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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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Touring cars take Brands Hatch back to the Nineties

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Quentin: AMG Mercedes-Benz SLs and Volkswagen Golfs trade places

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Last dawn: rare 2000s TVR T350c prototype driven

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Reader and long-term MGB owner dream drives a classic Sixties Alvis

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Gareth fuels around with his Sunbeam Alpine Series 2

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1990 BMW 735i SE, £15,995

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Barn finds: Porsche diamond among the dust

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1981 BMW M535i, £39,995

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Five steps to buying a Honda NSX MkI

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Quentin seeks enlightenment for his Ford Mustang

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#### 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.

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**\[ MONTH IN CARS \] 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**

  
The noise builds with an incredible shriek of the high-boost turbos spinning up followed by a thunderous bellow as all of the eight cylinders go potty, with a hard crackle marching through the lightweight Akrapovic titanium exhausts.  
Imagine all your favourite noisy car noises, served in one gluttonous banquet, and you have an inkling. But while wondering how the devil it sounds both heart-flutteringly heavenly and bowel-grippingly satanic at the same time, you’ll already be past the ton and heading for real trouble. The 572bhp Bentley Continental GT3-R is mesmerisingly, brutally quick, but the delivery of extreme speed is a true and unalloyed joy, devoid of the nagging doubt that it’s milliseconds from ruination.

Woolf hound: Barnato was determined to beat the Blue Train  
The fabled challenge that has inspired our cross-country journey ahead came about over dinner at the Carlton Hotel, perched on the French Riveria, in Cannes in 1930, where then Bentley chairman, racer – jubilantly triumphant with three consecutive wins out of the same number of entries in the 24 Hours of Le Mans no less – and diamond-mine heir Woolf Barnato poured scorn on Rover’s and Alvis’s much-heralded beating of the Blue Train from Cannes to Calais.  
A trifle, he thought. Anyone could do that. In the same time, 21-and-a-half hours, he reckoned that he could steer his Bentley from the Carlton to his dinner companion (and soon to be co-driver) Dale Bourn’s club, the Conservative, just off London’s Pall Mall, and pocket a £100 wager in the process.

A cruiser or brusier? This Bentley is both  
‘France starts to look a pifflingly small place with this much pace available’  
That’s definitely a contest worthy of a Bentley Boy. It must have seemed a sticky trial 95 years ago, even for somebody as esteemed and successful as Barnato who had never lost at Le Mans, because it still feels pretty testing today, sitting in the golden glow of a winter morning, downing as much coffee as the Carlton can brew, eyeing the muscular 2015 Continental GT3-Rsitting malevolently on the start line.  
‘It can’t be done,’ some naysayers comment. ‘Certainly not in less than a day with any half-usable pictures taken too.’ Photographer Rich and I, pepped on the tales of Bentley Boys Birkin, Duff and Benjafield, and wide-eyed races against impossible odds, think otherwise. I hope we are not about to make complete Charlies of ourselves.

Cannes we do it? ‘Race’ starts at Carlton Hotel  
An evocative steam train, its first-class-only sleeper cabins loaded with the great and the glamorous from Churchill to Chaplin, the Blue Train – Le Train Bleu – can’t be physically raced anymore because it doesn’t exist. The luxury version reached its final terminus in 1962. So, we have just the Breitling clock on our dash as a rival. Still, we’ve got a fast car to race the ghost train in – the motorsport-inspired GT3-R has a top speed of 170mph (surprisingly low because of its eight shortened gear ratios) from its twin-turbocharged engine. In 2015, the 4.0-litre V8-powered super coupé had a list price of £237,500, with only 300 handbuilt examples produced. Only 35 of those offically came to the UK. It should suffice then.  
Barnato downed his drink in the Carlton bar and coolly swept off down the road in his 6.5-litre Speed Six Mulliner saloon – not the Gurney Nutting fastback-styled machine now called the Blue Train car – but our start is an ignominious one, getting lost in the one-way warren of Cannes. Once out and heading for the hills, I discover a good thing: bloody hell, the powerful super-Bentley accelerates viciously hard.

GT3-R turns heads as well as it dispatches bends  
Its weight and four-wheel drive bring the surefootedness of a veteran steeplechaser and through the rocks of the Col de Vence and Gréolières, the drive becomes a thing of quite majestic proportions. In the icily sharp air, the blastwave the GT3-R produces must be spilling over the edges and down into the valley, rumbling the breakfast crockery. What a splendid way to wake the locals up. France starts looking a piffingly small place with this much pace available.  
Company founder WO Bentley’s attitude was that racing sold cars, so he would have liked the homologation special GT3-R. Its white paint – the default and only colour choice – wide carbon wing, green body streaks and Union Flags look very like the Blancpain endurance racer that inspired it.

Driving in France rarely take its toll if you use the péages  
But it is not the most chic Bentley, more _Max Power_ for millionaires. Ideal for the moneyed types of the Cote D’Azur it seems. We’d arrived the night before, and as our Bentley parked on the Carlton’s mosaic-clad porch, expensively dressed women tottered into the bar cooing appreciatively.  
You might think real Bentley Boys would follow, order magnums of Pol Roger and spend the evening wooing with talk of derring-do and heroic victories. But the Bentley Boys were not quite the party animals many assume, when there was work to be done. The drivers did not drink in the run-up to races, WO banned girlfriends from the pits, while everything was planned and practiced with meticulous precision. As for racing, the idea was to go only just fast enough to win.

No mistaking the motorsport references here  
Finally, we crest the formations and follow wider tree-lined hairpins as they sashay their way down the last whimpers of the Alpes Maritime, where the remarkable braking of the Bentley is shown to its best effect. Downhill with more than two tonnes of momentum, even though the GT3-R is 100kg lighter than the V8S on which it is based – I brake late, and each time find I have to release pressure on the pedal, or the vast and unfading carbon silicon carbide brakes will anchor us ferociously short of the turn. In 2015, the 420mm front vented and drilled discs were the largest fitted to a production car.  
The GT3-R isn’t a full-on sports machine though, even though it was billed at the time as the most driver-focused Bentley ever made. The torque vectoring system subtly acts on the rear wheels, pulling us remarkably tight through a corner as though the car is being trussed in a corset. The steering ratio is still GT-weighted and on some bends you can’t just plait your arms through 180° and spear off after the apex.  
That makes the steering wheel-mounted paddleshift of the eight-speed automatic gearbox harder to use, because the levers stay where they are while your hands are doing the Charleston. Usually, these shifters are an affectation, but the GT3-R feels more like a sequential system than an electronic parlour game.

Blue Train luxury but with a more sporting feel  
Hit the limiter before pulling for the next one and the car will buck angrily, while shifting down meekly without enough engine speed results in the quite odd sensation of speeding up as the engine revs to match the chosen ratio. Basically, it’s all-out or nothing, with no horses to be spared as each gear bangs positively into place. Tremendous fun.  
Then it’s onto the flat wide plains beyond. Our plan is to follow the approach Nelson took, and ‘go straight at ’em’, so that means pointing north-west to Calais on Route Nationales, just as Barnato did. But in his day, there were barely any cars and while the roads were rough, at least they were empty and he could happily and easily keep up his 75mph lope.  
In my imagination, we would roll down tree-lined avenues, punctuated by stops at shuttered cafes for revitalising espressos. But the routes nationales are clogged with lorries, caravans and toll dodgers in battered Citroëns, lined not with plane trees but Super U supermarkets, tyre fitters, pizza outlets and out-of-order toilets – what is it with French plumbing? It’s slow-going, and even with the ballistic acceleration of the Bentley, picking off this endless train of snails is hard work, averaging barely 40mph. That means France could take 19 hours, discounting fuelling, food and finding working urinals.

GT3-R based on the V8S variant of the second-gen Continental GT  
‘The powerful Bentley accelerates viciously hard’  
After hours of irritations though, the roads start to clear as everyone finally heads home, and we snake through the Rhône valley, with the sun dipping behind steep-sided hills, the wintering vines throwing shapes of tortured spidery claws. The GT3-R is magnificent at this sort of pacy gallop, with a smooth consistency, plush damping, and the deep, intoxicating bark of the exhausts thumping out a steady rhythm.  
By the time we reach Burgundy it’s pitch black, but along the flat road of the Routes des Grand Crus skirting the Beaune ridge, we’re making great progress as we flash past vineyards and through tree-lined tunnels floodlit by the brilliant white glare of the Bentley’s LED headlights. I could drive all night. But we are still hundreds of miles from home, and with the stopping for photography added in, hours behind schedule. Just as well the cabin is set up for a long run, with deep, firm Alcantara sports seats trimmed in a jarring green leather, beautifully finished carbonfibre panels steepling from the floor, and a weight-saving banquette in the back where seats would usually be a useful bench for cameras and rubbish.  
Heading into Champagne, we switch to the autoroute to stand any chance of seeing the coast by dawn, but I qualify that strategic change by the fact WO would have done the same – it was all about the winning, not the taking part. He once said, ‘We were not in it for glory and heroics, we were in it for business.’

