Porsche 356B coupé We put one reader into his dream car
QUENTIN WILLSON
On why you should buy an Audi Quattro, Cosworth Sierra or Porsche 356
Renault 5 Turbo How to buy the ballistic bargain
MUSTANG
50th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL 289 CONVERTIBLE 6-CYL NOTCHBACK SHELBY GT 350
1910 Benz
Wild drive in a Prince Heinrich Trial car
Bentley coupé by Mulliner R-type Continental forerunner tested
ASTON
VANTAGE One man’s 34-year story of life with a legendary V8
MINI COOPER 970S REBUILT FROM SHED-FOUND WRECK
JA N UA RY 2014 £4. 50
• WWW.CLASSICCARSMAGAZINE.CO.UK JANUARY 2014 • ASTON VANTAGE • BENTLEY MULLINER COUPÉ • MINI COOPER 970S • FORD MUSTANG AT 50 • RENAULT 5 TURBO BUYING GUIDE
FORD
CONTENTS NEWS & EVENTS
BUYING
London to Brighton New entrants and a huge centenary display Jerez Masters Historic Spain rumbles to the sound of Can-Am RAC Rally Who came out on top in the Scottish forests? Walter Hayes Trophy Formula Fords’ thrilling season climax Winter Challenge Still a chance to enter Planner Fill up your calendar with the coming year’s best events The Market Revealed: how to sell your classic securely Your Letters Memories of armoured De Tomaso Deauvilles
14 19 20 23 24 27 37 57
Smart Buys Quentin Willson on the classics to buy now Market Watch Russ Smith on the key sale results Temptations See what’s piquing our interest in the months ahead Barn Finds Nigel Boothman reveals the latest discoveries Books and Models Latest releases rated Buying Guide How to buy the best Renault 5 GT Turbo Ads on Test Triumph TR3A, Aston Martin Lagonda V8 prototype,
30 34 39 42 46 108
Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray and BMW M3 Evolution II
125
THE INSIDERS
Quentin Willson celebrates an atmospheric garage he swears by Tom Tjaarda recounts how he incurred Sergio Pininfarina’s wrath Simon Kidston gets cold and wet in Wales – and loves it
51 53 55
London to Brighton, p14
Smart Buys, p30
Buying Guide, p108 Jerez, p19 Events planner, p27
Market Watch, p34
4
I N
T H I S
I S S U E
OWNING
|
J A N U A R Y
2 0 1 4
|
I S S U E
4 8 6
DRIVING
Life Cycle Aston Martin V8 Vantage. A daily driver and family holdall, then treasured motoring companion. We explore this one-owner car’s life 70 My Life in Cars Alec Poole. From racing a resurrected Frogeye to
touring across Europe for MG and a stint running Nissan’s touring cars, Alec spills the beans on the cars that have shaped his life The Collector One man’s penchant for British sports cars revealed Epic Restorations Morris Mini-Cooper 970S. A heroic battle to turn a shed-found wreck into a vision of perfection Our Cars Quentin fettles his Rolls-Royce Corniche, Phil’s E-type provides inspiration and Sam tries to rescue his Toyota MR2’s paint Classic Punts Your tales of cars bought and sold on a whim
76 88 100
The List Porsche 356. A reader’s dream drive comes true as we
hand him the keys to the car that helped build the Porsche legend 6 Mustang We celebrate its 50th birthday by testing a 6-cyl Notchback, 289 Convertible and a Shelby Fastback 58 Bentley MkVI Testing one of three Mulliner-built prototypes of the R-type Continental 82 Benz 21/80 We don goggles and wrestle with a Prince Heinrich Trial car. Just don’t mention the lack of brakes. Or the starting procedure... 94
113 218
The Collector, p88
The List, p6
Benz 21/80, p94
Epic Restorations, p100
ADVERTISING 124 185 199 206 208
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• www.classiccarsmagazine.co.uk januiary 2014 • aston vantage • bentley mulliner coupé • mini cooper 970s • ford mustang at 50 • renault 5 turbo buying guide
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porsche 356b coupé w wee put one reader into his dream car
quentin willson
On why you should buy an Audi Quattro, Cosworth Sierra, or Porsche 356
renault 5 turbo t
how to buy the ballistic bargain
ford
mustang
50th anniversary special
289 convertible 6-cyl Notchback shelby gt 350
1910 Benz
Wild drive in a Prince Heinrich Trial car
Bentley coupé by Mulliner R-type Continental forerunner tested
aston
vantage
nov ember 2013 £4.50
Life Cycle, p70
One man’s 34-year story of life with a legendary V8
mini cooper 970s rebuilt from shed-found wreck
5
WILLSON’S SMART BUYS
This month the curvy
