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Want to drive your dream classic?

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Is it a cheap, easy fix for Phil’s Jaguar E-type?

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From Beach to Blenheim – classics converge at Salon Privé

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Big in Japan: highlights of the 1979 Tokyo Motor Show

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1970 Fiat Dino 2400 Coupé, £59,950

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Alex Riley on why making a road car out of a racing car can be exciting, maybe too exciting for its own good…

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Fibre optics: re-evaluating the MG X-Power SV supercar as a modern classic

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Collector: Nigel Hankins – ‘I’ve had thousands of cars’

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Quentin Willson: Get brave, bag a bargain

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Lots of parts work for Stewart and his Porsche 911

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CAR, 1985: ‘Privateers are buying £200 secondhand Ladas for rallies’

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Barn finds: Frazer-Nash’s Bentley found

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Nationales express: trying to beat Bentley Boys’ French train race in a Continental GT3-R

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Nathan’s Maserati Ghibli Cup scrambles to attract new fans

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Market headliner: very early Cobra set to charm?

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The life story of an early Austin Allegro prototype that became a rally car

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**\[ OUR CARS \] _1962 Jaguar E-type S1 FHC_**

Phil was too busy driving to worry about the dusty paintwork  
  
**Owned by** Phil Bell (_:a[phil.bell@bauermedia.co.uk]{href='mailto:phil.bell@bauermedia.co.uk' }_)  
**Time owned** 15 years, eight months  
**Latest/total miles** 83/111,578  
**Latest/total costs** £9/£16,764  
**Previously** Cold starting fixed; fuel leak not so  
Images of my Jaguar out and about have become so rare of late that I considered creating a non-fungible token (remember those?) for this month’s lead image. But here it is, enjoying a spot of zooming around Bedfordshire. Excuse the barn-find look – not an attempt to add value but a measure of my excitement at fixing first the cold-start problem (Our Cars, October 2025) and the subsequent fuel leak. Time spent washing away garage dust would have been time wasted, when a long overdue drive was both possible and safe from the risk of conflagration.  
If you’re thinking you’ve already read an Our Cars about me finally curing my fuel system leaks, you’d be right. Fitting a fuel pressure regulator did a good job of bringing down my electronic pump’s output to a pressure the fuel system was originally designed for. The fibre washers sealing the banjo unions to each carburettor could finally be trusted. The rest of the system seemed fuel-tight, too.  
Until my last Our Cars report, when the unions between the fuel lines and bulkhead-mounted filter began dripping furiously. Remedies suggested on the E-type forum included being brave with the tightening spanner (tried previously), checking and refinishing the mating surfaces (tried previously), fitting copper instead of fibre washers or applying a light smear of Permatex #2 to the washers. Well thank you forum user Geoff Allam, that’s the best £9 I’ve ever spent, and one of the quickest fixes to solve a persistently knotty problem.

Permatex #2 sealant cured scary fuel leak  
It’s a gasket sealant – crucially one that’s resistant to petrol – and is the nonsetting type, so the seal should be easy to break when I choose, rather than when the Jaguar next fancies springing another worrying leak. That little tube will become a permanent travel companion, joining the growing kit of spares added to each time a previous part let me down. Some wag will tell me once you choose to carry a spare, that part will never fail again anyway. I’m not superstitious enough to believe in such ‘laws’ but if I were, I’d argue that would be the perfect result – the mere presence of a replacement part warding off future failure. If only.  
Accuse me of trust issues, will you? Well, my test run wasn’t as carefree as you might expect, instead punctuated with frequent stops to check the joints remained fuel-tight. They were. Relieved, my mind became free to relax into the drive, savouring the sights down the valleys of the bonnet, the sounds of the twin-cam surging along on its torque wave and the satisfying sensation of every shift through the normally patiencetesting Moss gearbox. I was lost in the moment, figuratively and literally – my normal 20-something-mile test route had grown into more than 80 by the time the E-type was nosing itself back into its garage. Enjoying a few moments gazing at the gently ticking car before returning to the house for dinner, I realised my guilt at its heavily dusty appearance had evaporated. A job for another day.

#### Veterans fresh from Pebble Beach brought ever-more glamour to Oxfordshire

**S**alon Privé has struggled this year, hemmed in both by the cancellation of its London event in the spring and extensive works to Blenheim Palace that left the baroque residence obscured with scaffolding. However, the assortment of cars on the lawns at Blenheim were as impressive as ever, with notable visitors from the US.

This Pebble Beach class-winning Duesenberg was on show in the UK for the first time. ‘It was bought when new in the Thirties by Ben Smith, who made $1m a month during the Wall Street Crash by shorting stocks – something of a villain,’ said owner Donna Marki. ‘But then a Mexican gentleman, Bruno Puglia, approached him for investment in a racetrack in Mexico City.

‘Smith later wanted out of the deal, so he drove this Duesenberg to Mexico City, and said, “Make me an offer,” to which Puglia replied, “I want the car.” It stayed in Mexico. Puglia was married to a movie star, and knew Cary Grant, so it gained a high profile, known as the Mexico City SSJ. It was later sold to a used car salesman.

‘Collector Arturo Keller wanted to buy it as a young man, so got the money together, went all the way to Mexico City and presented it to the salesman, only to learn the price had gone up!

‘It was restored in New Jersey last year, although it retains its original engine and body. It’s one of just three Le Grand SSJ Dual Cowl Phaetons – out of 30 SSJs produced in total – and one of a tiny number to have its supercharger fitted to its seven-litre dohc straight-eight at factory build stage.

‘It featured markedly better brakes than most cars in the US at the time. As a result, the brake light lenses spell out “STOP” in a beautiful art deco font when they light up.’

‘It’s the first time this car has been shown like this,’ said the Auriga Collection’s Vincent Kolb of this Touring-styled Grand Prix Alfa Romeo. ‘It was originally raced by Jean-Pierre Wimille in 1933, which explains the French Racing Blue paint. ‘Raymond Sommer then raced it from 19341936 in Europe, and then a Portuguese racer took it to Brazil. The car returned to the UK sometime during the Eighties.

‘Wimille finished second at Reims and Comminges, and third at Brno. When it returned to the UK, Colin Crabbe effectively rescued it but restored it as a road car, with fenders that were finished in red. It raced like this, but retained its original central bodywork, interior and instrument panel. But the restoration had to include the return of De Ram dampers, which were unique to Wimille’s Alfa.’

This was another Pebble Beach class winner making its British concours debut. One of eight short-chassis J12s, chassis 14001 was originally owned by Prince Poniatowski, who handled public relations for Hispano-Suiza. It was originally bodied by Van Vooren, but Poniatowski returned it to the factory for test and development duties.

The Michelin T68 Railcar-derived V12 engine was upgraded from 9.4 to 11.3 litres, and its Van Vooren coachwork aft of the bulkhead was removed and fitted to J12 chassis 14015. The bodyless car was used as a factory development vehicle throughout 1933, before being sold to Parisian Jacques Violet in 1934. In 1937, Violet sold the car back to Poniatowski, who had the rear coachwork replaced in Sport Torpedo style by Labourdette, kept the Van Vooren front end, and added front wings created by Hispano itself.

Shown outside of India for the first time, this 1949 James Young-bodied Rolls-Royce was originally built for the Maharajah of Mysore. Although four coachbuilders – Young, Mulliner, Nutting and Hooper – had to collaborate on its design, to make sure it followed the style of the Maharajah’s existing cars, a technique known as “doing a Mysore”, in the Rolls-Royce factory,’ said Mohammed Luqman Ali Khan, looking after the car for its owner, Yohan Poonawalla.

‘This car has over 20kg of solid fitted silverware in it. There are solid silver crests on the doors, fine bone china plates, cups and saucers in the fitted dinner service, and even a secret safe in the boot for the Maharani’s jewellery.’

