Myrniong Historic Car Sprint
Myrniong on the Western Highway, about an hour west of Melbourne was, for many years famous for the steaks served at its large, traditional bluestone pub. However, over the last decade, Myrniong has secured a place in the Classic Car world with its annual sprints. The 2013 Myrniong Historic Car Sprint was held in brilliant sunshine on April 7.
The event is small and blessed with a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere. The track is a closed public road. It runs for 850 metres with a climb of 60metres over that distance.
If you are not competing, the trick with Myrniong is to take a classic car and park in the “display car” parking area. This is cheaper than the ordinary public area and affords an excellent view of most of the track – including the start line and the timer display.
Once in the display area, you can spend the day sitting beside your vehicle watching the action, or wander over to view the cars that are there to sprint.
We took the MG TD. Consequently, we were ushered directly into the display area. There we found about twenty cars, including some Abingdon siblings in the form of a TC, an MGA, and MGF and many MGBs. The highlight of the non-competing cars was a Jaguar XK120 that has been in the same ownership since 1951 – when the current owner purchased it from his uncle.
The sprinting cars ranged from Vintage Vauxhalls to Monaros. The loudest car was a supercharged Austin Healey replica high speed car. The lowest was a replica Lotus Eleven. One of the rarest (at least in Australia) was an early Renault Alpine. The most common cars were Clubman replicas and MGBs. There were quite a few specials, some powered by Ford V8s, others based on Austin Sevens.
There was no problem wandering around and talking to people. It is the sort of event where a driver might ask you to give an ancient sportscar a push. Somehow, Myrniong, which has only being going for twelve years, has the feeling of an event that has run for decades. It is like an old-fashioned country race meeting, but with classic petrol-burners in place of the hay-burners.
Turin Car Museum
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MUSEO NAZIONALE DELL’AUTOMOBILE DI TORINO
The quality of Turin’s National Automobile Museum is quite unexpected, even keeping in mind the City’s long history of car production. The collection is deeply impressive and the cars are displayed in a range of innovative ways. No classic car enthusiast should miss an opportunity to view this museum. It is not clear to us here at The Classic Motorist as to why this superb collection does not receive more attention from people outside Italy.
Broadly speaking, the display is in chronological order and commences with a remarkable 1854 twin cylinder steam-engined version of a stage-coach style of horse-drawn landau. This is a genuine “horseless carriage” and was built by Virginio Bordino at Turin’s Military Arsenal. The rear-mounted steam engine drives the crank shaped rear axle through conrods connected to a crankshaft-shaped rear axle. The vehicle had a top speed of nearly 8 km/h.
The next room contains no less than seventeen cars from 1903 or earlier. These include a Peugeot Tipo 3 from 1892, a Benz Victoria from 1893, a 1903 De Dion & Bouton and a 9.5 hp Darracq built in 1902.
Jumping forward to 1907, I was struck by the Italia in which Prince Scipione Borghese won the Peking to Paris race in 60 days. The car arrived a full twenty days ahead of the second car to finish the 16,000 kilometre race. The Itaila was subsequently known as the “Peking-to-Paris” type. More than a century later, Italy remains justifiably proud of this car’s resounding win.
As well as cars built for performance, the Museo’s collection includes some exceedingly luxurious models from before the Great War. These include a 1909 Isotta Fraschini AN 20-30 hp, an Italia 35/45 hp and a manificent Delage AB-8 and Rolls Royce 40-50 hp “Silver Ghost”.
While the chronological ordering collection shows the steady development of the motor car, there are all sorts of mechanical oddities to remind the visitor that the world’s car designers explored a few dead-ends on their journey to the modern car. These included a runabout in which just the driver sat behind the sole passenger. Built between 1911 and 1914 by Bourbeau and Devaux, this extraordinary 210 kg car had a two-speed gearbox and bilateral chain drive, but no clutch nor reverse gear. To change gears, the driver has to shift the entire rear axle forward with a lever so that the slackened chains could pass from one gear to another. The car was reputed to reach 60 km/h.
The Turin collection remains strong in its coverage of the 1920s, mainly with Italian cars. There are two Isotta Fraschinis, one from 1920 and one from 1929 as well as a Spa 23S and a Diatto 30, for example, along with a Citroen C3-5CV from France.
The 1930s were a highlight with everything from an Austin Seven and Fiat 500 to a Packard Super-Eight 1501. Most spectacular of all was a Mercedes Benz 500K. Famously powered by a straight-eight engine supercharged through a positive-displacement blower which could be engaged or disengaged from the driver’s seat. This magnificent car was an unexpected delight.
The immediate post-war period was represented by a lovely 1948 Lancia Aprillia which underlined just how important this Italian car maker has been to the development of the modern motor car. The museum also has a Cisitalia 202 SMM Spider Nuvolari. Its streamlined shape pointed the way for many sportscars that followed. Even more influential (and, I suspect the pride of the collection) is the Pininfarina-styled Cisitalia 202 coupe. There is one of these cars in the Museum of Modern Art in New York where it is described as “one of the world’s six most beautiful cars”. With its low-set bonnet, nestled between higher-set front guards with built-in headlights, this car clearly influenced everything from Lancias to Aston Martins, Ferraris and even Bentleys of the next two decades. With the Cisitalia, Pininfarina drew on aerodynamic thinking to create a unified design that ensured that the car flowed together as a single unit, rather than being broken down into separate blocks to house the engine, passengers and luggage. All the car’s features, including door handles and headlights, were incorporated into the lovely shape, rather than appearing as separate units. Like a Frank Lloyd Wright house, it is easy at first sight to think the Cisitalia is merely a well-executed example of something decades younger. It is only when you realise how old it is that the revolutionary nature of the design is clear.
However, as in earlier decades, not all post-war technical advances laid pathways for the future. Much like Rover’s similar (but less beautifully styled) effort in Britain, the gas turbine powered 1954 Fiat Turbino on display never made it beyond prototype testing.
The Citroen DS19 of just a year later has proved more influential in the long term. Presented at the 1955 Paris Show as a successor to the famous “Traction Avant”, the Citroën DS 19 is one of the most important cars of the post-war years. Hugely advanced with its hydro-pneumatic suspension, gear change, steering and brakes, nearly one and a half million of them were produced up to 1975. The Torino museum holds the car displayed at the 1957 Milan Triennale Exhibition. As an aside the museum also had a small display downstairs with comments from a large collection of the world’s living car designers. The vast majority of these designers, which included Chris Bangle and others from the modern era, cite Citroen’s Goddess as the greatest influence on their thinking.
From the 1960s, the museum has on display small cars such as the Mini and the Fiat 500 as well as an E-Type Jaguar. From that decade, but looking so much more modern was the NSU Ro80. Famously powered by an under-developed version of Wankel’s rotary engine (a design kept alive today by Mazda who have pretty much solved the problem of sealing the rotor tips), this car was a commercial flop but pointed the way to the future in terms of its low-drag, large glass area styling and other features. The car had pretty much the best of everything in the late 1960s, including a semi-automatic transmission (with a vacuum operated clutch arrangement), as well as four wheel disc brakes (inboard on the front to reduce unsprung weight), rack and pinion power steering.
The Turin Museum also has a spectacular, and inevitably very red, collection of racing cars, excellent displays of motors and a strong focus on social history. Furthermore, in addition to the normal collection, the Museo also hosts visiting exhibitions. When The Classic Motorist visited, we saw a fabulous Bertone exhibition including everything from a Lancia Stratos and Alfa Montreal to Nuccio Bertone’s personal Lamborghini Miura (pictured above).
The depth and quality of Turin’s National Automobile Museum means that it really takes at least a full day to enjoy it. For a genuine enthusiast, a delightful two days savouring the collection certainly would not be out of the question. If you are in northern Italy and you do not make the effort to visit this museum, you have done yourself an injustice.
MotorClassica – Melbourne, Australia
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The MotorClassica event in Melbourne continues to impress with the quality of the hundred or so cars it displays each year. In order to ensure that the crowds keep coming back, the organisers insist on displaying a different range of cars every year. Despite the fear that this might see a reduction in quality, the standard of the cars on display in 2012 was extremely high. Since it began in 2010, most of the cars at MotorClassica have been sourced from local Victorian owners, but the success of the event is increasingly drawing cars from elsewhere in Australia.
Despite this local focus, MotorClassica is an event of international standing. Indeed, the first MotorClassica Concourse, in October 2010, was won by a 1928 Daimler P.1.50 Double Six shipped from America especially for the show. After being restored by owner Bob Lorkowski, this large limousine won a European Classic Closed class award at Pebble Beach in 2009. First registered (as NSW 1) in Sydney, this 7.1 litre twelve cylinder leviathan, still features its factory-built Royal Limousine coachwork.
Skipping ahead a year, my favourite of the 2011 event was a 1929 Ballot 2L Sports that has been owned (and fully registered) by the one Victorian family for 85 years. This well-worn, and well-loved car stood out among the glistening restored cars as the car that I spent the most time staring wistfully at. It is one of only five survivors in the world.
At the 2012 MotorClassica, perhaps the most extraordinary car on display was a largely complete, but totally dilapidated Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing. The car was covered in a layer of rust and dirt as though it had just been dragged from a shed. Enormously valuable, it was remarkable to see such a car in need of total restoration. I expect that the expensive and painstaking job has now commenced.
The thing about MotorClassica is that the quality of the cars on display is so high that it takes something truly extraordinary (like a rusty Gullwing) to stand out. It is the sort of event where it can be easy to overlook something superb as your attention is grabbed by a bright blue 1952 R Type Bentley Continental, a genuine Sebring MGA, a Miura, a 1936 Delage D6-70 Competition Coupe or a 1935 Bentley 3 and half litre drophead. Surrounded by more than $100m of spectacular vehicles, even the most beautiful of cars – such as an Aston Martin DB5 or Lancia Aurelia – can struggle to catch your eye.
For those who have never attended MotorClassica, it is important to note that you can get very close to the valuable and spectacular cars on display. The only thing protecting them is likely to be a sign asking you not to touch the car. Attendees are, therefore, free to wander around cars to admire and photograph the styling, peer at the dashboard to work out the functions of the switchgear and to marvel at the range of mechanical ingenuity on display.
Furthermore, a growing feature of MotorClassica is the free display of cars outside the event itself. Organised by a range of car clubs, these provide a taster for the main event inside the wonderful Melbourne Exhibition Building.
In short, Melbourne’s MotorClassica has cemented its place in the classic car scene. There is nothing that comes close in the southern hemisphere.
Seen For Sale
Here are the cars we have found on the market that, if we had the money and space, we would be very tempted to buy.
NO LONGER FOR SALE
1924 Bentley 3 Litre Le Mans Replica (Vic) Seen on Just Cars
At $275,000, this handsome Bentley is not a cheap car. However, over a long period, good Bentleys have proved to be worthwhile investments. For many wealthy enthusiasts, the ownership of a Vintage Bentley, particularly with a La Mans replica body is the aspiration of a lifetime. There is always demand for these cars and they are a commodity that is readily traded internationally.
These cars have been celebrated since the 3 Litre won at Le Mans in 1924 and 1927. Famously, Ettore Bugatti (whose cars were much more lithe) described the 3 Litre Bentley “the fastest lorry in the world”.
In the images accompanying its advertisement, this car looks typically spectacular. We assume that the body is not original, but this is not necessarily a great sin with these Bentleys as in many cases, the original bodies (often saloons or tourers) have rotted away – aided by a chassis flex. Replacement with Le Mans Replicas is very common.
Given the rarity of vintage Bentleys, each car’s history is usually known by marque experts. In a car of this cost, provenance and determining the degree of orginality is important in making sure that you get value. If you do not know exactly what you are doing, consult with experts.
WHY WE LIKE IT: In the minds of many people, a green Le Mans replica Bentley is the ultimate classic car. We are some of those people.
WORRIES: A big purchase, so make sure that the car’s history, orginality and restoration quality justifies the price.
CONCLUSION: The stuff dreams are made of.
As an aside, if you are looking for very original 3-Litre, Fiskens in the UK has for sale a very original Le Mans car. This is the famous “Number 9” that was built for Tommy “Scrap” Thistlethwayte and co-piloted by “Bentley Boy” Captain Clive Gallop.
1959 MGA Twin Cam (NSW) Seen on Carsales
The best and rarest version of the lovely MGA is the Twin Cam. Just over 2,ooo Twin Cams were produced (out of a total of 1000,000 MGAs). This was the first twin cam engine to be fitted to MGs since the racing cars of the 1920s and 1930s. When released in 1958, the engine suffered from a range of problems variously blamed on having too high a compression ratio (9,9:1), poor tuning (especially ignition timing), clumsy drivers revving the motor to extremes and poor servicing due to many service items being hard to access in the tight engine bay. In the end, a reduction in the compression ratio to 8.3:1 improved things enormously, but by then the damage to the car’s reputation was done and the Twin Cam was dead soon after. The factory reverted to the sole use of the common pushrod engines for the cars that used up the last of the twin cam trim and four wheel disc brakes. In truth, a well developed, highly tuned pushrod engine can almost match the heavier Twin Cam for output, particularly a low compression Twin Cam. Furthermore, the pushrod engined cars are lighter in the front end and have slightly better steering geometry. On the other hand, the Twin Cam engine looks fabulous, is technically interesting, very rare and lifts the MG closer to thoroughbred territory.
This particular car does not have its original, matching numbers, engine (which still exists but is owned by another enthusiast). However, it appears to be a tidy enough example of a very pretty car. It was advertised for some months before disappearing, only to reappear on the market last week.
WHY WE LIKE IT: It is the cheapest Twin Cam MGA we have seen and it is the more desirable roadster version. Other than the rare Twin Cam engine parts, MGA spares supply is reliable and parts are often cheap.
WORRIES: It is a shame it is not a matching numbers car. MGAs rust, but all parts are readily available (try Kilmartin Automotive Sheetmetal in Ballarat, Victoria – theirs are the best panel and chassis repair pieces available). This car needs work to bring it up the to standard it should be.
CONCLUSION: We have a pushrod MGA and adore it. The Twin Cam is the ultimate MGA but we think we’ll hold out for a perfect, matching numbers car (and the money to pay for it) before we upgrade. If we didn’t yet have an MGA, at and advertised price of $42,000 this is probably the one we would buy.
1948-1950 Daimler Barker Special Sports (NSW, WA and SA) seen on Carsales and Just Cars
Daimlers are undervalued in the Classic Car world. They lack the prestige of a Rolls Royce and the sporting heritage of a Jaguar or Bentley. However, most Daimlers are quality cars, if a little staid. Some Daimlers were rather quick. The SP250 (Dart) with its lovely 2.5litre V8 was speedy enough, if odd-looking, sports car. The Majestic Major, with a 4.5litre V8 offered unseemly pace for a limousine. Lately, there has been a rash of Barker bodied, Daimler DB18 Special Sports Dropheads on the Australian market. There are two on Carsales (one at $35,000, one at $50,000) and one on Just Cars at $28,000. Striking looking cars, with real quality, they are just too cheap.
WHY WE LIKE THEM: Eye-catching appearance, excellent quality, rare. The Wilson pre-selector transmission is interesting.
WORRIES: The low value of Daimlers can make extensive repairs uneconomic. It seems the market may never wake up to the inherent value of these cars. Not sure if we really like the styling or not. When would you use it?
CONCLUSION: Not really our cup of tea. We prefer our classic cars to be a bit more sporty. Perhaps in the future – if we finally grow up – a car that proceeds as smoothly as a Daimler will appeal.
