I found comparison of the Daimler Double-Six and Tesla Model S (Back to the Future) interesting – I owned a Jag XJ12 SIII in the Nineties and run a Model S today. They were introduced 50 years apart and the Tesla is the first car that really feels like 50 years’ progress from that point. They are a similar type of car – similar size, both comfortable and refined, both pull relentlessly and effortlessly on tiny throttle openings. Tesla turned a reluctant industry on its head; the market is now full of followers. Where Tesla still leads is efficiency. To some extent it is achieved by compromise, such as exceptionally high (45psi) tyre pressures to minimise rolling resistance, at the expense of increased road noise and firm ride. The wheels are a snug fit in their arches to reduce drag, but this limits suspension travel, to the further detriment of ride. I’ve not driven an XJ in 20 years, but I remember a more complaint ride and less road noise. And Elon Musk? He’s the definition of George Bernard Shaw's unreasonable man, ‘The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man adapts the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.’
The article on the S Final Edition XKs was a great piece by Craig as usual. I really enjoy his tales of Jaguar addiction and how he can’t kick it! A few things to add if you’ll allow. The special colours mentioned were only supplemented by another four including Platinum, Racing Green, Midnight and Quartz. Montreal wheels were never an option. The XK8-S came with 19” Atlas wheels as standard with the 20” Sepang available as an option. The XKR-S came with Perseus as standard with no other option. But… the Perseus proved to be prone to buckling so the Sepangs were fitted on some XKR-S straight from the factory or fitted to replace the Perseus wheels under warranty.
Dove Grey leather was only available with Frost Blue and Quartz exterior and came with Dove Grey carpet. Only the XKR-S had red calipers. Silver calipers with cross-drilled discs were an option on the XK8-S. I have a full specification brochure which came with one of the cars I bought. It can be a bit confusing but it ties in with all the cars I’ve seen over the years.
Also Craig states only 500 of the S Final Edition were built in XK and XKR form but I believe it was a lot more and I have been unable to find any mention from the launch that the model was a limited edition. The earliest car I’ve seen is chassis 46613, an XKR-S Final Edition coupe in satin with black trim.
Also Jaguar Heritage gives the start of production of the S Final Edition as chassis 45289, making it 3395 cars built as S Final Edition models.
The earliest car I’ve bought and sold was chassis 46618 and I have the build sheet for this car showing it as a Sports pack which wasa £4000 option on the coupe and £3200 on the convertible, over and above the usual XKR-S Final Edition specification. Including, according to the brochure: Handling Pack, satellite navigation, adaptive cruise control and Recaro seats.
In the course of buying and selling many S Final Editions cars, I’ve not found any after the Heritage start number which have been anything other than S Final Edition cars.
However, having said that… I also have a build sheet for a XK coupe with a chassis number in the range for the Final Editions cars but which identifies as a 2006 MY car with 2004.5 MY parts: Quartz with Dove Grey interior, 2004.5MY Montreal alloys and birds eye maple dash plus loads of extras.
I feel it’s important to get these things pinned down because it affects values. There are already myths and legends being attached to these cars in the hope of higher prices.
Zack Stiling, who wrote the feature, paid special attention to sharing what the driving experience was like with these cars and as such has put together a well-rounded and interesting article that we’re pleased to hear you enjoyed. There may be challenges with running older cars, but there are a lot of benefits too…!
Dear Classic American, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading about Peter Rickinson’s 1948 Chrysler New Yorker. These late-Forties Mopars are often overlooked, but in my opinion are some of the most handsome cars of the era, representing as they do, the bridge between cars like the Forties La Salles and Fifties Cadillacs. Elegant, graceful lines, magnificent design and playful, yet tasteful masculine interiors, as illustrated with this example’s ‘Highlander’ tartan interior. I was particularly interested in Mr Rickinson’s description of how the car was to drive. My first car was a Forties Chevrolet, after which I graduated to a Fifties Pontiac and latterly I have a Sixties Buick in my ownership. With each decade the driving experience has improved, as has the reliability and ease of ownership. Having said that, I’m not convinced that the build quality or the quality of materials used has improved with each decade; if anything, the opposite. Jeff Stourton Derby, Derbyshire
Well that's impressive. Steve Whittaker here, the owner from 2001-2005 when it was featured in classic Ford magazine.
