NEC Classic – An Abundance of Riches

3000 cars, 300 clubs, one happy ViaRETRO-reporter: It turns out that size DOES matter!

Some of you will have read previous reports from the annual NEC Classic on the old international edition of ViaRETRO – they are still there if you wish to check them out – and one thing all of them have in common is references to the sheer scale of the event.

It is indeed huge – claimed to be the biggest indoor classic car event in Europe, filling six of the NEC’s eighteen halls, with over 3000 cars on display and 300 clubs taking part, plus dealers, an auction hosted by Iconic (formerly Silverstone) Auctions, a substantial autojumble, and various staged events with special guests. It’s impossible to see all of it in one day – even over the full weekend – and equally impossible to comprehensively report on it in one article, so I will focus on a few lesser-spotted classics that caught my eye and cover the rest with the photo gallery at the end.

I went on Friday and Saturday – both days were exceptionally, in some areas almost uncomfortably, busy and I wouldn’t be surprised if the organisers announce record attendances. My Friday visit was blighted by my 280CE breaking down less than 5 miles from home on the return journey – it took 6 (six) hours for me to get back on the back of a recovery truck. Seems a failed fuel relay unit is probably the source of the problem (a complete loss of power). As a result I took the 911T up on what was a glorious – if chilly – Saturday, and it behaved impeccably. Anyway, enough of my travel travails, on with the show…

ViaRETRO readers will remember Panther, with their mix of retro-styled roadsters, the flamboyant Panther Deville and the attempt to make a mini-limo out of the Dolomite with the Rio. However, I suspect fewer of you will recall their attempt at a mid-engined sports car – called the Solo, launched in 1989 and marketed with dubious links to Man from U.N.C.L.E leading man Napoleon Solo, this was a pretty dramatic two-seater, but it never really established itself, losing out to the not-dissimilar but much cheaper Toyota MR2. A mere 20 were built, just 12 actually sold and remarkably, ten are owned by Panther club members.

Another eye-catching rarity – two, actually – was a pair of Sunbeam Venezia Superleggara coupés one in red, the other a gunmetal grey. The result of a collaboration between Rootes and Touring to create an exclusive sporting coupé based on the Humber Sceptre for the Italian market, some 150 (there is no definitive number) were produced between 1963 and ’64. This was a new discovery for me, and I thought it looked – looks – very smart, not a little like a Lancia Flaminia in profile; it was apparently well received back in the day, but production costs were too high to complete the initially planned run of 300.

In between wandering around the stands, I checked in on the Iconics Auction a couple of times, and while many of the lots were what you might call the usual suspects, if I can use that phrase to describe classic cars, there were a few that caught the eye. One was a superb 1975 Mercedes 350SL; however, this was no regular R107 – it had had £200k “invested” in it as a project with the SL Shop. No R107 is worth £200k, but it gets worse – it had been converted to an EV, with a range of…150 miles/200km, so useless for touring. This was the first classic-to-EV conversion that I’ve seen at auction, and it sold for £40,000 against an estimate of £45-55k. Is this really the way forward for our hobby? Or am I being a luddite? Answers on a (digital) postcard below, please.

Prices still seem to be dropping – as referenced in other ViaRETRO articles, good XK Jaguars are now available for less than £75k, and a fine taiga green BMW 3.0CSL found a buyer for only £72,000, (estimate £75-85k) well under what they were fetching only a couple of years ago. While the positive side of this is that more classics are within reach of more buyers, the costs of maintenance and particularly restoration will surely mean fewer owners will “invest” substantial sums with little or no chance of any reasonable return.

Star lot in value terms was a 1986 Ford RS200 Evolution – one of four RHD examples and with only twelve – yes, twelve – miles on the clock with three owners; it sold for £435,000 against an estimate of £500-700K. Clearly this bred-for-rallying Ford will never turn a wheel, hidden away in some private collection. Oh well.