PORSCHE 356 Here’s a market anomaly. You can pay up to £30k for a replica plastic Porsche 356 roadster, but a real 356B or C Coupé is only 20 grand more. That’s nuts, and one of the reasons why 356s are set for another rise. Gone are the days when good ones were £25,000 and over the past five years they’ve climbed steadily. But with 911s (and now 912s) performing so strongly, it is time we revalued their beetle-backed forebear. And I know which Porsche radiates the most charisma. A well-sorted and restored 356 makes a disarming and reliable daily driver and is massively distinctive. Blue Dragon Cars in Essex has a fine silver 1961 356B for just £44,995 while the Old School Garage has a stunning white 1963 356C with two owners from new at £65k. But what’s significant is that 356s are getting hard to find now with the posh trade buying up proper ones and doing the Price On Application thing. You don’t see many at auction like we used to and they seem to sell fast in offthe-radar private sales. The £61,000 paid for a tired but solid 1959 356B roadster at ACA’s bumper Porsche auction back in August now looks temptingly inexpensive, because restored, it could make £175,000. American 356s are cheaper and much more plentiful – plus with the dollar so weak it makes sense to think about bringing one into the UK. Even with shipping and duty you could land a shiny, reasonably restored 356 for only £35k. And once everyone gets over the current fad for Seventies 911s, the 356 will start to move into that very exclusive territory of tweedy gentleman’s sports car like the AC Ace and Aston DB2. All the credentials are right – looks, shape, gorgeous detailing and £60k
the heritage of being the chosen wheels of German barons. Exclusive, originally expensive with a halo of cool Prussian precision, I’m betting that the 356 is set for a big renaissance.
FORD SIERRA COSWORTH Low survival rates push up prices so we shouldn’t be surprised that the three-door Sierra RS Cosworth is on the move. Top, tiny mileage cars can now make up to £60k but you can still find Cossies in the classifieds for £10-17,000. The other day I saw a private ad for a mint 1987 with 80,000 and full Ford history for just £10,750, while Mac West Motors in Wigan has a beautifully detailed D plate with 90,000 for £16,995. And the reason the three-door models are increasing in value is that so many got thrashed, crashed and stolen. This was a riotously fast 150mph car that
PORSCHE 356 COUPÉ LATE DEVELOPER Rate of rise starts to slow
£50k Sparked interest as early 911s become expensive
For years collectors only wanted six-cylinder Porsches
£40k £30k £20k
Market finally wakes up to 356’s charms
£10k
£0 1987
1990
1995
2000
The 356 was late to the Porsche price gain part, but it still seems good value
30
2005
2010
2013
became the favourite midnight ride of joy riders and thieves. And when secondhand prices were low many an unskilled owner came to grief stuffing their fast Ford on greasy country roads. At one stage the Cossie was almost uninsurable. DVLA records show that there are just short of 1000 RS Cosworths still licensed which is a frightening decline from the 5545 built between 1986 and 1990. But find a survivor with all its factory locks and glass, that hasn’t been on its roof, and you’ll have bought a very rare car indeed and one that’s a landmark Eighties performance icon. One need only look at the enthusiasm shown by one reader in December Classic Cars’ The List feature to understand this car’s appeal. Originality, mileage and history exert a huge influence on values so avoid anything that been modified or uprated. Cars with continuous Ford histories, matching dealer window stickers and number plates are fiercely prized and can carry large premiums. Simply put, the more original the RS Cosworth, the more it’s going to be worth. In July H&H sold a beautifully unmolested 54,000 miles two owner ’86 RS for £18,400, which is probably worth £25k now. But just to prove that you can still find cheap Cossies away from the usual classic market sources how about this? As I write Targa Florio Cars in Chichester are advertising one of the ultra-rare homologation RS500s for just £37,995. Number 36 of the limited 500 production run, it’s totally original down to the windscreen, has covered a genuine 74,000 miles and is in absolutely perfect factory specification. Needs buying, that one….
