Dreaming of the 250 GT TdF…

On November 12, 2023November 12, 2023 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream GarageLeave a comment

This week is for dreaming. After all, with all the sh* currently going on in the world, I’m quite confident that I’m not the only one feeling a need to flee reality a few minutes. Doing just that, If someone says Tour de France, or TdF in short to you, you most probably think of the world’s most famous road cycle race. Or even dream about it, depending on your disposition to cycling.

As so many other middle-aged men, I’m a road cyclist refusing to realize I’m getting old, and I certainly dream regularly about some of the legendary ascents in the Tour de France such as the Tourmalet, the Col de la Madelaine or the legendary Mont Ventoux, and climbing these at some kind of speed resembling what the pros do. Which of course is never going to happen.

If we go back in time though, there was another TdF as well, namely a car race carrying the same name, which with breaks for various wars ran more or less regularly from 1899 to 1986. As so many other things, the race was especially popular when it resumed after the second world war in the 1950’s. And in the second half of the 50’s, no other brand dominated the race like Ferrari.

*The 250 GT LWB Competizione, nr 15 of 17 in the third series*

So much in fact, that Ferrari chose to call the new, successful 250 GT Berlinetta the “TdF”. And if ever there was a representative of an era when car design was not bothered with safety constraints and aerodynamics but quite simply by designing strikingly beautiful cars, the TdF is certainly an excellent representative of it, and thereby a perfect dream car!

The TdF dominated the race every year between 1956 and 1959, and until it was succeeded by the short wheelbase 250 GT Berlinetta (same name, but with its introduction the original car was from then called LWB), it was built in four different, distinct series.

And yet, no more than 72 cars were built all in all, of which nine in “Competizione” race configuration. The car pictured above is one of those and was nr 15 of 17 in the third series. As you’ll note, the design was quite different to the earlier car from 1956, pictured below.

What all the TdF’s had in common however, was the beautiful, lightweight coachwork, designed by Pininfarina, and subsequently built in aluminium by Scaglietti. Actually the first body was designed by Scaglietti, as were apparently also some later ones. Things were a bit less organized in the old days.

Anyway, sticking with Pininfarina’s design, I don’t think it requires much in words – just look at it, whether it’s the two cars above, the second of which by the way won the Best of Show“-Trophy at the Villa d’Este Concours d’Elegance in 2021.

On the mechanical side, the V12 (what else?) was developed and improved across the different series, but is said to have produced around 260 hp. It was coupled to Ferrari’s “Competizione” gearbox with a limited slip differential, and mechanically the car was seen as far ahead of its time and was therefore also an important milestone for Ferrari.

*This later, SWB 250 GT could become yours!*

It goes without saying that the 250 GT, be it as LWB or SWB, is today among the most treasured and pricey classic cars out there. The car shown at the top was up for sale at Sotheby’s in Monaco five years ago an estimated at EUR 6-8m. And if you read this on the day it’s published, be aware that tomorrow Monday, 13 November 2023, the red 1962 250 GT SWB shown above is going up at Sotheby’s in Monaco, this time estimated to fetch USD 60m. Inflation anyone?

Like many other classic Ferraris, the 250 GT is thus best enjoyed as a dream – but what a dream! Of course things weren’t better in the 50’s than today, but coming out of a World War, optimism was slowly returning, and creativity was high. The 250 GT is a great illustration of that and thereby also of what we would need a bit more of today!

Japan’s only real pony car!

On October 15, 2023October 15, 2023 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Thrill of OwningLeave a comment

If there’s one thing that is even less featured on this blog than American cars, it’s those from the land of the rising sun. In the case of the US, this is explained by this not being my area of expertise. In the second, its frankly because of a lack of interest. Having said that, Toyota sells about 10 million cars per year and although it’s the biggest Japanese brand by a margin, it’s certainly not the only one. Surely there must be something to write about in those numbers ?

Honestly, these days I’m not so sure. There is the Nissan GT-R we’ve talked about, and then of course the Honda NSX, which however isn’t even close to reaching the cult status the original NSX has these days. The Lexus LC is a cool-looking thing, but as so many Japanese cars, it feels like it lacks personality. And then there’s of course a bunch of hot hatches, mostly from Honda, but if you’re into those, chances are you’re not reading this blog in the first place.

*The original Celica, here in cool, 70’s GT trim*

Last week however I saw a Japanese car I haven’t seen in a long time and which certainly. has personality. It reminded me of the time when Japanese cars were much less present on Western streets then they are today, meaning the early 70’s (which in turn reminded me of how old I am…). In an effort to change that, and especially to enter the US market, Toyota launched the car I’d just seen, the original Celica, in 1970.

Celica is Latin and means “celestial”, which I guess is the direction Toyota wanted sales to go. And over the coming years, they would be proven correct as the Celica became a very popular sports coupé. However, none of the later series had the charm of the first one, which was of course also Japan’s first try at, if not a muscle car, then at least a cool looking pony car!

*The interior, certainly with some US inspiration*

Back in Tokyo in the late 60’s, Toyota’s engineers realized that the only cars they had that could come in question for exports to the US and Europe had too small cabins for a normal Western male, and too small engines for their liking. If they ever wanted to make it big on the other side of the ocan, especially the US, that would have to change, and the Celica was Toyota’s first try at doing that.

The Celica was based on the Toyota Carina, perhaps not the best reference in the world if you want to build a sports car, and also a car with which the first Celica shared a few too many parts. But when it launched in the US in 1971, it was considerably cheaper than the Ford Mustang, which certainly helped. That said, it also offered far less under the hood, with a paltry, 1.9 litre four-cylinder, delivering a rather poor 90 hp, coupled to a four-speed manual box. Neither a six-, nor an eight-cylinder was anywhere in sight.

*It was certainly no Mustang under the hood…*

The original Celica’s looks are both unique as in the angle of the headlights, to the pony car body, also called “coke bottle styling” bridging the 60’s and 70’s. You can spot quite a few US cars in its lines, which is probably no coincidence. It’s also a car along the ladies’ shoe principle, i.e. compact on the outside but roomy on the inside, and this at a time when the Mustang was gaining both in weight and size, but not in power.

Then of course it was also Japanese, meaning it didn’t break, and actually it was the first Japanese car to be fully assembled on an automatic assembly line. It had an independent suspension and disc brakes all around, and of course it was rear-wheel drive, so that even with only 90 hp, if you knew what you were doing, it was happy to swing its tail. That’s all the Westerners needed to know to start buying Celicas in increasing numbers.

*No one drove the Celica faster than Owe Andersson!*

Swinging its tail in fast corners is also what the Celica started doing on the world’s rally stage, and would continue to do long after the first series. The Swede Owe Andersson was the first to drive a Celica, and he did it so well that he later founded Toyota’s European rally team, something that certainly helped sales especially on the European side of the Atlantic. Of course, later version of the Celica would become both more powerful and all-wheel drive, and make it big on the worlds’ rally scenes.

Going back to the original car however, the first series had a few different trims to choose from, and the engine evolved ever so slightly over the years until the first facelift in 1975, gaining in volume and thereby power, but only to a bit over 100 hp. The Celica was thus never a very powerful car, but as the 70’s moved into the oil crises, that was also not the priority for many buyers. In that sense, it came at the right time, partly explaining its success. The total production number of the first series is uncertain, but over 150.000 cars were sold both in 1972 and 1973, not bad for Toyota’s first try at a sports car in the West!

Yet as so often, there’s a big question mark around where all these cars have gone today. Sure, build quality was certainly better than rust protection even on a Toyota in the 70’s, and a fair number have simply rusted away. Given its low price, quite a few will also have ended up with young buyers better at fitting a rear spoiler than a new engine, or for that matter, at driving. That doesn’t mean they didn’t try though…

That said, around something like EUR 20.000, you can still find one of the original Celicas if you look carefully. And please do look carefully, meaning going for one with as few skirts and as little plastic as possible, as you never know what hides underneath. Ideally the car should also be complete in terms of parts, because finding spare parts for a Celica from the early 70’s could be “very difficult”, as the Japanese would put it. But if you find the right car, what you’ve then bought yourself is arguably both the coolest Japanese car from the 70’s, as well as its only pony car!

Street finds – the Fiat X1/9!

On September 3, 2023September 3, 2023 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Thrill of OwningLeave a comment

It’s not only the times that are a’changin, as Bob Dylan noted long ago, but last week in central Europe, very much the weather as well. We thus went from several weeks of wonderful summer days and late dinners on the terrace, to 12-13 degrees C and rain. Luckily things are set to improve, however to something more reminiscent of autumn by the looks of it, so I guess I was very lucky to spot a surprisingly exotic street find just before the weather change – the nowadays very rare Fiat X1/9. It’s no doubt a car that is best enjoyed in the summer, but it’s also a great testament to Bob Dylan’s changing times, as we’ll see!

*Angular body, engine right behind the seats and thus perfect weight distribution!*

The Fiat X1/9 is also very much the flashy family member in an otherwise quite boring group of 60’s and 70’s Fiat cars. It’s the successor to the Fiat 850, a four-cylinder, 60’s creation that looked like a bun (although to be fair, the Spider looked better than the coupé…). But it also belongs to the Fiat 128 family where the rights to the four-door sedan were later sold by Fiat to Soviet Lada, and which most therefore associate with old east-west spy movies.

Contrast both of those with the very futuristic X1/9, and it’s not only the model name that stands out. The angular design with the pop-up headlights was a design that would be if not copied, then definitely repeated in many other 70’s cars, such as the Lotus Esprit and of course the Lamborghini Countach. The X1/9 didn’t look anything like the rest of the family, but somewhat surprisingly Bertone had still designed all siblings, proving design houses can have good and less good days.

*Pop-up headlights were of course a must in the 70’s!*

As spectacular as the looks was the fact that the engine was right behind the seats, making the X1/9 Fiat’s first mid-engined car. Unfortunately though, that engine came from the boring part of the family, meaning at the launch in 1972 a 1.3 liter, 4-cylinder with a very modest 75 hp, coupled to a 4-speed manual box. In 1980 that grew to 1.5 liters, another 10 hp and five gears. Of course, at around 900 kg it’s fair to say that they X1/9 was a light-weight, but I think we can safely conclude that it looked about five times faster than it really was. That was of course especially true in the US, where emission regulations made the engines even weaker than in Europe.

It wasn’t only emission standards that became strict on in the 70’s, the same was very much the case for safety, again especially in the US. Fiat had actually built the X1/9 with North America in mind and had thus tried to adapt to the coming rules during the development process. Thanks to the mid-mounted engine and the targa body rather than a full convertible, the X1/9 was one of very few cars had no problem complying with what became the new US safety standards.

This gave Fiat’s faltering US a welcome boost, especially since the small coupé was far cheaper than other, somewhat comparable sports cars. Everything was going swell until the mid-70’s when those safety standards were developed further, forcing Fiat to fit what must be the ugliest bumpers in automobile history to the X1/9. Luckily these were later re-adapted to what can be seen on my street find, which is most probably a US import. Around 165.000 X1/9’s were produced in total between 1972 and 1988, and no less than 3/4 of those were sold in the US.

*The garden hedge – ugliest bumper ever seen!*

As observant readers may have noticed on the first picture, the logo isn’t that of Fiat, but rather of designer Bertone. The reason is to be found back in 1982, when Fiat wanted to discontinue the X1/9 and pull out of the US market, and Bertone therefore bought the rights and continued to produce the car in its name all through 1988. Not much changed on the car in the last years but Bertone would improve both equipment and materials, making the Bertone-branded cars such as the one I saw, the most attractive ones.

So what about the changin’ times? Quite obviously, it’s the concept of a sports car weighing in at less than a ton, making even a small, 1.5 litre engine with less than 100 hp if not plenty, then at least enjoyable enough. This is obviously very far from where we are today and if it sounds like your thing, you may think that with 165.000 cars produced, finding one will be easy. That’s however not the case as very few have survived – estimates talk about less than 1.000 cars in the US. Few are thus up for sale, but those that are tend to come in around EUR 15-20.000 in Europe.

*Cars from 1980 had five speeds and (slightly) more power*

The only question left to solve is then that around the name, because for a company who have typically been naming cars with real names or with numbers relating to the engine size, how did X1/9 come about? It turns out that prototype cars at Fiat were called X1, with the second number indicating the prototype in the order it was developed counting from a certain start date. The small Autobianchi A112 was for example called X1/2 as prototype, and the X1/9 was thus prototype number nine. It was however the only model to retain the prototype name in actual production and why that was, no one seems to know. But who cares? With the wind in your hair and the humming of a four-cylinder right behind you, you’ll have better things to think about!

The UK’s most successful sports car!