I remember seeing it for sale a few years ago looking quite neglected, shame as it was in decent nick when I had it, but so pleased to see it's survived (even if it is a re-shell). Great job on the restoration.
Wish I could have kept it but I had a bit of a collection then and had just bought a new house so they all had to go apart from the Capri that I still have.
It was a hell of a weapon, I hope to see it at a show in the future.
Great to see a lovely collection of 993s taking your cover slot. Having owned four 993s myself over the past 20 years, I still believe the 993 to be the best era of the 911: last of the air-cooled, with exceptional build quality and engineering. If you wanted to, you could still drive a 993 every day (I believe one of the owners in your test still does), and its size and power-to-weight means it’ll always entertain on a spirited drive. I’ve never quite understood why 964s seem to garner such widespread adulation among fans when really the car was a stop-gap to the 993, but I accept my view may be biased. In any regard, great work underlining the merits of the 993 – we look forward to seeing more.
Vehicle Engineering’s Oletha, based on the Z4, from your November issue simply blew me away. I always wondered what more BMW could have done with the Z8 and the Oletha pretty much answers that question. The opening quote in the feature from Willem Smit: “It’s the car we wish BMW had made,” made sme realise that it’s cars like this that I wish BMW were making too, not the utter, ugly rubbish they are churning out these days. In my view BMW has lost its way, thank goodness there are still some fans out there like the Smit brothers with a genuine passion for the brand – and some vision.
At 79 years old, I use my late auntie’s Anglia 105E (Buying Guide) as my shopping car. She bought it new in 1966 and drove it all of 14,000 miles until she surrendered her licence in 1986, after which it came into my care. Now with 41k on the clock it’s a joy to drive – never restored, nor driven in rain. It’s totally original bar a few period accessories. You’re right, the Ford carb was rubbish. I have fitted a single SU which gives 40mpg and flat-spot-free acceleration. Now the Allard (The Hot 30). I well remember the day in the early Fifties when a family friend drove my father and I to a small car sales unit in Manchester and there was NKT 17. I never knew if it was a J2 or J2X, but what a sound when the Cadillac flathead V8 fired up! Dad campaigned the Allard at Oulton Park, Silverstone, Shelsley Walsh and Prescott with great gusto but little success. After a couple of years it was replaced by a 1925 Bentley 3 Litre. I seem to remember the Allard had a propensity to shear off driveshafts. Some years ago and with the help of the Allard club, the car was traced to the USA, its UK NKT 17 plate still in place. Happy days!
As a volunteer for the peugeot sport club uk and the owner of a 205 GTI [pictured] for some 22 years, it was fantastic to see fellow 205 owner Adam Towler’s 106 Rallye ‘Icon’ story and Stephen Dobie’s 208 GTi by Peugeot Sport join the Fast Fleet. However, it also saddened me thinking about the death of the Peugeot GTI and Rallye badges and the affordable small hot hatch as a whole. As a ’90s kid I grew up in the time of the 106 Rallye, 106 GTi, Nova GSi, Fiesta XR2, 5 Turbo and, of course, the 205 GTI. Then as an adult I saw the string of fantastic hot Renault Clios, the Fiesta ST… heck, even the Corsa VXR was supposed to be a good steer. Today, of those only the Fiesta survives, joined by the Hyundai i20 N, but at £25,000, and the Toyota GR Yaris, which is £30,000! Then there are several larger hot hatches that are even more expensive. Hardly the affordable hot hatch replacements to my ’90s pocket rockets.
RIP GTI
I think that the loss of the affordable small hot hatch will in turn be the death of the young car enthusiast. They simply won’t have performance cars that they can afford so they will spend their money on the latest iPhones and making sure their avatar in the metaverse has the latest accessories instead. RIP Peugeot hot hatches, RIP the affordable, small hot hatch and RIP the young car enthusiast. Yours cynically.