Porsche 356, cult hero Ford Sierra Cosworth and Audi Quattro quicken Quentin’s pulse
Market is waking up to the 356
T R A D I N G
H I G H
As Alfa Romeo’s 4C is bringing back some focus on the Italian marque, the iconic Spider is just one of several breeds of Alfa across the age spectrum that have performed well at auction recently
£24k £21k
FORD SIERRA COSWORTH EIGHTIES NOSTALGIA Rarity means that TAKES EFFECT
dream becomes less attainable
£18k Ford Focus RS brings Cossie back to collective consciousness
£15k £12k £9k
Childhood dream car becomes tangible reality for children of the Eighties
£6k £3k
2000
2005
2010
Make/Model
Estimate
Sold for
Above est % above
1966
Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider
23,870
30,775
6905
28.9
1972
Alfa Romeo Junior 1600 Zagato
33,900
37,950
4050
11.9
1991
Alfa Romeo SZ
29,838
38,982
9144
30.6
1992
Alfa Romeo Spider S4
15,250
17,439
2189
14.4
1939
Austin Seven Special
6500
8624
2124
32.7
1956
Austin-Healey 100M
128,650
145,853
17,203
13.4
1937
Bentley 3.5 Litre VDP Drophead
180,000
212,800
32,800
18.2
1903
Clement Talbot CT4K 18HP
450,000
606,300
156,300
34.7
1977
Citroën HY pick-up
8,475
16,316
7,841
92.5
1951
Daimler DB18 Drophead
26,000
32,000
6000
23.1
1977
Daimler Double Six coupé
3,000
6,272
3272
109.1
1972
Ferrari Dino 246 GT
179,000
213,377
34,377
19.2
1983
Ford Capri 1.6 LS
3,000
4,088
1,088
36.3
1962
Jaguar E-type 3.8 fhc
32,000
42,940
10,940
34.2
1965
Jaguar E-type 4.2 roadster
70,000
100,800
30,800
30.6
1970
Jaguar E-type SII fhc
15,000
19,210
4210
28.1
1970
Jaguar E-type SII 2+2
24,000
28,000
4,000
16.7
1990
Jaguar XJ12 SIII saloon
10,230
13,336
3,106
30.4
1990
Jaguar XJR-S 6.0
6,000
7,840
1,840
30.7
1991
Lamborghini LM 002
76,250
141,314
65,064
85.3
1962
Maserati 3500 GT Spider
341,000
471,890
130,890 38.4
1966
Matra Djet V Luxe Coupe
34,100
45,137
11,037
32.4
1976
Mercedes-Benz 350 SL
7,000
8,475
1,475
21.1
1987
Mercedes-Benz 560 SEL
10,230
16,413
6,183
60.4
1952
MG TD
16,000
17,920
1,920
12.0
1961
MGA MkII Roadster
16,000
18,480
2,480
15.5
1992
Mini Cooper 1.3i
12,700
20,400
7,700
60.6
1961
Morris Mini pick-up
13,000
15,680
2,680
20.6
1957
Nash Metropolitan Coupe
18,800
27,569
8,769
46.6
1955
Peugeot 203 Cabriolet
46,888
59,500
12,612
26.9
1994
Porsche 911 (964) Carrera RS 3.8
169,500
229,000
59,500
35.1
1933
Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental
30,000
62,720
32,720
109.0
T R A D I N G
£0 1995
Year
2013
Motor sport heritage, a cult following and the shape that launched many a child’s love of motoring. Could a Sierra really nudge the £100,000 mark in roadgoing RS500 form?
Fancy being Andy Rouse on the ring road?
LOW
A disappointing month for Fords, and elsewhere Porsches seem to be struggling – has the 911 exposure in 2013 dried the market’s palate? Year
Make/Model
Estimate
Sold for
Below est % below
1975
Aston Martin V8
50,000
39,160
10,840
1949
Bentley MkVI saloon
14,000
12,600
1,400
10.0
1951
Bentley MkVI Mulliner saloon
20,000
16,800
3,200
16.0
1963
BMW 700 coupé project
5,000
612
4,388
87.8
1968
Fiat 500
4,800
3,584
1,216
25.3
1929
Ford Model A Phaeton
5,115
2,564
2,551
49.9
1955
Ford Thunderbird
21,930
18,954
2976
13.6
1969
Ford Mustang Mach 1
20,000
17,920
2,080
10.4
1959
Jaguar MkI 3.4
15,000
10,080
4,920
32.8
1973
Jaguar XJ6 2.8
4,000
3,360
640
16.0
1965
Mercedes-Benz 230 SL
38,000
34,110
3890
10.2
1961
Morris Mini Minor
6,500
4,704
1796
27.6
1976
Porsche 911S
10,000
7,840
2160
21.6
1977
Porsche 911 2.7 Targa
33,900
28,263
5637
16.6
1980
Porsche 924 Carrera GT
38,000
31,186
6814
17.9
1994
Porsche 911 Carrera
18,000
15,680
2320
12.9
1955
Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn
28,000
22,321
5679
20.3
1982
Rolls-Royce Silver Spur
11,935
9,746
2189
18.3
1903
Winton Runabout
130,000
107,900
22,100
17.0
21.7
31
2014:Vantage wears
its road rash and fly squash well
70
L I F E
C Y C L E
The life story of an
ASTON MARTIN V8 One owner from new and still maintained for him by the Aston Martin factory Words: RUSS SMITH Photography: RORY GAME
1979
