simply too perfect to ignore.

Still, all through the late-night shooting prep – and it would of necessity be late night, after the end of operations at a busy regional hub – I felt I was missing something painfully obvious about this scene.

The brilliant colours; the contrasting dark voids; the men and the metal. Long-time colleague Martyn Goddard battling time to perfectly set the photographic stage; the fiercely concentrated total activity.

Until finally it slapped me: The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn. Perfect light. Perfect dark.

Perfect shapes. Touring’s AERO 3 is

definitely taking a side in the eternal question of the car as art, or the subject of art, or the muse for art – and the side is ‘Yes’.

But first, some nuts and bolts and why and wherefores. From its early 2000s resurgence as an independent Milano custom coachbuilder in the grand Italian tradition, Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera has rolled out one striking, stylish, specially commissioned design after another, always gracing the finest of hi-po running gear. In this case, the gear comes from a front-engine, V12, 200mph Italian hypercar made by a legendary firm that Touring does not feel necessary to name in order to enhance its reputation. Go, Google up a storm; it’s out there.

I leave you with my professional confidences intact.

So the AERO 3 (caps not optional) is immensely fast, responsive and entertaining, just like the donor car.

But the real story here is… well, that long, slinky, sexy shape, isn’t it? The feline grace, the strong, flowing rear quarters, fluid contours and classic

ABOVE AND RIGHT That fin!

Those helmets!

New AERO 3’s evocative nods to the past look right at home in the present.

MARTYN GODDARD

proportions. And yeah, that shark fin; that daring, and somehow eminently correct, fin sweeping back from the teardrop greenhouse, looking as though it could have come from 50 years ago – or 50 years from now. This car, coincidentally Touring’s first with allcarbonfibre bodywork, is the living embodiment of the old company tagline ‘Designed by the Wind’.

Which is itself rather germane to the story. In recent years some of Touring’s designs have taken inspiration from the coachbuilder’s famous past creations, most notably with the modern Disco Volante series first shown in 2012. This concept – not of building latter-day copies, or ‘continuation’ cars, but of referencing the company’s ongoing style philosophy, its design signature – proved so successful that head of Touring Design Louis de Fabribeckers conducted a study of Touring’s

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LEFT 19 meets 19 for some dragstrip action. The numbers have it...

ABOVE Spot the shark fins; clever detailing adds the finishing touch to this one-in-15 very special edition.

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emphasis through every model, back to the company’s founding in 1926.

“I was looking for something quite specific,” he told me at Salon Privé.

“I felt there must be some common quality that explained Touring’s long history of success and respect, what constituted the Touring DNA. On one hand, we had such a heritage of refined, elegant road cars, such as the 1949 Alfa Villa d’Este Coupé – the only car ever, you know, to be named after a world-class concours.

There is no Cadillac Pebble Beach, no Bugatti Chantilly, but there is a Touring Alfa Villa d’Este.

“On the other hand, we had a heritage of ground-breaking scientific and wind-tunnel-tested pure racing and experimental cars, such as the Discos, or the 1938 Alfa 8C 2900B Berlinetta Aerodinamica, the complete star of that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, despite failing from engine problems. And when I compared the two approaches, they were both balanced shapes, in perfect proportion, with clean lines, and completely elegant – and elegance in motion and elegance on concours display are the same thing. You can’t have one without the other.”

That the Berlinetta Aerodinamica was also long, slinky and feline, and boasted a radically flowing teardrop greenhouse, striking Italian

red paint and the Race Number 19 should not surprise. That we now know its spiritual descendant as the AERO 3 is because Touring includes the two recent Discos as part of the same aero family. The next member of the clan, I understand, is already on the drawing board and slated for a 2021 launch.

Readers note, by the way, that this is not a competition car, and Touring plainly states the fin is not a performance enhancement; it is in no way superior or inferior to the car donating the mechanical bits.

As the buyer – and yes, Car Number One is already sold (so are Two and Three of the planned 15 units) – may do track days, Touring has fitted four-point harnesses in addition to standard retractor belts. As the purchaser is furthermore a major fan of the original ’38 Le Mans 2900B, Touring has mounted a pair of colour-matching helmets in the boot, labelled with the names ‘Biondetti’ and ‘Sommer’, the fabled drivers on that legendary event.

Similar attention to detail runs throughout. The grille up front – an homage to the Alfa ‘shield’ grille or, as Louis once drew it, that of a knight in armour – is accented in orange to complement the mock race numbers, as with the twin air intakes beside it, and their shape

carries back to the engine exhaust outlets. Likewise, the evocative shark-fin shape pops up repeatedly, atop the instrument cluster, each seatback in the cleverly cosy dualcockpit interior, or my favourite, between the window switches on the central console. Oh, and as a custom automobile, pricing will vary with the client’s wishes; contact Touring via the website below.

Full-disclosure personal dislikes: the driver’s seat is low for my taste, the rear-view camera will take getting used to, and I loathe the hitech control gizmos sadly inherited from the donor car. But the tiny spotlight shining on the rear Touring badge is absolutely splendid. Not much that’s negative to balance against a car of superlative capabilities, designed to look not like a plastic toy that converts from robot to spaceship, but to be as beautiful on the concours lawn as on the road, and a pleasure to experience under every circumstance.

I can’t wait to see where the Alfa Villa d’Este inspiration leads next.

Thanks to London Oxford Airport (see www.oxfordairport.co.uk) for its cooperation and assistance with our shoot. For further information on the AERO 3, please visit Touring at www.touringsuperleggera.eu.

Dale Drinnon

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S T A R T E R

BOOK REVIEW

When cars and fashion collide This compact book is all about the period-style imagery shot around London. It’s a simple concept, brilliantly executed

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THIS ISN’T A big book. There’s not even much to read in it; it’s all about the pictures. But there is something immensely satisfying about The Fiskens Project, from the neat A5-plus size and the thick hardback covers to, of course, the superb photography. This is what you get when fashion photographer joins designer joins top-end car specialist.

Who? Said photographer is Nick Clements, who specialises in staging and recording re-enactments of the early- and mid-20th century, usually for the Men’s File style magazine. The designer is question is Julian Balme, best known in our world as a lover of Yank tanks and hot rods, historic racer and contributor to Classic &

Sports Car magazine. But he started out as a designer at Stiff Records and went on to create more than 1000 record sleeves.

And the collector car specialist?

Well, the clue is in the book’s title, for it is of course Gregor Fisken, leading London mews dealer and racer.

So these three took it upon themselves to set up some of the most striking period-style classic car photography we’ve seen. It’s stylish and evocative, at times humorous, sometimes sexy. Importantly, of course, the cars are top quality; from 1908 Grand Prix Panhard to Le Mans Ferrari 512 – and not forgetting that Mk1 Ford Transit van. £15.99 from jules@vegasdesign.co.uk

BEST OF THE BOOKS There’s been a surge of top-level motoring books post-lockdown.

These are some of our favourite new car titles

JOCHEN RINDT – A CHAMPION WITH HIDDEN DEPTHS

ABOVE Professional models, a great selection of the best cars and a fashion photographer make for an unusual but appealing book.

What a superb book.

The only reason you’d be tempted to put it down would be because of its great heft – with 400 pages of heavyweight paper and the generous dimensions of 29cm x 29cm, it takes some lifting.

Jochen Rindt, who died 50 years ago during practice for the 1970 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, was an intriguing character – more sensitive than his boxer’s nose and sometimes boorish behaviour would suggest.

The author, journalist and former stunt driver Erich Glavitza, knew Rindt well but clearly hasn’t relied solely on his personal knowledge; descriptions of Rindt’s childhood and early years are as detailed as those of his racing years.

The book follows the usual McKlein Media practice of dual-language (German and English) text with a wealth of stunning archive photography and captions. The English is occasionally stilted but always highly readable, and Rindt’s personality shines through – as does the feeling of these 1960s drivers living with the ever-present danger of injury or death.

It’s priced at €99.90 or £94.90 from McKlein. www.mckleinstore.com

ROFGO COLLECTION The ROFGO Collection is the spectacular group of Gulf-liveried race cars belonging to private collector Roald Goethe, brought together with the help of renowned dealer Adrian Hamilton.

This book documents the collection, detailing the provenance of each car, from the 1964 Gulf Mirage M1 to the 2013 Aston Martin Vantage GTE, and including the Howmet turbine car, Ford GT40, Porsche 917 and McLaren F1 GTR – 35 cars in all.

It’s one of the best auto collections in the world, focused around Goethe’s childhood love of the Gulf livery – blue and orange features heavily in the book design, of course. And who better to tell the stories of the cars than Doug Nye? www.porterpress.co.uk

THE LIGHT CAR COMPANY ROCKET BOND CARS, THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY I know, you’re already thinking that this is the usual lightweight Bond nonsense that comes out every Christmas.

Well think again. Author Jason Barlow – former Top Gear TV presenter and writer for GQ, Car and more – has put everything into this, going into a depth that puts all previous Bond publications to shame.

Best of all, he was given full access to the Bond archive for days on end, and has unearthed fascinating, never-beforeseen documents, blueprints and scripts from previous films. Superb, and just £20. www.penguin.co.uk

SUPERFINDS This large- format, 420page hardback by Michael Kliebenstein is the story of Italian Corrado Cupellini’s automotive treasure hunts of the 1960s and ’70s.

His first significant find was an ex-works Ferrari 250GT SWB at the home of the mayor of Lima’s son.

Then there was the Testa Rossa tracked down to the home of a Venezuelan scrapyard worker, the 100km Gullwing in a Caracas scrapyard and the Ferrari-engined hydroplane in an Italian farmyard.

There are more than 900 previously unseen photos of such finds, and although some are simply of exotic cars on the street, there’s pure gold here. www.porterpress.co.uk

The subtitle to this hefty £75 book by Clive Neville is ‘The singular vision of two men’ – referring to former racer Chris Craft and the much-loved design genius that is Gordon Murray.

Together they created the uncompromising single-seater Rocket; the lightest production car of all time. This is the story of its development, with design sketches, pictures of every detail and contributions from Craft, Murray and several Rocket owners, including Jay Leno.

There’s a section on every Rocket made, which is weirdly fascinating even though the cars all look largely the same. It really is the full Rocket story. www.porterpress.co.uk

BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS CLASSIC CAR AUCTION YEARBOOK 2019-2020 The Classic Car Auction Yearbook by Adolfo Orsi and Raffaele Gazzi is an institution, now on its 25th edition. It analyses auction price data, explaining trends across the market.

You might think all the information is on the web now, but there’s little of this depth, and the chance to flick through the pages and land on random stats makes sense of the print format. This year’s special 25th-anniversary look back at prices of the early 1990s will make you wish you’d splashed out back then. www.classiccar auctionyearbook.com

This is the Bonneville bible, the history book that even the hardcore historians turn to. Author ‘LandSpeed’ Louise Ann Noeth is a Bonneville racer who has been involved with many of the top speed-record teams over the years; this is the latest updated version of her famous publication.

It is modest in size and just 128 pages long, with 212 pictures, but that does mean the price is low at only $21.99. It’s packed with the great Bonneville stories from the early days of the hot rods, through the great and not-so-great Land Speed Record attempts, to more recent events on the famed Utah salt flats. www.arcadiapublishing.com

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Concours on Savile Row The exciting new London event, postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic, is now planned for June 2021

LONDON’S FIRST CONCOURS on Savile Row event, initially intended to take place in June 2020, has now been rescheduled for Thursday 24 and Friday 25 June, 2021.

As the name suggests, the concours will take place on the English capital’s street made famous by bespoke tailors. Around 40 of the greatest classic cars, hypercars and concepts will be displayed along the Row, which will be closed to traffic for the two days of the concours.

Each of the tailors will be open, with many hosting VIP events and demonstrations. A central stage will host music and conversations with manufacturers, tailors, designers and stars of motor sport. Receptions will also be held nearby on both the

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Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

The concours will be free of charge to the public, but access to the VIP areas will be by ticket only.

Savile Row has a fascinating history, which dates back to the 1730s, when the street was built.

Much of the street has always been owned by The Pollen Estate, and by the late 18th century tailors had started working in the area, the first moving into Savile Row in 1803.

Henry Poole – thought to be the creator of the dinner jacket, or tuxedo – opened an entrance to Savile Row from its Old Burlington Street premises in 1846, and H Huntsman & Sons moved in during 1919. In 1969, Nutters of Savile Row shook the established tailors with its more

modern approach, and that ‘new bespoke movement’ continues with the likes of Richard James, Ozwald Boateng and Timothy Everest.

Car brands and specialists will be given the opportunity to work with tailors for the event. Some already have links, such as Rolls-Royce and Gieves & Hawkes, Aston Martin and Hackett, and Bentley and Huntsman.

Earlier this year Henry Poole & Co collaborated with Land Rover chief design officer Prof Gerry McGovern OBE to create a unique fabric to celebrate 50 years of Range Rover.

The dog-tooth check makes use of the original 1970s exterior colour palette – Tuscan Blue, Bahama Gold and Davos White – to create 50 bespoke men’s and women’s jackets.

The same shades are also available as exterior paint colours on the limited-edition Range Rover Fifty.

In October, Huntsman collaborated with the Morgan Motor Company and designer Ron Arad, who created a full-size Morgan sculpture using original Morgan parts, which was then covered in an artwork made by Arad and stitched by Huntsman’s tailors. The final piece was displayed in Huntsman’s Savile Row window.

The concours will be organised by Magneto publisher Hothouse Media, working with The Pollen Estate.

For information see www.concourson savilerow.com or email Geoff Love at geoff@hothousemedia.co.uk.

ABOVE Savile Row will be transformed for two days into an exclusive concours, with manufacturers, classic specialists and bespoke tailors working together.

20 years ago, this very car won its class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans piloted by Olivier Beretta, Karl Wendlinger and Dominique Dupuy. In dominating fashion, it achieved the highest finishing position ever for an American GT class car finishing 7th overall. Le Mans was just one of eight victories on the road to a 3 year sweep in which Viper Team ORECA won the ALMS Championship. Now, GTSR C31 is offered exclusively by LBI Limited in search of a new caretaker to carry on its winning legacy.

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S T A R T E R

CAN A CONCOURS work online?

That’s the question we asked back in late May, as we watched car events fall one by one.

So we – that’s Hothouse Media, publisher of Magneto and The Concours Year – decided to try the online alternative, encouraged by the success of the Facebook-based Isolation Island concours for model cars, and with a wish to do something useful for the pandemic.

By the third week in June we’d built a website and brought partners on board including lead sponsor Hagerty. We decided upon Unicef’s pandemic appeal as our charity, and accepted the first of what became 245 cars across 17 classes.

On June 29, Concours Virtual was launched, with a team of more than 40 judges, a Concept Lawn and a presence on Facebook and Instagram.

A concours class went live every few days over the following six weeks,

Best in Show and Tribute to Stirling Moss The 1955 Mille Migliawinning MercedesBenz 300SLR ‘722’.

with the Best of Class result and Public Vote winner announced by recorded Zoom video after each class had been open for a week.

The judges, five or six per class, would discuss the cars via Zoom, having been herded together by chief judge Dave Kinney. As an example, the Le Mans 1961-1970 judges were Derek Bell, Marino Franchitti, Gregor Fisken and Sir Chris Hoy (Le Mans racer and Olympic cyclist), plus Magneto editor David Lillywhite to keep order.

Additionally, a separate group of experts would be brought together for recorded panel discussions on Zoom to discuss the merits of each class, headed by either Richard Charlesworth or Alain de Cadenet.

The first class to open was PreWar Preservation, with entries as diverse as the Classic Motor Hub’s 1931 Bentley 8 Litre and Duncan Pittaway’s remarkable 1893 Salvesen

The virtual winners’ enclosure When lockdown hit, we launched the online Concours Virtual. Here’s how it turned out

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steam wagon. This was followed

by Hollywood Legends’ cars, which included the Petersen Automotive Museum’s Steve McQueen XKSS and Anne Brockinton Lee’s stunning ex-Greta Garbo Duesenberg.

Cars of the Art Deco Era attracted a Mullin Automotive Museum Bugatti Type 57, Pre-War Supercars included BMW’s own 328 Mille Miglia Touring, and Concept Cars of the 1970s attracted an incredible selection from private owners as well as FCA Heritage, Vauxhall, GM Heritage and BMW Group Classic.

More classes followed, equally mind blowing: The Golden Age of Detroit; Outlaws – Modified German Aircooleds; Poster Cars of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s; 70 years of Formula 1 [world championship]; Salt Flat Heroes; Banzai Gp A Homologation; Junior Concours for scaled-down cars; Best of 2019 Concours Winners; and a tribute to Stirling

Moss, appropriately (and politically incorrectly) named Crumpet Cars.

What did we learn? That car people come together whatever the occasion. Across the website and social media Concours Virtual had more that 1.4 million interactions, and around 9000 people took part in the public votes. We published 110,000 words, 5300 images and 180 videos. Our own small team, plus Dave Kinney, Richard Charlesworth and Alain de Cadenet, put in many, many extra hours of their own time.

At the time of writing, Concours Virtual has raised more than £40,000 for children affected by the pandemic, and has been shortlisted for the Historic Motoring Awards Lockdown Initiative Award and the PPA Independent Publisher Event of the Year Award.

Concours Virtual is still live, at www.concoursvirtual.com. Take a look – the cars are amazing!

Second in Best in Show and first in Concept Cars 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero

by Bertone.

SELECTED WINNERS Concours Virtual Best in Show, presented by Hagerty 1st: 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SLR ‘722’, Mercedes-Benz Museum 2nd: 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero, 3rd: 1970 Porsche 917K #23, (both private collectors) People’s Choice Award 1st: 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport by Figoni & Falaschi, Robert Kudela 2nd: 1961 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Coupé Aerodinamico by Pininfarina, Kevin Kogan 3rd: 1933 Thomas & Taylor Napier-Railton Special, Brooklands Museum Hagerty Junior Judges’ Award 1939 Delahaye 165 Cabriolet

by Figoni & Falaschi, Mullin Automotive Museum

Most Historically Significant Car, presented by Creative Workshop 1907 Thomas Flyer Model 35, National Automobile Museum

The Spirit of Speed, presented by Rodin 1960 Bluebird CN7, National Motor Museum

Most Ingenious Car, presented by Loop 1963 Rover-BRM Gas Turbine, British Motor Museum

Most Technologically Advanced Automobile, sponsored by BRM 1978 JPS Team Lotus 79/3, Classic Team Lotus

The Inspiration in Motoring Award for the Most Fascinating Vehicle, presented by the Petersen Automotive Museum 1970 Porsche 917LH ‘Hippie Car’, Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum

The Sports Car Market Choice, presented by Sports Car Market magazine 1967 Ford GT MkIV, Henry Ford

The Best Car to Start A Collection With, presented by Classic Trader 1934 Alfa Romeo Gran Sport Zagato Testa Fissa, Mark Gessler

Third in Best in Show and first in Le Mans Cars 1970 Le Manswinning Porsche 917K #23.

The Magneto Editor’s Choice, presented by Magneto magazine 1973 Porsche 917/30, Rob Kauffman The Keeper of the Flame, presented by Collier Auto Media 1913 SCAT 25/35hp Landaulette/ Limousine, Lopresto Collection

People’s Choice Award and Best of 2019 Concours 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport Figoni & Falaschi.

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How would you like to own a bespoke DB4 GT Zagato recreation prepared to your own colour specification?

We recently sold one of our DB4 GT Zagato recreations (4 AYO) built using an original Aston Martin DB4 lightweight chassis and an original Zagato body buck. Many so-called recreations have not got the correct proportions and this is where our investment in a wholly accurate body buck from an original car provided us with a definitive template, to ensure accuracy which is more or less identical to an original car.

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Don’t press that!

Aston Martin’s latest homage to James Bond is equipped with a smoke screen and machine guns…

“WHAT IS SO brilliant about the gadgets is their simplicity.” The late Desmond Llewelyn wasn’t joking when he summed up his character Q’s role in arming James Bond’s most memorable car. The iconic Aston Martin DB5 that appeared in Goldfinger was as hi-tech as cinemagoers could imagine 56 years ago.

Today, the ejector seat, wheelmounted tyre slashers and radar tracking device are almost comical.

Even so, there comes a moment driving Aston’s prohibitively costly DB5 Continuation when your thumb intuitively pops open the lid of the gearknob, revealing a red button.

My digit is hovering over the trigger now – the one used to great effect by Sean Connery in the 1964 movie. It fires a brace of Browning machine guns borrowed from a Spitfire, which appear from behind the indicators.

That moment arrives as I barrel across the countryside at Stoke Park, near London. The hotel is where 007 played golf against the evil Auric Goldfinger, almost losing his head to Oddjob’s lethal bowler hat in the process. A villainous van has pulled out right in front of me, and the DB5’s crossplies screech in protest. The truck is in my sights; I could operate the Aston’s front battering-ram device, but instead I take the shot.

“That’s one reason why this car is not road legal,” laughs Paul Squires, Aston Martin Works president and the man behind the ‘new’ DB5. “We could see wannabe 007s getting up to all sorts of mischief with the gadgets.”

He’s right. This prototype is road legal,

with all the gizmos de-activated. I can’t help but wish those guns were optional on a contemporary Aston...

I’m perched on outsize Connolly leather seats, facing a rash of Smiths dials; the only features missing are a 007 soundtrack and a beautiful leading lady. I’m seduced by the DB5’s more conventional charms, regardless.

This is as close as I’ll come to the starring role, although at 5ft 9in I’m surprised my head’s touching the roof lining. Just how tall was Connery?

The seats will soften with time, but the cabin is surprisingly compact.

The round radar screen could’ve been borrowed from Thunderbirds.

Oddly, it’s not a working sat-nav; I’m following an ugly Garmin unit stuck to the windscreen instead. No matter – the 4.0-litre straight-six is thrilling to wind up through the revs. The twin tailpipes emit a bass-like resonance that seeps into my body via the hand-crafted wooden wheel. It’s impossible to hurry the original, German-built ZF ’box – the only DB5 Continuation part not made in Britain – while the brakes require almost telepathic powers at high speeds.

Admiring the view along the DB5’s curvaceous bonnet remains one of motoring’s real pleasures. After a few miles I’ve forgotten about the gadgets and the hidden buttons that can dispense smoke and oil (well, water here) or rotate the number plates. The Aston’s gloriously relaxed nature is like no other. No driver aids, no power steering, no air-con – it’s just you and the road. This is a cruiser not a sports car, perfect for touring down

to the casino at Monte, or a weekend jaunt to a baronial Scottish lair.

The Goldfinger Continuation is the first DB5 to be built in 55 years, created with the blessing of Bond film-maker EON Productions. Just 25 will be hand-crafted at Aston Martin’s former Newport Pagnell factory site, costing around £3.2 million each.

Recreated to the exact spec of Q Branch, the car celebrates Bond’s 25th screen outing in No Time To Die. The delayed movie is slated for a November release, starring Daniel Craig in his final 007 appearance.

This is the third Continuation model after a pair of DB4s, and is the most controversial. Who exactly buys a DB5 that can’t be driven on the road and costs over three times as much as a cherished original?

Every car is painted in 007 Silver Birch, and the only options are leftor right-hand drive, and a removable panel above the passenger seat. This replicates the roof exit for Bond’s ejector seat. Obviously, for health and safety reasons, it’s for show only.

The DB5’s exclusive nature means it will likely be worth four or five times the price in years to come.

However, for my money, I’d sacrifice all the Bond toys to purr along the open road in this iconic coupé.

It’s a plaything for the seriously rich – and I can’t help but feel that, similar to Craig’s retiring Bond, most Goldfinger Continuation owners will soon bore of the weaponry, restore to road legal and choose a more relaxed driving lifestyle instead.

Jeremy Taylor

ABOVE Take aim, fire! Gearknob trigger, hidden machine guns and radar screen are identical to gadgets originally used by 007.

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Sims put on the style Beautifully crafted eClassic simulators combine tech and heritage to deliver the ultimate at-home drive

WE KNOW THAT simulators can provide hours of entertainment and the chance to learn iconic race circuits – particularly out of season and, dare we say it, through pandemic lockdowns. But none has truly captured the feel of a classic car. TCCT, the organisation behind the new eClassic simulators, has set out to change that situation.

These brand-new simulators are designed to react more like classics, whether for leisurely ‘drives’ or for racing; they have three pedals and a gearstick, rather than the usual two pedals and paddleshift, and the simulators sound and move around in the way that an historic car would.

Even the materials used are more appropriate – the steering wheels are large by simulator standards, at 30cm diameter, and wood rimmed with alloy spokes. The upholstery is trimmed in classic style and the gearknobs are wood or alloy.

However, the two new eClassics also look completely different from other simulators, because they were designed by Zagato and Pininfarina – the first time the legendary Italian styling houses have worked together.

The two created their simulators in parallel, with neither knowing what the other was designing.

You’ll see that the Sportiva by Pininfarina is more traditional in style, while the Elio Z by Zagato (in the name of current CEO Andrea’s father, Elio) features an alloy machine-turned facia and a cutaway body revealing a superleggera-esque structure. Wraparound simulator screens on both versions help with the immersive experience, and also show classic-style instruments and a view down an unmistakably historic bonnet. They are car-sized, too – much larger than you might think from the pictures to the left.

FROM TOP LEFT Zagato’s Elio Z simulator features a cutaway body revealing a superleggera-style structure, while Pininfarina’s Sportiva has a more traditional design.

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The simulators were developed using state-of-the-art Formula 1 technology, working with Assetto Corsa for the software and Racing Unleashed for the hardware. Buyers will be able to have the simulators programmed to match specific cars or choose existing profiles, which already include the Alfa 33 Stradale, Cobra, 250GTO and GT40.

Purchasers will automatically become part of TCCT’s eClassic Racing Club. This will connect them with other members to drive together and to organise races, in “the spirit of the Scuderie, where the drivers were to tell the story of Sunday’s events and talk about the next race,” explains the TCCT team.

‘Programmed cars already include the 33 Stradale, Cobra, 250GTO and GT40’ “The Zagato and Pininfarina simulators were not born to replace classic cars, but to allow you to enjoy them even more. You participate in events (with costs, risks, inconveniences and time dedicated) but with the joy of being there. But between one event and another you can continue to drive and have fun. You can also prepare yourself if the appointment is serious, on the track, such as at Le Mans and Goodwood.”

TCCT’s first eClassic simulators will be delivered in 2021. Those who sign up in 2020 will be considered as Founding Members, granting further benefits in the community. More at www.tcct.com/eclassic.

A wonderful, correct, highly original example. Carmine red with black interior. Low miles. Original engine, drive train, body, inner sheet metal. A true survivor. Owned 50 years by one La Jolla, CA owner.

Outstanding International race history where it was raced in both two-seater and center seater configurations. NĂźrburgring and Buenos Aires 1,000km, Avus, SPA, and MontlhĂŠry. Original body and chassis.

Matching numbers engine and transmission. Fresh engine rebuild by Bill Doyle. 1 of 34 RSKs, of which 5 were center seat. Has parts to convert to 2 seat configuration. Only 4 owners from new. One of the most original and sought after of the RSKs.

WOR D S KEN GROSS

Faster

Bonneville. A place of legends and dreams, where man and machine battle against nature and the odds in the quest for new records. Utah’s iconic salt flats are an addiction, a drug. How can you resist the need for speed?

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You’ve seen the photographs; a broad, seemingly endless span of iridescent white salt stretches to the horizon, framed by pale grey mountains. In the foreground,

there are brightly coloured, streamlined racing cars, plastered with decals and white salt spray, fresh from a high-speed run. Perhaps you’ve been there in your dreams?

LEFT Cars, salt and dreams; an evocative scene from 1964 Speed Trials sums up all that is great about Bonneville.

PREVIOUS SPREAD Gary Gabelich’s rocket-powered Blue Flame set a new World Land Speed Record at 622.407mph in October 1970.

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301 RIGHT Sir Malcolm Campbell was a Bonneville pioneer, setting a Land Speed Record in his legendary Blue Bird in 1935.

But nothing really prepares you for the majesty of Bonneville itself. Not until you’re standing there. The relentless sun beats down like a furnace blast, the view is breathtaking, and when a race car roars by, running flat-out, its tortured engine shrieking at maximum revs, the rippling exhaust note fairly smacks you. As a speeding car streaks by, the noise echoes far into the distance, and just stops suddenly. Then it’s so quiet you can’t believe what’s just happened.

