New Issue Feature 14th October 1600x900

Don’t miss the latest issue of Classic Cars!

Hot_tips_Porsche_1600x900

Hot tips: are transaxle Porsches better buys than a 911?

Our Cars Alex TR7 1600x900

Our cars: it’s all systems go… ish for Alex’s TR7

Warhorse 1600x900

Warhorse: driving the Allard J2X with a dual race and road car persona

1961 Renault Dauphine 1600x900

1961 Renault Dauphine, £6995

Shelby Cobra 1600x900

Market headliner: Shelby Cobra Daytona hits $43m

I Saw Flames 1600x900

‘I saw flames and realised the air cleaner was on fire’: the unique challenges of rebuilding a one-off Gordon-Keeble

Alex Riley 1600x900

Alex Riley remembers the tricky choice of choosing a new car in the high-insurance mid-Nineties

Silverstone Classic 1600x900

Event report: Silverstone Classic returns to its roots

Bucket Lister: driving an outrageous Jaguar XJ-S V12

Our cars: Phil feels the fear, and then buys an Aston Martin V8 Vantage

Barn-Find-Renault-30-1600x900-1.png

Barn finds: unique Renault 30 estate, rare ‘missing link’ Alvis, and Sixties and Seventies Lotuses uncovered

Red-Alert-1600x900-1.png

Red alert: Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo Evoluzione driven

Julian-1600x900-1.png

Julian Thomson recalls when he hastily sketched the designs for a new Proton in time to get to the pub

Hot-Tips-cheap-Aston-Martins-1600x900-1.png

Hot tips: cheap Aston Martins and solid Land Rovers

Luxurious-GT-1600x900-1.jpg

‘It’s a luxurious GT, but it can also roll back its gums and snarl!’ Reader’s BMW E9 3.0CSL dream drive

Alex-Riley-1600x900-1.png

Alex Riley believes whether it’s engines or batteries, efficiency matters more than size

Magazine

Issues

Articles

Features

Market Insights

Restoration

Driving

Month in Cars

Owning

Buying

Offers and Competitions

Latest Competitions

Latest Offers

CLC Sept BWS 2400x900

Enjoy Classic Cars for less!

Twin Busch

Win a Twin Busch Scissor Lift, worth £2,199!

NEW Website Bookazine Banner

Limited-Edition Bookazines – ON SALE NOW!

<div class="landing-page">

<div class="container">

  
  <div class="section hero">

    <img src="https://images.bauerhosting.com/celebrity/sites/11/2026/10/Classic-Cars-Christmas-25-BWS-IMAGE-1-800x1200-1.png" />

    <div class="hero-text">
      <div class="offer">🔥Subscription Offer</div>
      <h1>Get 6 issues for just £19.99 + digital access!</h1>

      <p>
        Treat a loved one to a Classic Cars subscription.
        <p>Each month Classic Cars Magazine is packed full of cars from the past, inspirational human stories of pursuing, owning, driving, restoring and living with them; plus the latest coverage of market trends, buying advice, events and news to help enthusiasts enjoy their classic motoring to the full.</p>
      </p>

      <ul class="benefits">
        <li>✅ Read wherever you are with digital access included</li>
        <li>✅ Access to rewards, discounts and prizes</li>
        <li>✅ FREE UK delivery</li>
      </ul>

      <a class="cta-button" href="https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/classic-cars-magazine?utm_source=classiccarsmagazine.co.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=bau_classiccars&utm_content=clc_subs_article"
         target="_blank">
         LEARN MORE
      </a>

      <div style="font-size:14px; margin-top:10px; color:#555;">
  📱 Print + Digital · 🎁 Access to rewards
      </div>

      <div class="small-text">
        No fuss. Secure checkout. Order in minutes.<br>
        ⏳ Offer ends midnight 28th December 2026
      </div>
    </div>

  </div>


  
  <div class="section review">

    <div class="review-text">

      <p><strong>Join thousands of readers across the UK</strong></p>

      <div class="stars">★★★★★</div>

      <p>
        “Full of interesting cars, covering a wide range of ages and types.”
      </p>

      <p><strong>Morton Davis — Verified reader</strong></p>

      <div class="stars">★★★★★</div>

      <p>
        “A great read, very informative. I look forward to receiving my copy every month.”
      </p>

      <p><strong>Colin — Verified reader</strong></p>


      <a class="cta-button" href="https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/classic-cars-magazine?utm_source=classiccarsmagazine.co.uk&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=bau_classiccars&utm_content=clc_subs_article"
         target="_blank">
         JOIN THE COMMUNITY
      </a>
      </div>
       <img src="https://images.bauerhosting.com/celebrity/sites/11/2026/10/Classic-Cars-Christmas-26-BWS-IMAGE-2-800x1200-1.png" />

    </div>

  </div>


  
  <div class="section">
    <h2 style="text-align:center;">Why subscribe?</h2>

    <div class="cards">

      <div class="card">
        <h3>🔧 Reader restorations</h3>
        <p>Epic restorations by expert craftsmen</p>
      </div>

      <div class="card">
        <h3>💰 Save money</h3>
        <p>Exclusive buying tips and market insight</p>
      </div>

      <div class="card">
        <h3>🚗 Classic car stories</h3>
        <p>The lives of classic cars, from new to now</p>
      </div>

    </div>
  </div>


  
  <div class="section final-cta">

    <h2>Still thinking about it?</h2>

    <p>Get 6 issues for £19.99!</p>

    <ul class="benefits" style="display:inline-block; text-align:left;">
      <li>✅ The perfect gift</li>
      <li>✅ FREE UK delivery</li>
      <li>✅ Instant digital access</li>
      <li>✅ Subscriber-only perks + prizes</li>
    </ul>

    <div style="margin-top:20px;">
      <a class="cta-button" href="https://checkout.greatmagazines.co.uk/singleitem?item=CLCCS1&prom=ECS2XM26						">
         Get 6 issues for £19.99
      </a>
    </div>

    <div style="font-size:14px; margin-top:10px; color:#555;">
    </div>

  </div>

</div>
</div>

Inside the December issue, we drive six machines that delivered raw, tactile thrills the old-fashioned way before traction control, stability programs and digital intervention diluted the driving experience; and we drive a battle-scarred Allard J2X Le Mans that is still competing after almost 70 years.