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**\[ Photo Feature \] 1979 Tokyo Motor Show**  
While the crises of the Seventies had ravaged much of the established car industries, Japan prospered through innovation. On the cusp of the Eighties, Tokyo showed us the future of motoring  
**Words** SAM DAWSON  
**I**n retrospect, the 1979 Tokyo Motor Show seems like the moment we truly saw Eighties cars for the first time. The Seventies had been beset with crises for the American and European car industries. First the 1973 oil crisis ended the Sixties’ assumption that petrol would always be cheap. Increased international trade soon flagged up how uncompetitive many cars were once protectionist tariffs were removed, recession left buyers struggling to afford new cars and manufacturers to develop and build them; and as the decade ended a second oil crisis loomed.  
But throughout this time, the Japanese car industry took advantage. Designing cars for reliability and lean-burn fuel economy, mastering continuous improvement, incorporating new technology and keeping costs low meant the Japanese cleaned up as the Americans and Europeans failed, even in their domestic markets.  
And so, in 1979, on the cusp of a new era, Tokyo brimmed with more confidence than ever. At a time when the rest of the world was bodykitting Seventies leftovers, Japan gave us the future – and we’re still living with its legacy today.  
  
**TOYOTA CX-80**

  
Designed ‘to respond to contemporary changes in the way people view automobiles’, the CX-80 concept’s bizarre shape was intended to maximise space and visibility in confined urban environments. Front-wheel drive allowed for a flat floor, transmission was push-button and instruments were all-electric. Westerners were baffled by the wilfully odd bright yellow concept, but its ethos can be seen in all manner of boxy, unconventional urban Kei cars today.  
  
**WELCOME TO TOKYO**

  
‘Save Energy’ was the motto plastered throughout the Harumi Fairgrounds from 1-12 November 1979. While the show’s emphasis was on improved fuel economy and alternative propulsion, it also marked a greater emphasis on international trade. More space than ever was given to exhibiting foreign cars. US President Jimmy Carter resisted lifting restrictions on Japanese imports to protect US industry, but a few years later Ronald Reagan reversed his policy. The Tokyo Motor Shows at this time provided Japan with a vital global shop window.  
  
**DAIHATSU EV**

  
Daihatsu had spent the Seventies showing a whole series of electric car concepts, a response to the Japanese government’s 1971-77 National Electric Vehicle Project, which saw 5700m Yen of public money poured into the development of batteries and motors. The EV was conservative compared to earlier Daihatsu electric concepts, but it also proved the idea was productionready by installing its technology into a Charmant saloon.  
  
**MITSUBISHI SSW**

  
Mitsubishi could lay claim to the first production one-box MPV. Its SSW (Super Space Wagon) concept car made its debut at Tokyo in 1979, at a time when PSA had just passed the Espace concept back to Matra having bought Talbot. While the French MPV gestated haphazardly behind the scenes, Mitsubishi played its hand first, only to spend a further four years preparing it for production. When it was finally launched in August 1983, it also took the guise of a Dodge and Plymouth in the US, three months before Chrysler’s own equivalent, the Voyager.  
  
**MITSUBISHI PAJERO II**

  
Showgoers had first seen a Mitsubishi Pajero concept in 1973, but it was a straight Jeep rip-off. By contrast, the Pajero II concept had the Range Rover in its sights, as well as a clean, distinctive cubist styling theme. It made production in 1981. At a time when the Toyota Land Cruiser and Nissan Patrol were still overtly utilitarian, the Pajero II warned the Range Rover that it was about to have competition.  
  
**DATSUN STIRLING ENGINE**

  
The show featured a special exhibition dedicated to Japanese propulsion technology in all its forms, including unconventional engines considered for cars over the years. The 77 engines on show included at least one rocket, but perhaps the strangest was Nissan’s 1972 experiment with Stirling engines. Floridian scientist Wallace Minto developed a supposedly pollution-free freon-powered variant of the steam engine, selling the rights to Nissan in 1972 after the US auto industry turned it down. A prototype was installed in a Datsun 510, but it never made production.  
  
**MITSUBISHI LANCER 2000 TURBO RALLY**

  
Mitsubishi’s Lancer Evo story might have begun earlier were it not for Group B’s loose regulations rendering it uncompetitive. But when the world got its first glimpse of the firm’s rally-ready Lancer 2000 Turbo, it was regarded as the car to beat in future. Saab was first to introduce the turbocharger to rallying, but the Lancer put it in a well-balanced rear-wheel drive package reminiscent of the MkII Ford Escort, and the dashboard featured built-in navigator’s instruments. Sadly, when it finally hit the rally stages, all talk was of the Renault 5 Turbo and Audi Quattro.  
  
**ISUZU PIAZZA**

  
Succeeding the 117 coupé, the Piazza was another Giorgetto Giugiaro design for Isuzu. Displayed as the Asso di Fiori (Ace of Clubs) concept, it was essentially a production version of Giugiaro’s ‘Ace’ series, which also included Volkswagen and Audi interpretations. Futuristic touches included wraparound doors that did away with rain channels, singleblade front wiper, and an instrument cluster that moved with the steering wheel adjustment. Following public response at the show, Isuzu made the decision to fast-track it into production within 48 hours.

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**\[ ADS ON TEST \]**  
Once billed one of the best Dinos in the UK, does this Ferrari-engined grand tourer still impress? Sam Dawson finds out.

Exemplary Eighties restoration still holding up well  
**T**his particular Fiat Dino Coupé has repeatedly been chosen to exemplify the breed. Its history file bristles with magazine photoshoots attesting to classic road tests, and after one concours appearance in the 2000s, it was referred to as possibly the best example in the UK. Two decades later, it’s a lot to live up to.  
Superficial signs are good though. The lustrously even silver paint only bears a few stonechips – on the driver’s side rear and passenger side front wheelarches, and a couple on the leading edge of the bonnet. The driver’s door is perhaps a slightly greater cause for concern, with a row of chips down its trailing edge consistent with being repeatedly knocked against a garage wall, and the door seal beneath looks new, still needing some bedding-in, given how firmly you have to push it closed. The chromework all-round is flawless though, and crucially for a Seventies Fiat there are no signs of rust.

Often-fragile interior in really superb condition  
The interior is similarly flawless, unblemished apart from crinkled metal on the steering wheel boss surround, and a very minor scratch on the passenger-side dashboard wood. The half-leather trim is unmarked and in good condition, although stitching is coming away on the left-hand shoulder of the driver’s seat.  
Reassuringly, the Dino V6 starts immediately without drama on the ignition key, oil pressure settling to a steady 40psi once it’s warmed through, although it does sound like there’s a slight blow on the exhaust which will need further investigation. Be warned if you’re tall – the Dino’s driving position is the clichéd classic-Italian long-armed, short-legged stress position, exacerbated by the large original steering wheel, although you’ll be grateful for it when parking – the steering is heavy at low speeds.

Sonorous engine pulls strongly  
It drives superbly though. There’s a tight, precise feeling to the controls, especially the slick dogleg five-speed gearchange; and the suspension, all-independent on a 2400, is beautifully supple and controlled on B-roads, with no sagging or clanking noises. The brakes are excellent, biting at the top of the pedal’s travel and hauling the car up powerfully without wavering or fading.  
According to the service history, those brakes were rebuilt last year by 20th Century Motorcars to the tune of £1125, with a full service and inspection carried out at the same time. The car was originally sold to a florist in Rome, who kept it for 17 years before Richard Banks brought it to England and carried out a full bodywork restoration in 1988. It remained in English ownership until 2004, when it went to Denmark, returning to the UK in 2020 after two successive Danish owners. One of those Danes had the engine rebuilt at Formula Automobile in 2018 for £21,381, and on arriving in the UK it received authentication paperwork from Centro Storico Fiat.  
All UK MoT certificates have been retained, but given its Italian and Danish lives, its 55,560 miles can’t be verified. However, its condition and history helps justify the top-end price.  
  