Vast and visually boundless, the Bonneville Salt Flats represent a rare phenomenon of nature. Geologists tell us that several thousand years ago, the arid area we call the salt flats lay below the surface of a 3000-square-mile inland sea that was nearly 1000 feet deep. When the water evaporated, the salts and minerals settled and hardened. The broad flats have long been unforgiving. Heading west in 1846, the hapless Donner Party trudged across the salt surface.

Their heavily laden Conestoga wagons became mired in the soft mud that lurked beneath the salt’s thin crust. Water was scarce, settlers and struggling oxen died, and tragedy ensued.

Fast forward 50 years; in 1896, the year Utah became a state, publisher William Randolph Hearst sponsored bicycle races on the salt.

David Abbott ‘Ab’ Jenkins, who would become famous in time for his many speed-record attempts here, first drove across the salt on an Excelsior motorcycle. ‘Big Bill’ Rishel and a 6 8

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friend rode on the Western Pacific railroad tracks in a Packard, until they found a way onto the hard salt surface. According to Bonneville historian ‘LandSpeed’ Louise Noeth, in the following year AL Westgard, from the National Trails Association, called Bonneville “the greatest speedway on earth”.

Real racing began in 1914, first with speed exhibitions and staged contests, and then with ‘Terrible Teddy’ Tetzlaff, who managed a torrid 142.8mph timed dash in his 300bhp Blitzen Benz. Yet the American Automobile Association (AAA), which sanctioned most racing, ignored Tetzlaff’s feat. Most speed attempts at that time were held on the smooth sands of the Ormond and Daytona Beaches in Florida. Hotels and infrastructure made those destinations popular, but the narrow beach course indirectly contributed to the death of Indy 500 winner Frank Lockhart in 1928, when a tyre blew on his streamlined Stutz Blackhawk and his car flipped. Had there been run-off room, Lockhart might have survived.

Ab Jenkins, who’d become a big proponent of the salt flats, knew that the potential racing area at Bonneville was ten miles wide by 25plus miles long, so there was plenty of run-off room. With the removal of some of the potash mining boundaries, it could be even larger.

Jenkins came up with a great idea for PierceArrow to help publicise its gruelling new

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135 ABOVE Jenkins’ Mormon Meteor I set a new average speed record of 135.47mph during a 24-hour stint at Bonneville in 1935.

357 ABOVE George Eyston’s giant Thunderbolt averaged 357.5mph for the flying mile in 1938.

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BELOW Rollie Free wore just a bathing suit and sneakers for his iconic Vincent record ride in September 1948.

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Special Twelve 24-hour endurance runs.

Refining his technique over two years, in 1933 Jenkins single-handedly drove a strippeddown Pierce-Arrow V12 roadster 3000 miles over a ten-mile course in 25-and-a-half hours.

He broke European records set by Bugatti, Delage and Voisin, and attracted the interest of British ‘speed kings’ Reid-Railton and Captain George ET Eyston.

Jenkins then convinced Sir Malcolm Campbell, holder of eight World Land Speed Records, to bring his Blue Bird racer to Utah in 1935. Campbell’s best two-way run averaged over 300mph, electrifying onlookers and anticipating the phasing out of Daytona Beach as an ongoing venue for high-speed trials. In Utah, more records continued to fall. Ab Jenkins’ enormous, Duesenberg Straight-8-powered Mormon Meteor I set fast times on a broad tenmile circular course. George Eyston established a new, 149mph, 24-hour endurance racing mark in 1936, and he blazed across the long course in his giant Thunderbolt, averaging 357.5mph for the flying mile. John Cobb joined the fray, and by 1939 his Railton Special, a sleek, silver, fish-shaped streamliner, would hit 367.9mph, a record that would stand for three decades.

Shortly before the outset of World War Two ended racing for the duration, California’s amateur racers, the first hot rodders, had begun competing in their home-built cars on the alkali-packed dry lakes, located to the north and east of Los Angeles. But the dry, rough lake-bed surface and swirling winds produced clouds of dust, making it hard to see. Still, speeds grew higher. As more accidents occurred, the search began for a better venue.

When the world conflict ended, land speed and endurance racing at Bonneville returned.

One of the first memorable events occurred in September 1948, when Rollie Free hurled John Edgar’s stripped and tuned Vincent Black Lightning across the salt for a new 150.313mph record, eclipsing a previous Harley-Davidson mark. Free’s memorable image, stretched out over the bike clad in just a bathing suit and sneakers, remains one of the most famous racing photos of all time.

In 1949, Britain’s fearless John Cobb, driving a massive, Reid-Railton-updated streamliner, achieved an astonishing 394mph at Bonneville and topped that with a blistering 403mph oneway run. That same year, led by Robert E Petersen, founder of Hot Rod Magazine, and Wally Parks, former president of the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) and newly elected president of the fledgling National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), the first SCTA-sanctioned speed meet was

organised at Bonneville. Hot rodders were happy to leave the desolate, dangerous lakebeds for the clean, hard-packed salt with its wider, safer racing surface, not to mention the attractions of nearby Wendover, Utah.

The city of Salt Lake granted permission for the SCTA to hold a meet in August 1949.

Sponsors were quickly rounded up, and Otto Crocker was retained to handle timing and scoring. Bozzy Willis maintained the timing equipment and provided a much-needed communications system. Hot rod ingenuity was commonplace. World War Two veteran Bill Burke imagined that an affordable, 315-gallon, aluminium, war-surplus aircraft belly tank could be the basis for a pukka streamlined racer, once a hopped-up flathead V8 was installed behind the driver. It’s hard to overstate the bravery of pioneer rodders who wriggled down into the narrow cockpit of a converted belly tank and attacked the 200mph mark. The noise was deafening, like riding inside a snare drum. Quick steering, minimal brakes and rudimentary controls all contributed to what probably seemed like a fast ride in a fighter plane without wings.

At first, Bonneville classes were simple: Roadsters (stock-bodied, fenderless open cars that were stripped of non-essentials); Lakesters (roadsters that were extensively modified or channelled, often with smooth track noses); and Streamliners (purpose-built, aerodynamic cars with fully custom bodies) all competed in their respective classes. The SCTA did not allow coupes at first, until the Pierson brothers blazed a 142mph-plus trail at a rival Russetta Timing Association meet, after which the hardtops were taken seriously.

Following the example of the Spalding brothers, who’d tried streamlining before the war, Marvin Lee’s radical, 153mph City of Pasadena streamliner rode on a tubular frame with a roll bar. It packed a rear-mounted Chevy six with a Wayne 12-port crossflow head. The Spalding brothers, already famous for hot ignitions and camshafts, built a 141mph lakester. Fastest time of the meet was the streamliner of Alex Xydias, founder of the So-Cal Speed Shop, and author Dean Bachelor, whose advanced design was inspired by the pre-war factory-backed and Nazi governmentsupported Auto Union. The alloy body was hand formed by Valley Custom, a shop that rivalled George and Sam Barris with its metal-working wizardry.

At first, the fully enclosed So-Cal Streamliner, equipped with a Vic Edelbrock-modified Ford V8/60, managed a very creditable 156mph – some 20mph quicker than their open-wheeled MAGNETO

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BELOW The SCTA (Southern California Timing Association) has traditionally been the organiser of Bonneville events.

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236 ABOVE AND TOP RIGHT A succession of Beasts – Chet Herbert’s no. 666 streamliners – streaked along the salt like the Devil was chasing them.

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409 LEFT Bill and Bob Summers with Goldenrod, their streamliner that set longstanding records in the 1960s.

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belly tank had performed with the same engine.

But the best was yet to come. After installing a full-race 296ci Mercury V8, Bachelor pulled off a series of torrid, 180mph-plus runs. These culminated with a best speed of 193.54mph, to the astonishment of spectators and chief timer Otto Crocker, who calculated the figures by hand because he hadn’t anticipated any hot rod would go that fast at Bonneville.

Alex Xydias told author Mark Christensen that when he first saw the salt flats, he felt like he was on another planet: “The landscape was so far reaching, white salt forever, the mountains stunningly lifeless, stark rocks everywhere – it was a moonscape. We were in awe of the salt, how far it went, how white it was. After the dust and dirt of the dry lakes, Bonneville was unbelievable... you could go as fast as you wanted to go, as far as you wanted.”

‘Big iron’ weren’t the only competitors of note. British Lieutenant Colonel AT ‘Goldie’ Gardner brought a diminutive MG streamliner to the salt in 1952, just before the SCTA meet, and established five international and 66 national records. (A few years later, Stirling Moss would drive EX-181, another experimental MG, to an astonishing 245.6mph, powered by a supercharged 1500cc twin-cam four.)

But we’re getting ahead of our story.

Soon the most innovative hot rodders were all running at the salt flats each summer, where top speeds were virtually unlimited and new ideas welcome. Xydias and Dean’s So-Cal Streamliner, and the Kenz & Leslie twin-engine ’liner, were the first of their breed to top 200mph. Yet their builders knew little about the effects of aerodynamics. Earlier, Bachelor’s streamliner had flipped at El Mirage in a crosswind. But a challenger emerged. Despite being disabled by polio and confined to a wheelchair, camshaft wizard Chet Herbert was certain that even higher speeds were possible.

He felt the secret lay in scientific aerodynamics.

Southern California was home to a burgeoning aircraft industry. Herbert correctly reasoned that if he could find an engineer who understood aircraft flight behaviour at high speeds, paired with the science of streamlining, he’d have an advantage over competitors who were guessing about their cars’ optimal shape.

Herbert retained Rod Schapel, who worked at Cal Tech’s wind tunnel studying aircraft behaviour, to design and help build a radical new streamliner, which he called Beast III. Its slippery shape was based on precise aerodynamic computation. Their ambitious goal was to compete at Bonneville Speed Week.

It didn’t matter that Schapel had never seen a streamliner, nor had he been to

Bonneville. To him, this was simply a complex aeronautical problem. Schapel first experimented with a 1/10th scale aluminium model, testing his design in Cal Tech’s wind tunnel, then modifying it progressively as running conditions were simulated and lift was measured. Hot Rod Magazine’s cover story for December 1952 noted that these were: “The first such extensive tests conducted in the US on a land-borne vehicle.” After Schapel was satisfied with the model’s shape, he built the actual full-scale body. Glassfibre was not yet a common material for automotive bodies – the Corvette’s first production year was 1953. The sleek but lengthy bodyshell was moulded in two pieces.

Herbert first tried a horizontally opposed, aluminium, six-cylinder Franklin aircraft engine, fitted with water-cooled Tucker heads for low weight with high power output. But as more nitro fuel was added, the flat-six blew violently apart. A supercharged Miller engine was briefly considered, before a Chrysler Hemi was selected, bored out to 353ci and fitted with a special Herbert roller-tappet high-lift cam and Hilborn-Travers fuel injection. A 108-inch wheelbase, tubularframed chassis, intended for a sports car, was the platform. The FirePower Hemi was mounted behind the driver.

As the clock ticked down, marathon work on the radical car intensified. But the body pieces weren’t delivered until a few days into Speed Week itself. HRM’s memorable cover showed Herbert, sitting in his wheelchair, welding up the roll bar. He’d enlisted the aid of the experienced Chrisman & Sons Garage, in Compton, CA, and rotating shifts of friends.

Chet was so tired after days of continuous work that he asked to be belted into his wheelchair to keep from falling out.

The exhausted Herbert team drove 700 miles overnight to Bonneville. In its first three runs, driven by George Bentley, the sleek number 666 Herbert Cams Special successively ran 182mph, 197mph and 211mph. When Bentley missed a shift and destroyed the clutch, Herbert’s unorthodox solution was to weld the clutch solid for direct drive. Two push cars were needed to get the ’liner up to speed.

On the second day, when George Bentley failed to arrive, the redoubtable Art Chrisman took over. He ran 219mph and couldn’t stop.

The engine was dieselling after the magneto was switched off. The valves had been literally sucked into the cylinder heads, and there were no spares. Miraculously, a man who worked at the local Chrysler dealership stopped to admire the race car, and when he learned of MAGNETO

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the problem, as Chrisman recalled: “Before we knew it, we had more valves than we knew what to do with.”

Back in action, Chrisman achieved a remarkable 235.99mph average, and became the fifth member of the highly respected 200 MPH Club. For a brief time, Beast III was the fastest single-engine car in America. During that memorable 1953 Speed Week, Chet Herbert and four other hot rod teams set multiple International, World and American Speed Records. Writing in Hot Rod Magazine, editor Wally Parks noted: “Back-yard boys have accomplished what it took industry to do in other countries (using)... American production automobile engines.” Not to be outdone, Britons George Eyston and Donald Healey piloted a radically streamlined Austin-Healey roadster to a 3100-mile endurance record.

Over the next few years, speeds grew dramatically. It seemed no barrier was too high. Mickey Thompson, who’d eventually set more than 265 speed records, built his fourPontiac-engined Challenger I. He eventually topped 400mph in 1960, the first American to do so. That’s when several competitors believed that sheer horsepower combined with a slippery shape was needed to capture the ultimate Land Speed Record. They turned first to piston-powered aircraft engines, then to jet-propelled cars.

Noted racers such as Art Arfons with his 17-stage J79 jet-powered Green Monster, Walter Arfons and Tom Green with the Goodyear Tire-sponsored Wingfoot Express, Dr Nathan Ostich with his GE J47 turbojetpowered Flying Caduceus, and Craig Breedlove with his Spirit of America vied for records. In 1965, driving his Sonic 1, Breedlove raised the Land Speed Record to 600mph. In addition to the traditional wheel-driven categories, a further category designed for all thrustpowered vehicles was eventually established.

Gary Gabelich’s wingless jet car, The Blue Flame, set the world record at 622.407mph in the mile and 630.388mph in the kilometre, with a top speed of 627mph. But the pistonengine crowd felt (and still feel) that using a jet engine is somehow not cricket.

Bonneville’s long history is replete with tales of homespun ingenuity. Here’s one of them: Al Teague retired his 260mph-plus ’32 Ford Sadd, Teague & Bentley roadster in 1975, and he began work on an even more ambitious project; a single-engine streamliner that would break the Land Speed Record. Lacking a highbudget shop, Teague built the ’liner’s tubular frame in his mother’s garage. To keep the silhouette as small and slippery as possible, 76

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ABOVE Walt Arfons built two rocket-powered Wingfoot Express racers in the mid-1960s.

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LEFT Still going strong after 25 years; anniversary Speed Trials in 1973 saw a traditional turnout of cars as well as the latest tech.

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ABOVE Al Teague’s ever-evolving streamliner became the world’s fastest ground vehicle with a single piston engine and two-wheel drive.

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he moulded a slender shape out of composite material, which was based on a Nortonpowered motorcycle streamliner owned by Dennis Manning. Teague’s race car began in 1976, as a torsion-bar-suspended, openwheeled lakester. Its rear-mounted blown Chrysler V8 was hooked to a Weisman fourspeed transaxle, a unit developed for the allconquering Ford GT40 Mark IVs at Le Mans.

Even with exposed wheels, Teague’s new contraption covered a measured mile at 260mph in ’76. Al had always admired Frank Lockhart’s beautifully streamlined Daytona Beach racer, and to improve his car’s aerodynamics he envisioned slick wheel ‘pants’ not unlike those on Lockhart’s ill-fated 1927 Miller-powered Stutz Blackhawk. Through the late 1970s, coping with poor salt conditions and infrequent Bonneville meets, Teague and his loyal crew struggled with turbocharger problems before reverting back to a crankdriven, GMC 6-71 positive-displacement supercharger. Resembling a long, wingless rocket suspended between four narrow wheels, the car’s best speed was 308mph in 1981.

Salt conditions deteriorated, and Bonneville was rained out in 1982 and 1983, giving Teague time to think about how to minimise his car’s frontal area and lower its drag coefficient.

He wanted the “aerodynamics of an arrow”, which meant he had to do more than enclose the wheels. Although the SCTA’s rulebook specified that a ‘car’ had to have four wheels, Al’s close scrutiny of the regulations led him to think it wouldn’t matter how the wheels were configured, as long as there were four of them. Teague arranged the front wheels with one positioned just behind the other, so they’d fit inside the fuselage of the car’s narrow, 23-inch-wide body. In 1984, still working out bugs, Teague turned 268mph; the following year, he topped 353mph. Things were looking up, but the rear wheels were still exposed. An obvious next step was to enclose them under a reworked rear section.

In 1987, now running an aluminium, Keith Black 392ci blown Hemi, Teague ran 360mph but was plagued with tyre troubles. It seems the tortured rubber blistered and the treads peeled when 1800bhp-plus tried for traction and speeds closed in on 400mph. In 1990, Teague topped 400mph for the first time. The record, held by Bill and Bob Summers’ needle-shaped Goldenrod, with a quartet of normally aspirated Chrysler Hemi V8s, was a 409.277mph top speed in the mile and 409.685mph in the kilometre, figures that had held since the records were set back in 1965.

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crackling with power, Teague’s Speedomotive Streamliner blew through the timing lights one way at 425.230mph, with a trap speed that was recorded at 432mph. His back-up run, of 394mph, resulted in a record two-way average of 409.978mph. His speed for the flying kilometre was 425.050mph, an FIA Category A1, Group I, Class II record, for a supercharged, single-engine, wheel-driven car. He’d narrowly beat the famed Summers brothers’ top speed.

Louise Noeth’s best-selling book Bonneville Salt Flats remains the definitive work on SCTA racing. She wrote: “When he (Teague) fires up the car, everyone stops, watches, and listens. The throaty, harmonious song of controlled explosions trails behind the car for five miles and remains audible at the starting line long after Teague has turned off the supercharged engine, popped the parachutes and disappeared over the horizon. People shake their heads in awe.

“The hot rodders couldn’t have asked for a better, albeit reluctant hero in Teague,” Noeth continued. “Not only was he self-deprecating when it came to his accomplishments, but he was also a humble statesman for the sport, a veritable poster boy of American know-how.

Teague is to salt racing what Jimmy Stewart was to acting, or what George Gershwin was to music – simply put, inspiring.”

Besides ingenuity, sportsmanship abounds at Bonneville. People help one another with tools, parts and advice, because that’s always been the spirit of the racers. While there are some major and minor sponsors, and even occasional efforts by big automakers such as General Motors, Bonneville remains essentially an amateur endeavour. There are hundreds of cars in dozens of classes, but the really fast machines garner everyone’s attention. Here are a few notables...

The sleek Flatfire streamliner, built by Ron Main nearly 20 years ago, became the world’s fastest Ford/Mercury flathead-powered car, at 301mph. “I consider that to be the Land Speed Record for a flathead,” said Main.

“Most people may find it hard to believe that the pay-off is nothing more than a tiny piece of paper with a few numbers printed on it, but for me it represents a lifetime achievement, and without my dedicated crew it never would have happened.”

Dallas oilman and all-round great guy Charlie Nearburg named his Spirit of Rett streamliner for his late son. Nearburg’s 414.4mph average in 2010 broke the singleengine, unblown-car record held by the Summers brothers’ Goldenrod. Perennial Bonneville competitor George Poteet’s latest

car, the supercharged, piston-engine Speed Demon built by Ron Main, topped 480mph in 2020, and the imperturbable racer from Memphis, Tennessee is closing in on 500mph.

There are plenty of great stories at slightly lower speeds, too. After competing for several years and learning the ropes, two lifelong East Coast friends, Robin Dripps and Rob Gibby, built a ’32 Ford street roadster and hit nearly 200mph with it. Then they built a street-legal, road-going version of their race car, just for kicks.

Well known Beverly Hills car enthusiast and Petersen Automotive Museum founding chairman Bruce Meyer made the coveted 200 MPH Club, first in a borrowed Chevrolet Camaro and then in a ’32 Ford roadster as well.

“You can’t overlook the importance of the dry lakes and Bonneville in hot rodding,” Bruce insists. “It’s lunar, it’s the most magical place, like none other on earth. Just the name Bonneville is special. From Reid-Railton to John Cobb, everything rotates around Bonneville. It was always on my bucket list. I was just enamoured with it, but I didn’t realise how hard it was to do.

“My friend Jack Rogers asked if I wanted to drive his Camaro. First you have to be licenced at various levels. You could be Parnelli Jones, but you can’t compete there without a licence.

I licenced myself at the required speed levels in Jack’s car, and then I looked at Bonneville like you’d look at the rodeo. Everybody goes to see the bull riders. You watch the barrel racers and the calf ropers, but the bull riders are the thing.

At Bonneville, it’s the roadsters. I thought it would really be cool to drive a roadster.

“I bought the Pierson Brothers Coupe from Tom Bryant, right when it was cooling off after a 200mph run. When you get something that goes straight down the road, you just keep adding power, and adding power, and going faster. At Bonneville, everything gets recycled.

I found this ’32 Ford roadster that had done well, but it was old tech, it had a wet-sump engine, no air-shifter and it needed to be brought up to date. I had Mike Cook, the big Bonneville guy, rebuild it. I’ll tell you, that drive, that five miles flat-out, is unlike any other motoring experience ever. And getting in the 200 MPH Club was wonderful. I was just in tears. There are guys who spend their whole lives trying to get in it. It’s a pretty exclusive group. These Bonneville guys play hard. It’s not easy, and it was a really big thing for me.”

Year after year, hundreds of talented amateur racers return to Bonneville. Speed Week in August is the biggest event, with over 500 competitors. Around 200 racers come in October for the World Finals, and there is a smaller

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motorcycle-racing meet, too. Some families, such as Don Ferguson and his son Don Jr, have been competing for three generations. In 2018, racing legend Mickey Thompson’s son Danny set a 448.797mph record in a car his late father built 50 years ago. Now with 5000bhp, the allwheel-drive, twin-Hemi V8-powered Challenger 2 has twice the horsepower it did when Mickey first built it. “It’s the car’s 50th anniversary,” Thompson said, “and the whole crew pulled together to get the record, so I feel like I’ve finally put the streamliner’s business to rest.”

At Bonneville, the annual vagaries of unpredictable winds and weather, and the practicality of ongoing salt regeneration, mean the racing season is relatively short. That forces competitors to focus intently, because the salt surface can change with one Rocky Mountain rainstorm. Some years, they haven’t been able to race at all. Every year, a course must be laid out, the surface dragged and shaped, and miles of wiring put in place before competition can ensue.

The fundamental challenge of the salt flats involves balancing environmental-preservation concerns with industrial potash mining. The latter goes on adjacent to the course, and that affects the racers’ ability to have a smooth section they can compete on for a few weeks annually. The salt surface was more than a foot thick in the 1940s – it’s only inches thick now. Thankfully, the US Bureau of Land Management and the State of Utah have begun a programme where millions of gallons of excess brine are returned to the area to help maintain the thickness of the salt and fill sections where the crust has been diminished.

Russ Deane, president of the Save the Salt Coalition, has said: “It’s iconic. It’s our history.

It’s our homes. It’s a bucket-list visit for millions of people across the world. It’s more than a place. It’s a mystical phenomenon. It cannot be replaced. But it can be protected.”

The future of the Bonneville Salt Flats as a racecourse depends on federal, state and local governments, on the Bureau of Land Management and on the potash mining companies. But no one has a bigger stake in the matter than the generations of racers, who return year after year, to drive as fast as they can, perhaps set a record, and maybe, just maybe, make the coveted Two-Club. Their dedication to this barren strip of salt-covered mud is as boundless as the salt flats themselves.

With the renewed focus on the challenge of preserving the salt, it won’t be easy, but I predict they’ll be racing at Bonneville for years to come. If you think you’re a car enthusiast, and you’ve never been to Bonneville, you’ve got to go. I’ll see you there.

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A PILGRIMAGE TO BONNEVILLE…

Like many enthusiasts, I always wanted to go to Bonneville. It’s been on my ‘life list’ since I was in high school. But I just never went…

Luckily, the GM High Performance division and the So-Cal Speed Shop struck up a racing partnership a few years ago. That’s what made it possible. (The late) Pete Chapouris and his talented So-Cal crew, led by the irrepressible Jimmy ‘Shine’ Falschlehner, carefully rebuilt a veteran ’34 Ford roadster co-owned by Floridian Todd Haas and his uncle David, a radiologist from Las Vegas. The So-Cal boys yanked the Chevy V8 and installed a GM DOHC Eco-Tec four-cylinder turbo with some 650bhp, thanks to some 23 pounds of boost.

The goal was simple: drive the Class G, blownfuel roadster, in street-legal trim, from the So-Cal shop in Pomona 600 miles to the salt flats, and set a record over 200mph so Todd could get a coveted Two-Club cap. Then they’d drive the car back to Pomona.

They wanted to express the standard ‘Chevyin-a-Ford’ combo a little differently. Playing to the Fast & Furious crowd, it was a chance to prove that these little engines could haul the mail… but in a traditional, street-driven roadster. I was sceptical, yet when they said I could have a drive of the roadster en route, and maybe even a pass at the salt, I was in.

Serious hot rodders did the LA-Wendoverand-back boogie all the time in the 1950s.

They had to… most of the original roadsters were dual-purpose cars. Guys ran ’em on the street and at the lakes, and when Bonneville came into play in ’49, the tradition continued for a short time. Early hot rod history is replete with great street and show roadsters that turned 140mph-plus at the lakes or Bonneville and were then run on the street.

Dick Flint’s ’29, Bill Niekamp’s ’29 and Jim Khougaz’ ’32 were three, and they all earned SCTA timing tags to prove it. But soon it was impossible to set a record in a street-driven car, unless it was in the street roadster class.

Driving a roadster to Bonneville and turning 200mph has been done before. Yet no one had done it in this class, with an Americanbuilt four-cylinder. At least, not until now.

I caught up with the So-Cal team in Las Vegas, early in October. We were on the road at 4am, following Todd Haas, who alternated en route with his uncle David and his uncle Tom, an enthusiastic Michigander who crewed for the Haas Racing Team. We headed due north with Bonneville in our sights. The plan was to get there, substitute an ice tank for the radiator, delete non-essentials such as front lights, change the fuel system over to methanol, and add race wheels and tyres, a new snorkel and a few other racing bits. Then they’d clear Tech, and Todd would have a go.

A few hours from Vegas, we were stopped by a Nevada Sheriff’s patrol car. The officer, who must have been bored way out in the desert at 6am, carefully scrutinised the race car. He was

quietly insistent. “I don’t know exactly what’s illegal on this car,” he growled, “but I’m sure there’s something. Put it in the trailer.”

We complied, but only until the next county.

Then the ’34 was rolled out, Todd climbed in and our convoy was again on its way. When it was my turn. I crawled in and was helped with the safety harness. Peering above the low windscreen, with an unfamiliar shifter and fast steering, I could fantasise that a high-speed run was seconds away. But reality was quick in coming. I stalled it several times because I was supposed to start in gear and then roll forward as the engine caught. After a few embarrassing moments, I fired it up, carefully slipped the clutch and raced ahead of the convoy. The temptation to hit threefigure speeds was there, but I was mindful of my fragile licence, and I respected the fact that the ’34 had to be in shape to run that afternoon. The roadster was eager to go, despite lowered boost and a serious detuning for pump gasoline. It felt like sitting inside a snare drum, but it was exhilarating.

Once we got to Wendover, it took Jimmy, Todd and Tom less than two hours to prep the car. This roadster had set a 193.231mph record on the flats in August, so the SCTA tech inspectors wanted very few changes. Todd was pushed away from the starting line by a Chevy SSR pick-up; at about 50mph, the roar of the Eco-Tec engine hit a new high pitch and he accelerated like a madman. His first mile was 208mph, then 209mph for the second, 209mph again, and then 204mph. We headed for the end of the four-mile course, where a very happy Todd stood. He was excited to the point of tears. “The car felt great; I thought I’d just go for it,” he exclaimed. His father had passed away the previous year. Todd looked heavenward, raised his arm and said softly: “How’d y’like that, Dad?” Unfortunately, two valves had burnt up, and a rebuild was necessary. The crew was prepared, and out came the spare engine for a fast replacement. Friday morning, Todd set a new class record with a two-way average of 210.881mph. I was unable to stay, but that only whetted my appetite to return. Watching real hot rods hit torrid speeds, with all manner of rolling ingenuity on display, in a perfect setting, you understand why guys get ‘salt fever’. And I certainly got it.

Ken Gross

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MARTIN P ORT

L A N D -ROV E R NO. 1

W O R D S A N D P H O T O G R A P H Y:

Some said it couldn’t be done, but the world’s first production Land-Rover has finally been returned to the road after decades of dereliction. Fresh from what a Science Museum conservation expert has called “arguably the most impressive restoration I’ve ever witnessed”, here is the story of JUE 477’s remarkable journey from test mule to concours-winning icon

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BELOW JUE 477 returns to barren and windswept Northumberland moorland that it once called home.