In this month’s List feature, a Classic Cars reader who was bewitched by the Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger as a child drives the car of his dreams; we learn how the rebuild of one of the rustiest examples of a Daimler Double Six ever restored turned into a four-year battle; and discover why a Caterham Seven has been cherished by two devotees over the course of its life.

All that, plus columnists Julian Thomson and Alex Riley, market news, event highlights, the highs and lows of owning our classics, cars for sale tested and a Rover 800 buying guide make your latest issue unmissable.

  
**:a[CLICK HERE]{href='https://frontline-group.co.uk/store-finder/' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'} to see where you can buy this issue of Classic Cars**

**Never want to miss an issue? Subscribe today and choose a Print+ subscription to get the next available issue delivered straight to your door with FREE UK delivery.  
PLUS, you can access all of the past issues on the Classic Cars app.**

## :a[CLICK HERE TO FIND OUR LATEST SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS]{href='https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/classic-cars-magazine?utm_source=classiccarsmagazine.co.uk/&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=bau_classiccars&amp;utm_content=new_issue_page' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'}

###### **\[ CHASING CARS \] Nigel Boothman’s hot tips**

Finding potential in front-engined Porsches – but with four cylinders or eight?

Anyone buying a Porsche 924, 944, 968 or 928 nowadays is making a statement – I would rather own this than a Boxster or a water-cooled 911. Many first-gen Boxsters are down at beer-money prices and even 911s dip below £10k. If you think about the cachet of owning a 911, especially in the prettier 997 generation that did away with the 996’s fried-egg lamps, buying a front-engined Porsche is illogical. Or is it?

For a start, 924 and 944 values are stable while the 968 and 928 have been rising slowly for a few years. The 996 and 997 are still depreciating; especially the latter which needs taxing at up to £790 a year. So rather than waiting for a used car to turn into a classic while paying heavily for the experience, why not get into something with proper Porsche driver appeal and a chance at appreciation? The nimble 968s are tempting, but my eye was drawn to the 1990 928 S4 that sold for £33,750 with Iconics at Silverstone on 25 July. Pricey for a non-GT or GTS 928, but this was described as a collector-grade example – just 6600 miles on the clock and initial ownership with the Royal Household of Brunei. It had a few points against it, like a huge sub-woofer and amp array in the boot, the white paint that ties these big GTs to their era, and the automatic gearbox.

> ‘They’re all continent-crossing grand tourers with remarkable cornering prowess’

That’s long been a stumbling block for the 928. People don’t see them as serious sporting Porsches if they change their own gears, but these are usually people who haven’t driven one. The four-speed Mercedes transmission suits the 928 perfectly and in the S4, with its 32-valve, 5.0-litre engine that’s almost 100bhp up on the first 4.5-litre 928, it doesn’t dull the muscular performance. And consider this – automatic 997-generation 911s outnumber the manuals by two to one. Why apply the prejudice to one Porsche and not the other?

A good, higher-mileage S4 starts around £15,000 and from there up to £30,000 the odometer reading and number of owners decreases. The pricier ones will appreciate more, but they’re all continent-crossing grand tourers with remarkable cornering prowess and arguably more presence than a 20 year-old 911… and with less to spend on tax, insurance or even servicing.

**Check out 1955-1965 Rolls-Royce and Bentley bargains**

Low prices for Bentley MkVI Standard Steel saloons have been a feature of classic car auctions for decades. They never seem to fetch a sum that reflects their high-quality engineering and craftsmanship, and only very good ones get past £20,000. But the later Silver Cloud – and its Bentley equivalent, the S-series – used to do better. A few years ago, dealers were asking £70k-£80k for the best saloons and auction prices for nice-but-not-mint examples were in the £28k-£40k range. Not anymore.

In 2026, a run of very low results and no-sales on modest estimates has put non-concours Silver Cloud and S-series saloons down with MkVIs. These results included £7884 for a useable though edgy 1962 Bentley S2 with ACA in June, £11,300 for a nice 1956 Silver Cloud at SWVA in April and just £13,781 for the car pictured here, a coachbuilt 1958 Silver Cloud LWB limousine by James Young, sold by H&H in May. It needed work to brakes and the paint had flaked on the bootlid, but when glamour-boats like this struggle for attention, it matters.

Why? Because valuing the Silver Cloud generations with the Forties MkVI overlooks how much better the Clouds and Bentley S models actually are. The amount of room inside increased to provide true opulence, while the power and even poise allows these hefty cars to be as effortless on modern roads as the next model in the sequence, the Silver Shadow. Only without any worries about complicated high-pressure hydraulics.

The Silver Cloud I and Bentley S1 – 1955-’59 – used the 4.9 litre IOE straight-six before the visually identical Cloud II/S2 of 1959-’62 introduced the 6.25-litre V8. This grew in smoothness and reliability for the four-headlamp S3/Cloud III of 1962. Sadly, this era of Rolls and Bentley can be a lousy proposition for buying at auction, which has no doubt contributed to the results. You need a test drive to prove silence, smoothness and stopping ability, and an expert inspection to ensure you’re not bidding on 18ft of sculpted body filler.