On top of the world, just like Barnato must have felt  
Because of that, WO rated Barnato as his best driver; on board he was the antithesis of the playboy persona that sold so many cars. Unlike the more erratic Tim Birkin, Barnato was mechanically sympathetic, drove strictly to team orders, and most importantly, never made mistakes.  
On the near-empty motorways I am careful that our behaviour should remain gentlemanly and the toll-station-getways aren’t all pomp and circumstance, trailing a 24-gun salute in our wake, no matter what the temptation. Post-_Charlie Hebdo_ France is in a rather delicate, jumpy state, and antagonising already edgy gendarmes with needless buffoonery just doesn’t seem the done thing. Lucky that, I think, as we crawl up to a gate at Reims to be confronted with what seemed like half the Foreign Legion and a platoon of customs officials. A gruff chap in an important-looking jacket aims a flashlight at us while men with automatic weapons circle. He quizzes us and concludes that we aren’t the renegades they might be looking for.

Official economy high of 31mpg, but probably not on this trip  
‘Now you go,’ he says. ‘But you go very fast, and very loud from here, yes?’ Well, when an official backed up by an arsenal that would have made Wellington think twice about sounding the bugle tells me to give it the full beans, who am I to argue?  
Gales and heavy rain sweep across wide, flat expanses of northern France, bringing inevitable fog banks, often suddenly enveloping us as we drop into shallow valleys, and even the steadfast Bentley needs a careful hand. These are the conditions Barnato encountered, although no major surprise seeing as this is the default climate setting of the miserable Somme region.

‘Come on, open up, I quite need the toilet…’  
But 16 hours in, and starting to feel a bit bleary-eyed, I find that corrective inputs at the wheel aren’t quite as accurate as intended. Coming over melancholic about the challenge ahead, I manage to snap out of it with some mental self-flagellation. Imagine rattling along on barely paved roads, engine roaring away, skinny crossply tyres skipping across standing water, draughts swirling, screens fogging, and suspension crashing with 150 miles to do before croissants and coffee. Barnato wouldn’t have allowed the upper lip to vacillate. He’d have hunkered down behind the wheel and dug in for a long innings. Pull yourself together, you cosseted, 21st century blitherer.  
One of the many advantages we have is that we can use the splendiferous Channel Tunnel to claw back on our ghostly competitors. Barnato reached Boulogne in time for a hearty breakfast and had to wait a couple of hours while the Speed Six was winched aboard the cross-channel steamer bound for Folkestone. On board the next train at 4.15am, we effectively reach Blighty’s ragged road network before we left France.

Are they the ghostly tail lamps of a 1930s Bentley?  
At this point you could rest on your laurels and start dreaming of Champagne corks arcing into the air and pretty girls kissing soot-stained cheeks on Pall Mall, but Monday morning rush-hour into London is not a beast that tames easily and many a grand excursion has nearly gone belly-up in the capital with the finish line at its mercy, as Phileas Fogg would testify.  
Even at half five in the morning, with an hour left on our deadline, the traffic is crawling up the A2, and as we enter central London the clutter and dirt after the glories of France is a shock to a frazzled system. As we get closer, we’re in danger of being late, as each mile becomes gloopier with traffic. Nine hundred miles, only to have the last four wreck it.

Not on top of the sea like Barnato, but beneath it  
Then, as we enter the posh bit of London after Westminster Bridge, the roads clear. We’ve time for a victory roll around Piccadilly and down St James to our spiritual destination at the Conservative Club, where old Tories harried their last few port-soaked umphs but is now, rather aptly, a bank, and then round the corner to the RAC Club with barely 10 minutes to spare. Barnato dashed through the very same doors to sign in officially, four minutes before the Blue Train pulled into Calais. Having managed it in the same time he did, but with none of the deprivations, I have huge respect for his feat.  
Ten years ago, a quarter of a million pounds may have seemed a lot of cash for what appeared to be a breathed-on Continental GT V8S, but this is a unique car. A McLaren or Ferrari at that price was a different animal – there’s nothing else like this marvellous blunderbuss, a modern evocation of the blisteringly fast ‘lorries’ WO built that Ettore Bugatti was both so disparaging of and beaten by.

At last, the bright lights of London. Hooray!  
In the darkness of a wet London morning, the GT3-R sits like the gleaming contemporary classic it is among grimy delivery lorries disgorging their day’s goods. I want to tell everyone about the magnitude of what we’ve just done, but nobody seems bothered. I wanted to scream and shout, to strike up the brass band and wear a sash: look at what we’ve seen and where we’ve come from, hear how we’ve raced legends and beaten ghosts.  
I desperately hobble into the RAC Club and find a working urinal, below a picture of WO Bentley. I like to think the old boy would have approved of our dash – we are Bentley Boys after all.  
  
**2015 Bentley Continental GT3-R**  
**Engine** 3993cc V8, dohc, Bosch direct fuel injection, IHI twin turbochargers  
**Power and torque** 572bhp @ 6000rpm; 518lb ft 360lb ft @ 1700rpm  
**Transmission** ZF 8HP90 eight-speed automatic with paddleshift, four-wheel drive  
**Steering** Rack and pinion, speed sensitive and electronically power-assisted  
**Suspension** Front: four-link double wishbones, computer-controlled self-levelling air suspension, anti-roll bar. Rear: trapezoidal multi-link, computer-controlled self-levelling air suspension, anti roll-bar  
**Brakes** Front and rear: vented and drilled carbon silicon carbide discs, servo-assisted  
**Performance** Top speed: 170mph; 0-60mph: 3.8sec  
**Weight** 2120kg (4673lb)  
**Fuel consumption** 15-31mpg  
**Cost new** £237,500  
**Price now** £90,000-£160,000  
  
**HOW TO BE A BENTLEY BOY**  
**1\. BUY A RACING CAR**  
More than £10m bags you ‘Old Number One’, the Bentley Speed Six which won Le Mans in 1929 and 1930, if it were up for sale. £365k buys a used 500bhp Continental GT3 racer. Upwards of £40 enters you in the Living Room 24hrs in a Scalextric Bentley Continental GT3 (1:32 scale Krug bottles not included).  
**2\. PLAY HARD**  
WO said of his charges, ‘The public liked to imagine them living with several mistresses and very fast Bentleys, drinking champagne in night clubs, playing the horses, and beating furiously around racing tracks at the weekend. When they were not yachting in the Med, skiing in Switzerland, or playing in Cannes, the parties were often held in Grosvenor Square, the south-east side of which known as Bentley Corner.’  
**3\. DRINK!**  
Barnato was said to be able to drink two bottles of Champagne ‘to no visible effect’. One of the drinks of choice was the vicious Bentley cocktail – one part Dubonnet, one part Calvados – which was dreamt up at a party in Grosvenor Square when the other available drinks ran out.  
**4\. WIN AT ALL COST**  
Despite the playboy antics, a cold, hard winning mentality is at the core of the Bentley Boy ethos. That means destroying rivals, as Barnato did in 1930 at Le Mans, harrying the faster Mercedes early in the race and forcing the driving great Rudolf Caracciola to use the car’s supercharger to the full, right until it blew a gasket.  
WO wasn’t interested in the glory, just the PR that came from winning. He said, ‘I would have been perfectly content to see our cars circulating round Le Mans in inglorious solitude so long as the _Daily Mail_ gave us their front page on Monday morning!’  
**5\. HAVE MASSIVE AND LAVISH PARTIES**  
After the 1929 Le Mans win, Woolf Barnato held a huge party at his Arderun mansion in Surrey, in which the drive was turned into a racetrack, and bars were even built as pitstops!  
  