Your feature on the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow reminded me of my late grandfather’s Bentley T. When his building business, Siggs & Chapman in Croydon, took off, he wanted to treat himself with a Rolls-Royce but my grandma thought it too ostentatious and forbade that choice… so he bought a Bentley! The T was in fact his second Bentley, replacing an S2 Continental Flying Spur, ‘2 TPA’, and he kept it until he gave up driving many years later.
I well remember how big it seemed in the 1970s but now they look quite modest and those lines so clean and simple. Funny how cars like this, in the doldrums for years, along with the likes of the Lamborghini Espada and Ferrari 400/412, are now appreciated – and appreciating. It’s just a pity that fuel prices are so high.
Grandad was always being asked ‘What’ll she do?’ – miles per gallon, not miles per hour. He always replied ‘Eight around town and ten on a run’! The way the rear end sat down like a speedboat as he launched it down the road might have been a factor.
Richard Meaden’s throwaway line about one of the works MGC GTS cars being driven by ‘the less-than-stellar’ pairing of Craig Hill and Bill Brack at Sebring in 1969 does both of them a serious disservice.
Bill Brack was the Canadian distributor for Lotus and a BMC dealer in the Toronto area, who competed successfully in Minis, a Lotus 47, ex-Graham Hill Lotus 42B Indycar and Lotus 70. He won the Player’s Challenge Series in 1973 and ’74 and, when the series was upgraded to Formula Atlantic, he won it two more years in a row. It took some kid named Gilles Villeneuve to finally beat him to the championship.
Craig Hill is also a member of the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame. Having cut his racing teeth on dirt tracks and asphalt, he was the Canadian Formula B champ in 1969 and ’70 and graduated to the Player’s Challenge Series in a Lotus 69B and then a Brabham BT 40, and finally a March 75BT in Formula Atlantic.
Meaden’s research must have come solely from the results sheet because, in qualifying, Hill and Brack were almost four seconds faster than Hopkirk and Hedges. Yes, sister car ‘699F’ finished 26 laps ahead, but I cannot imagine that was all due to driver talent.
Thanks for a lovely article on Bill Collins and his Ferrari 250 Lusso. Robert Coucher kept the reader interested till the very end, with Collins showing no signs of egocentrism. Then came that final paragraph, quietly letting us know his famous sisters’ names and therefore their occupations. It was so informative, without modern media edginess and brashness.
What great memories were brought back by Emma Woodcock’s feature on the Fiat X1/9 Lido (Pioneer in Miniature) I bought the same model new in 1998, part-exchanging a year-old rubber-bumper MGB that was already showing signs of corrosion. The Fiat was everything the road testers of the time admired, it was like a mini Ferrari with a targa top and handling no reasonably priced British sports car could live with. My first road trip was to the nearby North York Moors on the B1257, hoping to impress my new girlfriend. On this road we were spotted by an RAF jet fighter that seemed to continuously use us as target practice but the little Fiat’s handling on that day must have surely impressed the pilot because he tipped his wings as he left, probably to RAF Leeming. I hope owner Neal Gibbons has as much fun in his car as we did in ours. My girlfriend became my partner of 38 years and I still have the original Lido brochure, Carello covers and a Lido luggage bag if Neal is interested.
Firstly, I want to welcome in the new editor. It’s a shame to see Paul Walton leave, but it seems he’ll still be writing for the magazine and fresh faces are always a good thing. I was moved to write by Sam Skelton’s piece about the 2.9-litre XJ40. This is a car that so many people over the years have told me was utter rubbish and that there was no point in owning such a slow and thirsty car. But I bought my first one in 2005 – I was still a university student, which shows how cheap they once were. And I didn’t keep it for long, because it failed the MoT on rust in 2007. I’ve had other Jaguars since, and nowadays I have an X350 2.7 diesel. But I’d like to find another good 2.9 if I can find one to relive the days that got me into Jaguars. Ideally it’d be Signal Red like mine was, a manual, and have a cloth interior. My car had a digital dashboard, so I’d like that if I could. Does anyone know of a car like this for sale anywhere? Thank you to Jaguar World for rekindling an old spark with your article.