On July 9, 2023July 9, 2023 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of Owning1 Comment

As we’re still in the first half of summer in the Northern hemisphere, the theme of a nice roadster continues to feel very timely. A few months ago I wrote about the legendary Triumph Spitfire, perhaps the easiest and cheapest entry into the British roadster tradition, and more recently we also looked at the forgotten Porsche 914, a German take on the roadster concept. This week we’re back in the UK for a slightly more robust alternative to the Spitfire that remains very reasonable budget-wise – the MGB. And you may be surprised to hear that the car we’re all somehow familiar with ranks as the UK’s most successful sports car ever!

It’s also very timely to look at the MGB right now, not just because we’re in the summer, but also since not only is it 100 years since the Morris Garages (MG) brand was founded, it’s also 60 years since the MGB was premiered. Originally however, MG wasn’t a proper car brand but rather a side kick to the regular garage business belonging to a certain William Morris in Abingdon, UK. In the side business, Morris and his colleagues would take boring Morris Oxford cars, work on them and hereby especially the chassis frame and transform them into if not sports, then at least sportier cars that they would then take to the race track on weekends.

*The guys around the car are probably the ones that built it the week before!*

In the late 20’s the MG brand separated from Morris Garages and start to make a name for itself in on the racing circuit. It hereby also created a bit of a mystical reputation, often being talked about as a car company with a soul that was almost palpable when you entered the factory. Be that as it may, it was certainly a car company with guts, as the MG guys choose to race the MGB’s predecessor, the MGA, in prototype form at Le Mans in 1955, managing to finish the race with two cars. They continued to do well in 1956, the first official year of production of the MGA, notably in the Mille Miglia.

Fast forward to the early 60’s and MG had become part of BMC, later to become the British Leyland group, as was notably Triumph. The time was rife for a replacement to the MGA had come but before that, as a side project, MG built a machine called the EX-181 that looked like a soap and was powered by a 300 hp, supercharged engine. Driven by Phil Hill, the car would set a speed record of 254 Mph (408 km/h) on the Salt Flats in Utah, thereby also doing wonders for MG’s racing reputation. When MG introduced the new MGB roadster in 1963 as the MGA’s replacement, they actually claimed the design was derived directly from the EX-181, which is perhaps something that doesn’t exactly jump to the eye…

*Phil Hill was a brave man, driving the EX-181 at more than 400 km/h in Utah…*

MG’s original plan was to use the MGA chassis for the MGB as well, but in the development process it was discovered that it didn’t leave enough designer freedom to create the wider but still low car they wanted the MGB to be. MG therefore re-thought the whole project and in the end, built the MGB as a monocoque rather than the traditional body-on-frame construction. One of the advantages of the new construction was enough strength to handle considerably bigger engines but as it turned out, MG would only make use of that in the MGB GT V8, more on that later.

The design of the new car was a purely internal affair, with no fancy Italian design houses involved. Basically the head of design brought his idea to the model maker, who in turn built a small model for approval by the CEO, after which he would do a full-scale model. The development would then start, leading to the finished car a few months later. Not many committees or Zoom meetings there! Even if the MGB didn’t really look much like the EX-181 record setter, most would agree that it’s a nice design, very roadster-specific and relatively timeless. It was also hugely successful notably in the US, to which MG started shipping around 40.000 cars per year in the mid-60’s, as compared to around 5.000 for the UK market.

*A timeless look, more modern than for example a Triumph TR4*

A selling point for the MGB was clearly the superior room both for people and their luggage that the relatively wide car body offered. Another was no doubt its relative simplicity. The power unit in the form of an 1800 cc, four-cylinder, transersal BMC engine was perhaps not very exciting as it was essentially a larger version of the engine used in the MGA. The 95 hp it developed were however sufficient, but when emission regulations became stricter in the crucial US market, the power number started dropping to just below 70 hp for MGB’s from the mid-70’s. The engine was coupled to a four-speed gearbox with overdrive available as an option, and disc brakes in the front were combined with drum brakes in the back.

To increase the appeal of the car, MG were set on offering the MGB also with a roof, but the MG guys didn’t manage to find a solution that looked attractive, so in the end the had to turn to, you guessed it, one of those fancy Italian design houses. Pininfarina created the MGB GT that was shown to the world three years after the roadster, in 1965. It was also the GT that in 1973 finally saw MG making use of that larger engine bay, by fitting the Rover V8 engine used notably in the Range Rover Classic in it.

*The roadster is a great looking car, perfectly usable as a practical daily driver*

The V8 may have been bigger but given it was an aluminium construction, it actually weighed less than the 1800 cc four-cylinder, meaning not many modifications were required. There were however various other problems, leading to very few V8’s being produced. On one hand MG could never get enough engines from Rover to build as many cars there was demand for, and on the other that demand quickly vanished with rising oil prices in the 70’s. In the end, the V8 would be taken out of production only two years later, in 1975, after no more than some 2.600 GT V8’s had been built.

Given the increasingly tough regulations not only on emissions but also on safety standards in the US, the 70’s weren’t kind to the MGB. I’ve mentioned the dropping engine power of the 1800 cc unit above, and added to that were some pretty horrific, moulded rubber bumbers that MG had to fit to the cars from 1975 onwards, replacing the stylish chrome model that had been used until then.

*The late 70’s wasn’t a great design period for the MGB – either…*

There were other, corporate problems as well, linked to a generally cash-strapped British car industry and other British Leyland brands such as Triumph that were given higher priority to develop the futuristic TR7, rather than trying to modernize the ageing MGB. And so the last MGB rolled out of the factory in Abingdon in 1980, and the factory itself closing its doors later the same year.

Between 1963 and 1980, no less than 387.000 MGB’s were produced, a record for any UK sports car. To that should also be added 125.000 GT’s, a pretty remarkable number given the far shorter production run, but only 2600 MGB GT V8’s. This is of course reflected in today’s prices with the V8’s being most sought-after. They start at roughly twice the USD/EUR 20.000 the four-cylinder roadster or coupé trade at in good condition. At that level it’s difficult to go wrong, as the MGB is also a simple and thereby economical car. Get a nice roadster version with chrome bumpers, and as a US MG commercial at the time would say: “at no extra cost, MG gives you the sun!”.

Buying right, and at the right price!

On June 4, 2023June 4, 2023 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of Owning1 Comment

What do you remember about March 2022? Russia had invaded Ukraine only a week earlier, there was a coup d’état in Burkina Faso (yes, I had to look that one up…), and then the Fed started the current rate raising cycle, thereby ending a decade of zero interest rates or if you will, free money. As we know now a year later, the subsequent increases to the current level were the quickest in history, and it’s not clear if we’re done yet. They’ve happened against a background of rising inflation after as said, a decade of zero rates and money printing, by the same central banks who are now trying to contain the inflationary pressures that resulted from it.

When you don’t get any return on your savings, you try to do so by putting your money elsewhere. And so over the last decade, pretty much every type of investment has had a good run that at least partly came to an end a bit more than a year ago. One of the best areas to put your money in this period has been various types of collectible cars – oldtimers, race cars, and then with time, pretty much every car beyond a certain age, never mind really how collectible it really is. That’s what we’ll talk about today, as everything that is priced as a collectible certainly isn’t one, which is something the new market environment will no doubt show us. I have however recently seen some excesses in the market that are frankly just ridiculous and that show that a new balance hasn’t been found yet. Being sensible in your planned car purchase is therefore more important than ever!

*Pebble beach and other car shows have been spectacular in the last years!*

Back in 2020 I wrote a post you can find here, where I went into some aspects to consider when buying your dream car. I also emphasized precisely that, i.e. that you should really buy the car because of your love and desire for it – not because you think it will increase in value. Although many cars have continued to do so, that’s worth remembering. Firstly, whether a car will rise in value or not is never a given (except perhaps for a small number of hyper-exclusive and very limited series). Secondly maintenance, storing, insurance and running any car, but especially collectibles, eats up much of the potential value increase, so at the end of the day there often isn’t much left. then again, that’s perfectly alright as long as your priority has been to enjoy the time spent behind the wheel!

You may well think this is too negative, and that value appreciation on, say a manual Porsche 911 of certain series is all but guaranteed since they haven’t yet reached the stratosphere (well, most have, but not all), and they’re becoming fewer and further between. That’s true, but then again so is a Porsche 944 which still hasn’t gone anywhere and probably never will – although its sibling (and less good looking) successor, the 968 has. I’m certainly not claiming there aren’t cars that will rise in value going forward, I’m just saying that you shouldn’t bet on it, and it’s not what should guide your purchase.

*Today worth twice as much as its better-looking predecessor…*

That said, there are a few clues to help you select a car that is both a joy to drive and can be expected to hold its value relatively well. A manual gearbox is certainly one such thing, if you look for example at a 911, a Ferrari F355, and a bunch of other cars that are 10-20 years old. Production numbers is another, as special series or limited production runs tend to hold values better. The right engine will help, as will provenance, given a famous previous owner tends to do wonders for the price. I find this last one a bit strange since it’s not like it says “this used to belong to (select your favorite famous person)” on the car, but I guess there are things that can’t fully be explained by logic…

A case in point is a classic dealer in the Zurich area who has a Porsche 928 GTS standing in the showroom. With 90.000 km on the clock the mileage is ok but not exceptional, as is the general condition of the car – very good, but not mint. The GTS was the last iteration of the 928 produced in the early 90’s. At 350 hp it had the highest power output of all 928 series and is for many the most attractive in the range, provided however that it’s a manual, which this wasn’t. The dealer had tried to compensate this with a big sign saying “Prominent Swiss previous owner”.

This country is great in many things, but it’s not like we’re lining up famous people. The only two can think of who would motivate paying more for a car according to this logic would be Roger Federer, who’s however tied to Mercedes-Benz through sponsor contracts and, well, Tina Turner, who spent the last 20 years of her life in a magnificent villa on the shores of the Zurich lake. She obviously just passed away, may she rest in peace, but before that was mostly seen in a green Bentley. The “famous previous owner” is thus most probably no one known outside of the local Zurich circle. And it doesn’t warrant you paying – hold on to your chair – around USD 110.000 for this particular 928, especially when a far more desirable manual GTS can be had in similar condition for USD 20-30.000 less. Which is still double what they cost 2-3 years ago.

Another even stranger category is that of cars that someone bought a number of years ago and never drove, so that they’re now sold with very low mileage, most often in a condition close to new – at least on the outside. Obviously, if you’ve stored a car away for 30-40 years, it’s really important to know how it’s been stored, and also if it’s been maintained throughout. Because a car that is left standing for a number of years without no one attending to it, is not a car you want. Then the question is of course also whether there’s anything attractive with the car apart from the fact that no one’s driven it, or if it’s just an old car?

An example of this is a VW Golf GL Diesel from 1983, advertised by one of the most well-known classic car dealers in the region. Someone bought this 50 hp monster 40 years ago, sealed it, and put it away, so that it only has 2.000 km on the clock. I guess the 50 hp were not that exciting even back then… It’s most probably been stored correctly and maintained throughout, but who on earth would pay the asking price of around USD 28.000 for a car that wasn’t even desirable when it was new? I can think of a large number of far better, more modern and certainly more fun small cars for that money, and I’d be really surprised if this example doesn’t sit with the dealer for a long time. As if this wasn’t enough, the 70’s shade of brown really isn’t a particular desirable color,

It’s not all bad though, because the gems are still out there, you just need to be patient and look out for them. Coming back to 911’s, and more specifically one of my favorites, the 997 Turbo, I’ve spotted a manual 2009 car in silver with a red leather interior and all the carbon packs you could have at the time, and around 85.000 km on the clock. It’s in mint condition and has had one previous owner, the F1 driver Jarno Trulli (who raced between 1997-2011 and had the good taste of scoring his only win in Monaco in 2004).

*I need to find a good reason to put my money here…*

Whether he’s famous or not is not the point, it’s more that I would assume that an F1 driver for one drives the car correctly (albeit fast…) and also knows, and has the money, to maintain it properly. Then again if that isn’t the case, I wouldn’t hesitate going for a car where it is, no matter who the previous owner is. At an ask price of around USD 85.000, the car is only slightly more expensive than comparable cars, but that is probably warranted by its history.

Desirable? To me, absolutely, I’ve had my eye on the 997 Turbo for a while and actually find the red interior pretty cool, although it’s not for everyone. Will it increase in value? Maybe, then again it certainly won’t be free to run. Does it make my “car buying pulse” increase? Definitely – at the thought of driving it that is, not speculating about its potential future value increase. If you ask me, that’s exactly as it should be. Now I just need to find a half-rational argument for it…

Street finds – the Rolls Royce Corniche Cabriolet!