**CHOOSE YOUR FIAT DINO**  
▶ Created initially in order to house 500 Ferrari Dino 2.0 V6 engines for Formula Two racing, ensuring competition homologation, the first Fiat Dino Spider emerged in 1966. Its styling was adapted by Filippo Sapino from his mid-engined Pininfarina Dino concept.  
▶ Giorgetto Giugiaro-designed, Bertone built 2+2 Coupé followed in 1967. At the same time the Spider’s interior was redesigned to be more luxurious, reflecting the asking price.  
▶ Fiat Dino 2400 replaced original specification in 1969. As well as a 2.4-litre V6, the car also featured independent rear suspension derived from the new Fiat 130 saloon in place of the 2.0 car’s live axle, a new dogleg-pattern ZF gearbox, and five-bolt alloy wheels instead of the old knock-offs. Production ended in 1973.

  
**1970 Fiat Dino 2400 Coupé**  
**Price** £59,950  
**Contact** Winchester Autobarn (01962 677776, _:a[winchesterautobarn.com]{href='https://winchesterautobarn.com' }_)  
**Engine** 2418cc V6, ohc per bank, three carburettors  
**Power** 178bhp @ 6600rpm  
**Torque** 159lb ft @ 4600rpm  
**Top speed** 127mph  
**0-60mph** 8sec  
**Fuel consumption** 19mpg  
**Length** 4507mm  
**Width** 1696mm

**\[ THE INSIDERS \]**  
All the performance, agility and noise of a race car on the road seems like the ultimate driving thrill – really? More like some test of endurance if you ask me

  
Porsche has revealed a road-legal version of its V8 hybrid 963 hypercar. It’s called the 963RSP, in honour of longtime Porsche motorsport collaborator Roger Searle Penske.  
Making a road car out of a racing car is an exciting idea. Racing cars are so focused, with incredible performance, brakes and cornering power, that it would be amazing to experience that on the road. Except it would probably be awful. Because racing cars are also hot and sweaty, noisy, physical and have awful visibility. The brakes would only work when they were glowing red hot, the ride would make your eyes water and a wet road could be lethal. The engine would be a pig until you finally got it into the powerband at higher revs, and then grip would probably be terrible until you were doing 100mph and creating proper downforce. Racing cars also have such terrible steering lock that parking, junctions and tight manoeuvres would be as easy as doing a U-turn in the Ark Royal. A speed bump could be catastrophic.  
Back in 1975 Porsche converted a Porsche 917 for Count Rossi of the Martini drinks empire (_Classic Cars_, February 2025). He picked it up in Stuttgart and then drove straight to Paris. That’s 600 miles. Given the 917 could do over 240mph, it probably didn’t take him very long.  
‘Porsche 963RSP? Oh yes, you need a laptop computer – and an engineer – to actually start the thing’  
The 963RSP celebrates that car’s 50th anniversary and is painted the same shade of Martini Silver. It looks fantastic, the paint accentuating the curves and surfaces that are usually lost under the distracting race livery. The dampers have been softened, the ride height increased and it runs on wet-weather tyres. There’s an air-conditioned seat, just like in the race car, and it’s trimmed in tan leather and Alcantara. It’s even got a cupholder and there’s a place to store a laptop. Oh yes, you need a laptop – and an engineer – to actually start the thing, and Porsche has to ask permission from the authorities each time it wants to take it on the road.  
But before I talk myself out of the whole thing, up until the Seventies, lots of sports car races and events like the Mille Miglia, Targa Florio and Carrera Panamericana were held on public roads, so the cars were designed to deal with everyday hazards like drain covers and broken tarmac. And the cars usually had open cockpits, too, so visibility was fantastic.  
Jaguar and Aston Martin even used to drive their cars from the factory to Le Mans to shake them down before the race, which must have given quite a few other drivers a fright. I’d love to see today’s Le Mans Hypercars do the same thing but I’d rather be watching from the cockpit of an XKSS.  
I’ve briefly driven a D-type replica and was blown away by how light and nimble it felt, so add a wraparound screen, windscreen wipers, a hood and a luggage rack, and I reckon it would be ideal to drive long and hard every day. And it’s not slow, with 260bhp gross and just 890kg dry, it could hit 100mph in 14 seconds – fast enough for me.  
A converted Porsche 550A, Alfa 33/3, Ferrari 196SP or Aston Martin DBR1 would do just as well. I once drove a DBR1 replica and it was a riot, right until I braked for a roundabout and nearly burst an artery in my calf trying to avoid hitting the Range Rover camera car. Turns out it was still wearing track day brake pads that were useless when cold. I just hope Porsche has remembered to change the pads on the 963RSP.

**\[ MG X-Power SV \]**  
It undeniably contributed to MG Rover’s noughties downfall – but can the carbonfibre-bodied **MG X-Power SV** supercar be forgiven by appraising it as a classic? We take another look  
**Words** JOE BREEZE **Photography** JORDAN BUTTERS

  
**W**e shouldn’t be here today. Not because we miraculously avoided a _Final Destination_\-style wipeout on the way here, but because the car we’re here to drive arguably shouldn’t exist.  
Not long after the Pheonix Consortium had relieved BMW of its MG Rover burden for a token tenner in May 2000, work began on a supercar that would signify the company’s belated arrival into the new millennium. Armchair accountants will forever bemoan this misdirection of funds when the company so desperately needed to replace its mainstream offerings, but there’s no denying the MG X-Power SV got jaws dropping and chins wagging. With caricature-like proportions and details, its brutish appearance was enough to emasculate any 911, all while looking a bit _Max Power_. But any mocking grins were soon straightened out – that body structure was entirely carbonfibre, concealed a potent V8 and sat on underpinnings developed by a former Ferrari F1 chassis man.  
I’m no businessman but that’s a compelling enough case for me, so with the road between Broad Hinton and Marlborough spooling out at the end of the SV’s snarly snout, it’s time to undress it of prior convictions and see which of its reputations are most deserved – frivolous flop or shot-down-in-flames hero.

Harnesses inspired by McLaren F1’s; handily bypassed airbag requirement  
Approaching the SV from the rear gives you that feeling of in-the-metal unfamiliarity that occurs so rarely in today’s world of wearisome corporate-design clones. The rear lights are suspiciously off-the-shelf in appearance – albeit not quite as readily identifiable as the Punto MkII headlights you’ll encounter round the front – but a chunky rear wing demands your full attention. This wing was optional on this model (but standard on the later SV-R), and stands as one of the blue-moon occasions where a road car actually _needs_ a wing for better aesthetic balance, because of the bombastic arch/gill/vent/ splitter embellishments going on elsewhere.  
The SV’s overt theatre is apparent from any distance, but it’s on close examination that the SV starts to showreel genuine credibility. After examining the five-spoke OZ wheels, your eyes skip to the wheelarch innards, lined with the unmistakable pattern of carbonfibre rather than nondescript plastic. Open the door – using a handle unceremoniously pilfered from an MGF – and there are more exotic crisscrosses to be found in the door shuts. Take your place in the leather-and-Alcantara-festooned driver’s seat and notice the weave on the A-pillars. Today, the marketing literature for even the humblest performance cars is seemingly peppered with the c-word, but back when the SV was launched the only carbonfibre-heavy (or not) precursors either carried F40 nameplates on their rear wings, gold in their engine bay, or Le Mans homologation papers in their history files.  
Not a bad start then, but before prodding the aluminium starter button in front of the gearstick to wake the V8 I must turn the traditional key… whose housing still bears the Blue Oval. For some, this could ruin the immersion of the experience before it’s even begun, but those who’d be genuinely bothered by such things would probably have felt more at home wrapped in the demure, organic curves of a 996 Porsche anyway.