With all that in mind, I’d still find it a huge temptation to jump on a promising Bentley S1 in the £15k-£20k range. The straight six is torquey and even more civilised than the later V8, while the rest of the car is superbly built with perfect – if expensive – parts supply, offering first-class travel for economy-class prices.

**Baby Fiats now offering huge enjoyment for less money**

Classic Fiat 500s have taken a bit of a knock at auction, where an enjoyable one can be down to £5k. Compare this with up to £15k at a dealer for a mint example. If you’re going to use it rather than go hunting rosettes, why pay three times as much? The car pictured seemed to be the pick of the recent lots – a 1972 500L showing only 57,700 miles and two former keepers, looking sharp after a recent restoration by a model specialist and a complete repaint in the original white. It sold for £6720 at Brightwells in June and looked a good candidate for regular use or rosette-bagging, because the price failed to reflect the money invested.

The world of classic cars is susceptible to fashion. Perhaps the endearingly round and cuddly 500 that Fiat produced in enormous quantities from 1957 to 1975 has gone out of vogue somewhat. Certainly, supply seems to be outstripping demand in the UK at the moment – there are over 30 for sale on just one of the classic car sales websites as I write. As for auction results, 25 had been offered in the UK up to the beginning of September with ten failing to reach reserve, and those that did sell brought an average price of £6288.

The quality of what’s being offered covers the full range, and perhaps buyers are finally understanding what it means to find yourself stuck with a thinly disguised project. Any 500 can rust for Italy, and an apparently sound car can hide generations of horrid MoT welding. Now that the cost of restoration work has risen so much faster than most cars’ values, those impulse buys of cute pint-sized classics may be less common than they once were.

That said, there’s still a huge following for the 500 and deservedly so. They are ULEZ exempt, they sip petrol and insurance is cheap. They feel quite nippy up to the 20-25mph speeds at which city traffic moves, and you can park one on a beermat. Better yet, people wave you out of junctions, traffic wardens might give you a sentimental minute or two extra and no-one, but no-one, will drag a key down the side out of jealousy. So by all means, go hunting for one like the car pictured here, on which someone else has spent the money. But remember that they were always meant to be cheap, and expecting a tiny, ubiquitous runabout to become an investment is missing the point.

Subscribe to _Classic Cars_ today. :a[**Choose a Print+ Subscription**]{href='https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/classic-cars-magazine?utm_source=classiccarsmagazine.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=bau_classiccars&amp;utm_content=promo_subscribe_today_teaser_article' } and you'll get FREE UK delivery, instant digital access and so much more!

###### **\[ OUR CARS \] 1980 Triumph TR7 DHC**

My friend Chris Turner and his mechanic Alan had finally finished recommissioning my beloved TR7 after several years trapped in the garage, and they’d also fitted several upgrades. I got the train to Sheffield and Chris drove us up to his yard.

A few days earlier he’d taken the TR7 for an MoT and I’d been checking progress online. After an initial failure on emissions, it had passed, but with two advisories – one for a weak handbrake and one for play in a steering column universal joint. I was taken aback to learn that Chris and Alan had already tackled both advisories, fitting a new joint lubricated and adjusted the handbrake and fitted a new steering joint.

The number of extra parts that Chris had sourced from his personal collection, including rear spring insulators, a correct fitting kit for the new pads, the aluminium hub adaptors for the new front brakes – the ones I’d ordered sadly hadn’t arrived in time – and a used exhaust section, including backbox and tailpipe, came to £405. I also gave Alan some money for all his hard work.

Given the TR7 hadn’t turned a wheel in seven years, I was fully expecting the first drive to be a disappointment, but it was anything but. I put the top down, started the engine and it idled at a rock-solid 900rpm, something it had never managed to do before. It also seemed to rev more freely than ever and the new backbox made a more exciting rasping sound, just on the right side of noisy.

Tunes return as Alan reconnects and tidies wires

But the next morning, reality bit and it wouldn’t start. I fiddled about under the bonnet and got it going, then set off on the 90-mile trip home, taking a detour to fill up with some high-octane petrol. Petrol stop done, inevitably, it failed to start again so I sat stuck at the pump with the bonnet open, confirming the prejudices of any passing TR7 or classic car cynic. I called Chris and he said if I could get it going, Alan was working at the yard and I should take it up there. So, I spent some time rocking the car while in gear and giving the starter motor a tap before finally resorting to waggle the wires, which did the trick.

After I’d arrived at the yard, Alan was brilliant. He jacked the car up, removed the starter motor wiring, cleaned up all the connections and put them on nice and tight. The starter worked without a hitch, even if it did make a slightly unhealthy noise. I’d also noticed the hidden radio/CD player wasn’t working and he quickly removed the relevant part of the dash and reconnected the correct wire; I was back on the road.

The trip home via the Snake Pass was a joy, the engine felt free and the chassis crisp and responsive. But the exhaust got louder and louder until it was really embarrassing, and then 20 miles from home the speedo stopped working. But I didn’t really mind, because the TR7 was back, it was driving better than ever and I’d fallen in love with it all over again.

###### **\[** **Allard J2X Le Mans** **\]**

After almost 75 years of adventure and misadventure, this **Allard J2X Le Mans** is still competing – and it bears the scars proudly

**Words** NIGEL BOOTHMAN **Photography** ALEX TAPLEY

The first thing to master isn’t either the clutch control or the heavy steering, it’s the sensory overload. Everything is sending messages, from my hip bones – jammed between transmission tunnel and offside chassis member – to my hands, holding this huge quivering wheel as the engine rumbles like an earth mover. Then there’s the smell of unburned fuel, racing oil and hot Dunlops. But the eyes are transmitting most of the data. There are lots of exposed screwheads, edges of painted aluminium, gauges of many origins and vintages, switches that might belong in a car or in a Lancaster’s cockpit. Yes, that’s the general vibe – the war surplus green and the beaten-up leather seats add to the aero-engine clatter, suggesting we’re queuing for take-off.