On May 7, 2023May 7, 2023 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream GarageLeave a comment

Spring has been slow, cold and wet this year, which is actually the way it is most years if you live in Switzerland. Of course, at least if you’re me, you forget about it being the case over the winter, so I still manage to get as disappointed every year in April when the rain keeps on falling. Last week therefore brought a nice change for the better, also motivating the lucky owner of this magnificent Rolls-Royce Corniche Convertible to bring it out of the garage where it’s no doubt been sleeping through winter, and allowing me to capture the first street find of 2023!

*A beautiful Mk III Corniche, as can notably be seen on the bumpers*

How do I know it’s slept in the dry over the winter? Well, even though it’s clearly been renovated, and this to an extremely high standard, there is no doubt that this was a car lucky enough to have a meticulous owner who would never leave her outside during the cold season. I’m almost sure the owner has a Range Rover to take him through the dark months, as the two of them would really form an almost ideal pair. Of course, he could have a Cullinan as well, but surely no one with enough taste to renovate a Corniche Cabriolet would buy a Cullinan?

When it was launched in 1971, the Corniche was very appropriately named after the magnificent Haute Corniche, a curvy road stretching from Nice to Monaco on the French Riviera. The automobile (surely you can’t call anything as magnificent simply a car?) became a real long-runner for Rolls Royce. When it was presented, the company had gone over to be owned by the British state, following some not very successful deals involving its flight division. And yet when you see the Corniche, you would never believe it’s been created by anything other than a company awash with cash, such as the opulence it offers its owner. It would be built for all of 24 years until 1995, something today’s car builders can only dream of.

This dark blue beauty with its (no doubt new) cognac hood and interior is a Mk III, meaning it was built sometime between 1989 and 1993. That means it has the updated interior, as can be seen notably on the center console, but still the 3-speed automatic gearbox (a fourth speed would come with the fourth series), and about 200 hp from its 6.75 litre V8. Of course this was the period when Rolls wouldn’t divulge the exact power output, rather referring to it as “sufficient”. It certainly was for the way you’re supposed to drive a Corniche, but by modern standards, 200 hp for a car that weighed close to 2500 kg really isn’t much to write home about.

*It should really be the ocean you see ahead!*

However Rolls was of course right. You don’t need more power when driving a Corniche, and certainly not the convertible version. It’s a car that fits best along the road it was named after, arriving in Monaco as the sun sets over the Mediterranean in time for a an early supper at the Café de Paris before trying your luck at the Casino. It’s perhaps the ultimate symbol of British blue-bloodedness but above all, to me it’s one of the most beautiful cars ever built. Given the money this owner has invested to keep it in a shape very close to new, I hope we have a sunny and long summer to look forward to!

GTO – three-letter magic!

On April 30, 2023April 30, 2023 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of OwningLeave a comment

I spent a few weeks in Singapore some years ago and notably had the opportunity to catch up with a local reader of this very blog, as crazy about cars as I am. He was kind enough to take me to one of the leading, local supercar dealers on what felt like the outskirts of the city, and what he had on offer was very impressive indeed.

The issue is however that if you think speed limits are tough in Europe, that’s nothing compared to Singapore. In addition, the number of cars in the small country is regulated, so before buying a car, you need to buy a license giving you the right to buy one. The number of licenses is of course limited and the price for one varies a bit but was around $100.000 in 2022, and that’s before you’ve spent a dime on the car itself.

*It’s not far from Marina Bay to Malaysia…*

That said, if you have the money to buy a supercar, spending another 100 grand on a license may not a big deal. The remaining question is however where then to drive the car like it’s supposed to be driven. As it turned out, the supercar crowd in Singapore had a plan for that as well. As a member of the local Ferrari club told me, for their club outings they drive across the border to Malaysia and rent the Sepang F1 circuit for one day. That’s what I call a track day!

Of course, track days is something we have in Europe and the US as well, although in a slightly less dramatic setting. These days however, the car you take to a track day is typically a racing-oriented street car, such as for example a 911 GT2-GT3. Looking back, it used to be the other way around….

*One of, if not the, most legendary car in the world – the 250 GTO*

To come back to the heading of this post, the three letters GTO have a direct connection to what we today associate with track days. They stand for Grand Turismo Omologato (homologated), meaning the cars a manufacturer had to build for road use for a race version of the same car to be approved. When hearing GTO many of you will directly think of the most expensive and perhaps the most legendary car in the world, the Ferrari 250 GTO, of which 36 cars were homologated for road use.

It’s often referred to as the last true road racing car since after it, safety regulations would put a stop to such extreme machines being used on public roads. In other words, this wasn’t a street car you could race on weekends, but rather a race car you could drive on public roads. Or as Shelby Myers, a car specialist at RM Sotheby’s put it: “this was the last car that you could park in your garage, drive to the track, win the race, and then drive home.”

*Racing on Sunday, commuting on Monday…*

All 36 Ferrari 250 GTO’s were built between 1962 and 1964, and none of them were identical. They were a development of the 250 GT-series with the center piece being the 3 litre, 300 hp strong V12 with six Weber carburetors and a five-speed gearbox (increased to 4 litres and 390 hp on the three cars built in 1964). The development of the car was led by the legendary Giotto Bizzarrini (read more on him here and here), although he left Ferrari before the GTO was launched.

The cars were built by Scaglietti and Enzo himself apparently selected who was allowed to buy them. With a top speed around 270 km/h, the GTO won the GT World Championships in 1962-1964 and various other races such as Le Mans, Targa Florio (see here) and the 1000 km race at Spa Francorchamps. In total, it accumulated more than 300 race wins under its belt.

*At $70m, the price record for this GTO still stands*

The GTO is often considered the last great front-engine GT car built by Ferrari. That’s not the only thing it’s been called though. Other descriptions include the most beautiful Ferrari ever built, a true living legend, and rightfully, the most expensive car in the world, It’s perhaps no surprise that buying one takes a big wallet, but just how big is illustrated by the fact that in 2014, a GTO was sold for $38m and in 2018, the current record was set at $70m. The car in question was the 1964 Tour de France winner which thereby became the most expensive vehicle ever sold. Its price as new in today’s money would have been around USD 150′, so in other words, a pretty solid investment return!

The 250 may thus have been the last true GT car, but it was not the last GTO. Fast forward to 1984, when Ferrari introduced the 288 GTO at the Geneva Auto Salon. The car cost around $300.000 at the time, for which you could have got no less than for example three MB 500 SL’s, and it sold out before the Salon was over. If you find a 288 GTO today you can add a zero to that number, which still makes it a bargain compared to the 250 GTO. It may be far less legendary but not less important – rather the contrary.

*The 288 GTO set Ferrari’s hyper car strategy for the future!*

The 288 GTO (later called only GTO) was launched in period where Ferrari’s line-up with the 308, 328, Mondial and 412 was not the best it had ever been, and the company wasn’t doing very well financially. The new 512 was indeed an extravagant sports car in Enzo Ferrari’s taste, but he wanted something more. Or was it maybe the changes in the Group B rally regulation that motivated the GTO?

We’ll never know for sure, but what we do know is that the racing version of the GTO never happened. Instead, Ferrari reluctantly agreed to increase the street car production from 200 to 274 cars (yo have to think that some of their most faithful owners were pretty influential people already then…). And hereby, without knowing it, Ferrari had also found the formula for hyper car success that’s taken them all the way to today.

For the untrained eye, a GTO could be mistaken for a regular 308. If you look closer though, you see that it’s a bit longer (110 mm to be exact) different headlights. It’s a beautiful car in a more dynamic way than the original 250 GTO was, and looking at it today, it has an 80’s cool factor about it. The longitudinal, double-turbo 2.9 litre V8 put out 400 hp and given the car only weighed 1300 kg, that was enough for a 300 km/h top speed. The GTO hereby became the fastest Ferrari ever, and one of the fastest cars of its time.

As for Ferrari’s future strategy, the attention the GTO got helped lay the foundation for what would become a very successful formula for hyper cars from Maranello: no more than 500 built, technologically at the top, and buyers carefully selected. The F40 followed the same logic as did the F50, the Enzo, and later the LaFerrari.

As a side benefit the increase in value would follow almost automatically. Apparently the group of owners who were selected and thus own all the cars listed above is larger than you think, and they’re no doubt thankful to the 288 GTO for being not only a great car, but also for making what followed possible!

The most bling-bling of them all!

On April 23, 2023April 23, 2023 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of Owning1 Comment

For most of us including yours truly, the Thrill of Driving (ToD) apart from being the name of this blog, refers to exactly that, i.e. the wonderful feeling you get from driving, say a manual 911 Turbo up a twisty mountain road, for example here in Switzerland. Then again, what really constitutes the thrill varies, also as we get older. Some people will think of it as maximum straightline speed, as in a Tesla Plaid. For others it’s hearing the screaming sound of a 12-cylinder from Sant’Agata. And then again for some, it’s more about the Thrill of Being Seen than the driving itself. And whereas a Lamborghini works pretty well also for this purpose, there used to be a brand out there that was only about turning a maximum number of heads. This week we’ll look at the almost forgotten creations from Excalibur, the craziest thing to ever come out of Milwaukee!

Brooks Stevens was an American industrial designer, specialized in cars and bikes, who worked at Studebaker where he had been commissioned by CEO Sherwood Egbert (yep, really) to design a spectacular car to put on the company’s exhibition stand at the NY motor show in 1964. He came up with the idea of creating a car with modern running gear, but in the style of the pre-war Mercedes-Benz SSK. The chassis came from a Studebaker Lark Daytona, over which a fiberglass body draped. The car was called the Studebaker SS and it was a great success with dozens of orders placed during, and after the motor show.

*The Excalibur, inspired by the Mercedes-Benz SSK*

Unfortunately Brooks’ creation wasn’t enough to save Studebaker that went broke the same year. Stevens was however determined to bring his car to market and did so by setting up his own company together with his sons. They called it SS Automobiles and the car they launched, very reminiscent of the Studebaker SS, was given the name Excalibur. Equipped with a 300 hp, small block Chevy V8 from the Corvette, production of the Excalibur started in 1965. The car’s low weight of about a ton gave it spectacular acceleration for the time, needing less than six seconds to 100 km/h with a 200 km/h top speed. The car was a success and in 1968, the roadster was complemented by an even more spectacular four-seater, the Phaeton.

*All cars from Excalibur were hand-made and thus individual*

With two oil crises in less than 10 years, the 70’s was certainly not the decade for V8’s on paper, but it didn’t hinder Excalibur from introducing an even bigger V8 and continue to do well without much of design updates. The general design was of course why clients bought the car in the first place, and given all cars were hand-built, a lot of smaller wishes could still be accomodated, as seen from the multitude of Excalibur models. Still, the company was also slightly schizoophrenic, choosing for example to sacrifice basic things such as roll-down windows (rather than just sidescreens) all the way into the 80’s. The Roadster was by then in its fourth series, but the engine had been heavily capped to a smaller V8 with only 155 hp – not even an Excalibur could completely avoid the oil crisis. The problem was that over the years the weight had almost doubled to close to two tons, meaning this by now was very far from being a performance car. It was also far from being a good deal with the price having increased about as much as the weight, to around USD 170′ in today’s money…

*A Phaeton 1978 was definitely not a sports car, especially at 155 hp..*

As spectacular as the Excalibur was, buyers no longer found this a very interesting proposition, Stevens had to file for the company’s first bankruptcy in 1986, and this woud be the start of a long line of owners over the coming years who all tried to revive the business, and who all failed. Henry Warner took over Excalibur in 1987, created the Excalibur Marketing Corporation with a plan to sell the Excalibur Series V. The engine was back to the original V8, but prices were roughly the same as before and success wasn’t much bigger. Warner sold far too few cars and had to throw in the towel only three years later, in 1990. A certain Michael Timmer then bought the rights to Excalibur, but he went bust before he’d made any cars at all. The last in the tragic row was Udo Geitlinger who acquired the rights to build Excaliburs in 1991 and relaunched the brand three years later with the Roadster Series VI. They would sell a few dozen cars but towards the end of the 90’s, the Excalibur lights went out for good.

*Original Mini-like angle to the steering wheel, not much side support on the seats!*

There is still an Excalibur Motor Corporation today, but that is one focused on restoring and maintaining as many of the existing cars as possible, both the Sportster and the Phaeton, with no plans for any new cars. In total, around 3500 Excaliburs were built through the years, all in the company’s home town of Milwaukee. How many have survived to this day isn’t clear, and it also seems to be matter of debate whether you like Excaliburs to have survived at all – no one is indifferent. But in a very uniform car world, isn’t it a breeze of fresh air when someone sets out on an arguably crazy project such as this one, and still manages to build a few thousand cars? Personally though, I don’t have any special feelings for the Excalibur. I’ve never driven one but knowing it’s a 60’s US car with a big V8, lots of power, a steering wheel tilted like a bus and initially radial tires, something tells me it’s more at home in a straight line than on a twisty mountain road. And it’s certainly not a car for the shy!