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L A N D -ROV E R NO. 1

OPPOSITE Once stripped of its boxy bodywork, the Land-Rover’s well worn ‘bones’ were revealed – a testament to a genuine and hard-working life.

ABOVE Exacting restoration stayed true to JUE 477’s heritage, retaining all its scars and blemishes while putting it back on (and off) the road where it belongs.

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ABOVE LEFT Chassis 860001; the first production example of the workhorse that became a legend.

ABOVE RIGHT Tackling the rough stuff with the Fairless family in hot pursuit.

LEFT Not all concours winners are conventionally flawless; a perfect study in how to preserve history and charm.

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WITH TEMPERATURES STRUGGLING to rise above freezing, and drifting snow lining the road edges, JUE 477 slowly yet confidently climbed out of Allenheads village, bound for old haunts. Having made the 300-mile trip north to the fringes of Northumberland, the Land-Rover shadowed the River East Allen before pulling over and reversing up a small, grassy track. This stop was unplanned – sights had been set on the bigger picture and a return to the windswept moorland that once was called home. But having come this far, it seemed daft to not revisit the tumbledown stone barn that was 860001’s interim lodgings.

There was some surprise to see it still standing; the fragility of the structure when Julian Shoolheifer had extracted the LandRover three years previously suggested that it wouldn’t be long for this world. As with JUE 477, however, it clearly wanted to remain.

The remarkable story of 860001 began with the chassis’s completion on Monday July 19, 1948. With the last of the 48 pre-production models still in assembly, chassis number one was transformed from a pile of parts into the Lode Lane plant’s first production Land-Rover – despite the fact that the factory ‘line’ itself was still at a developmental stage.

The Rover Company’s new post-war offering would, as hindsight now dictates, go on to cement its place in motoring history. The first commercially available of these utility vehicles very nearly had a dream start; the intention had been to gift 860001 to His Majesty King George VI – a fact that is detailed within the original factory ledgers. A pensive moment between those in charge quickly reversed that decision.

Concerns that their haste in seeking Royal approval may come back to bite them were at the fore, and instead they opted to present HRH with chassis 101, safe in the knowledge that any teething troubles would have been well and truly despatched with by then.

Instead, chassis number one was retained by the factory for the next year and a half, under the watchful eye of GF Searle – the Rover Company service manager who, as ex-LandRover development engineer Arthur Goddard recalled, had a hand in writing manuals and service documents. With the first production handbook not appearing until later in 1948, the assumption can be made that 860001 was used as a source of reference for Searle.

A number of key factors uncovered during the car’s eventual restoration also point to the vehicle having been used as a mule or test bed for developmental work. After all, with a healthy order book, it would have been necessary for

the company to have something upon which it could test modifications and improvements.

On February 8, 1950, chassis 860001 was finally registered for the road. It was prepared for leaving the Rover factory in the same way as other early examples had been; the initial light-green paint was covered over with Deep Bronze Green in order to visually adhere to the ‘new’ model specification.

Professor Ewen McEwen was to be the first registered keeper of 860001, which now wore the hand-painted number JUE 477 on the nearside front wing. Maurice and Spencer Wilks – the brothers responsible for the LandRover concept – were his friends, and they occasionally put his considerable engineering background and ability to good use for processing complex calculations. However, it was McEwen’s eventual appointment as professor of agricultural engineering at King’s College, University of Durham, in 1947 that is of most interest here, because it provides the very reason for JUE 477’s eventual discovery in the northeast of England.

McEwen left his position at King’s College in 1954 and moved away from the area, but JUE 477 remained. It was put to good use, first within the local farming community with the Bell family, and then proving its worth in the region’s other main source of industry, mining.

It was eventually bought by Michael Maddison and pressed into ‘hard labour’ on the fluorspar sites near Allenheads in the late 1960s, ferrying supplies and men between locations without ever needing to take to the public roads.

One such individual was David Fairless.

A determined, hard-working man who had experienced his share of hardship since his birth in 1938, Fairless mined by day and farmed in the evenings and at weekends. It was his diary entry of December 12, 1970 that provides an introduction to the next chapter in the life of 860001: “Saw about old Ferguson tractor at Nenthead. Bought Land-Rover £15.”

The day after buying the Land-Rover he purchased an Austin Gipsy for £25, but the next relevant diary entry reads thus: “Went and saw Kenedy about Land-Rover No.” Having thoroughly examined the vehicle, Fairless knew, very early on, that his £15 purchase was not just another early Land-Rover, although to start with he did assume that the first two digits of the identification number meant it was the first of the 86in models – a variant that wouldn’t see the light of day until 1954.

In an interview with Newcastle newspaper The Journal in 1998, Fairless commented: “It doesn’t seem much to pay, but £15 was the proper price for an old, derelict Land-Rover at

the time.” Just how derelict it was at that point is unknown, but local lad Peter McMullon – a Land-Rover-mad 12-year-old at the time – recalled David telling him a little about the purchase: “Apparently it wasn’t road legal, so he waited until there was a local event on and he knew most of the police would be occupied. He then brought it home – safe in the knowledge that there was no one around to stop him.”

What is indisputable, however, is that JUE 477 certainly didn’t see much use in Fairless’s hands. It was almost immediately abandoned on his Allenheads farm, and left for time and the elements to take their toll for the next 28 years.

Although the motivation remains unknown, 1998 saw a burst of energy from Fairless. He decided to extricate 860001 from its axle-deep resting place and take it on a 300-mile round trip to the Series One Club rally at Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire – an event that would celebrate the marque’s 50th anniversary.

The reaction was unexpected, with fans crawling over the car as soon as it was trailered through the gates. Yet with the attention came condemnation, with many announcing that JUE 477 could never be restored due to its dilapidated condition. This contributed to Fairless taking it back from public view and securing it in the already less-than-healthy stone barn. His aim was more about protecting the car from the gaze of prying eyes than from another decade of harsh winters. However, his intention was now to see it return to the road… if time and money allowed, of course.

Although he did begin to collect some parts, Fairless never enjoyed the luxuries that would eventually afford the Land-Rover’s resurrection.

Following his passing in 2017, his family decided that it was time to find a new owner – one who would keep the 80in within the UK, and fulfil David’s dream of putting it back on the road.

Following an approach to classic car and Land-Rover enthusiast, restorer and highly experienced vehicle valuer Julian Shoolheifer, the previously fragile future of JUE 477 was secured. First came a carefully considered extraction from the collapsing barn, followed by the eventual purchase by Land-Rover enthusiast Sir Jim Ratcliffe. He had been one of several potentially interested parties identified

by Shoolheifer in a low-key operation, as instructed by the Fairless family.

Of course, the big question still remained; just what to do with the world’s first production Land-Rover? For most, there was no question about its credentials or importance, yet the situation presented several options. Preserve as a ‘museum’ piece? Restore to ‘as-new’ condition? Or embark on arguably one of MAGNETO

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the most ambitious patina restorations ever attempted? Impressively, it was this option that piqued the interest of JUE’s new owner...

Exactly 70 years to the day since chassis 860001 was ‘despatched out’ into the Rover Company factory site, Julian Shoolheifer selected a ¼in spanner and, with a trepidatious intake of breath, began to gently undo the BSF bolt holding the steering-column bracket to the rusted remains of the Land-Rover’s bulkhead.

Having presumed that his involvement with JUE 477 had ended with satisfactorily finding a passionate new owner, it came as something of a surprise to discover that he had then been chosen to head up the restoration of this unique vehicle. Shoolheifer’s vast experience and sensitive approach to previous projects had clearly impressed.

With that first turn of the spanner, he began a process that would occupy almost every waking hour of his life for the next two years.

Both new owner and restorer were in agreement as to how JUE 477 should be rejuvenated, and shared the simple ethos behind the project; to save and re-use absolutely every inch of metal, every nut, bolt and fixing, and every mechanical component that could safely be incorporated into the finished vehicle. Retention of the original DNA was absolutely critical.

With the body removed, Shoolheifer and his small team of hand-picked experts could see what others never had. Yes, the chassis was twisted and broken, but what impressed was just how much of it was actually still there. From front to back, something of almost every major chassis member remained as a reference point, or for inclusion into the finished Land-Rover.

It was never going to be a cheap or quick exercise, but over the next four months Shoolheifer and fellow restorer Richard Spikins worked almost solidly on giving JUE 477 a usable backbone. The easy option would, of course, have been to put a brand-new chassis beneath ageing panels, but that would have contradicted the complete approach. Instead, every square inch of steel that could remain, did so – the result being a foundation that retains the very physical origins of 860001 from front to back in irrefutable quantities.

Of course, even despite the semi-exposed nature of an 80in Land-Rover chassis, much of the outwardly visible identity is as a result of the ageing Birmabright cladding. JUE 477 may have led a relatively sheltered life out of the limelight, yet enthusiasts knew what the bodywork looked like – its front wings torn and bent, evidence of the light green of its build date covered with darker shades and areas of red oxide. The familiar, winter-worn painted registration 92

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ABOVE JUE 477 rested here for several decades before originally being ‘exhumed’ back in 1998.

digits were still visible, too, but Shoolheifer’s approach dictated that the bare minimum would be done to disturb this visual history.

Instead of annealing the cracked and torn panels, a method of near-cold working was employed. Anything more would risk losing areas of the early paint, and having decided to not even wash the body, utmost care was needed to again save every inch of the vehicle’s past life. After much deliberation, an approach was decided upon; form new aluminium bracing sections that would be hidden on the internal sides of the fragile panels, and fix everything together using aircraft-grade adhesives. The process would require no heat, welding or additional rivets, and could be reversed if future advances offered a better method.

A door, windscreen and tailgate were all found within the stone barn. The door and screen were used, but Shoolheifer had to track down other parts that were either a good date match or, more importantly in some respects, a match in terms of wear so that they blended nicely. This included the elusive rear tub side and seat box/wheelarch. Months of looking for something suitable eventually led him to a replacement, and although it needed to be blended to suit on the outside, it was chosen for its remarkable similarity to the inside.

Of course, a project such as this cannot be done in isolation, and Shoolheifer had the advantage of being able to call upon the expertise of Andrew Nahum, keeper emeritus at the world-renowned Science Museum.

Nahum had been drafted in at the very beginning in order to offer the benefit of his considerable experience, and advise on matters of conservation where needed. Not only that, but as an independent authenticator, his monitoring would ensure another aspect of the project that had been agreed upon at the

outset; that of transparency. With so many restorations happening behind closed doors, the temptation to present little more than ‘before and after’ snapshots is all too often grabbed. Yet JUE 477 would be different, and with more than 14,000 photographs taken along the way, the aim was to produce an accessible record of all works done.

Mechanically, the vehicle provided several surprises. Much had been assumed about the engine found in the first production LandRover, and over the years many have announced that it was not original to the vehicle. In a way, they are possibly correct.

The first 48 pre-production examples were fitted with ‘sideplate’ units, and this was continued into production models until the gradual introduction of blocks using core plugs a number of months later. The engine fitted in 860001 is of the latter type, yet even that has some interesting anomalies. Investigation carried out during the early stages of the restoration led to the belief that this motor was fitted by the Rover Company, probably before the car left the factory in February 1950 and possibly replacing the original sideplate unit.

More to the point, it is suspected this was fitted in relation to the development of the eventual factory-supplied core-plug unit that appeared in later models, thanks to the discovery of several key factors. These include an original factory stamping to match the chassis number – something that was certainly not usual practice.

It was also observed that the crankshaft was of a ‘thin-web’ type, a sort fitted only to the earliest sideplate engines. In addition, a previously unseen type of modified timingchain tensioner had also been installed. When taken into account alongside the two- instead of four-blade fan, early ‘square sump’ and appropriate oil pump, these factors all add weight to the theory that this was used for some level of ‘in-house’ testing – the matching engine number being essential to ensure that the right unit went back into the correct vehicle.

Again, no expense or time were spared and, after a slow process of soaking and applying gentle pressure, the now-unseized engine was meticulously rebuilt with the assistance of another of Shoolheifer’s team, Alan Butlin.

The running gear – itself a unique combination of early and possibly pre-production designated parts – was treated with the same level of dedication. The gearbox even provided a pleasing surprise, when examination of the dipstick revealed oil-can-fresh lubricant as though a change had been done only moments before.

In fact, initial concerns due to the lack of an

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L AN D -ROV E R NO. 1

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inspection plate on the transfer box were soon dispelled. Although the visible main output gear was irretrievably rusted, the remaining components were in remarkable condition and needed little more than a set of fresh bearings.

It was a momentous day when, with overhauled ancillaries bolted in place and a fuel can sat on an outrigger, the team fired the rebuilt engine for the first time since 1970. Shoolheifer perched atop the naked chassis, dipped the clutch, slotted JUE 477 into first and inched forwards across the workshop floor. Smiles were plentiful among the team that had devoted their time and emotions to making sure 860001 would move under its own power once again.

Back out onto the main road and cutting across the river, the recently completed 80in pulled pluckily in top gear. It traversed sweeping bends as it ascended into more exposed terrain, interrupted only by the random distribution of now-derelict cottages and farm buildings.

For those involved in the resurrection of Land-Rover number one, this was the ultimate pilgrimage. The culmination of time, tears and passion suddenly all seemed to come down to getting JUE 477 ‘home’ and reuniting it with those who once knew it best.

One could well ask why it needed to return – for years it was ‘the Land-Rover that was left out in the cold’. But not only was the majority of its life spent in and around Northumberland, the fact that the car was indeed left alone to experience whatever the elements could throw its way ensured that it remained largely unchanged since leaving the factory in 1950.

As the road plateaued, a familiar sight came into view. Nestled in the valley below were the remains of several stone buildings, instantly recognisable to anyone who had seen the images taken by Peter McMullon in the 1990s.

What was missing, of course, was the downtrodden Land-Rover that had once been framed by the backdrop of those buildings…

Nearly 50 years had passed since JUE 477 was first manoeuvred off the main road and left, a third of a mile as the crow flies, in the acidic grassland. But thoughtfully David Fairless had positioned it facing back up the hill – possibly a metaphor for his aspirations.

Finally his dream had come true, and this time the Land-Rover was at the top, looking down.

Pulling off the main road today, JUE 477 was greeted by the Fairless family: David’s wife Margaret, sons Anthony and Peter, and daughter Michelle. For a brief and emotional moment, silence prevailed, only to be broken by Anthony. “It’s like welcoming a family member home,” he said with a growing smile. They may 94

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ABOVE Legendary Land-Rover re-discovered prior to restoration, in David Fairless’s stone barn.

have been lacking the memories that come with an old family car – the trips out, breakdowns, adventures and laughs. But to Margaret and the children, the farmland and the Land-Rover were the embodiment of David, and summed up his aspirations and determination. To finally see it restored and working once again was something that, as Margaret confirmed, he would have been so proud to experience.

There had been no further plans. The Fairless family had seen ‘their’ Land-Rover once again, more memories had been shared and old friends reunited. But inevitably, and with emotions running high, talk turned to the possibility of making the ultimate journey, down into the valley to JUE 477’s original resting place.

Anthony had successfully made the journey across the fields the previous week in a Suzuki equipped with terrain-specific off-road tyres.

However, considerable rainfall since then had turned the track into something that many would have considered impassable.

After a moment of evaluation and soulsearching, Shoolheifer climbed back behind the wheel and aimed the Land-Rover down into the valley. With his decades of experience at the helm of off-road vehicles in a variety of challenging conditions, few would be better placed to undertake the task – particularly because he himself proclaimed the conditions to be “about as bad as they get”.

Selecting the necessary combination of low range and gearing, Julian began the descent. He uttered few words as concentration absorbed him. Pausing to walk the next section, his confidence was clearly growing. Minutes later, JUE 477 was once again in front of the ageing stone farmhouse and facing back up the hill.

The celebrations were muted; the real test of 860001’s ability (and that of the driver) was yet to come. Following obvious photo

opportunities, the engine was cranked over and the gearlever slotted into place. “If this works, then I am not stopping,” warned Shoolheifer. “If the momentum is there, I’m just going to carry on.” With that, he tickled the accelerator pedal and JUE 477 lurched forward.

Whether it was the car’s desire to not be left in the field again, or if it was purely down to mechanical ability and driver skill, will never truly be known. However, those who gathered watched in genuine awe as the Land-Rover skipped and slewed up the saturated mud track, Shoolheifer adjusting the throttle as necessary and at times using barely more than the Land-Rover’s idle for power.

JUE 477 had, to previous owners, been a reliable and constant workhorse. On the farms, or in the various mining sites of the Weardale valley, it had been tested to the very limits of those intended by Maurice and Spencer Wilks.

Decades later, here it was, doing it again.

The shame is that David never experienced just how useful and capable his Land-Rover could have been on his harsh and challenging Northumberland farm. Importantly, though, the land upon which he worked eventually did.

Respect is earned – David had that from those who knew him, and now his Land-Rover had it, too. JUE 477 had come full circle, and proved its appetite for adventure in spectacular fashion.

The mark of a successful project is always the footnote of reception. The Fairless family were humbled by what had been achieved, while Andrew Nahum declared it: “Arguably the most impressive restoration I’ve ever witnessed. The attention to detail has been simply stunning, from start to finish.” JUE 477 also recently won the 1940s class at the Concours of Elegance.

Yet what about the man who saved the fate of the world’s first production Land-Rover?

“It’s a job that has been done by people who not only really know what they are doing but also really care about what they are doing,” announced Sir Jim Ratcliffe when handed the keys to his completed 80in. “It’s an absolutely marvellous job… ten out of ten.”

The full story is told in JUE 477 – The Remarkable History & Restoration of the World’s First Production Land-Rover, by Martin Port.

The book is available at www.porterpress.co.uk. £30 (£45 signed by author and restorer).

JULIAN SHOOLHEIFER

L AN D -ROV E R NO. 1

PORSCHE INTO

ICKX ‘HOW I LED

THE DESERT’

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It still looks unlikely, even more than three decades on, but in 1984 and participations we won twice. Not bad, eh?� smiles the man who led the

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W O R D S J O H A N D I L L E N P H O T O G R A P H Y T E D 7/ P E T E R S E N AU T O M O T I V E M U S E U M A N D P O R S C H E AG

again in 1986 a Porsche 911 won the gruesome Paris-Dakar rally. “In three sports car manufacturer through Africa, motor sport legend Jacky Ickx

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“WHEN WE SHOWED up with the 911s for the first time in 1984, people looked at us like we were mentally retarded. Taking sports cars to the desert? No one gave a penny for our chances,” says Jacky Ickx, who is now aged 75 and is very happy to reminisce on what he says was the most important period in his life. “There is a version of me before Dakar, and a version of me after Dakar.”

So how come this running in the sand is what stands out in the career of one of the most versatile drivers ever? “I won the title in Formula 2, I won 11 races in Formula 1, I think I won 47 endurance races and consequently I was twice crowned World Endurance Champion. There were touring car titles…” He doesn’t even mention his six Le Mans victories as well.

“But in 1980, I had just won the CanAm title and had come to grips with reality; my F1 days were over. I couldn’t do it any more – go looking for those two-tenths that make all the difference in F1. I was tired. The consequences 100

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of living a gypsy’s life since the age of 16 were catching up with me. On top of that, there were the scars from all kind of wounds – physical, intellectual and emotional – to confront. I couldn’t summon it up anymore, to do what it takes to be a professional racing driver. So, that year, I did nothing.

“That winter, I was watching coverage on the Paris-Dakar rally on the TV, and it struck a chord. That is the strength of the Dakar; it had this magical appeal to those who stay at home... and I was one of them. I got the famous French actor Claude Brasseur interested to come along as my navigator, and I found a car; a Citroën CX. It was front-wheel driven, but it had adjustable ride height. That might look strange, but in those days we all drove pretty much stock vehicles through Africa. The rally didn’t go ‘off piste’ much, we mostly used the existing tracks… in the state we’d find them.

“Looking back at it now, we could have won the rally with the Citroën, if we’d had a bit of

ABOVE LEFT Porsche was scorned when it first entered the Dakar with its 911 – but time would prove its decision to be a highly fortuitous one.

ABOVE RIGHT An exhaustedlooking Ickx pictured during a brief respite from the 130mph pounding he got during the 1986 Paris-Dakar.

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experience. But we were ignorant. I had a bit of background in cross-country riding from my motorcycling days, but nothing prepared us for Africa. Well, we thought we were prepared.

Prior to the rally, we went testing in Dahra Louga in Senegal, some 100km of local tracks.

We thought we understood what the Dakar rally was. We were wrong!

“We knew a bit about Senegal, but that had nothing to do with traversing Algeria or Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). In fact, we knew nothing. But it got us hooked, so for 1982 we were back – with a Mercedes G-Class. Although I won at least eight timed stages, we also missed a time check, leading to a five-hour penalty. In 1983, however, we won the event with the Merc.

“In the meantime, I had gone back to driving for the Porsche factory team for the World Endurance Championship. Again, so strong was the Dakar’s pulling power that when I was out 104

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with the Mercedes in the desert, all the guys at Porsche came asking afterwards: ‘How was it? Tell us about Africa.’ But it was purely a question of fortune playing its part to get Porsche actively into the Dakar. In fact, by chance I happened to be watching one day at the Weissach off-road test track where Roland Kussmaul was testing a rally-spec 911.

Kussmaul was the one who had taken the 911 to the Safari rally, and I was watching him very aggressively fly over the humps on the test track. I couldn’t help thinking to myself: ‘This car would be great for Dakar.’

“I went to see motor sport director Helmuth Bott, and told him: ‘You know, I think you may already have a car here for the Dakar rally.’ I told him that I thought with a minimum of adjustments, that particular 911 was capable of winning the event.”

Ickx’s request came at a difficult time for

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OPPOSITE Porsche heading to a one-two victory in the 1986 Dakar – a feat which helped reverse the fortunes of ‘the doomed’ 911 within the brand.

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BELOW Roland Kussmaul during the ’86 rally – which he’d been a dead cert to win until he stopped to rescue Metge and Ickx from a swamp.

He came sixth.

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Porsche. “You have to imagine, at that time a future production plan was doing the rounds showing that in 1984 or ’85 the 911 would be killed off. Porsche wanted to continue with the transaxle models only. Cash was so tight that at the end of the 1983 season, when we had secured the constructors’ title, Porsche decided to skip the final race.

“It was only because Rothmans came up with extra money that in the end we did go to the final round in Brands Hatch, and I won the drivers’ title, too. So, in those circumstances, I went to tell Porsche it had an ideal car for Dakar; the ‘no-future’ 911. The answer I got from Mr Bott was typically Porsche: ‘Yes, we want to do Dakar with the 911, but…’”

Yet Porsche was also an industrial research group working for other clients. As Ickx explains, with Audi having recently presented the Quattro, the Stuttgart brand wanted to show it too could develop its own four-wheeldrive system. “Mr Bott said: ‘Yes we want to go, but with a four-wheel-drive project.’ I was just thinking of taking the rear-wheel-drive 911 to the Dakar. And I got one more ‘but’. Bott told me: ‘OK, we will prepare the cars. But it is your job to enter them in the rally.’

“No one at Weissach had experience in this rally, so it all came down to me to get it organised. We went for three cars, a 20something crew in total. I went to MAN and got two trucks; one 6x6 for carrying parts, and a 4x4 assistance truck that would take part in the rally. And I had to take care of the budget. Since Rothmans was our sponsor on the 956, I

figured it made sense for the brand to appear on the Dakar Porsches as well. And it agreed.

“At the time, Porsche had an historical connection with Shell, but I didn’t. That is why we had Texaco sponsorship for the first year. I had to take care of all aspects to get us to Africa.

I have to say, for a guy who wasn’t too good at school when he was young, this was a pretty good chance to redeem myself.

“First, we needed to prepare. We required a car to go testing. So, Roland Kussmaul asked for the keys of Mr Bott’s company 911.

Kussmaul did all the technical adaptation work, I merely suggested to him what I thought would be necessary to get the car through to Dakar. We took Mr Bott’s red 911 and transformed it to go testing. We went to Algeria. Instead of picking one stretch and driving it over and over again, we decided to follow the rally route in just one direction. I knew the way the rally went to Tamanrasset in the south of Algeria with my eyes closed. We did each stage just one time, and then we moved on. At rally speeds.”

In his book 33 Years of Porsche, race manager Peter Falk looks back on the drives with Ickx in the desert with astonishment. “Never had I seen anyone go so fast on such rough terrain. I just couldn’t believe it.” Ickx shrugs it off now: “I understand he would see it this way from his point of view. But I had an advantage. I did a lot of motorbike enduro riding early in my career.

You learn to read the terrain – a talent that does not go away. The only downside; as you dive into a gap, your reflex is to pull up like you

LEFT AND BELOW Crowds watch the 911 pass through on the ’84 Dakar; two spares squeezed into the 1985 959.

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would do on the handlebars of a motorcycle. I can assure you, nothing happens when you pull on the steering wheel of a car [smiles].

“We tested all through September in simmering heat. When we arrived at In Salah, the temperature read 55oC. After Tamanrasset, Kussmaul ventured further still, meeting up with René Metge. That was another one of my choices, picking Metge as a team-mate. This would double our chances of victory. What a choice it turned out to be. In the end, Metge would win twice with Porsche. Of course, I wanted to win for myself, but the main goal was making Porsche look good. I was also wearing a team chief’s cap when this project started.

The first year, we were entered as Rothmans Team Jacky Ickx or something. In the end, with two wins in three participations for Porsche, I don’t think we did too badly, did we?”

On January 1, 1984, three blue-and-white 911s – official code 953 – showed up at the start in Paris’s Place de la Concorde. Even though the Porsches had four-wheel drive, Ickx recalls: “Everybody was looking at us with gentle compassion. A bunch of retards taking sports cars into the desert. Afterwards everybody said: ‘Of course they won, this was a factory effort.’ But at the start, nobody gave a penny for our chances.” With Kussmaul as quick back-up in the third car, Ickx and Metge set off at a furious pace. “It was incredible, driving at 200km/h in the sand,” Metge would later remember, still with sparkling eyes and the broadest of smiles.

“If you look at it now, it’s astonishing how we

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had prepared these 911s,” says Ickx. “We managed to put in two spare wheels, next to a 310-litre fuel tank. There was hardly room left for a sleeping bag. And we’d drive 13,000km changing just a minimum of parts. The clutch, gearbox and engine were all meant to last from start to finish. We followed Porsche’s belief to the letter – that its cars are strong and enduring.” Ickx himself encountered issues, but Metge stormed through to victory in the 953.

“Naturally, after a victory there is a desire to place the bar higher. A lot higher. For 1985, we aimed too high,” Ickx recalls. In the meantime, the 959 project was taking shape within the Weissach walls. At first, Porsche wanted to go rallying in Group B. For this, a batch of roadgoing cars needed to be homologated… and sold.

“This was when Ferrari introduced the F40.

For the first time, speculation became a newcar market phenomenon. There was a struggle to get one of these models. The same would happen when the 959 subsequently came out in 1986. Again, there was a fight among customers to get their hands on one of the 200 cars needed for homologation [in the end, Porsche would build over 300 959s].

“This was the most sophisticated car on the market at the time; electronically controlled four-wheel drive, bi-turbo. You needed some guts to take this car as your next Dakar contender.

It was a rocket. In 1986, Metge was doing 230km/h in the Ténéré with the 959. For me, 210km/h was enough. They call the desert a sea of sand – and that’s exactly what it is. You can have ten successive dune waves all resembling

each other. And the 11th is a wall… or a gap.”

The 959 Porsche entered for the 1985 Dakar rally was a hybrid mix between the previous 911 and the 959. The bodywork was that of the 959, but the engine was the naturally aspirated 3.2-litre that had served so well in the 911.

The four-wheel-drive system was a prototype version for the one that was to eventually be used in the production 959. “I think it was electronically controlled, but the rear differential was locked,” remembers Ickx.

This time, the models were entered as Porsche works cars. Unfortunately, the 1985 Dakar rally would go down as a tough experience. “We all encountered bad luck,” Ickx recalls. The third 959 was designated ‘fast support car’ once more, but Jochen Mass replaced Roland Kussmaul behind the wheel. “I think Jochen hit full-on some kind of a barrel that was used to signal the road. That was that for our third car.”

Ickx fared no better himself. Peter Falk would describe the aftermath of his accident as follows: “We would have reattached the suspension… if there had been anything left to attach it to.”

Ickx concurs: “The front of the car was gone.”