According to Google Jaguar sales continue to historically be within a couple of thousand cars year over year between the US and UK and even though it’s a British marque I think your mag would do well to devote a section every issue or possibly one or two complete issues a year to what’s going on in the US market and possibly special adverts for parts and services in the colonies. Currently I don’t see one single service or parts provider based here less SNG Barrett’s US outlet. After all it does say Jaguar World.
Several fond memories were brought back when I ready our comparison feature between the Jaguar XJ-S and the Porsche 944 – because as a company director in the late 1980s and early 1990s I actually owned and ran examples of both. My 944 was an early 2.5, and my XJS was a late Celebration convertible, and at the time the two cars seemed so very different in focus. I had a BMW 635 CSi E24 between them, and at the time I thought that it did a good job of bridging the two:more sporty than my Jag and yet more of a grand tourer than the Porker. Do I agree that the Jag’s a better car? 35 year old me with his used 944 in 1988 wouldn’t have thought so, but another decade of life certainly meant that the XJS made more sense in middle age. Nowadays I drive an F-PACE, but part of me wishes I still had a sporty car sitting outside.
2002 Project I really enjoyed the feature on the 2002. I have followed the project in BMW Car from the start and eagerly anticipated each new instalment to see how it was going to develop. So often these days modified classic cars seem to lack a plan or any kind of thought in their execution, things get thrown together without consideration for the final look and feel, or how the thing will drive. Rob Richardson’s car seems to have been well thought through and exceptionally well engineered – well done Rob! I think Rob’s car might well be one of the best ‘02s in the country, if not the world, and I’m looking forward to seeing where the project goes next.
You didn’t mention the Porsche 996 cylinder bore scoring (Porsche 996 at 25 years), another known issue for the 996 and first generation 997. It’s serious, costly and painful. Early 996s (3.4s) had gearbox issues and 996s tend to eat radiators too.
I own a 993 C2 manual coupé and so I was surprised that Sam Dawson quotes the 996 as ‘better built than their predecessors’. I think he’s seeing that from only one perspective, the body perhaps? Granted that key areas of an Eighties 911 — kidney bowls, sills, B-pillars – would rust from the inside out but I reckon the aircooled engines were more robust.
If I were looking at the Porsche 996 era, it would be a 986 Boxster because it’s lighter and more fun to drive in the 3.2 form, though they do suffer the same type of issues as the 996.
Reading about the Lynx Eventer brought back many memories, but I thought Penelope Keith borrowed the Eventer for a very late episode of To the Manor Born, and then the awful Sweet Sixteen.
Another thing I want to point out is that the name Lynx was chosen by me at age 17 in 1966 when trying to get a discount at the local BMC agent for spare parts – the storeman wanted to know the name of the company I worked for and because I owned a 1934 Riley Lynx, I thought Lynx Engineering would do. Jaguars did not appear for a number of years after, because I started out by restoring (on my own) vintage Bentleys and other cars, until a local owner asked me to restore a Jaguar C-type; that is the point I left a job at Weslake & Co and set out on my own. Later, Chris Keith-Lucas joined as an employee and I subsequently realised he was a major asset to the business. We got on well, so I offered him a partnership, which he paid for by selling his dreadful Hyper Lea Francis, which threw oil everywhere whenever it was run. Finally, the picture of the ‘French Chateaux’ is actually our UK family home and has been for 45 years.
Wonderful article on Lynx Eventer and stories about the gifted owner Rupert Hine. Especially fun comments were from Sir Bob Geldof, including saying he was never interested in cars. A decade or two ago I used to live in Chelsea and often drove down the M4 on Friday evenings to spend the weekend in the country. More than once I saw Sir Bob in a Ferrari 308 or possibly a 328. It looked clean to me and he had a grin on his face!
