Winter Turns to Spring

As classic car fans, the beginning of Spring signals our liberation from Winter hibernation and I recently went to two events that neatly encapsulated this transition.

The first was the final major Winter show here, the Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show. It’s smaller than the November NEC Classic but still offers much for the classic car enthusiast – some 1300 cars, 165 clubs, a major auction hosted by Iconic Auctioneers, and as it’s name suggests, a focus on the more practical side of classic car ownership. As such, it’s a more manageable event than the Classic and I chose the middle Saturday to spend a few hours there.

Restoration was certainly the main theme of the Klub Klasyczna Polonia, who had set themselves a challenge to rebuild a 1976 FSM Syrena 105L over the three days of the show before driving it out of the hall. The body panels had already been restored and repainted, and the upholstery retrimmed, but complete re-assembly was required. I haven’t yet been able to find out if they succeeded, but they were certainly confident.

I really liked the 1990 Vauxhall Senator 3.0i that had been completely restored by a self-taught amateur and it looked excellent – there are only 22 Senators left in the UK and I doubt there’s a better one. Another favourite was the immaculate black 1959 SAAB 93 belonging to Jon Bentley (clearly not a believer in nominative determinism), on the Nordik Rides club display (I let the DAF 44 alongside it slide – after all, it did become a Volvo a few years later…) which also retained a very interesting historical feature. Most of you probably already know that the “H” sticker on the dash was to remind Swedish drivers that the switch from LHD to RHD was coming up, the last time such a change took place in Europe – it happened overnight on September 3rd 1967 and was known as Dagen H, or Day H. I was aware of the change, but not this “H” detail – very cool that it was still in the car and a nice bit of trivia.

The auction took place over Saturday and Sunday, with over 250 (!) cars on offer, all of them carrying estimates below £100,000 (in a couple of cases, only just) and quite a few were less than £10,000, reflecting the general nature of the show. Many of them would have made excellent Festival of the Unexceptional candidates. With so many lots to choose from, I’m going to pick just a few that caught my eye.

The FIAT 124 Sport is a rare sight in the UK, and there was a very smart silver 1976 example on offer that sold for £10,687 and was worth every £ in my opinion.

An exceptional 1990 Audi B3 Coupé in silver found a new home for £17,437, while I’ve always had a soft spot for the Triumph Dolomite Sprint, and the 1980 example in Pageant Blue that was in need of “light recommissioning” fetched £11,700; it looked like an appealing entry level classic.

I was also quite taken with a pair of elegant Daimler Sovereigns, a yellow 1974 saloon and a green 1977 coupé, which is particularly elegant – these two fetched £16,875 and £17,437 respectively. Both were in superb condition and represented fine value, I thought.

There was the usual display of so-called “barn finds”, but this time, many of them looked salvageable, although in most cases the work would need to be done by enthusiastic amateurs as most of them would not have been worth paying professionals to restore, but a reflection of the Do-It-Yourself aspect of the show.

A few more highlights from around the halls included a lovely orange 1976 Simca 1000 saloon, one of fewer than twenty left on UK roads, an exceptional 1972 Audi 100LS and a pair of big Granada Mk1 Ghia Coupé in matching metallic green – they looked very smart; I’ve always had a soft spot for these big saloon-based coupés.

The PCCRS is always a fun few hours and a pleasurable bridge between the end of the Winter season and the beginning of the outdoor classic car season here in the UK – indeed, I went to my first outdoor event the next day.

Spring arrived in the shape of the Classic Motor Hub’s first Coffee and Classics morning of the year and there was lots of interesting machinery driven to the venue by visitors, as well as a chance to browse the Hub’s fabulous selection of cars for sale.

After a fun cross-country drive of c.85km on a fine Sunday morning, I parked opposite an imposing 1967 Plymouth Barracuda, got myself a coffee before the queues got too long and took a look around.

Of the visitors’ cars, I loved the Italian quartet of the red 1962 FIAT 1200 Cabriolet, the dark blue 1980 Maserati Merak, the very stylish Lancia Flaminia GT from 1963 and the 1976 Ferrari 308GT4 in Giallo Fly. The Italians used to make such gorgeous cars – I would have happily taken any of them home.

Besides the Plymouth, other cool Americana included a pair of late generation Corvette C1’s, a ‘59 in primrose yellow and white, a ‘58 in back and grey, and there was also a smart Mustang in a strong shade of blue.

The car that attracted the most attention when it arrived was the beautiful 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Volante in a stunning metallic blue, which looked even more gorgeous parked next to the somewhat less gorgeous 1996 AC Brooklands Ace – only 46 of these were made; it’s not hard to see why it didn’t sell more.

In the showrooms, a spectacular 1935 Delahaye 135MS, all swooping curves and lines was a personal favourite, but my absolute lottery-winning choice (I’m a bit short of £330k at the moment) would have been the sublime 1972 Ferrari Dino 246 GT in Giallo Fly, by far the best colour for it – just lovely.

There’s always a really pleasant “garden party with cars” vibe at the Hub; I’ll almost certainly be back later in the summer – here’s to a sunny and busy classic season for all of us!