Bristol cars – as British as it gets!

On March 19, 2023March 19, 2023 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of Owning2 Comments

What do Sir Richard Branson, Liam Gallagher/Oasis and Tina Turner have in common? I guess Tina or Liam may well have listened to the other’s music while travelling on one of Richard Branson’s Virgin planes but as you’ve guessed, that’s not the connection I’m after. That would rather be that they have been, or still are, owners of a Bristol automobile, perhaps the most British of all UK car manufacturers. With a long-term building philosophy of “no more than 2-3 cars a week”, never more than a single show room in London’s Kensington High Street and an at times very particular view of what good car design is, it’s really no surprise that the brand hasn’t survived until today – but it is a surprise it lived on as long as it did! Before Bristol is completely forgotten, it’s well worth having a deeper look at one of the UK’s quirkiest car companies and some of the wonderful cars they built during the 70 years it was in existence!

As many other car manufacturers, Bristol had its roots in airplane manufacturing but even before that, as a builder of tramways in the UK. The tramway company started operations as early as 1875 and business was especially good during WW1 when the Luftwaffe kept damaging the tramway’s power lines, thereby creating a need for lots of maintenance work. With the tram business up and running and the Wright brothers having flown over the English Channel, it became clear to Bristol’s founder George White that the future was in the air. The airplane business started in 1910 and enjoyed an equally good business in the run-up to WW1. As for so many other military suppliers though, when the war ended, orders no longer came in. Bristol had no choice but to diversify again, creating the Bristol Car Company in 1918. However, it wasn’t until the 1950’s that it really came alive.

What really got the car business going was a collaboration with Frazer Nash, at the time UK importers of BMW. Somehow Frazer Nash came in possession of all the drawings and specifications of the BMW 326-328 after the war and it was based on these that Bristol built and presented its first car in 1946, essentially a remodeled BMW introduced under the name Frazer-Nash-Bristol. The engine was the same straight six the Beamers had under the hood, but this and later Bristol cars weren’t just copies of the respective BMW’s – they were improved in several ways and already in the 50’s earned a very good reputation. Even though the official collaboration with Frazer Nash ended the year after, Bristol’s 400 series would go on and include all cars until the 80’s. Starting with the Bristol 400 in 1947 and along with the following Bristol two and four-seater cars until the 406 (and there were models for all numbers in between), the cars were all powered by the same two-litre, BMW straight six engine.

*The Bristol 50’s factory didn’t change as much as others in subsequent years…*

From the start, Bristols were thus positioned as luxury cars and comparable to the Jags and Bentleys out there. Of course all cars were hand-built back in the 50’s and 60’s, but Bristol did so in line with the British car building tradition and was quickly seen as an alternative to for example Jaguar. The cars were built to high engineering standards, said to be “built to last”, apparently to the difference to some other cars of the time. This together with the exclusivity that comes from building such small series of cars was what Bristol felt justified the high price. The “no more than 2-3 cars per week” was probably all the company could do anyway back in the 50’s, but the motto lived on through Bristol’s full history, making any Bristol a very rare automobile these days. Some of those will be far more desirable than others. If the early 400 series Bristols from the 50’s drew heavily on BMW, the 60’s and early 70’s models were certainly the high point of Bristol’s own design. You’d be excused for thinking that the design department was on long term leave during the following decades when you see later cars.

*The interior of a Bristol 406 – very nice and very British!*

Starting with the Bristol 407 the company switched to a Chrysler V8 engine which from the 411 (most cars) and onwards (all cars) was the large 6.2 litre one. The 411 is actually worth a special mention as perhaps the nicest of all Bristol cars. A total of 287 were built between 1969 and 1976, with the big engine making the car capable of a top speed of 230 km/h which you would have to be very brave indeed to exploit. This made Bristol the cool and far less common alternative to the Jaguar XJ-C or the Jensen Interceptor that I wrote about back in October. Engineering-wise it was certainly comparable and in the looks department, it was certainly up there with the XJ-C and some Italian beauties, which is saying a lot!

*The 411, perhaps Bristol’s nicest car in my humble opinion*

The late 70’s and early 80’s were certainly not known for good design and nowhere was it worse than at Bristol. Starting with the 412, the company’s efforts to modernize the lines failed so spectacularly that fans pretty much gave up on the company, starting its long demise. Cars like the 90’s Blenheim roadster were seen as dated already when they appeared, and it was in a last effort to save the company that Bristol developed the Fighter, built between 2004 and when the company went into administration in 2011 in around a dozen examples (no one knows for sure). It was a pretty extraordinary car, looking like nothing else and powered by Chrysler’s V10 Viper engine, here producing around 500 hp and coupled to a four-speed autobox. Bristol had plans to build around 20 Fighters a year and also to launch a turbo version with twice that power (yes, really!), but that wasn’t to be. Given the low level of interest the Fighter generated, probably due both to the particular design but perhaps even more to the GBP 230′ price tag, no other Bristol car would ever see the light of day.

*The Fighter would be Bristol’s last car – not sure about the license plate*

Bristol Cars went into administration in 2011 and was then bought by the Swiss Kamkorp group who never managed to bring out any new models so that until the lights were finally turned off in 2020, the company mostly renovated and supplied parts to older Bristol models. In 2016, the Bristol veteran Richard Hackett was one of the founders of a company called SLJ Hackett, today one of the main distributors of older Bristol cars. SLJ offers most Bristol models for sale and with prices starting around GBP 50′, they are more affordable than you may think. So if you want to do what Sir Richard, Tina Turner and Liam Gallagher did, then SLJ Hackett is the company for you. It goes without saying that the driving pleasure will be from the right side only – after all, who would come up with the strange idea of driving on the other side? Unfortunately there’s no place for companies like Bristol in today’s car world and that’s a shame, because it could certainly use a bit more of them!

The forgotten lord

On March 5, 2023March 4, 2023 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of OwningLeave a comment

The Range Rover is the most legendary luxury SUV out there, and it’s now been around for more than 50 years. The brand new model of which deliveries started early this year is however only the fifth generation in the line-up. The original Range Rover was built for all of 24 years, the third generation L322 for 11 years and the L405, the predecessor to the fifth generation of which I have one in the garage, for 10 years without major modifications. You will have noticed that the second generation, the P38, is missing from the above. This is a car that was never really loved, had the worst reputation of them all and had it been possible to stop, would probably never have been launched in the first place. Doesn’t really sound great, does it? This means that the P38 is very much at the bottom of the Range Rover pack in terms of secondary market values (or put differently, it’s dirt cheap), which is something that always intrigues me. This week, we’ll therefore look at the forgotten lord, the P38, to try to figure out if it’s best left to die, or actually something worth considering!

It was certainly not a very confident Rover company that presented the P38 in 1994. Rover had been taken over by BMW the same year in a merger that will not go down in history as the most thought-through, and when the Bavarians came up to the Rover factory in Solihull and saw the new Range project, they were apparently far from impressed. This was the car that was supposed to succeed the Classic that was was already then a legend, and BMW didn’t feel it was even ready to be released. They were however far too late to do anything about it and in the same year, the P38, somewhat half-heartedly, was presented to the world. Production of the original Range actually continued a couple of years in parallel to the new car, and the development of what was to become its successor in 2001, the L322, had already started. Talk about being an unloved child and with a build-time of only seven years, the P38 is (until today) the shortest-lived car in the Range line-up.

*Early P38’s are recognized by yellow turn signals front and back*

What is clear just by looking at it is that the design is nothing Rover needed to be ashamed about. What was to become the P38 was developed internally at Rover and the final project was preferred over four other, notably one from Bertone. Rover definitely made the right choice, as the P38 is a good-looking car and unmistakenly a Range Rover. The low waistline and big windows give it a friendly look and have the additional advantage of making it easy to place the car on the road, which to be fair is also helped by the fact that at 4.7 metres length and 1.9 metres width, it’s far smaller than later Ranges. The P38 was available with three engines, two versions of the Rover V8 at 4 and 4.6 litres, and a six-cylinder BMW diesel at 2.5 litres. Of these, the only one you should ever consider is the 4.6 l, as even that only puts out 224 hp and 380 Nm of torque and doesn’t make the Range a fast car. The 2.5 litre diesel delivers a paltry 136 hp, less torque than the V8 and needs a spectacular 17 seconds to make it to 100 km/h. It’s not even very economical doing so. All engines are coupled to a 4-speed automatic in a body-on-frame construction.

As in all later Ranges, the interior of the P38 is a very nice place to be, with a very distinct smell from the leather and other materials used. This was very much intentional as Rover had understood that with the introduction of the P38, these cars would start moving away from the pastures onto the roads, meaning buyers would expect a more luxurious interior. There is thus almost as much leather and wood in one of these as in a modern Range and although comfort is not the same at the same level, the air suspension helps you travel in high comfort. I’ve had the pleasure of doing so several times through the years, and the P38 provides exactly the same commading driving position in a plush chair as later – and more expensive – Ranges do. With an engine that doesn’t encourage anything but soft cruising that’s all you’ll ever do, and the P38 will be an excellent companion. All cars were well equipped by standards at the time, with the HSE being better than the SE, the Autobiography better than the HSE and with special series like the Holland & Holland bringing additional goodies.

*A low waist line and large windows give a very airy feel!*

So what about the quality and BMW’s feeling that the new car wasn’t ready to be released – has history proved them right? It certainly didn’t take long before the P38 started developing a reputation for bad reliability. This may not have been the case had buyers come from Rover’s traditional crowd, but BMW and other owners who were convinced to spend a lot of money on a new Range were far less understanding than traditional Rover buyers of regularly having to clean oil off their driveway. Having said that, all Ranges have a reputation for bad reliability, including mine which I’ve now had for 18 months and almost 20′ km without a single issue, so you could well imagine there’s a cultural angle here as well and that maybe, the car is better than its reputation. As so often, quality will stand in relation to previous ownership and service history, but it’s clear that the poor reputation has contributed to P38’s loosing value like a stone. There was a time you could have them for literally nothing, and people did, ruining them on the way, meaning the P38 has become rare these days and that prices have therefore started to climb somewhat. It will most probably never develop into a true classic like the RR Classic, but my guess is that values have hit the bottom.

*A late 2001 car – cars after 1999 have an improved Bosch engine management system.*

So, should you park a P38 in your driveway? I can imagine some good scenarios for doing so, but they’re all based on finding a mechanically sound car, so the regular checks of service history and general condition are very much mandatory. High mileage needs not be an issue if the car has been regularly maintained. During the last three years, the Lucas engine management system was replaced by one from Bosch, generally considered better. Among expensive things to fix, pay attention to the suspension, if it’s harsh or inexistent, that means a problem with the air suspension system which will be expensive to repair. Also check the auto box in Manual and Sport. Otherwise one of the attractions of the P38 over its successor, the L322, is firstly that it looks better, secondly that it weighs almost half a ton less and thirdly, that there’s less (and less complicated) stuff to fix. The P38 remains a very comfortable way to travel and of course, being a Range Rover, an outstanding offroad car, and the few remaining nice examples out there can be had today for less than EUR/USD 10′ with much room for negotiation, which is a true bargain. In the electrified world we’re apparently moving towards, there’s of course a risk is you’ll never get more from it than scrap value when you try to sell it, but what the heck – why not enjoy the ride until then in a car that will always look more expensive than it is!

The unique Lancia Stratos!

On February 19, 2023February 19, 2023 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage1 Comment

If competition between car makers has been a trait of the automobile industry for as long as anyone can remember, it’s probably only in Italy that competition between car designers was just as fierce. The two dominant houses in Italian car design are of course Pininfarina and Bertone, both having employed legendary designers through the years who have in turn been responsible for some of the most beautiful car creations to come out of Italy. Usually one of the two big houses would be the main partner for a certain brand, but there was certainly nothing hindering the other one from trying to gain market by various means. Thank God for that because otherwise, the legendary Lancia Stratos would probably never have seen the light of day.

Lancia had historically mostly collaborated with Pininfarina in designing its models, with Bertone eagerly watching from the sidelines. In the late 60’s however, Bertone saw an opportunity as it was obvious that the ageing Lancia Fulvia was up for replacement. Bertone’s gave its legendary designer and our old friend Marcello Gandini, the man behind notably the Lamborghini Miura and Countach, the task of drawing a car that completely broke with the Fulvia and would signal the advent of a new, modern era. So he did, and it was so convincing that the Lancia bosses decided to show the prototype at the Turin Auto Salon in 1970. Gandini was subsequently commissioned with designing the production car that would come to market a couple of years later.