The distractions don’t really diminish when I slot the four-speed Borg-Warner T10 into first and move off. I catch sight of the propshaft whirling round, clearly visible through the gap between the end of the transmission tunnel and the next bit of bent tin, over the tail of the gearbox. I hope that UJ doesn’t let go. As I release the clutch, the revs actually drop below idle thanks to the car’s tall overall gearing, and if we catch a bit of gravel in the middle of a junction, the rear wheels spit and spin.

1952 Le Mans rule changes required fully enclosed wheels; new body created

Apply pressure on the accelerator and the Cadillac V8 passes through two or three character changes as the revs rise – from a lazy _glug-glug-glug_ around 1000rpm, like an overloaded Chevy Suburban, to a muscle car’s energetic throb as we get to 2000 and 2500, before a barnstorming race-car bellow develops at 3000 and carries on to the redline at 4500rpm… or so I believe. Even getting close to that mark on the modern rev counter – which reads, irrelevantly, to 8000rpm – means my eyeballs are vibrating and someone is using a steam hammer right by my ear, and I want to reach for that long, soft brake pedal. The Cadillac 331 is one of the first-generation American pushrod V8s, and its power band has more in common with a Ford ‘Flathead’ than a high-winding Chevy small block from a few years later. Again and again, I think I’m driving it quite hard and then I look down to find I’ve changed up at 3000rpm. Low-down power and torque are, shall we say, abundant.

History in this car’s rear view; more to come

Luckily the pedals are where you’d want them to be – not offset, not awkward, though I can’t see my feet and with the brakes biting where they currently are, I can’t heel-and-toe. Which is where I finally begin to understand that this car would ask a different technique on track from younger, more pin-sharp competition cars. One where you mustn’t overheat your drum brakes and where grabbing a lower gear isn’t always the fastest way through a corner.

Here are cross-ply tyres with small contact patches, so the steering wheel has a new role. It doesn’t just turn you towards a corner, it helps you set the car up for a drift that scrubs off a bit of speed and lets you carry more momentum through an apex than you would by trying to drive it like a modern sports car. And why change down, if you can rely on the carthorse heave from the V8 when it’s halfway up its rev range? If all this sounds like the approach you’d use for a pre-war car, you’re right.

Worn leather seats help evoke aeronautical feel

Ah, but that steering. Around these Leicestershire lanes it’s following every bump and tramline, wrenching the wheel left and right. The car’s owner, Tom Walker, reckons it’s a combination of play in the steering box and the Dunlop Racing tyres. He says it’s transformed for road use by a set of radials, but the Allard is mainly used for racing, so that’s how we find it. Sure enough, the steering does improve with speed and especially on good road surfaces. You’re still casting the car at a gap rather than aiming it with fingertip precision, but it would be a different story on a sweeping circuit like Goodwood. ‘It _loves_ Goodwood,’ says Tom. ‘On a flat track like that, with the speed you can carry, it handles beautifully and every corner is epic.’

Ex-de Larringa car wears wider J2X Le Mans bodywork

Tom found the car at an auction in 2000, when it came to market after almost 15 years in storage. It had already lived a long and exciting life on track by then, with an origin story that’s both a tad mysterious and typical of the casual way low-volume car makers operated in the Fifties.

One of Sidney Allard’s customers was the Olympic skier and Army officer Colonel Rupert de Larrinaga. Both Tom Walker and previous owners of this Allard exchanged letters with de Larrinaga, which remain in the car’s history folder, and explain what happened. De Larrinaga owned an Allard J2 registered OVT 983, bought secondhand, and he found it something of a handful. Even Sydney Allard thought the J2’s oversteer was excessive and successfully reduced it by moving the engine forward in the chassis, rearranging the front radius arms at the same time and creating the J2X. De Larrinaga heard of this and in 1952 decided to have his car re-chassis’d in J2X form.

Chocks away! J2X cockpit is visceral and race focussed

What resulted was almost a new car – a J2X chassis, yes, but with a new full-width body of the Le Mans type that Sydney Allard would take to La Sarthe that year. This was something of a surprise to de Larrinaga, who nonetheless paid up with good grace. Tom believes that four were built initially, of which perhaps three went to Le Mans that year – two started the race – and this was the fourth. However, while the Le Mans entries were entirely new cars and used Chrysler engines, it seems de Larrinaga’s car was built using the Cadillac engine and perhaps the rest of the driveline and running gear from his J2. However it was done, the car retained the OVT 983 registration and de Larrinaga enjoyed two seasons of sprints and hillclimbs.

> ‘The V8 changes from a lazy glug-glug-glug to an energetic throb’

Abundant torque, rear-wheel drive, dual race and road car persona

Towards the end of 1954, de Larrinaga took the next step and bought a new Allard J2R, the last and fiercest of the bloodline. He sold the J2X Le Mans to a hotelier from Worthing, Eric Alexander, who was also a keen competitor. Quite how the documents were handled for this transaction remains a mystery, but de Larrinaga wanted to hang onto the OVT 983 number.

Presumably because of this, Alexander re-registered the J2X Le Mans as JM 7942, which was originally attached to an Allard M-type, and that’s how it’s remained ever since.

