ALFA ROMEO BERLINA: THE SPORTS CAR FOR THE FAMILY

JULY 2016 #131 $4.99

DATSUN REVIVAL
FIRST-TIME RESTORER PRODUCES A STUNNING ROADSTER
26
PAG E S

VERTIB LES
CON L
S PEC IAE
I SS U

MG TF: HOW TO BUY THE BEST

AUSTIN-HEALEY 100S: A RACING
VETERAN RETURNS TO GLORY
PLUS:
» BONHAMS, SILVER
AUCTIONS
» 1937 VOLVO PV52
» JAGUAR FESTIVAL
» SEBRING IN THE
SEVENTIES
 Contents
July 2016
Classic Life
6 News & Views
Nashville goes Italian; Saabs
muster in the Rockies
8 Lost & Found
Carspotting in Amsterdam;
new clues to a mystery
10 The Goods
Posters, a De Tomaso book,
a TVR video and more
14 International News
Updates on great events
from around the globe
16 My Car & Me
Giving in — again —to the
charms of the Saab 900
18 In Our Garage
Cars come out of winter
hiding; new brakes for
the Rover
20 In Your Garage
A TR6, an Alfa and a Miata
like you’ve never seen
22 Visionaries
Harry Ferguson, the father
of all-wheel drive
24 1955 Austin-Healey 100S
» A veteran of Sebring,
restored to its former glory
30 Affordable Sunshine
» 20 terrific choices for open-
air motoring
36 1937 Volvo PV52
» This sleek prewar sedan is
a rare sight, indeed
42 International Jaguar Festival
» The inaugural event makes
a big impression
46 Driveable Dream
» This Alfa Romeo Berlina is
the perfect family car
50 Historic Racing
» Hal Crocker looks back at
Sebring in the Seventies
56 Readers’ Replies
64
2 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
Volume 11, Issue 11
Workshop
64 Restoration Profile
» A first-time restorer takes
on a Datsun 2000 Sports
70 Fix It Again, Tony
An odoriferous MGB, and
an alarming Mitsubishi
72 Supply Side
Merlin V-12s and D-types
alike relied on Lodge
74 Garage Gear
Grinders, Jaguar hose kits,
fender covers and more
Marketplace
76 Buyer’s Guide
» Shopping for an MG TF?
Read our advice first
82 Auction Profile
Affordable cars spell success
for Silver at Ft. McDowell
36
86 Auction Profile
Bonhams sets the tempo
for Scottsdale Auction Week
90 Auction News
Notable sale results from
around the world
92 Classic Ads
Intercooling, served up
with high drama
Columns
4 David LaChance
Resisting the temptation
of the rusty car
61 Bob Austin
Clubs can work miracles
63 Richard Lentinello
Our man’s all-time faves
96 Satch Carlson
Seduced by a Citroën SM 50
ON THE COVER
» Paul Garnish’s 1968
Datsun 2000 Sports
was captured by
David LaChance at the
Massachusetts Museum
of Contemporary
Art in North Adams,
Massachusetts.
 PUBLISHER
Jim Menneto, President
EDITORIAL
Terry McGean, Editor-in-Chief
Richard Lentinello, Executive Editor
David LaChance, Editor
Nancy Bianco, Managing Editor
J. Daniel Beaudry, Managing Editor
Thomas A. DeMauro, Senior Editor
Jim Donnelly, Senior Editor
Matthew Litwin, Senior Editor
Mark J. McCourt, Senior Editor
Kurt Ernst, Editor, Hemmings Daily
Mike McNessor, Editor, Hemmings Motor News
Daniel Strohl, Web Editor
David Conwill, Associate Editor
Jeff Koch, West Coast Associate Editor
Terry Shea, Associate Editor
Tom Comerro, Editorial Assistant
Jim O’Clair, Columnist/Parts Locator
Edward Heys, Design Editor
Jill Burks, Graphic Designer
Judi Dell’Anno, Graphic Designer
Zach Higgins, Graphic Designer
CONTRIBUTORS: Bob Austin, Satch Carlson, Hal Crocker,
Tony Pearson, John Schieffelin, Russell von Sauers
ADVERTISING
Jeff Yager, Director of Advertising
Tim Redden, Internet Sales Manager
Ken DeVries, Senior Account Executive
Randy Zussman, Senior Account Executive
Account Executives: James Hurley, Tim McCart,
Lesley McFadden, Heather Naslund, Mark Nesbit,
David Nutter, Collins Sennett, Bonnie Stratton,
Stephanie Sigot, Advertising Coordinator

30
MARKETING
Dan Stoner, Marketing Director
CIRCULATION
Scott Smith, Circulation Director
Kathy Ryder, Circulation Manager
Sandy Beddie, Bev Breese, Peg Brownell, Peter Church,
Dorothy Coolidge, Donna Goodhue, Eleanor Gould,
Amy Hansen, Maureen Johnson, Sunny Litwin,
Merri Mattison, Alaina Seddon, Amy Surdam
CLASSIFIED SALES/GRAPHIC SERVICES
Jennifer Sandquist, Director
Jeanne Bourn, Classified Manager
Carol Wigger, Graphic Services Manager
Mary Pat Glover, Graphic Services Coordinator
Jennifer Bono, Allen Boulet, Tammy Bredbenner, Mary Brott,
Raina Burgess, Samantha Corey, Nicole Deuel, Christopher
Drayton, Karen Gaboury, Adelaide Jaquith, Harlan Kip,
Linda Knapp, Paige Kwasniak, Peg Mulligan, Rob Randall,
Abby Shapiro, Joshua Skibbee, Missy Telford
INFORMATION SERVICES
Gregory Hunter, IS Director
Robin Burdge, Jeremy Meerwarth
HEMMINGS DIGITAL
Steve Berry, General Manager
May King, Web Developer
ADMINISTRATION
Mari Parizo, Business Manager
Jessica Campbell, Freda Waterman
FACILITIES
Rick Morse, Supervisor
Steve Adams, Brad Babson, Paul Bissonette, Joe Masia
42 CAR SHOW REPRESENTATIVES
Trisha Grande, Car Show/Event Manager
Carson Cameron, Rob Ware
Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car
is published monthly by Hemmings Motor News
ISSN# 1555-6867
www.hemmings.com
222 Main St., Bennington, Vermont 05201
• To Subscribe:
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14 Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car

P.O. Box 196, Bennington, Vermont 05201
Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car is a publication of
American City Business Journals, Inc.
120 West Morehead St., Charlotte, NC 28202
Ray Shaw, Chairman (1989-2009)
Whitney Shaw, CEO
 David LaChance
Eventually, The siren song of the rusty car
another You have to admire the courage, determination
and patience that Paul Garnish displayed in the
restoration of his 1968 Datsun 2000 Sports, a
optimist— story that begins on page 64 of this magazine.
It’s not every day that you’ll meet someone who’s
presumably, learned how to do excellent bodywork through
watching YouTube videos, or who’s built a per-
one with actual fectly serviceable paint booth out of some PVC
conduit and plastic sheeting.
welding skills — I have another reason for admiring Paul: When
a rust-free project car presented itself, he set
aside the crusty body shell of the car he’d owned
is found to take for 40 years and started over, even though he’d
already begun welding in new metal. The choice,
on the project in his words, was a “no-brainer.”
My own judgment vis-à-vis rust has not always
at a reduced been so sound.
Over the years, a number of cars with moth-
price. eaten chassis and frilly body panels have fol-
lowed me home. The thought process is always
the same: The car is selling for so little! It would
be shame to have it go to the crusher. And all it
needs is a bit of welding to be perfectly sound
again. Never mind that I have never learned to
weld, and don’t own a welder.
What happens next is that the car sits, while
my enthusiasm for the project drains away like
brake fluid through a rusty line. This is the phase
where my clueless optimism about the availabili-
ty of new body panels runs headlong into reality:
The dollar figure at the bottom of the column is
always within a few dollars of what a much less
rusty project car would cost. Either that, or the
parts are simply unobtainable.
Eventually, another optimist—presumably, one
with actual welding skills—is found to take on
the project at a reduced price. If no optimist can
be found, I end up disassembling the car and
stockpiling the good parts against some imagi-
nary future need.
But there may be hope for me yet.
A few weeks ago, I was approached about an
Alfa Romeo Duetto that was for sale. The Alfa’s
former owner was a restorer who had passed
away suddenly, and the caller was a friend of his
who had volunteered to sell the car. It needed
some work, he explained, but it was complete.
Would I like to have a look?
The shop was about an hour’s drive from my
house, in the central part of Massachusetts. The
day was bitterly cold, and there was no heat
in the building. The seller invited me in, and
showed me to the Duetto, sitting up high on
jackstands.
The shape was breathtaking, even stripped
of its interior, windshield glass, bumpers and
grille. I remember being surprised to learn that
the Duetto’s roundtailed shape had had its crit-
4 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
dlachance@hemmings.com
ics when it was new; to my eyes, it’s always been
beautiful. Even in that cold shop, I could imagine
being behind the wheel of that car on a sunny
spring day, the twin-cam engine singing happily,
the miles rolling merrily by.
The seller explained that the car was unusu-
ally complete, and original. The upholstery,
floor mats, dashboard and other parts had been
removed, and stored off to the side. All seemed
reusable. The brightwork was in good condition.
The trunk held shop manuals, and some original
paperwork, too.
The driver’s side of the car had better light, and
I could see that there were some bubbles appear-
ing in the rear quarter and along the edge of the
sill. I crawled underneath, and saw that someone
had at one time slathered on a thick layer of
Bondo in a futile attempt to keep rust at bay. The
rust came back, as it always does, turning the
bottom of the panel into an ugly brown scar.
The passenger side outer sill had already been
sliced open, and the restorer’s cutting wheel must
have had an easy time with the quarter-inch of
Bondo and weakened metal. The surgery had
revealed the remains of the middle sill panel, jag-
ged bits of rust that would flake apart at the touch.
More examination showed that parts of the
floors were being held together by the original
undercoating, and that the shelf behind the seats
was rusted through, too. On the nose of the car,
under someone’s shiny red paint, a façade of
Bondo had begun to crack, revealing white
metal underneath.
The seller showed me the dusty engine and
gearbox, over by the wall of the shop. Both, he
assured me, would have to be rebuilt.
I took all this in. The little Alfa needed both of
its sills, and all of its floors, replaced, at a mini-
mum. I rebuilt a Volvo four-speed once, but I had
no idea what kind of time, money or expertise
the Alfa’s five-speed would demand. And then
there was the engine….
The seller said he believed the car could be a
good project for the right someone, and quoted
me a $3,500 asking price. Did I think that was
fair? Knowing that Duettos sell for 10 times that
amount in average condition, I supposed that it
was. I told him I’d think it over, and left.
Even before I’d pulled out of the parking lot, I
knew what my answer would have to be. Against
all odds, I was walking away from a rusty project.
No doubt, someone would invest all the time
and money it would take to restore that car, but
that someone wasn’t going to be me. I actually
felt a wave of relief.
No doubt, Duettos are worth saving. This time,
I recognized that this car stood a better chance
with someone besides me.
 THE INAUGURAL NORTHEAST AUCTION AT MOHEGAN SUN

JUNE 23-25 I CONNECTICUT

1989 FERRARI TESTAROSSA

This striking Italian exotic has a rare color
combination, 5-speed manual transmission
and a 4.9-liter V12 engine. 23,584 actual
miles per service records, including the
15,000-mile major service. The performance
exhaust is by Tubi from Maranello, Italy.
NO RESERVE

1967 CHEVROLET CORVETTE 427/435 CONVERTIBLE
427/435hp, 4-speed manual transmission, power steering, power brakes,
white interior. Factory trim and VIN plates, recent restoration.
NO RESERVE
1970 FORD MUSTANG BOSS 302 FASTBACK
A documented 1970 Mustang Boss 302 with the original engine. One of one
equipped with 302 4V Boss engine, 4-speed wide-ratio manual transmission,
tachometer, heavy-duty battery, sport deck rear seat, trim rings/hubcaps and
3.50 Traction-Lok rear axle.
NO RESERVE

T H E G R E AT E S T P L A C E T O S E L L Y O U R C O L L E C T O R C A R - C O N S I G N N O W !
No Reserve and Reserve options are available. Contact an automotive specialist at 480.421.6694
Consign. Bid. Experience. Barrett-Jackson.com
Experience the Barrett-Jackson Auctions live exclusively on Discovery Channel,
Velocity and around the world on Discovery Networks International.
&
ALL THE CARS, ALL THE TIME. Streamed live on Barrett-Jackson.com
 Classic Life NEWS & VIEWS BY MARK J. McCOURT • MMCCOURT@HEMMINGS.COM

Bellissima! Events Calendar

Nashville, Tennessee’s, Frist JULY
Center for the Visual Arts has »
9 5th Annual Veterans Car Show
become a must-see attraction for New Jersey Triumph Association and
automotive enthusiasts since it Military Transport Association;
hosted 2013’s groundbreaking Lyons, New Jersey; www.njtriumphs.org
exhibit, Sensuous Steel: Art Deco
Automobiles. And this museum is
»
9 Deutsche Classic
Oley, Pennsylvania; 610-796-1446;
back at it with a new display of www.deutscheclassic.com
spectacular Italian exotics, titled
Bellissima! The Italian Automotive
»
9-10 Motorfest 2016
Z Car Club of Rochester; Webster,
Renaissance, 1945–1975. Guest
New York; www.zccr.net
curated by automotive historian
Ken Gross, Bellissima! is running from May 27 through October 9, and »
10 Bastille Day Rendez-Vous
highlights the visual dynamism and innovative spirit of Italian coachbuilt The Greater New York Citroën and
road cars, concepts and motorcycles of the postwar era. It includes 19 cars Velosolex Club; New York, New York;
and three motorcycles, many of which are rarely seen, including the Alfa sites.google.com/site/bastilledayr
Romeo BAT 5, 7 and 9, a 1963 ATS 2500 GT, the 1970 Lancia Stratos HF »
14-17 Keeneland Concours d’Elegance
Zero (below) and a 1957 Moto Guzzi V-8. Lexington, Kentucky;
Fellow Nashville automotive must-see, the Lane Motor Museum (www. www.keenelandconcours.com
lanemotormuseum.org, 615-742-7445), is sharing a reciprocal 50 percent
off admission discount on adult and senior ticket prices with the Frist
»
9-10 Mount Equinox Hill Climb
Vintage Sports Car Club of America;
Center, so enthusiasts can enjoy both Bellissima! and the concurrent Lane Arlington, Vermont; www.vscca.org
exhibition, Macchine Italiane: A Tour of Italy’s Motoring Spirit, which
features upwards of 35 Italian cars, motorcycles and bicycles. »
16-17 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix
Learn more about the Frist Center by calling 615-244-3340 or visiting Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; 412 559-3500;
fristcenter.org. www.pvgp.org
»
23 28th Annual Western Washington
All British Field Meet
Kenmore, Washington; abfm.com
»
23 Show of Dreams All-British
Car Show; British Cars of New Hampshire;
Hudson, New Hampshire; 603-776-6698;
www.bcnh.org
»
27-31 Fiat FreakOut; Fiat Club America;
Auburn Hills, Michigan;
www.fiatclubamerica.com
»
31 Concours d’Elegance of America
at St. John’s; Plymouth, Michigan;
248-643-8645; www.concoursusa.org
»
HARHOLDT

31 Day of Triumph; New England

Triumphs; Brookline, Massachusetts;
617-522-6547; larzanderson.org/events

Saab convertible rally

It was 30 years ago that Bob Sinclair’s brilliant idea for a fresh
900 body style forever altered the world’s perception of Saab
automobiles, and the Rocky Mountain Saab Club will celebrate
that history by making history. They aim to gather more than
200 Saab soft-tops, including every generation of 900 and 9-3
(1986-2011), on July 16 for an epic group photo in Denver,
Colorado’s, stunning Red Rocks Park Amphitheater. After a
7:45 a.m. gathering time, this photo will be taken at 9 a.m. It
will be followed by a scenic rally drive to a buy-your-own lunch
TOM NELSON

at the El Rancho Brewing Company (www.elranchobrewing.

com). The event is free, and registration is required; visit www.
rockymtnsaabclub.com for details.