*Gandini’s original Stratos prototype was…special!*

The Stratos’ predecessor, the Fulvia coupé, had been used on the rally scene in the 60’s with some success, and Lancia saw rally as a way to position the brand as a sporty alternatively notably the the siblings from Fiat. This meant that unlike basically any other rally car at the time (or for that matter, thereafter), the Stratos was developed exclusively with rallying in mind, and not as a civilian car later converted to rally usage. You don’t need to look at the car for long to see this was the case, and also that this was a completely new design language that would follow Gandini notably to the Countach. The ultra short wheelbase of only 2.2 metres carries a body with minimal overhangs but with a big, sweeping front screen giving the driver great visibility. The engine was mid-mounted in the ultra low, rear-wheel drive car, getting in and out of which it is not an exercise suitable for any kind of daily driving. Looking at the Stratos today, it’s surprising how small it really is at 3.7 metres and around 900 kg. Lancia did however have to comply with the rules for any rally car at the time, namely that 500 so called homologation cars for street usage had to be built and sold along side the rally cars themselves.

*How most of us remember it – on a clay road in some southern rally!*

During the development of the Stratos, Lancia had considered various engines for the car, but the one they really wanted was the 2.4 litre V6 that Ferrari was using in the Dino. After long negotiations, rumour has it that Enzo Ferrari himself agreed to deliver the 500 engines necessary for the homologation of the Stratos. However, after the first 10 engines or so the deliveries suddenly dried up, with Ferrari claiming various production issues. It wasn’t until Lancia threatened to replace the Ferrari engine with another motor that they finally started coming in. Strangely enough, that also coincided with the end of production of the Dino, which Enzo had of course seen as a competitor to the Stratos… In the homologation street cars the engine produced 190 hp, in the rally cars performance was typically between 300-400 hp thanks to a big, old-school turbo. With the car being rear wheel drive, it’s an understatement to see that the Stratos was difficult to drive, but for those who mastered it, it was one hell of a car!

The Stratos premiered in the world rally championships in 1974 and went on to win the title straight away, as it did in 1975 and 1976 as well. It won both the Swedish Rally on snow, and the African rally on clay in the same period. There’s little doubt it would have gone on to win further titles had Lancia let it, but by this time Fiat had taken the somewhat strange decision that the Fiat 131 Abarth, a not very futuristic car that few will remember and that didn’t see much success, would be the rally car (and Fiat thereby the rally brand) in the Torino car family. The last major title the Stratos won was therefore the Monte Carlo Rally in 1977, although private teams continued to race the car and having success doing so after that. Of course Lancia came back on the rally scene a few years later with the Lancia Delta Integrale, that we looked at in an old post from 2015, but that’s another story.

*The quite minimalistic interior of the homologation cars*

There’s been various initiatives over the years to revive the Stratos, some of which have made it to some of the big car shows, but none of which have so far made it all the way to production. The most promising one was designed by, hold on to your chair now, Pininfarina and not Bertone, although it was, let’s say heavily inspired by the Bertone-designed original. It was built on a Ferrari 430 chassis and was to be built by a company called Manifattura Automobili Torino (MAT). It was shown at the Geneva Auto Salon in 2018, but the project then died off, apparently not because of Covid but rather because of Ferrari vetoing it, unclear why. I included it in my overview of the auto salon back then in a post you can find here.

The Stratos was thus a truly unique car, and to me, one of the coolest cars around to this day. It’s also uniquely small, uniquely focused on rally and if not uniquely, then at least very successful. It’s also a uniquely difficult car to find today should you want one. With 500 built in the early 70’s that’s perhaps no surprise, especially since many of the buyers certainly thought of themselves as hidden rally talents. As I write this in the middle of February, there’s not a single car on the market anywhere in Europe, nor in the US (which is less surprising since the Stratos never made it officially there). The Stratos will thus remain a rally legend for poster walls or these days Youtube, but what a car it was!

Street finds – the Jeep Grand Wagoneer!

On December 11, 2022December 11, 2022 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of OwningLeave a comment

Christmas is a time of year full of traditions. There’s the food, the tree, the extremely repetitive Christmas songs, and then of course those Christmas movies. I can think of no other season that you associate with watching the same movie every year, yet that’s what happens at Christmas, and we all have our personal favorites. In our family, Chevy Chase’s hilarious (if you have a rather simple sense of humor) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation has a special place. I actually find the first 10 minutes the most fun, when Chevy alias Clark Griswold drives his family out into the wilderness to find the family Christmas tree, and on the way manages to get into a fight with a pick-up and to squeeze his giant station wagon with vinyl wood decorations on the sides between the axels of a big truck.

The movie came out in 1989 and as said, Chevy/Clark is driving a boring station wagon rather than the car that was launched precisely for this kind of family setting and situation (except the part under the truck), featuring the same kind of fake wood decoration. I’m of course talking about the legendary Jeep Grand Wagoneer, a record-breaking SUV in several aspects. The Wagoneer was notably built for 29 years, the third longest of any one generation car in American history. It was also launched in Europe seven years before Land Rover’s first Range Rover, which was of course three-door only for the first years, meaning it’s arguably the grand daddy of all modern luxury SUV’s. I saw the below example in Oslo, Norway earlier this week, perfectly parked in front of a nice hotel entrance, putting its elegant line in the right context. This week, we’ll therefore have a look at this true but increasingly rare SUV legend in its most luxurious version!

*It’s difficult to imagine a better city setting for a Grand Wagoneer!*

The Wagoneer was produced for so long that its mother company Jeep had time to change owners no less than three times. When production started in 1963 Jeep was part of the Kaiser Jeep Corporation, making the Wagoneer the direct replacement of the Willys Jeep Station Wagon that had been produced since 1946. Seven years later Jeep would be sold to the American Motor Corporation (AMC), and finally in 1987, to Chrysler, where it’s remained until today. As said the Wagoneer was built until 1990, however the Grand Wagoneer version that we’re focusing on here was only introduced in 1984, meaning most of the ones you see were built during the Chrysler years. That’s perhaps less important than the fact that quality-wise, the 1988 to end production years seem to be the best, with a number of improvements both to the interior and the exterior, In terms of engine though, Chrysler continued to use the 5.9 litre (360 cui) V8 developed by AMC, that at around 150 hp wasn’t very powerful in horsepower but all the more in torque, giving the car great towing capacity. It was also a heavy drinker, with average consumption apparently at 11 mpg or around 20 litres per 100 km…

*The engine may not be beautiful, but it has all the torque you need!*

What’s always enchanted me with the Grand Wagoneer is its looks and of course, it’s wonderful fake wood! Jeep guarantees that not a single tree was chopped to produce the vinyl panels on the exterior, and the same seems to go for the inside. There’s definitely an 80’s chic around the panels but they do add visually to the body, making it look less heavy. By modern standards the Grand Wagoneer was of course less heavy not only in looks, weighing in at around two tons, around half a ton less than a modern, large SUV (in the traditional American way, the Wagoneer was a six-seater). Being the top of the line version the Grand Wagoneer also had a lot of equipment for the time, with stuff like premium speakers, central locking and windows, and even keyless entry on the last model years from 1989. Of course it also had the split tailgate like the Range Rover does, perfect for enjoying a cup of coffee out in the wilderness, or on whichever adventure your Grand Wagoneer has taken you.

*A perfect American mix of leather, cloth and vinyl!*

Any type of Wagoneer has gotten rare these days and even fewer are in the condition you want them to be. The original Grand Wagoneer additionally suffers from the doubtful long-term quality of fake wood, so I was really lucky to see one in such a good condition as the one in Oslo. The rarity is also seen in prices, with a good version costing at least EUR 40-50.000. Then again, for car that has such presence and literally invites you to take your family or friends out on any adventure you can think of, that really is a bargain. Fuel costs will stay somewhat reasonable given you’ll cruise around at moderate speeds, listening to your cassettes on the premium speakers. There will be some additional costs to pencil in though, unless you already have a pair of used Timberlands, a squared flannel shirt and a leather jacket that has lived as least as long as the Grand Wagoneer in the closet!

The simple life!

On November 20, 2022November 20, 2022 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of Owning1 Comment

It’s a pretty established phenomenon that as we grow older, we tend to look back on our younger days with a feeling that life was both better and simpler then. That it was better is nothing but a myth as any statistic, and I do mean any statistic, will tell you. In terms of simplicity however, it’s a different story. Earlier this week I was sitting at a corporate dinner when the discussion turned to the early gigantic mobile phones at the turn of the 80’s and 90’s. I said something about life being simpler before the mobile phone and to my surprise, all of the far younger than me basically gave up a cheer.

Simplicity is of course something we’ve lost in the car world too. It feels like most new cars today have more chips than bolts (and quite some difficulty sourcing all of them!), and even a lightweight fanatic like Lotus has with the new Emira crossed the line to something more settled and mature for an audience today expecting more comfort, even in a Lotus. Not too long ago, this was very different, which is of course part of the charm of classic cars. So if you’re wishing for a simpler life and perhaps also for a classic set of wheels to put in your garage without having to rob the bank, let’s look at a cheap and simple option that has enchanted car enthusiasts for 60 years. A car that is one of the biggest successes of UK car industry ever, and that has also inspired further more modern legends, such as the Mazda Miata. I’m of course talking about the wonderful Triumph Spitfire!

The story starts in the UK in the late 50’s, when the UK car industry was cash strapped as always but not yet in the very dire straits it would find itself a few years later. Triumph watched the success Austin Healy was having with the Sprite, a simple roadster with a small engine and an equally small price tag launched in 1958. Triumph had themselves built the TR2 and TR3 since the early 50’s, but realized there was market share to be taken by marketing a cheaper and simpler car, that was still better than the Sprite. The design was commissioned to Giovanni Michelotti, a legendary Italian designer with cars from Maserati to Ferrari under his belt, but also less exotic ones of which notably quite a few for Triumph, including the TR4 and (later) the Stag.

And yet, the car that was to become one of few real successes of the UK car industry almost never happened. In 1960, Triumph was sold to Leyland Motors and in the midst of the merger, the Spitfire which at that time was only a single prototype, was forgotten in the corner of the Triumph factory in Coventry. If not for a Leyland manager poking around and finding the car under the dust, it may never have been. As it happened, not only did it come to be but it did so very quickly, as the first car was presented only 18 months later, in 1962. The name obviously comes from the Spitfire fighter plane from WW2 and it’s unclear to this day how Triumph agreed with Vickers, makers of the Spitfire plane, agreed to use the name – if they ever did.

*A Mk III interior – unlike later cars, the instruments are still in the centre*

Presented in 1962, The Triumph Spitire 4, where “4” represented the 1.1 litre, four-cylinder engine with 63 hp, was a simple car indeed. It only weighed around 700 kg so even with 63 hp, it had reasonable speed for the time, but the reason it weighed so little was that things we would tend to think of as quite standard even for classic cars, such as carpets and heating, were optional. It also had a very light folding top that should perhaps better have weighed a couple of kilos more, as it was almost impossible to use. Of course, at 63 hp, the Spitfire wasn’t what we would call a sports car today. It needed around 16 seconds to reach 100 km/h, but given you’re basically sitting on the road given how low the car is, that actually feels like plenty. Especially when you notice that the rear end is very lively indeed when the road starts to turn, something that wouldn’t be solved on later Spitfires until the 70’s.

The little modified Mk II Spitfire came in 1965 with now 67 hp. Sales in the US were really picking up and Triumph encouraged owners to race their cars on weekends, advertising any success they would have in the Triumph name. The “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” philosophy led to the Mk III in 1967 now with a larger engine at 1.3 litre, and – horray! – an updated soft top that could actually be closed. By this time you also got carpets in your Spitfire. By 1968, 100.000 Spitfires had been sold of which over half to the US. Two years later Michelotti did a pretty complete re-design for the Mk IV version, including the same rear lights as on the Triumph Stag, and a heater as standard. The final Spitfire 1500 that came in 1974 was the most powerful version there would be at 71 hp, however only outside of the US as there, emission regulations actually made it slower than its predecessors.

*The Spitfire 1500 with rear lights form the Stag. Objectively the best Spitfire.*

In the mid-70’s, the UK car industry was in full crisis mode and there was no money to further update the Spitfire as would have been required to keep the car competitive in view of increasing competition, notably from Japan. The GBP/USD exchange rate also meant the car became expensive in the US, with sales numbers starting to dip. The Spitfire would be with no further updates done to the car until the end of production in 1980. By then, over 300.000 Spitfires had been built with the last version, the 1500, representing about a third of total sales and no doubt also being the best car.

