Classics Monthly

Going out on a stylistic limb can be a dangerous move for a car manufacturer. However much people like to complain that ‘all cars look the same these days,’ if you offer them something dramatically different then they usually run a mile, taking their

The birthplace for a host of British classics looks set to be lost, with news that work to demolish the historic former car assembly buildings at Longbridge could begin in November. Developers plan to clear a significant chunk of the south Birmingham

China’s first – and only – private historic vehicle museum has just joined FIVA (the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens). The Sanhe Classic Car Museum in Chengdu boasts a collection of some 230 historic cars with more than 30 marques, da

Beaulieu’s 2020 calendar of events has been announced. For an early season highlight, the Spring Autojumble on 16th-17th May will gather more than 1000 stands offering classic car parts, motoring literature, automobilia bargains and classics for sale

Classic Car Auctions have a new event which aims to help owners prepare their car and get it ready for auction. Called Cars, Coffee and Consignments, it is taking place at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, where the CCA team will be on hand to help

70 years ago, on 8th October 1949, the British Military Government handed over trusteeship of Volkswagenwerk GmbH to the Federal Republic of Germany. The young West German state, which had only been founded shortly before with the promulgation of the

Price: £43.14 To complement its recently reintroduced 56mm and 63mm diameter mesh air filters, Webcon now has a 70mm version available as well. The 70mm filter is manufactured in the UK and features the same three-layer mesh technology as proven on

Occasionally, just occasionally, I am allowed to write about cars that the vast majority of us can see, admire and lust after, but never own. I suspect that I may not be allowed to do this too often, but this month I intend to ramble on about the Jag

Many classic car collectors also have an impressive collection of models reflecting their tastes, and for those obsessed with particular marques or cars, the nicely lit cabinets are inarguably attractive, even if you’re not a model enthusiast. I neve

Of course an old car has dirty exhausts, but aircraft pollute heavily (every now and then you can smell the fumes when waiting at the gate), that nice wood-burning stove pollutes, boats (especially large vessels) have no exhaust cleaning or legislati

Almost exactly 60 years ago as I apply digit to keyboard, Earls Court opened its art deco doors to the British International Motor Show of 1959. This promised to be a vintage event, marking the debut of three important mass market cars. Despite ironi

The grille is a Marmite item as Andy Perman admits of his 1976 Vanden Plas 1500 (they never wore Allegro badging), but it certainly helps to attract the attention of various passers-by in Lee on Solent. However, it was the interior that truly amazed

It is very easy when talking about Rolls-Royces to quickly get side-tracked onto the subject of money. After all, they are famously expensive to buy new, and fuel economy was never their main priority so fear of the running costs can give the uniniti

In a way, my Lotus Elan story starts with a Triumph Spitfire 1500 that I did not really like. I’d had the Spitfire for many years after buying it cheaply and then slowly restoring it to a drivable condition. However, the bonnet didn’t fit properly, i

The words ‘Triumph’ and ‘Stag’ are so inextricably linked that it may surprise some people to learn that as a concept, it did not originate from Canley. Instead it began life as a styling exercise by the gifted Giovanni Michelotti in Italy, intended

Number plate plinth: £14.95 Paint and clips: £37.13 Labour consumables and painting : £195 Secondhand boot carpet: £33.99 The MkI Eunos that belongs to Lancaster Insurance has always looked great and driven well, but with its appearance at the Lanca

Number plate plinth: £14.95 Bypass hose: £13.20 Cambelt kit: £126 Valve cover gasket: £15.34 Antifreeze: £10.80 Labour: £135 This is not a case of playing copycat with the Mk1, but a new number plate plinth was always on the cards for the Mk2 as wel

At the start of this project, we asked MX-5 racing champion Brian Chandler and Lancaster Insurance Service’s Car Club Manager Dave Youngs to test and evaluate both cars. Since then, work on the Mk1 has included new brake discs and Greenstuff pads, ne

There are quite a few different cars to report on, so you may have to concentrate to keep up! I’ll start with the 1988 Renault 21 Symphony, which I borrowed from the Kelsey fleet for a couple of weeks. Back in the October issue I detailed how the scr

Although I managed to take it to a number of classic car events over the summer, I am without my Porsche at the moment and will be for a while. As I’ve mentioned previously, I’d noticed spots of rust appearing here and there, and some very small dimp

There are two places I go for MoTs. One is TJ Motors, an old fashioned and incredibly thorough garage who can tackle anything on any car of any age, but is an annoying drive from me. The other is a fast-fit MoT place five minutes from home who are fr

Since my last article, I have finished tacking in both chassis legs on the front of the 1950 Lowlight Tourer and am now awaiting receipt of some new engine bay floors to enable me to weld up the whole front body assembly. Reassuringly, I offered up t

From the 1920s, dynamos, batteries, electric powered lights and starters began to be fitted to cars. They were normally wired in conjunction with an ammeter to confirm that the dynamo was indeed supplying charge to the battery. In many cases the elec

To mark my first CM Diary, here’s a quick tour of my current fleet. The only one we’ve not been able to squeeze on is the prototype for the Police Cobra, a proposed budget kit car project based on old Ford cop cars, which can be rudely fast and only

The bodywork was in remarkably good condition when we bought our Escort Mk3. There were a few minor scabs of rust and perhaps one point of rot that we could readily identify, as we did in the first episode of this project series when we visited Tiger

Having shown how to cut back the rust and make up repair sections over the last three issues, this time around we wanted to give you a few basics behind the various MIG welders on offer, how to set up your chosen machine and how to get the best resul

Broadly speaking a diesel engine has no ignition system, relying instead on the heat generated by the extreme compression of air in the combustion chamber to set a finely-metered quantity of injected fuel alight. But that causes issues for starting d

It really was very appropriate that by the time MG unveiled its new sports car in 1955, it had used up most of the letters of the alphabet on its previous models. In 1953 had come the Z-type Magnette, which raised the question of what the next MG was

If automotive history teaches us one thing, it is this: the great British public loves an outsider, even if we tend to sneer at it when it arrives. Many iconic British cars pushed boundaries a long way at their launch, and when Chrysler’s PT Cruiser

The story of Ford’s Consul Classic saloon and Consul Capri coupé is seldom accurately told. Most journalists will have you believe they were commercial flops, the wrong cars at the wrong time with styling that was just plain weird. The problem is tha

‘Steering – one finger does it! Go! 40 - 50 - 60 UP! Stop! And it’s done in the span of a moment – smooth as silk – with the famous Vauxhall brakes.’ That was the 1930 copywriter, writing about the Hurlingham Sports Roadster and getting entirely carr

ONE OF THE BEST THINGS about being middle aged [Don’t you mean ‘about the only good thing...’? – Ed] is that you can remember all the cool garages that were around when you were a car-mad kid. You can remember sunny (or otherwise) days cycling up the