1972 Aston Martin DBS – (VIC) Seen on Carsales
At $45,000 this is almost certainly the cheapest Aston for sale in Australia. The good news goes on: in British Racing Green, with light tan interior, the car has a great colour scheme. However, there are some drawbacks: the car is the six cylinder rather than the more powerful V8. Also, this Aston is an automatic (3 speed Chrysler Torqueflite) which further reduces the performance offered by this heavy car. Having seen this particular car in the past (it has been on the market for a long time, but the price is now lower ), we can report that the car has some slightly worrying indications of rust here and there. It looks as though the car has been resprayed – and the job was not brilliant. The trim looks a bit orange too and there is no air-conditioning. (The car was imported from Britain in the early 1970s – if we recall correctly). On the other hand, these cars, designed by William Towns, are beginning to be appreciated as stylish and handsome. We think they are better looking than the later V8s.
WHY WE LIKE IT: It is an Aston Martin. It is in British Racing Green. It is $45,000.
WORRIES: It is auto. It lacks air-conditioning. In some ways, this is the least desirable Aston model and specification. Also, is it just a bit of superficial rust here and there or is there something frightening lurking in the sills, for example?
CONCLUSION: If this Aston was a manual with air-con, we would have bought it ourselves. If it was V8 too, we would have been crushed in the stampede.
1976 Daimler Sovereign XJC (NSW) Seen on Carsales
The rarest of the XJ body styles, the two-door coupe was marketed as a “corporate sports car” by Jaguar. Critics pointed to the car’s weight and called it a “corpulent sports car”. More elegant than the sportier XJS (which shares the same floorpan), the XJC was was very closely based on the Series 2 XJ Jaguars. Even rarer than the Jaguar version is the more upmarket Daimler version. The main difference between the Jag and the Daimler is that the latter sports a crinkly radiator grille (a vestige of old heat dissipating radiator tanks of vintage Daimlers). Generally, after Jaguar bought Daimler, the famous old badge was used merely to denote more upmarket versions of Jaguars. The Classic Motorist knows that there is at least one Double Six (ie V12) Daimler coupe of this era in Australia. It was privately imported from England, along with its rust. In contrast, the advertised Daimler is a 4.2 litre version- using the famous XK twin-cam straight six motor launched in 1948. This particular car was privately imported from New Zealand. The ad suggests significant money has been spent on restoring and maintaining the vehicle. The main risk with these cars is rust. In addition to the usual places, such as guards and door bottoms, these Jaguars rust around the based of the windscreen and rear window. The seals were poor and, some say, actually corrosive. This particular Daimler, finished in a sandy yellow call “Greensand”, has been on the market for a long time – perhaps a year or more. At $13,500, it seems a cheap, charming touring car. It has leather and air-con – both necessities in our view.
WHY WE LIKE IT: Probably the most desirable XJ body style made rarer by being a Daimler. The 4.2 may lack the glamour of the 5.3 litre V12, but it is easier to maintain. Anyway, we know of only one Daimler Double Six (ie V12) in coupe Australia. Even if there are more, you will spend a long time looking.
WORRIES: These cars rust. We have seen some terminal cases. Full rust repair may not be economic.
CONCLUSION: Sensibly specified, period colour (though not entirely to our taste), this is an example of a charming and interesting car. At $13,500 this example has been on the market for a long, long time. Perhaps a serious offer would secure it. However, be sure to check carefully for tinworm.
1959 Sunbeam Alpine Convertible (Vic) Seen on Carsales
These Sunbeams were produced by the Rootes group (who took over the Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq combine after it went into receivership in 1935). The once great Sunbeam and Talbot names were reduced to being used for upmarket (fully rebodied) versions of Rootes vehicles. The Alpine, derived from the Sunbeam-Talbot 90 was the best of these Rootes vehicles of the 1950s. They looked pretty and, in the 1953 Alpine Rally, four Sunbeam Alpines won the Coupe des Alpes. Stirling Moss drove the car that came sixth in that race. The Alpine for sale in Victoria at the moment is an uprated replica of the Moss vehicle. Expensively restored and extensively uprated with boosted front discs, Toyota 5 speed box, power steering, air-conditioning and much else besides, this is an appealing car for fast touring. Asking price: $79,990.
WHY WE LIKE IT: A fairly rare, well-loved vehicle that has enough modern features – including air-conditioning – to enable extensive touring in considerable comfort. It would cost a lot of money to bring another car up to this standard.
WORRIES: This car may have been too heavily modified to suit serious enthusiasts or collectors, particularly in the future.
CONCLUSION: While we see the attraction and can understand the pleasures of well-chosen modern features, we could not justify spending $79,990 on this car. There are XK120 Jags around for that kind of money. If you are Sunbeam fan, it would be hard to beat though. As an aside, later tail-finned “series” Sunbeams are available for a lot less and are lots of fun.
1923 Minerva AB Tourer – (Qld) Seen on Just Cars and Pre-War Cars
Produced by the high-quality Belgian producer, this handsome and large tourer has one big problem: its Knight sleeve-valved engine is unusually quiet (even for a sleeve-valve) because it is seized. The car’s interior (which has never been restored) is in a real mess too. According to the vendor, the body was restored fifty years ago. The photos suggest that the body might be acceptable as it is, but more likely it is due for some restoration too. Asking price is $28,000.
WHY WE LIKE IT: A high-quality car in its day. Sleeve valve engines are interesting and very, very quiet. This is a three litre, six cylinder engine too, so – once on the road again – the car should perform well.
WORRIES: Seat trim (at least) is beyond saving. Engine is seized; can it be returned to service cost-effectively?
CONCLUSION: An interesting car, but it needs courage to take it on.
1926 Bayliss-Thomas Tourer – (NSW) Seen on Just Cars
A small to medium-sized vintage tourer, this car has its original wiring and trim. It was repainted about ten years ago. The Bayliss-Thomas was produced by British company Excelsior (maker of motorbikes). These are very, very rare cars. The advertised tourer has the 1.5 litre alloy, overhead valve engine. Asking price is $25,000 ONO.
WHY WE LIKE IT: Rare, sensibly sized and, according to the ad, very original.
WORRIES: Hard to get parts, not very fast, needs a tidy up.
CONCLUSION: Very tempting but we know that only the highest performance vintage cars keep up with modern conditions. Hence this car is probably nicer to show than it is to drive.
Austin Healey 4000 – an exceedingly rare car
One of the highlights of the Melbourne 2012 MotorClassica event was the chance to view the exceedingly rare “Austin Healey 4000”. Many people are completely unaware of the development of any Austin Healey beyond the 3000 Mk111. This is not surprising as a mere three examples of the Rolls Royce-engined “4000” model Healey vehicles were produced. The car on display at MotorClassica is particularly special as it was Donald Healey’s personal car and is the only 4000 with a manual overdrive transmission. One car had an automatic transmission and the other was completed with a Jaguar manual gearbox by its first owner.
The origin of the famous Austin Healey line of cars is well-known: following Donald Healey’s display of a sports car based on Austin mechanicals at the Earl’s Court motor show, a successful joint venture between Donald Healey and the British Motor Corporation (BMC) began in 1952. Despite many subsequent upgrades throughout its production life (going from four to six cylinders and three speeds to four, for example), the Big Healey was starting to look outdated by the late 1960s. This is not surprising, given that the post-war history of the British car industry has always been one of long periods of lack of development as once-great models age. The E-type, XJ6, Mini and Range Rover are all sad examples of this trait.
Adding urgency to the problem of what to do with the Austin Healey 3000 in 1968, the aged C-series Austin engine that powered Healey cars was ending production. Equally serious, in the United States – where the vast majority of Big Healeys had been sold – proposed safety standards threatened the future of the unusually narrow (by American standards) Austin Healey.
Because of these factors, Donald Healey and his partners, BMC, were faced with a dilemma: should the Austin Healey 3000 be replaced, updated or withdrawn? With the mergers that took place in the late 1960s, Jaguar founder, Sir William Lyons, now had a seat on the Board of BMC and was keen to project his E-type from internal competition. In addition, the perennial lack of funds stifled the possibility of a genuinely new Big Healey for the foreseeable future. Thus, full replacement was not really a viable option and an updated car seemed the best way forward.
Seeking a more powerful motor, BMC turned to Rolls Royce and their alloy FB60 engine as a possible power source for a new, bigger version of the Austin Healey. Developed out of the cast iron blocked B-series engine that had originally been designed for military purposes, it “featured” – if that is the right term for such an old-fashioned arrangement – an inlet over exhaust arrangement, often known as an F-head. This set-up limited compression and therefore performance potential, but it made for a simple, reliable motor. Certainly, the original iron B-series was a versatile design. It was used in four cylinder (2.8 litre) form in the Austin Champ. A straight eight 5.6 litre version of the engine powered the Alvis Saladin armoured car and Alvis Saracen armoured personnel carrier. Between these four and eight cylinder versions was the six cylinder B60 that saw service in The Daimler Ferret Scout Car and Dennis fire engines.
The FB60 was an alloy-block development of the B60, with a different bore and stroke among its revisions. The motor was used in the late 1950s in the “Java” prototype of a proposed monocoque mid-sized Bentley. As things turned out, the idea of a smaller Bentley was shelved (until another failed attempt thirty years later with a lovely 1994 prototype mid-sized Bentley which revived the Java name). Seeking more power, in 1962, Rolls Royce introduced its long lasting V8 engine in the large S3 Cloud and its Bentley equivalent. The same V8 engine was then installed in the smaller, monocoque car (which had its origins in the aborted original “Java” project and later “Burma” design prototypes) that was launched as the Silver Shadow and Bentley T-type in 1965. Consequently, the FB60 was never used in a production Rolls Royce or Bentley passenger car.
Nonetheless, by the time it was being considered for the Healey, the engine was already used by BMC in their Austin Vanden Plas Princess 4 Litre R. This car had not sold well as it lacked the prestige of well-established marques such Rolls Royce and Daimler. Despite signing a contract with Rolls Royce years earlier to fit more than five thousand FB60 engines in their large cars each year, BMC had failed to install the motor in any products other than the commercially challenged Princess. Consequently, and embarrassingly, BMC had a contract to take thousands more of these engines each year and it seemed likely that Rolls Royce had plenty of capacity to produce more of these motors if they were fitted to the next version of the Austin Healey. Adding to their allure, being alloy, the FB60 engines were lighter, as well as more powerful, than other motors that might have been available for a new Healey. The FB60 delivered 175 bhp at 4800 rpm, whereas the BMC C-Series engine that powered the Austin Healey 3000 MKIII provided a lesser 148 bhp at a much higher 5250 rpm. A full 45 kg ligher than the C-Series engine, the Rolls Royce engine really trumped the BMC mill for torque. The smaller C-series provided 165 ft lbs (224 nm) at 3500 rpm, compared to the Rolls Royce FB60 that would muster an impressive 218 ft lb (296 nm) at 3000 rpm. It is these torque figures, in particular, that show the probable tourer market for the 4000 and explain why the model was seen as a potential means of shifting BMC’s stock of automatic transmissions, especially in cars destined for the United States.
To test the idea of an updated model, Donald Healey’s team took an Austin Healey 3000 and widened it by six inches. This was achieved by adding a section of that width to the middle of the car for its entire length. Into this prototype, they installed the engine, automatic transmission and back axle from an Austin Princess 4 Litre R. The team then added better seats and safety features such as a padded dash and collapsible steering column. The lighter, more powerful engine added both refinement and performance to the broader-beamed Healey. The wider body and improved weight distribution enhanced handling as well as meeting US safety requirements. Along with Donald Healey, BMC were pleased with the prototype and there were plans to put the car into production in 1968.
However, the British motor industry was already heading towards the Leyland era and the twin evils of financial constraint and political infighting were working against the car going into commercial production. Exacerbating these problems, it seems that Rolls Royce, fed up with waiting for BMC to buy more FB60 engines, had started selling off the tooling needed to build the engines.
All this meant that the Healey 4000 never went into production. Nonetheless, being particularly impressed with the car, Donald Healey and his very close colleague, Roger Menadue, built two more cars at Donald Healey’s Cornish home. One of these was fitted with a manual overdrive gearbox and the car became Donald Healey’s personal vehicle until it was sold in 1970.
This unique Healey 4000 car was imported Australia in 1974 and was displayed at MotorClassica 2012 by The Healey Factory. Recently, I took the opportunity to visit The Healey Factory at their relatively new facility at Mitcham in Melbourne’s outer east. Although I have never been there before, I have long known that this firm bought and sold interesting classic cars. I also knew that they imported Austin Healeys from the United States and sold them to local enthusiasts for restoration.
When I visited, Russell (who is manager of car sales at The Healey Factory) was kind enough to give me a tour of the whole of their operation. Starting with the car showroom, The Healey Factory, as you would expect, stocks a lot of Healeys. In addition, they currently have on the showroom floor a wide range of other marques. To give you some idea of the range, these included a Porsche 911, a couple of superbly restored Mustangs, a beautiful Bristol 400, an Mk2 Jaguar, an MGA twin cam coupe, a handful of Triumphs and a spectacular AC Greyhound.
At the rear of the showroom, the knowledgeable Geoff and Howard sell spares for a range of vehicles. The Healey Factory can sell you everything from a replacement Healey chassis to small parts such as gauges. The Healey Factory is also the Australian agent for Dayton wire wheels. These American-made wheels are the best quality fitment for many marques.
Behind the Healey Factory showroom is a separate building devoted to servicing, repairing and restoring classic cars. This large facility includes a sophisticated low-bake spray booth as well as dedicated areas for chassis and body repair. The workshop includes all the equipment and staff needed to undertake everything from regular servicing through to complete restoration of the worst wreck that has been dragged from under a tree.
I was surprised to find that The Healey Factory undertakes activities as diverse as accident repairs, upgrades, servicing and restorations. As a great example of their restoration prowess, it was Rob and his team at The Healey Factory who completely restored the unique, and very special, Healey 4000 seen at MotorClassica.
The high standard of their restoration work is clear. In particular, the extraordinary quality of the craftsmanship on display in the unique Healey 4000 displayed at MotorClassica is a testament to their dedication to producing the highest-quality restorations. This special Healey is well worth keeping an eye out for at classic car events. You will never, ever, see another one like it.
The Stelvio Pass
Vai! Vai! (Go! Go!) yelled Tonino, my navigator, in his native Italian. I snatched third gear as the car climbed towards the next hairpin. Backing off late, I touched the brakes and dropped the car back into second, a little worried the engine might bog down on the tight turn. I needn’t have been concerned: the hairpin complete, the road straightened briefly, and the engine began to rev out again as the next tight turn approached. Up and up snaked the narrow road, with our torquey motor spinning gamely between each gear change.
Driving the Stelvio Pass had sat high on my bucket list for two decades before I found myself, in superb autumn weather, pushing hard on what some people say is the best driving road in the world.
We had started the morning in Bormio, Tonino’s home town at the base of the pass. The sun was shining and the temperature a very pleasant 20 degrees on the valley floor. Having worked for many years as a customs guard at the border post near the top of the pass, my Italian girlfriend’s cousin, Tonino, was a perfect driving companion for the Stelvio. For decades, he had driven this famous road each day. Often snowed in – with the road closed and people simply unable to cross the border post – the guards would shut up the customs post near the top of the pass and play cards, fortified by the local drop, Braulio. Of course, like so many Italian alcoholic beverages, Braulio is consumed in order only to take advantage of its many purported medicinal qualities. When supplies ran low, the unfortunate customs officers would be forced to drink their supply of excellent Italian wines.