Even for an ex-TR4 owner like myself, driving a Spitfire as I did a few years ago, is a different experience. It feels like you literally sit on the ground, everything is smaller and trust me, the least of your concerns is a lack of speed, especially as the small four-cylinder produces a wonderful sound! That said, the early cars are perhaps a bit too simple even for those looking for the simple life this post started with. So if a Spitfire sounds like your thing, I would go for a late, 1500 car or if you prefer the earlier design, then for a Mk III. A good car will be yours for around EUR 15-20.000, a small price to pay for a pure driving experience. So leave the mobile phone at home, put on the gloves and go for a drive in a truly simple UK car legend!

Wonderful British quirkiness!

On October 23, 2022October 24, 2022 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of Owning1 Comment

There was a time not too long ago when the UK was perhaps together with Italy, the world’s greatest sports car nation. A large number of brands built various roadsters, coupés and GT’s, many of which have today become classics. Some are obviously more well-known than others, and their fame is often reflected in the astronomical prices many of them trade at today – think for example Aston Martin. What most of them have in common though, except Aston Martin and one-two others, is that they’re no longer around. The late 70’s and 80’s were a period of demise for the British car industry and through that, a number of highly original and quirky brands were lost. That’s of course how a market economy should work but just like with Saab a few decades later, it also meant losing a bit of the originality the car industry was characterized by not too long ago. One of the quirkier brands from this period is no doubt West Bromwich-based Jensen Motors, builders of the Jensen Interceptor of which I was lucky enough to see one earlier this week. This week we’ll therefore look closer at a quirky English brand, its cars and, well, the British view of the world beyond the channel! Jensen started as an automobile body manufacturer back in the 50’s, notably for the British car maker Austin Healy. Next to that however, the founding brothers Jensen decided to produce their own sports cars in small series. The first in line was a car with neither a very selling name (C-V8), nor a nice design – some would go as far as call it outright ugly. Jensen’s designer Eric Neale certainly didn’t think so but given the client is always right, the C-V8 was pretty much a complete failure.

It was the search for a somewhat more successful car than the C-V8 that led to the Interceptor, Jensen’s by far most well-known car, presented in 1966. This time the design had been commissioned to the Italians at Carrozzeria Touring (another company that would go bust a few years later) and although certainly more convincing than the C-V8, it was definitely still quite original. The front looked like many sports car in the day, the rear which in the UK became known as the “fish bowl”, is rather reminiscent of the 70’s AMC Pacer (which was of course designed after the Interceptor). If the exterior isn’t to everyone’s taste the interior is much more so, with a selection and quality of materials that led to the Interceptor being compared to high-end brands such as Aston Martin, Bristol or even Rolls-Royce.

We’ll make a quick pit stop here for a small side story that I find a wonderful illustration of Jensen and British car industry of the time. Jensen in parallel to the Interceptor built another model referred to as the FF. That’s actually a historic car as it was the first non-SUV passenger car with four-wheel drive, and thus highly innovative for its time. Neither in the 60’s nor now however does it snow a lot in the UK so if you build a four-wheel drive car close to Birmingham, you have to assume it was also intended for exports. All good so far. It’s just that no one in the Jensen factory apparently thought about the fact that most of the world outside of the UK by now had the steering wheel on the left side. So the FF only came as right-hand drive. Let’s just say it wasn’t a tremendous recipe for export success… Back to the Interceptor, which during the 10-year production came in three series with only subtle design differences between them but where the MK III was by far the most produced. The MK III also came with three different bodies: the most common “glass bowl” saloon, the much rarer and arguably better-looking convertible, and the ultra-rare coupé with a plexiglass rear. All three series had Chrysler big block V8’s and 3-speed automatic transmissions, but whereas the first two shared the same 6.3 litre, 325 hp V8 as the predecessor C-V8, the MK III had an even bigger, 7.2 litre engine, however at 285 hp with less power. This all had to do with the new US emission rules that limited the power of large engines quite heavily. Not only was the 7.2 litre engine less powerful, it was of course also heavier, and just a tad thirstier: apparently we’re talking 25-30 litres per 100 km (8-10 MPG) …

The convertible version of the Interceptor was presented in 1974 and is another example of Jensen’s risk-willingness or complete ignorance of the world beyond the UK, depending on how you see it. At this time most other brands were halting the development of new convertibles altogether, as it was widely expected that US safety authorities would enact a complete ban on open cars without roll-over bar. So Jensen was basically the only brand brave or foolish enough to launch a new convertible in this period. They were ultimately right given a ban was never enacted but they were kind of wrong anyway, since the whole company went bust only two years later, in 1976. By then they had produced about 500 convertibles, out of a total of some 6400 Interceptors.

Although the big block Chrysler engines were quite bullet proof, the fact that they all had carburettors and lots of them, didn’t make them any easier to run or service. The carburettors had to be adjusted frequently for optimal performance, apparently up to as often as every 1000-2000 km. Cooling was another issue Interceptors were known to struggle with and then there was of course the same issue as with all other cars in the 70’s – rust. You can certainly convert the engines to injection and upgrade the cooling system, an idea that some won’t like at all given the car is then no longer original. It will however be far more drivable, and thus possibly a solution for those preferring to spend time on the road rather than in the garage. Cooling and carburettors aside, the Interceptor is known as quite a wonderful GT car, offering loads of 70’s luxury and charm typically for far less money than a comparable Aston or Rolls (who as we all know also tend to have an issue or two…). There aren’t many in the market which makes pricing uncertain, but good saloons tend to start somewhere around EUR 50′ with convertibles costing much more. If this wonderful example of British ingenuity combined with a dinosaur-engine of a type will certainly never see again, then please make sure that if you’re not mechanically talented, you know someone who is, and go for a car as perfect as possible, as finding replacement parts for an Interceptor risks being as hard as finding a UK prime minister who will stay longer than a few months!

Two is more fun than one!

On September 25, 2022September 25, 2022 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of OwningLeave a comment

Turbo. the concept arguably made popular in petrol cars by Swedish Saab in the 70’s, has come such a long way that it doesn’t get much attention anymore. Yet if you want to challenge the US saying “there’s no substitute for cubic inches”, at least in terms of power output there’s no way around the turbo. Its advantages are obvious in allowing a far larger output from a smaller engine than would otherwise be the case, and a smaller engine means lower weight and potentially lower consumption, a bit dependent on how often you rev the turbo. Over time things have gone from one to two or even three turbos in modern engines, engaging at different revs, and the concept of more than one turbo on a petrol engine actually goes back to the late 70’s as well, and was somewhat surprisingly pioneered by none other than Maserati. In fact, most observers agree that had it not been for the Biturbo engine family, Maserati would have gone under there and then – and that would have been a shame!

There were two reasons times weren’t rosy at Maserati’s HQ in Modena, Italy, in the mid 70’s: firstly Maserati was owned by Citroën at the time in something that was far from an ideal marriage and secondly, various cars were built in small numbers without standardised production methods. Next to that however, much like other sports car brands at the time, Maserati was not helped by Italian taxation law which heavily penalised engines larger than two litres. This led manufacturers to the same thinking that Saab had up in Sweden, albeit for different reasons, namely to get more power out of a smaller engine. The turbo was the answer, but whereas Saab found one turbo to be sufficient, down in Modena the idea was an engine with two turbos boosting power even further. The project was led by a certain Alejandro de Tomaso, the Argentinian who had run his own car brand in Modena since the 50’s (and whose cars until then had certainly not used turbos but rather cubic inches, but that’s a story for another day…).

*A less spectacular rear, but notice the Maserati emblem on the c-pillar!*

De Tomaso took over Maserati in 1976 and saw its way back to profitability in cheaper cars through standardised production methods and with sub-two litre engines such as to avoid taxation penalties. The result was on one hand a range of different models over the coming years that we’ll look closer at below, and on the other the six-cylinder Biturbo engine which initially put out 179 hp from only 1996 cm3. That number would later be increased to as much as 245 hp in the early 90’s and siblings to the engine would offer even more power but at larger volume, and were therefore mostly destined for the export market.

The cars Maserati started producing under de Tomaso’s management were comparable to the BMW 3-series of the time in size and came as two-door coupé, convertible/spyder and four-door sedan. At 4.1 metres long and only some 1100 kgs weight, the first generation Biturbo cars that came onto the market from 1982 used carburettors, which combined with the small six-cylinder engine produced a wonderful sound. Initially de Tomaso’s plan seemed to work as sales numbers picked up from around 2000 in 1982 to over 5000 in 1983. By then however, early cars started having pretty important quality and reliability issues, and sales numbers fell regularly over the coming years. Issues were actually so important that Maserati decided to remove the Biturbo reference in car names after 1988, by which time both engines and cars had seen quite an important facelift and had also improved quality-wise.

*A late Spyder interior with lots alcantara, leather and wood! Notice the watch…*

Be it the two-door coupé, the Spyder or the four-door sedan, what they all have in common are quite an angular design which is far from the the sweeping lines of Italian cars in the 60’s. It’s a matter of taste whether you like it, but the car definitely has more presence than for example a BMW 3-series. And once you open the door, everything changes as you’re greeted by an ocean of leather an alcantara in a cabin that no one on this side of Rolls Royce and Bentley offered at the time, and hardly do today either. The interior could be chosen in different colours and with different mixes of alcantara and leather, and looking at most cars today makes it clear how much better leather stands the test of time than alcantara!

The sharp lines were softened a bit both inside and out with the first facelift in 1987 and perhaps more importantly, the engine was changed to fuel injection. Further improvements over the coming years included the suspension, steering and brakes, and as mentioned, the overall quality improved. In 1991 the two-door Shamal was added to the range with further design changes to other cars as well, generally in the form of more painted plastics in line with what was popular in the 90’s. The 2-litre V6 by now produced up to 245 hp but was only sold in Italy. It was complemented by the larger 2.8 litre engine in other markets, and models in the late 80’s and early 90’s were called 2.24 and 222 (two-door) and 4.24 and 422 (four-door). Next to these the Spyder was still built, featuring the same engines. A couple of years later in 1994, the lights were out for Biturbo engine, although elements of it lived on into later Maserati engines.

*The Shamal is hard to find and could only have been built in the 90’s!*

It’s a few years since I drove a late 80’s coupé, but it was probably the most Italian driving experience I’ve ever had. As said the car is small, so you sit relatively tight in quite an Italian position, meaning one that requires long arms and short legs, which isn’t really how I’m built. It also made clear that Italians are usually smaller than my 183 cms. it’s not too bad though and when you look closely at the interior, you discover how wonderfully hand-sewn it looks, with uneven stitching here and there which only adds to the charm of the package. It’s a car you can definitely throw around the corners should you want to, but be slightly careful doing so given the engine of course has the same Ketchup-like power delivery as other 80’s turbo engines. Generally though, the car is a pleasure to drive and gives you real 80’s vibes!

The quality issues Maserati ran into with the first series of cars meant values reached rock-bottom on the used car market, and although good cars have started to gain somewhat in value, we’re pretty much still there. This is clearly driven by many cars having been purchased by drivers on a small budget who could buy the cars thanks to the cheap entry ticket, but who have then neglected maintenance or used the car like a hot hatch. Service history is therefore key, as is a thorough inspection of the rust-prone body and the sensible, and today partly irreplaceable interior. Did I mention checking the engine as well? You should, but even if you do it all, a Biturbo will probably not be the problem-free perfect car for those who love German precision. It’s thus important to know yourself in this regard. The best part is of course that you won’t have to spend more than EUR 15-20.000 for really good cars, meaning a bit of investments isn’t all that bad. That’s with the exception of the Shamal though, a car by many considered a the best (and certainly sportiest and most 90’s) of the Biturbos, but which today is very hard to come by, and correspondingly expensive.

*The Spyder gives you even more engine sound for the same money!*

The four-door Quattroporte is generally slightly cheaper than the coupés and Spyder, and arguably the least attractive in the range. Later cars after 1987 and into the 90’s are quality-wise the best and most powerful. They don’t have the unbeatable sound of the carburettor six-cylinder though, and have also lost some of the angular appearance of the early cars. Both earlier and late cars in good condition are becoming more difficult to find but if you do your research, you will definitely find a Biturbo that provides plenty of pleasure along with a few frustrations, and the value of which can only go one way from here. Should that not be enough, driving it will also make you feel more Italian than anything this side of Modena!

The most elegant 4-seater ever!

On August 28, 2022August 28, 2022 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream GarageLeave a comment

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to spot a number of spectacular cars within a few minutes and meters in downtown Zurich, and made a post about it that you can find here if you missed it. One of those was in my eyes far above the rest in both elegance and rarity. To me, the legendary Mercedes-Benz 280 SE 3.5 Cabriolet is one of the most elegant cars ever built and as I said in my post, it certainly deserves a bit more attention than sharing a post with a number of other more “everyday” cars (that’s perhaps stretching it, but at least far more common). This week therefore, we’ll take a closer look at the car that is not only beautiful and incredibly elegant, but also historic in several ways!