No heel-and-toe from unsighted pedal positions

Eric Alexander was featured in _Motor Sport_ not long after, showing the three Allards he then owned, and revealing details of JM 7942’s state of tune – it ran what was effectively a sprint engine, with twin four-barrel Rochester carburettors, very high compression for the time of 10:1 and extra-strength valve springs. Alexander and his partner Margaret Hockenhull campaigned the car with great success at the Brighton Speed Trials and elsewhere through to 1960, including three entries at Goodwood, where it was driven by a Mr Cuff-Millar. Hereafter, it seems to have had a relatively quiet time for eight years with a Dr John Pattinson until being sold to Robin Sadler in 1968. On his first outing at Silverstone, Sadler aquaplaned off at 90mph between Maggots and Becketts and the car was severely thumped. Sadler happily escaped with only bruises and sold the battered car to Roger Reese.

> ‘The engine dominates everything… from 3000 to 4500rpm it’s a full-on racing car’

No Chrysler V8 for this Le Mans; J2 uses Cadillac power

Reese embarked on a somewhat shoestring rebuild that seems to have rescued and repaired most of the major components, and he brought the car out once again in 1975, wearing little wheelarch lips to help cover some wider tyres. Reese enjoyed the car in a few club sprints and used it on the road, too, which might be why there’s a photo of it wearing yet another registration number – Reese was a multiple Allard owner and may well have swapped plates from one car to another, depending on which was taxed…

Resse died in 1987 and the car was eventually consigned to an H&H sale by his widow in 2000, when Tom Walker saw it on the cover of the catalogue. ‘I really wanted a C-type Jaguar, but I couldn’t afford one of those, and this was estimated at £18,000,’ Tom says. ‘It was pretty rough – it was painted in blue Dulux house paint and the gearbox arrangement was a lash-up that involved an American three-speed gearbox casing with a shaft passing through it to a four-speed ’box from an Alvis Speed 25, all mounted on bits of welded-up tube. I got rid of that.’

> ‘On road, you cast the car at a gap rather than aim it with precision’

Dunlop crossplies dictate careful but involving drive

Tom rebuilt the car as close to de Larrinaga’s specification as he could. He stripped it and had a banana-like bend in the chassis straightened, before shot-blasting the frame and coating it in Massey-Ferguson tractor paint – Tom is a farmer, after all.

‘Geoff Scott-Comber, a tractor mechanic, rebuilt the Cadillac engine back to standard for me,’ says Tom. ‘That was our “V1” engine. Then I tried a bigger 390ci Cadillac, but I blew that up by over-advancing the ignition. Eventually the best combination was the Cadillac 331 engine with 390 cylinder heads on it for better compression and bigger valves and ports.’

…pair of cars retired during fifteenth hour

That paint is not war-surplus green at all. Tom sanded the body down through five or six layers to find this light green at the bottom, and also in places inside the car.

‘I spoke to de Larrinaga, who said he’d invented that colour and called it Alpine Mist Green – and that Aston Martin had stolen the idea and used it on its DB3S!’

Tom got a good colour match and refinished the car to complete the 1952 look. Since then, he’s enjoyed many seasons of competition, including FISCAR and Duncan Wiltshire’s Legends series, the Fifties sports car races with the VSCC and several appearances in the Woodcote Trophy at the Goodwood Revival. ‘I’ve done the Spa Historic, too,’ says Tom. ‘Drive there, race, drive it back. It’s never on a trailer.’

At first glance you’d think this car had been preserved in its juices since the late Fifties, bearing the scars of ancient battles. But cars that get raced acquire new scars all the time, as well as new parts – hence that shiny but effective carburettor and the modern rev counter. Tom is now thinking about a bit of panel work and some fresh paint, and before you frown at the loss of patina, remember it was smart only 20 years ago when the last restoration was completed. There are two ways you can treat an old warhorse like this – lock it away and preserve the aura, or just use it. And if you do use it, you inevitably need to refresh it now and then. What you see here is not the car’s ‘forever’ condition – we’re just catching it at one specific point in a long and continuing competition history.

For now, though, it does mean we can storm off through the puddles and not get precious about a bit of grime. Whatever the other distractions are in the cockpit, the engine still dominates everything. It seems to be in the ideal state of tune for a roadgoing racer, because it idles well and isn’t fussy, and up to 3000rpm it’s a very fast road car. From 3000 to 4500rpm its character changes and it’s a full-on racing car.

Numbers? It feels like 0-60mph would disappear in around five or six seconds and Tom says that it’s been through the speed traps at the end of the Lavant Straight at Goodwood at 148mph. It is _ver_y loud and _very_ exposed, but if you’re up for the sheer thrill there’s not much to touch it.

Next outing? Well, Tom will be racing it again soon, but on the evening of our shoot, he’s arranged a trip to the pub. I very much suspect he will be first to the bar.

> ‘It is very loud and very exposed, but if you’re up for the thrill there’s not much to touch it’

New racing scars are acquired constantly, adding to patina

‘The engine has been bulletproof since it was built 20 years ago – and I once did a lap of Goodwood with no water in it!’ says owner Tom Walker. ‘I tried a Cadillac three-speed gearbox but it was a horrible thing. The Borg-Warner T10 is still made, now by Rochester, and they’re only £1500 so I made my own bellhousing to fit it to the Cadillac engine. The clutch is a bog-standard diaphragm Chevrolet thing.

‘The de Dion rear end gives you a rock-steady feel on track, especially now I’ve lowered and stiffened the springing, and fitted good dampers. The brakes would go after two laps, and I’d get slower and slower. So, I drilled holes in the backplates and then ducted air through pipes from the box round the radiator, which has transformed it.’