6 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

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 Classic Life
From the East
Subscriber Greg Cagle’s photos of
an unidentified coupe on the streets
of Frankfurt, Germany, taken in
September 1957 when he was a boy,
rang a bell for Ricardo Ramirez Calvo,
a subscriber from Buenos Aires,
Argentina. The coupe, badged as a
Volkswagen with a “Vallore” script
on the rear decklid, “is identical to
the DDR Porsche, a kind of replica
of a Porsche 356 built in the former
East Germany on a Kübelwagen
8 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
LOST & FOUND BY DAVID LaCHANCE • DLACHANCE@HEMMINGS.COM
Amsterdam,
1970s
We came across this
carspotting scene on the
Gemeente Amsterdam
Stadsarchief (https://
www.amsterdam.nl/
stadsarchief/) and which
depicts the intersection
of Haarlemmerplein and
Marnixstraat, as seen from
the Haarlemmerpoort. No
date is affixed to the photo,
so let’s try to pin one down
by identifying the cars.
What do you see here? To
see a larger version of this
photo, and to join in the
conversation, visit HMN.
com/Amsterdam1970s.
– By Dan Strohl
chassis,” Ricardo writes. He enclosed Reimann, who were technical students
photos of the DDR Porsche, which he at the time, and constructed at the
believes may now be in the possession Linder coachworks in Dresden, then in
of Volkswagen’s museum. East Germany. Evidently, only 13 were
Following Ricardo’s lead, we discov- made. Our question now is, how did
ered that the car may have been the one get across the Iron Curtain and
creation of twin brothers Knut and Falk into Frankfurt, then in West Germany?
Recently discovered an unusual or noteworthy car? Share it with our readers. Photographs,
commentary, questions and answers can be submitted to Lost & Found, c/o Hemmings Sports &
Exotic Car, P.O. Box 904, Bennington, Vermont 05201, or emailed to dlachance@hemmings.com.
 Consignments Welcome I 888.990.3910

1996 Ferrari F50

Provenance from new | One of only 55 US Specification examples | Full Red Book Ferrari Certification

VIN ZFFTG46A5S0104794

Auctions America returns to Southern California’s historic Barker Hangar for its fourth annual California sale,
June 25-26. In 2015, the company replicated its success in the market with an impressive $15.4 million in
sales, and will continue to put its stamp on the SoCal market in 2016, lifting the gavel on a diverse mix of
approximately 300 vehicles handpicked for Southern California’s unique automotive culture.

auctionsamerica.com | follow #auctionsamerica

RM Sotheby’s 84391 • Auctioneer: Brent Earlywine AU942
 Classic Life THE GOODS BY MARK J. McCOURT, JIM DONNELLY AND DAVID LaCHANCE

COMMEMORATIVE BMW “SUNDIALS” » Noted “car-toonist” illustrator Mo Faraz

has created decal designs that celebrate two of BMW’s anniversaries for 2016: 50 years
of the 2002, and 100 years of the company, the latter represented with the silhouette
of a classic 1972 CSL. These understated and tasteful “Sundial” badges are three inches
in diameter, front-adhesive (to be displayed from inside your car’s windows), and are
made from premium vinyl. Each design is available in four colors: Gold, Mint, Sky or
Basalt. Cost: $9 each, including free shipping to the U.S. Contact: Mo Faraz; contact@
mofaraz.com; www.mofaraz.com

BAT OUT OF BLACKPOOL » The Shelby

Cobra may be the most famous Anglo-
American “hybrid” sports car of the 1960s,
but it’s not the only one. Between 1964 and
1967, American Ford dealer Jack Griffith made
a business shoehorning 195-hp and 271-hp
Ford 289-cu.in. V-8s into TVR Grantura Mk
III body shells to create a small number of
wickedly potent Griffith Series 200 and 400
and TVR Tuscan models. Kansas-based
Griffith enthusiast owner and videographer DE TOMASO » Every so often, a book comes along that’s in a symbiotic relationship
Dave Gilmore has spent more than two years with its subject. That is certainly the case with this new offering from Dalton Watson
creating a 70-minute history film about the Fine Books. You would think that the story of De Tomaso ought to deserve a highly
Griffith, its creators and the people who artful treatment in print. You’d be right, and so is the team behind this enormous, rich,
own and love them today. It’s professionally 240-page hardcover history of both the man and the marque. To call the highly detailed
produced, and a very enjoyable, heartfelt photography in this book “lavish” would be a gross understatement. They fairly leap
tribute to these unique cars; TVR fans will off the page and into your lap. Best, we would argue, is that the translation of author
thrill to this DVD. Cost: $21, including free Daniele Pozzi’s original Italian text flows smoothly, with few bumps in the tarmac. Fans
shipping in the Continental U.S. of these hybrid exotics will love the book, of that we have no doubt. Cost: $79.
Contact: Dave Gilmore; 913-488-1459; Contact: Dalton Watson Fine Books; 847-945-0568; www.daltonwatson.com
dave.gilmore@sbc.global.net

1967 JAGUAR 420 HAROLD RADFORD DHC » Guy Harold Radford was a Rolls-Royce dealer who found work during World War II
modifying vehicles for the British government, and became a coachbuilder after the war. Harold Radford Ltd. was best known for the
luxurious Minis it converted, though it occasionally turned its talents to more premium vehicles, such as this one-of-a-kind Jaguar 420,
converted for a Scottish businessman when the car was new. Matrix, based in
the Netherlands, has done an outstanding job at recreating this drophead
coupe in 1:43 scale. Everything from the to-scale leaper to the twin exhaust
tips has been recreated in exquisite detail. As you would expect in
this scale, none of the body panels opens, though
the model does come mounted to a black
plastic base, which has a clear plastic dust
cover. Incidentally, the actual car was recently
restored; its showing at the Classic Car Show
at the NEC in Birmingham, England in 2013,
might well have been the inspiration for this
model. Item number: MX41001091; Cost: $99.99.
Contact: Replicarz; 800-639-1744; www.replicarz.com

10 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

 Crossing the Block
JULY 28-30, 2016
550 VEHICLES

Left to right: 1956 Porsche Speedster, 1962 Porsche Coupe, 1967 Shelby-Cobra CSX-3302

&ODVVLF&DUV$XFWLRQ_*UHHQVERUR1&
2SHQWRWKHSXEOLF GHDOHUV
Classic Cars Auction | Greensboro, NC
Open to the public & dealers
WWW.GAACLASSICCARS.COM
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 Classic Life THE GOODS

1978 HYMERMOBIL 900 » We know what

you’re thinking: What’s an American-made
RV doing in the pages of this magazine? In
fact, despite its U.S. styling influences,
the Hymermobil is a German product.
Hymer was established in 1921 by an
agricultural trailer buider named
Alfons Hymer, whose son, Erwin,
began constructing camping trailers,
and later motorized campers, after the
war. The flagship 900, based on the
Mercedes-Benz LP 813 7.5-ton chassis,
was the ne plus ultra in luxury, tailored
for wealthy buyers in Europe and America.
Schuco’s 1:43 scale replica of the 900 has Gold—though we needed to use a powerful and this release is sure to send the faithful
been produced in a limited edition of 1,000. flashlight to get a good look at it through the into orbit. Item number: SCH4508995;
It’s beautifully detailed, and even features tinted windows. The Hymermobil 900 does Cost: $179.99. Contact: Replicarz;
a complete interior in Seventies-era Harvest have a cult following, particularly in Europe, 800-639-1744; www.replicarz.com

Bahama Vintage Grand Prix 1989 Monterey Auction 1996 Monterey Auction 1992 Klausenpass

CENTURY OF SPEED » Illustrator and lifelong car enthusiast

Dennis Simon has made an impressive 40-plus-year career out
of crafting designs and illustrations for major clients that have
included the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Smithsonian.
But it was his creation of an exhibit design system for the Collier
Automotive Museum in 1986-’87 that first allowed him to blend
his art and automotive passions. For the past 30 years, Dennis has
been designing, painting and marketing vintage car event posters
and program artwork through his poster publishing company,
Century of Speed; these incredible pieces recall graphic styles
reminiscent of past eras in motorsports history, and have been
commissioned by Porsche North America, Michelin, the Sportscar
Vintage Racing Association and more. “I blend my painting style,
composition and type design to create posters that I hope not only
document events, but more importantly, convey the passion that
enthusiasts feel for their hobby,” he explains. Radnor Hunt Concours 2012 Rennsport Reunion V 2015
Dennis has shared a small selection of the poster art that
is available for purchase through his website. Signed artist 30 inches, $165) and Radnor Hunt Concours 2012 (15 x 22 inches,
proofs include Rennsport Reunion V 2015 (24 x 36 inches, $165); his Monterey Auction 1992 (16 x 23 inches, $250) is a
$165), Bahama Vintage Grand Prix 1989 (23 x 36 inches, $300), signed and numbered serigraphic print. Contact: Dennis Simon;
Klausenpass (21 x 32 inches, $165), Monterey Auction 1996 (20 x 410-329-3983; www.centuryofspeed.com

12 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

 July 16, 2016
On the Grounds of the Historic Keeneland Race Course
Lexington, Kentucky
Featured Marque — Chrysler
Plus Classes for Classic, Vintage, Exotic Automobiles,
Horse-drawn Carriages and An Extensive Car Club Paddock
Weekend ourbon Tour, Hangar Bash, Tour d’Elegance
ceeds benefit Kentucky Children’s Hospital

7VYZJOLHUK)V_Z[LYHYLYLNPZ[LYLK[YHKLTHYRZVM+Y0UNOJ-7VYZJOL(. 2LU[\JR`.HTPUN3PJLUZL69.

 Classic Life INTERNATIONAL NEWS BY MARK J. McCOURT • MMCCOURT@HEMMINGS.COM
AUSTRIA

Driving in the last paradise
Undoubtedly one of the most intriguing
old-car events to happen in Europe each
summer is the Ennstal-Classic, now in
its 24th year. This popular—more than
100,000 spectators line the route!—
three-day time-speed-distance rally
welcomes cars from the 1920s through
1972 and encompasses more than 800
kilometers of driving through breathtak-
ing Alpine mountain landscapes, topped
by the Zenith Grand Prix in Gröbming and
a final regularity test. The Racecar-Trophy
sub-event is particularly thrilling for fans of
historic competition cars, as this three-day
run allows rally cars, GTs, Formula racers,
two-seaters and prototypes built before
1983 to participate, even those without
road-going homologation. This prestigious
ENNSTAL-CLASSIC/MARTINHUBER
weekend attracts automaker participa-
tion as well, among those being Porsche’s
Rolling Museum and Audi Tradition.
If you can bring a car to drive, or even
come to spectate for free, block out July
27-30 on your calendar and surf over to
www.ennstal-classic.at/en/home/ for the
event schedule and some spectacular
photography.

THE NETHERLANDS

Catwalk for the car

Dubbed “the largest and most prestigious catwalk
for the car in the Netherlands,” the Concours
d’Elegance at Paleis Het Loo will be held for the
12th time over the weekend of July 2-3. This historic
Dutch Baroque residence in Apeldoorn will once
again make an incredible backdrop for a number
of events happening under the concours banner:
the International Concours d’Elegance Paleis Het
Loo, where 60 cars will compete for Best of Show;
the National Concours d’Elegance Paleis Het Loo,
open to everyday cars of the past 60 years; The
Classic Sprint, a hillclimb for prewar cars; the Club
Concours, where car club displays honor the theme
“Picnic at the Palace”; and Catwalk & Elegance,
where clothing fashion and classic cars come
together. In addition, a special display will honor the
100th anniversary of the BMW company.
Individual day or weekend admission can
be purchased online, with one-day adult and
child tickets costing €20/€10 ($22.60/$11.30)
and weekend adult and child tickets costing
€17.50/€35 ($39.60/$19.80). Order yours at www.
concourselegance.com/en/.

14 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

 UNITED KINGDOM FRANCE

Special Retro Weekend

If, when you travel overseas, you value having a richly
unique experience over seeking familiar surroundings or
four-star accommodations, you’re just the sort to join in
that popular European and British pastime of caravanning.
SALON PRIVÉ 2015/MAX EAREY

One of the most special campsites you’ll find in France —

located close to the medieval town of Mirepoix — is the fun
and funky BelRepayre Airstream & Retro Trailer Park, a site
exclusively open to Airstream campers, older caravans and
the vehicles that tow them.
On July 30-31, site owners Pierre and Coline will host the
European Airstream club for a Special Retro Weekend. This
meeting welcomes all fans of retro style with a carnival-like
atmosphere of music, movies, exhibits and more, and you’ll
Cars & Coffee at the Palace receive a 10-percent discount off your stay if you arrive in a
The exclusive Salon Privé, to take place this September pre-1987 vehicle! Visit www.airstreameurope.com to view
1-3, is broadening its appeal by holding three “Cars the rates, book a campsite or rent one of the trailer park’s
& Coffee” breakfast meets at Sir Winston Churchill’s own 1940s-1970s Airstreams.
ancestral family home, the UNESCO World Heritage
Site of Blenheim Palace. This new event features a
curated selection of cars and is open to all automotive
enthusiasts, who only pay Blenheim’s “Park & Gardens”
fee of £14.90 ($21.40) per adult £6.90 ($9.90) per child
to spectate.
The first Cars & Coffee took place within the East
Courtyard on June 12 with the theme of “Supercar
Sunday”; The July 3 happening showcases “60s and
70s Classics,” with “Speed & Style” being the theme
of the final event on Sunday, August 21. For details
about these Cars & Coffee gatherings, visit www.
salonpriveconcours.com/cars-coffee/ or call events
coordinator Dan Barkaway at 011 44 1753 827632.

SWEDEN

The safest safety car?

After making Polestar its in-house performance sub-brand in 2015, Volvo Cars has been turning up the heat with
both its high-performance road cars and affiliated Cyan Racing motorsport program. The latest result of this effort
is the limited-production V60 Polestar’s selection as the FIA World Touring Car Championship Official Safety Car.
This long-term agreement sees the eye-catching Rebel Blue V60 being modified with mandatory safety gear like a
roll cage, rescue and communication equipment, so its driver and observer can lead the WTCC field ahead of races
and during incidents.
“It was an easy decision to start a cooperation with the WTCC on the Official Safety Car,” said Polestar head
of motorsport, Alexander Murdzevski Schedvin. “This allows us to close the circle from track to road by showing
customers the take-home alternative of our racing car technology, in the form of the Volvo V60 Polestar Safety Car,
at the same time being part of the vital and extensive safety work of the championship.” Follow the WTCC at www.
fiawtcc.com and check out the road-going Polestar Volvos at www.polestar.com/intl/products/engineered/.