X-Power brand had big aspirations... too big  
Stuttgart softies sent on their way, it’s now destination Detroit as the quad-cam 4.6-litre Ford V8 – which it shares in varying states of tune with the MkVI Ford Mustang, Panoz Esperante road car and the first Koenigsegg – fires into a throbbing gargle. It’s one that the SV's designer Peter Stevens says was specifically tuned to sound like a Riva powerboat burbling away in harbour.  
Giving it some time to warm its cockles, I belt up. By the time I’ve adjusted the four-point harness – whose top straps locate through the rear bulkhead in proper competition-car style – and secured the traditional clasp across my chest, the whole process has heightened my trepidation. Stevens carried this belt design forward from his time working on the McLaren F1. Oddly, MG's period press gumpf didn’t mention that it also conveniently meant the car wouldn’t require costly airbags.  
‘You expect to be wowed by a carbonfibre supercar’s cornering abilities, but not also by its willingness to cosset you’

FIA-spec rollcage integrated into steel chassis, clothed in carbon  
Driver firmly embraced and V8 now lolloping richly, I make my first contact with the controls. The clutch pedal is heavy and has a surprisingly large window of travel. Pulling away gingerly and working through the lower ratios of the ubiquitous Tremec gearbox is a surprisingly smooth process. The steering is fairly feelsome and communicative if not a little dead on-centre; the bigger nuisance in this area is the non-adjustability of the column. It requires more generously proportioned drivers to sit far closer to the windscreen than feels natural, and far more upright than the roofline is willing to accomodate. But then the bloodline of the SV can be traced back to the mid-1990s DeTomaso Biguá via the Qvale Mangusta, and what self-respecting pre-millennial sports car prided itself on a particularly comfortable driving position?  
The V8 is another Biguá/Mangusta legacy and makes all the right noises, both in literal and figurative terms. Hammer down and the guttural throb stretches out into cold-blooded howl while 320bhp and 302lb ft vie for your attentions; it’s fairly revvy considering its genetic make-up, but it’s hamstrung by the clutch. The long travel slows the cog-swapping process to the point that it’s actually more enjoyable to surf the torque wave than wring the V8’s neck. On the long, sweeping sections of our route just south of Swindon, the rewards come not from bouncing it off the limiter, but from taking advantage of the open landscape’s sight lines to predict the single most suitable gear for the sequence of bends ahead and using the SV’s torque spread to surge between them. The big cross-drilled and vented Brembos, also an off-the-peg item, are equally adept, knocking off speed when the corners start to tighten.  
‘It corners without protest, but perhaps more impressive is the way it soaks up undulations as I pick up speed along straights’

  
A looming switchback provides a perfect opportunity to test the integrity of the chassis, initially developed at DeTomaso by ex-Scuderia Ferrari man Enrique Scalabroni and refined over several years at both Qvale and MG Sport & Racing by lead engineer Giordano Casarini. A right-hander drops down into a long, sweeping left that opens out into a tightening right, whose braking zone starts just as the SV’s weight shifts from the rear-right to front-left wheels. This is where the shortcomings of an unresolved chassis would be exposed, but the SV remains unruffled. It’s also here that the use of a carbonfibre body structure pays off beyond PR fodder. It doesn’t just help keep the curb weight down, but more crucially minimises upper-body heft to keep the centre of gravity usefully low.  
Revisiting the same sequence in the reverse direction, that long downhill left is now a tightening uphill right. Reluctant to trouble the clutch to change down for the sharpening of the corner, I instead maintain speed while throwing on additional lock. The SV grips, obeys and remains composed enough to accelerate out through the subsequent left-hander without a hint of protest. But perhaps more impressive is the way it soaks up the undulations as I pick up speed along straights. You expect to be wowed by a carbonfibre supercar’s cornering abilities, but not also by its willingness to cosset you. The seats are not only supportive, but genuinely comfortable.

Lairy spec another devisive decision from a Pheonix founder

Gunmetal grey side vents normally an SV-R preserve

Fiat Coupé-sourced rear lights were dressed up with bespoke bevels

A useful 320bhp here; a 765bhp version was planned

Big Brembos have no trouble reeling in speed

Exhaust tuned to make Riva speedboat noises  
From this I’m left with a tinge of disappointment. Put simply, the SV is Kanye West – it happily polarises public opinion with its very existence, but behind the swagger is a conflicted personality. Even with the traction control system’s laissez-faire approach, the SV never feels intimidating enough to justify a ‘supercar’ label – on a dry road it’ll only throw a tail-out tantrum with flagrant provocation. But then it’s not quite well-resolved enough to convince as a traditional GT either. Given the madcap, make-no-mistake exterior styling, this internal conflict dulls the lustre of the SV's twinkling eye a little.  
That said, the first quarter of this century has witnessed the likes of the Jaguar C-X75 and BMW M1 Hommage remain tragically stillborn for failing to make a sound business case, so realistically we can have no complaints about the SV being a jack-of-all-trades. With 82 cars built from a £28m project, each SV technically costed MG £340,000 to make. Today, they fetch a tenth of that on the rare occasion that they do come up for sale, and you’ll be hard pushed to find better value in today’s classic market. Consider its rarity, theatrical styling, exotic construction and place in history and the package is more convincing now than it ever was. It might not be the rabid hound we secretly hoped for – even in SV-R form – but it’s a go-down-with-guns-blazing tribute to its creator that can be savoured today without any misplaced resentment.  
Most fast-car drives leave you wanting to drive for _longer_, trying to wring out every last drop of performance potential. But the SV leaves you wanting to drive it _further_. Set the archaic single-DIN Becker satnav for some far-flung mountain region, settle down into your squidgy Sparco quarters and enjoy the V8 at its best – exercising in its Isaac Hayes baritone vocal range.  
Mile-munching proclivities might not be what the SV outwardly promises, but settle into that mindset, ignore the partsbinnery and it can be just as enjoyable. We’re glad it does exist, just not for the reasons we expected.  
**Thanks To** Joanna Deal of the MG Owners' Club.  
‘Settle down into your Sparcos and enjoy the V8 exercising in its Isaac Hayes baritone range’

Beneath that wild exterior, a blend of supercar and GT  
  
2003 MG X-Power SV  
**Engine** 4601cc V8, dohc, four valves per cylinder, Ford multi-point fuel injection **Power and torque** 320bhp @ 6000rpm, 302lb ft @ 4750rpm **Transmission** Rear-wheel drive, five-speed manual **Steering** Rack and pinion, hydraulic assistance **Suspension** Independent double wishbones front and rear **Brakes** Vented disc brakes front and rear **Performance** Top speed: 165mph; 0–60 mph: 5.3sec **Weight** 1540kg 0-60mph 5.3sec Top speed 165mph **Fuel economy** 20.5mpg **Cost new** £65,000 Classic Cars **Price Guide** £30,000-£45,000

  
‘I co-own this SV with my son Darryl – we bought it in one of the MG liquidation auctions, where the remaining SVs were sold at a rate of two a month. This is chassis 107, and was used as a company car by one of the Pheonix Four, hence the many factory upgrades – red interior, SV-Rspoiler, Scorpion track exhaust and Becker sat-nav. It was also modelled by Codemasters for the _TOCA: Race Driver_ series. Parts are obviously difficult to find, but we stockpiled some – including a set of suspension turrets and a spare gearbox. Off-the-shelf items such as brakes are easier to find. But we’ve been looking for a tail-light bezel for years!’