The 280 SE (as I’ll call it from here on, given that saves loads of time writing…) is part of the W111/W112 range, the roots of which go back all the way to 1959 and which are today known as forerunners to what would later become the S-class. The W111/W112 (the difference being that the latter was a more luxurious version with notably air suspension and a more luxurious interior) was mostly sold as a four-door sedan, which became known as the “Heckflossen”-Mercedes (tail fin Merc) due to the shape of the rear “wings”. However a station wagon, a coupé and a convertible were also built in smaller numbers, all based on the same, non-modified platform. The body parts were different though and most of these were produced by hand, as many other cars at the time. The sedan wasn’t however, and this contributed to making the other versions prohibitively expensive in comparison. In spite of this and the resulting small production run, they are important as they are the last Mercedes cars that were in essence built by hand.

*The regular w111, also referred to as “Heckflossen” (tail fin)*

In the first half of the 60’s, the coupé and convertible had the designation 220 SE and were powered by a 2.2 litre, six-cylinder engine putting out a relatively modest 120 hp. Subsequent versions called the 250 SE, the 280 SE and the 300 SE (the most luxurious version, part of the W112 range) pushed that all the way to 170 hp, but it was in 1969 that things really changed, as that was the year the 280 SE got the brand new, 3.5 litre V8 engine internally called M116 with 200 hp, the first Mercedes engine post-WW2 that was larger than three litres. It came together with a modest facelift as the W111 was starting to age, notably including a flatter radiator grille and different rear lights. The new grille’s shape made the car known in Germany under the name “Flachkühler”, translating into “flat radiator”. Contrary to what is often believed it thus had nothing to do with making more room for the new engine, but was rather purely a styling measure. The price issue had been solved somewhat at least vs the coupé, as the convertible was only 10% more expensive towards the end of production. That is slightly different today, as we’ll see below.

*Not the most beautiful engine, but the 3.5 litre V8 it does its job!*

The 280 SE comes from a time when Mercedes was shaking off the old post-war heritage and started developing more modern cars to take the brand into the future. Car building itself was however still traditional, panels were still in thick metal and weight considerations weren’t a major concern, neither on the outside, nor on the inside. What looks like wood is indeed wood, and of the finest quality, and quite a few cows must have lost their lives when the interior was sown. The doors are heavy and make the right sound when you close them and the leather-covered dash has another cow or two on its conscience. The engine is said to have power at all revs and the 280 SE was good for 210 km/h at the time, although most people would probably not think of going anywhere near that today. This very luxurious convertible was hence seen as the 300 SE’s successor, but it was actually part of the W111 range and most notably, had conventional rather than air suspension.

*They don’t make car interiors like that anymore!*

The 280 SE 3.5 Cabriolet was built 1232 times between 1969-1971, not a lot when you consider the total production run of the W111/W112 of around 400.000 cars. It would be the last four-seater convertible from Mercedes for more than 20 years until the far less special A124 / E-class convertible in the early 90’s. At the time of the launch it cost 35.000 D-mark, no doubt a lot of money but by far not as much as today’s value of around EUR 350.000 – 500.000 for perfect cars, most of which have of course been renovated. There’s not many around and it’s probably easier to find one in the US than in Europe, as that’s where most of them were sold. That’s certainly not cheap, then again 280 SE 3.5 Cabriolet has a solid place in automotive history and is perhaps the most elegant Mercedes-Benz ever built. There’s really no reason why it should be cheap!

Street finds – Lamborghini 400 GT 2+2!

On July 3, 2022July 3, 2022 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of Owning1 Comment

About 10 minutes’ walk from my office, there’s a small garage specializing in enthusiast cars hiding on a back street. It’s obviously an ideal and favourite destination for a lunch walk, and I try to pass by there at least every two weeks or so as there is usually something special to admire. Boy was I happy to do so earlier this week and discover a car I’ve never seen before and had no idea what it was! Seeing it at first from the side, I noticed the nicely stretched body, which at the C-pillar and backwards reminded at least this old Swede of the Volvo P1800. Next it was the very special windshield that caught my eye, literally bulging out over the bonnet. The badge gave away that I was looking at a Lamborghini but even then, I had no clue how exclusive this piece of automotive history really was!

I was actually especially happy running into this street find since I may not have been kind to the Lamborghini Gallardo in last week’s post on the Ferrari F430. I’m not going to lie, I’m really no fan of the Gallardo and in choosing between it and an F430, I would go for the latter every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Obviously however Lamborghini have a wonderful history and have built some amazing cars through the years, so it’s nice being able to pay tribute to that this week. After some googling and research, it was clear that what I had been looking at was a Lamborghini 400 GT 2+2 (a name that somewhat confusingly was applied to other Lambo models as well).

*Somewhat peculiar headlamps, typical 60’s bodywork*

What is then a Lamborghini 400 GT? To find out we need to go back to the late 60’s, more precisely 1966-1968 when the team in Sant’ Agata built no more than 273 of these beautiful cars. The 400 GT was the successor to Lamborghini’s first ever car, the 350 GT, of which only 120 cars were built between 1965-1967. The 350 was a two-seater, but thanks to a slight adjustment of the roof line such as to create more space, the 400 was a 2+2. Otherwise the cars are really very similar, not only visually but also mechanically. The stretched, typical 60’s body was designed by the Italian coach builder Carozzeria Touring, and they obviously put a lot of emphasis on the driver and passenger not hitting their heads against the windshield in the case of an accident! The headlights are a bit peculiar, but that’s where the complaints end.

*The 400 GT 2+2 has a modified roofline compared to the 350 GT*

Both the 350 and the 400 GT were modern for the time with notably independent suspension and disc brakes on all wheels. The 5-speed gearbox was linked to the most interesting part of the car, namely the V12 engine. As long-term readers of the blog will remember, this is indeed the V12 originally developed by Giotto Bizzarrini for Ferruccio Lamborghini and also featured in other Lambos such as the Miura (where it was transversally mounted) and that I’ve written about several times (see for example my post on Bizzarrini, the one on the Miura, or of course the one on the Countach). As the name suggests, originally the engine was at 3.5 litres in the 350, putting out 280 hp. In the 400 it was increased to 4 litres with power increasing to 320 hp and the torque by 20% to 365 Nm. The car weighed no more than 1300 kgs meaning the power was enough for a top speed of 270 km/h and a 0-100 km/h time around 6-6.5 seconds. Not bad for a 55-year old lady!

The 400 GT in question was not in mint condition and as I learnt from a chat with the garage owner, also not for sale. It belongs to one of the garagist’s clients, reason for which he wasn’t willing to share many details, but the garage is basically performing a mild restoration on it. I learnt all this a couple of days later at which time the car had moved into the back of his workshop, squeezed in between an XC120 Jaguar and a Ferrari 456, with a 550 standing a bit further away. I guess that’s what you call a nice work environment!

*Paul McCartney apparently owned a 400 GT – this one!*

After the 350 and 400 GT, Lamborghini would move on to the Isolero in terms of GT cars and to more well-known things in terms of supercars, such as the Miura and the Countach. The V12 would be further developed over the years, but this is really where it started and in that sense, the beginning of a true legend. The cars themselves, even though produced in very low numbers, are arguably less legendary, which doesn’t mean they’re cheap. As we all know by now, limiting supply, be it of cars or of Russian oil is a good way to drive the price up, so if you’ve fallen in love with the Lambo 400, prepare yourself for a long search to find a good one and when you do, to part with at least EUR 400′. That buys you a wonderful automobile, a legendary engine, and guaranteed uniqueness!

The best dream car in the world!

On June 5, 2022June 5, 2022 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of OwningLeave a comment

I don’t know about you, but I’ve often wondered what goes on in the boardrooms of car manufacturers when the decision on what to call a new model is taken. Without getting into the many, less successful names or number combinations we’ve seen over the years, I rather wonder if it’s decided beforehand that numbers will be used, or if it starts by trying to find a name and when you don’t, you then resort to a number combination? In the case of Ferrari back in the 60’s, there’s no question though that numbers ruled, each with a meaning but often so close to each other that separating the cars became rather difficult. Such was the case of the Ferrari 365 GTB4, and that’s probably the reason why the world decided to call it something way more appealing: Daytona!

*Shark-like nose with the original 5-spoke wheels*

It’s special for me writing about the Daytona, since in the unlikely case I will ever be able to start my dream car collection, the Daytona will be first in line. I’ve always loved the car for its looks, its construction and of course, its fabulous engine. As someone who grew up in the 80’s and who didn’t miss a single episode of “Miami Vice” and found Don Johnson very cool, of course it didn’t hurt that a Daytona Spider (or as we learned, at least a replica on a Corvette C3 chassis) was featured. But I would have loved the Daytona even without Miami Vice, and we’ll see if I succeed in conveying some of that love to you in this week’s post!

Starting with getting the story of the name out of the way, Daytona comes from the fact that Ferrari finished first, second and third in the prototype class of the 24 hours of Daytona in 1967, the year before the car was launched. The official name was however always 365 GTB4 (alternatively GTS for the Spider), and it was the successor of the 275 GTB4 and the predecessor of the 365 GT/4 Berlinetta Boxer. 365 refers to the volume of each cylinder and 4 comes from the two twin cams on top of the two cylinder banks of the V12 engine to which we’ll come back later. The Daytona is also interesting since it was the last V12 Ferrari presented before Fiat took a 40% ownership of Ferrari, and also the last, new 12-cylinder Ferrari sold (officially) in the US until the Testarossa (another great name!) 15 years later, due to the increasing regulatory and legislative costs that weighted heavily especially on low-volume manufacturers. The car was presented to the world at the Paris auto salon in 1968.

*The GTB has more harmonious lin*es than the GTS

The Daytona was designed by Leonardo Fioravanti at Pininfarina, who would later also design the 280 GTO and F40, and the car was put together by Scaglietti, the famous Italian coach builder and a long term Ferrari partner. The design is a clear break with earlier Ferraris, looking much more modern with the shark-like, sweeping nose, the set-back cabin and the rather abrupt tail. Until 1971, around 400 Daytonas were built with their headlights behind plexiglass, but it was again the US authorities that put an end to this by forbidding headlights behind double glasses. Later Daytonas were instead equipped with pop-up headlights. The GTS was introduced in 1969 and became very popular especially in the US. It’s identical from the waistline and down to the Berlinetta and only 10% of Daytonas built were Spiders, but the popularity led to many GTB’s having their roof cut and thus being transformed to “inofficial” GTS’s. That’s a crime comparable to many bad things I can think of… Needless to say, should you be lucky enough to be in the market for a GTS, you’ll want to make sure you know its history and hence that it’s a genuine one!

*A beautiful – here restored – interior!*

On the inside, it’s all you can expect from a plush, Italian GT from the era. Early Daytonas had a Momo wood steering wheel which was however replaced by a leather version on later versions (a bit unclear from when), said to give more grip especially at low speeds, since the Daytona’s perhaps biggest drawback often cited is its heavy steering. The shifter is in perfect reach on the high center console and is linked to the rear-mounted 5-speed manual box, a transaxle construction that gave the car a very good balance. It’s a lovely, plush space that at least some experts claim is of higher quality than for example Lambo interiors from the same period. Obviously the Daytona is a two-seater, however offering some space for your Ferrari leather bags right behind the seats as well.

The heart of the car is of course the fabulous longitudinal, 60-degree angled, 4.4 litre V12, developing a claimed 352 hp and 431 Nm of torque, enough to give the Daytona a top speed of 280 km/h as it weighed in at around 1600 kg dry. The engine wasn’t new but rather derived from its predecessor, the 275, but its capacity was increased and it was fitted with six Weber carburettors. The sound that comes out of that construction is, as you would suspect, nothing but glorious, and increasingly so as the revs climb. The 365 is perhaps slightly less economical than a Prius, so it’s very helpful that Ferrari fitted a truly huge, 128-litre tank. That should be enough for at least a couple of hours, at which point you should anyway stretch your legs, so you may just as well fill up at the same time.

*One of the best V12’s in all its beauty!*

The Daytona was built until 1973 when as mentioned, it was replaced by the 365 GT/4. The production time was actually quite long for the type of car at the time, and in total 1284 cars were built. Of these about 400 as mentioned have the original, plexiglass nose. Also as mentioned, about 120 were (original!) Spiders. Today original cars are all immensely valuable but should you be lucky enough to have the choice, I would go with a plexiglass GTB, as this is the original design as intended by Fioravanti. I’d also be very happy to use the muscles a bit, gripping that wonderful, wooden Momo steering wheel. Colour-wise most cars are red but there’s also quite a few in black, blue and in other colours, including 13 cars in a brown metallic officially called “marone metallisato”, which paired with the beige leather interior look absolutely sensational. Chances of finding one of these are… slim, and finding a Daytona in any shape or form today is hard and expensive, with prices having risen quite dramatically to somewhere around USD/EUR 700′-900′ for good cars.