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 15

 Classic Life MY CAR & ME
1993 Saab 900 Turbo Convertible
Kevin O’Leary
Montclair, New Jersey
M
y daughters tell me I have a prob-
lem: I keep buying the same car
over and over again. In the last 15
years I have owned six Saab 900 Turbo con-
vertibles: five “classic” 900s from the years
1989-’93, and one GM-era 1996 900 SE.
Why? The classic Saab 900 is a great con-
vertible. Its lines are beguiling and timeless.
It’s fun to drive, especially with the five-
speed. The base 160 horsepower can be
boosted another 30-50 with a tweaked APC
circuit board. The top goes down with the
push of a button. Visibility is excellent. It
seats four and has a real trunk. It’s solid and
quiet, but nimble. The exhaust has a subtle,
throaty growl. With the Bentley manual in
hand and easy access to the engine com-
partment, I can work on it myself.
My habit began in 1999 when I bought
an ’89 Edwardian Grey 900. I upgraded in
2001 to a Eucalyptus Green ’92 with lower
mileage. In 2003, I bought a red ’96 900 SE,
a GM-era, reconstructed Opel. I disliked it
as soon as I drove from the dealer. The
road feel, handling, seating position, and
exhaust sound were, well, just wrong. The
multi-stage top mechanism was a constant
aggravation. I drove it for just a year before
I reverted to a real Saab, a ’92 Eucalyptus
Green, five-speed found on eBay.
In 2006, my daughters convinced me
to get rid of the Saab and buy something
else—life was short, lots of other fish in the
sea, or something to that effect. I bought
a black ’97 BMW 328i convertible. It was
fast, smooth, reliable, and the five-speed
was like butter. I kept it seven years, though
I found it somewhat soulless and periodi-
cally missed the Saab. In 2010, I spotted a
cheap, Scarab Green ’92 900, automatic, on
craigslist, and impulsively bought it on the
street in Manhattan. When I arrived home,
my wife and daughters moaned, “Another
Saab?” Closer inspection revealed it was
a beater, with a clunky transmission, front
end issues, and dried out leather upholstery.
I decided this car couldn’t replace the BMW
and sold it a few months later.
I kept my eyes open for the perfect 900
and, in 2013, found a ’93, Scarab Green
with tan leather, on Saabnet.com. It looked
spotless and original, perfect body, leather
seats as new, parade boot, no “dash cracks,”
new canvas top, and original Clarion stereo.
The dash was real wood, and its British
owner had installed an elegant walnut,
16 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
three-spoke, E. Nardi steering wheel
(sacrificing the OEM airbag in the pro-
cess). Alas, it was an automatic, but the
price was right and I needed a Saab in
my life. After an email negotiation, the car
was shipped from Wisconsin to New Jersey.
After just a year, the automatic was get-
ting me down. Mated to the auto tranny, the
engine always felt like the car was towing
a trailer. At 75 MPH, it revved over 4,000
RPM. I searched for an antidote to my Saab
habit and found a silver, five-speed 2003
Mustang GT convertible listed on Cars.
com. But the GT was no cure, for a variety
of reasons. With its phony hood scoop,
spoiler, loud exhaust, and “Bullitt” wheels,
it screamed “MID-LIFE CRISIS.” The legroom
was inadequate for my 6-foot-4 self; my left
knee got stuck between the armrest and
steering wheel when shifting. I Googled for
a solution to make the car quieter, but found
Mustang owners only wanted to make their
cars louder. What to do? I decided to put
both cars on the market and let fate decide
which to keep. And fate came forward.
The first call was from a Saab nut in New
Hampshire prowling for a 900 he could
restore to showroom condition. He said
he would convert mine to a five-speed. I
replied “If it were a five-speed, I wouldn’t
be selling it.” He put me in touch with
Mark Gallagher at Specialized Auto in
Essex, Massachusetts, who agreed to do the
transplant, including providing the manual
tranny, clutch, pedals, and associated parts,
for $2,500. That put the conversion within
financial reach and reason.
The next call came from The Collective
Shift, a boutique advertising agency in New
York: “We want to buy your Saab for a
fashion shoot.” I suggested they rent the car
instead, for $1,000 per day. Two weeks later,
my Saab was on an estate in upstate New
York, with two skinny young models posing
for the Chloé fashion design company’s fall
campaign, whose theme was “escape.” The
Chloé website later featured a video of the
girls driving the Saab, with accompanying
narration: “On a gravel road in a deserted
landscape, two girls make their escape.
Where did they come from? Where are they
going?” I didn’t know, but I got my Saab
back intact and a rental check for $2,000.
The Saab had earned the transmission
it should have received in Trollhättan. On
Memorial Day weekend, I dropped the
car off in Essex on the way to my daugh-
ter’s graduation in Maine. It was night,
and Specialized Auto was down a dark,
wooded lane, ending at a four-bay garage
surrounded by carcasses of Saab 900s and
9000s. I had asked Mark Gallagher what
to do with the key when I left the car after
closing time, and he said, “Leave it in the
caah.” Two of my daughters had followed
me in the family minivan. When I got in,
they said, “Leaving an old Saab at a junk-
yard at night—classic Daddy!”
A month later, Mark picked me up at
the train station in a Scarab Green ’93
Saab 900 Turbo Convertible with a fresh
five-speed transmission. The wood steer-
ing wheel had been replaced with a stock
Saab leather wheel, with airbag. I admired
his work, paid the bill, and drove home
to New Jersey with the top down. Two
weeks later, a cop from Albany bought the
Mustang. I realize now I don’t have a prob-
lem; I have the perfect classic convertible,
and I’m going to hold onto it, at
least until the next time I get
the itch….
WIN A CAP!
Tell us about your
adventures with cars,
and if your story is
chosen for publication,
we’ll send you an official
Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car baseball
cap. Submit 500-600 words and one or
two good-quality digital images (300
dpi or greater, please) to dlachance@
hemmings.com; you can also put the
story and photos into an envelope and
mail them to My Car & Me, Hemmings
Sports & Exotic Car, P.O. Box 904,
Bennington, Vermont 05201. Thanks!
 BMW & MINI parts
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Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 17

 Classic Life IN OUR GARAGE

MARK J. McCOURT, SENIOR EDITOR

2000 C70 COUPE HPT; 2013 C30 T5 R-DESIGN VOLVO
A
s I write this, we’re in the second half of April,
and spring seems to finally be sticking around
for good. There was a lot less snow shoveling
required this past winter in Southwestern Vermont than
there was the previous, but that still didn’t afford me
the opportunity to pull the Volvos out of storage earlier
than typical. I missed the chance to have the C30 on the
road by its third anniversary in my care (April 6, if you’d
like to send a card), but 10 days later, it was out of the
storage bag and cruising over to Capital Volvo in Albany
for its annual oil change and general check-over. The
odometer’s reading around 15,200 miles now, so I think
a few good drives should be in store for this summer.
I also uncovered the C70 that weekend, but was
disappointed to find the battery had gone completely
flat in the five months the Coupe was zipped away. I
hooked it up to the tender, as I’d done with the C30’s a
few days prior to driving that car, but this battery wasn’t
taking a charge. Out it came, to be swapped with a
fresh Interstate I bought from our friends at Flamingo. I
was musing that I hadn’t recalled replacing the battery
on that car in my decade of ownership, and Kevin
confirmed that the one I’d brought down was at least 10
years old. Not a bad run — we’ll see if the new one has
such staying power.
In the meantime, I’m off to look at another potential
replacement for the 900 ….

DAVID LaCHANCE, EDITOR

1968 2000 TC ROVER
B
efore I get to the latest chapter in pers. He noted that the rebuilding job was properly, he explained, the calipers will
the Rover saga, I have to mention “a little time-consuming,” because of the soon stop functioning.
my 1987 Bertone X1/9. Figuring the many pieces associated with the handbrake Jimmy inserted stainless steel sleeves into
threat of snow may have finally receded, I mechanism. It’s that mechanism that keeps the bores—there’s one per caliper—to pre-
took the cover off the other day, removed the calipers in adjustment, with a ratchet vent further corrosion. Which means that
the targa top, hopped behind the wheel and that compensates for the wear of the pads— I should be able to put those pesky rear
took my first open-air cruise of the spring. if the handbrake mechanism isn’t working brakes out of my mind for a very long time.
That little car has been absolutely reliable,
which means it doesn’t always get much
ink here.
Back to the Rover. When last we looked
in, I was removing the leaky rear brake
calipers for repair. On the recommendation
of friends, I boxed them up and shipped
them off to Apple Hydraulics in Calverton,
New York, for rebuilding. Apple quoted me
a price of $235 per caliper, plus shipping.
They promised to have them done in a
week, and they kept their word.
Why had they leaked? It was the same
old story: Water that had been absorbed
by the brake fluid had pitted the bores
of the calipers’ pistons, explained Apple’s
Jimmy Mulrenan, who had rebuilt my cali-

18 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

 *THE FLEET*
STAFF MEMBER
VEHICLE RUNNING GET THE BEST
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Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 19

 Classic Life IN YOUR GARAGE BY DAVID LaCHANCE • DLACHANCE@HEMMINGS.COM

Italian, meet Italianesque

From subscriber Rob-
ert Mittenmaier come
photos of two genera-
tions of daily drivers. The
white 1963 Alfa Romeo
Giulia spider belonged
to Robert’s dad, who
bought it from the
original owner in 1967.
“Dad passed away back
in the ’70s, and I shipped
his Alfa from Mom’s
garage in California to
mine in New Jersey,” he
says. “Since that time, I
have done a very careful
refreshment of the car,
keeping it as original as
possible. The California
license plates, matching
the original paper regis-
tration issued in ‘63 to
the car, are still with it.”
The red car is an Italia,
based on a 1997 Mazda
Miata and constructed by
Simpson Design. Robert
saw a prototype of the
Italia at the Greenwich
Concours d’Elegance,
where he was showing
the Giulia. “It was love at
first sight, so I commis-
sioned the designer, Jim
Simpson, to build one for
me,” he says. “I was a tion he purchased a new seurs when driven,”
little skeptical at first (Jim ‘97 Miata, and did his he adds, “but the little
lives and works on Whid- magic. It was a little like Italia stops traffic! No
bey Island off the coast having Scaglietti do a one knows what it is,
of Seattle, Washington), Ferrari for you! yet people respond in a
but with lots of patience “The Alfa is always very visceral way to its
and good communica- recognized by connois- shape.”

Best TR
Vic Snively’s 1975 Triumph TR6 has what the Antiques Roadshow folks would call provenance—it was formerly owned
by British car historian and author Mike Cook, the former British Leyland PR guru who literally wrote the book on
Triumph Cars in America. Vic became the car’s fourth owner 17 years ago.
“I have enjoyed every minute of ownership. It is basically original-unrestored, except for an accident-induced respray
30-some years ago and a few cosmetic upgrades,” he says. As a former BL executive car delivered in Florida, it’s fully
loaded, with air conditioning, a steel hardtop, a tonneau cover, a boot cover, an AM/FM stereo and overdrive.
We contacted Mike, who had fond memories of the car. “We got ‘BEST TR’ for the plate and enjoyed the car for
years,” he says. “My wife drove it to work a lot, although she also had a TR7 Spider. It was only when I started having
much more to do with Jaguar clubs than Triumph that we reluctantly sold it and bought a 1973 Jaguar XJ12.
“I’m glad the paint job has held up—it was the result of a guy pulling out in front of my wife, resulting in the TR
having heavy damage all the way back to the front wheels.”

Want to see your car on this page? Email one or two

good, clear digital photos and one or two paragraphs
about your car to dlachance@hemmings.com, or
tuck the story and photos in an envelope and mail
them to Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car, P.O. Box 904,
Bennington, Vermont 05201. Thanks!

20 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

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 Classic Life VISIONARIES

Harry Ferguson
He proved that all four wheels could drive a vehicle
inventive heights. German U-boats had sunk so much shipping
tonnage that Great Britain was suffering critical food shortages. In
response to a government plea, he designed a new plow for trac-
tors to pull, and soon, he entered into a partnership with a young
David Brown to build his own tractor. That brought him into
contact with Henry Ford, and the two men made a handshake
deal that allowed him to market tractors in England and Ireland
that Ford had built using Ferguson’s revolutionary new three-point
hitch. Henry Ford II ended the deal in 1946, but Ford continued
to build tractors using Ferguson’s hitch. Ferguson sued and settled
for $10 million in 1952.
Ferguson had continued to dabble in both automobile and
motorcycle racing during this entire period. In 1952, the Canadian
firm Massey-Harris agreed to buy out his share of the tractor busi-
ness, and Ferguson was free to pursue his longstanding goal of
building a workable car with all-wheel drive. He tried to interest
a variety of European manufacturers in his proprietary system,
but still went all-out on his plan to build a new four-wheel-drive
racing car called Project 99. When it came to fruition, Stirling
Moss put the car in the winner’s circle at Oulton Park in 1961, the
BY JIM DONNELLY first victory ever scored in international racing by a car with four
IMAGES COURTESY ANDREW BASTERFIELD powered wheels.
Sad to say, but Ferguson was not around to witness any of this.

M
aybe you drive a Mercedes-Benz 4Matic, a Volvo S60 He had long suffered from bouts of clinical depression, and was
AWD or a Subaru. If you do, and you live in a rough cli- found dead in his house in late 1960 next to an empty bottle of
mate, you already are well taken with the bad-weather barbiturates. It could not be conclusively proven that his death
security that all-wheel drive provides. Frankly, it can get to the was a suicide. The research firm he founded continued extensive
point where you don’t want to drive without it, ever. We’ve work on developing all-wheel drive for automotive use, including
looked at the development of front drive in several entries in a version of the famed Indianapolis race car, the Novi. Ferguson
this section; now let’s look at a key player who made all-wheel did receive a measure of posthumous vindication in 1966 when
drive practical for cars. Henry George Ferguson, better known Jensen stretched its Interceptor and installed Ferguson’s system,
as Harry, can lay legitimate claim to being the Henry Ford, creating the dramatic, Chrysler-powered Jensen FF. It’s still consid-
Charles Lindbergh and Thomas Edison of Ireland, ered a landmark British sporting car.
or at least of Northern Ireland, all rolled into one.
He was born there outside Belfast in 1884,
one of 11 siblings raised in a strictly religious
farm household. His older brother Joe left the
farm to open a motoring garage, and Harry
followed him. Soon, he was gaining recogni-
tion as a talented motorcycle racer. But in
1908, he abruptly came up with a design for
a monoplane, which he built, fitted with JAP
motorcycle power and won a prize for keep-
ing it airborne for more than three miles.
Ferguson’s plane eventually crashed, but no
matter: Just that quick, he was a national hero,
the first Irishman to pilot a powered aircraft
successfully.
With that kind of accomplishment, it should
surprise no one that when Ferguson opened
his own garage, it was immediately success-
ful. When Europe exploded in 1914, however,
that launched him to even more impressive

22 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

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 Putting the S in

24 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

Sebring
The story of this
1955 Austin-Healey 100S
starts at the 1955
12 Hours of Sebring
and continues to the
present day
BY DAVID CONWILL
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LaCHANCE

T
he story, almost certainly apocryphal,
is too good not to retell: The old sports
car, one of only 50 specially produced
to promote the company in international rac-
ing in the mid-1950s, is abandoned as obso-
lete in Nassau after its last race, and finds a
second life as the plaything of a scientist in
the British Virgin Islands for the next decade.
Eventually, it is recognized and restored to
its former glory, and sees new action on the
vintage racing circuit in front of an audience
appreciative of its history.
Actually, that’s mostly true. About the only
part we can’t confirm is that it was aban-
doned after Bahamas Speed Week. Other
versions of the story suggest that a retir-
ing physician who was moving to Tortola
brought the car with him. What we do know
for certain is that this car, chassis no. 3506,
was the sixth Austin-Healey 100S to roll off
the production line at the Donald Healey
Motor Company, and was imported to the
United States in time to take part in the
1955 12 Hours of Sebring alongside the fac-
tory entry driven by Stirling Moss and Lance
Macklin.
Millionaire playboy Bill Brewster pur-
chased the car and bankrolled the effort. He,
along with one of the Rutan brothers (history
differs on whether it was Bill or Charlie),
piloted the car to 15th place at Sebring while
Moss and Macklin took first. That both cars
were able to hang with the likes of Jaguar,
Ferrari, Porsche, OSCA and Maserati says
that these were more than just Austin-Healey
100’s with Perspex windscreens.
The 100S was an outgrowth of five Special