Tesla vs Daimler
I found comparison of the Daimler Double-Six and Tesla Model S (Back to the Future) interesting – I owned a Jag XJ12 SIII in the Nineties and run a Model S today. They were introduced 50 years apart and the Tesla is the first car that really feels like 50 years’ progress from that point. They are a similar type of car – similar size, both comfortable and refined, both pull relentlessly and effortlessly on tiny throttle openings. Tesla turned a reluctant industry on its head; the market is now full of followers. Where Tesla still leads is efficiency. To some extent it is achieved by compromise, such as exceptionally high (45psi) tyre pressures to minimise rolling resistance, at the expense of increased road noise and firm ride. The wheels are a snug fit in their arches to reduce drag, but this limits suspension travel, to the further detriment of ride. I’ve not driven an XJ in 20 years, but I remember a more complaint ride and less road noise. And Elon Musk? He’s the definition of George Bernard Shaw's unreasonable man, ‘The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man adapts the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.’
Final Edition facts
The article on the S Final Edition XKs was a great piece by Craig as usual. I really enjoy his tales of Jaguar addiction and how he can’t kick it! A few things to add if you’ll allow. The special colours mentioned were only supplemented by another four including Platinum, Racing Green, Midnight and Quartz. Montreal wheels were never an option. The XK8-S came with 19” Atlas wheels as standard with the 20” Sepang available as an option. The XKR-S came with Perseus as standard with no other option. But… the Perseus proved to be prone to buckling so the Sepangs were fitted on some XKR-S straight from the factory or fitted to replace the Perseus wheels under warranty.
Dove Grey leather was only available with Frost Blue and Quartz exterior and came with Dove Grey carpet. Only the XKR-S had red calipers. Silver calipers with cross-drilled discs were an option on the XK8-S. I have a full specification brochure which came with one of the cars I bought. It can be a bit confusing but it ties in with all the cars I’ve seen over the years.
Also Craig states only 500 of the S Final Edition were built in XK and XKR form but I believe it was a lot more and I have been unable to find any mention from the launch that the model was a limited edition. The earliest car I’ve seen is chassis 46613, an XKR-S Final Edition coupe in satin with black trim.
Also Jaguar Heritage gives the start of production of the S Final Edition as chassis 45289, making it 3395 cars built as S Final Edition models.
The earliest car I’ve bought and sold was chassis 46618 and I have the build sheet for this car showing it as a Sports pack which wasa £4000 option on the coupe and £3200 on the convertible, over and above the usual XKR-S Final Edition specification. Including, according to the brochure: Handling Pack, satellite navigation, adaptive cruise control and Recaro seats.
In the course of buying and selling many S Final Editions cars, I’ve not found any after the Heritage start number which have been anything other than S Final Edition cars.
However, having said that… I also have a build sheet for a XK coupe with a chassis number in the range for the Final Editions cars but which identifies as a 2006 MY car with 2004.5 MY parts: Quartz with Dove Grey interior, 2004.5MY Montreal alloys and birds eye maple dash plus loads of extras.
I feel it’s important to get these things pinned down because it affects values. There are already myths and legends being attached to these cars in the hope of higher prices.
Zack Stiling, who wrote the feature, paid special attention to sharing what the driving experience was like with these cars and as such has put together a well-rounded and interesting article that we’re pleased to hear you enjoyed. There may be challenges with running older cars, but there are a lot of benefits too…!
Forties, Fifties or Sixties?
Dear Classic American, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading about Peter Rickinson’s 1948 Chrysler New Yorker. These late-Forties Mopars are often overlooked, but in my opinion are some of the most handsome cars of the era, representing as they do, the bridge between cars like the Forties La Salles and Fifties Cadillacs. Elegant, graceful lines, magnificent design and playful, yet tasteful masculine interiors, as illustrated with this example’s ‘Highlander’ tartan interior. I was particularly interested in Mr Rickinson’s description of how the car was to drive. My first car was a Forties Chevrolet, after which I graduated to a Fifties Pontiac and latterly I have a Sixties Buick in my ownership. With each decade the driving experience has improved, as has the reliability and ease of ownership. Having said that, I’m not convinced that the build quality or the quality of materials used has improved with each decade; if anything, the opposite. Jeff Stourton Derby, Derbyshire
Well that's impressive. Steve Whittaker here, the owner from 2001-2005 when it was featured in classic Ford magazine.
