1970 Bristol 411 Series 1

MIXING HIGHBROW BRITISH appointment with American V8 muscle, the Bristol 407 was launched in 1961 and marked the beginning of a much-loved combination The move away from Bristol’s BMW-derived straight-six might have been a bit of a culture shock for customers at the time, but the 5.2-litre Chrysler V8 engine provided ample performance and reassuring reliability

As the car evolved into the 411 in 1969, it retained the same steel box-section chassis and alloy body construction but gained a new 6.3-litre ‘big block’ engine With 335bhp and 425ft lb, it took this superGT to new performance heights The 411 persisted until 1976, via five series and just under 300 cars

This exquisite Series I car is offered by Dylan Miles, and was first ordered from Bristol by aeronautical engineer Harold Roxbee-Cox, better known as Lord Kings Norton Amazingly – or predictably if you ’ re familiar with Bristol owners – he continued to use the 411 as a daily driver up to his death in 1997 The car ’ s history file is apparently filled with fascinating letters between Anthony Crook and his Lordship

After passing through one further owner, it was sold again via a Bristol specialist to the current owner in 2013 At that point an extensive restoration of the 411 was commissioned John Arnold of Brooklands Motorsport undertook the well-documented work, which included a full strip-down and bare-metal repaint. The brightwork was also re-plated

No expense was spared when it came to the engine rebuild The block and heads were acid-dipped, and thecylindersreboredtoacceptnewhigh-compression pistons Almost every component was either replaced or upgraded, and it even received a custom sports exhaust and manifolds to free-up extra power

The improvements didn’t stop there The electrical system was boosted with a 120-amp alternator, and the cooling system was brought up to scratch with a custom-built alloy five-core radiator and twin cooling fans ClaytonClassicsfittedabespokeairconditioning system and wider Series II rear-end set-up to finish it off It’s ready to jump in and enjoy dylan-miles.com

1981 LOTUS ESPRIT ESSEX TURBO, £125,000

The first of the Turbo Esprits were available only in this Essex Petroleum colour scheme This one is described as ‘outstanding’ and it still has the roof-mounted Panasonic stereo, too! uksportscars com (UK)

1999 PEUGEOT 206 GRAND TOURISME, ¤11,000

As an homologation special, this limited-run 206 was fitted with unnaturally long front and rear bumpers to satisfy WRC entry regulations It’s just a GTI underneath, but collectable garagisti pt (PT)

1974 RENAULT 17 GORDINI R195,000

When was the last time you saw one of these? Northern European climates were unkind to the French coupé, but this 1 6 Gordini version looks to have survived incredibly well in South Africa sedgeclasscars co za (ZA)