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 25

 Test Cars constructed by Healey in 1953
and ’54. These Specials featured lightened
and strengthened chassis, aluminum-alloy
exterior body panels, engines construct-
ed of specially selected and conditioned
pieces, modified transmissions with spe-
cial clutches, shock absorbers valved to
favor race-track handling over boulevard
ride, thicker anti-sway bars, beefed-up
front brakes, a race-spec Lucas generator
and associated wiring, polished-aluminum
bumpers and racing tires. One such race-
prepped Healey 100 took third place at the
12 Hours of Sebring in 1954.
That performance at Sebring led to the
name of the special car that would fol-
low: 100S. The 100S built on the lessons
learned from the Special Test Cars. Also
incorporated into the 100S were four-
wheel disc brakes and engine modifica-
tions that pushed output of the stock 90 reduced weight combined to produce a Symes drove the car at the Montgomery
hp Austin engine to 132 hp, including a well-balanced vehicle that could keep Sports Car Races.
special cylinder head designed by Harry pace with much larger, more-powerful It’s not known how long the Big Healey
Weslake and cast from aluminum alloy for cars. raced before it went into temporary retire-
weight savings. Brewster must have agreed. It’s said he ment to the Caribbean, but in 1981, it
Other opportunities taken for weight purchased the car because, as a friend of returned to the United States, passing
savings included an alloy chassis, the Briggs Cunningham, he always bought through two owners before being disas-
Perspex windscreen, and omission of the whatever Cunningham bought, and sembled in a defunct Chevrolet dealership
overdrive unit, bumpers and folding top — Cunningham purchased the first 100S off in Texas, where it sat until 2003.
all told, the cars saved around 200 pounds the line. Brewster kept his car, the sixth off Enter Jon Savage. Jon is a lifelong sports
over the street models. The grille was also the line, and continued to enter it in sports car enthusiast — probably why his son,
reduced in size. The increased power and car races on the East Coast. In 1956, David Jeremy, was inspired to co-found Oxford

26 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

 1955 AUSTIN-HEALEY 100S
Engine OHV 8-valve inline-four with cast-iron block and aluminum Weslake head
Displacement 2,660 cc (162.2-cu.in.) Horsepower 132 @ 4,750 RPM Torque 168-lb.ft. @
2,500 RPM Compression ratio 8.3:1 Induction Twin SU sidedraft carburetors Gearbox
Four-speed manual Overall length 148 inches Overall width 60.5 inches Overall height
42 inches Wheelbase 90 inches Curb weight 2,115 pounds 0 to 60 MPH 7.8 seconds
Standing ¼-mile 16.1 seconds Top speed 118.6 MPH Source: Road & Track, March 1956

Motorcars in East Providence, Rhode
Island. It was right around 2000 that Jon
got the itch to own a 100S.
Not one to muck about, Jon went straight
to the modern-day source, contacting
Steve Pike of Marsh Classic Restorations
in Australia. Pike is possibly the foremost
Austin-Healey restorer in the world. After
a few years of correspondence, Pike was
able to tip off Jon about the 100S languish-
ing in Texas.
“Steve called me and said there may
be a car available in Texas. It had been
completely dismantled for restoration, and
I was concerned. It was in a building, an
old Chevrolet dealership that had partially
collapsed. I was concerned that I would
never be able to identify all the parts. The
parts are unique to the 100S. So I engaged
Steve Pike to fly over to Texas and he
hand-picked through all of the parts to
make sure he had every piece of the car.
That was something I would never have
been able to do. You needed someone Twin SU carburetors attach to a Weslake
with his level of expertise.” cylinder head unique to the 100S. Chassis
After extensive negotiation, Jon was no. AHS 3506 indicates this was the sixth
able to persuade the Healey’s owner to 100S off the line. Leather hood strap was
consider a sale. “That was a fairly lengthy also found on 100M cars and as a part of the
negotiation. He really didn’t want to sell “Le Mans kit” offered as a factory hop-up.
it, but I was successful in being able to
buy it.”
With Pike reporting that all pieces were
present and accounted for except an oil
cooler, Jon closed the deal and arranged
for Pike to ship the 100S to Australia in
a container for complete restoration —
culminating in the result illustrated here.
The white-and-Lobelia Blue color scheme
reflects the livery worn at the 1955 12
Hours of Sebring and shown in a photo
of Stirling Moss lapping the car in the fac-
tory entry that sits proudly on Jon’s office
credenza.
Regardless of the effort and expense that
went into restoration, the car’s rarity and
value, Jon drove the restored car fast and

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 27

 The blue interior is handsome but humble, numerous historic events: Watkins Glen, These days, Jon has moved on to another
keeping with its race-car purpose. The race Lime Rock, the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand vintage racer that is more evenly matched
numbers are neither random, nor whimsi- Prix, and many other tracks it had cam- with the cars he races against with friends
cal: 45 was assigned when the car drove to paigned when new. It’s a strong argument and family at the wheel, but he’s still quick
15th place at the 1955 12 Hours of Sebring. for owning the special Healey 100. Check to sing the Austin-Healey 100S’s praises.
any advertisement for a genuine 100S (if “They’re fabulous to drive. Incredibly
frequently, starting as soon as the car re- you can find one—only 50 production well balanced. And they’re very, very light
entered the States in California. cars were assembled, and only around and nimble. Very responsive and yet not
“I brought it straight out to Laguna Seca 40 are believed to survive) and you’ll see twitchy. It’s a very easy car to race and
and I raced it at the Monterey Historics out that ownership of the most potent of 100’s to really drive at speed on the track. You
there,” he says. practically constitutes a standing invitation have to pay attention, of course, but when
Jon kept racing it, too, entering it in to the top tier of vintage races. you get in the flow with them, they’re