I remember seeing it for sale a few years ago looking quite neglected, shame as it was in decent nick when I had it, but so pleased to see it's survived (even if it is a re-shell). Great job on the restoration.
Wish I could have kept it but I had a bit of a collection then and had just bought a new house so they all had to go apart from the Capri that I still have.
It was a hell of a weapon, I hope to see it at a show in the future.
In praise of the 993
Great to see a lovely collection of 993s taking your cover slot. Having owned four 993s myself over the past 20 years, I still believe the 993 to be the best era of the 911: last of the air-cooled, with exceptional build quality and engineering. If you wanted to, you could still drive a 993 every day (I believe one of the owners in your test still does), and its size and power-to-weight means it’ll always entertain on a spirited drive. I’ve never quite understood why 964s seem to garner such widespread adulation among fans when really the car was a stop-gap to the 993, but I accept my view may be biased. In any regard, great work underlining the merits of the 993 – we look forward to seeing more.
Oletha Z4 Smit
Vehicle Engineering’s Oletha, based on the Z4, from your November issue simply blew me away. I always wondered what more BMW could have done with the Z8 and the Oletha pretty much answers that question. The opening quote in the feature from Willem Smit: “It’s the car we wish BMW had made,” made sme realise that it’s cars like this that I wish BMW were making too, not the utter, ugly rubbish they are churning out these days. In my view BMW has lost its way, thank goodness there are still some fans out there like the Smit brothers with a genuine passion for the brand – and some vision.
Two of “my” cars in the Nov issue
At 79 years old, I use my late auntie’s Anglia 105E (Buying Guide) as my shopping car. She bought it new in 1966 and drove it all of 14,000 miles until she surrendered her licence in 1986, after which it came into my care. Now with 41k on the clock it’s a joy to drive – never restored, nor driven in rain. It’s totally original bar a few period accessories. You’re right, the Ford carb was rubbish. I have fitted a single SU which gives 40mpg and flat-spot-free acceleration. Now the Allard (The Hot 30). I well remember the day in the early Fifties when a family friend drove my father and I to a small car sales unit in Manchester and there was NKT 17. I never knew if it was a J2 or J2X, but what a sound when the Cadillac flathead V8 fired up! Dad campaigned the Allard at Oulton Park, Silverstone, Shelsley Walsh and Prescott with great gusto but little success. After a couple of years it was replaced by a 1925 Bentley 3 Litre. I seem to remember the Allard had a propensity to shear off driveshafts. Some years ago and with the help of the Allard club, the car was traced to the USA, its UK NKT 17 plate still in place. Happy days!
As a volunteer for the peugeot sport club uk and the owner of a 205 GTI [pictured] for some 22 years, it was fantastic to see fellow 205 owner Adam Towler’s 106 Rallye ‘Icon’ story and Stephen Dobie’s 208 GTi by Peugeot Sport join the Fast Fleet. However, it also saddened me thinking about the death of the Peugeot GTI and Rallye badges and the affordable small hot hatch as a whole. As a ’90s kid I grew up in the time of the 106 Rallye, 106 GTi, Nova GSi, Fiesta XR2, 5 Turbo and, of course, the 205 GTI. Then as an adult I saw the string of fantastic hot Renault Clios, the Fiesta ST… heck, even the Corsa VXR was supposed to be a good steer. Today, of those only the Fiesta survives, joined by the Hyundai i20 N, but at £25,000, and the Toyota GR Yaris, which is £30,000! Then there are several larger hot hatches that are even more expensive. Hardly the affordable hot hatch replacements to my ’90s pocket rockets.
RIP GTI
I think that the loss of the affordable small hot hatch will in turn be the death of the young car enthusiast. They simply won’t have performance cars that they can afford so they will spend their money on the latest iPhones and making sure their avatar in the metaverse has the latest accessories instead. RIP Peugeot hot hatches, RIP the affordable, small hot hatch and RIP the young car enthusiast. Yours cynically.