**BLUE TRAIN RACE: 1930 VS 2025**  
**1930**

  
**Route** Cannes, Aix-en-Provence, Lyon, Auxerre, Paris, Calais  
**Car** Bentley Mulliner Speed Six Saloon (probably)  
**Engine** Six-cylinders inline  
**Power** 180bhp @ 3500rpm  
**Price new** c£1800  
**Miles** Unknown  
**Time** 21hrs 36 minutes  
**Average speed** 43mph  
**Money won** £100  
**Fines** £200 by Automotive Club de France for racing on roads  
  
**2025**

  
**Route** Cannes, Valences, Lyons, Reims, Calais  
**Car** 2015 Bentley Continental GT3-R  
**Engine** V8, twin-turbochargers  
**Power** 580bhp @ 6000rpm  
**Price new** £237,500  
**Miles** 838  
**Time** 21hrs, 28 minutes  
**Average speed** 39mph (with photography!)  
**Money won** £0  
**Fines** None

**\[ OUR CARS \] _1997 Maserati Ghibli Cup_**

Used relatively easily throughout the winter, Nathan’s Ghibli drew fans at Bicester meet  
  
**Owned by** Nathan Chadwick (c/o _:a[classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk]{href='mailto:classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk' }_)  
**Time owned** Two years  
**Latest/total miles** 5404/85,100  
**Latest/total costs** £2276/£28,024  
**Previously** Fixed damper, bonnet stay issues  
Famed Maserati Ghibli Cup owner – and car owning inspiration – Harry Metcalfe has always praised the model for its sheer useability.  
He also mentioned that on one occasion he got an indicated 28mpg out of his. Well, I can certainly attest to the first statement – it’s been used very regularly over the winter months. It played a starring role in Hagerty’s Bull List guide to the best value cars and was on display at Hagerty’s Clubhouse for the snowy Bicester Scramble in January. I still haven’t quite recovered from watching all the toddlers pawing at it as they wandered by.  
Still, it’s good to be using it, but doing so did reveal some particularly horrific fuel consumption. OK, so my size 12 right foot is heavier than most, and the fuel gauge is on the pessimistic side, but still, an ‘enthusiastic’ trip from Bourne to Melton Mowbray shouldn’t empty half the tank. I couldn’t even manage that on a test track with a V10 BMW M6 and somebody else’s fuel card. There was also a pong of fuel, which I put down to the car’s, well, Italian-ness.  
The definitive answer came at the yearly service via McGrath Maserati. It turns out the rubber seal around the fuel cap had split, splashing fuel out liberally during hard cornering, and with a full tank. Replacing it would be, you’d have thought, fairly easy. The Ghibli II is a revised Biturbo in essence, of which Maserati built 40,000. A replacement Ghibli II fuel cap costs €40 from Passione Biturbo (_:a[passionebiturbo.com]{href='https://passionebiturbo.com' }_).

New seal for rare fuel cap sourced from an Aprilia superbike  
Only, this isn’t a normal Ghibli II. The racing-look fuel cap and its internals is bespoke to the 60 Cups built, and in three little letters familiar to anyone with even a mildly interesting Italian car of the Nineties these days, is NLA (No Longer Available). Well, at least from Maserati.  
Hmm. Not being able to use the best-handling, most focused Maserati of a generation for fear of it ending in a fireball, or it having a driving range of around 120 miles, was clearly vexing. Eventually, David Willoughby at McGrath was able to find a match with an Aprilia superbike of a similar vintage – my car’s fuel seal problem was by far not the only one, and this discovery has already helped other Cup owners.  
The service was also an opportunity to treat the Maserati to new front discs and pads. I interviewed the engineer for the Cup once, and he chuckled and said the brakes were terrible even when the car was new. The Cup’s 17in wheels were as far as Maserati felt they could take the diameter – and that doesn’t leave much room within to contain 330bhp. That’s made even worse when, like mine, they exhibited horrendous juddering.  
Pleasingly, things are much improved now, but it’s still better to rein things in with engine braking. But then, this kind of physicality, this level of engagement, is exactly what drew me to the car in the first place. And as for the rear discs? Thankfully they’re fine. That’s a good job, really – yes, they’re NLA, too…

**\[ CHASING CARS \] Nigel Boothman’s Market headliner**  
Shelby prototype comes to Broad Arrow auction with a tick-list of desirable features

A ferocious favourite, this picture-perfect, highly original Shelby Cobra has both provenance and famed connections – will these help it achieve or even pass its $1.5m-$2m (£1.1m-£1.5m) estimate?  
This is the fourth Shelby Cobra constructed, from the earliest phase of the model’s history before Carroll Shelby began production at his new base in Venice, California. Instead, this car, like others in the first half-dozen, were constructed at European Cars in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where car dealer Ed Hugus took on the work for an underfunded Shelby. The suggestion that Shelby should contact AC cars to discuss his idea for an American engine in a nimble British chassis apparently originated from Hugus, and just as significantly, Hugus agreed to finance and help build the first few cars once the concept was agreed.  
This one, CSX 2003, was billed to Shelby American on 27 July 1962 and finished by European Cars in white over a red interior. Rather than moving straight on to a private customer, it and CSX 2004 were sent to Ford’s Dearborn facility for evaluation. Henry Ford II and his engineers were not going to agree any formal supply agreement for the V8 engines without a close look at the car they would be helping to create, and Ford himself is said to have inspected and driven this car during that period.  
‘Henry Ford II himself is said to have inspected and driven this car’  
It found its first owner with George Reed of Reed’s Racing Rats (RRR Motors) in Homewood, Illinois, before passing to another keeper who placed it in storage between 1969 and 1979. It was then removed, restored by Cobra specialist Bill Kemper of Barrington, Illinois in 1980 and passed through a few more owners – one of whom gave it blue Daytona stripes – before it found a long-term home in Virginia with Richard ‘Doc’ McAdam. He had the car repainted to remove the stripes and used it as his daily transport to the hospital where he worked as a surgeon. Eventually, retirement for both owner and car saw use become more sporadic between sessions of climate-controlled storage. Declining health now forces the sale of this unusually original and very early Shelby Cobra.  
Though not an untouched, barn-fresh survivor, CSX 2003 retains its original 260ci – 4.2-litre – V8, Borg-Warner four-speed manual gearbox and back axle. Original motors are rare enough for any 260ci Cobra, because many were re-engined with 289ci units. An encounter with Carroll Shelby during Mr McAdam’s ownership resulted in Shelby’s signature inside the glove box lid.  
Cobra values have been hovering just under £1m for the very best, with the less numerous 427s going a little higher when they appear. All were trumped in 2016 by the extraordinary $13.75m (£9.98m) for the very first Shelby Cobra, consigned by the Carroll Hall Shelby Trust, but there have been few results by which to judge this car’s estimate of $1.5m-$2m (£1.1m-£1.5m) since. A time-warp, 5200-mile example failed to sell at Gooding & Co’s Pebble Beach sale in 2003 at $1.8m-$2.5m (£1.3m-£1.8m), and that has probably influenced the modest guide for this car. It will be offered at Broad Arrow’s 13 August Monterey Jet Centre sale.

**\[ Life Cycle \]**  
Crashed and rebuilt, this Austin Allegro prototype became a rally car, then a museum exhibit. Brought back to life, it has been reunited with a previous driver to compete again  
Words **CHRIS WOOD** Photography **JORDAN BUTTERS**

Reliability issues stopped Allegro socking it to its rally rivals in period  
**1972 – testing life of fifth Allegro prototype ends**  
Built in 1972 and in use as a general test car, the fate of the fifth Austin Allegro Fully Engineered Prototype (FEP) changed during its first year of life. With Don Kettleborough – a member of the experimental team at the British Leyland (BL) Longbridge car factory – on board, it was being driven in the Lickey Hills in Worcestershire. ‘I was sitting in the back seat and the driver indicated to turn right. I could see a Ford Zephyr coming the other way, but our driver obviously couldn’t – we met the Zephyr head-on, and it made a mess of the front of the Allegro.’  
‘Following the crash, the car was rebuilt, and was used for suspension and handling work. As the testing process moved on, FEP5 was needed less and less, so it sat in a corner of the experimental department workshop. We managed to persuade BL management to let us use it for rallying. Up to that time I’d been rallying a Mini Cooper S, and fancied something with more power. It also appealed because it wasn’t going to cost me anything.