Alan Anderson has found a car with rare and technically interesting French cool for a fraction of Citroën DS money

This is a delightful Dauphine. It’s keenly priced compared with others on the market, both here and overseas. It’d sell on its impressive condition and originality regardless, but this particular car has something that makes it more unusual than most Dauphines – a Ferlec clutchless transmission. This might put some buyers off, but it lends it a degree of Citroën-style high-tech French cool.

The Ferlec electromagnetic clutch was a short-lived Fifties option. Made under Ferodo patents by Ducellier, it’s actuated by a small button on the gear lever and as far as we could ascertain, it works properly, if abruptly when selecting reverse. It certainly needs acclimatisation, something not helped on British roads by this car also being left-hand drive, but the transmission itself seems in good health.

The engine starts instantly and while performance is only on a par with a 2CV, it trundles sweetly and is content at 50mph. Five new period BF Goodrich crossply tyres were fitted in 2006 (£843), and while Dauphines aren’t famed for handling, it drives okay within its limits. But replacing those tyres should be a priority.

While there are no restoration bills in the service history file, localised piecemeal renovation has been carried out over the years with possibly a colour change. The body is free from rot and dents, although the paint could do with a polish to get a nice consistent shine. The original chromework, while understandably tarnished and pitted in places, is dent-free, especially the dinner plate hubcaps on presentable off-white wheels with whitewall tyres.

As well as being extremely stylish, the outstanding interior could be original, given its gentle patina. Save from a minor slit to the otherwise excellent rubber flooring on the driver’s side and some scuffing to the black metal footwells, there’s virtually no deterioration to either the two-tone seats, doors trims or the lovely pure white headlining. The painted dashboard is also in beautiful condition and the similar-coloured switchgear and steering wheel are unworn. The gear lever is taped up though, perhaps to help secure the clutch switch.

The engine bay is not scruffy but could do with some detailing work. The engine itself is leak-free, the inner wings are solid and the clutch control box undamaged. The V5C shows five owners since the car was imported from Malaga in Spain in the Seventies, and while the registration wears a 1963 A-plate, it’s actually a 1961 model. There’s a good history file that includes original Spanish documentation and a comprehensive service folder, some dating back to the Sixties with a mix of overseas and UK routine service receipts.

Apart from the original handbook, other welcome manuals include a vital Ferlec transmission repair book, transmission diagram, and an Olyslager service manual, all contained in a neat Dauphine folder. When you bear in mind that you get all this and it’s still a good £1500 shy of the best dealer-sold Dauphines, it looks like a bargain as well as a technical curio.

▶ Released in 1956 and initially known unofficially as the 5CV, the Renault Dauphine was designed to replace the 4CV and counter the VW Beetle. The engine was derived from the 4CV’s, increased in size from 760 to 845cc. Only sold as rear-engined, four-door saloon.

▶ Ferlac clutchless transmission from 1957.

▶ Luxury Ondine from 1961, with four-speed gearbox in place of standard three-speed.

▶ Racing homologation 1093 model was built 1962-63, with twin-carburettor 55bhp engine, finished in white with blue stripes. 2140 built.

▶ Gordini-tuned version available from 1964, with four-wheel disc brakes, 37bhp engine, Ondine gearbox and optional Ondine interior.

▶ Replaced by the new Renault 6 hatchback in 1968, although Dauphine production continued in Argentina until 1970.

###### **\[ CHASING CARS \] Nigel Boothman’s market headliner**

Carrol Shelby’s own example becomes the most expensive American car ever sold

Eclipsing the previous record for the most expensive Amercian car ever sold at auction by $20m, the ex-Carroll Shelby Daytona beat its estimate by an equally brutish $17m IMAGE: Mathieu Heurtault/Gooding & Company, LLC

On the evening of Friday 14 August at Pebble Beach, Charlie Ross of Gooding Christie’s brought his gavel down on a bid of $39m and Shelby Cobra Daytona chassis CSX2300 became the most expensive American car ever sold at auction. With fees, the total price paid was $42.9m. It shattered its $25m estimate and the previous record, the ex-Gary Cooper Duesenberg SSJ that took $22m in 2018. More significantly, it surpassed this year’s record for all cars sold at auction, beating the $38.5m paid for the Ferrari 250GTO at Mecum’s Kissimmee sale in January.

While there were 36 250GTOs, there were only ever six Cobra Daytona coupés. Peter Brock was commissioned by Carroll Shelby to create a more streamlined body for the Cobra, because the car’s immense competition potential was eroded on faster circuits by the drag it created.

The first prototype was bodied in October 1963 in California, but subsequent chassis were bodied by _Carrozzeria Gransport_ in Modena, Italy. Weight and acceleration differed little from other racing 289-engined Cobras, though top speed rose from 150mph to almost 190mph. Ferrari narrowly beat Shelby’s cars to the 1964 FIA GT Championship, but in 1965 Shelby thoroughly outscored Ferrari.

> ‘Rather than suffering from over-exposure, this Cobra’s chain of use appears to have contributed to its fame and perceived value’

CSX2300 was the third car completed and won the opening two stages of its first race, the 1964 Tour de France, before mechanical failure. In 1965 it contributed to the team’s Championship-winning points total but then migrated to Japan where it continued racing until 1968. Amazingly, it was then driven on the street until it was tracked down and returned to the USA in 1975 when it was acquired by Carroll Shelby.

He had the car restored to 1965 specification and kept it until 1998, after which it moved between collectors until its latest keeper took over in 2005. Instead of disappearing into storage, CSX2300 appeared at historic events including, most latterly, the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Rather than suffering from over-exposure, this use and maintenance in running condition appears to have contributed to its fame – and perceived value.

The Daytona’s scarcity, combined with this record result, would appear to have major implications for the values of the other five. They have rarely appeared at public sale, though the first of the two 1965-season cars, chassis CSX2601, made headlines when it sold for $7.3m at Mecum’s Monterey sale in 2009.