A subtler Shadow
Your feature on the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow reminded me of my late grandfather’s Bentley T. When his building business, Siggs & Chapman in Croydon, took off, he wanted to treat himself with a Rolls-Royce but my grandma thought it too ostentatious and forbade that choice… so he bought a Bentley! The T was in fact his second Bentley, replacing an S2 Continental Flying Spur, ‘2 TPA’, and he kept it until he gave up driving many years later.
I well remember how big it seemed in the 1970s but now they look quite modest and those lines so clean and simple. Funny how cars like this, in the doldrums for years, along with the likes of the Lamborghini Espada and Ferrari 400/412, are now appreciated – and appreciating. It’s just a pity that fuel prices are so high.
Grandad was always being asked ‘What’ll she do?’ – miles per gallon, not miles per hour. He always replied ‘Eight around town and ten on a run’! The way the rear end sat down like a speedboat as he launched it down the road might have been a factor.
Canuck champs
Richard Meaden’s throwaway line about one of the works MGC GTS cars being driven by ‘the less-than-stellar’ pairing of Craig Hill and Bill Brack at Sebring in 1969 does both of them a serious disservice.
Bill Brack was the Canadian distributor for Lotus and a BMC dealer in the Toronto area, who competed successfully in Minis, a Lotus 47, ex-Graham Hill Lotus 42B Indycar and Lotus 70. He won the Player’s Challenge Series in 1973 and ’74 and, when the series was upgraded to Formula Atlantic, he won it two more years in a row. It took some kid named Gilles Villeneuve to finally beat him to the championship.
Craig Hill is also a member of the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame. Having cut his racing teeth on dirt tracks and asphalt, he was the Canadian Formula B champ in 1969 and ’70 and graduated to the Player’s Challenge Series in a Lotus 69B and then a Brabham BT 40, and finally a March 75BT in Formula Atlantic.
Meaden’s research must have come solely from the results sheet because, in qualifying, Hill and Brack were almost four seconds faster than Hopkirk and Hedges. Yes, sister car ‘699F’ finished 26 laps ahead, but I cannot imagine that was all due to driver talent.
Classic writing
Thanks for a lovely article on Bill Collins and his Ferrari 250 Lusso. Robert Coucher kept the reader interested till the very end, with Collins showing no signs of egocentrism. Then came that final paragraph, quietly letting us know his famous sisters’ names and therefore their occupations. It was so informative, without modern media edginess and brashness.
I had an X1/9
What great memories were brought back by Emma Woodcock’s feature on the Fiat X1/9 Lido (Pioneer in Miniature) I bought the same model new in 1998, part-exchanging a year-old rubber-bumper MGB that was already showing signs of corrosion. The Fiat was everything the road testers of the time admired, it was like a mini Ferrari with a targa top and handling no reasonably priced British sports car could live with. My first road trip was to the nearby North York Moors on the B1257, hoping to impress my new girlfriend. On this road we were spotted by an RAF jet fighter that seemed to continuously use us as target practice but the little Fiat’s handling on that day must have surely impressed the pilot because he tipped his wings as he left, probably to RAF Leeming. I hope owner Neal Gibbons has as much fun in his car as we did in ours. My girlfriend became my partner of 38 years and I still have the original Lido brochure, Carello covers and a Lido luggage bag if Neal is interested.
Entry level
Firstly, I want to welcome in the new editor. It’s a shame to see Paul Walton leave, but it seems he’ll still be writing for the magazine and fresh faces are always a good thing. I was moved to write by Sam Skelton’s piece about the 2.9-litre XJ40. This is a car that so many people over the years have told me was utter rubbish and that there was no point in owning such a slow and thirsty car. But I bought my first one in 2005 – I was still a university student, which shows how cheap they once were. And I didn’t keep it for long, because it failed the MoT on rust in 2007. I’ve had other Jaguars since, and nowadays I have an X350 2.7 diesel. But I’d like to find another good 2.9 if I can find one to relive the days that got me into Jaguars. Ideally it’d be Signal Red like mine was, a manual, and have a cloth interior. My car had a digital dashboard, so I’d like that if I could. Does anyone know of a car like this for sale anywhere? Thank you to Jaguar World for rekindling an old spark with your article.