FEP5 only has a commission number, no VIN

1973 Original main dials and dash not usual on a rally car  
‘I had previously worked as a fitter, so could do any mechanical work myself. To locate the extra and uprated dampers, we fabricated some steel turrets, welded into the body. Longbridge was a busy place – contacts from the parts manufacturers came in every day; Girling provided the four-pot caliper brakes, also fitted to Volvo 240s. Working in the experimental team, and as an ex-Austin apprentice, I had contacts throughout the factory so could get anything made.’  
The engine block was bored out, and using pistons from a Fiat 128, capacity increased from 1750cc to 1915cc. A pair of Weber twin-choke 45DCOEs replaced the standard SU carburettors, along with the exhaust manifold from the yet-to-be-launched Allegro HL. Power increased from 90bhp – the same as a regular 1750HL – to a useful 150bhp at 6000rpm.

1973 Weber twin-choke 45DCOE carburettors feed rebored 1915cc engine

Peter shows writer Chris foam-filled 40 litre fuel cell that dominates boot  
The first production car with Hydragas suspension, the Allegro used displacer units containing a rubber spring above each wheel. Partially filled with nitrogen gas and liquid, a flexible membrane separated the the two fluids. Similar to the Hydrolastic system used on the British Motor Corporation’s products in the Sixties, the units were linked on each side of the car to improve suspension control and ride. A more robust setup was required for rallying, so they were isolated at each corner. Dunlop produced special replacements without internal valves, because the standard units would have overheated due to the lack of fluid displacement.  
Although it approved the car’s use for motorsport, the management at BL didn’t want FEP5 to be seen as a works vehicle, so Patrick Motors – part of the wider Midlands-based Patrick Motors Group (PMG) – became the entrant, its livery added to the Allegro’s body. The final change was an administrative one – BL wanted the Allegro to wear an up-to-date numberplate, so JUK 254K became SOC 292M.

1975 The PMG Gazette – the Patrick Motor Group magazine

1975 BL didn’t want works entry; FEP5 competed under PMG name  
Don began to compete in the National Road Rallies Championship and _Motoring News_ events initially with navigator Denis Osborne, then with Mike Sones. ‘After an all-night drive in my rallying Mini, my hands would be red raw. The Allegro was much easier to drive and had lots of grip. We were competitive, but we were up against drivers like Tony Pond and Russell Brooks in Ford Escort Mexicos. They were top-class drivers and would have beaten me, even if they happened to be driving the Allegro!’  
‘We had some good results – sixth in the Three Spires Road Rally in March 1975; seventh in the Border Uniflo Rally a month later; and we won the Wheelspin Road Rally the same month. We competed in 12 events during 1974 and 1975, but unfortunately, there were reliability problems – we’d be going well and then something would break. Each of the four times we retired we had a different issue, from a broken exhaust to an oil leak, as well as gearbox and suspension failures.’  
Towards the end of 1975, BL’s interest in FEP5 reduced and the car headed for its next chapter.

1975 Don Kettleborough and Mike Sones on the Border Uniflo Rally

1977 Peter (far right) helps Derek Bell replace a tyre on his MkII Escort  
**1976 – FEP5 has several nights at the museum**  
The Allegro was then loaned to the Donington Collection, joining Tom Wheatcroft’s large museum of Grand Prix and racing cars for a year, after which BL Heritage requested the return of the car.  
**1977 – Peter Cooper finds FEP5 behind bike sheds**  
Peter Cooper worked as a development engineer for Land Rover. ‘Behind the bike sheds at Solihull was a building that housed cars from the BL Heritage collection, and I asked about the Allegro. “It’s a rally car, but we don’t know what to do with it,” was the reply. I got the go-ahead to give it a run around the test track. For an Allegro it was quick, and I persuaded the management to release it to me for rallying and other motorsport competition. I had been involved in rallying since I was 17, and as part of Rally Rescue, worked on event stage safety. I paid a peppercorn rent for the car – all the other costs were down to me and my navigator.

1978 Peter Cooper talking with Chrissie Ashford in the Curborough Paddock  
‘Our first event was the Vagabond Rally in September 1977. We were fourth in our class on the Derby Crest Stages, and in November on the Little Rally Stages, we finished first in class and fourth overall, all very encouraging. Early in 1978, we had some problems with the gearbox, but we managed to fix it in time for the Graham Hill Trophy Sprint at Curborough. I shared the car with Chrissie Ashford, who went on to become British Ladies' Rally Champion that year. I was chuffed to be within 0.2 seconds of Chrissie, and this event would have some significance much later in the car’s life.’  
In 1979 the car was back at Donington Park, but this time on the circuit. It had been resprayed in black and orange for the ‘Allegro’s got Vvvrrooomm’ advertising campaign and was on show at the BL Motor Sports Press Day. A cylinder head gasket failure, familiar to many Allegro owners, prematurely ended its involvement, though.

Harris Mann-designed Allegro was rarely seen as a rally car  
‘For an Allegro it was quick, and I persuaded the management to release it to me for rallying’  
The car’s run of bad luck that year continued. Driving around Birmingham to another event, it was rear-ended in a traffic queue by the crew’s own service van, which also pushed it into the car ahead. The resulting front and rear bodywork damage repaired, the whole car was resprayed black. After a small number of further rallies, the Allegro resumed a quieter life back with the BL Heritage Collection.  
**Early 1980s – The Patrick Collection buys FEP5**  
In return for having its name on the car, the Patrick Motors Group provided the fuel for competition use. The banners on each side of the Allegro reflected the two main locations – ‘Birmingham’ adorned the driver’s side; ‘Bournemouth’ on the passenger flank.  
Managing director for Patrick Motors Group (PMG), Alexander Patrick, had been inspired by the mirrored writing on the front of ambulances. At his instruction, the PMG logo was added in a mirrored form to the front of the Allegro – he wanted anyone seeing the car in their rear-view mirror to be completely clear about the main sponsor.

Peter tops up the super unleaded; the Webers are thirsty  
The distinctive rallying Allegro was subsequently bought by The Patrick Collection, the museum operated by PMG. Resprayed back to the original colours of ‘Blaze’ with white stripes, the previous sponsorship livery was returned to the body and the car went on display at the purpose-built museum in Lifford Lane, Kings Norton, Birmingham. Peter Cooper visited the collection. ‘I asked the museum to contact me if the Allegro was ever put up for sale, because I would be very keen to buy it.’  
Unknown to Peter, in late 1994, The Patrick Collection decided to auction part of its museum collection because of the prohibitive upkeep costs of many of the cars. Paul Vincent and Paul Foster were active members of the Allegro Club International and were tipped off by the club’s archivist, Colin Corke. ‘Paul Foster and I found ourselves at Olympia in London looking at Lot 93 of the Brooks auction and we were highly impressed by the extent of the modifications,’ Paul Vincent explains. ‘The catalogue estimated a sale price of £2000-£5000 and we set ourselves a limit of £2500 – the maximum our finances would allow. Sadly, we were outbid.’

Moto-Lita wheel replaces famous quartic  
**1995 – the Pauls buy the Allegro for £3000**  
Paul Vincent continues the story. ‘In spring 1995, we became aware that the car was being offered for sale again, following a change of plans by the auction buyer. Paul Foster contacted the seller and atfter much negotiation, agreed a price of £3000. The car was delivered to me in Chippenham, Wiltshire, and stored in my garage. At the time, DVLA rules allowed a vehicle to be registered in joint names, so Paul and I both had our names on the V5 document. I arranged an MoT, we found a suitable insurance policy and FEP5 became fully roadworthy again.’  
‘Our very first outing returned the car back to its natural environment. I had been a member of the Tavern Motor Club in Bristol for several years, regularly taking on marshalling duties. At the end of September 1995, we took SOC down to Wellington in Somerset to marshal on a couple of night sections during the historic Rallye Bristowe.  
‘In 1996 we drove the car to the AGM of the Allegro Club International at Coventry Transport Museum and back to Chippenham. Later that year, we got to within half a mile of the Wroughton Festival of Transport when the engine stopped abruptly. Investigation soon revealed the rotor arm in the distributor wasn’t turning. I had encountered this on Maxis in the past and knew straight away the oil pump had seized. A Vanden Plas 1500 towed us to the show, and we arranged to be recovered home by the AA. The Allegro was then stored in the garage of Paul Foster’s grandmother in Luton.