**\[ The Collector \]**  
Nigel Hankins loves unusual cars, particularly large American ones, restoring and stashing them in and around Weston-super-Mare  
**Words** SAM DAWSON **Photography** LAURENS PARSONS

  
I used to keep photographs of all the cars I’d owned, but then the photos filled albums, and the albums filled buckets!’ laughs Nigel Hankins as he greets me on his doorstep. His house in the West Country seaside town of Weston-super-Mare would look unassuming were it not for the enormous and very red Dodge Ram 1500 Magnum pickup truck parked on the drive, which provides something of a clue as to the main theme of the bizarre, eclectic collection he shares with his friend Steve Morris, who also runs Weston Chauffeurs – which helps pay for the collection’s maintenance.  
‘I’m a mechanic by trade, and don’t like to see cars go to waste,’ Hankins explains. ‘I’ve been doing up and selling on cars since I was 17 – going through five in a week wasn’t unusual. At one point I was a main dealer for Ford Consul Capri bits, and I also used to build and race Formula Two stock cars, powered by 1.3-litre Ford Escort engines.  
‘But about 15 years ago, I just started to like big Yank cars, and buying cars to keep. I didn’t like the jelly mould direction car styling had gone in. But I don’t like obvious ones – I haven’t got a Mustang, for example, nor do I want one. The more unusual and technically interesting, the better.’  
And with that, we pile into one of his earliest American impulse-buys for a drive across town to Morris’s house, and a big suburban garage packed with unusual Detroit iron.  
**1996 Mercury Grand Marquis LS**

Majestic muscle car: Hankins reckons Grand Marquis LS rivals Mustang  
‘This was my second American vehicle,’ says Hankins as he serenely negotiates Weston’s boulevards in his rare Nineties Mercury. ‘I’d had an American truck, and about 13 years ago I decided I wanted to buy a proper full-sized American sedan. I found this car via an advert in the local newspaper, and bought it from a guy in Barnstaple, Devon.  
‘I keep in touch with him and he still wonders to this day why I’ve got it! But the answer is simple – it’s just such a great cruiser. It’s properly usable as well – it sounds daft, but amazingly, I get 26-30 miles per gallon out of it, even though it’s powered by a Mustang-sourced 4.6-litre “Hi-Po” V8!

Hankins favours cruising ability of Grand Marquis LS  
‘And how much did it set me back? £1000! It’s worth at least £3000-£4000 now, and that specification is rare. In effect it’s an undercover muscle car, the closest I’d consider to getting a Mustang.’ Specification-wise, the LS is essentially a luxury version of the iconic Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.  
‘You’ve got to be careful when buying American cars though,’ Hankins warns. ‘Specifications can get faked, and because there’s a culture of buying them sight-unseen from the US, some of this fakery ends up being done in Photoshop. You have to be able to expand any photos you get if you’re doing things that way. People have bought what seem to be mint cars from dry states only to find flaws in the paint and a need for a complete respray once they get them home.’  
**1970 Buick Skylark**

Mellow yellow: Buick Skylark has subtle brawn says Hankins  
‘Eight years ago, my mother-in-law was ill. My partner Ange went to see her and saw this for sale near her house. I said that if she had time, could she have a look at it, and later that day I got a phone call from her saying, “Get up here, you’ve bought a car!”  
‘I found so many shades of yellow on it that I couldn’t properly colour match it. Thankfully it wasn’t custard-coloured, and perhaps at one point it had looked like a decent job, but as different paints fade, they do so to different shades.

Collection benefits from Hankins’ trade as a car mechanic  
‘So, six years ago, I had it properly resprayed. This is actually a BMW motorbike colour. I’d polished and buffed it to find the original shade, and tried so many General Motors yellows, but there was no paint code tag on the bodywork to match it. My first attempt at touching it up used spirit-based paint, which sank like crazy. Then I used a water-based paint, and solvents kept coming up to the surface and destroying it. In the end, I just had to admit defeat and take it to a perfectionist professional.  
‘It drives very nicely, fulfilling certain elements of the muscle-car role, but in subtle ways. It’s not too loud either and is just a thoroughly pleasant car to cruise in.’

Buick found on visit to Hankins’ mother-in-law

Failed home paint trials saw Skylark treated to a pro job

1960 Lincoln Continental not an obvious choice  
As if to underline Hankins’ offbeat ethos, the most dazzling car in his collection is not an obvious 1959 Cadillac Eldorado, but its direct, ill-fated Ford Motor Company rival. ‘This came up on eBay, for sale in Burbank, California, 11 years ago,’ says Hankins. ‘The advert said it was perfect, but they all do. I was expecting a few problems, but not quite as many as transpired – I spent the whole of the first year of ownership working on it.

Hankins’ love for the offbeat means 1960 Lincoln has a place in his collection  
‘When it arrived, I tried the vacuum-powered windscreen wipers only to discover the entire system was missing, so I converted it to electric. It’s also supposed to have 4in-wide truck-derived brake shoes, but for some reason someone had fitted this with a pair of 2in shoes from a much smaller car, side-by-side, and when braking, only about 3in of shoe were touching the drums. I lost the brakes completely on Priestley Hill en route to the Shepton Mallet Restoration Show. Luckily the entrance was right down at the bottom of the hill, and when we pulled up Ange said, “We went in there a bit fast didn’t we?”

Complex electrics one area of malady  
‘I found enough brake parts at the show’s autojumble to get it roadworthy again, but when I got it home, I took the system apart on the work bench and just looked at it scratching my head. The brake master cylinder bores looked badly pitted. This would need addressing, but it all looked so small for such a large, heavy car, so I had no idea how it was supposed to work. I gave up, went upstairs for a shower, and then it hit me in a genuine Eureka moment – as with the water in the house, it worked on volumetric pressure rod displacement generated elsewhere in the system, via a Treadle Vac brake booster. So I needed to rebuild that too. Once I had, it worked fine.  
‘The electrics are very challenging though. None of the dashboard instruments worked when I got it, so I had to take the panel off and figure it all out. It’s mad. Lincoln tried to electrify absolutely everything, even the opening quarterlights.’

First whole year of Lincoln ownership spent problem solving

Lincoln Cartier Town Car a jewel to drive  
This leviathan greets us as the Grand Marquis reaches its second stop, a large workshop on the outskirts of Weston. ‘Steve found it 12 years ago on eBay,’ says Hankins of the 1991 Lincoln. ‘We called the seller, who had bought it in America and loved it so much that he had brought it back, first to Guernsey, and then to Norfolk, but had run out of space and needed to get rid of it. It had only been listed a matter of hours before Steve was on a train all the way from Weston to Norwich.  
‘Again, it’s a rare and unusual model – Cartier supposedly designed the interior, but in reality, it’s just a few badges here and there and different dashboard trim, and we’re talking plastichrome here, too. It does seem odd to think now Lincoln was allowed to use such a high-class name on something like this – it doesn’t even have a Cartier clock, and the one that it does have doesn’t even work anymore!

Thin veneer of luxury but composure to match a Rolls-Royce  
‘But – it’s so sweet to drive. People might question it, but it genuinely is comparable to a Rolls-Royce in its smoothness and composure. By the early Nineties, a lot of the handling issues on full-size American cars had been addressed, too, and it shows.  
‘And yet, what do you have to pay for a Rolls-Royce of this era in excellent condition? £50,000? This was under £10k.’

Flagrant Seventies styling of Mercury Grand Marquis holds much appeal for Hankins  
‘Steve bought this Grand Marquis seven years ago – the seller came over from Essex, we met halfway and ended up doing the deal in Slough railway station car park!’ says Hankins. ‘An exhaust leak turned out to be a tiny bolt missing from the manifold; the owner had taken it through two workshops looking for the source of the problem. As soon as we worked it out, it turned out to be a bargain.’