The road from Bormio up to the west side of the Stelvio tracks a steep valley floor before a series of very tight hairpins on the south side of the valley wall. There is then a run of more hairpins on the west face immediately below the old coach house and customs checkpoint near the Swiss border. The photo opportunities from here are spectacular. From the customs house, the road rises comparatively gently (by Stelvio standards) to the top of the pass where there is a church, some souvenir shops and very limited parking. On the way, within walking distance of the top of the pass, there is a large restaurant with some of the world’s most spectacular mountain views. It was here that we had lunch. Suitably fortified, we looked down over the eastern side of the pass at the ribbon of bitumen that curls back and forth down the other side of the Stelvio. Nearby, a pristine, current model black Porsche 911 Turbo coupe sat nearby while its owners savoured the view. A German-registered, blue-coloured E-Type roadster purred by, elegantly topping, in pose value at least, the much more powerful Porsche. At 8 degrees, the temperature at the top of the pass was just warm enough for the E-Type’s cloth roof to stay folded.
As I looked down the other side of the pass, I could see that the road is even more tightly wound on the eastern slope. The road glistened in the clear mountain air. We were at much too high an altitude for trees to grow, so the road could easily be seen beneath us like a discarded ribbon strewn down the mountain. It started surrounded by dark rocks cut and deposited by ancient glaciers but I could see that, further below, the grass started, hesitantly at first, clinging to the steep mountain side. As my gaze followed the road, on its twisty way down, I could see that, as the altitude fell, the plants gained confidence until they surrounded the road in a riot of green taking advantage of the clear sunlight that bathed the whole scene.
I was very much looking forward to getting back in the car and heading down the eastern side of the mountains and so we returned to the vehicle and began the descent. Back and forth the road went as hairpin after hairpin led us down the mountain side. I was careful to use engine braking when I could – in order to spare the brakes, but the cool mountain air kept the anchors available when needed. Of course, this was every few seconds as the tight turns were tackled in rapid succession.
All too quickly the hairpins ran out and the road began to open out for some long, comparatively straight runs down the valley floor. By any normal standards, this was still a great road but, as we levelled out, it was clear that the best of the Stelvio was now behind us. A twenty-year dream had been realised and I began to accept that I would probably never drive such a good road again.
At that stage, I had no idea that the best driving of the day was yet to come and that the Stelvio, while undoubtedly spectacular, was only a warm-up.
The western climb of the Stelvio Pass skirts the border between Italy and Switzerland. However, the eastern side of pass is like a trip to Austria. Although the people speak Italian, the Austrian influence on the architecture, for example, is marked. One of the benefits of this influence is that the Forst Brewery, and its adjacent beer garden, is available in the valley at the eastern side of the Stelvio road. Stopping and being suitably refreshed, we returned to the car and set off on our long “grand circle” route back to Bormio via Ponte di Legno.
The roads were superb as we drove for miles up the valley of the Torrente Noce passing through little towns and climbing back westwards into the mountains.
As dusk fell, we started to encounter the real mountain roads again. The Passo del Tonale was a delight. With a fraction of the traffic of the Stelvio, it was much safer to push along with real enthusiasm, even in the fading light. The Tonale is a better driving road than the Stelvio because it strings together everything from sweepers to hairpins and the occasional straight. I was in motoring heaven.
By the time we reached the turn off for the road that led us back north towards Bormio, through the Stelvio National Park, I was tired, but feeling well atuned to the car and the Italian alpine roads.
We turned right at Ponte di Legno and headed north towards Sant’Apollonia and Santa Caterina over the Passo di Gavia. It was here that the mountains began to reveal their secret. The road, in addition to being empty, was superb. With the lights on high beam, the moonlight shining and Tonino encouraging me to push things to the limit, we began the climb. This glorious, remote and narrow road has everything: curves, drops, straights, climbs and wonderful views. Just after Sant’Apollonia I hit the brakes as half a dozen deer leapt down on the road from the hill above and disappeared off down the other side leaving only an added sense of the road’s wildness. The thread of bitumen then wound its way between Lago Nero and Lago Bianco, with the moonlight reflecting off these remote little lakes down below and reminding us of just how far we would fall if I misjudged a corner. It seemed that, if we went over the edge, there would be enough time to text loved ones before we hit the bottom. Helping things along, satellite navigation gave an excellent indication of the unseen road ahead. This was useful, not just because of the darkness, but because one of the great benefits of this glorious Italian road is that it is not blighted by the countless advisory signs that litter beautiful roads in other countries.
For most of its length this wonderful road was too narrow for cars to pass each other. However, driving in the dark meant that there was some hope of seeing the glow of the headlights of an oncoming car before it was too late. I was, at least by Tonino’s standards, a little tentative at times – having nearly collided with a fast charging Italian army short-wheelbase Land Rover on a hairpin on the nearby Passo di Foppa the evening before. However, on the great journey back to Bormio, we did not see a single car for the whole trip over the Gavia Pass.
My conclusion from this glorious day of motoring is that the Stelvio Pass is well worth travelling to see and, especially, to drive. It is spectacular. The tight run of hairpins is a motoring challenge and the photo opportunities are first class. However, the real driving treasures of Northern Italy are much less well-known. I have never heard anyone speak of the Passo di Gavia, for example. Maybe people do talk about this wonderful road but it is too hard to hear them because of their hushed tones.
MGA – Abingdon’s prettiest car?
I own this 1961 MGA. This is an Australian-built pushrod 1600, matching numbers car. It came out of the Sydney factory sporting the British Racing Green paint that was denied to the US and UK market.
The MGA 1600 is perfectly capable of keeping up with modern traffic, being no slower than many ordinary modern cars. Its 1588 cc motor produces 80 bhp. While this may seem modest, it must be remembered that the MGA weighs just 902 kg. The MGA 1600 is capable of reaching 100 km/h from rest in under 14 seconds. Hence, acceleration is fine and my car cruises very happily at 100 km/h. The car has superb rack and pinion steering and disc brakes on the front. Neither are assisted, of course. This ensures maximum feel is provided by both. The steering is not heavy – the large wheel provides plenty of leverage. However, the unassisted disc brakes require a firm shove of the pedal compared to the highly servoed brakes of modern cars.
Many owners have uprated their MGAs. Transplanted 1800 cc MGB motors are common. Both are BMC B-Series motors and are pretty much indistinguishable from each other from the outside. Similarly, the installation of the 1620 cc version of B-Series motors from various Wolseley, Riley and Morris models is not unusual either. The latter bring the car very close to MGA Mk11 specification and mean the car is capable of 100 mph . These MK11s, the last of the MGAs, running from 1961 to 1962, had a 1622 cc motor, an inset grille, with vertical bars (“pre-crashed” in the words of one contemporary observer). The Mk11 also sported horizontally-mounted rear lights from a Mini. While styling is always subjective, I think the Mk11 styling is a little more pure.
The first model of MGA, the 1500 (actually 1489 cc) has the tidiest styling of them all, with 72 bhp (except for very early cars which had 68 bhp), no separate indicators at the rear and small clear sidelights at the front. However, with the smallest motor and drums all round, the 1500 is not quite as relaxed to drive in modern traffic as the later, more powerful, better braked versions.
MGAs are very stylish. Driving one results in people photographing you from passing cars and waving. When you stop, people come and ask about the car and photograph it. Children politely ask to sit in it. I am yet to park my car in the city without a young woman stopping to say it is “a beautiful car”. Sitting in traffic, I have had offers to buy the MG from young men in four wheel drives. One middle-aged couple, seeing that I was about to leave my parking spot in the MGA, jumped out of their car to rush and stand in my way so that they could admire the MG and ask me about it.
While perfectly presentable, my MGA is certainly no concourse contender. Its smiling driver is a balding man in his forties. It is, without doubt, the car’s beautiful styling that attracts all this attention – not the driver.
People sometimes say that the MGA is a sort of mini Austin Healey. That is pretty much how the car was positioned in the market during the late 1950s and early 1960s. There was a clear pecking order. Setting aside for a moment Triumphs and other contenders (including imported cars) the English sportscar market started with the MGA. Those with more money bought an Austin Healey and those with even more to spend, bought a Jaguar XK. Above that, those few with really considerable means bought an Aston Martin. Over time, the pecking order has remained the same and the price differential has grown. Partly for this reason, I contend that the MGA is the bargain of the lot. Some argue the Austin Healey is more attractively styled that its smaller sister, the MGA. Certainly, Austin Healey stylist Gerry Croker did a great job with Big Healey. The continued manufacture of modern reproductions indicates his design is still admired. However, I prefer the MGA. The latter has a lower cut door and more flared rear guards than the Austin Healey. Both give the MG a more shapely, less slab-sided appearance than the Big Healey. The cars share 15 inch wheels (usually wires). These look slightly larger and more dynamic on the smaller-bodied MGA. To my eye, the curvy MGA is closer in styling to the AC Ace (forerunner of the butch-looking Cobra and its thousands of replicas) than it is to the Big Healeys that were made, along with the “A” at the MG’s Abingdon factory.
Compared to many contemporary and current vehicles, the MGA is a small car. Its predecessors, the MG T-types (TA, TB, TC, TD and TF) were all marketed as MG “Midgets”. However, like the older MG T-types and the more recent MGBs and MGFs, there is plenty of length in the car for long legs. On the other hand, as with all MG roadsters, it can be a bit of squeeze to get in and out of an MGA. The large steering wheel is (with a spanner) adjustable for reach, but I have to have it pretty much in my lap if I am to use my legs beyond it. The cabin is wide enough to sit two comfortably. The main cost of the MGA’s compact design is a lack of storage space. The spare wheel takes up much of the small boot. By the time a jack and some tools are stowed in there too, things get pretty tight.
For this reason, many MGAs are fitted with a chrome luggage rack. We bought a very nice large period leather suitcase on eBay for $5 and that works perfectly well for longer journeys. However, the car is much harder to load up for a long trip than an MGTD, for example.
The doors of an MGA have large door pockets – shelves really – that are capable of holding wallets, phones, tools and much else besides. Up inside the door is a cable that is the only way of opening the doors. The MGA roadster has no external door handle – to aid streamlining. The pretty MGA coupe has an elegant chrome external handle.
The coupe, which looks a little like a small Jaguar XK, has a higher top speed than the roadster, due to its improved streamlining, but as a heavier car, it is slower to accelerate than the lighter roadster. The cream of the MGA crop is the twin-cam. This rare beast sports a lovely looking twin cam version of the B-Series motor and disc brakes on all four wheels. The engines were troublesome when released and the engine bay, tight enough with a pushrod car, is extremely hard to access properly in a twin-cam. Output was 108 bhp at 6700 rpm in the high-compression (9.9:1) version and 100 bhp in the low-compression (8.3:1) version that was introduced to improve reliability. The engine block was cast iron, but the crossflow eight-port cylinder head was of aluminium alloy. Despite the alloy head, the extra weight of the engine, and a relocated steering rack, mean that the lighter, more balanced, pushrod cars are said to handle slightly better. Both are, nonetheless, probably the sweetest handling English cars of the period. The twin-cam’s reliability issues have now been conquered. The lowered compression ratio and the improved quality of modern (as well as a more consistent mixture from reduced carby vibration) means that burnt pistons are a thing of the past. Where reasonable pushrod cars start at around $25,000 and run up to about $45,000 for the very, very best examples, the twin-cams start around $55,000. With either engine, coupes are about twenty to thirty percent less than their roadster equivalents.
Keeping an MGA happy is easy and affordable. Parts are cheap and readily available from Moss and others. Have a look at eBay to see how cheap parts are. The cars are simple and tough. The main trap is rust. The sills are the key risk area. Check carefully, very carefully. If you have, or take on, a rusty one, high quality panel and chassis repair pieces can be bought from Kilmartin Automotive Sheetmetal in Ballarat, about an hour from Melbourne.
BMW 635 CSi – a very handsome GT
I am currently driving a 1986 BMW 635. It is an interesting car to drive. Around the city, it is heavy to pilot, thirsty (15 l/100 km) and slow to accelerate. The idle is lumpy and the anti-lock brakes are encumbered by an inch of initial pedal movement that has no effect on the speed of the car. The brakes are well able to stop the car, but a gentle, ineffective touch of the brakes is sometimes followed by a stamp on the anchors as driver panic sets in.
On the highway, however, the BMW is smooth, powerful and blessed with that elusive combination of comfortable ride and nice handling – particularly on sweeping turns (if not on tight mountain roads).
The fully electrically adjustable sports seats are supportive. The rear seats are, with a bit of squeeze, useable by adults, but it is pretty tight back there. The BMW 6 Series has a capacious boot, but an old-fashioned high load lip. This strong rear panel adds to the car’s rigidity but reminds you that this was a car designed in the 1970s. It was released in 630 and 633 guise in early 1976, the larger engined 635 was released in Europe in 1978, and remained in production until 1989.
Two-up the BMW 635 CSi is a formidable long-distance car. However, as a daily drive, it is rather heavy in every sense. The long, hefty doors need a solid slam to shut (the frameless windows mean that the door seals are large and therefore offer considerable resistance to the door’s closing). The power steering is weighty, the pedals require a very serious shove and the car feels every bit of its 1500 kg at all times. Somehow, it manages to feel heavier even than a Range Rover of the same period, despite the latter coming in at up to 2000 kg and being much more upright.
Certainly, the 6 Series is a styling success. It doesn’t turn heads like a convertible, but the car is always noticed by car connoisseurs. The styling of the original 6 Series is often likened to a shark. The tip of the nose overhangs the grille in the same way as a Great White’s nose protrudes before its teeth. In addition, BMW’s traditional kinked c-pillar does look a little like a shark’s fin. Somehow, the big coupe captured the beauty of a shark, but none of the brutality.
Overall, the styling is one of the car’s greatest features and a great credit to its stylist, Frenchman, Paul Bracq. The machine looks sporty, strong and confident. It is striking while remaining true to BMW’s styling traditions. Bracq worked at a number of car companies during his long career, including BMW’s arch-rival Daimler Benz, along with Peugeot and Citroen. To my eye, his most successful work of the 1960s was the Pagoda-roofed W113 series Mercedes Benz sports cars (the 230 SL, the 250 SL and the 280 SL). Bracq was part of the team that styled the pretty Benz, but is recognised as playing a crucial role, particularly in the development of the model’s distinctive, somewhat concave “pagoda” roofed hardtop. The delicately-styled Benz was Bracq’s greatest success of the sixties and the elegant BMW 6 Series was his styling triumph of the 1970s.
With the mechanicals from BMW saloons (a bit of 7 Series here, a bit of 5 Series there), the BMW coupe relies on well-proven mechanicals (ignoring for a moment the rare and more complex M-version). The 635 CSi’s 3.5 litre BMW straight six motor is a classic in its own right. Known to be tough, smooth and suitably powerful, it sits well in the busy engine bay of a late-model 6 Series. The mechanicals are reliable and, if the worst happens, relatively obtainable given their appearance in other BMWs of the era.
The two big fears of BMW 6 Series ownership are the electronics and the body. As the model matured, BMW worked hard to keep it as a flagship vehicle. In the main, this meant throwing in more electronic gadgets. The 1986 635 CSi I am driving has electronic adjustment of every aspect of the front seating, including the height of the headrest. The switchgear alone is pretty impressive. In older cars, electric seats tend to be more trouble than they are worth. However, in the car I am driving, everything works. Bosch can take credit for this. Similar Lucas controls in my similarly-aged Range Rovers, for example, could never be relied upon to work.
The other problem with the 6 Series is the body work. There are two main risks here. One is accident damage. Those distinctive panels are hard to get. Secondly, these BMWs can rust. Places to check include the inner guards, the doors and, of course, any of the bottom six inches or so of the car.
Rust repair is rarely economical. Hence the best cars to buy are the ones that have been cared for from new and always garaged. There a quite a few available around Australia for about $15,000.