Metge had victory in his sights, only to encounter an oil leak. Despite adding extra lubricant, the engine ran dry and seized. In the end, 1985 saw zero Porsches at the finish. That is no way to say goodbye, the company concluded, and an extra year with the 959 was added in 1986. This time it was the full-turbo 959, even though the boost was dialled back a bit.

Kussmaul was back in the third 959, and he would prove to be the hero of the day when he

LEFT AND BELOW The 959 shown is Ickx’s 1985 car, front end meticulously rebuilt; Ickx and Metge celebrate 1984 win.

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rescued both Metge and Ickx, stuck in a swamp.

Had he gone on his way, Kussmaul would have won. As it was, he pulled out Metge first, who would carry on to victory. Ickx would come in second; Kussmaul would end up sixth. Only now, Porsche was ready for Dakar. “Of course, we had no idea these cars would become the legends they are today,” says Ickx. He is still proud to this day to have played a part in helping reverse the fortunes of what was ‘the doomed’ 911 within Porsche.

Celebrations at the time were kept to a minimum, however. The Dakar rally had just lost its founding father, Thierry Sabine, when his helicopter crashed in a sandstorm. Asked about his sentiments on Sabine, Ickx goes quiet for some time. “You know, there isn’t a day that goes by without me thinking about him.

“Sabine was such a powerful person. I would compare him with General Rommel or Field Marshal Montgomery. He made you do impossible things. At the end of the stages, he’d be standing at the finish, anxious to see if we made it. And we’d be proud to show to him that we’d managed to do it. We’d done the impossible.

We drove straight through the night at times. It was incredible. There is no hiding from yourself in the Dakar. You’ll discover the true version of yourself. You go back to understanding the fragility of life in a complicated environment.

Either you will love it, or you don’t, there are no two ways about it. Me, I was totally smitten.”

Thanks to Petersen Automotive Museum, Porsche Museum and Ted7 for the studio shots of the 959, from The Porsche Effect exhibit. www.petersen.org.

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Ferrari

The greatest

collection

Hidden in an unassuming building in the hills overlooking Prague is one of the world’s greatest private assemblages of Ferraris. Are

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seen

never you ready to view the spectacular Collezione Michal KoreckĂ˝? Lights, camera, action!

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ABOVE Tailor Made Metallic Blu Dino 812 Superfast reflects look of Michal’s 1973 365GTB/4.

Ball-polished forged wheels recall original car’s Borrani wire rims.

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COL L EC T ION

‘This collection is a wonderful array of automobiles, all of which are Ferrari Classiche certified’

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FTER A 30-minute drive from the magnificent historic centre of the city of Prague in Czechia, there’s another magnificent setting to be found – the Collezione Michal Korecký. Whereas the magnificence of the city is in its splendid historic architecture, squares and tree-lined boulevards along the Vltava river, around which it has developed over the past 1000 years, the collection is the antithesis of classic architecture. Instead, you’ll find a dynamic, thoroughly modern structure secreted high in the hills, with a spectacular panoramic view of the distant city from its roof-top. I use the word ‘secreted’, because from the rural road on which the building is situated, it is almost invisible – and what little can be seen offers no clues as to the contents.

So, I hear you say, tell me more! What is it that is so special about this place in Eastern Europe? Well, how does a phalanx of Ferrari models spanning from a 212 Inter through to a LaFerrari Aperta grab your attention? Between these two ends of the spectrum there are nearly 60 examples, with the collection still growing.

All are impeccably displayed in hi-tech surroundings, featuring what may best be described as an amphitheatre; it really is a theatrical production when the collection comes into view. As mentioned, the building is

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WOR D S K E I T H B L U E M E L PHOTOGRAPHY PETR MICHALEK

almost invisible from outside. From the small, street-level parking lot, you enter through a very ordinary grey door set in the white wall of what appears to be a cube-shaped commercial building. This takes you via a sombre grey car-storage area, offering no clue as to what you are about to experience, through into the library. It is at this point that you suddenly feel the aura of Ferrari, with marque books lining the walls, red-leather seating, a glass-topped table featuring an engine block, and a variety of memorabilia. Even the espresso machine looks like a Ferrari powerplant.

However, the theatre really starts when the curtains opposite the library entrance are drawn back to reveal a glass wall and door. This leads onto a balcony, which at that moment looks over a dark void, barely illuminated by the light from the room behind you. Lights, camera, action!

An official Ferrari video is projected onto a large screen on the opposite wall, its light dimly picking out car-shaped objects on the floor below. The film finishes, and slowly the building’s lights brighten to reveal a spectacular array of Ferraris in an arc around the curved wall, fronted by a massive Scuderia Ferrari shield painted on the floor. You take a deep breath to absorb the impact of what has just been unveiled; a spread of 16 examples, with a

365GT4 BB to your far left and a 288GTO to the far right, displayed alongside an almost floor-to-ceiling, black-and-white picture of Enzo Ferrari. Between these two cars there is a raft of desirable models, including a sublimely elegant pale gold 400 SuperAmerica, a 275GTS in a similar hue and a silver 250GT Lusso. At the modern end of the spectrum, a LaFerrari Aperta and the 2014 Le Mans LMGTE Pro class-winning 458GTE – complete with trophy.

However, this is only the start. Slowly, some of the cars start rising towards the ceiling, as the stacker lift system gradually reveals another tier of Maranello’s finest thoroughbreds. This time, it’s a predominantly modern array of models, but also a pair of Dinos: a 206GT and a US-spec 246GTS. This is becoming like something out of a sci-fi movie.

The show goes on as once again the stacker set-up is actuated, and it rises yet further to reveal a third tier of cars. This includes the likes of a 599GTB Fiorano HGTE Alonso Edition and a 599GTO, together with a menacing black creation that would have suited Darth Vader in a Star Wars film. This, to give its full and proper title, is the F150 Proto MP2 – or, put another way, a LaFerrari prototype. It’s one of two in the collection, the other being more recognisable, finished in yellow and titled F150

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‘These hi-tech surroundings feature what may best be described as an amphitheatre’ 1 18

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ABOVE La Ferrari prototypes; Le Mans GTE Pro class-winning 458; trio of 288GTO, F40 and F50 Spider; 365GTC and 365GTB.

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Proto PS6. Also within the number are some Tailor Made examples themed to earlier cars in the collection, such as the metallic blue 812 Superfast which reflects the 365GTB/4, and the 488 Pista, the livery of which riffs on that of the 2014 Le Mans class-winning 458.

Apart from the wonderful array of cars, all of which are Ferrari Classiche certified, there’s the aforementioned library. It contains an amazing collection of red bull literature, going back to Scuderia Ferrari publications from the 1930s.

There’s everything from owners’ handbooks and virtually every sales brochure produced over the years, to a broad spectrum of commercial books, scale models and memorabilia.

So as you can see, the collection is very broad in its range. It has been built up over a period of time with the able assistance of curator Martin Klein, who is equally passionate and proud of it. We think it best to conclude with a few words from Michal, to explain his fervour that has resulted in this superlative collection and the facility in which it’s stored: “Ferrari carries a unique story of courage, winning on racetracks and making the best sports cars in the world. Italian design is fantastic, and I would say Ferrari has the best design. But the experience is on another level once you sit in the car and drive it – and that’s the main reason I collect Ferrari. It’s simply the best tool there is for driving.

“Ferrari’s early cars were made for both daily driving and for racing. That’s something you can still feel today. For instance, the manettino on today’s cars lets you drive comfortably, but by changing the controller the car can become a beast. You can really race if you want to. You can drive on poor roads and it still works. This is something unique. After stepping into the world of Ferrari, I completely fell for it.

“My first Ferrari was the 250GT Boano, which is still in the collection – a car that participated in the Mille Miglia. For me, the 250 series is an icon among Ferraris: it’s the series that made the manufacturer famous all over the world. The magic designation 250 applies to so many great Ferraris: Testa Rossa, California, SWB, GTO… “I like nothing more than to get behind the wheel. I’ve got a lot of cars, and I want to drive them all, which is tough (making the time, not the driving). Each must be driven because, ultimately, it’s a piece of technology. If you don’t drive it, it’s not good for the car. They want to live! I have a rule to drive each car at least once a year; so I have to pick one to drive each week.”

With thanks to Michal Korecký for opening the doors to his collection, and to curator Martin Klein for being an eloquent host during our visit.

COLLEZIONE MICHAL KORECKÝ Ferrari 212 Inter

Chassis 0279 EU

Ferrari 250GT Boano

Chassis 0633

Ferrari 250GT Cabriolet

Chassis 1881 GT

Ferrari 400SA

Chassis 4679 SA

Ferrari 250GT Lusso

Chassis 4851

Ferrari 275GTS

Chassis 07989

Ferrari 275GTB

Chassis 08457

Dino 206GT

Chassis 00274

Dino 246GTS (US version)

Chassis 04084

Ferrari 365GTC

Chassis 12271

Ferrari 365GT4 BB

Chassis 18349

Ferrari 365GTB/4

Chassis 16919

Ferrari 308GTB (Vetroresina)

Chassis 19713

Ferrari GTB Turbo

Chassis 77367

Ferrari Testarossa

Chassis 75179

Ferrari 288GTO

Chassis 52721

Ferrari F40

Chassis 84185

Ferrari F50

Chassis 105955

Ferrari Enzo

Chassis 129991

Ferrari 512TR

Chassis 96356

Ferrari F512M

Chassis 100082

Ferrari 550 Maranello World Record

Chassis 120392

Ferrari 550 Barchetta

Chassis 124312

Ferrari 575 SuperAmerica

Chassis 144600

Ferrari 348 Challenge

Chassis 95425

Ferrari F355 Challenge

Chassis 107993

Ferrari 360 Challenge

Chassis 119347

Ferrari 430 Challenge

Chassis 159956

Ferrari 458 Challenge

Chassis 186910

Ferrari 458 Challenge Evo

Chassis 186406

Ferrari 488 Challenge

Chassis 230810

Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo

Chassis 255431

Ferrari F430GT

Chassis 2422

Ferrari 458GTE

Chassis 2878

Ferrari 458 Grand AM

Chassis F 142 GT3*3448*

Ferrari 488GT3

Chassis F 142M GT3*4232*

Ferrari 488 Spider Tailor Made

Chassis 220265

Ferrari 488 Pista N 51

Chassis 250558

Ferrari 599GTO

Chassis 182350

Ferrari F355GTS Fiorano

Chassis 111557

Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale

Chassis 136630

Ferrari 430 Scuderia

Chassis 162008

Ferrari F430 Scuderia Spider 16M

Chassis 168291

Ferrari 599GTB HGTE 60F1 Alonso

Chassis 187668

Ferrari 599SA Aperta

Chassis 178230

Ferrari 458 Speciale

Chassis 212392

Ferrari 458 Speciale Aperta

Chassis 212685

Ferrari F12 Tdf

Chassis 217360

Ferrari F150 Proto PS6

Chassis 198004

Ferrari F150 Proto MP2

Chassis 188141

Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta

Chassis 222649

Ferrari California T Tailor Made

Chassis 220035

Ferrari F12 Berlinetta Tailor Made

Chassis 219695

Ferrari 812 Superfast Tailor Made

Chassis 252672

Ferrari GTC4 Lusso

Chassis 224416

Ferrari 488 Pista Aperta

Chassis 255113

Ferrari Monza SP 1

In production

Ferrari SF90 Stradale

In production

Ferrari 812GTS

In production

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P H O T O G R A P H Y D I R K D E JAG E R

T HE BR IC K In a bid to add a little extra spice to historic motor sport, Swedish racer Per-Gunnar Andersson and the Belgian GDM Motors squad have brought back the Flying Brick.

We drive this recreation of Volvo’s legendary Group A monster

FLY IN G L A M B ORG H I N I

JA R A M A

While not the most dynamic of its ilk, in performance or design, Ferruccio Lamborghini’s favourite model has been disgracefully overlooked. So, for its 50th birthday, we decided to rectify that...

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IT’S SWEDISH COOL. As it moves along the asphalt with nothing more than a gentle drone, this is as unlikely a touring car champion as any. This was the model you chose if you valued safety, if your job involved number punching, if your life followed the same pattern every day, humming to your Vivaldi cassettes on the way home. If you were boring, this was your car.

Yet somehow, in just three years, this model became notorious in touring car races all over the world. This was the Flying Brick, the end of all Volvo jokes. It wasn’t until Ford brought along the Sierra RS500 Cosworth that

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VOLVO

LEFT Not your average dad’s car... Getting ready to try out the firebreathing Volvo for the first time.

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BELOW 2.1-litre four-cylinder unit is already pushing out 350bhp at 1.4 bar – with plenty more in reserve.

LEFT Group A recreation looks as at home on the track as its roadgoing counterpart looked in suburbia.

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ABOVE All-new Volvo racer based on Per-Gunnar Andersson’s original 240 Turbo rocket.

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RIGHT A rev counter and an equally large turbo gauge dominate the basic dash.

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VOLVO

Volvo’s reign over Group A racing was over.

“Everyone was laughing when we showed up in the pub prior to the 1982 Tourist Trophy at Silverstone,” Swedish racer Per-Gunnar ‘Peggen’ Andersson remembers. “You’ve brought what along? A Volvo? You’re racing a tank?” Andersson formed part of a group of Swedes that was to give the 240 Turbo an inauspicious debut on the international touring car scene. “People overlooked one fact. Volvo’s image may not have been suited to racing, but the 240 had the basics to form an excellent race car. The engine is located almost completely behind the front axle.

Fuelled up, it has a 50/50 weight distribution.”

Convincing Volvo it should take the 240 into racing wasn’t easy, he continues: “Marketing wanted nothing to do with it. To them, racing was at odds with the brand’s safety message.

But the guys in research and development saw the benefits a racing programme would have on developing the engine. It was R&D that supported the whole programme, not marketing.”

The 240 Turbo started its racing career in Sweden in 1982, in a one-make cup. “It was at the base, a pretty cheap formula to go racing,” Andersson says. “With the turbo, performance levels were decent. My team-mate Greger Petersson decided to give the car a go at international level, and he entered it for the 1982 TT at Silverstone. We had to change it to Group A spec, although in reality this only meant replacing the carbs with injection.

Everything else was pretty stock. Unfortunately, the engine didn’t last the race distance.”

With Tom Walkinshaw’s Jaguar XJSs scoring a one-two, the race for the Sportpromotionentered 240 Turbo ended after just 19 laps.

“The results were disappointing, but it did capture R&D’s attention. Engine-development boss Göran Sällström figured the company could benefit from racing the car at a top level, so work got underway to develop a new Group A 240 Turbo. At the same time, Greger Petersson continued work on his own car.”

Consequently the 1983 European Touring Car Championship saw a couple of 240s racing, with the multi-hued Infrapaint car considered to be the works entry. Well, closest to works related, because in the four-year 240 Turbo campaign the cars weren’t once entered under the Volvo Motorsport banner. The first ETCC effort was just as inconspicuous as the debut at the TT a year earlier. “The Volvos just weren’t competitive,” Andersson says. The brick was there, in the middle of the XJSs, BMW 635s and new TWR Rover Vitesse. It just wasn’t flying yet.

Touring car racing had been adapting to Group A regulations since 1981, with the ETCC first run under said rules in 1982. One of the

criteria for homologation was a 5000-plus production run of that specific model in a year, but the rule could lead to liberal interpretation.

BMW, for instance, homologated the 528i for Group A, because it didn’t produce the 530 in sufficient numbers, let alone the very quick M535i. Imagine the faces dropping in Munich when Tom Walkinshaw walked in stating “sure, Jaguar builds 5000 XJS coupés in one year”, and went home with a homologation certificate.

Of course, the 528i was rendered powerless against the mighty XJS. That was, until BMW homologated the 635 CSi coupé. Group A was always surrounded by controversy, with just as much fighting behind the scenes as there were bits and pieces flying around on the racetrack.

More shenanigans were to follow, and this time Volvo played a large part in the proceedings.

The Group A rulebook stated that one year after the initial homologation, manufacturers were allowed to come up with an ‘Evo’ model, introducing new parts. In order to receive homologation, 500 cars needed to be produced within one year. All of a sudden, Volvo found a

‘For homologation, 500 240 Turbo Evos were lined up. There’s been much debate how “Evo” these cars were...’ way to get the brick flying for 1983; the controversial 240 Turbo Evo. “Let’s just say Volvo found a loophole,” says Andersson. “The rules stated you were to produce 500 Evos; they didn’t say you had to sell them.”

As a result, 500 240 Turbo Evos were lined up for inspection in the US. There’s been much debate how ‘Evo’ these cars were, with many not even having the rear spoiler in place, but just left in the trunk. Rumours had it that only 30 of these cars had the added water injection Volvo wanted homologated for racing, and that these examples were shipped back to Europe to be transformed into racing cars as soon as the homologation inspectors turned their backs. The 240 Turbo Evo has a particular ‘flathood’ bonnet, with a lowered middle section.

“There were effectively 500 Evos lined up,” says Andersson on the matter. “But some were transformed later on. Certain owners never even put the spoiler on. Some of these cars have since found their way back to Sweden. A BMW representative was present next to the FIA inspectors. No remarks were made at the

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time.” Volvo had to wait until September 1983 and the Silverstone TT before it was allowed to enter the 240 Turbo Evo. “The changes were huge,” recalls Andersson. “We went from a four-speed gearbox with overdrive to a Getrag competition five-speed manual. Thanks to the turbo and added intercooler, the 2.1-litre fourcylinder’s performance jumped from 210bhp to 300bhp.” It showed. At the first round of the 1984 European championship in Monza, a 240 Turbo Evo led for part of the race. But the Swedish Magnum team would have to wait for the penultimate round in Zolder to score a first win, with Ulf Granberg and Robert Kvist at the wheel. Four Volvos were in the top 10. Who was laughing now? And 1984 was just the beginning.

“The next year brought a lot of changes.

Thomas Lindström, who had two Volvos entered, ended his team’s activities at the end of 1984. But since he was good friends with Rudi Eggenberger, who ran BMW 635s up until then, the Swiss tuner took over his entries. Lindström stayed on as a driver,” says Andersson, who himself would net two wins with a 240 Turbo in the DTM in 1985 and 1986.

“While the cars looked the same as in 1984, Eggenberger made tons of changes. He homologated his own front suspension with an aluminium trailing arm, and he also made an aluminium housing for the rear axle.” The results started coming fast. The first three races went to Tom Walkinshaw’s Rover Vitesse, but by round six the Eggenberger Volvos had drawn level. Off track, the battle intensified as well. Volvos antics with the Evo’s homologation were suddenly put under the microscope.

The FIA started getting twitchy after failing to trace customers who’d bought one of the 500 Evos. Efforts to purchase a ‘unicorn’ Volvo led to nothing. It was only when the FIA threatened a Volvo Evo ban that some sort of customer list appeared. It was enough to make the threat go away. On track, the duel with the TWR Rovers was as intense as ever. “One reason why results kept rolling in for the two Eggenberger Volvos was their reliability,” says Andersson. “The Magnum car’s performance was inconsistent in comparison. The reason? Eggenberger didn’t believe in the water injection, so he didn’t use it. And his cars kept running strong.”

By the time the ETCC went to Zolder in 1985, the Eggenberger Volvos held a firm grip on the championship. “Walkinshaw had just one option to save the championship for Rover. At the first corner, he went in hard. The move failed, Walkinshaw’s car was hit while he spun, and the title went Volvo’s way. Gianfranco Brancatelli and Lindström took the drivers’ title as well.”

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money to run the operation came from the European dealers. But behind the scenes, the Volvo factory in Gothenburg gave every possible support, helping in development, preparing shells and so on.

“It’s just that the title didn’t go down well with the marketing people. They didn’t like it,” Andersson says. “Originally, Eggenberger would have continued with Volvo for 1986, but he decided to switch. Ford went looking for the best-possible team to help it develop the RS500 Cosworth. If you do your homework right, Eggenberger’s name would be on your shortlist.

Ford made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”

Volvo needed a new team to run the ‘factory’ cars for 1986. It ended up with the Belgian squad RAS (Ring Auto Sport). The white Eggenberger cars received the now-famous Nordica colours. A third car was entered occasionally for Andersson and Mauro Baldi.

Remembers Peggen: “Power was up to 330bhp in the meantime. For the Zolder race, we received a 350bhp-plus experimental engine.

For Thursday practice, I was standing on the pitwall as Mauro came by just as the engine let go. It was actually quite a beautiful sight. The sun was setting, and along came this Volvo dragging a magnificent long flame behind it in the most beautiful evening light. Amazingly, only the underside of the rear spoiler was damaged from the flames.” A traction-control system was tried out as well, “and Porsche was helping out to improve reliability from the engine, but it was too little, too late.”

Even though the Volvos started 1986 strong, scoring four victories in seven races, the rest of the season went downhill. Not only did the Swedes see two victories taken away after competitors’ protests (illegal fuel and illegal fueltank size), but a new force was clearly coming.

Even in experimental form, Eggenberger’s Sierra XR4Ti showed promise. And this was just the appetiser for the Sierra RS500 Cosworth that would be homologated for 1987. It was clear the Flying Brick’s reign was coming to an end. “Even though I think the car still had some good years left in it, Volvo decided it was pulling out of touring cars by the end of 1986,” says Andersson.

“The factory cars that competed in the ETCC were recalled to Gothenburg… and scrapped,” he continues. “The one they have in the Volvo museum is actually a spare car from Magnum.” Two got away: a right-hand-drive example from the Australian championship, and Andersson’s own car with the experimental LED-filled dashboard in which he scored fifth place in the final round of the ETCC in Estoril (Portugal). “I managed to trace it to Finland and was able to buy it,” Andersson 1 28

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says. “It’s the only surviving factory 240 Turbo.

I had it advertised online for some time, just to see the reactions.” That is when the call came that brought us here today.

“A lot of people told me I shouldn’t race my car; it was just too valuable. So a plan formed to revive the Group A 240 Turbo. One caller was Belgian industrialist Guido Dumarey. We talked about building a car. He just said: ‘What do you need?’” The new Volvo is conceived with the Peter Auto series in mind, but Andersson hopes to create his own historic Group A series.

This is the first new Group A Volvo in a continuation of probably no more than three cars. With Andersson’s example as a reference, an exact copy was created. Starting with just any old 240 two-door body, a new Group A shell was built up at Dumarey’s specialist shop GDM Motors in Slovakia. It duplicated all the reinforcements the original Group A shells were given. Öhlins dampers were added, too; while this is not the original Bilstein set-up as used in racing, a document shows that in period Volvo tested with Öhlins, so the change was

‘Along came this Volvo 240 Turbo dragging a magnificent long flame behind it in the most beautiful evening light’ allowed. “One thing Guido was instrumental in was helping with the transmission. You couldn’t find the Getrag anymore. Through his connections he got Getrag to remanufacture some new pieces for the old gearbox.” Engine development is done through Andersson’s own firm. Still in the early stages, the 2.1-litre is already pushing out 350bhp at just 1.4 bar.

For the roll-out, we’ve come to Spain’s Calafat circuit. Since this is the first time real miles will be put on the engine, some caution is advised; 5000rpm is tops, even though it will take 7000rpm when it’s fully ready for action. It doesn’t have the correct Getrag gearbox yet, either. The great thing about these Group A racers in period was their resemblance to the car on your driveway. But once you opened the door, you stepped in a race-car environment.

Those big doors mean climbing on board is easy. You sit very upright and relatively high compared with modern touring cars, so you still get a decent view of the track. Only in its broad outline does this dash look like the one in your dad’s Volvo. A new instrument panel was

formed, with just the basics between the steering wheel: a rev counter, and an equally large turbo gauge. As with many modern replicas, some current-day tech makes running them easier.

We see a Motec unit for engine management and a Racelogic data-logging device.

Period YouTube footage shows the 240s in characteristic attack mode with two wheels in the air. We’re not going to find out today if this is the preferred driving style to get the most out of the car. But this Volvo immediately makes its potential clear. It still feels like it shouldn’t be a race car. You half expect to see your children in the rear-view mirror. At close to 1050kg, this is not a lightweight racer. Yet, the strain it puts on your physique is very limited. You quickly become aware of the fact that this car is indeed incredibly well balanced and that you can let it take care of much of the work in the corners.

It communicates very well and feels entirely predictable, letting you focus on positioning.

It is not deafening, either. The four-cylinder engine puts out a discreet drum, with the turbo whistling over it. Push comes in once you hit 3000rpm, feeling strong across the rev range we can use today. It still feels like there is a lot left; we’re barely scratching the surface. If you can keep the boost on, you can stick to the higher gears and keep the momentum going. There is a lot of grip in these big 16-inch tyres. Once they’ve heated up you can hit the accelerator the instant you hit the apex. There is a 30 percent limited-slip diff to assure a decent transfer of power, in the dry at least. In the tightest of corners, you feel the front struggle a bit if you keep the lock on. This is surely something that’ll be ironed out in testing later.

We leave the car with the impression of having met a giant kid that despite a formal classical upbringing just happens to be good at sports. Maybe it’s because Volvo never managed – and still doesn’t – to fully embrace sport as part of its company values. Maybe it’s just the 240’s sheer size that belies its natural balance.

But we are utterly charmed by this Nordic kid that always seems to be apologising for being so good at this game: Sorry, I didn’t mean to have flames licking from the side exhaust.

Excuse me for going sideways a bit. Pardon me for barging through the field – I didn’t mean to.

Compared with the very competition-focused BMWs of the same period, the Volvo seems to be surprised by its own talents at this game.

Shut up and take my money.

Well, at 160,000 euros before taxes, this is of course no cheap proposition. But if you want to stand out in historic touring car racing and drive an easy-going 1980s classic in the process, GDM Motors has just the car for you.

SPEEDMASTER

SPEEDMASTER SPECIALIST IN HISTORIC AUTOMOBILES Tel: +44 (0)1937 220 360 or +44 (0)7768 800 773 info@speedmastercars.com www.speedmastercars.com

1976 TYRRELL P34 FORMULA 1 CAR We have been heavily involved in the commissioning of this iconic 6 wheeled F1 car.

Made famous by Jody Scheckter and Patrick Depailler during the 1976 season including finishing 1-2 at the Swedish GP and 2nd at Monaco. Officially licensed by Tyrrell Promotions Ltd and painstakingly constructed to original drawings, this car is the only running example of the early and more successful narrow track P34. For further information on this project or to discuss similar projects please contact James Hanson.

1973 FERRARI DAYTONA Originally delivered to the UK in Rosso Chiaro with Black leather seats and still in the same colour combination. A fantastically well documented 17000miles from new.

Excellent history - 22 years servicing at the same Ferrari Dealer including fresh engine rebuild, and Classiche Certified.

Please call for more information.

In the 1950s, Britain struggled to find its place in Formula 1 racing. Fed up with BRM’s attempt, Tony Vandervell took the bit between his teeth and fielded cars of his own devising. The result was heartening success against the dominant Italians

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TOP LEFT The much-changed Vanwall made a brilliant debut in the May 1956 nonChampionship Silverstone race, here with Harry Schell leading Stirling Moss.

LEFT Designer Eric Richter used the Norton valve gear and combustion chamber in his design of the Vanwall four.

Rugged mainbearing caps were countersunk into the block.

BELOW LEFT The scion of an inventive master of electricity applications, Tony Vandervell prospered on the sale of thin-wall bearings. They saved Ferrari’s early V12 engine.

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AT THE AGE of 32, Guy Anthony ‘Tony’ Vandervell had an epiphany. A great motor sports enthusiast who had raced motorcycles since he was 15 and was a despatch rider in the Great War, he learned in 1930 of a new kind of engine bearing developed in America. This was of interest because his industrialist father had bought a small bearing business in a London suburb and put Tony in charge. His dad felt that this was the best way to get his wilful and opinionated son involved in the business world.

From this acorn grew a great oak of a business that would immerse Tony Vandervell deeply in all aspects of the motor industry. He would support the all-British BRM effort, only to leave in disgust and found his own racing team, conflating his own name and his Thinwall bearings to create the name Vanwall. Racing from 1954 to ’61, he’d hit the heights in 1958 by winning the newly established Constructors’ Championship with some of Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks’ greatest performances.

The epiphany that changed Vandervell’s life was the 1930 news that Clevite in Cleveland, US, had developed what it called a ‘thin-wall’ bearing. This replaced old-fashioned babbitt bearings that had to be poured in place and laboriously hand finished to size. Instead, the bearing was a snap-in part backed by a steel strip, to which a coating of copper alloyed with 256 percent lead and two percent tin was metallurgically bonded. This was then plated to a depth of 0.002 inch by a soft but durable alloy of lead and indium that helped the bearing cope with severe conditions.