1979 FEP5 a star in official BL press photo  
‘Paul’s family were convinced the engine needed a full stripdown and refurbishment. Once removed, it was taken to a local specialist. As part of the rebuild, another set of 84mm Fiat pistons had been sourced and we had been advised that a custom-made copper/asbestos cylinder head gasket should be used – £3000 later, FEP5 was running again. A while later, the special head gasket failed and, after consulting former driver Peter Cooper, we opted for a good-quality standard gasket as usually fitted on regular BMC E-series engines.  
‘A couple of years passed and Paul Foster’s father, Vernon, asked if I would be interested in selling my half-share of the car to him and I agreed, with the handover taking place in October 1999. At that particular point, I was ready to move on and explore other interests, although I was only able to get back my original £1500 investment.’

1979 Even added VROOM didn’t help Allegro defeat Escort Mexicos

It’s not time up for this Allegro’s life as a rally car  
‘Once Paul and I owned the car, further works were carried out to remedy the seriously corroded front chassis members,’ recalls Vernon Foster. ‘They were filled with post-rally gravel, following Peter’s many exploits with the car. Other minor mechanical jobs such as new tyres and brake shoes were also completed.  
‘We continued with repairs and maintenance during our ownership, and FEP5 was displayed in a running condition at local car shows in and around Luton and even Allegro specific events. Peter Cooper was quite often at these events, too, and regularly reminded us that he would be a willing owner of the Allegro if we ever decided to sell it.’  
**2023 – Peter Cooper finally owns FEP5**  
After many years Peter’s persistence paid off, and he took ownership of the Allegro in February 2023, paying Paul and Vernon Forster a five-figure sum. Peter wished to see the car back in competition. ‘I wanted to see the car doing what it was built for and making best use of its unique engine. I set about recommissioning the car to compete in hillclimbs and sprints from April 2023 onwards.’

1979 Service crew van makes aerodynamic modifications

1979 Peter behind the wheel at the Rali Bro Myrddin in Wales

Back in original ‘Blaze’ and white colour scheme from 1974  
‘I wanted to see the car doing what it was built for and making best use of its unique engine’  
‘As the Allegro had only been lightly used, there were few issues that needed to be resolved. These included starting problems – the starter motor needed an overhaul and I fitted 12V coils; there was a lack of brakes, which turned out to be the need for a new master cylinder and brake lines; one of the petrol pumps needed reassembly; a new set of Yokohama tyres were fitted to the road wheels; and all four of the Hydragas suspension spheres needed replacing with new isolated units.  
‘The car also had to be made up to date with current motorsport regulations in order to allow it to compete. While I was keen to keep it as original as possible, I had to accept that there were certain components that needed changing. Additions included a brand-new fire extinguisher system – linked to two nozzles within the cabin and two in the engine compartment – along with more modern four-point harnesses and racing seats. I also added the Super Oscar driving lamps, with their specially manufactured bespoke lamp brackets.’

1980s Peter visits the Allegro at The Patrick Collection

Engine rebuilt once more at start of 2025  
Peter aimed to the get the car ready for the 2023 Owen Motor Club Graham Hill Trophy Sprint at Curborough, a milestone event for him. ‘I had driven the car at this event 45 years previously and was delighted to be able to use the same competition number. We managed to get some photographs taken at the very same paddock location and corner of the track. It was great to achieve this in the Allegro!’  
‘I also registered to take part in the “Fassi” Classic Speed Championship of sprints and hillclimbs run by the Bugatti Owners Club. Throughout 2023 the car was very reliable, although it was down on power and using a lot of oil. I scored some points through the handicap system of the Speed Championship, and at the end of the season, I entered the Rallye Prescott event, looking forward to some timed runs both in daylight and darkness.

2023 Curborough Paddock, 45 years since the last time

New rallying adventures await Peter and Allegro  
‘On my first run, the car stopped at Pardon Hairpin and refused to restart. Thankfully, it was the only DNF of the year but it was a disappointing way to end. There was further dismay when a full engine stripdown revealed damage to number three piston as well as wear in the bores – shortly after the event I made the decision to buy a new cylinder block and also to have the crankshaft reground.  
‘Unfortunately, during the 2024 season, the Allegro was less reliable, with problems at every one of the four events that I attended. Among the difficulties I had was finding a good quality supplier to make the special head gasket, which meant I resorted to using a standard one. It didn’t work well in competition conditions at all, with plenty of blue smoke on display at times! At Rallye Prescott, the distributor body broke on the first practice run, so the engine died before I reached the finish line.’

Peter and FEP5’s bond goes back over 40 years

2024 Peter and Allegro Rally wait to start Rallye Prescott  
Despite these setbacks, Peter is determined to get the car reliable again and in good shape for competition. ‘This year began with yet another engine rebuild. The unique head gaskets that I need are being manufactured from scratch to fit the block that had already been modified for the 2024 season. I’m aiming to get the previous reliability back but hopefully with a bit more power.  
‘As with any old car, there are other challenges, too. The rare magnesium Minilite wheels will be refurbished and repainted, but there are very few wheel specialists that will work on magnesium, so that will involve a trip up to Yorkshire. But that’s all part of owning this car – it has the honour of being the oldest running Allegro, and it’s definitely going to be one that keeps on running!’  
**Know your classic’s previous owners?**  
Let us know at :a[classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk]{href='mailto:classic.cars@bauermedia.co.uk' } and it might make for one of our features

Inside the September issue, we get behind the wheel of the original **Mini Cooper**, **Ford Escort Mexico**, **Mazda MX-5 MkI**, **Peugeot 106 Rallye MkI** and the **Lotus Elise S1** to find out how light weight helps to make them so rewarding to drive; we also experience the 4.0-litre **TVR T350c prototype**.

In this month’s List feature, a _Classic Cars_ reader and long-term MGB owner dream-drives a classic Sixties **Alvis TD21**; we also learn how a shabby Seventies **Ferrari 308GTS** enjoyed a restoration fit for a multi-million-pound 250SWB, and revel in the fascinating life story of an **Aston Martin DB7 Vantage** as documented by its one and only owner.

All that, plus our columnists Quentin Willson and Alex Riley, market news and event highlights, the highs and lows of owning our classics, cars for sale tested, and an **MGB** buying guide, make your latest issue unmissable.

#### Kent circuit goes all-out on circuit racing nostalgia with Super Touring Power event

Continuing the rise of one of the fastest-growing events on the calendar, Super Touring Power returned triumphant to Brands Hatch. Ostensibly a celebration of all things tin-topped, the on-track action encompassed everything from the Fifties to the 2000s, including wild Seventies super saloons and Australian V8 Supercars. But the Nineties stole the show. In the paddock, clubs recreated manufacturers’ displays with mint surviving road and promo cars; visitors walked through a classic parking area en route to the action, Britpop blared from the speakers, and a suite of Playstations ran the classic _TOCA Touring Cars_ videogame.

Displayed in the paddock in all its rusty, battered glory, this Alfa is potentially one of the Super Touring era’s most infamous cars. ‘It’s reputedly the Tarquini Knockhill crash car, patched back together as a promotional show car after the accident,’ said Alfa Romeo expert Chris Snowdon. After Alfa was banned from using its legally questionable adjustable aerodynamics mid-way through the 1994 season, Gabriele Tarquini’s 155 clipped a kerb entering Duffus Dip at Knockhill, the sudden lift flipping it into six barrel-rolls. Amazingly, Tarquini walked away completely unharmed and ultimately salvaged his championship lead, but the car was a wreck.

‘There are conflicting stories regarding this car,’ Snowdon said. ‘I bought it from Alfa GB, which said it was the Knockhill car, but Tarquini himself has since said it was the car he crashed at Snetterton. That said, Tarquini claimed to have driven the Knockhill car again later in the season, but after the crash it was deemed unraceworthy. I’ve studied the crash footage and the damage to this car, including to the underside, is consistent with the Knockhill incident.

‘Either way, it was taken back to Italy and rebuilt with various parts from 1993-season Italian Super Touring 155s – wheels, door mirrors – but the rear suspension mounting was still broken, and a right-hand strut was used on the left side, just to patch it up. It did a tour of UK Alfa dealerships, as well as going on display in the paddock, following the team around in 1995. I sold it to Gary Lucas, who got it running again with a Lancia Delta Integrale engine, but then he moved to Tasmania and put it up for sale. Instead, it sat outside for 20 years, going rusty.’

New owner of the car Titus Rowlandson has decided to restore it. ‘It’ll go back to 1994 BTCC specification,’ he said. Not to race though – I’m not a racing driver, more a mechanic who appreciates Abarth engineering.’