Delage D8S Grand Sport
Recently, we travelled into nearby Woodend to do some shopping. The sun was shining, so we were in the the MGTD. With it is pre-war styling and simple one and quarter litre XPAG engine (that always, always starts), coupled with rack and pinion steering, it is a lovely little car for trips to nearby towns on quiet country roads. It has plenty of easily accessible space behind the seat for shopping too.
On arrival in the town, it was clear that the Vintage Sports Car Club had chosen to stop for lunch at Woodend’s Keatings Hotel. Scattered around the town were about a dozen magnificent vintage cars. We parked the little red MG in front of a glorious green Lagonda and started to wander around to see what treasures we could find.
Parked outside the pub was a spectacular Delage Series 8 with a beautiful open touring body. I believe that this was a Grand Sport model. I thought it was a body by Letourneur et Marchand. However, my doctor – who knows the Delage in question well – tells me that the body was made in Melbourne in recent years. Cleverly designed as both a two or four seater, this is simply one of the most beautiful cars ever built. The pictures above do not do it justice. At the front there are voluptuous front wings enveloping front wheels that sit well forward on the chassis. The large and vertical grille is flanked by simply enormous headlights. Behind the confident grille (which sits back so far that it is in line with with front axle) a long bonnet stretches back to a delicately-framed windscreen. The cockpit is well trimmed and the dashboard is studded with instruments. Behind the short cockpit, the rear of the car sweeps back, incorporating a concealed rear cockpit before dropping off to streamlined drooping tail that also tapers in from the sides with just a hint of boat-tail about it. The car’s styling certainly does not ignore streamlining, but it never sacrifices a sense of confidence and occasion to the task of reducing wind resistance. Instead, the Grand Sport presents a balanced approach, combining some of the arrogance of a car such as a Daimler Double Six Corsica Drophead or a pre-war Lagonda, with the sleekness and stylish curves of a post-war sports car. To put it another way, the car has neither the traditional vintage upright styling that was common to what might be termed “the perpendicular” school of design, nor the low-slung, wind-cheating curves that came to dominate after the war when speeds rose to the point where wind resistance was a serious issue. Instead, the Delage Series 8 Grand Sport combines the stateliness of an upmarket pre-war tourer with the curves and beauty of a post-war sports car. “Grand Sport” is an unusually apt name for this Delage.
The Series D8 was produced from 1930 until 1935. They were powered by a straight eight engine that had a cast iron block and a cast alloy five-bearing crankcase. This engine, initially coming in at a fraction over four litres in capacity produced about 120bhp in standard form and 145bhp in the uprated D8SS form. Later versions of the engine were expanded to 4.7 litres.
The brakes (shaft and cable operated) were assisted by a vacuum servo mounted to the gearbox.
The Grand Sport that I saw in Woodend would not quite reach 100MPH due to its large and upright radiator causing significant drag at speed. However, in the 1930s, a special bodied, works prepared Delage D8S Grand Sport ran at nearly 110 mph for 24 hours at Montlhery.
Its creator, Louis Delage, started work at Peugeot before setting out on his own to make cars at the age of 30 in 1905. In 1913 a Delage won the French Grand Prix and by the time the Great War broke out, his racing cars had brakes on all four wheels and double overhead camshafts. In 1924, a 12 cylinder Delage set a world speed record of 230 km/h. The company’s complex V12 two litre racing engines of that era were producing 195 bhp when supercharged. In 1926, a Delage won the British GP at Brooklands. By 1927, with twin supercharges, 1.5 litre (actually 1.488 litre) Delage engines were putting out 170 bhp. That is well over 100 bhp per litre – a truly extraordinary output for the time.
Building on the racing successes of the 1920s, and the experience gained from the excellent Series D1 tourers, Delage set about creating a large glamorous car for the 1930s. The wisdom of offering a large eight cylinder car and expensive chassis to the market after the stockmarket crash of 1929 could be questioned. The Great Depression claimed Invicta and many others as well as sending Bentley into the arms of Rolls Royce. Perhaps inevitably, Delage fell to rival Delahaye in 1935.
However, before the company’s demise came the great Series D8. It is this model that was, I assume in the mind of Peter Ustinov, who – noting that Delages seemed only to appear in the company of beautiful women – is said to have claimed that “One drives, of course, an Alfa Romeo, one is driven in a Rolls, but one gives only a Delage to one’s favourite mistress”.
AOMC National Motoring Heritage Day – Cavalcade of Transport – Yarra Glen
On Sunday 20 May 2012, the RACV and the Association of Motoring Clubs (Victoria) hosted the Cavalcade of Transport at Yarra Glen, about an hour north-east of central Melbourne.
The event was smaller and more relaxed than the Classic Showcase at Flemington a month earlier. The cars were not carefully sorted, but most owners did tend to park in informal marque-based groups. There was a huge variety of vehicles, ranging from a large collection of vintage cars through to a modern Elfin. There was even an extraordinary eight cylinder rear-engined Tatra. Less unusually, there was a fine collection of Jaguars and a nice collection of Porsche 356s including a charming unrestored car in faded red.
Favourites included a spectacular, indeed perfect, silver Gullwing Mercedes Benz 300SL owned by a nice man called Patrick. Other rarities include a Daimler Limousine formerly owned by the Governor of Tasmania. This large car managed to transport a fair sized picnic party to the event. Meanwhile, a very nice pre-war Alvis with cycle guards looked just the part in green. There was a splendid pale blue XK120 Jaguar that took its owners 20 years to restore. Other gems included a pre-war Bentley, some very nice pre-war Lancias and even a Borgward Isabella.
The MG Club had an event at Rob Roy on the same day, so my 1961 MGA 1600 roadster was the only “A” at Yarra Glen. It was joined by a handful of MGBs and an MGTC “cream cracker” replica racer.
At the end of a long and enjoyable day looking at the cars and talking to owners, we headed towards Melbourne in the MGA. The car was running nicely enough and a quick trip was anticipated. The roof was down and the extractor-led exhaust pipe was emitting a healthy burble. Then, on a straight and level section of road, the car suddenly coughed and stalled. I coasted to the verge and popped the bonnet. Such a dramatic failure to proceed would have to be something simple, probably the coil lead having fallen off – or so I thought. At this moment, the magnificent Gullwing Mercedes Benz I had seen at the event in Yarra Glen pulled up on the verge behind me. Its kindly owner, Patrick was generously offering a hand. Acutely aware that his very precious car was barely off the road with traffic whizzing by, I assured him that the problem with the MG had to be simple and that he should continue on his way.
Needless to say, after Patrick left, I could not find the problem. The MGA would barely start and when it would splutter to life, it would run only if revved very hard. It was firing on three cylinders at best. It had enough zap in the ignition leads to give me a shock when I touched them and the amount of unburnt petrol coming out the exhaust strongly indicated that the engine was getting fuel. However, the car was still undriveable. Getting desperate, I decided to remove the electronic ignition distributor that I had recently installed and replace it with the old points distributor that I had thrown into the boot before setting off. Even with the return to old-fashioned points, there was no improvement.
Then a pair of very nicely presented early Minis pulled up and the MGA was promptly surrounded by a team of helpful people who knew all about these simple English engines. I think the group came from the All British Classics Car Club and I am very grateful for their help. However, even these experts could not get the MG going. By now, the spark plugs were certainly dripping with fuel and, stupidly, I had no plug spanner to remove them.
Defeated, I organised a tow through RACV Total Care. Consequently, as darkness arrived, so did Ben Wohlgehagen from Yarra Junction Towing. With good humour and all possible care for the MG and its tired passengers, Ben winched the little car on to his flatbed and we set out for home, 100 km away. Ben was terrific; when we arrived home, he took the time to position his tow truck carefully so that I could roll the stricken MGA straight off the truck and into the shed without so much as pushing it. Little things like that make a big difference when you are tired and cold.
When I got time to work on the car a few days later, it became clear that it was running enormously rich, but that the electricals were fine. The rear two plugs were black and soaked in fuel. As I began to remove the carburettors, the source of the problem finally became clear. One of the bolts holding the rear “pancake” air filter (the MGA runs a pair of SU carbies) had dropped out. Consequently, the filter had pivoted slightly on the remaining bolt and blocked the small air intake holes next to the carby throat. Unrestricted airflow through these holes is required if an SU carby is to operate. The rear cylinders were getting fuel, but almost no air. The carbies are a bit hard to get to on an MGA, the car’s tightly packed aerodynamic body pretty much hides the air cleaners. However, had I been more careful and spotted the problem when broken down on the roadside, the car would have happily driven home without a filter. The MGA can not be fairly blamed for the break down. I had fitted the offending air cleaner myself a few months earlier and I should have spotted the problem when the car stopped on the side of the road, gasping for air.
With the filter in the right place and the bolts tightened, the car ran pretty well. Nonetheless, I decided that the MG needed a proper tune using a dwell meter (the MGA is back to points for now) to get the points gap right. I also used a Gunson Carbalancer (cheaper and easier to use than my much better made Uni-Syn) to balance the twin carbs. (The Uni-Syn is harder to read when used on partly obscured carbies, but is fine for cars such as the MGTD, where carbies are perfectly accessible.) Finally, I adjusted the mixture on the MGA using a pair of colortune plugs (which I reckon is the best tuning device ever invented). I set the timing on my cars by ear and with the help of nearby hills to check for pinging. The MGA flies up the hills now.
Overall, the AOMC event at Yarra Glen was a very good event with a wide variety of interesting cars. I would certainly go again. There really is something for everyone, whether they be into heavy American cars, veterans, vintage or stylish Europeans. In addition, it was terrific that people stopped to help when we broke down. Finally our tow truck driver, Ben Wohlgehagen was a very good natured rescuer.
Another MG adventure ends well.
John Needham – Old Car Gearboxes
On Sunday’s Classic Car event at Yarra Glen, about 70 km from Melbourne, hosted by the Association of Motoring Clubs, I met John Needham. John’s marvelous little Austin 7 stood out as being a car that is used, not pampered. John has had his Austin for 50 years and is the car’s third owner. His car’s slightly battered appearance is just my thing. I like to see classics that are driven properly and enjoyed on the road. John is a member of Feral Sports Car Club and, like his fellow members of that club, is a very firm believer that old cars should be used, not just polished. He would much rather see owners out driving their cars to interesting places.
When we met, John was kind enough to invite me to visit his business Old Car Gearboxes in Moorabbin, a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne.
Today, I took him up on that offer. On arrival, I found John working away in his tightly packed workshop. The space is filled with tools, gearbox housings and gears – lots and lots of gears. As I arrived, John was putting the finishing touches on a Moss Box for a Jaguar XK120 (see the photo above). Further back on the bench sat an Austin 7 engine that John is rebuilding for a bloke. There were lots of interesting old car bits stacked on shelves and elsewhere around the workspace.
It is, however, the rebuilding of gearboxes that John is famous for. John makes his own gears and has been doing so for decades. As he talks, the conversation moves rapidly across time. We talk about everything from the peculiarities of various pre-war cars to a customer who came into the workshop twenty years ago to show John an MG gear that he brought back in his luggage from an MG specialist in England. Somewhat surprised to the see this particular gear had been privately imported from England into Australia, John pointed to a box of identical gears on his shelf. “Ahh” said the customer, “you buy yours from the same place”. “No”, said John, “the English specialists buy them from me”.
John’s pet hate appears to be people who press in bronze bushings in gearboxes where roller bearings should go. John was able to show me various shafts and gears that had been ruined by the use of bronze bushings. My favourite was one where a bronze bush had seized and the shaft had to be cut to remove it. If the adjacent bush had seized instead, removal would have been next to impossible, even with the shaft cut.
John has an encyclopeadic knowledge of old car gearboxes. He has years of experience with the minor differences between models and was able to quickly show me how things changed over the years. For example, in the midst of our conversation, John reached for a layshaft out of an MGTC (engine size 1250 cc). It was quite sizeable. He then invited me to compare it to the same part from an MGTD (also 1250 cc). The latter was about two thirds the size of the TC equivalent and about the size I would have expected. John then compared the TD shaft and gears with the same part from a 1250 cc Mini Cooper. It was significantly smaller again. It was interesting to see how much more compact, and probably less robust, the gearboxes became over time. The weight of the cars had remained fairly consistent, the engine output had grown modestly, but the gears of these three cars had become much smaller with each generation.
John knows from decades of experience the weaknesses of various gearbox designs. He likes to create his own improvements, such as the close ratio gearboxes for which he is well known. In addition, John has developed clever solutions to a wide range of difficult gearbox problems. For example, he makes his own reverse lock out springs that are much stronger than those used by others. This is important in boxes that have reverse located on the gate close to another gear, such as first. Demonstrating on the Moss box he was finishing off, John showed me how a weak horizontal detent spring can not only allow accidental selection of reverse, it can also cause a car to get stuck in reverse. This seemed counter intuitive until he showed me that, to ensure that a Moss box can be shifted from reverse, the horizontal spring must work in concert with the vertical detent spring that I did not even know existed.
Even more impressively, John has developed gears that use the driving force to lock into each other, only allowing movement for disengagement when the load is released by the throwing of the clutch.
John is one of those people who enjoys a challenge and is passionate about old cars. He works for a clientele who value his skill and his passion. John Needham can be contacted at Old Car Gearboxes on +61 3 9553 3203.
An MGTD breaks down but a Jaguar XJ6 impresses
We set out in my 1953 MGTD roadster to travel the hour or more across central Victoria to the town of Daylesford. It turned out to be an adventurous day.
The early winter sun was weak and the wind chill in an open car (with no heater) meant we had to be rugged up.
The MGTD was running beautifully. It sounds busy over 90 km/h, but at anything up to that speed it was running perfectly today. There is a slight exhaust leak as I have not yet fitted the correct gasket between the manifold and the exhaust pipe, but the car was as smooth and powerful as one could hope from a one and quarter litre four cylinder engine that was designed before the war.
As we approached Daylesford the smell of glycol became stronger and stronger. I tried to convince myself that it was merely overflow as the coolant expanded. Nonetheless, I kept an eye on the coolant temperature gauge in case a sudden downward shift in the needle indicated a lack of coolant. Just as the needle moved and I started to get very suspicious that the level might have been too low to operate the gauge, the MG started to cough and splutter.
Once pulled up on the verge, steam began to drift ominously from the vents on the sides of the bonnet. On lifting the bonnet, it became clear that the whole engine was dripping with bright green glycol and the steam was caused by the water evaporating off the exhaust manifold and anything else that was hot.
A check of the water pump strongly suggested that the gasket between the pump and the block had blown out. A repair was going to involve better spanners than I had on board and some silastic or a new gasket to replace the old gasket that was now in pieces in the engine bay. I had unloaded my water bottle just prior to departure so there was not even enough water to top up the car and continue into the town. As we considered knocking on the door of a nearby farmhouse, a lovely sable (i.e. brown) 1971 Jaguar XJ6 pulled up to help.
The driver, an extremely charming American named Jim, drove me into Daylesford to get water for the MG’s cooling system. Jim’s XJ6 was with its previous keeper for more than 20 years before Jim managed to persuade the proud owner to let his wife allow the car to be sold. Unusually, the car is a manual overdrive. With its pure Series 1 styling, short wheelbase and manual gearbox, Jim’s is the connoisseur’s choice of XJ6.
From the time of its release, there were a few complaints about the shortage of rear legroom and poor access to the back seat in these early XJ6 models. This led to the introduction of a four inch longer wheelbase in 1972 and the phasing out of the short wheelbase in 1974. The long wheel base was more suitable for the chauffeur driven and those seeking a luxury sedan. However, the shorter car – like Jim’s – is much the better sports saloon.
