Classic and Collector Car News, Features and Interviews.
When you think of hot hatches, the VW Golf GTi immediately springs to mind. Because of the success of the Golf, it is easy to forget that the Renault 5 was also part of the early hot hatch revolution. In fact it arrived in 1976, before the Golf GTi did. And yet the Renault 5 seems largely forgotten these days. Both were compact, economical, affordable, practical and sporty. A combination…
Our classifieds pick of the day is a rare and interesting Mazda SVA 1800 Bertone. With the success of Toyota, Honda and Nissan, Mazda have always suffered slightly in the shadow of their larger rivals making their cars a relatively uncommon sight on UK roads (compared to the their Japanese brethren). Designed by the great Giorgetto Giugiaro whilst working for Bertone, the Mazda SVA or Luce as it was a…
In 1967 Alfa Romeo wowed the world at the Montreal Expo with it’s new and as yet unnamed concept car. Designed by Marcello Gandini of Bertone, it was an instant hit with the public and as a result Alfa set the wheels in motion to begin production. They quickly found a solution to the naming problem by simply calling it after the city it was unveiled in. And so the…
Our friends over at The Demented Monkeys have made a cool short film about a Mondrian Fiat 126 tribute car. For those who don’t know about Piet Mondrian, he was a famous Dutch artist who was a pioneer of abstract art. He was responsible for the style Neo-Plasticism which involved using 3 primary colours and a grid of black vertical and horizontal lines. He created very colourful patchwork designs which…
The Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Freccia de’Oro was one of the Milanese marquees most elegant designs. Debuting in 1939, the 2500 series used a box section chassis which allowed customers to specify a saloon, coupe or cabriolet bodies. Production continued until 1953 by which time 2,200 models had been produced. As with most Italian manufactures of the time, coachwork was provided by a wide range of suppliers but the majority…
The classic car world is riding the crest of a great wave of popularity right now. Never before has there been such public interest in classics. Classic car meets, shows and events are on the increase and there are now an increasing number of tv shows dedicated to the classic car scene. There has also been a big rise in attendances at auctions across the country, with long time enthusiasts…
When news broke onto the inter webs of an amazing “barn find” somewhere in west France, I have to admit I initially ignored the headlines. Like myself, I’m sure many classic car enthusiasts have grown slightly tired of the phrase “barn find” being used to describe literally every car discovery. Even a wreck of a Ford Fiesta pulled from a 1970s garage lockup seems to qualify as a “barn find”…
RM Auctions kicks off it’s first European sale of 2015 in Paris tomorrow. After the vast sums raised by RM and it’s rivals in Texas earlier in January, the Paris Retromobile sale will be a very interesting watch. With interest in high value classic cars still on the rise, we can expect to see record sums paid for exceptional cars. Browsing through RM’s very nicely produced catalogue we have selected…
Update 01-02-2015: The Ford Taunus was sold for £1800 (plus commission and VAT). The 2015 classic car auction scene got off to a flying start this month in the US with 3000 cars bringing in close to $300m. There was an expectation that RM, Gooding & Co and Bonham’s Arizona auctions would give a hint of the market for 2015. The results did not disappoint and show that 2015 could…
Update 27-02-2015: The C-V8 has been relisted after failing to meet it’s reserve. It is now a classifieds listing with an asking price of £15,000 which is open to offers. Link to new listing. Update 05-02-2015: The C-V8 is now being auctioned with the current bid at £8,850. The reserve hasn’t been met but the listing states the seller has lowered the reserve. Link to new listing. This 1963 Jensen…