With the help of his father, who backed him in buying the necessary production equipment, Vandervell successfully acquired the British rights to make the new-fangled bearings. By 1936 he was manufacturing them in quantity at Vandervell Products Ltd’s new factory in the west London suburb of Acton. He was up and running just in time to help with wartime rearmament, working closely with neighbour Napier, producer of advanced aircraft engines.

When, after World War Two, the BRM project was launched to build a British Grand Prix car, Vandervell was an enthusiastic backer in both cash and bearings for its ambitious V16 engine. However, he became disillusioned with the car’s desultory progress and the technical personnel’s incompetence. The final straw was the 1951 Italian GP, when an engine gave up in practice because a clogged oil filter hadn’t been cleaned after several powerplant failures – a catastrophic and unforgivable oversight.

Even worse, team majordomo Raymond Mays told the press the cause was “bearing failure”. This outraged Vandervell, who was at

Monza for the race. His bearings could hardly be blamed if they weren’t getting oil. He’d had enough. He even initiated a lawsuit against Mays over damage to his reputation. Before the end of the year, Tony resigned from the BRM Trust “for personal reasons”.

This confirmed a decision the industrialist had taken at the start of 1950, which was to be less involved with BRM and to set up his own racing operation. He engaged a former BRM man as chief mechanic and set up a competition department at his factory. One of his engineers, Frederick ‘Freddie’ Fox, was to become intimately involved with the new racing cars.

In the meantime, Vandervell had been competing with various Ferrari models in British racing. In fact, in 1952 he became BRM’s toughest rival in domestic events with a rebuilt 4.5-litre V12 single-seater of Maranello origins.

Looking for chassis improvements, he contacted Goodyear’s Aviation Division to see whether it could adapt its successful aircraft disc brakes for his racing cars. Getting a positive response, he commissioned design work from Goodyear that would lead to disc brakes made in his own workshops. An original feature was radial drilling inside the discs for lightness and heat dissipation. Simplified and lightened, these were used on the Grand Prix Vanwall.

Over the 1951-’52 winter, Vandervell began gearing up his activity to take on an ambitious project; the creation of an all-new British GP car. Starting out with a 2.0-litre four that could compete in Formula 2, he’d build up to a 2.5 engine to suit the new F1 taking effect in 1954.

These cars and their successors would first be dubbed Vanwall Special, and then just Vanwall.

The idea of a four-cylinder motor – unusual when most F1 engines were sixes and eights – came from Tony’s association with BRM. At the end of the 1940s that team obtained a contract to build a water-cooled version of the air-cooled, single-cylinder Norton motorcycle racing engine. By virtue of the higher compression ratio allowed by liquid cooling, it produced six percent more power than the aircooled original. Four times the Norton’s 499cc made 2.0 litres – a good starting point.

With this experience under his belt, Vandervell started work on his first original design, intended for 2.0-litre F2 racing in 1953.

At first his team was mainly concentrating on engine creation, so the chassis and driveline were patterned after Ferrari ideas. This meant front suspension by parallel wishbones and a de Dion rear set-up, both featuring transverse leaf springs. The frame was special, built by Cooper and designed by that company’s Owen Maddock, who gave it some elements

of the increasingly popular spaceframe.

The rear transaxle was also Ferrari inspired, placing its shafts flat in unit with, and ahead of, the differential. It initially had four speeds, but a fifth starting gear was added in ’56. More than any other factor, the position and size of this transmission forced the Vanwall’s driver high in the air. A change from Ferrari practice was mounting the brakes inboard next to the diff.

At the beginning of 1956 Porsche was asked to design synchromesh for this transaxle, which it did with its usual split-ring design under its Project 687. Just why this was done was not certain; drivers generally liked fast dog-clutch changes that took little effort, in contrast to synchromesh, which added resistance. That was certainly the view of Stirling Moss, who found that: “What never improved was the agricultural nature of that hefty gearchange.” On one drive, Tony Brooks’s palm ended up resembling a hamburger patty.

The Vanwall powerplant was a curious and conflicting mix of antique and advanced techniques. Its success was partially ensured by its origin – that Norton engine which long kept England supreme in motorcycle and Formula 3 GP racing. On a power-per-litre basis it had always been one of the world’s great motors.

Its Manx version of 86.0 x 85.6mm for 499cc developed an air-cooled 54bhp at 7200rpm – a valuable 108bhp per litre.

Produced in Vandervell’s Park Royal toolrooms, the engine was composed of a hightopped, deep-walled crankcase of aluminium alloy into which the individual cast-iron cylinders were deeply spigoted, a water jacket, and a shallow cylinder head of high-strength aluminium with separate cam boxes and exposed valve springs. The whole was held together by ten long, high-tensile steel tie bolts from the head to the main-bearing caps.

Nestling inside the tie bolts, and topped and bottomed by rubber sealing rings, the castaluminium water jacket steadied and sealed the whole assembly. The cylinders played a structural role, fitting into a radiused countersink in the head. Fire sealing at this crucial joint was problematic until 1956, when corrugated stainless-steel Cooper rings were adopted.

As would be expected, the cylinder-head layout was very ‘Norton’, with the valves equally angled at a total of 60º but with the apex of the vee subtly shifted to the exhaust side to make more room for the inlet valve.

Engine maestro Eric Richter – who had worked on BRM’s water-cooled Norton – stayed loyal to its well proven valve gear, which addressed the cam lobe with the crowned surface of a small, cylindrical, sliding tappet. This in turn MAGNETO

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pushed an adjustable cap atop the valve stem.

As in the motorcycle engine, exposed hairpin-type springs closed the valves. These turned out to be a weighty cross for the team to bear, afflicted as they were by random failures.

“Before any springs were used on an engine,” wrote Denis Jenkinson, “they were run on a test rig for one hour at 2000rpm, then ten minutes at 7000rpm and 50 minutes at 4000rpm. A total of 15 hours was done on this test rig, involving something like 1.5 million ‘pinches’.”

Even after all this, rogue springs failed when the engine was tested and even raced.

Special features included the Norton’s angled inlet porting, proven to give the mixture an energising swirl on entry. In the aluminium head, whose water jacket extended down past the mating surface with the cylinder liner, Richter exposed the exhaust-valve guide to the coolant and gave it finning for extra heat transfer. He and Vandervell continued their magpie approach to proven kit in preparing the bottom end. They chose as a model a RollsRoyce military unit – the four-pot 2.8-litre B40, as used in the Austin Champ. Its conservative bore diameter of 88.9mm meant a cylinder-tocylinder centre distance that suited their plans.

The skirts of the smooth-sided crankcase extended well below the crankshaft centreline, requiring only a shallow sump cover. Ample support was provided for the five main bearings and the fully counter-weighted crank. The first engines followed the Rolls-Royce design with no centre main bearing, which was eventually added. The H-section shanks of the polished nickel-steel connecting rods blended tangentially with the wrist-pin end.

For 1954, this unique engine was fed by four GP-type Amal carburettors, their slide throttles raised by four quarter pulleys and cables pivoted from a shaft along the intake-cam cover. Two Amal float chambers were used, suspended from rubber diaphragms. Big bell-mouthed stacks smoothed out incoming air flow.

For the 1955 season, Bosch fuel injection replaced carburettors. Placed just above the magneto, the pump was driven directly by the camshaft gear train. Each injection nozzle was anchored by two studs to a head passage, which opened on the intake port just upstream from the valve seat. The injecting spray bounced off the back of the intake valve head.

Initially, fuel piping to the nozzles was by metal tubing, resulting in vibration-induced cracks and failures at dramatic moments.

Finally, an aircraft-type flexible hose was found for the job. The Amal bodies and their control system were retained to serve as slide throttles.

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system regulated the Bosch pump output in proportion to throttle opening. Use of this simple yet effective injection, developed for Vandervell by ex-Norton engineer Leo Kuzmicki, was key to the engine’s high output.

During the 1954 season the four was progressively increased in size, first to 2262cc with 91.5 x 86.0mm dimensions, and ultimately to the full 2.5 litres allowable. Its final measurements were 96.0 x 86.0mm for 2490cc.

Inevitably a high-speed engine of such size posed problems with vibration, which took its toll on the fuel-feed systems and other elements of the car. In spite of the best efforts of an able team, the engine was never fully reliable.

For Vandervell and his crew, the 1955 season – for which the team had built four new racers – was sporadic at best. Wins came only for Harry Schell in short, local events, the cars failing in all four GPs contested. The elaborate induction arrangements were a consistent source of retirements. Feeling that he was not accomplishing much as a breaker of throttle linkages and injection pipes, Mike Hawthorn returned to Ferrari mid-year.

In preparation for 1956, the specialists were consulted. Harry Weslake, Britain’s resident expert on gas flow, took over the detail development of the engine, while DaimlerBenz and Robert Bosch provided useful hints on the art of methanol injection.

Tony Vandervell placed his entire chassis and body-design problem – a weighty package – in the talented hands of Colin Chapman and Frank Costin, creators of the exceptional Lotus Eleven sports-racer. Although these gentlemen were not then familiar with the speed spectrum ranging upward from 120-190mph – at least as related to automobiles – they were endowed with good sense and a willingness to learn.

Chapman’s contribution was the redistribution of components and the creation of a lightweight chassis to hold them together. His frame was a deep space-type assembly of a few moderatesized tubes – principal ones 1.25 inches in diameter – placed to do the maximum amount of work. A stressed, drilled sheet low at the front rigidly aligned the original Vanwall wishbone assemblies – now with coil springs – while a pyramided cowl structure accepted the high bending stresses at the car’s centre. With all attachment brackets, the frame balanced 87.5lb.

The steering box was set high next to the right-hand front-suspension group, attacking the wheels through a three-piece track rod.

Extending forward virtually parallel with the wheels and inboard from the knuckles, the I-section steering arms gave negligible Ackermann effect. The Vanwall’s steering was

almost disconcertingly light as a result.

Chapman retained but totally reinterpreted the De Dion rear suspension. Ferrari-style parallel trailing arms were lengthened and repositioned. A Watt’s link system served for lateral location. High above the hubs, a slim, five-leaf spring was transversely mounted between rollers, as originated by Ferrari for racing to increase stiffness in roll.

From the first, brackets were provided for the anchoring of coil spring and damper units, which replaced the leaf springs at the end of 1956. Intense research during 1957’s practice periods, including valuable days at the Nürburgring, minimised the new layout’s teething troubles, namely front-wheel patter and a hesitant transition to the four-wheel drift.

Detail improvements, an important one being a change from Armstrong to Fichtel & Sachs dampers, allowed Stirling Moss – a team driver from the start of 1956 – to fling the Vanwall around like a Cooper in 1957’s Pescara GP. He won this while taking fastest lap. “To enhance rear-end grip still more,” said Moss of Chapman, “he gave the rear wheels three degrees negative camber, leaning inward at the top. This also made them even more convenient as foot-steps to help us climb into that high, deeply screened cockpit.”

Frenchman Maurice Trintignant, on the team in 1956, was if anything shorter than Moss, and when he first tried a Vanwall at Monaco he was dismayed at having to look through its high, curved windscreen. He was no happier when told that its height determined the volume of air that was drawn over the rear brakes, and thus couldn’t be changed. This was typical of the taut, rigorous way in which Frank Costin integrated a body with friend Colin’s chassis. Trintignant’s season, by the way, was a wash-out, with retirements in all four entries.

A striking feature of the Vanwall’s radical aluminium shell was the thorough attention given to underbody streamlining. Combined with its upper contours and high tail, this helped reduce the effects of side winds. The fully shielded cockpit had benefits in comfort for the drivers, but drawing the rear-brake air upward accounted for their chimney-sweep complexions at the end of a long race.

Ducting was ascetically simple. A trapezoidal hole let air down through a mesh screen into the glassfibre (once aluminium) air box shrouding the Amal intake stacks. Cockpit vent scoops were built into the rear-view mirror housings, while radiator air found its way out to the low-pressure areas at the frontsuspension apertures. Costin showed the great potential available in reducing to the

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maximum the size of the radiator air inlet.

The main 39-gallon fuel tank was in the tail, strapped to a triangulated frame extension.

Two 15-gallon auxiliaries were slung outboard on either side of the cowl, much like the original Vanwalls’ arrangement. Heavy flex hoses joined the tanks at a selector valve on the right of the cockpit. A fuel filter and pump sat at the engine’s left front, belt driven from the crankshaft nose.

Early Vanwalls featured impressive but overbearing engine-turned dashboard panels, which gave way to a less blinding flat-black finish. Instruments were tachometer – either 8000rpm Jaeger or 9000rpm Smiths – oil and water temperature, oil pressure and fuel pressure. The gearlever was at the left, emerging from a simple gate atop a massive cast housing. A tiny handbrake was at the right.

Tony Vandervell enjoyed a drive in the transformed Vanwall before it received its distinctive dark blue-green livery. Said Stirling Moss: “I first tried it briefly at Silverstone on October 10, my diary assessing it simply as ‘Bloody quick’. They took two cars to Oulton Park on October 22 for a GP distance test. I drove one for 1hr 50min until its suspension broke, and the other for 2hr 30min until an injector pipe broke. I had many reservations, but this was clearly the first green GP car I’d ever driven which showed such winning potential.”

Although still sceptical about the Vanwall’s staying power, Moss signed with the team for the 1957 season. While committed to racing Maseratis in 1956, he drove the Vanwall in Silverstone’s non-Championship 176-mile BRDC International Trophy race on May 5, 1956.

Sensationally Moss won from pole by a lap, after Ferrari’s two entries retired. Franco-American Harry Schell led the Vanwall GP attack that year, in which 12 starts in four meetings produced only one decent finish, a fourth at Spa for Schell. With reliability all but non-existent, the team had much to do to prepare for Moss’s arrival in 1957 together with Tony Brooks.

During 1957, Vandervell froze his cars’ basic design, assigning his men the task of creating specialised editions for particular circuits as Mercedes-Benz had done in 1955. One example was pug noses for the Monaco cars, complete with nerfing bars. In 1956 two Vanwalls had retired prematurely, cooling affected by long snouts dented during early-lap infighting.

Most outlandish was the Reims ‘streamliner’.

Frank Costin brought forth a highly original interpretation of a racing car. The front wheels were fully enclosed by sweeping fenders, pierced at the nose by three brake and engine intakes. A clamshell-like lid capped each rear wheel. The impression was of a vehicle that might easily 1 36

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become a potent sports car if its builder willed it – although this was unlikely, at least in that form.

Evaluation of the Reims variant was vitiated by confusion over gear ratios and engine power; it was not used at the race, or ever. Nor was another aerodynamic aid successful – a total enclosure of the cockpit by a Perspex bubble for Monza in 1958. It gave an additional 50rpm on the straights, but the intensified cockpit racket even with earplugs meant it was set aside.

Moss missed some races in early 1957 due to ill health, which for team manager David Yorke opened an opportunity for a relative newcomer, Stuart Lewis-Evans, to step in and show real promise. A highlight was the British GP at Aintree on July 20, which Moss won in the car started by Brooks. This made the Vanwall the first British car to win a World Championship points race. Stirling won again at Pescara and Monza, finishing second to Fangio for the third year in a row in the Drivers’ Championship.

Big changes in the Formula 1 rules for 1958 did not favour Vanwall. Previously unlimited, fuel would now be 100/130-octane aviation gasoline. Points-scoring races were reduced in length from 500km or three hours to 300km or two hours. Drivers could no longer score points after jumping from one car to another.

Other things being equal, the most successful gasoline-fuelled engine was the one with more cylinders, hence smaller combustion chambers that could swallow higher compression ratios without pre-ignition. With its four cylinders, Vanwall was disadvantaged against the 1958 V6 Ferrari and the straight-six and V12 Maseratis.

From 12.5:1 on methanol-based fuel, the compression ratio had to be reduced to 11.5:1 for 1958. At that time, an oil jet was added to cool the underside of the piston crown.

On its original methanol/benzol-based fuels the Vanwall’s peak power was 285bhp at 7200rpm and, with a tip of the nitromethane tin, 295bhp. In 1958 on 108/135-octane BP gasoline, the four produced 265bhp at 7400rpm – a tribute to the effectiveness of Park Royal’s development of this big-bore engine.

In 1958 the Vanwall was pitched against Ferrari’s new, smaller 246 F1 Dino, and the rising threat of the Coventry-Climax FPF four in its interim 2.2-litre size, powering pesky little Lotuses and Coopers. In fact, CooperClimaxes won the first two points races. The third, however, went to Moss at Zandvoort, and the fifth to Brooks at the Nürburgring, where the team had struggled in 1957. Moss was second at Reims and the winner at Porto and Casablanca, while Brooks won at Monza.

“These basically stable, understeering cars had to be driven between very precise limits,”

Moss observed. “They were never as forgiving, indeed delightful, in their handling characteristics as the essentially oversteering Maserati 250F. I rarely found another car so sensitive to damper settings and fine tyre differences, but the change from transverse leaf spring to coil spring at the rear was undoubtedly a great leap forward.”

The 1958 result was second and third in the Drivers’ Championship for Moss and Brooks respectively, and a decisive win for Vanwall in the Constructors’ Championship with 48 points for Vanwall against 40 for Ferrari.

January 1959 saw two retirements; Mike Hawthorn’s after his Drivers’ Championship, and Tony Vandervell’s after a magnificent demonstration of power and speed in winning the Constructors’ Cup for Britain. He was awarded the RAC’s Dewar Trophy and Ferodo’s Gold Trophy for his team’s achievements.

Unable to damp his flames of enthusiasm for motor sports, he still tinkered with machinery at Park Royal. He had two projects on the boil; a slimmed-down version of the existing car with a new rear suspension and transmission designed

by Valerio Colotti, and a new rear-engined Vanwall built around a Lotus 18 chassis.

Enthusiastic about the latter, Tony Brooks agreed to test and race for Vandervell in 1959.

He was to be disappointed. The rear-engined Vanwall made little progress while his boss “was still spending time trying to develop the old front-engined car”, said Brooks. “This now ranked with the dinosaurs.” He raced the car on three occasions, once in 1959 and twice in ’60.

He finished in one – and that in seventh place.

In 1959 Brooks had a chance to test the LotusVanwall prototype, and was enthusiastic for the idea, but Vandervell set that aside and built a more robust car on similar lines. Not until 1961 did this appear, to compete in the new InterContinental category formed to let the 2.5-litre cars keep racing after F1 had gone to 1.5 litres.

A purposeful-looking car with a 2.6 engine, it was driven by John Surtees in the 263-mile International Trophy race at Silverstone on May 6. He found it “skittish” in the wet race, and spun off, needing a pitstop to clear greenery from its snout. Falling back to 13th, Surtees provided the event’s main interest in climbing up to fifth at the finish. It was this car’s only public appearance.

Health had been one of the reasons for Tony Vandervell’s withdrawal from the stressful business of F1 racing. He turned his attention to Vandervell Products, which became a public company in 1964. Only three years later he died, one of the most colourful and forceful individuals to lift the standard of British motor racing. Neither Vandervell nor his unorthodox but fast racing cars will ever be forgotten.

1954 Jaguar D-Type Chassis # XKC/D 403 ‘OKV 2’ Jaguar Works Entry 1954 Le Mans Stirling Moss / Peter Walker British Racing Green

1961 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster Chassis Number # 002756 is 1 of only 5 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadsters which were originally supplied in Fantasiegelb color code DB 653, Fantasy Yellow.

FURTHER CARS AVAILABLE:

GPL IMAGES

Tastefully restored to show condition and now with a dark green leather interior, matching two-piece luggage, black hard top and upgraded with Rudge wheels.

1957 Fiat Abarth 750GT Corsa Zagato ‘Double Bubble’ 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS 1974 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale 1976 Lamborghini Countach LP400 Periscopica ex Princess Dalal

CALIFORNIA

CONNECTICUT

California

Connecticut

Malcolm Welford Malcolm Welford

malcolm@mmgarage.com malcolm@mmgarage.com o: 949.340.7100 c: 949.500.0585

o: 949.340.7100 c: 949.500.0585

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mmgarage.com mmgarage.com

Miles Morris Miles Morris miles@mmgarage.com miles@mmgarage.com o: 203.222.3862 c: 203.722.3333

o: 203.222.3862 c: 203.722.3333

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THIS IS, OF course, a story about a car – not a man. But, for me, in order to describe why we should care about this particular OSCA 1600 GT, it is important to consider the collector who owns it. Corrado Lopresto, an architect who lives in Milan, Italy, has built an amazing collection of vehicles. It is at once broad ranging and tightly focused – and all Italian.

The unifying theme is one-of-a-kind celebrations of the Italian coachbuilder’s art, true kinetic sculpture created for the most discerning and sophisticated clients. If a production model finds its way into this collection, it is a very special car indeed – chassis number 01, the mother of all that would follow. Finally, there are the extraordinarily preserved automobiles – loved from new, always well maintained even when they were not being regularly driven. They show their lives honestly and directly, true time machines.

‘Our’ 1961 OSCA 1600 GT is not a ‘one-off’, but rather one of two built. It is not chassis 01 of the 1600 GT. It is not completely original. So, why would Lopresto seek out this example?

The answer is a somewhat complex, yet simple one. It is for the car’s design. And a logical bonus is that although Lopresto has given the OSCA a correct external and mechanical restoration, the interior – the part that the driver and passenger directly touch – remains completely original and beautifully refreshed.

I have known Lopresto and the collection for many years, and have marvelled at both the cars and the enthusiastic passion which he communicates to all with whom he shares them. His is a childlike energy, which unembarrassingly and endlessly pours forth with the details on how a vehicle came to be chosen for the collection and why it gives him pleasure.

He is quite aware that this Touring-bodied OSCA is one of my all-time favourites, not only in the Lopresto Collection, but in the world of automobiles in general. Why? Again, the answer is a simple one; because it connects with me on all the levels I want to have engaged when I encounter a special car.

I respond viscerally to design, driving pleasure, history and the emotional pull a vehicle has on me. And while I find Italian coachbuilt models from the 1930s through to the 1970s particularly captivating, they are hardly the only cars that make my pulse race.

I’ve long had a fascination for vehicles that piqued my interest on as many levels as possible.

I have also long been a champion of the automotive ‘underdog’. I feel deeply for cars that, if not for the fickleness of fate, should have and could have been world beaters. It’s also become clear to me over the years that not 14 4

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all stories turn out the way you might have liked them to. There is no ‘fair’ when it comes to timing or circumstances in the auto industry.

This period in the history of OSCA is a somewhat sad tale of what could have been.

Thinking ahead to 1969, when Fiat took its 50 percent interest in Ferrari after the successful collaboration with the Dino V6 engine, one can only imagine what might have happened years earlier. At the time our feature car was being built in ’61, Fiat was in the third year of its arrangement with OSCA to build and supply 1.5-litre DOHC engines designed by the Modenese firm and used in its top-of-the-line sporting car, the 1500 S. Fiat marketed a Spider, and Pininfarina directly sold a limited-production coupé version of the twin-cam car which earned a warm reception from the press and public. The 1.6 variant of the engine found its way into OSCA’s own 1600 GT, built in three versions for the road or track: a single-carburettor 95bhp GT; a twin-carb 125bhp model; and a GTV competition version. The last of these had larger twin Webers, made 145bhp and boasted a modicum of weight saving and theoretically aerodynamic additions such as covered headlights.

Most of the 1600 GTs ended up wearing Zagato bodies, and a few of those were taken to racetracks across Europe and the US, but without the kind of distinction usually seen by OSCA cars. Rather, they turned out to be very interesting small grand tourers – which was particularly ironic given that the marque’s founders, the Maserati brothers, were not particularly interested in building road models.

Of course, road cars are what keep racing manufacturers on the circuit – a point not insignificant when you realise that even the Orsi family, who bought Maserati in 1937, found that without the 3500 GT of 1957 it would be impossible to go on. That decision came along with one to largely abandon works racing and leave the field to privateers. This is something the Maserati brothers would never abide.

And it’s a shame that the 1600 GT was not more successful, and that it did not prove the on-ramp to the road of recovery for OSCA. It is truly a remarkable machine – one that perfectly captures the essence of what the Maserati brothers always did best in a racing car in an eminently roadable form.

If you think of how a Porsche 356 Carrera 2 is in so many ways the perfect road-going evolution of the race-winning, bare-bones 718 RSK – and a comfortable, well built and dare I say elegant version at that – you can begin to see what the 1600 GT was to the spartan, lightweight racers that characterised the OSCA brand. Yet

RIGHT Ingenious arrangement for spare tyre allows easy access and frees up boot space.

It’s both practical AND stylish...

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by 1963, painfully slow sales and continued challenges in balancing the books forced a sale of OSCA to Count Domenico Augusta, who had little interest in either a minor road-car business or a partnership with Fiat. By 1966, Fiat had introduced its own twin-cam engine for the 124 Spider, and had begun to look to the aforementioned Dino V6 for a new range-topper.

Back to 1961, however, and for the owner who wanted a compactly packaged car with exquisite engineering, superb chassis design and brilliant performance that was also agreeable enough for a weekend trip or a spirited dash to the office, what could have been better than an OSCA 1600 GT? For me, the peak of Italian coachbuilding came from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s.

The spirit of il miracolo economico and la dolce vita came together to create an unmistakable and unrepeatable time of confidence and expression in all things Italian – not least of which was in the automobiles of the period.

What Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni achieved in this Touring-bodied car is exactly what this chassis deserved. Granted, it was the ‘cooking’ GT version of the model, not the firebreathing GTV, but then again that perfectly fits the character of the design. This is an automobile to both cruise around in and enjoy when you want to push it. It doesn’t demand that you ‘be on it’ all the time.

And the details! From the characteristic concave rear window to the sculpted lines of the rear fenders into the bootlid, the form captures light in a way that is simply captivating.

It has been observed that the grille and hood scoop are reminiscent of those of the coupé that Touring designed and built for the Pegaso Z-102 – and this OSCA is none the poorer for that resemblance.

As with the Pegaso, the 1600 GT is rare and wonderful, experienced only by a shamefully small few. And this particular Touring coupé gives up its secrets slowly, in a continually gratifying manner. As mentioned, it has been externally restored both expertly and sensitively.

Having been resprayed earlier in its life, the very particular shade of medium metallic green had been lost to a more common tone. The

restored colour is a very sophisticated one, now appearing green, then a moment later more towards teal. It contrasts perfectly with the white and brick-red leather interior, which is very simple yet cleverly detailed, with close pleating on the seats and door panels.

Those seats, doors, dashboard, carpets and headliner give the look and feel of a gently used and well cared-for automobile. They reveal the miles covered inside the OSCA, the pleasures realised behind the wide, wood-rimmed steering wheel. They hint at joys of the open road – the cut and thrust of motorway and city traffic the car has seen since its unveiling in Torino’s equally dramatic Pier Luigi Nervi exposition hall during the 1961 motor show.

And the surprise that awaits upon opening the passenger door! It’s a necessity to carry a spare wheel, especially in a high-performance car. But, here, it’s not hidden ignominiously inside the boot. Rather, a drilled-metal articulated arm rests at the ready to present the tyre to you, wrapped in a fitted cover.

Simply fold the seat backrest and draw the arm forward, and you are prepared for your roadside duty. It’s an elegant, if delightfully overdone, feature – but one that has a practical aspect as well. Rather than forcing the owner of the GT to tortuously arrange the weekend’s luggage behind the seats on a shelf, it liberates the boot space for that purpose instead.

As a plus, there is sufficient strength in the bodyshell that the space between the boot and the interior compartment is open, allowing maximum use of the available area. Once again, this car is meant to be used – and it’s one that surrenders no aspect of practicality for its undeniable style.

Further reinforcing its relationship as a comfortable counterbalance to OSCA’s competition exploits, this car has also travelled across the Atlantic to take part in an exhibition at the Audrain Automobile Museum of Newport, Rhode Island, titled From The Racetrack To The Opera – Marques That Did it All. The show, running from mid-August through to mid-November 2020, features pairs of cars from a wide variety of marques that found success in both racing and building luxury or

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grand-touring models as well. Included are Delahaye, Duesenberg, Jaguar, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Isotta Fraschini, Alfa Romeo – and OSCA. Contrasting with the Lopresto Collection 1600 GT Touring coupé is the 1952 OSCA MT4 Vignale coupé that won its class in the 1953 Le Mans 24 Hours. That the beautifully fitted and detailed 1961 coupé is miles away from the spartan, if dramatic, 1952 racer is undeniable.