From 1973, however, the XJ Jaguars started being “federalized” to meet American safety standards, with the raising of the bumpers, shrinking of the main grille and so on for the Series II model. Although still very pretty, the purity of the original design was lost.
During my short ride in Jim’s car, I was struck, in particular, by the remarkable refinement of this 40 year old Jaguar. There was a slight wind rustle from the front pillars and the famous throaty burble from the exhausts, but it was certainly easy to see why the XJ was probably the best car in the world in 1971. At that time, the Jaguar was more refined than a Rolls Royce and a better handling car than an E-type. The latter was, of course almost a ten year old design by the time the XJ was released. Those early 4.2 litre XJ6 Jaguars are very, very good cars. With a manual transmission, they are capable of 200 km/h (124 mph) in standard 240 bhp form. 0-100 km/h comes up in about 9 seconds. They were Sir William Lyons’ last masterpiece. Certainly, Jim’s XJ6 was a very impressive vehicle.
From the outside, Jim’s car is straight, very tidy and quite charming in its sable paint. Having been in it, I can say it was very impressive inside too. The timber was good, the headlining perfect. Only the seats showed the charming patina of 40 years of careful use.
Our rescuer was good enough to drive me back to the dripping MGTD where the recently obtained water was poured into the radiator and we set off for somewhere to buy silastic and, with luck, a set of ring spanners. It was a stressful drive as I was conscious of the fact that the water was draining away rapidly. The car’s ignition electricals were soaked as the fan sprayed the pouring water back over the motor. All this meant that the car was running badly.
Nonetheless, because of Jim’s help, we were able to limp with a blown water pump gasket to the Howe Automotive Engine Centre in East St, Daylesford.
We went to Howe Auto because Google indicated that I might be able to buy some silastic and so on there. This would allow me to stop the water leak – if I could get the water pump off.
When we explained the problem, Albert, the proprietor invited me to drive up to the workshop door. He lent me some excellent tools and I pulled off the water pump while he rebuilt a five litre Holden motor (with a flat plane crank) inside his very tidy workshop.
I had to remove the fan and engine stabiliser to get the pump off, all of which took longer than it should. It is possible to unbolt the water pump with the fan still connected to it, but I couldn’t get the whole assembly out of the engine bay. The engine stabiliser is a horizontal, adjustable strut that bolts to a bracket on the water pump and stops the very tall engine from rocking too much on its mounts.
After a couple of hours, I had the pump back on and, after an interesting chat to Albert the kindly mechanic, we headed off. Albert refused payment for his tools, silastic, advice and cheery conversation.
Not only is he friendly and generous, but Albert is also clearly a very, very experienced mechanic. He works on everything from my own doctor’s supercharged 1926 Talbot GP to modern race cars. Howe Automotive is well-equipped, tidy and obviously very well run. The place reeks of common sense and good practice. The number is (03) 5348 3801.
In short, in a single brief trip to Daylesford, I met two people. The first was kind enough to drive me in and out of town to get water for my dripping MGTD in his very desirable XJ6. The second helped me repair the MG with his excellent tools and advice. Neither accepted payment, both were generous, charming and knowledgeable about classic cars.
The poor old MGTD got us home just as dusk started to demonstrate how much better modern headlights are than Joseph Lucas’ finest were in 1953. The MG might not have behaved perfectly today, but its blown water pump gasket ensured a good day out.
AOMC Classic Showcase at Flemington
On Sunday 29 April 2012, the RACV and the Association of Motoring Clubs (Victoria) hosted the Classic Showcase at Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse.
This event included the Victorian MG, Austin Healey and Merecedes Benz concourse events.
Because Melbourne had experienced pretty much a week of (otherwise welcome) rain beforehand, there was a fear that Flemington would provide attendees with a wet track. Instead, the weather on the day turned out to be perfect.
I took my 1961 MGA 1600 roadster on the basis that it runs better than my 1953 MGTD. My father took his 1986 BMW 635 Csi which attracted attention for being one of the more original BMWs there. However, it was really a day for convertible cars.
The MG Car Club was out in force. Many members were recently returned from a tour of Tasmania following the national MG meet in Hobart. The club has 1700 members, so it can always put on a good show.
The Healey club did themselves proud with an excellent display, particularly of Big Healeys. However, the Mercedes Benz club had the most extraordinary club display of the day, with what seemed like hundreds of cars.
Despite being concourse events for the Healeys, the MGs and the Mercedes Benz clubs, there were lots of treasures from many other marques on display. There was everything from a Hartnett (a small car produced in Australia from 1951 to 1955, with just 120 ever completed) to a 1912 Talbot Doctor’s Coupe. The mood was fun, the cars interesting and the pretty site was ideal. In the midst of a Melbourne autumn, the sun shone, but it was never too hot. Convertible roofs were down and, in the gentle sun, paintwork and chrome glistened.
My favourite car was a spectacular 1962 Aston Martin DB4 (pictured at the top of this article). The car was in superb condition. Parked beside the DB4 was its much younger sister, a DB7 from the late 1990s. The styling influence of the fifty year old DB4 was clear.
The whole site was filled with the sort of cars that any car enthusiast would cross the road to admire. My friend Jason brought his smart-looking (and slightly warmed) Porsche 356 which stood out given a surprising shortages of Porsches at the event. A nice silver early 911 added its distinctive profile to the adjacent pair of Karman Ghias. There was also a remarkably well-restored example of a Karman Ghia in the “Best in Show” enclosure with every conceivable period extra.
However, my favourite from the half dozen cars in the “Best in Show” area was a simply superb Lancia Aurelia. The quality of the engineering under the bonnet shows just how well laid out and well-engineered an engine bay can be. Another very beautiful Lancia was a Touring designed (and built) aluminum bodied Flamina GT coupé. Boasting superleggera construction (which Touring licenced to Aston Martin for their DB4 and DB5), this Italian beauty sat by herself, confident that at more than 50 years old, age had not tarnished her beauty.
Spread out across the large collection of cars were pre-war rarities such as a superb Bentley, a Singer Nine and an early 1930s Wolseley Hornet. In some cases, the treasures were grouped together. The Rolls Royce Owners Club put on a mouthwatering display. In other cases, the fun was in finding the dispersed gems among so many really good cars. Favourites included a pre-war Aston Martin (that the owner tells me may be for sale) and a wonderfully unrestored and extremely well-used Slough-built Citroen. There was a lovely group of Bristols basking in the sun and, nearby a tough looking gang of Jensen Interceptors showed off their long bonnets and serious Chrysler-derived muscle.
A much more delicate alternative was a recently imported pre-war MGTA airline coupe, still with its English number plates. As further evidence of the strong Australian dollar’s impact on the affordability of importing interesting cars, the event at Flemington had three Deloreans. One was even fitted with a flux capacitor and all the associated wiring, gauges and switchgear.
Whether it be the Daimlers (a lovely Majestic Major and a well-used DB18 Consort were my favourites), the many, many Jaguars (including a very nice XK120 and a very handsome cycle-guarded and supercharged SS100) or the wonderful brace of Bentleys (such as the gorgeous Continental pictured above), it was the depth of quality and the breadth of range that made this event a superb day for Melbourne’s classic motorists.
Porsche Boxster – A reader’s report
Well, as I stated in a comment on The Classic Motorist site a few weeks ago, I flew across to Melbourne from Adelaide to pick up a 2005 987 Porsche Boxster from Porsche Centre Melbourne. Having purchased the vehicle “sight unseen”, I was a little apprehensive. Thankfully, the vehicle met all my expectations. Black on black, like my previous 986 Boxster S, in my opinion is the best colour combination. My new one has a few extra options, like PSM (Porsche Stability Management), PASM (Porsche Active Stability Management), heated seats, 5 speed manual and the sports chrono option. What they all do and are is for another day, but those that know me will vouch that I do love gadgets and these options are some extra things to have some fun playing with!
The drive back to Adelaide from Melbourne went very smoothly. I left Melbourne for the 700 plus kilometre drive at around 11:30am and was back home in Adelaide at around 7:40pm.
The temperature was in the high 30s, so the roof was closed for most the drive, but I also had the roof down on occasions – sucking up months of not being able to enjoy open top motoring after selling my previous 986 S.
The car in the 2.7 litre 5 speed manual set up went, in my opinion, far better than the triptronic in my previous 3.2 litre 986 S. Power output does vary slightly, with the 987 having 176 kW versus the 986 S having 191 kW. Still, on paper and in the flesh, the 987 5 speed manual is slightly quicker than the triptronic. I also found the interior far more upmarket in the 987 than the 986 and the 987 having all the advanced stability management enhancements, meant that road handling and control is far better.
For most of the drive I tried as hard as I could to maintain the legal speed limit, but as I exited Boardertown and saw the 110 km/h limit, I changed down and gave it some stick, only to see a pole with heaps of cameras on it. To my relief these are to manage trucks and other heavy vehicles to ensure they maintain their rest periods and speed limits. It was a real lesson to at least look up before you “leap”.
The other surprise was the exhaust note. The 987, although only the 2.7 litre version, sounds far more sporty in exhaust noise than my previous 986 S.
One of the real advantages buying it from an authorised Porsche dealer is that it comes with a 12 month Porsche pre-owned warranty and an option to renew the warranty for up to 9 years from its first registration. This means no surprise expenses until at least late 2015 and hopefully by then, I’ll be driving the soon to be released 981. If you haven’t as yet seen the new model (soon to be released), get onto the Porsche website and check it out – absolutely outstanding!
Until next time, as I’m off to polish my car with my recent eBay purchased Zymol cleanser and polish!
Richard C
Porsche 928 – consumate GT
Some classic car enthusiasts object to the idea of their cars being investments. I do not share this purist approach. My view is that if you can buy a car that appreciates – as well as providing enjoyment – all the better. My caveat is that I would never want to own car that I did not like. I would not own a truly ugly or boring car, no matter what investment potential it had. In part, this is something of an insurance policy. At least if I get stuck with a depreciating asset, it would still be a nice vehicle to own.
I have a theory that the cars that are going to appreciate are those machines whose images once adorned the childhood walls – and dreams – of people who are now about 45 years of age. My argument is that many people make a pledge in their youth that “one day I will have a car like that”. Sometimes it is a car that parked down the street that inspired them. Sometimes it is an uncle’s car. Sometimes it is a car that was in a movie or television program. As the kids leave home, the mortgage is tamed and mortality is underlined, these people often decide to act on their dreams. Suddenly, the heavily depreciated, worn out cars that have survived from thirty years before become hot property and the prices skyrocket. Have you seen the prices of early 911s lately?
Of course, some models of cars are always in demand, the SL Mercedes being an example. However, the steam can come out of the prices of older ones as their market dies out and more recent models can make a very good buy as they languish as complex, outdated cars in the period before they become classics.
One of my favourite contenders for the prize of the most “outdated, overweight, overlooked and remarkably cheap car for what they are” is the Porsche 928. In their day, the 928 was first launched in 1977, these were the technical triumph of one of the world’s great car companies. They were futuristic, expensive and technically interesting. They remain one of the great GTs in a world where such cars are still surprisingly relevant. People travel long distances by road to holiday homes. The rise of multi-car families mean that many people can easily own a two-door car knowing that they have a four-wheel drive or large sedan available if they need to ferry people or goods. The 928 is now as cheap as a Mazda 6, ranging from AUD$10,000 through to around AUD$50,000 for the very, very best and, I argue, on the cusp of being seen by the market as an interesting – and very useable – classic car.
By the mid seventies, Porsche had well and truly accepted that their 911 model was outdated. The 911 had been released in 1963 and was not that big a departure from the 356 which was released in 1948 and had earlier origins, not least through its links to the VW Beetle. By the 1970s, the fundamental architecture of the 911 was looking more and more like an evolutionary dead end. The rest of world had moved in a different direction. The vast bulk of cars were front engine and supercars were following the Miura down the mid-engined track. This left the 911 looking increasingly odd. Although it had packaging advantages and aided traction, hanging the engine out the back of the car could make it tricky to handle on the limit. Also, people were getting bigger and were demanding greater comfort in their cars as they covered greater distances and spent more time in traffic. They were demanding comfortable GT cars rather than light sports cars. In addition, it was easier to make larger GT cars pass increasingly stringent safety requirements. Hence, Porsche responded by creating a car to replace the air-cooled 911. The new car was, of course, a wide, front-engined GT. The 911 was expected to soldier on for a while, but the creation of the 928 indicated that the 911 had (at least in the mind of the company) stepped into God’s waiting room.
Of course, for Porsche, things did not go to plan. Although the 928 was European Car of the Year in 1978, the car’s production ended nearly twenty years ago without a direct replacement in place. On the other hand, the 911 (perhaps in a triumph of evolutionary enginerring over fundamental design) is still going strong, albeit much updated with each generation.
For the 928, seeking the best combination of handling and packaging, Porsche settled on a conventional front-engine rear-wheel drive architecture for their new car. Mercedes, Jaguar and Aston Martin had all stuck with this arrangement for their road cars, so Porsche was in good company.
The 928 was designed to beat the BMW 635 and the big Benz coupes at the task of hogging the fast lane on German autobahns. To do this, the car was given a streamlined shape (although with a high cd of 0.39) and a water-cooled 4.5 litre V8. This engine produced 240 bhp and was red-lined at a far-from-heady 5500 rpm. (The engine had only a single overhead cam per bank at first.) By the time the final version of the 928s was released in 1992, the 928 had twin overhead cams on each bank of the V8 (which I think only Aston were doing back then). Capacity had grown to 5.4 litres (350 bhp, 362 lb/ft of torque) and the 0-100 time was 5.5 seconds. This is pretty quick in anyone’s language. In between were various models, each with more power than the one before it. In 1980, with the 928 S, capacity was increased to 4.66 litres with 300 bhp. In 1985, the 928 S2 had 310 bhp. Things got more serious in 1987 with the 928 S4 which brought double overhead cams on each bank giving 32 valves in place of the 16 that had been in use previously. Capacity was also increased to 5 litres, giving 320 bhp.
In 1990, with the release of the 928 GT, power increased to 330 bhp, before the jump to 5.4 litre for the final incarnation – the 928 GTS.
Many 928s were sold with an automatic transmission. In many ways, this suited the relaxed, powerful cruising nature of the car. The Posche 928 was, in a way, more of an American muscle car than a European sportster. It was perhaps this, and the fact that for many people “Porsche” meant only “911” that means that the 928 is now (and pretty much always has been) an unloved car.
However, it would be wrong to overlook the interesting features of the 928. For example, Porsche took the trouble to put their car’s transmission at the back of the car to provide better balance (and thus achieved a claimed 50:50 weight distribution). An elegant solution, this transaxle transmission was able to draw on 911 experience. As an aside, Alfa produced a similar front engine, rear transaxle transmission arrangement for their pretty, but rust-prone, GTV model. Unlike Alfa who, it appeared, exported their cars as deck cargo on submarines, the big Porsches did not rust away faster than they could be driven. The body was galvanised, except for the bonnet, doors and front guards which were rust-free aluminium to reduce weight. The transaxle’s housing, like the engine, wheels and the suspension arms were also alloy. The battery was located on the transaxle as a vibration damper. The first 928s weighed in at 1400 kg which seems pretty light by today’s standards. Of course, the 928 comes with Porsche’s legendary build quality too. The 928 was fitted with the ‘Weissach axle’ (named after the Porsche R&D center where it was created). The Weissach axle was designed to eliminate lift-off oversteer by causing the rear suspension to adjust itself during cornering. Effectively, the 928 had mild suspension-induced mechanical rear wheel steering.