Another infamous Super Touring crash survivor, this mid-restoration Carina was the car which caused Murray Walker to infamously quip ‘The car on its roof is a Toyota’ at the 1993 Silverstone Grand Prix support race. Julian Bailey crashed into team-mate Will Hoy, flipping his car, while the pair were headed for a one-two finish, ultimately gifting Nissan its first-ever BTCC win.

Post-crash, Bailey’s car wasn’t as badly damaged as Hoy’s, and went on to win the next race, at Knockhill. However, after the end of the season Hoy, Bailey and the Toyota GB team contested a race at Monza, where it was this car that found itself flipped on its roof.

Toyota GB took the car back and, as per Alfa Romeo, rebuilt it as a promotional car, with a new roof, and suspension taken from Andy Rouse’s 1992 Carina. Photographer Jakob Ebrey bought it as a part-finished restoration project.

‘It has no engine or gearbox as yet, but I do have ambitions of getting it back on track,’ said Ebrey. ‘The latest stage of the restoration, including the graphics from SDS, was completed this week.’

This strikingly unusual Super Tourer was racing in the UK for the first time since 1994, having been shipped all the way from New Zealand to take part. Patrick Watts originally drove it, initially as a single-car team replacing an underpowered 323F mid-way through the 1993 BTCC season. He achieved a pole position in the car at Snetterton, but otherwise struggled to match the might of the better-funded works teams.

‘Once Patrick finished with it in 1994, it went to Slim Borgudd, who first raced it at the Touring Car World Cup at Monza, putting it on its roof,’ said owner Paul McCarthy. ‘He then won the Nordic Touring Car Championship in it, then the car went to the US to be used as a spare car in the North American Touring Car Championship – a series that failed to popularise Super Touring over there.

‘It came back to the UK with an owner who intended to club race with it, but never did, so I bought it and brought it back to New Zealand.

‘It’s remarkably original – someone ran into the side of it at one point and the damage can still be seen – but I don’t want to over-restore it. Mazda was tiny compared to the other works teams, and they only had one car for Watts, and then another laterr for Matt Neal, who came along with Team Dynamics money. He had a huge accident in his Xedos, ended up in hospital and was ruled out of the rest of the season.’

This car, a BTC-T-era challenger from the 2002 BTCC season, once appeared in _Classic Cars_’ Barn Finds section. It’s now fully-restored and racing this year for the first time in 20 years.

‘It had been unloved,’ said owner Eddie Farrow, who bought it last year. ‘We tested it at Donington earlier this year, but found a lot of problems, and ended up having to change the entire fuel system. We finally got the rebuilt engine back at 2:30am on Thursday morning!’

The car was driven by Tim Harvey in his final BTCC season. He managed routine mid-grid finishes with it culminating in a third place at the penultimate meeting at Brands Hatch, although teammate Dan Eaves secured the Independents’ Championship in its sister car. ‘After Harvey finished with it, Vic Lee Racing switched to the new Peugeot 307 and the car went to John George, who returned it to the BTCC grid in 2004, but scored no points. It then did a season in Britcar endurance racing, before being mothballed – until it was found in that barn.’

Another New Zealand visitor was the Honda that last raced in the UK in 1996 driven by David Leslie. One of seven drivers to break the deadlock exerted by the later-banned four-wheel drive Audi A4 Sport Quattro, he scored wins in the car at Silverstone, Thruxton and Donington Park.

‘A lot of these cars disappeared, ending up in the hands of people who couldn’t afford to race them,’ said Frank Lyons, who was running the car on behalf of its owner. ‘Then Super Touring cars were outlawed in the BTCC in 2001, but kept running in other countries, so there was a new market for them in Australia and New Zealand. It was a similar situation with Formula 5000 cars in the late Seventies. This car, and many others, ended up racing at places like Bathurst.’

Although not a BTCC car, this Honda nonetheless has works pedigree. ‘It was built in 1997 by Synchro Motorsport, the racing division of Honda UK in Swindon, to contest the National Saloon Car Championship,’ said owner Chris Beadle. ‘After that season, it switched to endurance racing, with 24-hour races at both the Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps.

‘Honda works driver Dave Allan mainly drove it, before switching to the BTCC,’ Beadle continued. Allan drove works Hondas in 2001-2. ‘I built cars which raced against him!’ Beadle added. ‘Alfa Romeos for Gary Ales and Peugeots for Vic Lee. This car disappeared from the racing scene after 2000, but a friend of mine had a Ford Fiesta Cup car that he sold, taking this in part-exchange. I really couldn’t turn down the chance to buy a full works Honda!’

Recently restored by PugSport, this Peugeot was originally driven by the Norwegian Roger Möen in the 2001 BTCC, during a brief period when the Championship reverted to including a production car class. Driving for privateer team HTML, Möen finished third in class in the Bowman Motorsport-built car, with 15 class podiums en route including seven wins. Möen, who first raced in the BTCC in 1998, secured a drive with Vic Lee Racing in the 2003 Swedish Touring Car Championship, but the team pulled out through lack of funds after just one round.

**\[ CHASING CARS \] Quentin Willson’s hot tips**  
Aston Martin DB6 price reset continues and restorations don’t add up

  
Have Aston DB6 values plateaued yet? Over the last few years auction hammer prices have tumbled, depressed by a flow of indifferent DB6s coming out of a large, dispersed UAE collection, most with lost histories and needing work after decades in storage. Last year one of those cars, an older restoration 1970 auto on static display for 14 years, made £132,500 – a low point for a together, but needing major recommissioning, DB6. Or so we thought.  
But this April, Bonhams sold a similar, but much better, 1970 MkII automatic in Silver Birch with blue leather, factory converted to Vantage spec in period for just £155,250. ARP 363J had a long and detailed history back to 1975, only four previous owners, and bills for an older chassis/sill restoration and engine and gearbox rebuilds. A regularly used, patinated DB6, needing light fettling.

  
‘So, what we can glean from the sort of price swings we normally see in the stock market?’  
Then, later in April, Mathewsons sold a 1969 MkII manual, unrestored but beautifully mint and original with ‘extensive history’ and a sheaf of previous MoTs for £200,000. SVJ 342H had never been taken apart, just conscientiously maintained and cherished and looked absolutely stunning. And just to remind us how DB6 values have softened, back in the palmy days of 2015, Bonhams sold a similar MkII 1970 Silver Birch auto that wasn’t nearly as nice or with such a comprehensive history as the Mathewsons’ stunner, for £281,500. Ouch.  
So, what we can glean from the sort of price swings we normally see in the stock market? Project DB6s needing £150k restos just don’t make sense anymore. At auction, faded but running older restoration autos need to be around £120k-£140k. Nice and well-maintained manuals requiring gentle freshening should be about £160k. And mint manual examples in really superlative condition with history need to be £200k-£240k. Add another £30k if it’s a proper factory Vantage, deduct £10k for automatics and then understand that dealer prices – there are lots of DB6s with the trade – will be higher. Oh, and Volante convertibles are still strong money. Fingers crossed these prices don’t fall further.  
  
**A tough choice – Mercedes-Benz SL55 or SL63 AMG?**

  
Here’s a dilemma. Do you buy a really nice, early 2000s, low mileage Mercedes R230 SL55 AMG for around £20k or an equally fine 2013 R231 SL63 for a couple of grand more? In April, H&H sold a lovely Obsidian Black 2003 SL55 with 36,000 miles and one owner for £19,969. But on the Collecting Cars website, a Tenorite Grey, three-owner, 52,000 mile, 2013 SL63 with ten stamps made £22,968.  
A generation apart, both have glorious rumbling AMG V8s, and one is a neo-classic, the other a modern supercar. I’m lucky to have owned both models and remember them as similarly urgent. The 63 is refined, poised, full of standard kit and never stops accelerating. The 55 on the other hand is raw, fierce and noisy so feels much faster – although it’s not. I’ve visited France in both, and in the 63 I felt as fresh as a daisy, but in the 55 I needed earplugs and a lie down. And that’s the difference. Technological refinement versus loud, old-school brawn. As the price graphs of these two SLs cross, modern buyers will have to face this tantalising choice.  
Being brutally practical, it would have to be the later SL because it would likely be more reliable than the R230 that came with plenty of glitches – not least its tricksy folding roof. By the time Mercedes fielded the SL63 (and 65) most of the electrical issues were sorted. But it wouldn’t attract as much attention or make as much noise as the gloriously full-throated SL55. One thing’s definite though – that we have the opportunity to choose between such magnificent Mercs for £20k should make us all burst out cheering.  
  