That they share a distinct and distinctive DNA is equally undeniable. It is not at all surprising that Corrado Lopresto, a man who appreciates style, driving enjoyment, rarity and historical importance, would want to welcome this very special OSCA into his exclusive stable.

There, it shares space with its close style cousin, the Alfa Romeo 2000 ‘Praho’ coupé.

Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni’s 1960 creation for Touring is a one-off special on the Alfa 2000 platform. It is specifically named for the ship from whose sail its rear window takes its form. As Lopresto explained: “There was no way I could have the Alfa Praho in my collection without the OSCA – they belong together.”

How can this argument be challenged? The Alfa Romeo Praho is also a car I find intriguing, and one that employs unique design elements inside and out to give surprising twists on what you might expect to see in a sporting luxury coupé. Both the Alfa and its ‘little sister’ the OSCA 1600 GT give nothing away in driving dynamics in exchange for the undeniable style they possess.

In a very special and almost unrepeatable way, they are at the same instant incredibly flashy in detail while being almost painfully restrained and sombre in aspect. They are a magnificent pair, worthy of finding a home in the same, very exclusive company.

As much as I admire the Alfa, it is the OSCA that truly steals my heart. Lopresto has occasionally asked me the age-old question: “If you could take home one car from my collection, which would it be?” My response has never varied; in a heartbeat, it would be the 1600 GT Touring coupé. I can’t see that changing.

Thanks to Collezione Lopresto, www.lopresto.it, along with the Audrain Automobile Museum, www.audrainautomuseum.org.

THE TOP 50 COACHBUILDERS

From Allemano to Zagato, we celebrate the best of the best carrozzerie

T H E T O P 5 0 C O A C H B U I D E R S

– those styling geniuses and craftspeople who elevated car design to an art form in the golden age of the bespoke automobile

W O R D S R I C H A R D H E S E LT I N E

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50 OSI

THE romantically named Officine Stampaggi Industriale (Industrial Stamping Works) was established in 1960 by Luigi Segre of Carrozzeria Ghia, Arrigo Olivetti (of typewriter fame) and auto-accessory company FERGAT. The plan was to act as a supplier of ‘bodies in white’ for major car manufacturers. One of the first contracts was to build bodyshells for the Innocenti 950S. However, following Segre’s untimely death in 1962, OSI became more autonomous and built small-series models under its own name in addition to making one-offs and styling studies. These included the fabulous Alfa Romeo Scarabeo. The firm was incorporated into Fiat at the end of the decade.

49 SERRA

WHILE Pedro Serra’s name is not uttered with the same kind of reverence as is afforded to legendary Italian coachbuilders and designers, he was Spain’s most prolific body builder. In 1949, he reworked a 1927 Amilcar with an enveloping outline, and thus a theme was established. Serra often updated cars with more contemporary-looking bodies, including some based on Rolls-Royce, Ferrari and Aston Martin platforms.

He is perhaps better known for his work as couturier to Pegaso, and for attempting to become a manufacturer in his own right with his Serra 3700 GT Boulevard Coupé. In all, Serra bodied around 350 cars.

48 FA N T U Z Z I

MEDARDO Fantuzzi initially operated as a freelance coachbuilder within the Maserati factory. He and his brother Gino almost exclusively crafted bodies for all of the brand’s singleseaters and sports-racers until the works department closed in 1957. He then switched allegiance to Ferrari, and created bodies for a raft of Formula 1 and sportsprototypes to 1965. Away from racing, Fantuzzi also clothed road-going Ferraris, some of them used cars with rather outré outlines. In addition, the carrozzeria worked with brands such as De Tomaso, ATS and Tecno. It later became a restoration workshop prior to closing for good in 1993.

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P I C H O N E T PA R AT

ABOVE Pichon et Parat created a dramatic BMW 507 rebody for US design czar Raymond Loewy.

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BERNARD Pichon and André Parat joined forces in 1951 to create coupé variants of Renault 4CVs and Ford Vedettes. This, in turn, led to them making more daring variations on the theme, some with gullwing doors.

This tiny French concern was also chosen by design czar Raymond Loewy to build two cars for his personal use: a dramatic-looking rebody of a BMW 507, and a hideous reworking of a Cadillac Series 62. The partners went their separate ways in 1969, but Carrosseries Parat continued to act as a coachbuilder to 1980, in later years primarily converting saloons into estate cars.

RM SOTHEBY’S

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46 FISSORE

BERNARDO Fissore began his working life at carriage maker Montaldo, prior to buying the company in 1921.

Together with his brothers Antonio, Giovanni and Costanzo, he gradually transformed the renamed Carrozzeria Fissore into a builder of Ford pick-ups before World War Two intervened.

Under the control of the Wehrmacht it made truck cabs and refrigerated boxes for military lorries, but pickings were slim in peacetime until it began making Giardinetta (estate car) variants of the Fiat 1100. The firm went on to shape all manner of bespoke Fiats before clothing DKWs, OSCAs and more besides. It later made bodies for De Tomaso and Monteverdi.

GIOVANNI Farina established Stabilimenti Farina in 1906. After World War One, it built bodies in series for Fiat, and the following decade saw younger brother Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina style one-offs and small-series offerings on a variety of platforms.

These were generally lower and sleeker designs than before, Farina-bodied Isotta Fraschinis in particular being considered daring for the time. The brothers went their separate ways in 1928, and the firm later became the jumping-off point for emerging talent, with Giovanni Michelotti being perhaps the most prominent alumnus. Coachbuilding drew to a close in 1953, although the firm made patented brakes and dampers to 1956.

BELOW 1949 Ferrari 166 Inter Coupé was one of Stabilimenti Farina’s most notable creations.

42 JENSEN

PRIOR to becoming a car maker in its own right, Jensen Motors was a respected coachbuilder. Founded by brothers Richard and Alan Jensen in 1931, the West Bromwich firm fashioned smart bodies for the Wolseley Hornet before turning its attention to other marques. In addition to more proletariat nameplates such as Morris and Standard, it also bodied Delage, Star and Steyr chassis plus ‘Ron’ Horton’s recordbreaking MG K3. Its most famous coachbuilt car was the Ford V8 drop-top purportedly owned by Hollywood’s Clark Gable – but some sources suggest he was merely photographed with the car.

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40 DROGO

PIERO Drogo operated under a variety of aliases, the first being Carrozzeria Sports Cars.

The Piedmontese was among the 1960s most prolific coachbuilders, collaborating with various partners. He became an official Ferrari subcontractor in the late 1960s. As with many small bodyshops, he wasn’t above giving older machines more modern bodies, either. Yet his name has also been linked to many cars he didn’t create – among them the ‘Drogo Breadvan’ Ferrari 250GT SWB. It was made by Neri e Bonacini a few doors down…

E D ABBOTT

REMEMBERED today for its volume-made Ford estate cars, this Farnham, Surrey-based coachbuilder also fashioned more rarefied fare. Founded in 1932 by Edward Dixon Abbott, it crafted bodies for sporting marques such as Lagonda and Talbot prior to being acquired in 1950 by ex-Aston Martin man Gordon Sutherland. Later that decade, the firm created assorted oneoff or small-series Bentleys on MkVI and R-type Continental platforms (below), in addition to some attractive Bristols.

Perhaps its most notorious creation was a one-of-a-kind Ferrari 212 Export fashioned in 1952. It was not a happylooking car... The company ended play in 1972.

41 MOTTO

43 COLLI

CARROZZERIA Colli was a prolific Milanese bodyshop that produced a raft of streamlined offerings based

on Alfa Romeo and Lancia platforms prior to World War Two. In 1946, it built the prototype for Luigi Pellarini’s bizarre PL5C flying car, and six years later it became the official carrozzeria to Alfa Romeo’s competition department. It crafted bodies for sports-racers such as the 3000 CM and 1900 Disco Volante. It also built several Panhard-based machines (above). In later years, it made Giardinetta variants of the Giulietta and Giulia, but this dependence on Alfa Romeo cost Colli dear. When orders dried up, the company was shuttered in 1973.

ROCCO Motto was not a ‘name’ in the coachbuilding world, but his Turin bodyshop was once a hive of activity. From 1932, he worked extensively as a subcontractor for the likes of Carrozzeria Ghia and Stabilimenti Farina. He also made bodies for ‘etceterini’ outfits such as Nardi, Taraschi and Ermini.

Unusually for the period, he often bodied foreign cars, from Delahaye to Packard via Cadillac and Renault, and crafted the grotesque Lancia Loraymo to Raymond Loewy’s exacting brief.

Automotive works had all but dried up by the mid-1960s, Motto turning his hand to the volume manufacture of trailers and caravans.

39 VIOTTI

WHILE perhaps better known for its Giardinetta conversions, Vittorino Viotti’s eponymous carrozzeria made several startling one-offs prior to World War Two. Some were styled

by Count Mario Revelli di Beaumont, perhaps the most celebrated Viotti car from the period being his streamlined Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Coupé.

Tony Crook later acted as the UK concessionaire, selling Viotti Fiat 600s in addition to commissioning a one-off Viotti-bodied Bristol 407. It was meant to be a gift for his daughter, but Peter Sellers badgered him relentlessly until he caved and let him buy it. Viotti closed its doors in 1964.

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CAROSSERIEBAU Spohn is often ridiculed for its ghastly ‘custom jobs’ based on early1950s Detroit fare. Most of these were fashioned for US servicemen as a means to an end. However, this once-proud coachbuilder produced some memorable – and tasteful – one-offs and small-run cars prior to World War Two. Formed in 1920, the firm found a degree of fame for its collaboration with Maybach, but it also clothed MercedesBenz platforms and a lone Hispano-Suiza H6B. It was one of few German coachbuilders to survive post-war, and was later the specialist of choice for designer Brooks Stevens.

It crafted his Valkyrie and Gaylord prototypes.

SWEDISH-born Christian Bohman and Austrian émigré Maurice Schwartz had been colleagues at Californian coachbuilder Walter M Murphy prior to teaming up in 1932. Working with stylists like Herb Newport and Everett Miller, theirs became the Hollywood glitterati’s coachbuilder of choice.

Nothing was too elaborate, the firm primarily working on new platforms, although it wasn’t above remodelling existing cars. Its most celebrated confection was the Cord 812-based Phantom Corsair built at the behest of its designer, Rust Heinz. The firm subcontracted for the aerospace industry during WW2 before the partnership was dissolved in 1947.

SPOHN

BELOW Scaglietti worked closely with Ferrari, producing such icons as the 250 Testa Rossa.

B O H M A N & S C H WA RTZ

37 SODOMKA

ONE of the great pre-war coachbuilders, Sodomka is nowadays largely forgotten.

It shouldn’t be because, from 1925 to 1956, this Czech concern produced breathtaking outlines on a variety of platforms. The firm founded in 1895 by cartwright Josef Sodomka moved into the automotive arena via his son Josef Jr. During the 1930s it bodied everything from Skodas to Bugattis, RollsRoyces to Walter Regents.

Sodomka made few ugly cars, if any, but the firm headed in a different direction after the factory was nationalised in 1948. The final Sodomka offering was the Skoda 440 prototype, complete with, shudder, a glassfibre ’shell…

35 BONESCHI

GIOVANNI Boneschi’s famed pre-war coachbuilder created several achingly pretty bodies on Lancia and Alfa platforms during the 1940s. Its wares were adopted by the beautiful people and high-ranking officials alike. After the war, it changed direction; in addition to creating coachbuilt one-offs, it produced promotional vehicles in shapes echoing everything from toothpaste

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MURPHY

34 ALLEMANO

SERAFINO Allemano’s small carrozzeria is perhaps best known for bodying assorted Abarths (both front- and rear-engined) plus 22 Maserati 5000GTs and the ATS 2500GT supercar.

On establishing his own workshop in 1929, he initially

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undertook repair work prior to crafting custom bodies from the mid-1930s.

However, Carrozzeria Allemano was fortunate to survive World War Two; the principal was called up to serve in the army, while his workshop in Turin was razed

by Allied bombing. Aided by his nephew, the former Stabilimenti Farina workshop foreman Mario Allemano, Serafino regrouped and his firm remained active during the 1950s (above). However, it was all over by 1965.

WALTER Montgomery Murphy was variously an entrepreneurial car dealer and a coachbuilder; one who attracted the best young design talent to California to make bodies for Duesenberg Model J and SJ platforms, Cord L29s and other great US marques. The Pasadena firm also worked on European chassis, not least Minerva, Bentley and Mercedes-Benz.

It was one of the few American coachbuilders to adopt steel instead of timber framework. Murphy sold his body-building arm to Kenneth McKay in 1932, but it folded inside six months.

tubes to razors. It subsequently moved into making ambulances as well as armour plating cars for the police and military.

LETOURNEUR ET MARCHAND

32 LEBARON

WHILE the name LeBaron Carrossiers may seem French, the firm was founded in 1920 in New York. Ray Dietrich and Tom Hibbard designed bodies for the elite based on Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce, Minerva, Hispano-Suiza and Isotta Fraschini chassis. They also worked uncredited for Fleetwood and Franklin.

Amid sales of shares, split partnerships and relocation to Detroit, LeBaron also shaped the Chrysler Newport and Thunderbolt, having become a subsidiary of the Briggs Manufacturing Co. Chrysler Corp. bought the name in 1953.

JEAN-Marie Letourneur and Jean-Arthur Marchand met while working for Parisian coachbuilder Henri Binder.

They joined up in 1905, their small couturier becoming renowned for elegant restraint, while the arrival of designer Carlo Delaisse in 1931 hailed a new era of bespoke artistry.

It bodied 115 Delages from 1930-’39, and created outlines for Bugatti, Rolls-Royce and Hispano-Suiza platforms.

Sadly, the firm struggled to find a foothold after World War Two minus its founders.

It lingered until 1950.

28 H J MULLINER

30 T H R U P P & M A B E R LY

LONDON’S Thrupp & Maberly had, in one form or other, been involved in coachbuilding for close on 150 years before it bodied a car. What’s more, its first was dressed in 1896 for the Queen of Spain. In 1925 it was acquired by the Rootes brothers, who then took over Humber and Hillman. Yet far from concentrating on its own brands, the firm was pushed further upmarket; it continued to body RollsRoyce and Bentley chassis in addition to Humbers.

It also created the body for Sir Henry Segrave’s Golden Arrow Land Speed Record challenger. Thrupp & Maberly bodied Buicks and similar foreign fare, too.

During World War Two it built Humber staff cars, yet coachbuilding never amounted to much during peacetime. Rootes engaged the company to build special variants of its Pullman and Imperial models, but the days of bespoke tailoring were effectively over, and the factory closed in 1967.

29 SCAGLIETTI

SERGIO Scaglietti’s fortunes were intertwined with those of Enzo Ferrari. The son of a builder, and one of five children, Scaglietti was born in Tre Olmi, near Modena, in January 1920. Following the death of his father he embarked on his professional life aged just 13, joining his elder brother Gino at TorricelIi, Bertani and Galli (aka Carrozzeria Modenese).

In 1935, Gino Scaglietti and Renato Torricelli established their own carrozzeria, Sergio joining them two years later.

The workshop was based barely a stone’s throw from Scuderia Ferrari’s facility, although Scaglietti claimed

more than once that he didn’t meet Il Commendatore until the late 1940s.

Come peacetime, he returned to his old job before deciding to establish his own bodyshop, Scaglietti & C., alongside Francesco Marchesi and Lino Sala.

Towards the end of 1952, Scaglietti was tasked with repairing a Ferrari 166MM/53 belonging to Alberico Cacciari. It was revamped and restyled, and Scaglietti was subsequently tasked with creating bodies as an official subcontractor for the forthcoming 500 Mondial. It was the start of a celebrated relationship with Ferrari.

CONFUSINGLY, more than one coachbuilder operated under the Mulliner name, but this London concern was the best known – and with good reason. From 1900 the firm bodied all manner of chassis, and it soon attracted the attention of C S Rolls who, in 1906, commissioned a two-seater body for his personal Silver Ghost. Two years later, H J Mulliner sold the company on the quiet due to ill health, but the firm flourished without him.

During the 1920s it was considered to be one of the most innovative British coachbuilders, and the quality of its workmanship was widely lauded. At the same time it began a long and fruitful relationship with Bentley, bodying more than 200 examples of the marque.

However, from the mid-1930s to the outbreak of World War Two, it rarely strayed from clothing Rolls-Royce chassis, the odd exception being one or two Daimlers, Humbers and Lagondas. In the 1950s the Mulliner name became forever associated with the sublime Bentley R-type Continental, and then the supremely elegant S-type model. The firm was acquired by Rolls-Royce in 1959 and later merged with Park Ward to form Mulliner Park Ward.

27 HIBBARD ET DARRIN

IT existed for less than a decade, but Carrosserie Hibbard et Darrin cast a long shadow. Although based in Paris, it was run by two Americans: ex-LeBaron man Thomas L Hibbard and Howard ‘Dutch’ Darrin.

What’s more, many of its clients were American to boot. With financial support from William Brokaw, it set about crafting one-off bodies on chassis from the likes of Hispano-Suiza, MercedesBenz, Packard and Stutz. The arrival of the Duesenberg Model J in 1929 proved a boon, and the partners clothed up to 12 by 1931, including one for Broadway star (and mistress of William Randolph Hearst), Marion Davies.

However, the firm wasn’t immune to the effects of The Depression. In 1931, Brokaw abruptly withdrew his backing and the company folded almost immediately.

Hibbard returned Stateside and worked briefly for GM design czar Harley Earl, while his erstwhile partner formed Fernandez et Darrin with a wealthy South American banker. At one point it made around three cars a fortnight, only to be shuttered in 1937.

LEFT Mulliner and Bentley had a special relationship from the early 20th century.

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BREWSTER

AMONG America’s bestknown coachbuilders, then as now, Brewster existed in a variety of guises. Brewster & Co. dated back to 1810, the firm being riven with family squabbles before Willie Brewster began crafting car bodies in 1905. The name would become inextricably linked with Rolls-Royce after the New York firm dropped its concession for DelaunayBelleville in 1914 in favour of the British marque. To 1917, it made 46 bodies for Rolls-Royces, and during the 1920s it became a byword for quality. Brewster patented all manner of coachbuilding methods and other automotive features we take for granted today (roll-up windows among them).

In 1919, Rolls-Royce of America opened its manufacturing facility in Springfield, Massachusetts; six years later, it acquired Brewster. The coachbuilder never lost its sense of quality, and outlines were sometimes surprisingly daring. After the British marque’s Stateside operations ceased in 1931, Brewster continued to build bodies, often reworking older Rolls-Royces. However, the receivers were called in three years later. It was revived, in time rebodying homegrown fare such as Lincolns, Ford and Buicks with styling features stretching to dramatic-looking heartshaped grilles. Ultimately, the game was over by 1938.

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ABOVE In 1966 Frua penned the 1600 GT cabrio for BMW, based on the Glasbuilt sports car.

25 KELLNER

WITH a history rooted in carriage building, this Parisian firm created its first car body in 1903. Founder George Kellner retired seven years later, his sons Paul and Georges Jr. reorganising things thereafter – the latter earning a degree of fame for ushering in the torpille (torpedo) bodystyle. In 1919 he bought out his brother, and a year later he opened elegant showrooms on the Champs-Élysées. Kellner came to specialise in clothing exotic marques, HispanoSuiza in particular.

However, Georges Jr. suffered from depression among other ailments, and died in January 1931. His sole surviving son Jacques maintained the family tradition, Kellner creating

supremely elegant bodies mated to Packard and Rolls-Royce platforms among others, not forgetting a Bugatti Type 41 Royale.

Kellner changed tack during the mid- to late 1930s, acting as a subcontractor to France’s aviation industry (having made SPAD biplanes during WW1). The Nazi occupation of France later found him to be an unwilling collaborator.

Quite the opposite; he assisted the Resistance, only to be arrested in October 1941. He was shot dead in March of the following year.

24 FRUA

PIETRO Frua blurred the lines between designer and coachbuilder. Apprenticed at Fiat, he joined Stabilimenti Farina in 1928. He became technical director (also in charge of styling) before departing in 1939. In 1944, he established Carrozzeria Pietro Frua, rebodying Fiat 1100s and Lancia Aprilias.

The taste and elegance that would become known as the ‘Frua Line’ were evident from the start, his small bodyshop producing a raft of cabrios, GTs and ‘woody wagons’. While he also acted as a freelance designer, his ’shop earned fame for its sporting bodies on Alfa 1900, DB-Panhard, OSCA and Ermini chassis.

The 1950s saw his carrozzeria realise several exquisite Maserati A6s, thus establishing a link that would later lead to such landmark production models as the 3700GT Mistral and Quattroporte. The 1970s weren’t so kind, however.

Demand for his artistry was in decline, and coachbuilt offerings didn’t halt the slide. He died in 1983.

WHILE this once-revered name didn’t have the happiest of final years (witness the Vanden Plas Allegro), it left behind quite a legacy. The British coachbuilder is rooted in the Belgian Van Den Plas concern, which dated back to long before horseless carriages arrived. It became known in the UK via the importation of Métallurgiques from around 1906, many of which boasted Van Den Plas coachwork.

Warwick Wright acquired the concession to use the name, and in 1913 he rebranded his coachbuilding operation as Vanden Plas (England) Ltd. The firm lurched into receivership in the early ’20s (when the Belgian concern of virtually the same name exhibited its wares in the UK).

It was revived under new owners and went on to body hundreds of Bentleys plus chassis from marques such as Rolls-Royce, Minerva, Alfa Romeo, Delage and Alvis.

Austin acquired the firm in 1946, and built the A120/A135 Princess. Vanden Plas first became its own marque, and then a division of BMC in 1967.

PA R K WA R D

ONE of the oldest-surviving coachbuilders, or at least coachbuilding names, Park Ward in its original form was founded in 1919. William MacDonald Park and Charles W Ward initially operated out of a former depot for horse-drawn buses in Willesden, northwest London, and within a year they were exhibiting their coachwork at Olympia. The 1920s would see the firm body all manner of chassis from manufacturers such as Crossley, Delage, HispanoSuiza and Bentley. It soon became closely associated with the latter marque, to the point that it bodied more than 100 chassis that decade.

It also established a link with Rolls-Royce in 1924 when it produced a bespoke 40-50 limousine.

Park Ward and RollsRoyce would, of course, become inextricably linked, with the Crewe marque acquiring a minority stake in the business in 1933. By the end of the decade it had acquired all remaining shares, and after WW2 Park Ward became the in-house supplier of all officially sanctioned bespoke Rolls-Royce (below) and Bentley cars. Rolls acquired H J Mulliner in 1959, and two years later merged it with Park Ward.

21 HOOPER

ANOTHER grandee from the horse-drawn carriage era, Hooper existed under a variety of guises. In 1900, it constructed a special body for a Daimler intended for the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). During World War One, the London works were given over to the production of the Sopwith Camel, but in peacetime it became well known for its limousine, landaulet and sedanca bodystyles on Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Daimler chassis. At its peak in the mid-1930s, it was producing as many as six complete bodies per week.

In 1938, Hooper acquired rival Barker, only to become part of the BSA combine shortly thereafter which also included Daimler. During the 1950s, Hooper built several show cars (above) for Lady Docker, wife of BSA chairman Sir Bernard. These ‘Docker Daimlers’ became infamous for their ornamentation. The name never fully recovered from BSA ownership, and in the 1960s it made customised Fords and ice-cream vans.

A reworking of Rolls-Royces and Bentleys in the 1980s amounted to little.

19 VIGNALE

20 GURNEY NUTTING

SOMETHING of an anomaly in this company, J Gurney Nutting had no experience of the coachbuilder’s art prior to forming his eponymous firm in 1919. His business had hitherto been rooted in the building and joinery trade. Nevertheless, success was virtually instantaneous, Gurney Nutting specialising in rakish outlines for proprietary chassis. Even a fire in the Croydon works in 1923 proved a blessing in

disguise; he re-established his business in Chelsea, where his offerings soon attracted the fashionable set. His major coup was hiring respected designer A F McNeil, who penned a series of elegant bodies, many of them on Bentley platforms (as above).

In 1931 alone, Gurney Nutting clothed more than 300 examples of the marque.

That decade also saw the firm bestowed with the Royal Warrant, after it bodied cars for the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York. In addition to Bentley, Gurney Nutting also created modish outlines for marques such as Alvis, Daimler, Delage, Duesenberg and Lagonda. From the mid1930s, many were penned

by John Blatchley, even if he wasn’t credited. The firm last displayed its wares in 1948.

THE son of a car painter, and the fifth of seven brothers, Alfredo Vignale took his first steps into coachbuilding in 1924, embarking on an apprenticeship with Ferrero & Morandi in Piazza Enrico, Turin. He was just 11 years old. Six years later, he caught the eye of Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina, under whom he’d complete his training. Aged 24, he was then poached by Giovanni Farina – brother of Battista and owner of Stabilimenti Farina – to be his workshop foreman.

The first car built under his own name arrived in 1947, a pretty coupé based on a decidedly used Fiat Topolino.

Before long he was bodying Ferraris by the dozen, before an apparent disagreement with Enzo ended play in 1954. Vignale’s carrozzeria expanded massively during that decade and into the ’60s, long-time friend and ally Giovanni Michelotti styling much of its output. Success was such that some Vignalebodied cars were actually subcontracted out. Alfredo Vignale sold 90 percent of the business to Alejandro de Tomaso in 1969, only to perish in a car crash a few days later.

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BELOW 1953 250 Europa Coupé is just one example of Vignale’s work with Ferrari.

18 JAMES YOUNG

ANOTHER company with a long history of carriage manufacture, James Young crafted its maiden car body in 1908. Nevertheless, it didn’t make much of an impression until the 1920s.

In 1921 it bodied its first Bentley (of many), and also clothed exotica from brands such as HispanoSuiza, Isotta Fraschini and Bugatti. It also created alliances with several marque concessionaires that led to bespoke or small-series runs.

In particular, it became noted for its bodywork for Alfas such as the 6C 1500 and 6C 1750. These were variously made in drophead coupé, tourer or saloon styles.

However, the name is primarily associated with Bentley and Rolls-Royce. The Kent concern was acquired by prominent London dealer/ racer Jack Barclay in 1937 which, near concurrently, also acquired Gurney Nutting. During World War Two, production switched to the manufacturer of aircraft components and munitions, only for the factory to be burned out during The Blitz.

It was revived, but then suffered a direct hit from a V-1 flying bomb. Post-war, James Young bodied Rolls-Royce Silver Clouds and Bentley Continentals, but it was all over by 1967.

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ABOVE 1935 Bugatti Type 57 Grand Raid Roadster just one of Worblaufen’s confections.

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WORBLAUFEN

WHILE not among the most lionised of coachbuilders, Worblaufen was highly respected in period. Very much a family affair, this Swiss firm was established in 1925 by Fritz Ramseier, who was responsible for designing bodies. His brother Ernst was in charge of commercial aspects of the business, being a gifted metal-wielder and workshop foreman. And while early offerings were based on relatively humble chassis from the likes of Opel and Renault, Worblaufen emerged as a major player in the 1930s, if not in terms of volume. It created a raft of one-off confections based on Mercedes-Benz SSK chassis, in addition to Bugatti Type 57, ‘Derby’ Bentley, Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 and Delage platforms.

Worblaufen claimed several major awards at concours d’elegance events pre-war, but predictably it took a while to recover at the end of hostilities. It created several more attractive bodies on Delahaye and Talbot-Lago chassis, among others, yet the market for such automobiles was smaller than before. In 1958, the firm changed tack and concentrated on commercial vehicles, before operating a Lancia agency. In all, around 350 cars were bodied by Worblaufen in 29 years.

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16 D’IETEREN

PERHAPS Belgian’s finest coachbuilder, D’Ieteren harked back to the early 19th century, Dutch-born Joseph d’Ieteren having been a successful manufacturer of carriages (primarily cabs for hire). Scroll forward to 1898, and his grandsons Alfred and Emile created the first D’Ieteren-bodied car. By the outbreak of World War One, the firm’s lavish coachwork for Métallurgique and Minerva chassis had become known beyond Belgium’s borders. As with so many other coachbuilders, the

company began licenced production of the Weymann method for constructing fabric bodies, and towards the end of the 1920s and into the early 1930s it generally clothed only the finest chassis. This included Hispano-Suiza, Isotta Fraschini, Mercedes-Benz, Minerva and the like.

Unfortunately, as with so many of other great carrosserie, D’Ieteren was hit hard by The Depression.

By 1935, the year it made a magnificent drophead coupé body on a Duesenberg Model J chassis, demand for its wares had ebbed appreciably.