All this did not make the 928 a light race car, yet it was a bit too sporty to be an ordinary grand touring car. I have friends who live in the mountains, about six hours from my home. Driving to see them involves four hours of highway travel, where I want a spacious, quiet, comfortable car My current Range Rover does the job pretty well. However, the last hour and a half of the trip is a mountain road. All of it is sealed, much of it climbing and bits of it can really test a car’s handling. I often think that a 928 would be the perfect car for the trip, at least in summer when there is no snow; it would cover the hours of highway driving with calm aplomb but still have the traction, balance and power to climb Mt Hotham and tackle the winding descent on the other side with the poise and speed I want. To my way of thinking, this is what the 928 is about. It is thoroughly engineered for the journey I have in mind.
To be perfectly honest, the reason I do not own one is that the 928 is a little lacking in soul and I am, after all these years, still undecided about the car’s imposing looks. Nonetheless, I admire the engineering that sits at the heart of the Porsche 928. I am sure readers would welcome comments from anyone using a 928 regularly today and any views as to which is the best 928 model to buy.
Mercedes R129 – buy them now
By 1980, many cars had became very shiny. Throughout the 1970s, a number of car makers, particularly in Japan and America, sought to distinguish their more upmarket models from the base models (and cars produced by rivals) by adding more chrome. The Japanese, in particular, looked at Mercedes-Benz, and others, with their big chrome grilles and other jewelery, and decided that adding more chrome would make their own cars appear more prestigious. With each succeeding model, some cars gathered chrome in much the same way that, as people get older, hair appears in places it never did before. Chrome sprouted around the windscreen frame, it grew around door frames. It spread in strips around the lights, both front and rear. It covered the door handles and lengths of it ran down the side of even modest cars. There were exceptions, such as the Range Rover, but there was as much chrome on some lowly Toyotas as there was on a top of the range Benz. Then along came Bruno Sacco’s masterstroke. In 1982, the chief stylist at Daimler-Benz released the Mercedes-Benz W201 which was known to the public as the Mercedes-Benz 190. Despite being the company’s entry-level model, here was an elegant, up-market and fashionable sedan that, aside from its traditional Mercedes Grille, had no chrome. With a single model release, Sacco succeeded in making the chrome-laden luxo-barges that nearly everyone else was producing look chintzy and very, very out of date.
Born in Italy in 1933, Sacco studied mechanical engineering at the Polytechnic University of Turin before starting as a Daimler-Benz stylist in 1958. By the time he was chief stylist, Sacco was able to combine a thorough understanding of Mercedes tradition and culture with strong engineering training and an Italian eye for style. After a quarter of a century leading design at Mercedes he was proudest of the MB 190 (and it was a watershed). Another Sacco design that is well worth a look at is the W124 E-Class that was available from 1985 to 1995. In coupe form, it is very, very nice to look at, if more reassuring than inspiring as a driver’s car. However, I think the R129 Convertible (aka SL 500 or 500 SL) is his finest work. All Sacco’s cars managed to advance Mercedes styling considerably, but remained absolutely true to the heritage of the company. All his cars appear to have been engineered, not just styled. Yet all have that tailored elegant form that marks out the best handmade suits. The 500SL brought these features together in a two seater convertible that sat at the top of the company’s model hierarchy and reflected a heritage going back to the 1950s gullwing Mercedes.
The Mercedes-Benz SL 500
The R129 was, when released in 1989, a technological tour de force. As would be expected, it had an automatic softtop and ABS. However, it also had a hidden roll bar that would pop up in the event of a roll-over and a host of other features that are still to trickle down to ordinary cars, such as optional electronic control of the shock absorber’s damping rate. Like two door Range Rovers, the Benz had a seat frame that was strong enough to take seatbelt mountings. This meant that the belt always held you securely in the seat, wherever the seat was positioned. It also meant that the belt moved out of the way when the seat was folded forward.
Under the skin, the car had a sophisticated multi-link rear end and electric everything. Contemporary road-testers seemed overwhelmed by the technology, build quality and thorough engineering of the car, but found it a little stodgy to drive. It was no MX5. However, the big Benz convertible was a supremely comfortable, extremely safe and very stylish way to get about. The car weighed just under two tons (about the same as the aforementioned model Range Rover). Most contemporary articles pointed out that the weight of the car made a mockery of the “Super Light” that the SL in the car’s name stood for. Nonetheless, with 320 bhp and 347 ft lbs of torque the Benz was able to comfortably cover vast distances and deliver its occupants unruffled to their destination. As an example of the thoroughness of the car’s design (and with thanks to Ken Rockwell (KenRockwell.com) for pointing this out, there is a light switch on the inside of the boot. You can use this switch to turn off the light if you want to leave the boot open for an extended period. It automatically resets the next time the boot lid is closed. In many current cars, such a light will eventually go out of its own accord, but hats off to the thoroughness of Mercedes in the late 80s. The car’s boot, by the way, is large and is not compromised by the soft top being stored in there when it is lowered (unlike the BMW 3 Series, for example). Instead, the folding roof sits in its own space behind the cabin and is covered by a hard tonneau that automatically lifts to allow the roof to fold. The tonneau then automatically drops back in place to cover the folded roof and make everthing tidy. The roof is fully automatic. It is not even necessary to unlatch it from the windscreen header rail (as it still is in a Porsche Boxster, for example). Whether in this regard, the Benz gilded the lily a bit probably depends on your dexterity. Certainly, the soft top was well made, but early versions had only plastic rear windows that always look cheap and tend to scratch and age quickly in the sun. Personally, I would have happily unlatched my own roof in return for a glass rear window. Fortunately, later versions of the car came with a proper glass window in the soft top.
In addition to its folding fabric roof, the big Benz came with an aluminium hardtop that could be easily removed and left at home if the car’s soft top would suffice for your journey. Despite the challenge of storing it when not on the car, the added refinement and security of the hardtop was a nice option for some drivers. My MGF has a detacheable hardtop and I have not fitted it in years. I only fitted it back then because I had to park the car in the street overnight and was worried about some idiot slashing the roof. In the case of both the MGF and the SL 500, the hard roof makes a handsome coupe out of a roadster.
The SL 500 was usually offered as a large two-seater, but there was also a desirable, and very tight, rear seat option that gave the owner’s dog a more comfortable spot to sit and the ability to move small people a short distance if needed. The two and four seaters are otherwise identical and the rear seat can be retro-fitted to two seater versions.
Today, the R129 is a bargain and certainly a future classic. All previous Mercedes Benz SL cars have a strong following in the classic movement and the R129 will certainly have its day. Now that the cars are twenty years old, many potential owners are scared off by complexity and high dealer service costs. However, if you are prepared to do a bit yourself, have a friendly mechanic and appreciate fine engineering, an R129 is a future classic sitting at, or near, the bottom of its depreciation curve. Benz parts are not cheap, but these cars were (as Mercedes-Benz said themselves) over-engineered. By today’s standards, they are not overly complicated. Remember that in much of Europe, Mercedes cars make up the taxi fleets and accrue stellar mileages. There is no doubt the cars are properly built.
Another good thing about buying an SL is that there are plenty around that have been owned by people who have loved them and have lavished care (and expensive servicing) on their car. While buying any inexpertly lowered car with non-genuine wheels is always a huge mistake, to buy an SL 500 in that state is just madness. They cost too much to put right and there are enough nice cars out there to mean there is no reason to buy one that has been molested, thrashed or crashed. One thing to remember when hunting these cars on the web is to check both 500SL and SL500s. The nomenclature changed in 1994. The car was updated in 1995 and ran until 2002.
Range Rover two door – a “classic” in every sense
The original Range Rover (retrospectively dubbed the Classic, after the name was given by Land Rover to the fully-loaded run-out edition of the original shape) was from the first seen as a design classic. It is now seen as a classic car. The height of modernist car design, and exhibited in the Louvre on this basis, the Range Rover created a whole new class of car. The Porsche Cayenne, BMW X5 and plenty of other, lesser, rivals owe their existence to the Range Rover and the market it created. The Range Rover also brought constant four-wheel drive, coil spring suspension and four-wheel disc brakes to the four-wheel drive market that had, until then, had to put up with part-time four-wheel drive, leaf springs, dire brakes in the dry and no brakes at all once you had forded a river.
To those of us raised on traditional Land Rovers and the tough as nails Land Cruisers, the Range Rover was an absolute revelation. Here was a car that looked aristocratic, was more comfortable than most cars on the road and was a world beater off-road. With its 3.5 litre alloy V8 and aluminium body, the early two door Range Rover had good on-road performance, particularly by off-roader standards. On fast, moderately grippy gravel, the Range Rover was simply extraordinary. In such conditions, even the toughest Toyota had to be in two-wheel drive to prevent damaging the transmission through “wind-up” as the front wheels travelled through a wider arc than the rear. The Range Rover, with its centre differential allowing constant four-wheel drive, conquered gravel with a speed and comfort that was unimaginable to Nissan and Toyota drivers. Such was the speed, grip and ride that a Range Rover could coast over the top of corrugations that would have a Toyota driver visiting their physiotherapist as well as their mechanic.
As they fell in value, the remarkable four-wheel drive capability of two door Range Rovers meant that they fell into hands of people (like myself) who valued their capability for towing (they were rated to pull four tons), their capacity to clamber over obstacles and their ability to avoid the rust that ate out the competition. This focus on the Range Rover’s utility meant that they were often modified. Dual batteries were common. Electronic ignition and LPG conversions became typical. Old Range Rovers were picked up cheaply by four-wheel drivers, tradesmen and farmers. I knew of one Range Rover that was used to plow. The farmer explained that it was far more comfortable than his tractor as the Rangie had air-conditioning and a radio for listening to the horse racing.
This sort of treatment took its toll on the soft aluminium bodies and, in particular, the fragile trim. Because the cars remained so little changed from 1970 to 1995, the installation of later model features to improve, or repair, older cars was very common. For example, I once bought a 1985 four door that had been fitted (at significant cost to the previous owner) with a short-shift LT77 manual transmission and and a viscous coupling transfer case out of a 1989 or later model.
Gradually, people moved out of the two doors and into the more convenient four door Range Rovers. The former were discarded.
More recently, the two door Range Rover has begun to be appreciated and values have begun to rise. The challenge is to find early, unmolested cars. The most desirable models (up to about 1973), lack the black vinyl rear pillar that has long been a Rover (and Range Rover) signature. The early cars also had body-coloured front and centre pillars. It was only in the mid 1970s that the Range Rover went to its “floating roof” look that has been a styling feature since. The early cars lacked a rear wiper and the tiny “coffin lids” that covered the corners of the flimsy and extremely rust-prone upper tailgate at the rear. It is these cars that are now rapidly appreciating. The run of the mill four door classic remains in the price range where they are being used by tradesmen and others, but are not normally collectible. There are a couple of exceptions. The special edition “Sherwood”, which came in a non-metallic green and with its own collectible limited edition print, is certainly a special car. Also the final version of the original shape, with twin front SRS airbags, chrome bumpers and “Classic” badging is certainly one to keep. They were only available in a bright royal blue and epsom green. I had one of the latter until last year when it was written off by two drivers colliding while overtaking. It was a great car. It was a thoroughly useable classic that could pull up with equal credibility at a business meeting or a farm clearing sale. It was a car that was at home cruising at 110 km/h as it was towing hay up a muddy hillside. I miss it.
My advice is to keep an eye out for any good classic Range Rover. There are definitely bargains to be had as the car makes its transition from ageing and complex car with famously high running costs to bona fide classic.
Let me make a plug here. If you are in Victoria, the most affordable source of Range Rover repairs, maintenance and expertise sits with Ray, Daniel and James at Romsey Land Rover Service Centre (Ph. 5429 5021). They have sourced parts that allow you to run a Range Rover for a remarkably low price. They sell new brake discs for under $20, for example.
Mazda MX5 – reliable roadster
The passage of time has meant that the first generation of the Mazda MX5 has now joined the ranks of the classic cars that inspired it.
Launched in 1998, the MX5 was a modern version of the British sports cars that had been popular all over the world in the 1960s, but were killed off by chronic under-development, the creation of hot-hatches and the ability of German and Japanese manufacturers to build cars that could run with fewer breakdowns in their long lives than some British cars had in a week.
At the suggestion of an American, Bob Hall, Mazda created a simple, straightforward affordable roadster in the tradition of the MGB. The MX5 was never as exotic as the Lotus Elan whose styling it reflected (with the addition of lovely doorhandles, cribbed from Alfa Romeo). Instead, it adopted the MG’s concept of an affordable, moderately performing roadster that rode reasonably, handled well and put a premium on fun, rather that searing acceleration or a high top speed.
Although they toyed with a mid-engine, rear drive layout (a la Fiat X/19, Porsche 914/916), Mazda finally chose to stick to the longtidunal front mounted, rear drive two seater format favoured by the majority of affordable sports cars in previous decades. Ironically, in 1989, this traditionalism was a bit radical for a small car, where the use of front wheel drive and an east-west mounted motor was almost universal.
The MX5’s first generation, the NA, is easily distinguished by its pop-up headlights. These are very much out of fashion these days, but I like them. They were also pretty much the only part of the Mazda MX5 to give mechanical trouble, albeit the issues were both rare and minor.
Like the overall styling, the car’s motor, with its cam covers in aluminum, looked just the part. This model sold was initially powered by a 116 bhp (87 kW) 1.6 litre engine until 1993, when the capacity was increased to 1.8 litre (the 1.6 remained a lower cost option in some markets, such as the UK).
Weighing in at a ton, this gave the MX5 adequate straight line performance. However, to focus on 0-100 times was to miss the point. With close to 50:50 weight distribution, a short wheelbase, excellent steering and the slickest five speed manual gear change in the business, the MX5 was about winding roads. As generations of MGs had done in the past, it showed that power was not the only path to driving pleasure.
As soon as they drove the car, motoring writers all over the world went into little fits of enthusiasm. Reviews were thick with words like “balanced”, “perfect”, “nostalgia” and “sweet”. I do not recall another car that has received so much praise in the press. Here was an affordable driver’s car that looked good, went well, and provided the sort of connection between driver and vehicle that had not been seen for decades. All this came along with Japanese reliability. There was even an optional detachable hardtop and a tidy interior. The only criticism was the modest power output.
Special Editions
The Mazda MX5 has seen quite a few special editions. The first of these was a version in British Racing Green with tan interior – as pictured above. Sticking with its retro-inspired theme for special editions, in 1994 and 1995, Mazda offered the MX5 in Bugatti Blue, which they called “Laguna Blue Mica”. Subsequently, there have been many more special edition MX5s in various markets.
For the 1994 model year, the first-generation MX5 was updated with the introduction of the more powerful 131 bhp (98 kw) 1.8 litre engine and some body strengthening to make the car more rigid. The latter included a bar that ran behind the seats, linking the two seatbelt mounts and transferring forces across the car in the event of a side impact.
On the secondhand market, the first generation MX5 ranges in price from about AUD$5000 to about AUD$10,000.
Second generation (NB)
The second generation of the MX5 (the NB) lost the pop-up headlights of the original NA model. The pop-ups were comparatively expensive to produce, could sometimes fail and would not pass increasingly stringent pedestrian impact standards.
In addition, the new car was slightly bigger than the previous model and marginally heavier. Engine compression was increased, solid lifters were introduced. Power was lifted to 140 bhp (104.4 kw).
In 2001 the NB model was facelifted with modest interior updates, improved seat bolsters and improved body rigidity. The engine received variable intake valve timing.