**Golf MkI convertibles of all types taken more seriously**

  
First and second-gen VW Golf GTIs are hot. These days £25k isn’t unusual for well restored or original specimens – especially Campaign MkIs and mint 16-valve MkIIs. Now it looks like values of the convertibles are climbing too. In April, a last-of-the-line special edition 1992 Rivage sold on Collecting Cars for £22,001 – one of the highest auction bids ever for a MkI Golf GTI soft-top.  
And it was lovely. With 27,000 miles, two owners – the last for 32 years – and one of only 470 UK-sold Rivages, in rare Classic Green with beige leather and a power roof. Given its spec, colour combo and time warp nick, I’d say this was on the cheap side as finding another Rivage in such preservation class condition for that money would take some doing. J375 PDD was original and unmodified, wearing its first paint and sporting its factory Rivage stickers on both rear wings, there were only minor paint chips and a couple of finger-tip parking dents to sort.  
For market context, there’s another – 1991 – Rivage for sale with a dealer in Hampshire for a fiver under £40,000 with 16,000 miles, so we know the trade has spotted the latent potential. We should expect more price rises. Consider any sensible mileage, proper MkI Golf cabriolet as a very safe bet. These are handsome, reliable, easy to own, drive, maintain and insure, modern classics that are looking increasingly charismatic. Start looking now because the few cheap decent cars still out there will get snapped up. We arrogant blokes used to haughtily dismiss them as girlie Golf glamwagens. How wrong we were.  
  
  
ASK QUENTIN  
**Not sure whether now’s the right time to buy, sell or hang onto that classic?**  
**Sell my spicy DB6 now or later?**  
I have a beautiful 1969 Aston Martin DB6 Vantage in Silver Birch with only two previous owners, the second for 31 years, and I’ve owned and pampered it for 18 years. It had a 4.2-litre RS Williams engine upgrade completed in 2021, under 6000 miles ago. Having just turned 80, I need to change to a more sedate ‘old boys automatic cruiser’. Since I had it valued in 2023 at £375,00-£400,000, prices seem to have dropped substantially – the _Classic Cars_ Price Guide from June 2025 shows £355,000 for a top notch one but auction results I’ve seen are much lower. Should I bite the bullet now or hang on for a couple of years?  
_Neil Kiley_  
DB6 values have fallen substantially since 2015 – like the rest of the market – but they were hyped to such a level that in some cases the decline in value has been as much as £100k. But yours sounds lovely, and as a factory manual Vantage with only two owners and an RSW upgrade, it’s definitely special. For context, a mint unrestored but perfect, non-Vantage manual MkII DB6 was recently sold for £200k at auction. So, I’d see yours at between £230k and £250k at auction, perhaps £275k in a private sale. I can’t see prices coming back to previous levels, so I’d sell now. Since you bought it 18 years ago, I hope you’ll still see a decent profit, not to mention the joy of owning such a fabulous Aston for so long.  
**Quentin Willson**  
**Future values for 928 and 840?**  
Any thoughts on whether a Porsche 928 or BMW 840 would be a better bet to invest in as a modern classic that’s likely to appreciate?  
_Neil Tyler_  
Neither the 928 or 840 are likely to rise in price significantly, unless they’re ultra-low mileage and time-warp perfect. Prices of both are pretty flat right now. I’d suggest a BMW 850 with the V12, and for investment, the CSi manual. I’ve just tipped the six-speed version as a rising star Smart Buy – _Classic Cars_, June 2025 – because it was made in very limited numbers and uses a similar engine to the McLaren F1. Prices are climbing fast but there are still a few being advertised at between £45k and £55k. Others are up at £100k. You’d better be quick. If you do bag one, tell us all about it. And good luck!  
**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.

**\[ TVR T350c prototype \]**  
This prototype T350c embodied everything TVR would have been in the 21st Century. Was it a wrong turn or a last gasp of greatness?  
**Words** SAM DAWSON **Photography** IAN SKELTON

  
I have to keep telling myself that this is a prototype. It may look like any other TVR T350c at first – the car which the Blackpudlian firm saw as its new mainstream offering in 2002, a step up from an MX-5 or an alternative to a Z4 – but user friendly, it isn’t. Just to fire the ignition, you have to turn the key one click in the barrel and press a button on the fob, then press two unheralded triggers on the back of the steering wheel – twice – to activate the fuel pumps. Only then can you turn the key a second click and the engine will finally start.  
And far from the silken, carefully-tuned snarl you’d get from its Bavarian rival, there’s a deep, pebbledashed grumble. Thanks to these Speed Six TVRs’ dry-sump oil systems, they need thoroughly warming through before you dare – or are permitted – to indulge the throttle. Until then, they sound both cantankerous and unhealthy.  
The cockpit is cramped and tight too, with a beetle-browed view out of a windscreen so low and slit-like that TVR didn’t even bother with sunvisors. It’s beautifully trimmed, in quilted leather with bespoke aluminium fixtures everywhere you look, but in time-honoured TVR fashion it still contrives to smell predominantly of hot oil and glue. And of course, the dashboard is borderline incomprehensible, a combination of unlabelled switchgear, LCD screens ablur with constantly-shifting numerical readouts, and a metallic speedometer and tachometer with not enough visual contrast between needles and instrument faces, not enough numbers round the perimeter, and an odd, digitally-controlled jerky action that makes it difficult to gauge the progression of anything. The only message I get from it is, ‘keep your eyes on the road’.

Sharp-cut tail for enhanced aerodynamics Unmistakably TVR, intensely focused

  
But as I have to keep remembering, this is a prototype. It may well have been rushed to completion too. Before the launch, in its last pre-Clarkson-reboot twitchings, _Top Gear_ sent Jason Barlow to Bristol Avenue to check on the progress of a new generation of all-bespoke TVRs due for arrival at the 2002 British Motor Show at the NEC in Birmingham. TVR PR man Ben Samuelson confirmed that the new T350 range had been turned around in just six months, although ahead of the show admitted the development crew was ‘getting twitchy’ as the deadline loomed. Even boss Peter Wheeler knew it wouldn’t be completely finished by the time the car arrived at the NEC. At 10pm the night before opening press day, it was still being trimmed. To this day, neither the door mirror adjusters nor the heated rear window elements are wired up.  
The following morning, Samuelson pulled the covers from this very T350c in front of a frenzied barrage of press flashbulbs, while Wheeler drove up onto the stage in a second prototype finished in metallic green. The price for this new TVR, Samuelson said, would be just £37,750.  
TVR, so it seemed, had done the impossible yet again. Ever since Wheeler replaced Martin Lilley at Blackpool in 1981, his genius combination of relative mechanical simplicity compared to mainstream rivals, huge power and thorough chassis engineering had carved out a unique niche. Old-fashioned tubular-backbone chassis construction also meant it was possible to essentially rebody the same underpinnings with minor variations to create ‘new’ models far faster than ponderous industrial-giant companies could comprehend. The result was an ability to profitably sell cars at prices seemingly completely out of whack with the amount of performance on offer. The T350c had 290bhp, did 0-60mph in 4.4 seconds, and topped out at 175mph. That left the similarly-priced top-end BMW Z4 3.0 a long way behind. Against the clock, the TVR matched the £103,000 Ferrari 360 Modena.

Direct steering makes T350c an extension of driver

  
In truth, as journalist Harry Metcalfe suspected when he road-tested this car after the show, the prototypes were even faster, hinting at what was to come. It has a 4.0-, rather than a 3.6-litre  
Speed Six, in the manner of the yet-to-be-announced, racing-inspired Sagaris. In other words, 400bhp, just four seconds to 60mph, and a top speed quite possibly higher than 190mph, given this prototype’s lack of the Sagaris’s downforce- and drag-inducing splitter and gurney flap. Forget the 360, this is 575M Maranello territory. In something the size of an MGB.  
Perhaps the biggest surprise this T350c springs, given its almighty performance potential, is how compliant it seems. There’s something about the immediacy of its steering, with its 1.8 turns lock-to-lock, that makes it feel like an extension of my own body on this twisting country lane south of Oxford. Thanks to their separate-chassis construction, convertible TVRs never suffered from scuttle-shake anyway, but the T350c’s hard-topped structure feels impressively stiff, a sense heightened yet further by Wheeler’s decision to plumb a roll-cage into the cockpit to quickly evaluate the car’s suitability for GT racing.