28 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

 “ They’re wonderfully performing cars; they make plenty of power
for the weight and they’re just delightful to drive.
wonderfully performing cars; they make
plenty of power for the weight, and they’re
just delightful to drive. If you look back in
period, they ran with the [Jaguar] C-types,
the D-types, the [Aston Martin] DB3S’s,
the Ferrari Mondials and the Maseratis,
and they did remarkably well.”
For those who can’t find or afford a real
100S, there are certainly many alterna-
tives. The Austin-Healey 100/4 comes in
at least four distinct varieties: BN1, 100S,
BN2 and 100M. The BN1 is the original
and might be thought of as a hot version
of the Austin A90 Atlantic, Austin’s failed
attempt to produce a sporty car for the
U.S. market in accordance with the U.K.’s
“export or die” mandate of the postwar
years.
The car proved beneficial for both the
Austin Company and Healey Motors: The
former needed an export model better
suited to U.S. tastes than the Atlantic and
the latter needed a less-expensive sports
car to avoid the heavy taxes being levied
on costly vehicles in the U.K. Healey soon
joined with the Austin/Morris amalgama-
tion to form the British Motor Company.
The BN1 shares the A90 Atlantic’s four-
cylinder engine, four-speed gearbox (albeit
with first gear blanked off, making it a
three-speed transmission) and solid rear
axle. A Laycock de Normanville overdrive,
standard on the BN1, engages on both
second and third gears. The BN1 mounts
Girling 11-inch drum brakes on all cor-
ners, has a top speed of over 100 MPH
(hence the “100” moniker) and returns
18.5 MPG.
Company founder Donald Healey
understood, though, that a sports car with-
out a racing provenance is just a pretender,
and immediately entered the 100/4 in
motorsport. The 100/4 was everywhere:
Le Mans, the Mille Miglia, Sebring and the
Bonneville Salt Flats, to name a few. The
Special Test Cars and thereby the 100S
resulted from efforts to address the 100/4’s
shortcomings in all-out competition.
For street duty, the BN1 was refined into
the BN2 in late 1955. The BN2 not only
possessed a true four-speed gearbox, but
slight styling changes and a stronger rear
axle. It was also the basis for a more civi-
lized high-performance model: The 100M.
Austin-Healey 100M’s incorporat-
ed larger carburetors, a cold-air intake,
high-lift camshaft and 8.1:1 compres-
sion pistons, boosting output to 110 hp.
Hemmings.com
”
Additionally, the 100M front suspension
was beefed up and the hood louvered. A
leather belt was also supplied as a redun-
dant hood hold-down. Buyers of non-M
cars could obtain most of these pieces with
an optional “Le Mans kit” offered by the
company for retrofit.
Sports cars in the ’50s were advancing
at breakneck speed, and despite the fac-
tory’s efforts to keep abreast of change,
eventually the 100/4 was getting out-
classed. Healey took the next logical step
and modified the 100’s chassis to accom-
modate the six-cylinder engine from the
Austin A90 Westminster. The result was
the 100/6, which would lead directly to
the Austin-Healey 3000.
After 1956, the 100’s were gone from
showrooms, but hardly forgotten. They
made great second-tier race cars for many
years after production ended and the more
tractable models often saw a second life on
the street. Now, of course, they’re enjoying
a racing revival at the many vintage events
across the country and the world celebrat-
ing the Golden Age of sports car racing.
Every Austin-Healey is special, and a 100S
is even more special yet. We feel lucky to
have seen it.
• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 29
 Affordable Sunshine Our 20 terrific choices for open-air motoring
BY HS&EC STAFF
A
utomotive designers have created some beautiful head-
liners over the decades, but not one is an improvement
over the blue sky. With summertime finally knocking
on our door here in the Northern Hemisphere, we naturally
started thinking about options for al fresco motoring.
Of course, there’s more than one way to let the sunshine in,
each with its own pluses and minuses. For minimal SPF value,
there’s the good old folding cloth top, a staple of sports cars
since forever. Yes, they’re noisy in the rain, and sadly vulner-
able to vandals and thieves, but nothing’s more basic to classic
sports car enjoyment than a bit of cloth stretched over a fold-
ing steel frame. Not all designs are created equal, though; we
take you on a tour of some of the best.
A modern variation is, of course, the retractable hardtop.
Complex mechanisms and folded panels that eat up storage
space are the downsides, but the benefit is that you get all of
the comfort and security of a proper coupe with the top up. In
many ways, it’s the best of both worlds.
30 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
The targa-top craze may have been fueled by fear of U.S. roll-
over standards (that never arrived), but the design has many
benefits. You get a built-in rollover bar, and the equivalent of
a wind blocker to keep the drafts off your neck, all in one. You
do need a place to stash the panel, but engineers have been
quite clever about that, too.
Finally, we come to sunroofs, the best way to have your steel-
roofed coupe or sedan and eat up the sunbeams, too. Sliding
steel sunroofs provide security and a snug cabin, while sliding
cloth tops can closely approximate the feeling of a convertible
by making virtually the entire roof disappear. Cloth tops don’t
reduce headroom, either, as sliding metal roofs often do.
What good is a wonderful, open-air car you can’t afford? No
good at all. So we set a reasonable price limit on our recom-
mendations. You should be able to find a decent example of
all of the cars we’ve chosen for $12,000 or less. As you’ll see,
we’ve gone past the usual suspects, picking cars that we think
are good values right now, and fun to own.
 CLOTH-TOP CONVERTIBLES
1968-1985.5 FIAT 124 SPORT
SPIDER/PININFARINA
SPIDER AZZURA
Price now $6,000-$27,000
It’s not hyperbole to say that
Fiat rewrote the book on how
to design a convertible in the
late 1960s. Consider that roll-
up windows had been a selling point for a
contemporary MGB, and that a pack-away
roof with an assemble-it-yourself frame and
separate vinyl top was standard equipment
on that venerable Brit—something most
convertibles moved away from ages earlier.
Fiat’s 124 Sport Spider, later badged the
Pininfarina Spider Azzura, would show the
world how accommodating a reasonably
priced convertible sports car could be, and
set an example that Mazda’s MX-5 Miata
would aim to match in the late 1980s.
Roll-up door windows were certainly
standard equipment on the Spider, and
that wasn’t all — this car’s permanently
attached soft top was a masterpiece,
offering excellent visibility with slender
C-pillars and glass quarter windows that
retract into the body with the roof. That
roof required only the releasing of two
windshield header clasps and a push back
DAVID LaCHANCE
over the head to drop into its well, no need
to leave the driver’s seat; putting it up was
the reverse, a 10-second, one-handed pro-
cedure. Indeed, when Road & Track tested
Alternatives
MAZDA
1988-1991 MAZDA RX-7 CONVERTIBLE
Price now $3,000-$10,000
When it came to clever convertible
engineering, Mazda was on top of the game
in the 1980s with the second-generation
RX-7. This factory-built model featured
a two-piece roof: The rear section,
incorporating a glass window, was soft vinyl,
while the section over the seats was a solid
panel that folded under or could be stowed
in the trunk for a targa-style effect. Mazda
also pioneered the “Windblocker” panel
to lessen interior turbulence. With 146 or
160 hp from its naturally aspirated 1.3-liter
twin-rotor engine, the RX-7 Convertible
was a cruiser rather than a sports car, but
its refinement and cleverness make it a
characterful choice today.
the 124 Spider against the MGB, TR6 and
914, they declared it the runaway winner,
and called its convertible top the “model
of simplicity.”
But it wasn’t only the roof that put the
Spider out front. That soft top was attached
to an undeniably pretty Pininfarina body
whose lines were penned by Tom Tjaarda.
And that shapely body covered some very
modern mechanicals, including a DOHC
four-cylinder engine with a cross-flow
alloy head and Weber carburetors or fuel
injection, a close-ratio five-speed manual
BMW AG
1987-1993 BMW 325I CONVERTIBLE
Price now $4,000-$8,000
A two-year waiting list for Saab’s 900 Turbo
Convertible certainly reinforced BMW’s
decision to bring its first factory-built soft
top in decades to America. That car, the E30-
generation 325i Convertible, offered similar
performance from its 168-hp inline-six
engine, similar four-seat accommodations
and similar four-season usability under a
fully lined cloth roof. BMW’s easily folded
manual top—later power-actuated—
disappeared completely under the rear
deck, adding infinite dimension to the
ultimate driving experience. The original 325i
Convertible backed up its posh image with
genuine sporting substance, and still is a
sparkling buy.
Hemmings.com
By Mark J. McCourt
CRAIG FITZGERALD
transmission, and four-wheel disc brakes.
The engine displaced between 1.4 and 2.0
liters in its lifetime, and made between 96
and 120 hp, the latter figure being of the
rare 1981-’82 Fiat Turbo Spider.
While the humble MGB died on the
vine, Fiat’s Spider still felt fresh well into
the 1980s, a benefit of how advanced its
original design was. And that this car has
inspired a MX-5-based modern day recre-
ation says everything. Still, the original is
cheaper and more flavorful—which would
you prefer?
MARK J. McCOURT
1971-1973 TRIUMPH STAG
Price now $8,000-$25,000
One of the most maligned British cars
to reach our shores also happens to be
one of the most interesting convertibles.
Triumph’s Stag may have unusual propor-
tions with its top up, but that top covered a
functional four-seat interior under safety-
minded T-bar roof bracing. The three-piece
rear window design of 1971 models offered
better visibility than the one-window top of
later models, but both folded away neatly
and kept the 127-hp, 3.0-liter V-8-powered
grand tourer’s interior dry. Remaining
examples of this low-production convert-
ible are typically well sorted, and offer truly
distinctive open air motoring for less than
their specs would suggest.
• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 31
TARGAS AND T-TOPS
1993-1998 HONDA CIVIC
DEL SOL
Price now $5,000-$7,000
Remember these? You ought
to, because the handsome little
del Sol was the official suc-
cessor to another memorable
Honda with sporting cred, the Civic CRX.
Honda brought it to North America for just
five years, but did manage to sell about
75,000 of them on our shores. A true two-
seater with a removable targa roof panel,
and an overall curb weight that danced
around 2,400 pounds loaded, the del Sol
was more pure enjoyment than anything
based on a mass-market subcompact had
any right to expect.
While the sales totals were far from
astronomical, the del Sols that made it
here are still fondly remembered by their
owners. Can you blame them? All your
$16,000 or so bought you when they were
new was attractive styling, bulletproof
Honda reliability, intelligent packaging —
the targa roof stowed in the rear trunk —
and positively sprightly road manners. The
latter attribute was augmented early in the
model run when Honda fitted its 16-valve
Civic Si engine with VTEC variable valve
timing, added standard power steering and
stiffened the suspension considerably. That
made the del Sol as tossable as a Frisbee.
Alternatives
DAVID LaCHANCE
1983-1988 BERTONE X1/9
Price now $8,000-$11,000
When did the Fiat X1/9 stop being a Fiat? It
really never did, but Bertone, which styled
these wedgy wonders, marketed them
under their own brand for half a decade
after Fiat ignominiously pulled out of the
U.S. auto market. Aside from badging, little
on the car changed, which means that you
still get a mini-exotic, with the Fiat 128
engine mounted transversely to create a
true mid-engine layout, with dual trunks,
no less. Fiat was driven back into the sea by
rust and reliability issues, so any would-
be purchaser ought to pay a premium for
a clean Bertone, but a good one offers an
unmatched blend of Mediterranean open-
air motoring pleasure.
32 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
We don’t have a really strong grasp on
what the del Sol’s survival rate is, but feel
pretty confident that used-car lots, Internet
roaming or visiting Hemmings.com will
bear some sweet fruit. We did just that,
and located on the Hemmings website a
1995 version out of Arkansas, showing
121,000 miles, looking spiffy, stock except
for an aftermarket shift knob and JVC audio
system, asking just shy of $7,000. That’s a
lot of soup for short money. It’s consider-
ably cheaper than the Prelude coupes and
S2000 roadsters that are still knocking
TOYOTA
1987-1989 TOYOTA MR2
Price now $4,000-$6,000
For the purposes of this roundup, we’re
sticking with a few early years’ worth of the
original, W10-spec version of Mister Two.
That’s because the availability of T-bar
removable roof glass wasn’t extended to
the United States and Canada until 1987;
earlier models of Toyota’s mid-engine
economy-cum-sports car offered simple
pop-up sunroofs. It’s not as conventionally
laid out as the Honda del Sol, to be sure,
but it boasts a lot of the same attributes,
given Toyota’s well-earned reputation for
jewel-like quality. They’re still around in fair
numbers. The current price for these models
will even cover the 1988-on supercharged
version of the MR2, which spun out 145 hp.
By Jim Donnelly
HONDA
around out there.
To our view, the Honda del Sol (the
“Civic” part of the name was soon
dropped) was one of the great toy-box
cars of the Nineties. You couldn’t break
it unless you stuffed it headlong into an
overpass abutment. The interior accom-
modations were reasonably comfortable
and there were aftermarket parts galore
for them back in the day. If you want to
get your scalp toasted on the cheap, this is
a nearly risk-free way to accomplish your
objective.
CRAIG FITZGERALD
1978-1983 DATSUN/NISSAN 280ZX
Price now $8,000-$12,000
If you lived in a cultural petri dish such
as New Jersey when these cars were new,
you simply had to have one. The second-
generation Z-car is likely best known as its
ZX variant, a tight 2+2 coupe. We priced
these out on the supposition that you’d
be looking for a good driver, one of which
we located on Hemmings.com, a clean car
with faded red velour, that was seeking
$7,500. If you want to go the best-in-the-
world route, especially if it’s a turbo or 10th
anniversary edition, you’re going to crack
through our self-imposed $12,000 price
ceiling. Doesn’t matter, because the bulk
of today’s 280ZX rolling stock is built for
driving more than showing.
STEEL SUNROOFS
1978-1993 SAAB 99/900
Price now $2,000-$16,000
The unique designs of Saab’s
99 and “classic” 900 models
were unfettered by conven-
tion, in many ways being dif-
ferent from the norm, and better for it. The
distinctive body shapes of these three- and
five-door hatchbacks and two- and four-
door notchbacks, with their deeply curved
windshields located well forward of the
front seat occupants in consideration of
aerodynamics and safety, also allowed the
ideal positioning of a large sunroof that
enhanced the almost-convertible feeling
offered by the panoramic view afforded by
the wrap-around front and side glass.
Available in GLE, EMS and Turbo vari-
ants, the 1978 99’s redesigned steel sun-
roof manually slid on internal tracks — an
easy one-handed operation — locking in
place by releasing the squeeze trigger
handle. This system continued in the 900,
with S, Turbo, SPG and Commemorative
Edition models eventually receiving
standard power actuation via a console-
mounted rocker switch.
Not only was Saab’s late-99/900 sunroof
well positioned — take in the sky with a
simple upward glance, no neck-craning
required — but the engineers went to the
effort and expense to create a re-contoured
Alternatives
HONDA
1985-1991 HONDA CIVIC CRX SI
Price now $1,000-$4,500
A rev-happy 91- to 108-hp engine, buttery
five-speed and go-kart handling aren’t
the only reasons to covet a CRX Si. A
power-sliding sunroof was a signature of
Honda’s Prelude from the start, and this
breezy treat trickled down to the top-of-
the-line two-seater. The small size of this
big-fun hatchback required a new take on
the traditional internally retracting panel,
so Honda engineers designed a “spoiler
sunroof” whose trailing edge popped up
at an angle before powering back, outside,
minimally impacting interior headroom and
allowing a large opening. Honda would take
fun-in-the-sun even more seriously with the
wide open del Sol Si VTEC that followed.
steel roof skin stamping exclusively for
sunroof-equipped models. No longer was
a separate air deflector required for cabin
comfort, either the earlier built-in, pop-up
style or an exterior-mounted accessory
unit, as author Lance Cole explains in Saab
99 and 900: The Complete Story. “The
sunroof also had a small [1/4-inch] frontal
lip, which was just enough to curve the
localized boundary-layer airflow over the
aperture without actually breaking the
airflow. This reduced the drag and fuel
economy penalty normally associated with
PORSCHE
1978-1991 PORSCHE 924/944
Price now $5,000-$18,000
A vast sunroof in the form of a Targa top
was a calling card of Porsche’s entry-level
914, and that car’s replacement offered
nearly as much breeze, in a more practical
and balanced-driving package. The 924’s
optional sunroof was a manual tilt-up/
lift-out unit with a pop-up deflector, and,
when removed, it stored in a vinyl bag in the
trunk and exposed nearly the entire cabin.
Power actuation of the tilt function was
common from 1984, and, like the sunroof
itself, was standard on later 944s, including
the powerful S2 and coveted Turbo. The
944 Cabriolet offered a true top-down
experience, but a 924 or 944 so-equipped is
cheaper and equally fun.
Hemmings.com
By Mark J. McCourt
MARK J. McCOURT / ARTE LEVY
an open roof or window.”
And in typical Saab fashion, the cars
below this cleverness offered cargo-swal-
lowing practicality, nimble front-wheel-
drive handling, up to 185 turbocharged
horses from an SOHC eight-valve or
DOHC 16-valve 2.0-liter four-cylinder,
and a singular driving experience. The
EMS and Turbo variants still offer great
bang for the buck, but their values are
on the rise, so if you want to sample a
modern-classic distillation of Saab spirit,
you’d better act now.
PEUGEOT
1955-1966 PEUGEOT 403 BERLINE
Price now $2,000-$7,500
Peugeot was one of the first European
automakers to fit a sliding steel sunroof
as standard equipment in the sedans it
imported to the U.S. in the 1950s and
1960s. The 403 Berline’s generously sized,
manually operated roof panel certainly
enhanced the enjoyment of this handsome,
Carrozzeria Pinin Farina-styled family
sedan. While the 65-hp hemi-head four-
cylinder favored durability over speed, the
car’s overdrive four-speed and peerless ride
comfort won it fans like Phil Hill, who was a
spokesperson for this “Sportsedan” in 1959.
403s are rarely seen today, but offer a truly
Continental form of genteel period motoring
for surprisingly little.
• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 33
HARDTOP CONVERTIBLES
1997-2004 MERCEDES-BENZ
SLK (R170)
Price now $5,000-$14,000
To be fair, the four cars listed
on this page are the only four
hardtop convertibles that have
an NADA book value at or
under our $12,000 cap; of these, we give
the nod to Mercedes’ SLK. Why? We’ll give
you the four Ps (well, five).
Purpose. In the mid-’90s, the world
was suddenly littered with new two-seat
rear-drive convertibles: the original Miata,
Porsche’s Boxster, BMW’s Z3, et al. Most
of them were sports cars. Not the SLK: It
was designed to be a baby grand tourer—
very much in the mold of the four-cylinder
190 SL of the 1950s. It was less frenetic
than some of the competition—smoother,
more luxurious, and weighing in at some-
thing just north of 3,000 pounds, built for
comfort rather than speed. The folding
Vario-Roof hardtop that stowed neatly in
the trunk at the touch of a button was a
clue to its slightly softer mission. It’s not
just different from the other cars of the era
the SLK is often lumped in with—it’s apart
from them.
Power preferences. There’s a choice of
engines. The SLK230 Kompressor, featur-
ing a supercharged 193-hp, 2.3-liter four
good for a sprint to 60 in under 7 seconds,
Alternatives
VOLKSWAGEN
2006-2010 VOLKSWAGEN EOS
Price now $8,000-$20,000
Replacing the Cabrio, whose run ended in
2002, Eos is a design that remained largely
unchanged during its decade in VW’s lineup.
Built in Portugal, the Eos is intended more for
comfortable cruising than GTI-style high-per-
formance antics, despite the presence of VW’s
turbocharged 2.0L four or, in early models,
the VR6. Lux models are generally spendier
than Komfort models; V-6 availability ended
in 2008, but cars so equipped still command a
little more than the four-cylinder Turbo mod-
els. The facelifted 2011-and-up Eos models
are all north of our $12,000 price cap, but are
fundamentally the same machines. Newer
editions have more generous equipment lev-
els. The ’16 models are the end for Eos.
34 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
was just the start. For 2001, the AMG ver-
sion mixed in a supercharged, hand-built,
349-hp, 3.2-liter V-6, bigger brakes, and a
quicker-shifting five-speed automatic trans-
mission. (Just 2,056 R170 AMG SLKs made
it to the States.) And, for those who pre-
ferred natural aspiration, the SLK320 (also
launched in 2001) offered 218 horsepower
and excellent torque. Non-AMG models
offered a choice of manual or automatic
transmssion.
Production. Despite the AMG’s rari-
ty, Mercedes-Benz built roughly 311,000
SLK’s over the R170 chassis’ run; that
VOLVO CARS
2006-2009 VOLVO C70
Price now $8,800-$11,800
The previous-generation Volvo C70 was
available as a coupe or a convertible; from
2006, it was both in one. Volvo’s C70 was
as far away from the marque’s staid Earth
Mother/college professor ’70s image as
you could possibly get: soft curves in lieu of
T-square-inspired styling, a power retractable
hardtop blew the lid off a stodgy station-
wagon reputation, and a 218-hp (227 from
’08) turbocharged inline-five (particularly
when combined with the optional six-speed
manual transaxle) made the result sprightly
rather than stolid. Six-speeds and cloth seats
detract from value and are probably rare to
boot—so you may be able to find a fun-to-
drive C70 for less money.
By Jeff Koch
DAIMLER AG
means that there should be a good supply
of clean, garage-kept examples, and the
parts needed to keep ’em on the road, for
decades to come. That cuts down on the
exclusivity somewhat, but when you’re
getting your infusion of Vitamin D at 80
MPH, who cares?
Price. An early SLK230 Kompressor starts
at around $5,000, according to the NADA
guide; among the R107 generation, only
the ’04 SLK32 AMG breaks out of our
$12,000 bracket. As always, private-seller
and lower-mileage cars may run you more.
Caveat emptor, and all that.
MAZDA
2007-2008 MAZDA MX-5 MIATA
Price now $11,500-$13,000
The original back-to-basics Miata launched
the most popular four-cylinder sports car
on Earth, ever. As the years went on, it got
a little bigger, a little softer, a little more
accommodating, a little more powerful,
and a few more appointments were added.
Luxury options seem very much at odds with
the Miata’s original sports-car brief, adding
weight and decreasing the pure essence
that enthusiasts so crave; a retractable
power hardtop in the third-generation Miata
seemed a bridge too far. But consider: People
lamented the V-12 E-type in its day, and look
at it now. The Miata Roadster was sold clear
through 2014; newer versions will command
bigger bucks. A sleeper collectible?
CLOTH SUNROOFS By David Conwill

1956-’62 MERCEDES-BENZ 190

Price now $3,500-$10,500
Folding fabric sunroofs, both
covered in canvas and vinyl,
were popular options and
accessories on lower-priced
European cars in the 1950s and ’60s. The
“ragtop” or “sunshine top” has become an
iconic part of the U.S. sports and exotic
scene.
Ubiquitous and nearly indestructible,
the Mercedes-Benz W121 platform that
underpins both the 180 and 190 sedans is
a sadly overlooked collector car. Equipped
standard with a four-speed manual trans-

mission and riding on an independent
front suspension and single joint swing-
axle rear, the W121 appears very sophis-
ticated when compared with a contempo-
rary American car.
The 180 was the entry level car, while
the 190 has better trim and appointments
and marked the debut of the new 75-hp
OHC four. Some 180’s received sunshine
roofs, but they are more suited to the 190’s
up-market aspirations.
Both 180 and 190 share their Ponton
styling with their larger and more power-
ful stablemates, but are not covered in the
kind of luxury-car glory that distinguishes
the senior series. That, combined with
their small size and tepid performance, has
DAIMLER AG
kept them out of the limelight. of rain-slicked streets in Bonn.
There is prestige here, though. The Parts are expensive, so it pays to pick
W121 platform was tweaked into the R121 up the best example you can, but when
platform and underpinned the 190 SL you look at the low purchase price, that’s
roadster, and the M121 engine was tuned not hard to do. Better yet, when parts are
up to 105 and used in that sport tourer’s needed, they’ll be there—both because
engine bay. of the tie-in with the 190 SL and because
Add in a factory Webasto or period Mercedes is simply one of the better-sup-
accessory Golde sunshine roof, however, ported classic Continental marques.
and you have a different beast altogether. And just think of the looks you’ll get
Still very affordable, a sliding fabric sun- trundling into the European car meets with
roof turns a ’59 Mercedes 190b from a bright, cheery 190 loaded with period
taxicab to fresh-air machine that brings to accessories and open to let the driver and
mind summer cruises to the beach instead passengers enjoy sunshine and fresh air.

Alternatives

MARTINHANSV/ WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

ARNAUD 25/ WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
JEFF KOCH

1953-’63 VW SUNROOF SEDAN 1964-’75 CITROËN 2CV 1955-’61 BORGWARD ISABELLA

Price now $6,000-$36,000
We expected the venerable Type 1 to be the
best buy in this category, but as it turns
out, years of collector enthusiasm and
Volkswagen’s decision to ditch the fabric
sunroof for a conventional steel hatch after
1963 means that the majority of Beetles
are out of the price range contemplated by
this piece. Later Bugs, retrofitted with cloth
tops, are still quite affordable and have
much the same character as their factory
sanctioned elders.
Taking into account the abundance of
spares and knowledge and the incredible
simplicity of the Beetle means it might
actually be the best buy on this list in the
long run, but the initial buy-in is steeper.
Price now $8,000-$34,500
Citroën’s unsophisticated car for unsophis-
ticated folk, with a memorable shape and
mechanical simplicity, was on par with the
Volkswagen. Better yet, every one of the
passenger models had a sliding fabric roof
right from the factory. The intent was prac-
tical, allowing oversized objects to stick out
the top of the car, but the effect was just as
pleasant as any luxury accessory.
We found the pricing guides higher than
expected for 2CVs, and some informal
market research implied that a decent
example can be had well within our sub-
$12K goal. Better yet, growing collector
enthusiasm means that the pool of spares
and knowledge is actually on the increase.
Price now $4,500-$19,000
Borgward Isabella is remembered for its
handsome coupes, but even the sedans fea-
tured an available sunroof along with flashier
styling than their Mercedes 190 competition
and were praised as soundly constructed and
good-handling. Find one with the Touring
Sport (TS) gear and you’ll have a machine
capable of exceeding 90 MPH and leaving
behind a contemporary Porsche 356.
Of course, there’s a downside to all this.
Borgward is long defunct, so you can’t call
up Bremen for parts, and many have been
sent back to their home country where
interest remains. Nevertheless, plug into the
enthusiastic owners’ club, and you might be
rewarded with inexpensive sunroof motoring.