In Australia, 2002 saw the launch of the MX5 SP. This car was locally developed by Mazda’s Australian Motorsport division and its stalwart supplier of enthusiasm, expertise and ideas, Allan Horsley. The SP’s turbocharged engine produced 157 kw (211 bhp) at 6800 rpm. The car also had an air to air intercooler to help things along. Only 100 of these cars were built. The SP was very expensive in comparison to a standard MX5 at the time, but offered blistering performance. It quickly became a highly sought after car in Australia. There are currently two for sale in Australia. One in the ACT, is advertised for $17,500, which looks a good price. Another, also in Canberra, is advertised at $24,500.
Having seen the success of the Australian MX5 SP, in 2004, Mazda produced its own IHI RHF5 VJ35 turbocharger equipped version of the MX5. With an air-to-air intercooler, and six speed gearbox, this car could do 0-100 in 6.6 seconds, drawing on its 180 bhp (134 kw) in US and Japanese spec. This model was sold in Australia with lower boost pressure than was used in the US and Japan and this reduced power to 162 bhp (121 kw).
The second generation MX5 starts at about $10,000 and tops out around $20,000 for the SE turbo versions.
Third generation (NC)
The NC model, the third MX5 generation was released for the 2006 model year. The new car came with a very different new style, with flared wheel arches as the most distinctive feature. The double wishbones at each corner, that had been a feature of the MX5 since 1989, were retained at the front but replaced with a multi-link arrangement at the rear. Engine power was lifted with a capacity increase to two litres. In Australia, this gives 158 bhp or 118 kw, mated to a six speed gearbox (either manual or flappy-paddle). The rather cheap vinyl softtop that had been supplied with the first two generations was replaced with a much more attractive cloth version on the NC.
The option of a folding hardtop was made available from very late 2006. Adding 36 kg, but offering greater security, this has been a moderately popular option. The NC model was updated in 2009 to adopt a frontal style more in common with the Mazda corporate look seen on other cars in the company’s range.
The first generation MX5 is now seen as a collectible classic (much like the cars it shamelessly cribbed in its development). On the roads, you are just as likely to see a lovingly-maintained (or even restored) one as you are to see a tired-looking early model still exhibiting the reliability that the MX5 is famous for.
Later models are not generally collectible, but they do offer more comfort, more performance and more safety. Obvious competitors were the
– Alfa Romeo Spyder (front wheel drive, body flex, striking styling)
– MGF (excellent mid-engine handling offset by awkward mid-engined servicing and a headgasket that will eventually need replacing – unless it has been done already)
– BMW Z3 (awkward styling, asthmatic motor, only reasonable handling)
More upmarket competitors (assuming that you want a roadster) include the Lotus Elise (small but high tech) and the Porsche Boxster (German precision, but not cheap).
A reader of The Classic Motorist, Terry S, has posted a comment pointing out that the Australian-developed MX5 SP of 2002 offers great performance, race pedigree and rarity at a reasonable price. Now at 10 years old, these cars are now too old for many people to consider and yet too young to be seen as classics by many. Consequently, they offer those in the know a chance to scoop up a bargain performance (even high-performance) roadster. With only 100 produced, these are rare beasts. Their performance is in a completely different league to non-turbo MX5s. I am grateful to Terry S for pointing out this hidden gem (check out his comment). If you are thinking of a Boxster or a Subaru WRX, keep in mind the turbo-charged MX5 SP. It brings the affordable performance of the WRX with the convertible fun and handling of the Boxster. Personally, I think that the extraordinary build quality, mid engine and the immediate response of natural aspiration would give the Porsche the edge for me for $20k plus, but an MX5 SP at the right price (like the one under $20k in Canberra) would be sorely tempting, particularly if one considers the high cost of Porsche parts and servicing. In the end, given my MG addiction, I settled on an MGF in British Racing Green with a full leather interior. It is not quick, but it cost $7000 and is very comfortable.
Please send your comments. I have a friend who has up to $70k to spend on a manual-gearboxed sports car for Sunday drives. He misses his old Boxster and is now considering everything from a 15 year old Porsche 911 cabriolet to a new MX5. Savvy suggestions welcome.
Porsche Boxster – hard to beat
The Boxster was released late in 1996 as an entry level Porsche, sitting below the famous 911 in the Porsche pecking order. The introduction of a more affordable Porsche had most recently been tried about two decades earlier with the front-engined 924 and 944. The latter matured into a very worthy car. However, the market was resistant to these four cylinder, front-engined Porsches. Consequently, the Boxster was mid-engined and blessed with six cylinders. It was designed from the outset to be a roadster. Initially, the car was fitted with a 201 bhp (150 kw) 2.5 litre engine. At the turn of the century, the Boxster S version was introduced with a larger 249 bhp (186 kw) litre engine and the base model was given a 217 bhp (162 kw) 2.7 litre engine to replace the 2.5 which was seen as merely adequate at the time.
In order to reduce costs (and knowing that the iconic status of the 911 was well established), the Boxster shared the same bonnet, headlights and front guards as the 911. At the time, Porsche was feeling significant financial strain, so the shared componentry made economic sense. The 911 has always been rear-engined, allowing two small rear seats to fit into the cabin. The Boxster was of quite a different architecture with its engine sitting in front of the back axle, and precluding the installation of a rear seat. (As an aside, the unloved Ferrari Mondial was a four seater mid-engined sports car – it can be done)
Despite the lack of a rear seat, the mid-mounted engine blessed the Boxster with safe natural handling poise that had eluded the Porsche 911 – particularly on the limit.
These early Boxsters, with the “runny egg” headlights, are now 15 years old and kick around for the price of a Korean hatchback. The mileages may be high, but Porsche is legendary for its build quality. These cars are now seriously tempting. They look good, go well and are almost certainly the best, modern, all-round sportscars available for the money.
Used prices across the range are likely to fall further with the release of the spectacular-looking new Boxster this year. Those without the courage to pick up an early 986 Boxster might consider the improved 987 version which brought greater power and refinements. This update was released in 2005.
Engine output was further increased in 2007 and, again, in 2009. For those who prefer a coupe to a convertible, the Porsche Cayman was effectively a hardtopped Boxster and was released in 2006.
Personally, I think the Boxster, with its convertible roof is a more desirable (and cheaper) machine than the Cayman. Also, I would ignore the 911 diehards who (quite rightly) focus on the extraordinary heritage of their favourite Porsche. If I had the means and the space in the garage, I would pick up as late a Boxster as I could afford. Mind you, it is worth noting that the earliest versions of most cars eventually turn out to be the most collectible. On that basis a very early Boxster must now be approaching the bottom of its depreciation curve.
Buy a good one while you can.
Is there a better sports car buy than the Porsche Boxster?
Send me your views:
(photo above by Max Earey / Shutterstock.com)
MGTD – the overlooked T-type?
Despite maintaining the square-rigged looks and XPAG engine of the MGTC, the arrival of the MGTD was met with the traditional objections about new developments that have been a staple at the introduction of every new MG since the company built its second car. The TD was a wider, lower car than the TC. It had smaller, wider wheels and lower front guards to cover them. Most serious of all, it lacked the wire wheels that had been an MG sports car signature since the 1930s. Nonetheless, the stronger car with its independent front suspension and left hand drive soon became a success in the United States, especially.
For modern drivers, the TD’s rugged construction, wider body and much better front end makes it a much less courageous choice than a lighter TC. Despite the similar appearance, it is an easier car to drive frequently. For example, sharing its tyre size with a VW Beetle makes tyres readily available.
While it is true that the MGTD looked a lot like the MGTC and indeed, every MG sports car since the 1930s, there were some important differences under the subtly different body. Starting at the front, with the front suspension, the shorter top arm was pivoted directly from a hydraulic lever-arm damper in a very elegant and simple design. Rack and pinion steering was mounted right at the front of the chassis and linked to the hubs using forward-facing steering arms. This simple, effective system remained pretty much unchanged right up to the end of the production of the MGB, decades later.
Moving further back along the vehicle, the MGTD’s engine was very similar to its predecessor, with the same one and quarter litre capacity. Nonetheless, there are little differences, such as a new oil-bath air cleaner and a replaceable element oil filter. (Interesting to see they have come back into vogue in modern cars and the spin-off filter seems to be out of fashion).
The TD was heavier than the TC and most of this weight went into that stronger chassis. The side members were deep boxed channels held together by tubular cross members and a large pressed bridge between the two sets of wishbones at the front of the car. This rigidity helps ensure that the independent front suspension feels tight.
At the rear, the chassis curves up and over the rear axle, instead of sticking with the TC’s underslung chassis. Seven-leaf semi-elliptic rear springs are tamed (more or less) by Luvax-Girling lever-type dampers on some cars and Armstrong dampers on others. A hypoid rear axle is used. The added weight and the softer suspension means that a TD does roll more than a TC. However, it grips better and rides very well. My own car can develop a bit of an unsettling corkscrew action on gentle undulations at speed. A contemporary road test from Road and Track reported the same issue.
The diameter of the Lockheed brakes remained at nine inches, as in the TC, but the two leading shoes at each front wheel give added bite. Mind you, by modern standards, the braking does not really suggest “bite”. The phrase “smoothly wiping off speed” better describes what happens when the brakes are given a firm push. The master cylinder remains under the driver’s footwell. It can be a bit tricky to fill, but the inevitable leaks do not strip the paint from the car’s body as happens in MGAs and other cars where the master cylinder sits on a shelf in the engine bay above the driver’s knees. An enterprising contributor to Totally T-type 2 (www.ttt2.com) has developed a neat way to add an external filler bottle in the engine bay that allows easy refilling and, through the use of an aftermarket reservoir, easy checking of the fluid level.
The TD stuck with the fly-off handbrake of its predecessors. In my car this completely flummoxed the roadworthy tester who assumed that the rachet mechanism was broken. However, the added width of the body in the TD allowed the handbrake lever to sit between the seats, rather than down on the floor near the gear lever as in the TC and the later MGA.
There was also a strong tubular hoop inside the cowl, rising out of the front floor. This thick tube then loops over the occupants’ knees, hidden up under the dashboard. It provides support to both the dash and the steering column. In the days before seatbelts, it was under here that a fasting-thinking racing driver would shelter in the case of a big accident and, especially, a roll-over.
Over its three years of model life, there were some refinements made to the TD. In 1953, the MGTD2 was released and the tail lights became round, rather than square. At the same time, magnetically driven instruments with redesigned faces and rheostat-controlled lighting replaced the chronometric units, and a water temperature gauge was added. In both styles, the original clock (set into the tacho) is a rare and very valuable find.
Headlight dimming was also done by a foot dipping switch, instead of by hand as in early examples (and in modern cars). This gave the driver the choice of headlights that were either dim or dimmer. At the same time, the aged XPAG engine was given a new head with revised ports and new, longer spark plugs (NA-8 instead of L-lOS). Also, new rockers, specially hardened tappets, and a new smoother cam were included. Oil circulation was further improved and clutch size was up to 20 cm from 18. Overall, these were minor revisions and there is no significant difference in value between the MGTD and the MGTD2.
However, the factory also produced a very desirable version called the MGTD Mark II. Fitted with twin fuel pumps, bigger carbs, stiffer valve springs and bigger valves along with a higher compression ratio, the MGTD was fitted with a higher ratio diff and additional adjustable Andrex friction dampers to assist the hydraulic dampers. The TD Mark II is a much more serious machine than a TD2 and it is important to make sure that you are buying the right thing as more than one owner of a TD2 has thought that they own the more powerful car, rather than merely the mild update with a slightly bigger clutch.
MY CAR
Realising that the six month renovation of my MGA could take two years, I picked up a 1953 MGTD which had been advertised on eBay. Bought only with the aid of a lot of photographs, this car has proved great fun. It was shipped at some expense from Adelaide to my door and, inevitably, turned out to be not quite as good as it seemed in the photos. Still, it was cheap and now I had a proper square-rigged British sportscar. It is in bright red (originally it was ivory) and has been re-trimmed in the past. A matching numbers car, it has a blown head gasket that I am replacing this week. It took some work to get the car roadworthy and it could do with a re-spray one day, but it is now a perfectly useable car (or it will be when I get the head back on). It is registered for everyday use, but only goes out on nice days every couple of weeks.
The MGTD attracts huge attention and has drawn some great stories from older people who had one when they were young. The 1250 cc motor produced only 54 bhp when new, but the little car is very light at 876 kgs. It will take off from rest in second gear, but starts to run out of puff, like my old Series 2A Land Rover, at around 85 km/h. It will do a 100 km/h if you want. The car’s speedo rarely works and lies like a politician when it does, but the free speedo apps on my iPhone provide accurate speed readings.
Many people think the MGTD is a Morgan. However, I think it looks better than a Morgan. Certainly it looks better than a Morgan four seater. Also, unlike a Morgan, MG parts are readily available and dirt cheap. Finally, although I am keen to own a Morgan (especially a Plus 8), my MGTD cost me a fraction of the money needed to get one of Malvern’s finest. Mind you, my MGTD certainly does not perform like a Morgan Plus 8.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the MGTD is the quality of its ride. At low speed on my rough (and very steep) drive, it is not as comfortable as my air-suspended L322 Range Rover. However, it is much more comfortable than my hydrolastic-suspended MGF. The latter is considered to ride well by modern sports car standards, but is not as smooth in the rough as the TD. Mind you, as mentioned above, the TD can develop an unsettling corkscrew motion travelling at speed on undulating sealed roads.
The MGTD is the overlooked model of the MG T-series. It lacks some of the pre-war, large-wheeled style of the earlier MGTC on one hand and also missed out on the lower, racier look of the MGTF, on the other. However, in my view it is the most sensible MG T-series with its winning combination of traditional appearance and more modern chassis. Mine is certainly not for sale.
Jaguar XK120 – A William Lyons masterstroke
(photo by ChuprinaStudios / Shutterstock.com)
Sir William Lyons, founder of Jaguar, had a great knack for creating cars, particularly sports cars, that looked fabulous, performed extremely well and were surprisingly affordable. The SS100 was the great pre-war example of this approach. The E-type, launched in 1961 is probably the most famous. Both cars managed to look hugely expensive and brought Aston Martin performance (if not the same cache) at a much more affordable price. The XK120, launched in 1948, was the epitome of Bill Lyon’s extraordinary ability to blend style with advanced (though not groundbreaking) engineering, to bring about a sensational car.
The heart of the XK120 was its 3.4 litre motor. The engine was designed during the war when the factory organised its engine designers to serve the same night shifts when on duty to guard against the impact of German bombers on the factory (mainly by promptly putting out fires).
This XK motor survived, in entirely recognisable form, into the mid 1980s. In 1948, it brought to the road the twin cam arrangement that had largely been the preserve of race cars or extremely high performance machines to that time. The motor was large, handsome, and in a world of pushrod activation and even side valves, sophisticated.
Depending on compression ratio and fuel, the engine in the XK120 produced somewhere around 160BHP.
To go along with this glorious new engine, Lyons created a roadster of remarkable elegance. The XK120 had a small grille integrated into the bonnet. Inevitably, the feeble Lucas headlights were faired into the front guards in the post-war style. As a further example of a more modern and streamlined approach those long guards curved back to form an unbroken swoop that dropped to allow the driver’s elbow to protude over a low door, before lifting up and over the rear wheel and curving voluptuously into a smooth and simple tail end. The XK120 was beautiful.
In 1950 Clark Gable reported in Road & Track that he got 124 MPH out of his aluminium-bodied XK120 on a dry lake in California. The Jaguar factory and The Motor were both able to achieve the same speed on a stretch of flat road in Belgium. This was a heady speed at the time. The brakes were not really up to the task of taming the weight and speed of the car. (The brakes were smaller than those on an SS100 because the 16-inch wheels on the X120 were themselves 2 inches smaller than the SS100’s). The car handled well too – as demonstrated by its considerable racing and rallying success.