It had made around 3500 bodies to this point, but production was discontinued while it concentrated on running marque agencies.

However, after World War Two, it went on to assemble Studebakers, Volkswagen Beetles and Porsche 356s.

SADDLE maker Jean-Baptiste Franay established his carrosserie with his wife in 1903. The firm came into its own in the late 1920s, son Marius having taken the reins in 1922. The Franay name became synonymous with luxury marques – HispanoSuiza being very much to the fore, although Duesenberg, Packard, Bugatti, Voisin and other great brands were also adopted. From the mid-1930s, Delahaye took centre stage, while Franay also built a bespoke Renault Nervastella for the French presidency.

Some arbiters of beauty have been critical of Franay’s post-war output, and it is fair to say that it wasn’t afraid of (over) gilding the lily. But you could never accuse its work of being boring. Its bulbous rebodies on Bentley MkVI and Talbot-Lago Grand Sport platforms were particularly memorable. Unfortunately, Franay never quite returned to its former glory. One of its last builds was a presidential Citroën 15-Six designed by Philippe Charbonneaux.

Sadly, the firm tanked in 1955 shortly after this was finished.

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14 CHAPRON

ARGUABLY France’s most prolific coachbuilder, Henri Chapron opened for business in 1920. He did a roaring trade adding torpedo and saloon bodies to war-surplus Ford Model T chassis. Scroll forward to the late 1920s, and he employed more than 300 craftsmen and produced as many as 500 bodies per year.

Perhaps his archetype was his beautiful Delahaye 135M coachwork. It was a model of elegance and proportion, eschewing the flamboyance of some of his Parisian rivals.

Following WW2, Chapron built one-off and small-series bodies in addition to seriesmade offerings, mostly with Talbot, Hotchkiss and Salmson. He was also the last French coachbuilder to body a Rolls-Royce, having crafted a sober outline for a Phantom V chassis in 1960. The launch of the Citroën DS in 1955 saw him find a ready market for his cabriolet version (the first was seen in 1958). Variations were subsequently adopted as production models. After his death in 1978, the Chapron operation existed as a restoration workshop. It was run by his widow until 1986.

KAROSSERIE Erdmann & Rossi was among the great pre-war coachbuilders regardless of nationality. The name was coined in 1906 when Eduard Rossi joined Willy Erdmann’s horsedrawn carriage-building concern. The Berlin firm moved into car body-making only for tragedy to strike; Rossi died in a road accident three years later. Erdmann decided to leave the business, and administrator Friedrich Peters took the helm. The firm would go on to become synonymous with luxury, and in time it also held the German concession for Rolls-Royce. Erdmann & Rossi was arguably at its peak in the late 1920s and during the 1930s, bodying all manner of Mercedes-Benz platforms (including the Typ 770 ‘Grosser’), in addition to Horchs, several Bentleys, Cadillacs and Packards.

Erdmann & Rossi-bodied cars were adopted by royalty – the Prince Regent of Iraq had a bespoke Mercedes 500K and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands had a custom Maybach DS8 Cabriolet. Other famous customers included racer Bernd Rosemeyer and Oscar winner Emil Jannings.

Hermann Göring also featured among its clientele.

The firm displayed its wares for the final time at the 1949 Berlin Motor Show.

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ABOVE Graber’s work with Brit brand Alvis was well known and well respected.

GRABER

THE son of a master wheelwright, Hermann Graber was apprenticed in this trade prior to moving to Paris. The Swiss returned to Berne in 1925 following the death of his father, and two years later showcased the first two Graber-bodied vehicles: a Fiat 509 drophead coupé and a Chevrolet bus.

He briefly followed the trend towards the Weymann method of body construction (using timber and patent leather), not least on a Bugatti Type 44 chassis.

However, he soon opted for sheet-metal skins. During the 1930s he created a dazzling array of elegant bodies for

chassis as diverse as the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300, Voisin C25, Bugatti Types 46 and 49, Duesenberg Model J, Mercedes-Benz SSK and Hispano-Suiza J12.

Graber’s work was invariably elegant and unadorned. He wasn’t one for chintz, unlike many rival operations. Scroll forward to the 1950s, and Graber was primarily associated with British marques including Bentley, Aston Martin and, of course, Alvis. His great work led to a licence agreement that allowed Park Ward to produce his outlines in series for the Alvis TD21 and other production models.

WHILE the name may have sounded exotic, this most British of coachbuilders was named after Corsica Street in north London. Unusually, the company didn’t employ a designer, but its outlines were generally beautiful, if not spectacular. Corsica coachwork graced at least a dozen Bugattis, the best known being the Type 57S built for Sir Malcolm Campbell. Its output also included a low-slung variant of the Daimler DoubleTwelve, two-seater bodywork for Donald Healey’s Alfa Romeo 8C-esque Triumph Dolomite and a bespoke MG K3 coupé for MG’s general manager, Cecil Kimber.

Other chassis to be clothed by Corsica included MercedesBenz, Rolls-Royce, LeaFrancis, Rover and Frazer Nash. It also created an achingly pretty Squire drophead coupé (below).

Corsica existed from 1920-1939 but, unlike many of its contemporaries, it didn’t actively promote its wares. Nor did the company reopen its doors after World War Two, although one of the principals, Chris Stammers, later bodied a Tojeiro chassis for his own use. This car is widely touted as being the last Corsica car ever crafted.

Various alumni went on to form well known concerns such as FLM Panelcraft and Williams & Pritchard.

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BELOW Prototype Miura SV was displayed on Bertone stand at 1971 Geneva Motor Show.

10 C A S TA G N A

CARROZZERIA Castagna was among the most highly regarded pre-war Italian coachbuilders. It was also one of the few to successfully make the leap from building horse-drawn carriages to car bodies. Founder Carlo Castagna began work in 1849 aged nine, as an apprentice for Paolo Mainetti. Castagna would ultimately control the firm. By the start of the last century, Castagna’s output was sponsored – and adopted – by the aristocracy.

In 1913, he prompted jaws to slacken with his teardropbodied Alfa Romeo 40/60HP that was designed by Count Marco Ricotti. Under the stewardship of Carlo’s son Ercole from 1914, the firm became internally renowned, displaying its wares overseas.

Castagna bodied several fabulous Alfas, Lancias and Isotta Fraschinis in addition to Duesenbergs and other foreign brands. It also pioneered the panoramic windscreen. The factory was destroyed during Allied bombing in 1942. It emerged post-war, with Carlo, Ciptriano and Savino Castagna assisting their father, but it closed for good in 1954. The current Castagna operation is unrelated.

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VA N VO O R E N

ANOTHER Italian coachbuilder that transitioned from bespoke builds to becoming a styling house, Bertone was once a giant of both industries.

Formed in 1912 by Giovanni Bertone, the firm emerged from a lean patch in the 1920s with orders to make special bodies for Lancia.

The 1930s witnessed the name reach new heights with the release of several spectacular one-offs built in collaboration with Count Mario Revelli di Beaumont.

The name reached even greater prominence postwar thanks to the efforts of second-generation principal Giuseppe ‘Nuccio’ Bertone.

While the firm struggled in the early 1950s, it flourished later that decade after bagging a contract to make custom-bodied MGs (and later other marques) in series for American dealer Stanley ‘Wacky’ Arnolt.

It was also during this period that Franco Scaglione became chief designer, which led to all manner of daring one-offs and Bertone-built production cars. Among the most memorable of these were the trio of Alfa Romeo 1900-based BAT cars. During the 1960s and into the 1970s, the company acted more as a design consultancy, with Giorgetto Giugiaro and Marcello Gandini to the fore.

ODDLY marginalised among the coachbuilding greats, if only in retrospect, Vanvooren nevertheless produced some breath-taking outlines.

Founded in around 1888

by Archille Vanvooren, this Parisian concern found greater success under post-1921 keepers, erstwhile technical director Marius Dasté and his partner ‘Guilemet’. Adopting the Weymann method of construction, and in time applying patents for structural designs of his own, Dasté was not afraid of experimentation. Vanvooren

ABOVE Vanvooren’s 1939 Bentley Corniche.

came into its own in the 1930s, the company creating several fabulous bodies for Bugattis. It clothed as many as 20 Type 57 chassis, a situation aided by a close association with prominent Parisian dealer, Dominique Lamberjack. It also bodied Alfa Romeo 8C 2300s, and later became the principal supplier of bodies to that most French of Spanish brands, Hispano-Suiza.

In addition, it enjoyed a long and successful association with Rolls-Royce and Bentley (before and after the takeover). So much so, it worked in alliance with the factory during the construction of the Georges Paulin-designed Corniche prototype in 1939.

Vanvooren’s production facility in Courbevoie was damaged during a bombing raid in 1943, and the firm made only a fleeting reappearance post-war.

7 GHIA

LONG before it became shorthand for a gussiedup Ford product from 1973, Ghia represented something else entirely. Few Turinese coachbuilders were as daring and dynamic as this firm in its pomp, and in the 1950s at least, it was perhaps globally the best-known Latin carrozzeria. Considered something of an enigma today, Giacinto Ghia wasn’t lacking in ambition even if the specifics of his early life are shrouded in conjecture.

His eponymous firm was formed in 1915, but perhaps reached its pre-war zenith in 1933 after Ghia collaborated with the brilliant Count Mario Revelli di Beaumont on the Fiat 508-based Mille Miglia coupé. It caused a furore. The di Beaumont-styled, Ghiabuilt Alfa 6C 2500s of 1939-’40 were also supremely elegant, and would have attracted even greater hoopla on the world stage had Europe not been plunged into hell. Ghia was fortunate to survive World War Two after its factory was all but destroyed, but in the 1950s and early ’60s it soared, thanks in no small part to its inspirational principal Luigi Segre and the patronage of Detroit giants.

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RIGHT Saoutchik’s Dubonnet Xenia is now part of the sublime Mullin collection.

6 POURTOUT

APPRENTICED as a saddle-maker while a pre-teen, Marcel Pourtout subsequently learned the coachbuilding trade working for a variety of firms. He was factory manager at Carrosserie Manessius in Paris prior to establishing his own outfit in 1925. His car bodies were relatively conventional – ordinary, even – until he began collaborating with Georges Paulin. This incredible man was a dentist by profession and also a preternaturally gifted designer. In the 1930s, he was arguably the leading French stylist of his generation, with a particular obsession with streamlining.

Among Pourtout and Paulin’s most striking works were those made with Paris Peugeot concessionaire Émile Darl’mat. Variations of Peugeot-engined roadsters and coupés were made, some running in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Up to 105 Darl’mat Peugeots were made by Pourtout plus about 20 Renault-powered cars for Saprar. Pourtout and Paulin also helped usher in the Eclipse retractable hardtop roof, as pioneered by Peugeot, and shaped more than 300 Lancias plus the time-defying Embiricos Bentley. Tragically, Paulin was executed by the Nazis; Pourtout soldiered on as a coachbuilder until 1954, when it started making van bodies in volume.

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ABOVE Battista and son Sergio spearheaded Pininfarina’s 20th century glory years.

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SAOUTCHIK

UKRAINIAN émigré Jacques Saoutchik (né Iakov Savtchuk) left an indelible mark on the coachbuilding arena. His Paris facility produced works that represented kinetic sculpture, even if some were a little overly adorned.

Having trained as a cabinet maker, he established J Saoutchik in 1906, his first creation being a bespokebodied Isotta Fraschini. Never afraid of experimentation, he played around with proportions and styling elements, some of his 1920s

sports car outlines appearing impossibly low slung and elongated. By the end of the decade and into the 1930s his coachwork was entirely the preserve of elite chassis, not least from marques such as Rolls-Royce, Voisin and Bucciali. Arguably his most famous creation of the prewar era was the HispanoSuiza H6C Dubonnet Xenia Streamliner, a car that continues to slacken jaws thanks in part to its parallel-opening doors.

In the immediate postwar years, Saoutchik’s outlines took a turn for the outrageous. His Delahaye 175S – complete with spats covering all four wheels – was the talk of the 1949 Paris Motor Show. Secondgeneration principal Pierre took over in 1952, but mounting debts heralded the firm’s demise in 1955.

WHERE to start?

Pininfarina’s outsized reputation as a styling house emerged out of coachbuilding, an arena to which it has returned of late after several decades away. What’s more, it is one of few legendary ‘names’ to exist in the here and now, albeit after being rescued with Indian money.

The narrative is a long one, this Turinese concern having been established in 1930 by Battista Farina after breaking away from the familial Stabilimenti Farina concern.

He earned the nickname ‘Pinin’ – or ‘baby’ in Piedmontese dialect – on the basis of him being the youngest of 11 children.

Pinin Farina (one word from 1961) emerged as a force

during the 1950s, not least on aligning with Enzo Ferrari after Il Commendatore fell out with Alfredo Vignale.

The relationship served to mutually burnish reputations, with Pinin Farina mixing one-offs (such as the 400 Superamerica built in 1959 for Gianni Agnelli, below) and special-series runs for the rest of the decade. However, the firm soon transitioned into a design consultancy and volume-build subcontractor.

After completing a one-off Bentley T-type in 1968 for James Hanson (later Lord Hanson), it eschewed private commissions until it created the P4/5 for James Glickenhaus in 2006. It has since shaped further bespoke Ferraris plus the Rolls-Royce Hyperion.

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3 TOURING

AMONG the umpteen Italian coachbuilders, there were artists and then there was Carrozzeria Touring. This Milanese concern built several landmark one-offs, fashioned various legendary designs for manufacturers, and also created its own construction methodology. Founder Felice Bianchi Anderloni studied law before joining Isotta Fraschini (his brothers-in-law were Cesare Isotta and Vincenzo and Oreste Fraschini…). He left in 1921 and joined Peugeot Italia. In late 1925 he and banker friend Gaetano Ponzoni acquired Carrozzeria Falco which, a year later, was

ABOVE Flying Star II built for Lamborghini was among Touring’s last hurrahs.

BELOW 1938 Delahaye 165 Cabriolet was classic Figoni et Falaschi.

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reminted as Touring.

Ponzoni tended to business matters until the bitter end, while Anderloni looked after the artistic side of things.

Touring used Weymann build methods early on, and gained fame in 1927 on creating the breath-taking Isotta Fraschini 8B ‘Flying Star’. That, and bodying a further example of the marque for silent-era screen idol, Rudolph Valentino (he died before it was finished). In the 1930s, its work with Alfa Romeo resulted in such icons as the 8C 2900B in open and closed forms. However, nearer the end of the decade, coachbuilding was secondary to acting as a subcontractor to the aviation industry.

It was via his aircraft work that led Anderloni to patent the Superleggera construction principle (essentially an outer skin over a steel skeletal inner structure). Touring-bodied cars were also very successful in motor racing; witness

LEFT Iconic Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B was a highlight of Touring’s 1930s portfolio.

victory in the distanceshortened 1940 Mille Miglia for the works BMW team with its super-streamlined 328 roadster (a coupé also competed). Post-war, the Touring name reached perhaps even greater prominence under Felice’s son, Carlo, not least thanks to its close association with Aston Martin. Sadly, tooling up to mass-produce locally assembled Hillmans cost the firm dear. The factory closed in early 1967, but the name was revived in 2006.

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FEW other coachbuilders – few other stylists – of the pre-war era were more inventive than Joseph Figoni.

The Italian-born artiste (his family immigrated to France when he was three years old) spent seven years in the military prior to establishing his body-repair business in Boulogne. That was in 1923.

This soon gave way to customisation, of a sort, with customers asking him to modernise their cars with different wings and so on.

Almost inevitably, this toein-the-water approach to coachbuilding led to full immersion, Figoni building complete bodies for Ballot and Bugatti chassis in 1925.

Before the decade was out, his coachwork appeared on Italian platforms (Alfa Romeo and Lancia among them), and in 1929 he clothed his first Delage.

By the mid-1930s, Carrosserie Figoni was manufacturing bodies in large numbers, all things being relative – and extra backing arrived in May 1935 in the form of Ovidio Falaschi. This wealthy Tuscan had a penchant

for exotic cars, and in addition to injecting funds, he assumed managerial control. Accordingly, the operation was rebranded Figoni et Falaschi. However, despite his prosperity, Figoni felt constrained by the upright, square-rigged bodies that were then the norm. He chafed against convention, and set about creating more elaborate, almost bulbous outlines, some with input from the artist Geo Ham. Spats over all four wheels, or a chrome accent that speared from the radiator to the rear wings, were considered radical for the time. And then there were the ‘Teardrop’ Talbot T150 C-SS coupés, which haven’t lost their power to shock.

Inevitably, things were somewhat different post-war.

‘Phoney and Flashy’ created some remarkable cars, but Falaschi could see the way the wind was blowing and pulled out in 1951. Figoni continued without him for a brief spell, his final act being the conversion of Simca Arondes into convertibles. It was a pitiful denouement, that’s for sure.

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T H E

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COAC H BU I L DE RS

1

Z A G AT O

THAT Zagato features as number one here may raise a few eyebrows. More than a few temperatures, too.

However, consider this; despite the occasional pratfall, calamity and credibility chasm, it still exists in the present tense. It does so after more than a century of continuous existence, foregoing the occasional ‘reorganisation’ period.

What’s more, while at one point it chased volume production of niche vehicles for major manufacturers along with most other prominent Italian coachbuilders and design houses, it never lost sight of

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its roots. It’s always been open for business should customers desire something unique.

Formally employed by Carrozzeria Varesina and Costruzioni Aeronautiche, Ugo Zagato established his eponymous carrozzeria in 1920. His first complete build was a custom Fiat 501, although a relationship with Alfa Romeo blossomed almost immediately. And what a relationship; starting with RL and RM chassis, the alliance led to all manner of fabulous 6C- and 8C-based creations later that decade and into the 1930s. These established Zagato as the coachbuilder for the sporting

set, even if Alfa Romeo falling under state control in 1933 put a dampener on things for a spell. Nevertheless, the works were kept busy bodying a raft of marques, and also doing a nice sideline manufacturing truck cabs until the RAF levelled the factory in 1943.

Post-war, the firm went in a different direction under second-generation principal Elio Zagato (his younger sibling Gianni also joined the family business subsequently). You could never mistake a Zagato product for anything else.

Whether it was a bespoke MG wearing a Panoramica

roof, or a glorious Alfa Romeo 1900 C SS or Fiat 8V with a ‘double-bubble’ roof for that matter, Zagato cars had their own look. Invariably, they did well in motor sport, too.

That Elio Zagato was also a demon driver, with several titles to his credit, may have had something to do with emphasis being placed on lightness and aerodynamics.

With Zagato, unlike some others, function and form weren’t mutually exclusive.

Of course, the firm also transitioned into a styling house, and chasing volume sales cost it dear once major manufacturers brought production in-house. The

1970s witnessed it making all manner of non-automotive products merely to survive.

And then there was the 1980s… Third-generation principal Andrea Zagato inherited a sinking ship, and did well to right it. Under his guidance, the firm has returned to being ‘just’ an atelier, building one-offs or tiny runs for discerning clientele (and that’s not including the cars built by marques such as Aston Martin that use the Zagato name under licence). It seems to be a winning formula, to the point that not so long ago Zagato produced its first coachbuilt motorcycle…

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M A R K E T

WA T C H

McLaren F1 This supercar legend continues to break sales records. With just 106 built, including prototypes, they don’t come up for sale often – but buyers can still afford to be picky about them W O R D S J O H N TA L L O D I P H O T O G R A P H Y M C L A R E N

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M A R K E T WAT C H

EVEN AMONG THE ranks of the rarest, priciest supercars and GTs, few transition to iconic classic status. Fewer still achieve automotive legend while still in production. Yet that is what happened to McLaren’s F1. Not only did it become an instant hit the second it was unveiled, but it went on to dominate record books on and off track, well before the last production model rolled off the line.

What makes its achievements even more impressive is that the design brief never called for a recordbreaking supercar. In fact, it was a discussion between four McLaren executives while waiting for a flight following the 1988 Italian GP that led to the creation of the F1. Their requirement? To design and build the world’s finest road car. In most other circumstances such a bold statement would be met with polite nods followed by derisive laughter once out of earshot – but not only did McLaren deliver on this lofty goal, it moved the game on so far as to make every other supercar on the road suddenly appear obsolete.

T H E VA L U E P R O P O S I T I O N Jaw-dropping figures can define great cars, but performance will eventually become a mere historical footnote.

While the F1’s huge acceleration still impresses, its purity of design and elegantly simple packaging have helped it achieve lasting desirability.

The car’s limited run can be attributed in part to an astronomical £540,000 price and a world economy that was far from healthy at launch.

Instead of the planned 350 roadgoing F1s, just 106 of all variants were eventually built. This rarity, allied to Le Mans success, has since seen both the road and race cars rise well above their original values.

A few blips on the auction radar hinted at the F1’s potential, while the Park Lane showroom car grabbed headlines in 2008 with its recordbreaking sales price, but not until 2015 did values sky-rocket. Virtually every F1 sold since has set new records as prices have risen to many multiples above that original £540k.

But how do you buy one? Patiently waiting for a car to come to auction is one route, although a few specialists such as XP5 Ltd offer private-treaty sales services. Headed up by former

ABOVE Central driving position and hand-made instrument panel are highlights of the bespoke cabin.

McLaren F1 heritage manager and customer care representative Henry Winkworth-Smith, XP5 Ltd will source a car to fit your requirements.

Having spent 11 years working with F1 owners, Henry is well positioned to source the very best cars – whether or not they are actively for sale.

Almost all transactions involve a pre-purchase inspection, by either McLaren itself or Lanzante Limited; Lanzante Motorsport won Le Mans in 1995 with an F1 GTR, and now offers a variety of services for classic road and race cars such as the F1.

T H E D E S I R A B I L I T Y FA C T O R The racing-spec long-tail GTRs have tended to be the most cost-effective way into F1 ownership, but the price difference between these and the more readily usable road cars has steadily shrunk. GTRs with an impressive racing history are highly coveted, while road-car buyers look for mileage and overall condition.

LM-spec cars are highly regarded; just five were built. They feature a number of the racing GTR variants’ track-biased modifications, and make

‘The F1 became an instant hit – and it went on to dominate record books both on and off track’

671bhp due to the lack of an engine restrictor. The highest price achieved at auction is for an LM-spec model.

F1 options also included upgraded shocks and springs, sports exhaust, high-downforce kit and sat-nav.

These can sometimes influence a car’s desirability and subsequent value at auction, but regardless, McLaren’s MSO department is happy to tailor your F1 to your specific needs once you acquire it.

Henry says F1 customers fall into two camps. They either intend to drive their cars, and are therefore more interested in service histories and specific road set-ups, or they want a perfectly original, low-mileage example with all the original little extras. “Potential clients are willing to pass over an otherwise great car just because it does not come with the bespoke TAG Heuer watch or is missing its titanium tool roll and luggage set,” explains Henry.

T H E N U T S A N D B O LT S Few F1 owners tackle their own maintenance. Most cars are serviced by specialists such as Lanzante or the handful of official McLaren dealers around the globe. For more involved work, McLaren sends out its own internal specialists such as senior McLaren F1 technician Pani Tsouris.

“While some may say the F1 is just another car, it is a highly specialised one. Keeping it performing correctly requires specialist attention,” Pani explains. Aside from consumables such as spark plugs and filters, the fuel bladders require replacing every five years. Suspension adjustments include checking corner weights,

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camber and ride height. Road tests are carried out before and after the service, and a full report is provided on the bodywork, interior and mechanical condition.

If the scope of work will take more than three weeks, the customer is encouraged to send the car to McLaren’s Woking HQ. Here it gets evaluated at the Millbrook Proving Ground, and a seven-page report is also provided. In addition, a McLaren F1 certification scheme is available.

Rocketing values mean these cars are not being driven as often as they were. Pani says ever more are being stored in private collections, and McLaren’s seen a handful only three or four times since leaving the factory.

The BMW-sourced S70/2 6.1-litre V12 is unique to the F1, but much of its design is based on the M3 inlinesixes of the era. This makes it far less temperamental and more reliable than many supercars of its day.

Bespoke features include twin fuel injectors per cylinder – one in the cylinder head, the other in the carbon airbox – dry-sump lubrication and a minuscule aluminium flywheel.

This translates into an engine that picks up and drops revs in an instant – so changing gears through the specially developed six-speed manual ’box takes practice. Once perfected, the well oiled mechanical feel of the shifts is particularly enjoyable.

If there is one weak point in the F1’s arsenal, it’s the brakes. While the system is perfectly capable at legal speeds, sustained hard driving or track use can quickly overheat them.

Pani says some modifications have been made to the disc bell to better dissipate heat build-up and reduce judder, and the Pagid brake-pad compounds have also been upgraded.

This improves overall performance somewhat, but you’ll just have to get used to the very firm pedal feel as there’s no power assistance. Carbonceramic brakes were fitted to the racing GTR, yet these are wholly unsuitable for road use. Also, no F1 came with ABS, because this was deemed to degrade driver feedback.

The standard suspension readily soaks up bumps while still offering impressive handling, and the GTR and LM’s far sportier set-up is best suited to track use. The very first cars used Goodyears, but Michelin became the preferred provider. It

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ABOVE Dihedral doors just one of F1’s dramatic design cues; there’s been nothing like it before or since. still delivers the same-spec tyres to McLaren in batches every few years.

While the F1 was developed on a very generous budget, the exorbitant costs of having every last component homologated means items such as the rear lights, front side repeaters and indicators were borrowed from other makes; a Bova coach famously supplied the taillights. The sidemounted mirrors (set high on the A-pillars on early cars) were from a Citroën CX, BMW Z1 or Volkswagen Corrado, depending on build date.

The complex carbonfibre body took more than 3000 hours to make.

Unless the high-downforce kit is specified, there are no huge spoilers to disturb the airflow; instead, a complex ground-effects system and automated rear spoiler help keep everything in check at 240mph.

Repairs are predictably costly, and any chassis damage will result in a very steep bill. Rowan Atkinson’s

T H E D E TA I L S 1992-1998 MCLAREN F1 ROAD-GOING VARIANT, NOT LM ENGINE POWER TOP SPEED 0-60MPH

6.1-LITRE V12 627BHP 240.1MPH 3.2SEC

PRICING (HAGERTY VALUATIONS) FAIR GOOD EXCELLENT CONCOURS

£11,480,000/$14,000,000 £13,120,000/$16,200,000 £14,760,000/$18,500,000 £17,220,000/$21,500,000

crashed F1 insurance claim remains the most expensive ever in the UK. The cabin is mostly bespoke, but some switchgear resembles that of a 3 Series, while the locks came from Audi. These are irrelevant, though; the dihedral doors, central driving position and hand-made instrument panel are what leave a big impression.

THE FINAL DECISION James Banks, founder of collector car brokerage LaSource, and former head of Bespoke Cars at McLaren Special Operations, says: “I view the F1 as the 250GTO of Generation X. It has all the ingredients of the perfect collectible car. It’s rare, it was a seminal motoring moment and it has that Le Mans history. I’m confident values have some way to go.” Of course, such desirability is a double-edged sword; astronomical prices will see fewer cars on the road. Many will end up as static monuments to arguably the pinnacle of analogue automotive design.

Mileage, condition, even service history, have a minimal effect on values here; the F1’s limited run and historical significance have made it virtually impervious to the usual modern-classic metrics. Accident damage can dampen values, and totally original models with delivery mileage usually achieve the highest prices – but even the poorestcondition car is unlikely to sell for that much less. If you’re in a position to acquire one, do not hesitate.

Game-changers such as the F1 come around only once in a lifetime.

TIMELINE

M A R K E T WAT C H

1992

The McLaren F1 was introduced. With the company clinching the Formula 1 World Championship the year before, the timing was seemingly perfect to launch a worldbeating supercar.

1995

F1 GTR took first, third, fourth, fifth and 13th places in Le Mans 24 Hours.

Five F1 LM models were built to celebrate Le Mans achievement. Race-spec suspension, a strippedout interior and an unrestricted 671bhp from the GTR engine were some of the highlights.

1996

Updated F1 GTR was introduced.

1997

Sequential gearbox, ‘long-tail’ bodywork, 6.0-litre engine and new, lighter chassis differentiated 1997 F1 GTRs from earlier cars.

1998

Final F1 produced, with 106 road and race cars built in total.