Smooth operator: Grand Marquis is silken, if heavy to drive  
What’s the car’s appeal though? ‘It’s that Seventies _Cannon_\-era styling!’ Hankins confesses, ‘and it’s very long, which is why there’s a chunk missing out of the garage wall and why it’s stored up here now! It’s a bit heavy to drive, but nice enough – very smooth. And I love the details like the vinyl covers on the headlamp lids, just so very Seventies. And the fact that it has the same power steering pump as a Greyhound bus.

Hankins rarely takes a back seat in any car in his collection  
‘I love to take it to shows too. People often come up to it and say, “this is my era,” before inevitably reminiscing about Starsky & Hutch. Admittedly it doesn’t handle as well as the Lincolns – it’s much more crude and wayward – but it’s just got so much presence and sense of occasion about it.’

Big car, big engine: Grand Marquis 460ci V8 good for 202bhp when new

Of all his cars, Hankins has owned this Jago hot rod the longest  
‘I’ve had this 46 years, longer than any other car in the collection,’ says Hankins of the unfinished Ford T-bucket hot rod sitting in the corner of the workshop. ‘It’s never actually been on the road during my ownership, and I’ve bolted it to a trailer in order to move it, although it’s easily removed.  
‘It’s based on a 1959 Ford Classic. I saw it at the back of a mate’s workshop when I went to collect some parts from him and came away having bought it. It had a Ford crossflow engine in it then, and had originally been painted metalflake red but someone had since tried to repaint it in flat red.  
‘I want to repaint it in the original metalflake, and I’ve installed a 5.8-litre Ford Cleveland V8. I originally swapped the crossflow for a 4.7 Windsor, but then a friend who was restoring a Mustang needed one, so I did a swap.’  
And with the hot rod still slumbering, we jump back in the Grand Marquis and head back to Hankins’ house to see what’s lurking behind that enormous Dodge Ram.

Custom exhausts make Dodge Ram ‘lovely to drive’  
‘It had picked up the nickname of “the Mopar Beast” in Bristol, where I found it via Wayne Cross at Vintage America,’ says Hankins of the towering pickup truck. ‘The exhaust and brakes were terrible, so I sorted those out and changed the bumpers to chrome, and Wayne wanted to buy it back!  
‘It has a 5.7-litre – 345ci – Hemi V8 , and when I bought it, it had very noisy straight-through exhausts that made the whole bodyshell drone and gave me a headache. I took it to exhaust speciliast Infinity Exhausts, which created a catalysed custom setup for it, and the emissions, vibrations and sound levels came right down. It’s lovely to drive now.’  
‘I’m a mechanic by trade, and don’t like to see cars go to waste’

  
**1964 Lincoln Continental Convertible**

‘Clap-door’ Lincoln Continental Convertible not as advertised so restoration underway  
In his garage, Hankins is restoring an icon – the convertible version of the ‘clap-door’ Lincoln Continental forever associated with John F Kennedy. ‘I bought it from the States, from a company claiming to be a classic Lincoln expert. The car had supposedly been totally restored, so I could turn the key and drive it straight off the boat when it arrived in Bristol,’ says Hankins. It turned out it wasn’t quite as advertised.  
‘It’s actually a monocoque, which is scary when you consider the sheer size of the car and the convertible structure,’ he says. ‘The upholstery wasn’t too bad, but the suspension needed rebuilding, and there was coolant coming out of the engine faster than I could put it back in. On further investigation, it turned out that the core plugs had completely rusted away.

Upholstery on Hankins’ ‘clap-door’ Lincoln has survived relatively well  
‘The attitude from the dealer was, “OK, you send it back and if you’re right about its condition, you’ll get your money back.” I knew what legal wrangling that would possibly entail, so I decided to keep it and restore it. I suppose that’s the risk of buying a car sight unseen that had been in a barn in the Midwest for 40 years before being “restored”.  
‘Mechanically, it’s every bit as fascinating as, say, a Citroën DS. The convertible roof is controlled by hydraulic systems, with electric motors which unscrew the locking mechanisms from the windscreen header rail and bootlid. It undoes the assembly shape, rolls the hood over twice on itself, folds into the boot, then a second tonneau cover folds out of the boot to cover it all. It does all that without a single computer, at the touch of one button, using 20 two-position sequential microswitches and two big hydraulic vacuum tanks in the front wings. The hydraulic rams for the roof were also used on aircraft landing gear.’

Bristol Duplex compressor powers Hankins’ tools  
‘I’ve been collecting tools since I was 14,’ says Hankins as he reveals the vast piece of industrial machinery lurking behind the Continental Convertible. ‘This compressor is as old as my house. A little garage in town was getting rid of it when it was closing down, but it generates enough power to run all of my tools.  
‘The piston has two different diameters to run different tools. I don’t know if the firm which built it is related to Bristol Cars – it seems lots of things were called Bristol around here.’

  
**The Keeper**  
‘The Buick,’ says Hankins without a moment’s hesitation. ‘Of all the cars I own, it’s in the nicest condition and is the loveliest to drive. Admittedly it’d be a very close-run thing between the Skylark and the 1960 Continental, but ultimately the Lincoln is a bit of a battleship to manoeuvre around away from the US – the Buick is actually surprisingly UK-road-friendly.’  
  
**THE COLLECTION IN FULL**  
1959 Jago Ford hot rod  
1960 Lincoln Continental Mark V  
1964 Lincoln Continental Convertible  
1970 Buick Skylark Custom  
1976 Mercury Grand Marquis 7.4  
1979 MG BGT  
1990 Mazda MX-5  
1991 Lincoln Cartier Town Car  
1995 Dodge Ram 1500 Magnum  
1996 Mercury Grand Marquis LS  
2001 Volkswagen Golf 2.0 Convertible

**\[ CHASING CARS \] Quentin Willson’s hot tips**  
When a highly original Jaguar XK halves in price, you have to take notice…

  
**I**’ve told you this before, but values of Fifties Jaguar XKs are taking a proper pummelling. But for clever buyers, these precipitous price falls create massive opportunities. Most XKs are now absurd value. Take the 1953 XK120 Coupé sold on Collecting Cars in June. In its factory shade of Jaguar Pastel Blue, unrestored, original, never dismantled and a 2018 Pebble Beach post-war preservation class entrant, this was widely acknowledged to be one of the most unmolested 120s in the world. It retains faded Ecurie Ecosse stickers front and rear, though any direct connection to David Murray’s famous Scottish racing team is unknown.  
Matching numbers, steel wheels with spats, Ekco CR152 valve radio, continuous day-one history with old photos in competition and featured in Philip Porter’s book, _Original Jaguar XK_, plus several magazine features – KSG 432 was heart-stoppingly wonderful and uber desirable. Those hillclimb photos are possibly from the Seventies, judging by the clothes and hair styles.  
‘Fifty grand for an unrepeatable, museum-quality XK120 is one of this year’s stand-out steals’

  
It's so desirable in fact, that back in 2017 it was knocked down by Bonhams at Goodwood for £102,300, which at the time seemed fair money for such an exalted thing. Eight years later and that notional value has halved – after 49 bids on Collecting Cars, KSG 432 sold for just £50,000. Yes, values of Fifties metal are falling fast, but I think fifty grand for such an unrepeatable, exceptional, museum-quality XK120 is one of this year’s most stand-out steals. Why? Because mere money could never recreate this car. It’s been conscientiously preserved and documented by its handful of owners over 73 years who have caressed, cherished and protected this remarkable survivor in its 1953 factory original condition for the next generation. All those decades of careful custodianship is what makes it priceless.  
Stone chips, slightly frayed carpets, gently creased Biscuit leather and worn door and boot rubbers are the tapestry of life accumulated over seven decades. You could refresh, repaint and replace, but you’d lose what makes this XK so special – undisturbed, unspoilt, unmolested originality. There may never be another as good. This was an inspired buy.  
  