The XK120 has a purity that was lost on later versions, the XK140 and the XK150. Nonetheless, these later cars are more comfortable, still gorgeous and have rack and pinion steering in place of the XK120’s recirculating ball system. It is also worth considering coupes or convertible (as distinct from the roadster).
In episode 1 of Series 13, of Top Gear, James May drives a lovely-looking ivory coloured 1949 XK120 roadster from London to Edinburgh. There is some mouthwatering footage.
ONE TO THINK ABOUT
A Sydney dealer has an early Australian-delivered XK120 roadster in titanium grey. The car is described as being in good useable condition and the asking price is a little over $100,000.
YOUR VIEW
Please share your view on the Jaguar XK120. Send us a comment.
MGF – huge fun for the money
Three years ago, I bought a British Racing Green 1998 MGF. This is a terrific little car. Mine is not the VVC model, the latter produces 145 bhp (107 kW). Mine however, musters only 118 bhp (87 kW). Mine has light tan leather seats with green piping and leather trim on the doors, steering wheel and around the cabin. This lifts the appearance of the car significantly as the alternative cloth seats and grey plastic trim tends to look a little grim, which is particularly sad in an open car. My MG came with a matching BRG hardtop which is hardly ever used. From experience, I can clearly state that the optional (and hard to get) mesh wind deflector is well worth obtaining.
The car is a great urban run about. It handles well and rides acceptably on its hydragas suspension. This needs pumping up about once a year. Professionals charge more than $200. However, a grease gun can (with a fair bit of effort) be modified for the task and a mixture of 50% metholated spirits, 50% glycol (anti-freeze) does the job for much, much less.
YOUR VIEW?
Is the MGF as good as, or even better, than the bullet-proof and slick-changing MX5? Send a comment.
Land Rover Series One
Image from Timothy Large / Shutterstock.com
Land Rover Series One
One of my current projects is the patch-up of a 1953 Land Rover. This car is the last of the original (and very short), 80 inch wheelbase Series One model that ran from the introduction of the Land Rover in 1948 until 1953 when the long wheel base model was introduced and the short wheel base model grew six inches longer to allow more than a few tools in the back (as in the picture above).
Mine has sat out in the weather on the farm for more than twenty-five years and was already in poor shape when it arrived here in the 1980s. It came to the farm fitted with a two and a quarter litre four cylinder petrol motor out of a later model Land Rover. This motor seized years ago. I am about to replace it with a reconditioned motor of the same (non-original) vintage, out of a rusty Series 2 wreck. What was left of the Land Rover’s mottled paint has been stripped using my own technique of applying chemical paint stripper and then blasting off the old paint, and the stripper, with a pressure washer. This has proved very effective with the Series One, probably helped by the poor bond between the paint and the car’s slippery aluminium body.
Along with its replacement motor, the Series One will be treated to a new set of brake cylinders and some new tyres and it will be ready to work on the farm again. Its current bar tread tyres have plenty of tread left, but after 30 years in the Australian sun, they are starting to split in a way that suggests that, without a replacement, I will end up with a puncture in the front paddock some hot afternoon.
This Series One Land Rover is known as “The Thingy”. It is so called because as a Land Rover obsessed boy, I had taken to enthusiastically pointing out any Land Rover that I spotted from the family station wagon. Finally my parents, driven mad by my excited exclamations of “There’s a Land Rover” every time we passed a battered Series 2A sitting in a paddock or a tired Series 3 tacking slowly up the highway, banned me from uttering the term “Land Rover” until further notice. Shortly after, I saw another of Solihull’s finest. With enthusiasm that caused me to initially forget the ban, I pointed out the car window and an announced “There’s a … um ……..thingy”. From then on, the family’s first Land Rover was sure to be called “The Thingy”.
It was bought for the princely sum of $500 and, at the time, there was no thought given to it being a potentially collectible Series 1. Instead, it was purchased to feed out hay to horses down a muddy and rough bush track. This is it did very well. However, we learned quickly that, while four wheel drive and bar tread tyres are excellent in providing forward progress in poor conditions, they can also combine to speedily bog a car when things are dire. They can dig four deep holes very, very quickly. A Land Rover bogged to the floor in sticky mud can take some getting out and the task is no fun in the pouring rain, on a cold night when you need to be elsewhere.
YOUR VIEW?
Should Series One Land Rovers be restored to concourse standard, or even to reasonable originality, or are their dents and modifications part of the charm? Please, post a comment.
Daimler DB18 – childhood memories
Among my earliest memories, I recall sitting on the front floor of an aged Daimler, my back against the squab of the seat as I used two feet to press down the brake pedal so that my father could bleed the brakes.
Dad was the founding president of the Daimler Lanchester Club of Victoria. His first car was a Daimler DB18 Consort. Soon, he had a couple of them. They were grand, but tired. Given that Dad was a young academic with a couple of kids, it is not surprising that his Daimlers were not quite in the condition they were in when they left the Daimler factory in Conventry twenty years earlier. I recall cars boiling in the Australian summer, smoking with cold starts. I recall Dad desperately hanging on to the outside door handle, failing to stop a two ton Daimler (containing my sister and me, strapped in our safety seats) that was gathering pace down a hill when the handbrake failed.
However, the Daimlers had provided adventures even before I was old enough to remember them. Dad once drove a DB18 through a puddle and looked over his shoulder to find my bassinet and me floating on the rear passenger floor. Before I was able to walk, I managed to crawl under a DB18. I emerged out the other side black with oil and grease. As we were on a country property at the time with no running water, my father had only one thing with which to wash me down – kerosene.
The original DB18 was introduced immediately before the war, but few were produced before the factory was turned over to the war effort. Thus, despite a distinctly pre-war appearance, most DB18s were produced after 1945. The DB18 Consort was the post-war update that included headlights incorporated into the front guards and hydraulic front brakes. The rear brakes continued to be operated by rods.
The Daimlers used a 2522 cc in-line six cylinder, pushrod ohv engine fed by a single SU carburetter. This gave the car a claimed 70 bhp. Given that the DB18 saloon weighed 1650 kg, performance might best be described as stately.
Like nearly all Daimlers of the period, both my father’s DB18s were fitted with the Daimler Fluid Flywheel coupled to a 4 speed Wilson pre-selector gearbox. This meant that the driver would pre-select the next gear and then, when the moment was right, simply depress the left-most pedal to engage that gear. There was no need to coordinate the shifting of a gear lever with the depressing of a clutch pedal. Intended to allow smooth progress for the British aristrocracy, my father found the pre-selector particularly useful when traversing rough tracks in southern Australia. He would travel with a lower gear pre-selected, ready to dab the pedal at a moment’s notice, should the car begin to get bogged or the track get rougher or steeper.
Around our home, the DB18s were joined by a brace of Daimler Conquests – most of which did not run. The Conquest was based on the Lanchester 14 (also known as the Lanchester Leda). A much smaller and more affordable car than the typical large Daimler, the Conquest was aimed at solicitors and doctors, rather than the landed gentry. Our collection lived in various rented garages or parked on nearby streets. The Daimlers, now long gone, started my enthusiasm for interesting cars and thus probably set me on the road to financial ruin.
As an aside, I think Daimlers are a little under-appreciated in the classic car world. This is despite one winning best in show at MotorClassica in Melbourne a couple of years ago, and one winning at Pebble Beach before that. Generally, large Daimlers seem to be overshadowed by Bentley and Rolls Royce saloons. Later Daimlers (really just Jaguars with a crinkly radiator – except when fitted with Turner’s brilliant little V8 which never made it into Jags) seem to sell for less than their Jaguar siblings.
Aston Martin Vantage V8
Aston’s Porsche 911 competitor is rapidly falling in price. The V8 Vantage is similar in structure, styling and performance to the larger V12-powered DB9, but is much more affordable and now available for little more than $100,000 on the secondhand market.
Launched in 2005, the two seater “Baby Aston” V8 Vantage must not be be confused with the uprated “Vantage” specification that has been available on V8 Astons since the 1970s. The new car is a model in its own right and is available as either a coupé or roadster. The Vantage has a bonded aluminium structure for strength and lightness. This technique was developed by Lotus for its Elise and then developed by Aston Martin for larger and more luxurious cars.
Since 2008, the Vantage V8 has packed a 4.7 litre 420 hp (313 kW) V8. However, the first cars were powered by a 4.3 litre quad-cam 32-valve V8 which produced 380 hp (280 kW) at 7,300 rpm and 302 lb·ft (409 N·m) at 5,000 rpm. More recently, the Vantage has been made available with the V12 fitted to the DB9. The original V8 Vantage could accelerate to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 4.7 and run out to 175 mph (282 km/h). It is this, increasing affordable, model that we will focus on here.
Before the global financial crisis, both Aston and Jaguar were part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group. This common ownership is reflected in the Aston’s engine being based (fairly loosely) on Jaguar’s AJ-V8 engine architecture, albeit with dry-sump lubrication to allow the engine to sit low in the engine bay and unique features to the block, the heads, engine management and much else besides. The post-2008 engine is essentially the same motor but with thinner liners allowing a bigger bore.
In accordance with Aston practice, the engine was front-mounted. However, their engine was well set back in the body and there was a rear-mounted transaxle (six speed manual as standard, ‘sportshift’ an option that was introduced a little later) giving a 49/51 front/rear weight distribution. Slotted Brembo brakes were also standard to keep the show under control.
The car inevitably draws comparisons with the Porsche 911. The two vehicles are similar in size and performance and Ulrich Bez, Aston Martin’s CEO during the development of the Vantage was also architect of the 993 version of the Porsche 911. However, the heritage, packaging, styling and production numbers of the cars are entirely different. Porsche produced ten 911s for every V8 Vantage manufactured. The Porsche is a more engaging drive and easier to live with. However, it is not as stunning or distinctive to look at.
To see the Vantage (albeit a V12) on video, have a look at the finale of Series 13 of Top Gear. The landscape, the car, the noise and the camera work are superb.
Lotus Esprit – affordable supercar?
I cannot make up my mind about the Lotus Esprit. Is it an overlooked supercar or a cheap and slightly nasty attempt at the real thing, made of plastic and stifled by a four cylinder motor?
Launched in 1976, the Lotus Esprit was an attempt by Colin Chapman to take his Lotus car company upmarket. Lotus was well established as a creator of light and balanced sports cars made of glass fibre. Some of the company’s cars were beautiful (the Elite and the Elan) and some were not (the Europa and Eclat). For the Esprit, Lotus contracted the styling to the great Giugiaro. Always a fan of the wedge, the Esprit is perhaps the most successful, and one of the most extreme, of his pointy-nosed designs. Underneath, the car was mid-engined as the Europa had been. However the supercar appearance was hardly backed up by this engine being merely a two litre four cylinder powerplant. Admittedly, it was an all-alloy motor blessed with twin cams, but with only 160 bhp, the car was no rocket, despite coming in at 1033 kg.
The early Series 1 and Series 2 cars were, in strict accordance with Lotus tradition, under-developed. The Series 1 cars, in particular, have an appealing purity about them, but for bargain fun, the later cars stand out. The Peter Stevens restyle, launched in 1987, took away the purity of the Giugiaro design, but stayed true to the concept with a gentle softening of the corners. Not since Pininfarina updated the XJ6 Jaguar from Series 2 to Series 3, had a car’s styling been so successfully developed from the original. By the late 1980s, pretty much all the cars available in Australia were turbo-charged, providing a significant performance boost for the Esprit.
Unfortunately, Esprit interiors both date and wear quickly. However, the fibreglass bodies are tough and rustproof. The steel backbone chassis can rust, but this is rarely a problem on an Australian-delivered car.
Esprits are available for as little as $20,000. While at the other end of the spectrum, a NSW dealer is offering a 1997 3.5 litre V8 (pretty much the last stand for the Esprit) for $79,990.
The real value seems to be in the later four cylinder turbo models built around 1990. These cars are more developed, have the Stevens facelift but are not yet burdened stylistically by the huge spoilers that were applied from 1993. They are available around the $30,000 mark.
ONE FOR SALE
Tempting to have a look at is the smart-looking 1990 Series 5 that has been on Carsales.com for about a year. With 55,000 km and the option of clipping in either a solid roof or glass sunroof, this car looks interesting at the asking price of $34k. The car is in Victoria and is offered for sale with a roadworthy certificate.
YOUR VIEW?
Is the Lotus Esprit a bargain supercar or a plastic pretender? Please post a comment containing your view.
The MG T-type
The MG T-type was first launched in 1936 with the TA and lasted through four iterations until the introduction of the MGA in 1955. The TA was replaced by the TB, with an improved engine, but few other changes, in 1939. Production ceased during the war and in 1945, MG released the TC which brought a wider body and shackles to replace the sliding trunnions mounting the springs.
The MGTC was enormously successful in the United States after the Second World War. American servicemen stationed in the UK during the war returned to a prosperous America and brought with them an understanding of the joys of a light sports car that handled well and looked rakish. To many Americans, the TC remains the epitome of a British sportscar.
The TC, however, had some problems for the American consumer. It was very tight in the cabin and it lacked the bumper bars necessary to defend the car from clumsy parking. More seriously, the TC was only available in right-hand drive.
Underneath that very traditional sports car body, the TC was just as old-fashioned with live axles at both ends and light flexible chassis. However, the opportunity to cost-effectively update the car was provided by the development of the Y Series MG saloon. This upright and elegant car had a much more sturdy chassis than the TC and it was this solid foundation that was quickly modified to underpin the new MGTD. Along with greater rigidity, the MGTD’s new chassis brought independent front suspension with a coil spring acting on the lower wishbone. Most importantly, the TD saw the introduction to the sports car range of the rack and pinion steering that would give MGs great feel and control for the next thirty years.
The MGTD was replaced by the MGTF. With a smaller, swept back grille, (topped by a fake radiator cap) the TF is almost as sleek as a Morgan and is argued by many to be the prettiest of the T-types.
Each model has its charms. The earliest are very much pre-war sportscars. The latest are surprisingly effective classics that retain the traditional look but combine this with effective steering, adequate performance and great fun.
E-Type Jaguar flurry on Australian market
Online ads and classifieds provide a good indicator of the state of the Australian market for popular classic cars such as the E-type. Over most of 2011, there were a relatively limited number of E-types listed for sale on the main car sale sites. The holiday season and the start of 2012 has seen a significant increase in the number of E-types listed for sale. It would seem no coincidence the this coincides with the end of the celebrations of the E-type’s 50th year. Owners were keen to be part of the festivities and are now seeking to cash in on the hype around the world that surrounded the E-type reaching its 50th year.
Asking prices commence at just under $50,000 for the least desirable cars, automatic Series 3, V12 2+2s. At the top end, a NSW dealer is asking over $200,000 for a fully restored 1961, flat-floor roadster. At this price an unrestored, matching numbers Victorian roadster looks like good value at $130,000.
In the range of $60,000 to $140,000, there are plenty of attractive cars, mainly Series 2s and Series 3s.
With so many cars on the market at once, now is the time to get out and see what is available. For many people, the E-Type is the ultimate classic. The car provided unrivalled style and performance for the money in 1961. Its arrival causing the biggest stir in the motoring world since the introduction of the Jaguar XK120 in 1948. The E-type brought spectacular wind-cheating styling (although it is not as aerodynamic as its looks might suggest). It also brought Aston-beating power and glamour at a remarkable price.
Styling is a subjective thing, of course. For my money, the E-type’s look is a little spoilt by a narrow track. However, despite niggles such as poor packaging, there is no denying that it remains one of the most spectacular cars of all time.
YOUR VIEW?
Is the E-type the ultimate classic? Will values hold up as E-type fans age? Which model represents the best value? Post a comment and share your view.
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