Medlem Tony Wawryk

The Lolita is sadly such a completely imbalanced mess of a design, it hurts my eyes.

As for the 914, it might not be conventionally beautiful, but I’ve always liked it and I think the design – clean, simple lines – has dated really well, and I’d be happy to have one in my garage, even the basic 1.7-litre, ideally -as @skaanning says – in a…[Læs mere]

That little boy with his face to window of the Jaguar showroom was me back when I was about 8 or 9 years old – my father and I would regularly visit Byatts of Fenton (the dealership) to look first at their used car selection, and then at the new showroom, although the object of my fascination back then was the E-type, although that got replaced…[Læs mere]

Kai, thank you so much! That means a lot me, I really appreciate it!

Re my comment above – I see I wrote “Dino” when of course I meant “Coupe”…oops…pity we can’t edit our comments.

Smoking in cars…I remember all too well, and am delighted that people don’t do it anymore, unless they’re in their own car without passengers, and even then, the car will stink. I had my own one-man crusade against in-car smokers – at least, if it was my car, I got my own way. I had to ask one of my bosses back in the day not to light up in my…[Læs mere]

460bhp and EUR400K render the name “Runabout” completely meaningless. I wonder how heavy the new car is to require such power? Surely 120bhp and maybe EUR50k (still not cheap) would have been more suitable, and many more could have been made and sold to a wider market – but I don’t think that was ever the point. Luckily, there are still a good…[Læs mere]

A nice report to read to start the week with my coffee. The Taunus GT and the Opel Rekord P2 particularly caught my eye this time, cars we almost never see here in the UK but that I remember from my visits to Germany as a boy.

@ce – I was making a broader point regarding cars that are not what they are clamed to be, but in the above case, it’s almost worse because of the price. And even though the car was registered in 1980, you mention that the chassis is Hawk, and since the engine is Alfa, the original Stratos parts (if there are any) must presumably be the body and…[Læs mere]

“The Stratos That Wasn’t” exemplifies why I find the replica side of classic cars so irritating – so many of them carry original badging and other details without saying anywhere what they really are. I see it on Stratoses (Strati?), Porsche 356’s with Reutter badges, AC Cobra’s etc etc and almost none of them are honest enough to put a Hawk, or…[Læs mere]

One more from me for this discussion – the Triumph GT6 / Spitfire. While the Spitfire is an undeniably pretty car as a convertible, I think the GT6 – especially the Mk III – is a very successful coupe adaptation, both versions designed by Michelotti, of course. It looks purposeful and fast, altogether more sporty – and was given a bigger engine to…[Læs mere]

@holm, yes the MGB GT is a fine example – while the roadster is OK, the GT is a much better-looking car.

Based purely on the photographs above, I think the Barchetta Coupe looks better than the convertible. Staying with FIAT, the Dino Coupe which followed the Spider is at least as attractive as the convertible, though it’s not really a coupe version of the Spider. Designed of course by different houses.

A more modern example would be the Porsche…[Læs mere]

@holm, there was a project Arna there, too – perhaps your chance to save a spare?

Hello Bob, thanks for reading and commenting. What I was trying to say – obviously not very clearly! – was that the Equipe (rather than specifically the GTS) was Bond’s first four-wheeler, but your more precise account is welcomed! I’m afraid I don’t recall the Bond stand at the NEC Classic, but there’s so much to see at that show…
Great that…[Læs mere]

As some of you might remember, I worked for BL in the early 1980s and the Rover SD1 was one of our flagship cars for the corporate market, competing primarily with the Ford Granada. The Citroen was never really in that sector, and unfortunately I have no experience of them.
A good SD1 was a fine car, even with the 2300 and 2600 engines (the 2000…[Læs mere]

I have always been a fan of German cars, currently own two Stuttgart classics (one of each make), have owned two classic BMWs and an Audi Coupe, as well as a BMW E36 Coupe company car. For me, they are better – on average – than pretty much any others, though I confess my C123 has been a bit disappointing recently on the reliability side.
I have…[Læs mere]

The current A110 is, for me, the most successful “re-launch” of a classic car, and I would certainly consider one if I had the spare cash. I love the look of the original A110 but can’t actually get in one – I have tried! – and the current model (which I haven’t tried to get into, yet) honours the original’s styling while meeting the requirements…[Læs mere]

I’ve admired Opel’s since first seeing Kapitän and Rekord P2’s back in the 1960’s when I was very young, on family visits to Germany, and been a fan of many of their cars up to and including the Calibra. I ran a few of the UK versions ie Vauxhalls as company cars – a fairly dull MkII 1.6L, two Mk III SRi hatchbacks and an SRi saloon, which were…[Læs mere]