Neil Phoenix buys the car brand-new for £23,700 ‘I wanted the Vantage because of the extra 100bhp; that made it interesting. The regular V8 is pretty ordinary.’ That’s a pretty assertive opinion; possibly fighting talk in the wrong company. But when you realise the speaker was looking to move on from a Lamborghini Espada and already had a V12 E-type in his garage, it starts to make perfect sense. Neil Phoenix, a chartered surveyor, is a man who knows his fast cars. So began a 34-year journey through life with this Aztec Gold Aston Martin V8 Vantage – in its day the fastest four-seater car in the world – though not without a fact-finding detour to southern Europe first. Neil says, ‘On holiday in Italy in 1978 we had a tour of the Lamborghini factory, but sadly that was six days after they’d gone bust. I then test-drove Maseratis, but they didn’t impress, and I felt the Ferrari 412i was ugly. On our return I had a drive of Aston’s Vantage demonstrator. No contest; this was the car. I wanted to part-exchange my Espada for it, but didn’t like Aston’s
£8000 trade-in offer so I sold it myself privately for more. ‘As years have gone by I’ve never regretted buying the Vantage. It’s a proper GT with a big enough boot for the family to use it to go on holiday in. We had two daughters under ten when I bought it, so that was important. I also like that there’s a fuel filler on each side. I am also intensely patriotic: in my work we always specify building materials made in Great Britain.’ The car was ready for collection from the factory on 6 April 1979, once a quick ‘under the counter’ modification had been made, ‘Once it had been signed off as legal the car was taken to the other side of the road in Newport Pagnell to have two silencers removed, on the recommendation of sales director Tony Nugent. He assured me, “It will sound like a Ferrari that’s been to Oxford!”’ Neil’s patriotic streak has also seen his Vantage return to the Aston Martin factory in Newport Pagnell for every service and virtually all repair work. Not that it’s been the smoothest of rides. Part of this car’s unique history is a fat file of correspondence
1979: The first
Aston family holiday with friends in Kent
71
e p i c
r e s t o r a t i o n s
‘I love that it’s still the same car’ Words: John Simister Photography: Laurens parsons
‘It probably wasn’t rational,’ says Bryan Smart of the perfect renaissance of his August 1964 Morris Mini Cooper 970S. ‘It becomes almost illogical to talk about saving a bodyshell when you’re having to replace so much metal, and you’re spending so much time completely unpicking it and putting it back together. It would make more commercial sense to have found another, better shell – but then it would be a re-shell and I didn’t want that.’ For Bryan, authenticity and provenance are vital. They are the cornerstones of what makes a car a genuine piece of history, not a recreation, a facsimile or – as is worryingly commonplace with Cooper Ss – a clone. These cars now have a value undreamed-of back in the days of the regular re-shelling of hot-but-rusty Minis, so the temptation for the less than scrupulous to make a car seem something that it isn’t can be huge. BFX 322B has impeccable provenance, which is one reason why Bryan bought it. ‘It had one owner and a credible history, having been taken off the road in 1973 and languishing in a garage ever since.’ And there was the fact that it’s the rare – fewer than 1000 made – 970S. ‘I tend not to buy the obvious car in a model range, the ones that the market assumes are best. I thought that a homologation special with a Formula Junior engine is a more interesting thing to have, and so few of them remain.’ Bryan saw the Mini in an advertisment showing only the speedometer that read (a genuine) 24,894 miles. It gave a hefty price, which related to what was planned to be a restored car. Nippycars of Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, was building its reputation as a top Mini restorer, one of its cars having won bestof-show at the Fuji concours in Japan, and the company’s Fred Walters had placed the ad. ‘I went to see the car, by then dismantled,’ says Bryan, ‘and to check I could trust Nippycars to do the job. I saw a Morris Minor van that Fred and his father Tony had just completed. If you can do it to that standard, I said, you’ve got the job.’ Bryan originally wanted Nippycars just to restore the shell so he could do the rest of the work, a process he had enjoyed years before when he restored a 1071S. Fred, however, had other ideas… 100
Black paint was just one of the Mini’s troublesome Sixties modifications
1964 Morris Mini Cooper 970S Thirty-nine years in a leaky garage took its toll – rust was everywhere and the engine was seized solid. Nothing that 550 hours’ work couldn’t put right…
101