US Jaguars
According to Google Jaguar sales continue to historically be within a couple of thousand cars year over year between the US and UK and even though it’s a British marque I think your mag would do well to devote a section every issue or possibly one or two complete issues a year to what’s going on in the US market and possibly special adverts for parts and services in the colonies. Currently I don’t see one single service or parts provider based here less SNG Barrett’s US outlet. After all it does say Jaguar World.
Porsche memories
Several fond memories were brought back when I ready our comparison feature between the Jaguar XJ-S and the Porsche 944 – because as a company director in the late 1980s and early 1990s I actually owned and ran examples of both. My 944 was an early 2.5, and my XJS was a late Celebration convertible, and at the time the two cars seemed so very different in focus. I had a BMW 635 CSi E24 between them, and at the time I thought that it did a good job of bridging the two:more sporty than my Jag and yet more of a grand tourer than the Porker. Do I agree that the Jag’s a better car? 35 year old me with his used 944 in 1988 wouldn’t have thought so, but another decade of life certainly meant that the XJS made more sense in middle age. Nowadays I drive an F-PACE, but part of me wishes I still had a sporty car sitting outside.
2002 Project I really enjoyed the feature on the 2002. I have followed the project in BMW Car from the start and eagerly anticipated each new instalment to see how it was going to develop. So often these days modified classic cars seem to lack a plan or any kind of thought in their execution, things get thrown together without consideration for the final look and feel, or how the thing will drive. Rob Richardson’s car seems to have been well thought through and exceptionally well engineered – well done Rob! I think Rob’s car might well be one of the best ‘02s in the country, if not the world, and I’m looking forward to seeing where the project goes next.
Porsche 996 frailties
You didn’t mention the Porsche 996 cylinder bore scoring (Porsche 996 at 25 years), another known issue for the 996 and first generation 997. It’s serious, costly and painful. Early 996s (3.4s) had gearbox issues and 996s tend to eat radiators too.
I own a 993 C2 manual coupé and so I was surprised that Sam Dawson quotes the 996 as ‘better built than their predecessors’. I think he’s seeing that from only one perspective, the body perhaps? Granted that key areas of an Eighties 911 — kidney bowls, sills, B-pillars – would rust from the inside out but I reckon the aircooled engines were more robust.
If I were looking at the Porsche 996 era, it would be a 986 Boxster because it’s lighter and more fun to drive in the 3.2 form, though they do suffer the same type of issues as the 996.
The first Lynx Eventer
Reading about the Lynx Eventer brought back many memories, but I thought Penelope Keith borrowed the Eventer for a very late episode of To the Manor Born, and then the awful Sweet Sixteen.
Another thing I want to point out is that the name Lynx was chosen by me at age 17 in 1966 when trying to get a discount at the local BMC agent for spare parts – the storeman wanted to know the name of the company I worked for and because I owned a 1934 Riley Lynx, I thought Lynx Engineering would do. Jaguars did not appear for a number of years after, because I started out by restoring (on my own) vintage Bentleys and other cars, until a local owner asked me to restore a Jaguar C-type; that is the point I left a job at Weslake & Co and set out on my own. Later, Chris Keith-Lucas joined as an employee and I subsequently realised he was a major asset to the business. We got on well, so I offered him a partnership, which he paid for by selling his dreadful Hyper Lea Francis, which threw oil everywhere whenever it was run. Finally, the picture of the ‘French Chateaux’ is actually our UK family home and has been for 45 years.
Geldof in a Ferrari
Wonderful article on Lynx Eventer and stories about the gifted owner Rupert Hine. Especially fun comments were from Sir Bob Geldof, including saying he was never interested in cars. A decade or two ago I used to live in Chelsea and often drove down the M4 on Friday evenings to spend the weekend in the country. More than once I saw Sir Bob in a Ferrari 308 or possibly a 328. It looked clean to me and he had a grin on his face!