Classic Cars is the original classic car magazine. It defined the world of classic motoring 40 years ago and still does it today. Every issue is put together by our team of classic car experts and enthusiasts. Using the best expert writing and photography, the magazine helps you experience what it's like to drive, keep and restore the classic cars of days gone by. We bring the stories and people behind the cars to life - showing you how to buy, keep and enjoy your cars. Every issue of Classic Cars is packed with: - Road tests - Drive stories - Expert buying advice - News and events coverage Classic Cars is the original classic car magazine.
Welcome • As Sam Dawson picked apart the virtues and vices of two of my favourite cars, I wanted to hide behind the sofa, like seven-year-old me watching Doctor Who
‘It’s almost like driving a two-stroke – it just wants to spin all the time’ • Pete Adams is an engineer. We arrange a drive in an NSU Ro80 that engaged his brain as much as his senses
CHASING CARS
CHASING CARS
Essex extraordinaire
One for professionals? • Film star Iso Grifo up for auction at the RM Sotheby’s January sale in Arizona
CHASING CARS
RAC Rally scales new heights • Roger Albert Clark Rally sees growing crowds, pro drivers and spectacular action
Down Memory Lane in Taunton • New County Classics museum breaks new ground with old cars
Falcon slept for four decades • Revered four-door muscle car emerges in Brisbane with just two Australian owners
Next Month
Doing battle with Jensen
CLASSIC Cars
QUENTIN WILLSON • This slippage of classic car values reminds me of when they were inexpensive pleasures to be enjoyed without a thought for collectability or future values
ALEX RILEY • Anew concept car set my mind racing to the possibility of rekindling Triumph with an excitingly modern range, and maybe resurrecting BL…
ICON VS THE UNDERDOG • Can the Porsche 964 Carrera RS and TVR Griffith 500 truly be compared? They may seem poles apart, but this pair has more in common than you might think. Can the underdog from Blackpool hold the Stuttgart icon to account?
Porsche or TVR? • So, more in common than you might think, plus the Porsche suffers for its single-mindedness while the TVR unexpectedly broke its maker into the mainstream. But which comes out on top?
FANGS FOR THE MEMORIES • The 1967 AC 289 Sports wears no Cobra badging, but it sang the swansong for the original speed-crazed snake. Just 27 were made –we drive the final right-hand-drive example built
FIVE ALIVE • As Alpina builds its last BMW 5 Series remix, we sample three of Buchloe’s legendary turbocharged autobahn annihilators
‘Classics our focus for the next 25 years’ • Florian Bovensiepen on the family firm’s next, classic-orientated chapter
‘The engine was in pieces, the chassis bent and the body was matchsticks’ • Restoring a Vauxhall 30-98 from a bent chassis and a box of bits would be a tall order for any expert, let alone an apprentice restorer in his twenties. Would Piers Trevelyan be up to the challenge of this pre-War legend?
LIFE STORY OF A Wolseley 18-22 • This Wedge has played pre-production testbed, BL management car, family hack, forgotten relic, resurrected classic and historical artefact
Seven steps to buying a Mazda MX-5 MkII • With MkIs scarce and prices high, MkII MX-5s look like great value for a similar car, if you buy with well-informed caution
BOOKS & MODELS
A measured approach
Winding it up
Rotten luck
1953 Jaguar XK120 DHC £80,000 • Not one for purists perhaps, but as road-tester Sam Dawson finds, this is a classic XK-series Jaguar you can properly enjoy
2013 Morgan 3 Wheeler...