The other most interesting lot was a rebuilt 1963 ADO 17 – otherwise known as an Austin 1800 – pre-production prototype, and the oldest known “landcrab” in existence. Now this really was a museum piece rather than a classic for the road, since it is essentially a piece of BL and British motoring history, having been a test bed not only for the ADO17 but also the Austin 3-litre, but it failed to sell, with bidding petering out at £15,000.

Finally on the auction, 99 of 162 lots (61%) lots were sold, but thus was skewed by a terrible run towards the end, when 15 of the last 17 lots failed to sell. Up to that point, the auctioneers were probably thinking they had had a pretty reasonable day.

Back around the stands, the SAAB club had a historic 1949 92B on their stand – a prototype, this was the 19th iteration ahead of the final production version being approved. This 92B was not restored and wore its age well, complete with minor ding above the driver’s door. A really interesting piece of SAAB history.

Other unusual classics scattered around the vast halls of the NEC included a bright red Bond Equipe Estate, one of only two known Bond Equipe estates, not built by Bond themselves but by a private enthusiast. Built in 1990 and based on a 1970 Bond Equipe GT, it certainly looked better than the one-off Triumph TR7 estate, built by Crayford in 1978 to test potential demand, and which to my eyes just didn’t look like a properly integrated design.

There were a handful of examples of what was claimed to be the first fully electric car officially to go on sale in the UK in the tiny form of the Enfield 8000, of which only 120 were built on the Isle of Wight between 1973 and ‘76. A precursor to today?

I have to give a special mention to a stunning dark blue, almost black, with light grey velour upholstery, 1972 Lancia Fulvia Berlina. While the pretty Fulvia coupé can be found in reasonable numbers here, the Berlina – on which the coupé was based – has fared less well in the survival stakes, with no more than 20 remaining in the UK. I really liked this beautifully appointed Lancia, practically a mini-limousine. And yes, I did notice the Zagato-bodied Appia GTE – one of 167 built in total – and the gorgeous Aprilia B20 GT alongside the Fulvia!

As part of a display of East European cars could be found a white, slightly scruffy Tatra 603. With adventurous aerodynamic styling and a rear-mounted 2.5-litre V8, there was nothing conventional about this car. While its looks may divide opinion, there’s no question that it makes a considerable impact. This particular 1964 example has in the past seen track action at the Goodwood Revival.

There were rare Alfa Romeo’s on both the Owners’ Club and Alfa UK stands. On the former, a very tidy metallic grey 1985 Alfa 90 Gold Cloverleaf, and on the latter, not one, but two Alfa 6’s – built between 1979 and 1986, I was told there are just three of these on the road in the UK. These big executive-class saloons were not a success and were discontinued after just three years. Like the Alfa 6, there are just three licensed for UK roads.

Of the club stands, I was particularly impressed by the Borgward stand and its trio of svelte – and colourful – Isabella Coupés, plus a rare 1960 Isabella Combi and a 1959 Lloyd Alexander, a subsidiary of Borgward.

The Renault and the Bugatti Owners’ Clubs always put on good displays and did so again, as did the Porsche Club GB and Mercedes-Benz, while BMW’s was a lacklustre affair. The whole of Hall 8 was dedicated to the numerous Ford clubs, and Alvis, Sunbeam and the various Vauxhall clubs were among those with strong displays – more photos in the end gallery.

In the dealer hall, there were few bargains to be found – if anything, dealer prices have yet to reflect the drop in auction prices. Definitely not a bargain but a rare opportunity was a 1970 Porsche 914/6 in metallic Palma Green, with a sticker price of £79,995…classic 911 territory. Made the very fine Giallo Fly 308GT4 Dino seem a bargain at £52,950:

As usual, the NEC Classic offered an abundance of riches, with something for everyone with an interest in classic cars. I hope, however, that it doesn’t become a victim of its own success – any more visitors than were there on the Friday and Saturday would be too many; it’s already difficult enough to take uncompromised photographs!