Sumptuous trim doesn’t scream ‘prototype’

  
And yet the chassis breathes with the road in that time-honoured British front-engined sports-car fashion. This was a product of the early 2000s, a time when it seemed that a car’s perceived ‘sportiness’ could be measured in a near-complete lack of suspension travel and a harsh, buzzy cockpit full of Alcantara. Yet there’s an old-fashioned nuance about the way the T350c reads the road beneath it, with long-travel dampers, that’s more reminiscent of a Jaguar E-type or Lotus Elan.  
It might have been TVR’s platform for the future but there is something satisfyingly timeless about the way the T350c looks too. That sleek, low nose was shaped to lower wind noise according to Samuelson, but curves are paired with a Manx-tailed abruptness that instantly recalls the Grantura. The boomerang light clusters and drilled undertray may look radical and futuristic, but that glass rear hatch is pure Taimar.

Even lightweight detailing is beautifully done

Pipe dream: production T350c made 350bhp; prototype, 50bhp more

  
I find another link to the past when I take my left hand off the wheel and reach for the gear lever. The steering is so direct that even doing this is enough to make the nose twitch. Then go for the gearshift: short and stubby, sitting high on a quilted leather-clad transmission tunnel, the aluminium ball scalding in the summer heat. Flick it across the gate with a firm sense of purpose, feeling steel linkages yank cogs back and forth below. At a time when cars with this kind of performance were being increasingly offered with soulless done-for-you sequential transmissions, it’s another sensory cue that links this post-Millennial car to 50 years of predecessors.  
But with oil flowing freely through its arteries, that Speed Six engine is savage. Rather than the rumbling off-beat of the TVR-tuned Rover V8s in Wheeler’s earlier cars, at half-throttle there’s a rapid, precise metallic clatter, like a Victorian mill full of looms. Press the pedal harder and it coalesces into a powertool shriek, intensity building in parallel with road speed and revs. No, a Porsche might not feel this phrenetic, but you’d have to go back to the days of the aircooled 911 2.7RS to find one that felt quite so viscerally alive. The brakes may lack ABS, but rather than feeling like an example of Wheeler’s behind-the-scenes cost-cutting, it smacks more of racing practice. They haul the T350c up firmly and decisively, so long as you’re progressive and nuanced with your right foot. Stamp on it, especially in the wet, and it’ll no doubt both lock and slide.

Details point to a far from regular T350c

  
But as was always thus with TVR – they’ll only bite if you’re foolish with them. The problem TVR faced when it launched this T350c was that attitudes were changing. The 2001 action blockbuster _Swordfish_ had handed a starring role to a TVR Tuscan alongside John Travolta, resulting in a clamour from Americans to buy them, despite the fact that the cars’ lack of ABS and airbags rendered them ineligible for sale in the US. The Speed Six engine wouldn’t meet US emissions regulations either.  
The impetus, however, was there for the first Federalised TVRs since the early-Eighties Tasmin, but it would need an off-the-shelf engine from a third-party supplier in order to make economic sense. And not just in the US either. The likes of the Porsche Boxster S and Mercedes-Benz SLK32 AMG might not have been quite so quick as a TVR in terms of raw figures, but they came from mainstream dealerships, had comprehensive warranties, could be sold all over the world, and were so reliable that they could be used every day in all weathers.  
Since BMW bought Rover in 1994, Wheeler had known that its V8, which had powered TVRs since 1983, wouldn’t be long for this world. But with the Nineties sports car boom mutating into a new breed of big-brand affordable junior supercars, the question of where to source a replacement engine was vexed, especially in a world where transverse installations and front-drive was the mainstream norm. Of the remaining rear-drivers, the likes of BMW and Mercedes built their own TVR rivals and wouldn’t countenance the idea. Toyota was about to discontinue its Supra, Nissan’s 350Z launch was imminent, and any American V8 would put TVR in direct competition with the dynamic-handling – and £10k cheaper – Chevrolet Corvette C6.

‘I find myself homing in on the very kinds of detail that made the accountants so irritable’

  
TVR persisted with its Al Melling-designed dual-purpose road-and-race AJPV8 and Speed Six engines, but even by the time the covers were whipped off this T350c in Birmingham in 2002, the firm was in trouble. After a late-Nineties heyday selling well over 1000 cars a year, peaking at 1676 in 1998, the main bulk of which were Rover-powered Chimaeras, sales had gone into freefall. Just 978 cars were sold in 2000 as the Speed Six debuted in the new Tuscan, a promising 550 being shifted in its first year, but as warranty claims started racking up regarding the new engine’s brittle camshaft finger-followers, and drivers used to more mainstream sports cars found themselves infuriated with its idiosyncratic electrics, sales fell dramatically. By 2001 TVR sales were down to 667, 632 in 2002, and the new T350c seemingly did nothing to reverse the decline. Despite it being TVR’s biggest seller of 2003, with 231 finding homes, it compared poorly as a range mainstay to the Chimaera, of which 1115 had been sold in 1998, just five years earlier.  
In 2004, on the quiet, Peter Wheeler put TVR up for sale, having not publicly released any company finance details since the T350c’s 2002 reveal, which had shown the company to have made a £400,000 profit that year. _CAR_ magazine called upon independent automotive-industry business analyst Garel Rhys to make sense of the situation, and he postulated that TVR was indeed in an impossible situation: its own engines were too unreliable, anyone with a viable off-the-shelf powerplant already made its own TVR rival, and to make matters worse, TVR’s insistence on doing everything in-house in the name of maintaining independent control and bespoke design, right down to the interior switchgear, had made developing the cars unfeasibly expensive. It was very much a firm, Rhys reasoned, where the engineers had elbowed the accountants out of any positions of decision-making authority.

T350C blends Ferrari 575M Maranello power with MGB footprint

  
‘Once oil is flowing freely through its arteries, the Speed Six engine is savage’  
And yet, as I pull up in the village of Dorchester, I find myself homing in on the very kinds of detail that made those accountants so irritable. There is only one external handle, and it’s a beautifully-turned aluminium talon of a thing mounted at the base of the frameless glass tailgate: unique, as production items were redesigned when Wheeler found it trapped his fingers when closing the boot. There’s a dimple in the bodywork after the fuel filler was re-sited – Wheeler found the original difficult to open, and despite being a laborious process – you have to open a little upholstered door in the boot and pull a hidden lever – it’s just so elegant, a hemisphere of aluminium rolling back to reveal the filler neck. And of course the doors, opened not by conventional handles, but by buttons underneath the mirrors, leaving the flanks completely unadorned. Wheeler always claimed they were an ingenious anti-theft measure, but all of these elements are examples of what nauseating mainstream car marketing types refer to as ‘surprise and delight features’. Little pieces of theatre typically used to add pizzaz to some unremarkable runaround. But on a TVR – just about as theatrical as cars get this side of Sant’Agata regardless of how you get the driver’s door open – they seem like evidence of something else. Was Wheeler really safeguarding his supply chains, or just wanting to go out in a blaze of bespoke glory?

Six-cylinder engine 4.0-litre unit, not production car 3.6

  
This car’s life hints at the turbulence that beset TVR in the early 2000s. After doing the motor show rounds, it was resprayed in the conventional metallic silver you see here. Originally it was Spectraflair Pebble Lamonta, which blended blue, silver and gold depending on how the light fell on it. But after six months of being subjected to track testing by TVR engineers and motoring journalists alike, it was peppered with stonechips. Lift up the bonnet, though, and you can still find some Spectraflair luminescence lurking in its slam panels.  
But after that early buzz of activity, having covered 30,514 test and development miles, it languished. Russian entrepreneur Nikolai Smolensky bought TVR in July 2004, and announced that all future models would be on limitedproduction runs of 500, seemingly to duck under the numbers that would incur the requirement for increasing numbers of mandatory safety systems like ABS, traction control and airbags. Despite this, Smolensky saw the dramatic Sagaris through to production in 2005, but all was not well. Production dropped to just three cars a week. In October 2006, Smolensky announced that TVR production would be transferred to Turin for 2007, claiming to have reached a deal with Bertone, although the carrozzeria refuted it when questioned by _Automotive Management_ magazine. Curiously, three weeks later, this prototype was back on the road, receiving its first MoT certificate on 6 November 2006 before being sold to TVR dealer James Agger. Smolensky had just made 250 staff at the Bristol Avenue factory redundant.

How could a car that looks like this sell poorly?

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