*A later car with pop-up headlights – almost, but not quite as beautiful!*

I’m not a believer in miracles and unless one happens, I’ll never park a Daytona in my garage. Then again as we all know, when you realize something you’ve long dreamt about, reality can be a bit… disappointing. So perhaps the Daytona is actually best left as an object of desire. Because as I dream of it, the sun shines all the way down to the French Riviera along the Route Napoléon. The roads are empty, no one has come up with speed limits or invented speed cameras. In the dream I also look surprisingly good and much younger, perhaps with a slight resemblance to Don Johnson (it goes without saying that my wife next to me just looks as good as always!). We stop at a small bistro and enjoy a lunch with a bit of rosé, that in no way affects my driving skills. Of course the Daytona runs like a dream, with the carburettor-powered V12 sound filling our ears as the kilometres run by. I guess I’ll keep on dreaming, and to me, the Daytona is without a doubt the best dream car in the world!

Luca’s sleeper!

On May 1, 2022May 2, 2022 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of Owning1 Comment

You know how you sometimes think that a person’s name has destined them for their job? I came to think of this earlier this week, hearing of a guy called Andrew Drinkwater, working for the UK Water Research Centre. Yeah I know, very funny, but who knows, perhaps there’s indeed something in the sub-conscious that leads these people through life to their future careers? There’s however a second category of people where the connection is less direct, but where the professional choice is still kind of obvious. I mean, if you hear the name Luca Cordero die Montezemolo and you see a guy looking like the below picture, you know straight away that he’s the president of Ferrari, right? How could he possibly have any another occupation?

Jokes aside, our friend Luca has actually had a number of other jobs through his illustruous career before (and after) Fiat president Gianni Agnelli made him president of Ferrari in 1991. However, not only does he sound and look like a president of Ferrari should, he was also critical to Ferrari’s development both on the track and off it during the 90’s. It was under di Montezemolo’s leadership that Ferrari hired Jean Todt as team president and a few years later Michael Schumacher as driver, leading the F1 team back to their first driver’s and constructor’s world titles in 20 years. Off the track, di Montezemolo also had clear views on Ferrari’s future line-up: he wanted the new models to return to the classical Ferrari set-up with a front-mounted V12 engine in the style of the Daytona, rather than the mid-engined cars which had been the focus through the 80’s. He also wanted them to be true drivers’ cars in the sense of cars that you can drive every day, meaning a clear improvement in build quality.

The two cars that represent di Montezemolo’s philosophy best are on one hand the beautiful F550 which I wrote about a long way back in 2015, but on the other the less well known Ferrari 456. Both share the same fabulous base engine, but the 456 is of course a four-seater and actually something as unusual as a very discrete Ferrari that some people (let’s call them less discerning) could actually mistake for something else. It doens’t screem “look at me!!”, usually doesn’t come in red, and today actually trades at far below EUR 100′, probably making it the best value there is to be had among classical Maranello cars, especially since it’s actually a really good car that is clearly underrated. All good reasons to look closer at it this week!

*Generally considered one of the more beautiful Ferraris, with a clear 90’s vibe!*

Starting with that discrete design, that’s absolutely not the same as saying that the 456 isn’t pretty. On the contrary, it’s by most considered one of the more beautiful recent Ferraris. It has kind of a timeless look with the 90’s, rounded styling elements clear to see. Interestingly, the 456 was the last Ferrari to feature pop-up headlights. It’s also one of the more colour-sensitive Ferraris, with most cars coming in silver or various shades of metallic blue, colours that suit the car really well as opposed to the Ferrari red which really doesn’t. The inside is a clear step-up compared to 80’s cars like the Testarossa (or indeed the 365-400-412, a car with the same concept produced through the 70’s and 80’s) with a whole different quality feel to the interior. It’s quite simply a nice place to spend many hours in. That feeling of well-being is further supported by the wonderful work Ferrari did with the V12 under the bonnet.

*Everything you need, and nothing that you don’t!*

It’s certainly complanining on a high level, but sometimes V12’s can suffer from a lack of torque at low revs. This was notably a criticism BMW had to hear with the 850, and it can be traced back to various aspects of how the engine is built. Ferrari was conscious of this during the development of the 456 and used various tricks and all the experience of the team back in Maranello to improve power especially at lower revs. They notably went back to the 65 degree-angle of the Ferrari Dino days, but also changed the firing order of the 12 cylinders (each by the way 456 cm3 in volume and thus the source of the car’s name). Rather than alternating the firing order along the crankshaft as is usually the case, the 456 fires the cylinders next to each other, which together with some other clever engineering gave the 456 a clear boost in low-down torque. The naturally-aspirated masterpiece puts out 442 hp in total, which for a weight of around 1900 kg is really all that you need.

The 456 was built on the verge between the mechanical and digital age, meaning it still has some interesting pure mechanical components, such an accelerator by wire. Unfortunately, this doesn’t really make it an ideal do-it-yourself car (even though adjusting that gas wire can do wonders and is quite simple!), and the 456 needs regular service to a larger extent than more modern Ferraris, including a new cam belt every 3-4 years. If it’s taken care of properly, it is however fundamentally well built and ticks all of Luca di Montezemolos desired boxes for an everyday Ferrari. The other thing it needs plenty of, as a true representative of the mechanical 12-cylinder engine age, is unfortunately fuel, but that’s hopefully not a surprise to anyone. Apart from that the 456 is a wonderful, true GT, ready to transport you and your three passengers (with the two in the back preferrably not being basketball stars) and their luggage to some nice southern location, without any need for an infotainment system with 29 speakers!

*The fabulous 5.5 litre, 12 cylinder engine*

The 456 was available with a 6-speed manual (with the most beautiful gearshift gate ever built) that you definitely want, and a 4-speed automatic you don’t necessarily. I mean sure, you can imagine the 456 with an automatic, but how could you ever choose not to have a gear changer looking like the one pictured further up? There’s also roughly as many of the Modificata version, the facelift produced from 1998 and onwards and which featured an updated interior, body elements and chassis, but not more power. For both, the market today starts at around EUR 65-70′, going up to to maybe EUR 90′. One thing to note here is that if you speak to Ferrari specialists, they will tell you that the engine isn’t really run in until after 50′-70′ km, meaning you don’t necessarily need to go for the low-mileage cars, but rather those that have been driven, enjoyed and maintained. That’s good, because those tend to come from the right owners, and they’re also typically found towards the lower range of that price range.

There’s no doubt quite a few people who would love to own a Ferrari 12-cylinder but who find most of them a bit too flashy to be seen in. I’d probably count myself among those, and for us the 456 is rather ideal. It has style, it has grace, and it provides all the Ferrari pleasure but in a more discreet format, and right now at a lower price tag. Around 3300 cars were built in total between 1992 and 2003, from 1998 in the “M” for Modificata version. In a world where underrated classics have become few and far between, and none more so than those combining 12 cylinders with a manual transmission, here is certainly one of the last good representatives. So in summary, we should all be thankful to Luca Cordero di Montezemolo for taking on the job his name destined him to!

GTI – letters that changed the world!

On April 24, 2022April 9, 2023 By ChristofferIn Classic cars, News, The Dream Garage, The Thrill of Owning2 Comments

The other day I spoke to my not-very-car-interested neighbour about a car he had seen illegally parked in our street (this is Switzerland remember, so these are the kinds of things you discuss with your neighbours). When asking him what kind of car it was, he said “it was one of those Jeeps”, which of course doesn’t mean it was a GM Jeep at all, but rather some kind of SUV. Jeep is thereby an example of a quite rare phenomenon, namely when a brand name becomes representative of a whole segment. I’m sure that’s great for Jeep somehow, but let’s assume I had instead asked the neighbour what he thought about when I said “GTI”. I’m quite sure the answer would have been “Golf”, not only from him, but basically from every single person born in the 70’s and 80’s (and perhaps some others as well). Three letters, meaning nothing more than Grand Turismo Injection, have become synonymous not only with all Golf GTI’s built in different versions since the mid-70’s, but with the whole hot hatch segment that followed. That beats Jeep by a mile, and today we’ll look at the first generation Golf GTI!

*Doesn’t look like much today, but a car that changed the world!*

The sun was shining on our summer house outside of Stockholm in the summer in 1976 or 1977 when the father in the neighbouring family arrived in his new Golf GTI. You’ll forgive me for not knowing the date exactly but I was five or six then so this is one of my very early memories, but I do remember how extremely cool the car was and how great it sounded! The neighbours had two sons roughly my age, and I would enjoy many rides to the beach in that Golf together with them in the following years. I especially remember the younger one loving to stand between the front chairs, playing air guitar during the drives – yeah, these were slightly different times…

That Golf GTI was of course a representative of the Golf family, one of the biggest car successes of all times and born out of VW’s inability in the late 60’s and early 70’s to develop a desirable replacement to the ageing Beetle, a pre-WW2 construction. Finally Giurgietto Guigiaro took the pen and drew what became the Golf, introduced in 1974. The self-supporting body of the new car showed very good rigidity, and thus a group of engineers came up with the idea of building a more sporty version. They managed to convince VW’s management and “the fastest VW of all time” would be introduced in 1976, with as engine the 1.6 litre four-pot from the Audi 80 GTE, developing 110 hp. Not a lot, but remember this was in a car weighing in at around 800 kg, and also at a time where there was some kind of inofficial consensus that a front-wheel drive car couldn’t handle more than 100 hp. VW’s management may have been convinced to go ahead with the GTI but didn’t have very high hopes for its potential success, estimating the total demand at 5.000 cars. That was of course just slightly off the mark.

The GTI became an immediate success. Some optical touches consisting of a different front spoiler and the famous, red-framed front grill but also black window frames and plastic wheelhouse arches for the slightly larger wheels all helped differentiate it on the outside from regular Golfs. The optical “tuning” with limited means continued on the inside with the famous tartan textile on the seats and the even more famous golfball-styled shifting knob. The Golf GTI had stiffer suspension than regular Golfs and was fun to drive. Given the low weight, its sub-10 seconds to 100 km/h meant it was quicker than many of the popular coupés at the time, such as the Manta we looked at a couple of weeks ago or indeed VW’s own Scirocco. Not only was it faster/better to drive, it remained as practical as any Golf, built like a box and easily fitting both more people and luggage than a coupé. Its pricing was competitive and the 5.000 cars VW had imagined rapidly became much more, eating into a lot of those coupé sales.

*Tartan sport seats and a golf knob in the pre-1981 cars!*

Based very much on the idea of never changing a winning concept, there weren’t many modifications to the Mk1 GTI until its production end in 1984. Some of the most important include the five-speed gearbox that came in 1979 and wasn’t to everyone’s liking, and what can be referred to as a face lift in 1981 including larger tail lights and a re-designed interior with notably a new dashboard but also new textiles – and a new gear shifter. In the final year of production the GTI would receive a larger engine at 1.8 litres, primarily with better torque, that would later be used in the MK2 GTI. The purists weren’t more convinced by the new engine than by the five-speed gearbox, as to them it didn’t feel as “pointy” as the old one. This is of course reminiscent of the same discussion around the 1.6 vs the 1.9 litre in the Peugeot 205 GTI, the hot hatch that is almost as legendary as the Golf GTI and which would make life hard for the Mk2 GTI from the mid-80’s and onwards.

*From 1981 on, notably tail lights were larger*

When the lights went out on the first series GTI, a total of just over 460.000 cars had been built. By now this is over a million across all eight series of the GTI, and even though there have certainly been later models that are great to drive, the purity of the original concept has vanished over the years, with the GTI becoming much more of a conventional, and not-very-hot hatch. The no-frills approach of the first series is what made its success, together with the fact that it remained as practical and solid as any conventional Golf, and it’s what still makes it great today. If you can find one, that is.

Given the production numbers you’d perhaps expect that there are still plenty of cars to be had. Unfortunately, the reality is rather that many cars have been crashed, thrashed or tuned to death, or quite simply rusted away, since VW’s rust protection at the time wasn’t great. The Golf is of course not a 12-cylinder Italian full blood and it won’t ruin you even if it’s not perfect but still, for the EUR 20-25′ where the fun starts today (by the way more or less what the GTI cost when it was launched in today’s money), make sure you find the right car. If you do, the grand daddy of the whole hot hatch segment still reamains one of its best representatives. These days however, I’d recommend enjoying it without air guitar playing between the front seats!

The Thrill of Driving

Category: Classic cars