Depending on the level of originality, ownership trail and specific competition history, each of the others must now be considered in the rarified price bracket that once contained only its period rival, the 250GTO. More interestingly – and with one of the five factory-built Corvette Grand Sport racers taking $18.7m at RM the same weekend – it opens the door to other top-flight US competition cars. If two of the most-storied Ford GT40s hit $12.3m and $13.2m in 2026 and 2025 respectively, where next?

###### **\[** **Epic Restoration** **\]**

Restoring any ultra-rare car like a **Gordon-Keeble** is tricky, but when it’s the prototype, it’s a unique challenge

**Words** NIGEL BOOTHMAN **Photography** STUART COLLINS

I knew the cars by then,’ says John Tilley, talking about when he decided to take on the restoration of a uniquely special British Sixties grand tourer. ‘And anyway, it had already received an extensive restoration in the Nineties so I knew that it would be structurally sound.’

John owned and ran two Gordon-Keebles before he felt brave enough to take the plunge with the third – or rather, the first and only Gordon GT. This car is the prototype that later became the Gordon-Keeble, the short-lived British car marque that constructed just 100 of these handsome, Chevrolet V8-engined grand tourers during a three-year production run. It was built in steel by Bertone in Turin to a design by the young Giorgetto Giugiaro and was completed in time for the Geneva Motor Show in March 1960.

Although the Gordon GT was well-received, it took nearly four years to raise the backing for production and in that time, the specification changed. The later production Gordon-Keeble would be bodied in glass-fibre and the arrangement of trim, dashboard, wiring and numerous detail items would change.

Taking on a car like the prototype was a risk, then, but it was one that John Tilley felt that he could manage. Having bought the car in 2020, John’s instinct was proved right. Because the car was structurally sound, he was able to simply recommission it and attend a few shows, and he was due to attend the Gordon-Keeble Owners’ Club weekend in 2023 when fate intervened.

‘The car had been popping and spitting a bit, not really running as it should,’ he remembers. ‘I’d picked it up from storage and was driving it home, and I smelled smoke – I thought a farmer must be burning off a field. Then I saw flames and realised the air cleaner was on fire. I was only 100 yards from our house, so I pulled over and opened the bonnet. I ran home for a fire extinguisher, and a neighbour called the fire brigade. By the time I got back, it was well alight, though I managed to quench some of the flames. Then the fire engine turned up, and they soaked it in foam.’

It could have been so much worse. Some Gordon-Keebles have been lost to fire over the years, the glassfibre burning up entirely, but at least the steel body of this Bertone-built car wasn’t flammable. However, the engine bay was toasted, and there was severe damage to paint and even some to the interior, where smoke and heat had penetrated.

John discovered that the fire-retardant foam used by the fire brigade was corrosive, and some had undoubtedly entered the engine compartment. From show condition to a project in just a few fiery minutes – and with little more than memory to suggest how it should go back together.

Where it started – air cleaner above triple Rochesters

> ‘After the fire was out, and the shock had passed – realising what damage had been done to a beautifully restored car, and the concern that it might never be the same again’
> 
> **John Tilley**

John selected Classic Performance Engineering in Silverstone, Northamptonshire to take on the repairs. Martin Greaves, director and owner at CPE, remembers the day they went to fetch the car. ‘The engine blaze started as a fuel fire. It was obvious where most of the damage was, in the engine bay and the bonnet area, and inside the front end of the car, extending through the bulkhead into the cabin. Fortunately, the interior hadn’t caught light but there was quite extensive heat and smoke damage that we’d have to investigate.’

Martin’s team began to strip the affected areas and assess the damage, including the key worry over the engine. This turned out to be worth investigating for a second reason on top of the original concern about corrosive fire retardant. ‘When checking through the initial extent of the damage, we noticed the spark plugs were very oily and burned,’ says Martin. ‘So, we took the cylinder heads off and found the bores were heavily glazed, which would have made the engine smoke, even without any fire. So that necessitated some engine work.’

Slider and cable controls had suffered damage

Enter Mick Hanlon, CPE’s engine builder. Mick patiently washed out all the powder or dried foam he encountered in the inlet manifold, heads and cylinders, stripping the rest of the engine to inspect for damage elsewhere. What he found was generally healthy. ‘The engine received a sympathetic rebuild,’ he says. ‘Everything was checked and measured but only a few items needed replacing. The big end bearings were worn, so I renewed them, but the crankshaft, conrods and pistons were fine.’

The bores had gained a shiny, glazed appearance and along with worn piston rings, compression and oil control was suffering. Mick renewed the rings and used a hone – a tool like a giant bottle brush with abrasive tips to the bristles, usually driven by a power drill – to remove the glazing. ‘It provides a nice scratchy finish to cylinder wall to allow the rings the bed in and form a good seal.’ It also helps oil cling to the cylinder bores. I also lapped in the valves again and of course all the seals and gaskets were new when I built up the engine.’

Extreme heat melted many components, including fans

As auto-electrician Derek Wiltshire points out, this car was not only a prototype with a one-off wiring loom, but it had also been restored once before. Who could say how it should really be?

‘The engine fire took out all of the main loom,’ says Derek, ‘and a lot of components under the bonnet were just dripping plastic – the fan for instance. The insulation was gone or melted together on every section of harness, into the bulkhead and beyond, where the fire had travelled up the loom. Every circuit from the bulkhead forward was a melted mess. My job was to work out what had gone where and start again.’