**…and the same goes for a rare Rolls-Royce Continental**

  
While basking in the June sunshine, we missed a bargain. Bonhams’ Bonmont sale in Chéserex, Switzerland, offered a 1966 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III Continental Convertible at no reserve.  
OPE 52D was one of just 49 rhd R-Rs built to Mulliner Park Ward design 2045, and while enormously rare and special, it wasn’t perfect. The over-polished black leather seats needed sorting, it had been in static storage for a while and came with little paperwork, but it sat well, and the paint, body, chrome, wood and carpets all looked in decent nick. An average convertible should be around £150,000. Spiffing examples are still advertised for £250k. But this one sold for £68,466, including premium.  
An extremely cheap coachbuilt convertible R-R, you say. And you’d be right. But that’s not the end of the story. Among the limited paperwork was a letter from the Rolls-Royce Museum in Dornbirn, Austria, confirming that a previous owner was John Lennon. I can’t find any photos to back this up but if you could make the Lennon connection stand up with supporting documentation, £35k of recommissioning could turn it into a £400k motor.  
This was a really smart buy, ex-Beatle or not, and while most coachbuilt R-Rs and Bentleys have lost value, this was well below market, making the same as an ex-Sir Robert McAlpine 1964 saloon in the same sale. So keep a watchful eye on anything without reserve – in these difficult times, eye-popping bargains can slip between the floorboards unnoticed. I wonder if we’ll see OPE 52D resurface – spivved and shiny – with a rather higher price tag?  
  
**A bargain Lamborghini – if you’re feeling lucky**

  
Here’s a tricky one. Do you take a deep breath and pay half-price-money for a Lamborghini Gallardo, knowing there may be tears before bedtime, or just give yourself a good talking to and wisely walk away? The Dore & Rees June sale at Thruxton fielded a 2004 Gallardo coupé in black with orange leather which was insane value at £29,500. The mileage was a modest 35,000, there was a service history from new charting its steady increase in mileage and lots of recent work done. Negatives were a declared uneven engine idle from the V10, DVLA’s MoT checker having it recorded as originally white – although I couldn’t see any evidence of a colour change or wrap – and not having been MoT tested since 2020. On the plus side there were bills for seven services – mostly with Lambo dealers – while the catalogue said that the oft-temperamental e-gear transmission was working well. Only two fails marred the car’s 12-year MoT history.  
Superficially there seemed little to do, with great paintwork, alloys and interior. The major worry was the dropping engine idle which could be as simple as a duff plug, HT lead, coil pack or air leak, but could equally be something a lot more expensive. There was also a loose driver’s door card and a light scrape on the nearside bumper corner. But at £29,500, there was enough financial headroom to put most things right. Would you have taken the plunge? This appeared a lovely lump of Lambo for little lolly.  
  
**ASK QUENTIN**  
**Not sure whether now’s the right time to buy, sell or hang onto that classic?**  
**Should I buy that £175k 911?**  
I have a Porsche 993 Carrera 2 Coupe manual with 106k miles which I love driving and is as reliable as the proverbial wood burning stove. I paid £45k four years ago and think it's worth £50k+ now. I’m considering a 1988 Carrera 3.2 Clubsport that's becoming available with 77k miles, but for £175k.  
_Paul Truckle_  
Your 993 Carrera 2 sounds lovely and prices are strong right now. The stripped-out 911 Clubsport is a legend with only 340 made globally and 53 right hookers, but it’s not the investment it was, certainly not at £175k. Recent sales were an ’89 with 59,000 miles in January 2023 for £133,500 and in November, an ’89 with 83,000 made £120,700. There are a couple with dealers at much more money but I’d be careful. The CS you’ve been offered feels like £125k-£130k if everything is perfect. At that price you would stand a chance of getting your money back if you had to sell.  
**Quentin Willson**  
**Which Merc last?**  
My SLK is an '04 320 Special Edition, last of the line S1 with every SE extra including the rare three-piece 17in split rims. It's on 67k and I prefer it to an R230 SL500 I recently owned which was – to say the least – troublesome! Due to recent ill health I'm thinking of changing the SLK because I may not be driving much longer. I would love another R129 but also a V12 XJS. You seem to find great cars, so what mailing lists should I be on and what are your thoughts on my choices?  
_Jon Clemett_  
Sorry to hear about your health issues. I’d go for an R129 Mercedes 500SL – they’re so undervalued, sturdy and easy to live with. Around £15k buys a great one and I’ve seen nice low-mileage examples for sub-£10k. They’re far more reliable than the later R230s and have an increasingly cool vibe. Thanks for the compliment about 'finding great cars’. Sadly, there are no mailing lists, you just need to check upcoming auction listings. Many of the smaller auctions don’t achieve the prices of the bigger outfits, so check those first. H&H, SWVA, Manor Park, Mathewsons and Brightwells are worth watching for sensible hammer prices, and _:a[glenmarch.co.uk]{href='https://glenmarch.co.uk' }_ is a good reference site for auction results and future sales.   
**Quentin Willson**  
  
**_Got a question about buying or selling a classic?_** Email :a[classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk]{href='mailto:classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk' } with Ask Quentin in the subject line.

**\[ OUR CARS \] _1985 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2_**

The intermittent rough running of Stewart’s 911…  
  
**Owned by** Stewart Perry (c/o _:a[classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk]{href='mailto:classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk' }_)  
**Time owned** Ten years, seven months  
**Latest/total miles** 550/120,473  
**Latest/total costs** £600/£41,776  
**Previously** Defensive driving course for Kim  
The 911 just completely died on the freeway and is going home on a tilt tray,’ came the call from my brother Ross, who had been using the 911 for his 15-mile daily commute. My 911 had been a pillar of reliability for years, never once giving trouble, so this came as a surprise.  
Annoyingly, back home, the car started and ran perfectly as if nothing had been wrong. The age-old question of ‘is it fuel or spark?’ certainly applied… Ross mentioned that it felt like the car was running out of fuel before it stopped. I knew the fuel pump was the 120,000-mile original part, so replacing it was a good first step and I even had a spare.  
With the new pump installed, I did some local trips and things seemed back to normal, perhaps with a very slight and occasional rough idle. A few weeks later, we decided to take it for a proper run into the hills, but we never made it. Once again, the Porsche came home on a tilt tray, and once again, after cooling down, the car ran normally.  
At this point, all bets were off. Ross spent many hours checking components using his extensive knowledge and the _Bentley Porsche 911 Carrera Service Manual_. Every electrical check yielded no categorical answers, not even a hint.

…has led to much head-scratching for him and Ross  
With no answers and no trust in the car’s reliability, we were stuck. There was talk of taking it to a professional. Then it hit me – why don’t we just throw parts at it? Initially it seemed silly, not knowing what was wrong, but the more we discussed it, the more sense it made. Given the reasonable prices from Pelican Parts in the US, I could replace a lot of 120,000-mile, original parts for less than a few hours at a workshop.  
So, I ordered a distributor cap, rotor button, spark plugs, coil, and fuel filter.  
Still the problem persisted. A friend who’d owned an Eighties Mercedes suggested crank angle sensors, having had a nearly identical issue. Once installed, over the next few weeks the issue didn’t return.  
With a big Porsche rally coming up, I wanted to be certain of its reliability. That weekend, we were heading to the Retrospeed Wilby Park Sprints. I asked my wife Kim to bring the 911 as a shakedown run, and my daughter and I towed our caravan with my Ford Falcon XB GT.  
The run up was smooth. Kim even took the 911 for a few laps of the track. But 20 miles from home, she pulled over; it wasn’t running right. Frustrating. We pushed on; it still ran, albeit roughly. I replaced the spark plug leads, not cheap at AU$500 (£240)! The rough running vanished. The 911 has returned to being the pillar of reliability it has been for the past decade and is back in semi-daily use.