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 35

 PV History
Backing away from radical streamlining enhanced
the 1937 Volvo PV52’s understated charm
BY MARK J. McCOURT • PHOTOGRAPHY BY TERRY SHEA

36 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

I
n the days before globalization
homogenized the automotive indus-
try, a car could really be a rolling
embodiment of the culture behind its
creation. It’s true that, in its first three
decades, Sweden’s Volvo built cars that
had a distinct American influence. But
when its boldest model of the 1930s—
the streamlined PV36 “Carioca” —
proved a bridge too far, the toned-down
models that followed were welcomed
for being more in line with the reserved
Swedish national character.
You’ll be forgiven if you’ve never seen
a PV52 before. This model was built only
in 1937 and 1938, and none are believed
to have come to America until Bob and
Linda Pellerin imported this example in
1993. Prior to that, the PV had been in
single-family ownership, and its origi-
nal license plates—still mounted today,
their figures now registered as the car’s
Hemmings.com
custom antique plate designation in
the couple’s home state of Virginia—
show that it once resided in Gävleborg,
a county on the central-east coast of
Sweden.
The cars Volvo built in the 1930s
evolved in engineering and styling
as much as did American cars of that
decade. And this inherently conservative
automaker launched two distinct model
lines in 1935: the traditionally upright-
• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 37

appearing PV658 and its deluxe PV659
counterpart, and the rakish PV36. The lat-
ter, whose “Carioca” nickname came from
a popular Brazilian dance and of which
just 500 were built, represented a number
of innovations for Volvo. It was designed
and styled by the Swedish-American Ivan
Örnberg, whose position, prior to moving
to Gothenburg circa 1932, had been chief
engineer at the Hupp Motor Car Company.
The integrated lines of the PV36 were
coincidentally similar to those of the 1934
Hupmobile Aerodynamic, as well as the
Chrysler and De Soto Airflows, and it intro-
duced a pressed-steel body and indepen-
dent coil-spring front and leaf-spring live
axle with anti-roll-bar rear suspensions to
the marque. That PV — whose lines appear
pleasing to modern eyes — was substan-
tially more expensive than other contem-
porary Volvos, as well as being considered
38 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
Recreating the
deluxe interior
fabrics and
marbleized steering
wheel of the PV52
was very challenging,
but the results were
worth the effort
and expense; note
the folding front
seat, making a bed
for 1930s Swedish
motorists.
too flashy, and was a commercial flop.
Luckily, Örnberg had also been over-
seeing development of a less-expensive
model that would compete with imported
DKWs, Fords and Opels, and which would
appear three months after his unexpected
death in August 1936. That model, which
incorporated less avant-garde front end
styling likely penned by former Studebaker
stylist Edward Lindberg, was the PV51.
This more basic, lower-cost model (5,800
vs. 8,500 kronor) shared its general body
shape and side-valve engine with the
Carioca, and would soon spawn a deluxe
version, our feature model PV52.
There was little to differentiate the
52 from the 51 externally, aside from a
wider range of available colors and two
windshield wipers; both shared all-steel,
body-on-frame construction (with a solid
roof, rather than the PV36’s leathercloth
insert), one-piece front and rear glass,
B pillar-hinged doors and body color-
painted grilles with Volvo’s traditional
diagonal iron mark. Inside was a different
story, as the uplevel model featured a stan-
dard heater and defroster, handsome wool
upholstery, and a front seat that folded
down to form a sleeping platform with the
rear seats. Other niceties included a banjo-
spoke steering wheel, electric clock, rear
seat reading lamp, door armrests, deluxe
horns and driver and passenger sun visors.
Under the characteristic V-shaped hood
was a 3.7-liter straight-six that had also
been engineered by the talented Örnberg,
and built by Volvo’s in-house engine sup-
plier, Pentaverken. This four-main-bearing
engine displaced 3,670 cc through its
84.14 x 110 mm bore and stroke, and with
a 6.1:1 compression ratio and automatic
choke-equipped downdraft carburetor, it
OWNER’S STORY

W hen you choose to restore a rare car, you quickly find it’s not like getting parts for
a 1932 Ford, which you can find without too much trouble. Every little thing was a
big deal, especially getting the details correct. But the car speaks for itself now, and we’ve
been surprised at how much attention it attracts—it’s not a red Ferrari, and doesn’t get
that kind of interest, but people who like antique cars enjoy the PV52. It’s nice for it to be
recognized and to win honors at various concours.
We met a lot of interesting people through this project, and developed some personal
friendships. I can take credit for persevering on this, but I didn’t do the work—I’d like to
acknowledge and thank all the people who helped make this Volvo what it is today. Now
I’m enjoying being its caretaker. –Bob Pellerin

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 39

 1937 VOLVO PV52
Engine Sidevalve inline-six, cast-iron block and head Displacement 3,670 cc (223.96-cu.
in.) Horsepower 86 at 3,400 RPM Compression ratio 6.1:1 Induction Carter downdraft
carburetor Gearbox Three-speed manual, synchromesh on 2-3 Suspension Solid axles,
LERIN

leaf springs, friction shocks Brakes Four-wheel hydraulic drums Tires 16 x 6.25-inch
COURTESY OF BOB PEL

Wheelbase 113.4 inches Length 185 inches Width 68 inches Curb weight 3,285 pounds

The 3.7-liter sidevalve straight-six makes
86 hp running on gasoline. The original
owning family shared an old photo of the
producer gas rig that allowed the engine to
make 50 hp in times of austerity.
made 86 hp at 3,400 RPM, along with an
unspecified amount of torque. This was
sent to the rear wheels through a column-
shifted three-speed manual gearbox with
synchromesh on second and top. Solid
axles and leaf springs underpinned this
car, front and rear.
The total 1937-’38 PV52 production
of 1,046 cars was reasonable by Volvo’s
standards of the day, representing roughly
half that of the cheaper PV51 (1,754, plus
205 rolling chassis). The Pellerins’ car was
one of 1,804 that Volvo built in 1937,
the year the company’s 25,000th vehicle
left Gothenburg. We were interested to
learn what drew them to such a rare and
offbeat prewar car—and what made them
consider a Volvo. “I like unusual cars, and
cars from the prewar era,” Bob tells us.
“My first car was a 1960 Panhard Dyna,
and I next owned a Citroën ID19. I now
also have a 1936 Austin Ten Sherbourne
and 1938 Standard Flying Ten.”
When it comes to Volvos, he is a fan of
the 1800 series and loves driving his 1973
ES, but it was a 1964 PV544 that Bob took
in partial trade for performing dental work
back in the mid-1980s that would catch
Linda’s fancy. “She told me it was the ugli-
est thing she’d ever seen,” he says with a
grin. “I had it restored, and lo and behold,
it became her favorite car to drive. She
even brought it up to the Summit Point
Raceway, took driving lessons there, and
raced it on the track!
“I was getting parts for the 544 from
Peter Nielsen, owner of Swedish Classics,
in Oxford, Maryland, and established a
relationship with him,” Bob continues. “He
was making trips back and forth to Sweden
to get parts for his company in those days,
and told me about this car, which was still
with its original family. Peter put me in
touch with that family, and we traded pic-
tures back and forth. One of them showed
it with one of those World War II-era gen-
gas units on the bumper, which allowed
the engine to burn producer gas made from
wood chips or charcoal when gasoline
wasn’t available. The PV52 hadn’t been
restored, although they were very honest,
and pointed out some Bondo in a fender.
“At that time, the Swedish krona was not
worth much, and we got a pretty reason-
able price. Peter shipped it over here in
a container, with his parts; the car came
with its own spare carburetors and extra
fenders,” he says. Linda adds, “It was in
good driving shape. We drove it for several
years, and really had fun with it.”
The couple also enjoyed showing the
car in those early years, and it really turned
heads, especially at Volvo Club of America

40 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

events, where, unsurprisingly, it was a huge
draw. But Bob, being a longtime member of
the Antique Automobile Club of America,
wanted the PV52 to be able to compete
for that organization’s prestigious Junior,
Senior and Grand National awards. He
commissioned a comprehensive, body-off
cosmetic restoration that would ultimately
involve purchasing a 1937 PV51 for refer-
ence, and take three restorers and numer-
ous talented specialists 11 years to finish.
“The car first went to the man who did a
nice job restoring my Mustang; I expected
the same with the Volvo, but he got burned
out on it, and after five years, it was still
in pieces, so I pulled the plug. Another
friend, a local Chevy guy, wanted to help
me out, but after two months, he too got
overwhelmed, and said he didn’t want to
ruin our friendship. That’s when we found
Alan Auto Volvo Service,” he remembers.
“The Owls Head Transportation Museum
in Maine had a P1900 on display that Alan
Prosser [Profile in Excellence, HS&EC
#111] had restored; I examined it, and
thought it was done beautifully. I’d set
his name aside, and called him in 2005,
when I got desperate. Alan had a Swede
named Hans Mattson who worked with
him, and who took to our car. He knew
the history of Volvo, and was happy to do
the work right.”
While the PV52’s fine-running engine
would simply be repainted, every other
aspect of the body and chassis was
attended to. Rust perforation was dis-
covered in the floors, trunk, inner wheel
arches and fenders, all of which required
careful patching and re-working. Buying
that PV51 — it came from a former Volvo
dealer there in Maine, whom Bob came to
know through the VCOA — helped a great
deal when determining sheetmetal con-
tours, use of body hardware and countless
other points.
The interior restoration was even more
involved than the exterior, as the rusty
rose-colored piqué wool upholstery
and matching wool headliner weren’t
available — even the PV52 in the Volvo
Museum in Sweden had been restored with
incorrect fabrics! The Pellerins contracted
sheep farmer Mary Scott of Serendipity
Farm & Studio in Suffolk, Virginia, to spin
and dye her wool to match intact origi-
nal, never-faded samples taken from the
car; she helped them locate a weaver in
Pennsylvania with large enough looms,
who then recreated the original piqué
used on the seats and side panels, along
with the unobtanium headliner fabric. “He
did a wonderful job, but he wasn’t going
to run enough to only do one car — I had
to buy the bolts, so now I have enough to
Hemmings.com
do about five cars,” Bob laughs. The seats,
interior panels and headliner would all
be sewn and fitted by Paul Cho of Paul’s
Custom Interiors in Virginia Beach.
When this Volvo was finally finished in
2008, it became the finest and most cor-
rect PV52 extant, and easily earned the
AACA national awards Bob sought. It took
home a class prize at the 2015 Hemmings
Motor News Concours d’Elegance, and in
February 2016, was awarded the AACA’s
prestigious S.F. Edge Trophy for its out-
standing restoration. While that restoration
means it’s no longer driven as often or far
as it once was, they do add a few hundred
miles each year, and report it feels steady
and solid on the road, with an altogether
different character than the nimble PV544.
So was it worth the time and trouble
of perfecting this unpretentious veteran
Swede? “At first glance, for many people,
it’s kind of a stodgy gray car,” Linda
muses. “But when they look at the details,
especially the interior, it captures their
attention and they get really excited—I
enjoy that.” Bob agrees, adding, “It was
a journey, restoring this Volvo, frustrating
at times and very expensive. But if I was
doing it, it would be done right. It’s great
to own a unique piece of European history
that is art, but is much more than a paint-
ing hanging on the wall.”
• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 41
 Kitty Finds Her Sunbeam
The First International Jaguar Festival event:
From Swallow Sidecar to F-Pace, under the Scottsdale sun
S
cottsdale in April. It could burn
your scalp through your ball cap,
with cloudless skies and relentless
100-degree ambient temperatures, or it
could be pleasant and mild—warm, for
certain, but that embracing sort of warm
that suggests you’re getting away with
something, the sort of weather that makes it
OK to walk around in shoes that allow your
toes to greet the changing of the seasons.
It was the latter that greeted Jaguar
fans who gathered at the Scottsdale Plaza
Resort, in Arizona, to celebrate the first
International Jaguar Festival (hosted by the
Jaguar Club of Central Arizona) in early
April. The concours was smack dab in the
middle of the week-long event — Sunday,
April 3 — and was free for the public to
The unit-body-construction Mark X was the
first Jaguar saloon to feature independent
rear suspension. Steve Kirby’s stoic black
1965 Mark X sedan, representing the name-
plate in Jaguar’s on-site historical timeline,
earned second place in the Saloon class.
The Cypress
Courtyard at
the Scottsdale
Plaza Resort in
Scottsdale, Arizona,
with its timeless
architecture dotted
with palm trees and
desert flora, proved
a most amenable
and appropriate
setting for a range
of cars as classy
and distinctive as
Jaguars.
42 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF KOCH
come in and mill around.
The show field was split into two dis-
tinct sections. Within the resort’s Cypress
Courtyard, on sidewalk and lawn alike,
were a variety of Jaguars of all vintages to
be judged or displayed. (Of the 140-plus
Jaguars in attendance, 58 were eligible
for judging, from prewar sportsters to late-
model street-stormers.) A separate section
for cars with competition history was estab-
lished on adjacent pavement. Examples
were grouped with others of their era—the
Mark 2s in that corner, E-types in the
middle, cars from the ’70s, ’80s and later
eras flanking the outer lawns.
But it was out on the front lawn, along
Scottsdale Road, that a crucial element
of the show was on display. Jaguar orga-
nized a Historical Timeline, tracing the
genesis of the marque from its humble
Swallow Sidecar foundings to the SS1, and
on through an example (or two) of every
significant Jaguar model clear up through
the new 2017 F-Pace, using immacu-
late examples to trace the evolution of
the storied marque from its earliest days.
It’s a concept that we haven’t seen that
much—pulling one example of each type
out to show a living chronology of the
marque—and one that we’d very much
like to see repeated at the marque show
of your choice. A little too museum-y?
Maybe in theory, but the venue discour-
aged such antiseptic interpretation. Better
still: no one spoke of dropping a small-
block Chevy under the hood of any of ’em.
In the 1950s,
American road
racer Walt Hansgen
couldn’t afford a
new C-type Jaguar,
so he modified his
XK120 and became
an American racing
legend. It was
raced until the late
1980s, when it was
restored. Today,
Terry Larson owns
this remarkable
piece of American
road-racing history.
Swallow built just 148 SS1 roadsters between
1932 and 1936. This 1935 example displays
the wider track, roomier front footwells, and
synchromesh gearbox of later cars. Richard
Annis and Colin Seid of San Diego, California,
took home first in the pre-XK class.
The “Knobbly”-bodied Lister-Jaguars replaced
the D-type on the world’s racing circuits as
the marque retired from competition; just
a dozen or so Lister-Jags were built. This
example won three times at Snetterton in
1958, twice with Walt Hansgen behind the
wheel, and once with Ivan Bueb.
 The XJR-5 blended British heritage and
American construction and preparation
for fans of the IMSA GTP series. A fresh
restoration that’s resplendent in its Bob Representing the XK120 in Jaguar’s Heritage timeline were these two sterling examples.
Tullius/Group 44 colors, this 1984 XJR-5 The ’54 coupe is owned by Richard Crump of Enid, Oklahoma, who won the XK120 class
now belongs to Randall Smalley of Mesa, outright; the 1949 convertible was a display-only piece by Tom Krefetz of Oceanside,
Arizona. California.

The E-type really set the sports-car world on its ear when it It’s easy to assume that the Jaguar XK sports cars of the ’50s only
launched in 1961. Five and a half decades later, it still looks evolved mechanically, but check this display-only British Racing
terrific. Craig Miles, representing the Rocky Mountain Jaguar Club, Green 1960 XK150 coupe. The body is completely different: the nose,
brought his red ’63 Series 1 E-type Coupe out for judging. roofline and body side contours give away the XK150’s identity.

Jaguar’s first-gen XJ6 sedan was in production for 24 years (with Racing improves the breed, and the XK140 MC was rated at 210
some changes along the way) before the XJ40 generation took over horsepower when fitted with the race-bred, straight-port, C-type
the saloon reins. Lyle Ferrell brought his 1987 XJ6 Series III all the cylinder head. Jill Smalley of Mesa, Arizona, brought out her stun-
way from Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the event. ning BRG 1956 XK140 to the Cypress Courtyard for display only.

44 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

Elegant saloons and convertibles have always been a part of the Recall that Jaguar started as Swallow Sidecar, makers of bespoke
Jaguar brief. Craig Venter’s green 1948 Mark IV sedan won second motorcycle sidecars. What marque timeline would be complete with-
in the pre-XK category, while the outstanding white 1950 Mk V DHC out an example of that which gave the company life? This example is
was a display-only model. Both appeared in the Heritage timeline. unrestored and occasionally re-dusted for that barn-fresh vibe.