With no circuits to go on, there was only one approach Derek could take – obtain a wiring diagram from a later Gordon-Keeble, blend it with a bit of common sense and create something from scratch. Needless to say, what Derek found – or the remainder of it – did not match the circuit diagram. And the deeper he dug, the more he suspected that the original wiring had survived the car’s first restoration.

New loom was created with correct Lucas wiring colours

‘It was wired up in a “get it done” way, as though someone knew they had to get it out the door – I found old bell wire in places, wrapped together with sticky tape, just a hasty bodge from 65 years ago. What’s more, the whole car has only two fuses! We retained this for originality but it’s a delicate decision, and it meant everything else had to be as safe as it could be. Mind you, a box of six modern blade fuses would spoil the look.’

For that reason, Derek took care to keep an original appearance for the loom throughout the car. By ‘original’, he chose what was period correct for the UK, rather than an authentically Italian hand-built approach. ‘It’s standard on old Ferraris, for instance, for the wiring loom to be totally different from the diagram, with a live wire starting off one colour and spliced into another colour further along. I chose to stick with Sixties Lucas colours.’

Dummy wiring into the regulator is a nice touch

Carpets washed, vacuumed and put straight back in

Derek established the loom’s architecture as a mock-up of each circuit based on what was needed point-to-point and then had to offer up or measure each circuit path to the car to find cable lengths. This is more critical than you might think in some areas, such are the restrictions of space. ‘It’s very tight behind the dash,’ says Derek. ‘Also, there needed to be a thick, high-current cable behind there to make the ammeter functional, and the cable itself isn’t very flexible, so everything had to be closely measured, cut and fitted.’

New-for-1960 Gordon chassis tight for engine and gearbox refitting

The aim for a convincing early-Sixties appearance in the engine bay led to Derek sending dummy wires to the old Bakelite regulator box, even though the car now runs an alternator hidden in the old dynamo housing, which includes its own regulator. Replacing the toasted wiper motor was a nod to originality, too. ‘It’s a DR3 double-park motor of the type used on some E-types,’ explains Derek. ‘The six-wire supply to it was melted, so that took some understanding. It’s an unusual mechanism – it parks the wipers by winding them all the way forward to define the position and then goes back.’

Derek’s work spanned several stages of the restoration, starting with the sooty stripdown and being completed when the car came back from the paint shop. Martin Greaves’ choice for this crucial work was Paint-Tec Refinishing in Roade near Northampton.

Reinvention of the GT’s wiring loom by Derek Wiltshire (left) was painstaking

New fans replace the remains of previous pair

Pete Hammond, known by those at CPE as Pete the Paint, found that the fire damage to the Gordon GT extended across every panel at the front of the car, inside and outside the engine bay, but also up to the roof. This meant any repair would have to be blended from both front wings into both doors, and from the roof down both C-pillars, or rear quarters. Thanks to the way Bertone had handmade the body in sweeping curves of steel, with panel joins welded and hidden, in the end, only the bootlid would remain untouched by the process.

‘If you get the paint match right, blends can look good for a few years,’ says Pete. ‘But eventually the blending solvent used to soften the edge of the old finish and the new one gets removed by washing or polishing and the blend lines reappear. I knew John was keeping the car, so that wasn’t good enough.’

Martin Greaves (right) recounts the efforts needed to save scorched brightwork

Luckily, the experienced assessor from John’s insurance company saw it the same way, and the full repaint was given the go-ahead. Pete’s team stripped the paint off the front of the car and took it back to bare metal, where they were pleasantly surprised to find how well the car had been restored in the Nineties, with no great layers of filler, and how little damage the heat had done to the panel shape. If Bertone had used aluminium, though…

‘We prepared the bare steel with 180-grit abrasives and then used an epoxy primer that we’ve come to like. Etch primers don’t really etch any more – the acids that made them work have been removed for health and environmental reasons – so if you find an epoxy that works, stick with it,’ Pete explains. ‘That was then covered with fillerprimer and flatted back with a finer grade before we then used a two-pack direct gloss, a PPG paint mixed up to match a scan we had taken of the undamaged paint.’

Steel Bertone ’shell taken back to bare metal for repaint

The parts of the car untouched by the fire were keyed with a 500-grit orbital disc and then filler-primed with a two-pack product before the same colour coat was applied. To produce the astonishing finish the car now wears, Pete’s team went several steps beyond what used to be expected.

‘We used to finish with 2000-grit, wet flatted, then polished up,’ says Pete. ‘Now, customers’ expectations have been changed by an industry of detailers selling paint correction services, so we bought all the kit and developed the skills we used on the Gordon – 2000 wet-flat, then 3000, 5000 and 8000-grit 3M Trizact discs, then three graded polishing compounds.’

Epoxy and filler primers plus two-pack direct gloss coats give flawless finish

> ‘A week or two after the photoshoot, I was able to drive the Gordon GT on a proper test run for the first time. The standard of work had exceeded my expectations, and it really is better than ever’
> 
> John Tilley

CPE’s James Waddington had removed most of the Gordon GT’s interior as one of the first tasks after the car arrived. There was smoke staining to the seats and headlining, and the smell of smoke was persistent. ‘A trimmer recommended a vinyl and leather cleaner, and that took off the soot and got rid of most of the smell, if not all,’ says James. ‘It was then just elbow grease to get it back to the right colour. The carpet set looked good after I removed it, vacuumed it and washed it. That went back in with proper felt underlay.’

Back from painting, interior reassembly could finally begin

Headlining had to come out for replacement late in the build

More serious was the potential damage behind the dashboard and centre console. Derek Wiltshire had seen to the wiring, but James discovered that all of the slider and cable controls had suffered, and he had to assume it was the same with the dash instruments, which were removed for inspection and testing, and if need be, rebuilding.

Latest on Classic Cars

Magazine

Articles