#### In October 1985, _CAR_ reported on the state of the rally world with one of the most mismatched twin-tests ever seen

Peugeot, Audi, and even Austin-Rover, are evolving their rally cars into multi-million pound extravaganzas,’ reported Chris Harvey in _CAR’s_ October 1985 issue. Despite its high profile and media exposure, Group B rallying hadn’t been universally popular, not least with many of the world’s rally organisers. Rallying had once been one of the most accessible forms of motorsport, only a mildly-prepared car was required for entry, and until some savage legislation landed in 1984 which limited 12-car rallying to a 30mph average, any enthusiast could enjoy high-speed action on public roads with their local motor club.

To analyse the landscape of rallying, _CAR_ pitted the hugely successful and multiple title-winning Peugeot 205T16, ‘currently the world’s most successful rally car,’ against a £5000 Lada Riva 1300 – one of the cheapest new cars on the market in 1985 – prepared for the RAC Rally event by Colin Clifford of Monza Motors for less than £1000. Did the grass-roots spirit of rallying still exist in a changing world where, ‘despite the radical appearance of Peugeot’s rally wagon, the accent is on keeping its production 205GTi “look” as a marketing tool.’

‘Rally organisers have grown to love Ladas,’ explained Harvey. ‘They last well and maintain interest at the end of the field.’ Sometimes they did even better. “One of our drivers even came close to catching Russell Brookes on one stage of the Welsh,” claimed Clifford. “We’ve won team prizes now for two years running. With bits and pieces of sponsorship we even came out of it with £15 profit.”

As a result, Lada Cars (GB)’s Challenge offered cash prizes for the ten highest-placed crews across eight club rallies, one national and one international. Thanks to the firm’s backing, international rally entry fees had been negotiated down to £100 from £280 for Lada crews.

By contrast, Clifford noted that on one rally where only oil levels and tyre pressures had needed topping up, Tony Pond’s MG Metro 6R4 had required three service barges and multiple axle rebuilds. The 205T16 was said to be ‘surprisingly easy to drive’ and ‘awe-inspiring;’ the cornering process was easy yet punishingly uncomfortable. Gavin Green noted Ari Vatanen had nearly been killed in one, and had written off nine in total.

A year later, rallying’s Group B era came to an end, with a ban following a series of fatal accidents. The focus switched back to production-based classes, and a new golden age of accessibility began. Slow and steady, it seems, sometimes wins the race.

**\[ MONTH IN CARS \] Barn finds**  
Almost 80-year-old saloon emerges from a near-five-decade hibernation

Recommission Bentley as-is or make it all shiny again?  
A 1936 Bentley 3½-litre Park Ward saloon was ordered brand-new by Captain Archie Frazer-Nash, creator of the famous chain-driven sports cars of the same name. Frazer Nash had relinquished control of the car business to HJ Aldington in 1929 but found some new success with a variety of engineering interests. These clearly provided enough income to live well, as he kept this rakish four-door Bentley for only a short time before trading it in against the new 4¼-litre version that Bentley introduced the same year.  
It remained in London with a second owner until 1945, thereafter moving to Birmingham, finding its most recent keeper in April 1964. At the time, this gentleman lived in West Bromwich, later moving to Great Barr, where the car has been laid up since 1978. It was apparently in useable condition at the time of it entering storage, having a fresh MoT when parked up. The reason for the internment remains unclear but it may well have been decided with an intention to improve the car’s cosmetics – a job that was sadly never started. The car was recently extracted from a Birmingham lock-up after not turning a wheel in more than 45 years, though, and has now arrived with early Rolls-Royce and Bentley specialist the Real Car Company in Bangor, North Wales.  
‘The Bentley has a really nice, correct feel,’ says Real Car’s Ray Arnold, ‘and it seems structurally good, too. The front doors in particular shut with a lovely “click”. We’ve had the car up and running on a temporary fuel supply and even driven it around the yard a little, and overall, it sounds pretty good, bar a noisy exhaust. Pleasingly, it does indeed seem to have been mechanically sound when laid up. The paint is flaking off though, and the interior hide looks non-original to me – it’s a bit rough and the carpets have sadly had it. An oily rag car, or restoration? A lovely touch is the original Jack Barclay tax disc holder with the car’s chassis number on it.’

Car been in its most recent owner’s hands since 1964

Structurally, the car appears good after 45 years of rest

Vibrant but worn interior suspected non-original  
  
**Grandfather’s Lancia Fulvia preserved for 30 years**

Mid-Sixties Fulvia has sat unloved since mid-Nineties  
This 1965 or 1966 Lancia Fulvia coupé was acquired by a watchmaker in the North Holland city of Den Helder on his retirement in the mid-Nineties. Sadly, the unfortunate new owner died of a heart attack soon after and never got to enjoy his car. Its ownership subsequently passed to his son, but the Lancia sadly remained in the same garage without ever seeing any use. Time moves on, and since his son has now also died, ownership of the little Italian car passes to the late watchmaker’s granddaughter, Rose Bakker.  
‘The car deserves a second chance, and some love,’ says Rose. ‘The inside is still in perfect condition and when I step into it, it’s a real blast from the past – like my grandfather has only just stepped out. The car’s Dutch registration is present, along with the paperwork, some books and even a brochure. It’s very original so I’m looking for someone with magic hands who is willing to fix it, not just use it for parts.’  
The Lancia’s structural condition is hard to assess from the photographs but a bloom of surface rust and a broken headlamp may well be the extent of the damage. This is a 1.3 Rallye, a Series 1 car, made before the Fiat takeover in 1969. Interested parties can contact _:a[classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk]{href='mailto:classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk' }_.

Originality extends to the radio set fitted when new

V4 engine of 1.3 Rallye has 1298cc and 86bhp

Current owner doesn’t want car to become a parts donor  
  
**Dream-spec ‘Pagoda’ Mercedes in Pacific north-west**

Reason for Merc’s original lay up unknown  
‘Time warp’ is an over-used phrase when describing long-stored cars, but there is something of the Marie Celeste about this 1969 Mercedes-Benz 280SL, recently extracted from a wooden building on a rural property in Washington State. The green-on-white Washington plate expired in October 1987 and sits in a _Seattle Mercedes-Benz_ plate holder. This last year on the road does not entirely chime with the cassette tapes resting in the centre console: Jackson Browne, the Marshall Tucker Band and the Starland Vocal Band.  
Service stickers reveal a new battery ten years before and an oil change somewhat more recently, but nothing hints at the reason for laying up an apparently sound, solid car – hopefully the few rounds of live ammunition mingling with the tools in the boot have nothing to do with it. The mileage of 33,205 may be all it ever did, or once round the clock.  
Especially attractive is this car’s specification: the combination of a fuel-injected 2.8-litre engine with manual transmission should be appealing to buyers, plus the original factory hard-top is in place. Black hide inside, with what appears to be Dark Burgundy or Maroon paint, should give bidders confidence in spending what’s required to buy, clean and recommission the car. It crosses the block with Bonhams at Quail Lodge on 15 August.

Has this SL been in storage since the Eighties?

Fuel-injected 2.8-litre engine and manual ’box a desirable combination

Factory hard-top has remained with the car

Maroon paint and black interior should welcome bidders

**\[ Bentley Continental GT3-R \]**  
It was an infamous wager made in 1930: drive from Cannes to London quicker than the Blue Train could make it from Cannes to Calais. The feat cemented the legend of the Bentley Boys. We try to top it in a **Bentley Continental GT3-R**  
Words **STEVE MOODY** Photography **RICHARD** **PARDON**

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