This unrestored two-tone Mark IX saloon, with just two owners In the mid-1990s, under Ford’s ownership, the XJS was aging
from new, is owned by the Academy of Art University of San nicely; today, particularly in convertible form as seen here, it
Francisco. It drew many admiring looks from its position on the remains a stylish way to get your Vitamin D. Richard Hauger of
front lawn as part of Jaguar’s chronological historical lineup. Prescott, Arizona, brought this ’94 convertible for judging.

Philippe Reyns of Chandler, Arizona, always

has a couple of nice Jaguars on hand to
share; among the multiple Jaguars in his
ever-expanding collection, he brought a 1957
XK140MC to display at the Jaguar Festival.

Nearly 84,000 Mark 2 saloons were built
over the car’s nine-year run. On this day,
none was so highly regarded as Robert
Brown’s non-XJ-Saloon-class-winning 1962
Mk 2 that glowed in Primrose.
How do you know that the First International Jaguar Festival isn’t just any other Jaguar
show? Multiple real (not reproduction) D-types and XK-SS turn up on the lawn. Not for
judging, just to delight the crowd and make everyone slobber on their shoes. Just 71
D-types were built for street and track, and just 16 XK-SS. And here are two of each. The
XK-SS in the foreground was our April 2013 cover baby.

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 45

46 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
 Berlina!
For one family with three boys,
Alfa Romeo’s 1973-spec sedan
makes the ideal performance-
oriented collector car
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY RICHARD LENTINELLO

I
f you want a vintage Alfa Romeo, but there are three young
boys at home who enjoy going with you to car shows and
such, a two-seat Duetto just won’t do. Nor will a 105-series
GTV, due to its severely limited legroom in the rear. Instead, you
might want to consider a Giulia, Alfetta or Berlina, sporting Alfa
sedans that have the right combination of style, performance and
ample accommodations for four.
For Armando Paredes of Miami, Florida, a 1973 Berlina was
the ideal Alfa to own. A great-handling sedan with a performance
heritage and a spacious interior was his number one choice, and
the Berlina checked all the boxes. “I was dead set on buying an
Alfa,” Armando tells us. “I had three young boys, so it had to be
a sedan. I decided on the Berlina because young boys grow to be
big boys and can use the extra room over the Giulia sedan. The
Berlina has the same mechanicals as the Spider and GTV, it’s just
a bit longer. So everything is pretty much interchangeable, except
the driveshaft and exhaust pipe.”
The first Alfa Romeo sedan that was called Berlina was the
105-series 1750, which was produced from 1967 to ’72, and
went on sale in the U.S. in the 1969 model year. It replaced the
much-loved Giulia Super, and although it shared many of the
same components, it was far more modern, thanks to its SPICA
fuel injection. The 2000 Berlina was introduced for 1971 with
a more powerful two-liter engine, and then was restyled for the
1973 model year to give it a cleaner, more contemporary shape.
The late Joe Benson, in his book Illustrated Alfa Romeo Buyer’s
Guide, wrote three decades ago that the 2000 Berlina “suffers
from the same image problem that has always plagued sales of
Alfa sedans in the U.S. Traditional Alfa enthusiasts generally avoid
it because it isn’t sufficiently sporting.” But all things relating to
enthusiast cars have changed drastically over the years, and Alfa
fans now view cars like the Berlina in a much more positive light.
With all Alfa Romeos, the sweet-sounding engine is its soul, its
spirit. It’s what got Armando hooked on the marque. “I still remem-
ber seeing the double-overhead-cam engine as a kid growing up
surrounded by muscle cars,” he recalls. “That engine and the
wonderful sound it made mesmerized me in my teenage years.”
That gem of an engine is an all-aluminum four-cylinder that
displaces 1,962 cc. With its 9.0:1 compression ratio and SPICA
mechanical fuel-injection system, it develops 129 horsepower at
5,800 RPM and 130-lb.ft. of torque at 3,700 RPM. The Berlina
weighs just 2,442 pounds, and because it is equipped with a
4.56:1 final drive gear ratio, the car’s performance off the line is
very quick. And with its balanced crankshaft spinning in five main
bearings, it accelerates oh-so smoothly.
Because Armando bought the Berlina to drive, he felt a few
upgrades were in order. Front and rear side markers were replaced
with European-style items, “to keep onlookers guessing,” as he
puts it, and the “Alfa Romeo” script in the rear was removed as
well. Polyurethane bushings were installed throughout the suspen-

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 47


1973 ALFA ROMEO BERLINA
Engine DOHC four-cylinder, aluminum
block and cylinder head Displacement
1,962 cc Horsepower 129 @ 5,800 RPM
Torque 130-lb.ft. @ 3,700 RPM Fuel
system SPICA mechanical fuel injection
Gearbox Five-speed manual Suspension
Front: A-arms, coil springs, gas shocks,
anti-roll bar; Rear: solid axle, upper
A-arm, coil springs, gas shocks Steering
Recirculating ball Brakes Four-wheel
discs Wheelbase 101.2 inches Length
172.7 inches Width 61.6 inches Height
56.3 inches Curb weight 2,442 pounds
0-60 MPH 8.8 seconds Top speed 117
MPH Price, new $4,437 Value today
$10,500
sion in conjunction with lower, high-rate coil springs that were on
the car when he bought it; to increase brake feel and response,
stainless steel-reinforced brake hoses were installed front and rear.
To discover what it’s like to own, maintain and drive this
Berlina 2000, we’ll let Armando relate all the details with his
compelling insight: “My favorite aspect of owning this Alfa is
starting its engine. You wait for the temperature gauge to register,
watch the oil pressure, and blip the throttle the entire time listen-
ing to the exhaust note. Then there’s the feel; from the feedback
to the handling, it’s constant one-on-one with the road. Living
with South Florida’s insufferable straight roads, every on/off ramp
is fair game. I also know where most of the curvy roads are and
the best times to drive them with the least amount of traffic. It
exhibits a little understeer going into corners, but once she hooks
up it comes out quite nice. The handling is amazing for a live-
axle car, and the feedback from the steering and suspension is
very precise. The gearbox is smooth as silk, and works best with
a slight pause in neutral when shifting. And the highly effective
48 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
The thick wood
steering wheel and
long shifter are Alfa
trademarks; extra
aftermarket gauges
keep driver well
informed of engine
functions. The
SPICA mechanical
fuel injection is very
reliable and works
excellently, as
long as the filter is
changed regularly.
four-wheel disc brakes make it stop on a dime.”
As to the Alfa’s ability to handle South Florida’s hot weather
and its traffic-jammed roads, Armando tells us: “The temperature
gauge climbs a bit over 175, but not much. I have no issues in
Miami traffic, and it’s pretty bad down here. I, on the other hand,
will overheat severely in Miami traffic and my sons have learned
a few Spanish curse words and Italian hand gestures as a result.
But the Berlina not only keeps up with traffic, I leave it in the dust.
I guess having 4.56 gears helps. I put an air horn in right away to
get attention when needed. I’m often staring up at SUV bumpers
since the car was lowered 1 to 2 inches by the prior owner.
“Best of all, the Berlina has proven to be very reliable. The
boys and I have made several 500-plus-mile trips to Orlando
for the Viva Alfa show. She settles in at 75-80 MPH and could
drive at that speed for days. In the eight years of ownership, she
has never left me stranded, although she tried a few times. I had
an alternator voltage regulator fail and the clutch slave cylinder
spring a leak; I double- and triple-pumped it and shifted the least
“She settles in at 75-80 MPH and
could drive at that speed for days.
possible times to get home.”
”
For some reason, the SPICA fuel injection system turns some
people off, but that shouldn’t be the case. Do as Armando does: “I
change the filter regularly, drop Marvel Mystery Oil in the gas at
most fill-ups, and don’t ‘tinker’ with it. And it has been very reli-
able. I installed a Shankle Sure Start after the T.A. [thermostatic
actuator] stopped working — that’s basically a mechanical choke
cable for the SPICA. I would not swap the SPICA pump for carbs,
if it breaks; I’d have it fixed. It’s an engineering work of art with
tolerances unheard of in those days. It’s also a conversation piece
with classic car enthusiasts and young kids as well. The younger
crowd has a tough time accepting the fact that there is no elec-
tronic computer! I had an issue with it last year: The return orifice
(which regulates the fuel pressure to 15-18 psi) was clogged and
basically killed a fuel pump slowly. With help from Wes Ingram,
I found the issue and it was corrected. Wes is the guru, for sure,
and not uptight about sharing his knowledge.”
Fortunately for Armando, his Berlina, which he purchased in
California, not only had relatively little rust, but was mechanically
solid. Besides having to replace the rubber giubos, or doughnuts,
the U-joints, and both handles on the front doors, it had just one
minor electrical issue. “A common issue with Alfas is the turn
signal switch points,” Armando warns. “After decades of running
headlight full amperage through them, they stop working properly.
The result is non-functioning dash and parking lights. I installed
relays for the headlights, and cleaned up the points.”
To enhance the Berlina’s safety, which was especially important
when he first bought the car because he had two 6-year-olds and
one who was 8, Armando installed four-point seat belts in the
back and three-point belts up front. He also installed an inertia
cut-off on the fuel pump to stop fuel flow in case of an accident.
To prevent premature wear of rubber and other components
that are susceptible to ethanol, Armando only uses non-ethanol 90
octane gas. Every 3,000 miles, clean Valvoline 10W-30 oil and a
Armando and his sons —Armando, Nicholas and Michael, left to
right —pose with their beloved Berlina.
new Purolator filter replace the old to keep the engine’s internals
clean, while Liquid Glass is regularly applied to the paint to pro-
tect it against Miami’s harsh sun. And to keep the vinyl upholstery
clean and supple, Aerospace 303 Protectant is used.
Like all Alfa enthusiasts, Armando truly enjoys his time behind
the Berlina’s steering wheel. “I love to drive it, short or long dis-
tances,” he tells us. “We ride for hours at times, and I never feel
tired. The short legs/long arms setup of Alfas suits my frame just
right. And I greatly appreciate the simplicity of its design. I marvel
at how different engineers arrive at solving the same problems.”
Another positive aspect about this Berlina that Armando didn’t
expect, yet truly enjoys, is all the comments that the car attracts,
especially when he drives over to Little Havana for some tasty
Cuban cuisine. “There are numerous open-window cafés there,
and it almost always starts a conversation with other patrons,”
he says. “Communist Cuba used these Alfa Romeos for police
cars, and I believe the secret police did as well. So I get lots of
comments on that.
“I was talking to my wife, Laura, about ‘the other woman’
(that’s what she calls the Berlina) recently and how little work I
have done to it in the last few years. I have basically taken her
out of summer storage and run her through several winters with
only oil changes, really. I would not hesitate to drive this car
cross-country.”
 Sebring’s
Decade of
Greatness
Nine winners from the golden 1970s—
and a free chuckle
BY JIM DONNELLY • IMAGES INTERPRETED BY HAL CROCKER, FROM HIS ARCHIVES
Y
ou know this space in the magazine,
so you know Hal Crocker. He’s been
at the game of chasing sports cars
for a pretty good chunk of his lifetime. We
try to work with our photographers here
when it comes to generating story ideas,
so we picked up the phone, dialed down
to Roswell, Georgia, and asked Hal what
kind of a project would excite him.
With zero hesitation, Hal urged us to
do an expanded historic photo essay that
focused on the great era of transition at
Sebring that took place during the 1970s,
when world sports car racing was pivoting
from enormous sports prototypes to lighter
cars with their basis in Formula 1, exem-
plified by Ferrari and Matra-Simca. Then,
50 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
it was off to a new era of loosely produc-
tion-based silhouette race cars, typified
by the savage Porsche turbos of the late
1970s. It was also an era that saw inter-
national factory participation, and inter-
national sanctioning, both ebb and flow
with the years. You’ll see the winners of
all 10 of the 12-hour battles remembered
here, even though Sebring didn’t run 10
times during the Seventies. We’ll turn the
microphone over to Hal in a minute here
and let him explain.
“I was just looking for something dif-
ferent in terms of a story, and Sebring is
such a great race to start with,” Hal told
us. “When it comes to sports car racing in
the United States, I don’t think any one of
“IN 1970—WITH A FLORIDA HIGHWAY
Patrol car in the background, which I
thought was pretty neat—this Ferrari
512S won, with Mario Andretti, Nino
Vaccarella and Ignazio Giunti sharing
the car, but there’s more to this story
than just that. The John Wyer Porsche
917 that teamed Leo Kinnunen, Jo
Siffert and Brian Redman had led the
race for a long time until a hub failure.
They lost time replacing it, went back
out, and before too long, fried anoth-
er hub, with only minutes to go. That
put the Solar Productions Porsche 908
of Steve McQueen and Peter Revson
out front. Meanwhile, while all this
was taking place, Andretti had been
in another car, a works Ferrari 512S
roadster that he was sharing with Ar-
turo Merzario, which went out with a
gearbox failure in the final laps. Mario
made his way back to the pits on foot,
and had some words with Ferrari team
boss Mauro Forghieri, who put him in
the Vaccarella and Giunti car, which
was running out of fuel. The car came
in, they put in a splash of fuel and put
Andretti in the seat and sent him back
out. He managed to run them down
and won the 12 Hours by 22 seconds,
which was the closest finish in Sebring
history at the time.”
them generates more interest and excite-
ment than Sebring does. It’s just terrific. I
thought this was a good decade to focus
in upon.”
“THERE’S A LOT OF TALENT IN THIS PHOTO, TAKEN DURING
the 1971 race. Vic Elford is in the Martini car, a Porsche 917K;
Mario Andretti is in the Ferrari 312 PB, and Peter Revson is in the
Ferrari 512. All Formula 1 drivers, too, and in the same frame.
This is pretty early in the going, because the car is still clean.
“I WAS WORKING FOR A MAGAZINE THAT HAD
In fact, I just rechecked my notes, and it turns out this was lap
planned to cover Sebring in its April 1974 issue, only there
one, with the cars stacking up at the Green Park Chicane. Elford,
was no 12 Hours of Sebring in 1974. So I decided to sub-
teamed with Gérard Larrousse, ended up winning the race, in the
mit this photo, and several others, along with a story as
Martini car, which was fielded by Hans-Dieter Dechent. I remem-
an April Fools’ joke. The reason there was no race was
ber that at the end of the race, I was standing in the pits next to
because of the first gasoline crisis, which was then at
Vic and there was a lot of anxiety there, waiting for Larrousse to
its peak. I just wanted to provide an explanation for the
come out of the Florida darkness and turn onto the front stretch
presence of this photo in a year the race was never run. I
to come by the pits. It was jubilation when he made it. I’ll tell
don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Bill Neely, who was a
you, it was nearly as big a piece of news when two Alfa Romeo
terrific writer with a bunch of racing titles to his credit.
T33s came home second and third overall, with Rolf Stommelen
He wrote a screenplay for a movie that became Stroker
and Giovanni Galli in the runner-up spot. The lightweight Alfas
Ace and starred Burt Reynolds as a NASCAR driver. My
kept the big Porsches honest this day.”
storyline here, with the fake race report, was that Stroker
Ace had retired from NASCAR, taken up road racing, gone
to Sebring and won the 12 Hours with Walter Mitty as his
co-driver. Like I said, I meant it as a joke. Bill Neely was a
great guy; he passed away a few years ago.”
 “NINETEEN-SEVENTY-TWO WAS THE LAST YEAR THAT
the FIA, the international governing body of auto rac-
ing, sanctioned the 12 Hours for several more years. Fer-
rari showed up with its new weapon, the 312 PB, paired
Andretti and Jacky Ickx in this one, and they went on to
win the race pretty handily. Part of the reason why was
“YES, A BASIC PORSCHE CARRERA RSR DID WIN THE 12 HOURS,
that under the new FIA rules for sports prototypes, the
in 1973. That year, there was no FIA sanction, and Sebring ran
maximum engine displacement allowed was 3.0 liters,
as an IMSA race under the promotion of John Greenwood. Peter
so this car was basically a Formula 1 Ferrari with a full
Gregg, his sidekick Hurley Haywood and Dr. Dave Helmick, a phy-
body on it. Ickx is behind the wheel right here. Another
sician who actually owned the car and was a hell of a club racer,
reason why they won was because another works 312 PB,
very well respected. Peter liked to rotate his cars after Sebring.
pairing Brian Redman with Clay Regazzoni, caught fire
He was a pretty smart guy, and he realized that after running the
late in the going after having led most of the way. An-
24 Hours of Daytona and Sebring practically right on top of each
dretti and Ickx took over and won the race after starting
other, the car would be pretty much used up already. So Peter
from the front row.”
would bring out his new car for the season after Sebring. Most
of the cars in the field during the 1973 race, per IMSA rules at the
time, were production-based like this one. The previous season’s
cars were usually rotated for the first two races of the season
and then parked or sold. Gregg, incidentally, brought the Garrard
sponsorship along with him for this event.”