Total production numbers: F1 road cars: 64 (Plus five prototypes) F1 LM: Five (Plus one prototype) F1 GT: Two (Plus one prototype) F1 GTR: 28 (Nine-1995, nine-1996, ten-1997)

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M A R K E T A NA LYS I S

AUCTION PERFORMANCE AUTUMN 2020 £35,000,000

TOTAL SALES

£30,000,000

Wrap up for a cold spell

£20,000,000 £15,000,000 £10,000,000

Summer’s positive news in the market has been tempered by recent auction results – but things will get better, reckons our expert W O R D S J O H N M AY H E A D

AS IN MOST areas of society, 2020 has been an extraordinary year in the classic car market. In the postlockdown summer there was a sense of optimism; the worst was over.

People were happy to be healthy and more aware of life’s real pleasures than they’d been in a long time, and the 2019 volatility of classic values seemed to have settled. The Hagerty Price Guide September 2020 update reflected this, showing prices either stabilising or rising across the board, from traditional enthusiast classics such as the MGA to post-1980s emerging stars like the Porsche 924.

Everyone I spoke to reported that the market was alive and kicking.

Classic and performance specialist Joe Macari said he thought people were now buying cars they love rather than for investment: “Brexit [previously] slowed the market dramatically, but COVID-19 has almost put those concerns off the table. People have realised they’re vulnerable and life isn’t a rehearsal; they’re releasing equity and buying the cars they always wanted.”

James Wheeler, Italian classic specialist at McGrath Maserati, told me in August: “The sub-£100k market is good… far better than expected. There’s a positive outlook with renewed enthusiasm now that people have adjusted to the knowledge that the values of their classic cars have generally settled.”

In the US, online sales have been making big headway, with year-todate totals up 109 percent. Prices for most segments have been stable – although while prices for later, Radwood-type vehicles are up, the

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TOP SALE

£25,000,000

£5,000,000 0

Collecting Cars Online Sep 1-Oct 5, 2020

market for traditional live-auction favourites such as muscle cars and trucks has slowed.

On both sides of the Pond, however, things have changed somewhat since the optimism of summer. As I write, much of the UK is back in some form of lockdown, and news of economic downturns and faltering Brexit negotiations fill the newspapers. The autumnal gloom has firmly hit home, and if the results from the two mid-October auctions are taken at face value, a lot of money has left the table.

The change happened suddenly.

At the start of September there was much excitement for the Concours of Elegance. Gooding & Company hosted its first UK auction there, and what a line-up it produced; just 15 cars, but the majority of which would qualify as ‘star’ status in any other international auction. From a trio of exceptional pre-war Bugattis to a factory-modified 1971 Miura SV ‘Speciale’, the auction created a host of new records, including highest average sale price – £2.42 million – for any public car auction, most valuable Bugatti (£9,535,000 for the 1934 Type 59 Sports) and £3,207,000 for the Lamborghini, almost £1.5m over the top UK Hagerty value. Only a single car – an Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato – failed to find a new owner.

Then the nights drew in. MidOctober saw two very different sales; H&H at Duxford and Bonhams at Goodwood’s SpeedWeek. All but two of 82 H&H cars were estimated at sub-£100,000; 44 sold, although these did achieve a good return

Gooding & Company Hampton Court Sep 5, 2020

Historics Ascot Sep 26, 2020

with an impressive 24 going over high estimate. Top seller was a matching-numbers 1934 Lagonda M45 Rapide tourer, which made £191,250 inclusive of premium.

Then came SpeedWeek, whose absence of spectators, marquees and champagne was very much a departure from the norm. Bonhams did what it could to display the cars attractively in the moody ‘Earl’s Court’ hangar, despite the nowubiquitous alcohol gel and face masks, and the catalogue included some exceptional collection-quality cars. Top seller was a very special 1967 Ferrari 330GTS that sold for £1,269,400 including commission.

Although it needed some work to bring it back to factory, that price is significantly lower than Hagerty’s ‘fair’ value of £1.54m, and may well be seen as a bargain in the future.

Another superb Ferrari, a 246 Dino with the desirable ‘chairs and flares’ options and fresh from a 5000-hour restoration, was worth every penny of the £300,000 paid. John Surtees’ 1957 BMW 503 cabriolet also sold extremely well for £230k, and a 1960 Mercedes-Benz 190SL roadster with rare hardtop sold for a healthy £155,250, way over top estimate and

‘On both sides of the Pond, things have changed somewhat since the optimism of summer’

Bonhams MPH Bicester Sep 26, 2020

H&H Duxford Oct 14, 2020

Bonhams Goodwood SpeedWeek Oct 17, 2020

significantly more than Hagerty’s top Price Guide value of £127k.

Other top lots didn’t find the right buyer. These included a Ferrari F40 estimated at £900k-£1.3m (at the top of Hagerty figures), a 1953 Bentley R-type Continental (£800k£1m), a superb 2013 Ruf CTR3 ClubSport coupé (£600k-£900k) and a 1931 Invicta 4½ Litre S-type Low-Chassis Sports known as ‘Simplon’ with Invicta works Ards TT and Brooklands history, estimated at £1m-£1.2m.

I don’t think either Bonhams or H&H will look back very fondly on their October sales, but both played the cards they were dealt as well as they could. A lot of potential buyers have other things to worry about at the moment and are sitting on their hands until next year, when we’ll hopefully have better weather, more economic certainty and greater freedom to enjoy our motoring. The most important result of both auctions was that they took place, and fundamentally, the factors that Wheeler discussed back in the summer are still relevant; values, generally, now seem to be at a sustainable level – and, long-term, that makes for a healthy market.

And while in the US, looking at both live and online auctions, total sales and the number of cars offered will likely be down by about a fifth by year-end, I’m sure the sense of escape that Macari talked about will surely return; the sun will shine again, and one day this awful virus will be relegated to history. The 2021 forecast may not be as bad as the present gloomy outlook suggests.

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T H E

K NOW L E D G E

Tax advantages of the customs warehouse Importing a car, even temporarily, can be fraught with tax implications that can catch out the unwary. We speak to the specialists who can help W O R D S DAV I D L I L LY W H I T E

HIGH-VALUE CARS can attract high-value customs duty and VAT when they’re imported into the UK, particularly when they’re not classified as classics. Even when they are officially classed as classic, and therefore subject to lower rates of VAT, just a few percent on a car worth hundreds of thousands or more will be significant.

And yet, some of these imported models might not even be staying in the UK for long. And this is where an HRMC-approved customs warehouse comes in. A car can be kept in a customs warehouse without attracting VAT or customs duty, and it is still possible to take the vehicle out under strict supervision for limited use at, say, a concours event.

There are two types of customs warehouse in the UK: private and public. The former tends to be for large-scale car dealers, for their own use only, although given the hoops that have to be jumped through to obtain customs-warehouse approval, it’s not something the average dealer will bother with.

In contrast, anyone can pay to store a car short- or long-term in a ‘public’ customs warehouse. Cars can be imported in bulk but, from a VAT and duties point of view, dealt with separately if sold individually.

Also, they can be moved between

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customs warehouses without the need to pay VAT or duty. The crucial part, of course, is to find a specialist that not only stores the car but looks after it while it’s stored.

One such customs warehouse, the only one in the London area, is Moss Automotive (www.mossauto.co.uk), just off the M25. The company’s Michael O’Sullivan gives a typical scenario: “A customer purchases a car in a Middle Eastern auction, and subsequently temporarily imports it into the UK for maintenance and short-term storage purposes.

“Moss Automotive handles all the administrative procedures to arrange a temporary import of the vehicle into the UK, and arranges the placement of the car into our bonded warehouse. In effect, the customer has an option of deferring the payment of VAT should the vehicle stay in the UK at our bonded warehouse – until which time it is decided whether to register the vehicle in the UK or export elsewhere.”

So how much money does this option save? Well, cars over 30 years old will attract reduced VAT of five percent rather than 20 percent, and customs duty won’t be charged on them. But a McLaren P1, for example, would be charged VAT at 20 percent and customs duty

ABOVE Moss Automotive provides storage at its London-based site – and offers plenty more services, too. of ten percent of the car’s value.

So for high-value classic vehicles, the potential savings involved in using a customs warehouse are significant, but for newer collector cars, they are substantial.

Currently, the big savings are for cars bought outside of the European Union, but that may change after Brexit’s been completed. Again, the customs warehouse will be on top of all the changes that come in over the next few weeks, and ensure that customers remain tax compliant.

Wherever the car is imported from, the customs warehouse will deal with all the paperwork to ensure that VAT and customs duty are dealt with in the most efficient and tax-compliant manner. From that point, how the vehicle is dealt with depends on the customs

‘The crucial part is to find a specialist that both stores the car and looks after it while it’s stored’

warehouse in question; at Moss Automotive, a storage plan is worked out with the car owner, but in all cases, the vehicles will be kept in a high-security building converted specifically for automotive storage, with temperature, humidity and dust control. Tyres will be pumped up above the normal pressures, the battery will be connected to a battery conditioner and the car will be covered, not just to protect the paintwork but for complete privacy.

There are detailing bays at Moss Automotive, and vehicles can be serviced there, prepared for drives or taken for MoTs. “An owner might not have seen his or her car for months,” says Michael, “but they can call up and say they want it for 9am the next morning, and we’ll have it ready for them. We can prepare the vehicle for concours, deliver it to Europe, or collect it and transport it back once the owner has finished a rally.”

Not all of the above would be possible under customs-warehouse conditions, but it shows the flexibility available from a top-level customs warehouse and storage facility. Also, the charges for looking after the vehicle will generally be significantly less than the money that would otherwise have been paid in VAT and import duties.

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COL L EC T IONS

Brabham’s biggest fan

When the legendary BT46B ‘fan car’ was restored, our man was entrusted to get behind the wheel. Here he recalls its nerve-wracking Festival of Speed debut WOR D S ROB E RT DE A N

BACK IN 1999, Mr Ecclestone asked me to have the Alfa Romeo-powered Brabham F1 cars assessed for restoration. The natural choice at that time was Adams McCall Engineering (now Kendal Adams Motorsport), because Kerry Adams had been at Brabham during Alfa’s ownership, and so knew the cars inside out.

The cars were pretty ropey, having spent years in storage and then on display at Tom Wheatcroft’s collection at Donington. Tom did his best to look after them and make them presentable, but as display cars they had, of course, been built up with an assortment of parts both new – to use up any bits left in the parts department – and used after the last race. The engines were mostly empty, too, as were the gearboxes.

Crucially, however, pedals, linkages, suspension and dashboards were intact, which made a huge difference.

The BT46B (fan car) and BT46 shared main parts and structures, so we decided to do both together. The 46B chassis needed a new floor and the oil tank leaked. The latter is part of the chassis structure, so instead of unriveting the whole chassis the tank was repaired successfully. A big

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question mark hung over the fan mechanism. It was complete, but Kerry had to have new blades recast in magnesium; a mistake, as you’ll see.

Autodelta rebuilt the two engines to full F1 spec. We did consider a sports car spec, as it was slightly less tuned and would probably last longer, but because Autodelta had all the F1 parts we stuck with originality.

When Kerry finished the BT46, I tested it at Brands. We had a good relationship with Jonathan Palmer, and he let us use the lunchbreak of a booked track day. This worked well; we could test with full facilities, and the people who’d booked the track day had a treat while they ate their sandwiches. This also applied to the marshals, several of whom thanked me for the lunchtime entertainment.

Once the fan car was finished, it was fired up at Adams McCall – but we had to shut it down almost at once, as we had forgotten about the fan and it blew everything into a corner of the workshop. Ooops!

With the fan now pointing out of the garage, we ran the car up, checked everything and looked for leaks. Once it was on the ground, we started it again– just to see whether

it did in fact bob up and down when revved. It did, I’m pleased to say.

Incidentally, when the fan car went for its first circuit scrutineering, Mr E didn’t want anyone seeing it ‘bobbing’. Brabham team mechanics Herbie Blash and Charlie Whiting were told to stand chatting either side of the car with their feet tucked underneath, holding the skirts up and thus neutralising the fan’s effect.

Word got out as the restoration neared completion, and Lord March asked us to bring the car to the 2001 Goodwood Festival of Speed. This was its first public run since 1978, when Nelson Piquet drove it at Donington’s Petersen Memorial. This made the occasion very special, and we were surprised to be asked to open the course on the Friday. When interviewed, I described the car as being like the unicorn of the racing world; everyone knew about it, but almost no one had seen it running.

It was a huge honour to be trusted to drive this car; even more so because Mr Ecclestone wouldn’t let anyone but me drive it, despite being asked by some big names. On the first FoS day I was standing in the breakfast queue, and who should be in front of me but Niki Lauda. I said: “Good morning, I’m driving one of your old cars.” He gave me a ‘can’t I even have breakfast in peace?’ look, but being a professional and charming man, he said: “Oh yes, which one?”

When I told him, a big smile spread across his face: “Oh, how fantastic! Come and tell me all about it.” And so I had breakfast with Niki Lauda, and talked about restoring, driving and racing the fan car.

His tips? “Drive it with your foot flat, and it’ll stick to the road. Drive it like a front-wheel-drive car, change down before the corner, and nail it. It sits down, loading up the suspension.

You’ll turn in, whatever the speed.”

Another time, in the paddock, a charming man and his wife were looking at the car. I started talking to

‘Niki Lauda told me: “Drive it with your foot flat, and it’ll stick to the road.”

I did – and it did’

them. He’d never been out of his US state, but he had a lifelong interest in the fan car. When he heard that it was running, he and his wife applied for passports and booked to come to the FoS – just to see his beloved Brabham. I made him very welcome, and was even able to introduce him to his Lordship, who made a great fuss of him after hearing his story.

Going to a big event brings its own issues, especially with a newly restored car. Firstly the clutch slavecylinder seal failed – the whole rear end had to come off to replace it.

Then idiot drivers forget things...

Sitting at the startline, set to open the course, the engine just wouldn’t fire up. The air bottle used to start it was getting low. All I could see was Kerry’s legs walking up and down, accompanied by a stream of robust language. Then his head appeared in the cockpit; making a few stiff remarks about my parentage, he flicked on the steering-wheel ignition switch.

The engine burst into life, but was not running on all cylinders due to the amount of fuel that had been fed into it. Fortunately, I was able to clear the plugs so all 12 were firing, and the marshal waved me forward. Off I went up the hill, giving it the ‘bifters’ to see if it really did stick to the road like I’d heard at breakfast. Yes, it did.

On these Alfa Brabhams the motor sits between two pontoons. The front four plugs of each bank are obscured, so to change them is an engine-out job. Not something to be done at the startline, hence Kerry’s concern.

One morning while walking into the course, I fell into step with two marshals who, when they asked me what I was driving, said: “Oh yes, we hear it coming off the startline, but we have to duck down otherwise we get sprayed with stones as you go past.” They loved it, nevertheless.

This brings me onto our problem with magnesium fan blades. By the time Goodwood was over, these were less than half their original size due to sucking through track debris.

The aluminium replacements have lasted intact for the past few outings.

I’ve run out of space to tell you all that happened over that amazing weekend – but I hope you get the idea.

Keep on being part of the machinery.

Ex-Ecclestone Collection manager Robert now runs Curated Vehicle Management. See www.c-v-m.co.uk.

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Big cat explores new territory When reluctantly letting go of an XJ12 heirloom, our legal expert put his trust in online auction service The Market.

How did he fare – and did his Jaguar sell?

W O R D S C L I V E R O B E R T S O N , H E A LY S L L P

A JAGUAR SOVEREIGN V12 saloon built in 1988 formed the backdrop to ‘Auction action; what you need to know’, my column in the first edition of Magneto. My father, a canny Scot, had gifted F100 MMO to me six years ago, on the basis that at the age of 88 he no longer felt comfortable driving a 5.4-litre Jaguar.

The ‘gift’ came with conditions.

I was to maintain the Sovereign at my expense, but in the event that it was sold I’d be obliged to pay him 50 percent of the net proceeds. Earlier in the year, sadly, I lost my father, along with the Jag’s parking facility.

On account of the latter, I faced the agonising decision as to whether or not I could keep the family heirloom.

The car was not being driven enough, and coupled with losing my undercover storage spot, I reluctantly concluded that the XJ12 had to be offered for sale – but through what medium? This was virtually a oneowner car, with all documents and in original, nearly unmarked condition.

I felt it wouldn’t stand out sufficiently in a simple online advert. Auction seemed the most promising solution.

Several friends had reported good results with The Market online platform. I’d met the team earlier in the year when a client, who was on a six-month sabbatical in New Zealand, asked me to attend the company’s premises near Abingdon to take a preliminary view of a Ferrari Dino.

Confident of what I had seen then, I chose to go with The Market. As a preliminary to signing up, I decided to scrutinise its Terms of Service, as the obligations of a seller are

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different to those of a buyer who needs to satisfy himself as to title, condition and provenance including matching numbers, and so forth.

The Market terms run to 18 pages of A4, and for the most part are set out in clear, unambiguous language.

They are exemplified by the succinct definition of ‘Auction’ as “the online process facilitated by the platform by which a buyer and a seller are matched to each other based upon the highest price that the buyer is willing to pay for the seller’s vehicle”.

K N O W YO U R T E R M S Paragraph 1 describes the Company “as a vehicle listing, information service and auction website”. This should put a buyer on notice that the Company isn’t the car’s owner or seller. I am still surprised by the number of individuals I meet who identify the auction house, be the sale online or in a hall, as the seller.

Essential legal requirements are set out in paragraph 3 in terms of the seller giving an express undertaking that he or she is selling as owner or as duly authorised agent or principal, and in the case of the seller acting as agent, that the agent and the principal are jointly and severally liable as such to sell the vehicle. Most importantly, the seller also undertakes to sell the car with full title guarantee free from all third-party claims of whatsoever nature, and if the seller is acting in any other capacity, such as trustee, then he or she sells with the title appropriate to that capacity.

Paragraph 5 deals with payments.

It opens by reiterating that the

Company is but a vehicle auction website, and not a seller and so not an owner of any vehicle listed on the site.

The rate of commission due from the seller is set at five percent, plus VAT, of the purchase price, or a minimum of £250. The buyer pays no fees.

Lastly in that paragraph there is a statement that all monies are held by a third-party payment-processing service. Users are invited to obtain further details by visiting the nominated website. Given past issues experienced by sellers in accessing their sale proceeds, when auction houses hold funds received in their own bank accounts, sellers may find comfort in the fact that funds are held by an independent third party.

Paragraph 6 deals with collection of the vehicle, so that the transaction must be completed within five days of the auction end. The seller will release the car, once cleared funds to the value of 95 percent of the purchase price, have been received, credit being given for the five percent having been paid to the Company.

Having determined that the terms contained nothing too draconian, I made an appointment to take the XJ12 to The Market’s premises. The team were most helpful in assisting

‘I am still surprised by the number of individuals who identify the auction house as the seller’

me through the online application process. I took up a further service consisting of having the car valeted on site and stored for inspection by prospective buyers and pending sale.

W E L L P R E PA R E D I left all the documents with the office. The team prepared a thorough description of the car, which was sent to me for approval, along with circa 40 detailed shots of the car and 50 of the documents such as manuals, service records, MoTs and bills. As an aside, I never dared total the expenditure, which I am certain would have exceeded the total of the auction purchase and sale prices.

The description was honest and touched by light humour, showing the Jaguar to be the very grand car it undoubtedly was, while carefully alluding to one or two minor faults.

The auction went live several days later, with ‘Shunter’ opening the bidding. Further bidders entered the fray, but Shunter stayed the course.

The very grand car sold midway between lower and upper estimate.

I have no connection with The Market, other than as a seller, so I’d have no hesitation in recommending its service, which was transparent and effective. After the sale, the company’s Tristan Judge told me online viewings had increased threefold since March and had remained at that level to date. This increase must have been prompted by the unfortunate advent of COVID-19, but I’m certain the market would sooner or later have gotten round to The Market’s model of buying and selling cars.

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Dutch courage Our resident racing driver took on the F1honed twists and turns of Zandvoort at this year’s Historic Grand Prix. How did he fare?

THE COVID-RELATED chaos this year has substantially amplified my appreciation of positive news, a highlight of which in recent weeks was the confirmation that Zandvoort’s Historic Grand Prix meeting had escaped the ‘Sharpie’ marker of doom on my wall calendar and was to go ahead as planned.

I have long wanted to experience the undulations of this historical beachside circuit in Holland, particularly since the impending return of Formula 1 necessitated some dramatic modifications to the layout. Usually this would imply the castration of once-great corners in favour of depressing chicanes and hairpins, but not so in Holland. For once, said the higher-ups, “we need the circuit faster, not slower”.

Cue the addition of steep banking to not one, but two of the track’s most hallowed turns – Hugenholtz and Arie Luyendijk (or Four and 15, as the F1 boys will inevitably refer to them).

Hugenholtz is an ever-tightening left-hander, hairpin-like in plan view, but far from it in the cockpit, thanks to the fabulously steep camber.

Its arrival each lap comes as somewhat of a shock, having hurtled zealously through the preceding blind ‘90-right’ of Gerlach. With the car in the middle of the road, the temptation is to throw it straight down into the banking toward an early apex, bury the throttle and rely on the inclined exit to compensate for your exuberance.

Yet it doesn’t work. The ‘drop’ into the gradient is so aggressive from anywhere left of centre that you can’t help but lock the front a

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little, moments before nearly losing the rear. Not only that, but the radius tightens significantly beyond the available field of vision, such that too early an apex is punished by a sudden loss of track width just as the car re-emerges from the depths of the barrel later in the turn.

Normally a quick snoop at the lines of some experienced locals clears up any such confusion – but on this particular occasion we were all among the first visitors since the reprofiling, so no dice.

In the end, some drivers opted for a text-book super-wide entry, followed by a very late apex. This pretty successfully avoided the aforementioned ‘drop’, and certainly improved both stability and entry speed – albeit at the cost of added distance. I evolved a halfway-house approach, turning in just right of centre – not too early – and hugging the apex a little to take advantage of the steep incline (not unlike the line required for the Nürburgring’s famous Carousel). I am still not entirely sure if that was ‘correct’, but it worked for me. I am eager to see how the Grand Prix maestros attack it next year.

On to Arie Luyendijk, and there is no such conundrum. This last corner of the lap is a very high-speed, constant-radius right-hander, blessed with an 18 percent progressive banking that should allow a Formula 1 car through on full song with its drag-reduction system wide open (to facilitate overtaking along the pit straight). The only test really is that of one’s nerve to take it absolutely flat-out. Anything relatively young,

ABOVE Lola T70 and Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 are among the cars Sam drove at Zandvoort this summer. on slicks, or with even a whiff of downforce is more than comfortable – but a pre-1966 E-type dancing on its Dunlop L-sections certainly got my attention.

Thankfully the rest of the circuit remains much as it was before this latest round of modifications – at least as far as I can tell. There’s an extra gravel trap here, a Tarmac run-off there, but it still has that wonderfully organic, old-school feel, with no hint whatsoever that Hermann Tilke’s compass and protractor have been allowed to erode its hard-earned character. If anything, the new banking feels entirely in keeping with the natural environment, given that the original layout was carved between the sand dunes as long ago as 1948.

One section that seems to have survived no fewer than five rounds of modifications since those early days is by far my favourite, and it follows

the aforementioned Hugenholtz.

Filling the windscreen like a post from a World’s Greatest Roads-style Instagram feed, this fast and narrow stretch of asphalt scythes up and over the dunes, jinking first to the right, then a little to the left, then right again, cresting a steep rise just before plummeting downhill into the long right of Scheivlak. It’s a breathtaking sequence at any speed, but finding the limit in an Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 certainly required some mental recalibration.

On then into the tricky Mastersbocht and a few hairpins so unassuming that they remain known simply as Turns Nine and Ten. Fortunately the track widens sufficiently at these to preserve the lap’s rhythm, before the elevation tumbles again toward Hans Ernst Bocht, another ‘Carouselled’ hairpin.

From here the speed gathers naturally through Kumhobocht and back into Luyendijk, which slingshots onto the pitstraight and down toward the famed Tarzan turn to begin another much-appreciated lap.

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When Bond went bling Why the vehicular stars of Live and Let Die create a vibrant pop-cultural time capsule EXTRACT FROM BOND CARS: THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY

BY JASON BARLOW, £20, PUBLISHED BY BBC BOOKS

LIVE AND LET Die became the Bond film that tapped into the early1970s Blaxploitation sub-genre, that struts and swaggers like John Shaft, and looks and feels unlike any of the previous films. Then it stirs in a swampy Bayou gumbo and trifles with voodoo for good measure. You could view it through a Tarantinoesque filter, and marvel at the sheer incongruity of a British secret agent in Harlem (a new Bond, at that, although Roger Moore’s laconic wit and arched eyebrows add a welcome knowingness), or just enjoy it for what it is – an unexpectedly vibrant pop-cultural time capsule.

As with its predecessor Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die is a mostly American odyssey. It’s also a curious one for car fans, primarily because the action centre-piece chase uses speedboats, not cars.

There’s also no hero vehicle, unless you count the Mini Moke Bond uses briefly. Meanwhile, a production deal with Chevrolet means there’s an excess of wallowy Yank tanks.

But that’s not to say there isn’t a

gadget car; it’s just that Bond is on the receiving end this time. When his driver is slain by a poison dart fired out of a passing car’s mirror, identifying said vehicle isn’t especially tricky: “Get me a make on a white Pimpmobile!” Felix Leiter barks.

He’s not wrong. The villains here don’t go a bundle on subtlety. Mr Big’s henchman Whisper drives a Corvorado, a mainstay of a peculiar 1970s automotive subculture that took customisation in a crazy new direction. King of this scene was New Jersey’s Les Dunham, whose Dunham Coach was pimping rides long before the MTV show rocked up.

Dunham’s first customer was a guy called Snake, who wanted to add more glitter to his 1969 Cadillac Fleetwood. A cartoonishly outsized, Rolls-Royce-alike grille duly followed, with even bigger, chromed headlights.

This 1920s-inspired Gatsby-esque flamboyance was married to the vast acreage of metal that characterised contemporary US luxury cars, and suddenly found itself at the epicentre of early-1970s urban culture. An

initially perplexed Dunham recalled: “Guys came in and said: ‘Hey man, that’s fly… Not only is that fly, it’s superfly!’ I says: ‘What the hell kind of terminology is this?’” He’d soon find out. When Superfly film director Gordon Parks saw one of Dunham’s creations – a 1971 Cadillac Eldorado – in New York, he persuaded its owner to rent it to the production.

As often happens, an underground fad soon went overground. Superfly grossed $30m off a budget of $500k, and Curtis Mayfield scored two million-selling singles and a huge hit album with the soundtrack. No wonder Bond’s producers noticed (although Beatles producer George Martin would score Live and Let Die).

As Dunham noted, Whisper’s Corvorado was: “A combo car. Not everyone wanted a big car, so I figured I’d build my own Eldorado, but I’ll make a small one. So I cut down an Eldorado and dropped it on a Corvette [C3]. Corvorado!”

Slightly less eye popping, although still scarcely flying under the radar, was Mr Big’s Cadillac Fleetwood 60 Special Brougham – a 10thgeneration car also given the light touch by Dunham Coach.

Cadillac is the US car brand that’s surely notched up more film and TV appearances than any other; its postwar path delineates the rise of the baby-boomer, the vaulting ambition of America’s auto designers when they were high on jet-era inspiration (check out the fins), to peak during the Mad Men period. When Donald

ABOVE Superfly meets Bond; Mr Big’s ultra-bling Cadillac was created by king of the customisers Les Dunham from Dunham Coach.

Draper buys a ’62 Coupe de Ville in season two of the TV series, the salesman asks him what he’s currently driving. “A Dodge,” he replies. “Those are wonderful if you want to get somewhere. This is for when you’ve already arrived.”

By the time Live and Let Die was released, Cadillac was still a major signifier of upward mobility (before anyone called it that), and thus perfect for pimps, hustlers and anyone else on the make who wanted everyone else to know they’d made it. Mr Big’s car is pictured outside the Fillet Of Soul restaurant (a front for the operation’s money laundering), and has a baroque majesty perfect for this particular villain. Bond calls it a “jukebox” – an accurate enough description. By now, these behemoths were running 472ci (7.7-litre) or 500ci (8.2) V8s, but hauling 2.3 tonnes of metal meant performance was still at a premium.

The Brougham appellation added a certain formality in the form of a padded roof, the Dunham makeover running to whitewall tyres, fake motifs in the C-pillars, quasiheraldic door handles, and chrome accents. Parked in front of it outside the restaurant is a Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado – another Dunham Coach job, laden with chrome and fly lights.

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. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Magneto c/o RRD, 1250 Valley Brook Ave, Lyndhurst NJ 07071.

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