52 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

“SEBRING LOST ITS FIA SANCTION AFTER 1972 BECAUSE ALEC ULLMAN, WHO OWNED THE TRACK, DIDN’T MAKE THE REQUIRED
safety improvements that the FIA had been demanding. Brian Redman, who’s driving here, was originally supposed to be teamed up
in 1975 with Ronnie Peterson in this works BMW 3.0, one of the famed Batmobiles, but the FIA somehow threatened Peterson that if
he ran Sebring, it would threaten his eligibility to race in Formula 1 or some such. Peterson elected not to challenge the rule makers.
So even through his name’s still on the race car, BMW got Hans Stuck and Alan Moffatt to be Brian’s co-drivers, and guess what?
They went right out there and won the race. This stretch of Sebring was known as Flying Fortress Straight, for all the old prop-driven
aircraft that were parked there at the Sebring airport.”

“OUR FRIENDLY DOCTOR, PETER HELMICK, IS

here at Sebring in 1976 in the Ecurie Escargot
Porsche Carrera RSR that he shared with John
O’Steen. He’s chasing the winning car, another
RSR, shared by Al Holbert and Michael Keyser.
As I recall, 1976 was pretty much a clean race,
and Al and Michael kept their noses clean,
didn’t put a scratch on the car and ended up
winning the race. What’s interesting is that
before the race, I took this car out and did a
setup shot with the Goodyear blimp in the
background. Michael pulled it out onto the
backstretch runway and pulled it up beside the
blimp, and I took the photo. Both of them were
getting Goodyear money at the time.”

“GEORGE DYER OWNED THIS CARRERA RSR

in 1977 and co-drove it to that year’s Sebring
win with Brad Frisselle, a heck of a good little
racer whose two sons are driving in IMSA now
and doing quite well. Brad was really, really
good, and it didn’t take him too long to hook
up with George. Before that, he had a Nissan
Z-car that was extremely fast and won a lot of
races. We used to jokingly call him Bob Sharp’s
worst nightmare. Anyway, in 1977, there wasn’t
really that many cars, so this was kind of a ho-
hum win, if you know what I mean. I’m not
taking anything away from Brad or George, be-
cause they were both very good drivers, but I’d
say that year’s starting field was a little light
on the talent side.”

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 53

 “THE FIA WAS BACK IN 1978, GIVING SEBRING A FULL SANCTION
for the 12 Hours, and some serious equipment showed up to race.
One such car was this twin-turbocharged Porsche 935 co-driven
by Charles Mendez—who was also the race’s promoter—with Bob
Garretson and Brian Redman. He’s here diving it scary deep into
“BARBOUR REALLY STEPPED IT UP AS A CAR OWNER
the apex at the Hairpin. He’s hard on the brakes here; you can see
at the close of the 1970s. He fielded this one in 1979, a
the car’s nose just dipping down, with the flames belching out of
Porsche 935, that was shared by Bob Akin, Rob McFar-
the exhaust. Dick Barbour was coming into his own as a car owner
lin and Roy Woods, who I believe is at the wheel at this
fielding very fast cars during these years. For a promoter to take
point. I can see the driver wearing bubble goggles in-
the overall win at Sebring, well, that’s really saying something. The
side the car, and I know that’s what Roy liked to wear.
field was packed with power, and 935s took the first three spots
Dick Barbour never drove this car, but I’ll tell you what:
overall. Peter Gregg, incidentally, ended up on his roof in this race.”
He entered three Porsches and they all finished in the
top five overall, all of them, with the Akin-McFarlin-
Woods car leading the way. That’s a pretty good ac-
complishment, to dominate that way against a field
with that sort of talent and quality equipment.”

54 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

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Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 55

 Classic Life READERS’ REPLIES
overall size of the car was substantial. But
still, it was so beautiful! In the end, I opted
for a 280ZX 2+2. At least that car had more
rear seat room! Still, to this day, I can’t
walk or drive past an XJS without a longing
glance, wishing she could have been just a
little closer to being as perfect on the inside
as she was on the outside.
Craig Schellbach
Burleson, Texas
Photo op When I noticed the XJS on the cover of the
I ran across a surprise on Page 18 of your May issue I thought, another writer will
April 2016 issue: the photo of the Hybrid attempt to write about the XJS and another
Sunbeam. writer will fail to demonstrate an under-
Enclosed is a same-posed photo I took standing of the motorcar. I was happy to be
of one of my cars 25 years ago at Boeing proven wrong. David LaChance succeeded
Field, Seattle. This plane belonged to the in creating the best lead-in to a write-up
Texas Air Force at the time. I know the ’40 on the XJS, followed by one of the most
Ford is not one for your mag, but it was one accurate magazine articles I have read on
of the best cars I’ve owned. And I’ve owned the XJS. One or two minor details may have
a ’59 Porsche Convertible D, a ’55 Porsche been off, but that did not prevent a reader
Speedster, a ’55 T-Bird, a ’56 T-Bird (new), from getting a good understanding of what
and several other American collectibles. So the XJS is all about.
I do enjoy your magazine. One of the challenges a writer will be
John McLeod confronted with is that much of the data is
Port Orchard, Washington market specific and yet much of the avail-
able data does not reference which market
it applies to. For example, in 1993 Jaguar
changed the XJS bumper design from the
HE type to the body-colored type and also
changed the rear brakes from inboard to
outboard. In the U.S., we took the opportu-
nity to refer to this as an early introduction
of the 1994 model, but in Europe it was a
mid-year update and referred to as a 1993
model. So one writer could say that out-
board brakes were introduced in 1993, and
another say it happened in 1994 and they
would both be correct. But David’s writing
PS: The plane: a Boeing B17G Flying was so enjoyable and flavored with charm
Fortress. The girl: Betty Grable, posed like that any misstep was easily glanced over,
that ’cause she was pregnant with Harry much like the experience of owning a V-12
James’s child. Hey! They were married—it XJS would be. Once you get over the glow
was the early ’40s, ya know. of 12 cylinders in one car, you might wish
to drive a six-cylinder XJS. Many think it is
Jaguar’s V-12 the better XJS as it offers more sport with
I very much enjoyed your articles in the the same refinement at anything under 90
May edition of HS&EC on the Jaguar V-12 MPH.
and, in particular, the XJS, which brought Mac Ballard
back some very melancholy memories. Somewhere in Florida
Back in the mid-1980s, I tried very hard
to talk myself into buying an XJS. I loved The cover photo and the story brought back
the Jaguar mystique and the idea of a V-12 good memories. I had a 1990, same color
engine. And it was oh so beautiful! I studied as the cover car, which I bought used about
that car from all directions, but just could 15 years ago with 60,000 miles on it, for
not get comfortable with that fully packed $6,500. Someone had traded it in on a new
engine bay lacking (it seemed) sufficient Beetle at a VW dealership! I had a trusted
room even to slip two fingers between the mechanic check it out—the dealer was not
engine and the fenders. The very small rear getting much action on it and was happy to
seat never made sense either, since the let my mechanic take it for a day. It needed
56 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
about $1,000 of work, which I had done.
The car served me well as a daily driver
for about three years. It was everything
the review speaks of—a great highway
car, cruised at 100 MPH as comfortably as
other cars do at 65, was exceedingly quiet,
and yet handled and stopped well. I will
take exception to your comment about shift
points—if you keep the throttle mashed
to the floor, it will shift out of second at
redline, which occurs at 85 MPH. Not bad
for second gear! I did often dream about a
five-speed transplant, but at $5,000, it was
nearly what I had in the car.
Maintenance—I was good to the Jaguar,
and it was good to me, but I never got to
some things. To change fluid and filter
in the automatic transmission, one has to
drop the exhaust and the transmission rear
crossmember. I also vowed I would sell the
car before I changed the spark plugs—as I
recall, a good bit of the fuel-injection sys-
tem, etc., had to be disassembled to gain
access to several of them. I kept an eye on
the ones I could see, and ignored the others.
It was a complex beast.
The quality of paint, chrome, the sheet-
metal gauge, the interior—everything was
outstanding. The styling, yeah, I’m ambiva-
lent. I once saw photos of a British kit that
replaced the front and rear sheetmetal—
transformed the car into a very exotic-
looking machine. I wish I could find that
kit again, as the cars are still cheap enough
to modify.
The V-12 gave a big bump to my lifetime
cylinder count (with attribution to Peter
Egan). Eventually I got bored (it’s a regular
pattern with me) and ready for something
different, and I sold the car for what I had in
it. I have very fond memories of it.
Scott Janzen
Triumph GT6 (3 at the moment)
Triumph TR4
BMW 135i
Ford Expedition (tows the race GT6)
I read with interest the articles about Jaguar
V-12 engines and cars. Good articles; how-
ever, you really missed out when you
choose to only drive V-12 Jaguars with the
automatic transmissions in them. The 5.3L
V-12 engines built from 1971 through 1993
were over-square motors with a redline of
7,000 RPM, and really develop most of their
power at higher RPM. However, the Borg-
Warner Model 12 transmissions used in the
V-12 E-types and the GM TH400 automat-
ics used in the 1978 and up V-12 cars really
continued on page 58
 5
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Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 57

 READERS’ REPLIES
continued from page 56
never let the driver experience the engine
at those upper RPM ranges. Having these
automatic transmissions behind the V-12
just sucks most of the excitement out of the
cars. I have driven V-12 E-types with the
factory four-speed manual transmissions,
and later V-12 XJS cars that have been con-
verted to Tremec 3550 five-speed manual
transmissions. These Jaguar V-12 cars with
the manual transmissions are a TOTALLY
different experience. Having the manual
transmission behind the V-12 engine just
transforms the car by allowing the driver
to get the engine up into the upper RPM
ranges. I would urge you to revisit this
topic someday when you have the time
and editorial space in your magazine by
driving a V-12 car or two with a manual
transmission.
Steven DuChene
Via email
Celica spotting
Very interesting Buyer’s Guide this month
[HS&EC #129, May 2016] about the ’82-
’85 Celicas! I’ve always been curious about
them, but didn’t know much about them.
Not many of them made it to Michigan!
A few years ago, the guy next door to me
had a light metallic blue-colored coupe. It
was beautiful. His father-in-law gave it to
him. He wasn’t that enthusiastic about the
car. He rigged up something in the engine,
and it caught fire in his driveway on a
bitterly cold winter night, burning up the
engine and the hood before the fire truck
came. Then it was towed away. I thought it
a terrible loss.
Dave Melnyk
Via email
Bob Austin, you’re right
I just got finished reading Bob Austin’s
piece “First, do no harm” [HS&EC #129].
How those facts ring so very true. Ironically, bought a 2002 version. Of course, the IMA the concours on Sunday. Highlight of the
a car like the very Jag on the cover of the
same May issue is sitting wallowing in the
dirt down the street near my house. It’s
been there, exposed to the elements, for
who knows how long, not worth much
now. A (once) beautiful early Alfa Spider
has sat near my in-laws’ house, since my
now-wife was in her twenties… let’s just
say a long time ago. I can add a half dozen
more great collector cars that I’ve seen
without really looking for them.
Keeping a vehicle out in the elements,
especially here where I am in the Northeast, Darin Cosgrove replies:
is a slow, sure death, a demise that can
be avoided by simple maintenance and used was called a Super Brain. Check this
58 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
decent shelter. discussion thread for information about
Thanks for a great magazine, love every how I got my “dead” pack back to working
page. condition:
Edmond Gioielli ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.
Via email php/analyzing-refurbishing-repairing-
dead-hybrid-battery-pack-2000-a-19975.
Way to go, Satch html
I really enjoy all the Hemmings publica- It’s a lengthy, fiddly process, but cheaper
tions, and subscribe to all of them. I read than a $3K new replacement battery.
them from cover to cover, and I even read Other owners have had luck with less
the ads! I cover the Big Book (HMN) from work simply by trickle-charging the pack
cover to cover and I always learn some- to full voltage over a long period, which
thing from the articles. rebalances the sub-packs. Search for “trickle
I read every article and I really enjoy all charging Insight battery.” It’s also possible to
your writers. Satch Carlson is great, and I buy refurbished packs, plus there are small
enjoyed his take on the Peterson Automotive companies that offer refurbishing services.
Museum, which is just 13 miles away from Note: The voltage of the IMA battery
me. A friend of mine, Bruce Meyers, had an pack is potentially lethal.
association with the museum, and the only
thing I have to say is, it is bitchin’! A satisfied customer
Hemmings publications are da bomba! I just returned from my first ever trip to
Keep up your good work! the Amelia Island Concours. At the event,
John Sanchez I stopped by your booth and ended up
Rosemead, California signing up for a subscription to Hemmings
Sports & Exotic Car magazine. I have
Mr. Carlson, thank you so much for your subscribed to many auto magazines and
excellent story on Louie Mattar’s Fabulous can tell you, for me, your magazine is
$75,000 car. That car is a huge favorite here now my favorite. I am very familiar with
at our museum. Visitors come from all over Hemmings, but had not heard of the
the world to marvel at what he was able to S&EC magazine before Amelia Island. Very
do. Even the Travel Channel’s Mysteries at happy I stopped by the booth and met with
the Museum covered the story last year. your nice folks there.
We really appreciate the coverage. Your As for Amelia, any of your readers who
fun writing style made it all even more have never attended should make the pil-
entertaining. grimage. What a great week of events. Lots
Paula L. Brandes of people, but never felt crowded, and
Executive Director everyone was extremely nice. Unbelievable
San Diego Automotive Museum cars everywhere. Anyone who goes should
San Diego, California spend a few days and not just go for the
concours on Sunday. We arrived Friday
Insight in sight and went to the RM Auction preview on
About the Honda Insight: I was so impressed Friday and then to Cars and Coffee, the
with the subject article and car [Buyer’s Gooding Auction and the Festival of Speed
Guide, HS&EC #125, January 2016], I on Saturday. These were all as enjoyable as
battery needs some attention. In the article, show for me was I got a slot to test drive an
it says, according to Darin Cosgrove, that Alfa 4C on Saturday. It was awesome.
you can buy a charger for $99 that will With my many car projects in the hopper
cycle the individual cells and perhaps get it (Alfas, Porsches, Volvos) and my Lancia
working. I have been unable to source that Zagato driver, your magazine is a perfect
charger. Any assistance in locating same fit for me. I loved every article of the May
will be appreciated. I have spent some time 2016 issue, especially the Jaguar and work-
on the sites referenced without finding the shop articles. Keep ’em coming.
source. Thanks, love the magazine. Rob Marrow
Arnold Betbeze Signal Mountain, Tennessee
Egypt, Mississippi
Send your thoughts to Hemmings Sports
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Vermont 05201; or email the editor at
Hi Arnold, the subpack-level charger I
dlachance@hemmings.com
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Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 59

 MMINGS MOTOR NEW
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8009897223 greatrace.com
 Bob Austin
I belong to First join the club, then buy the car!
Before I explain or even continue, I must make
four car clubs, the following disclaimer. I am the executive
director of the Rolls-Royce Owners’ Club,
because they can an international organization that consists of
approximately 6,000 devoted members who
provide you with share a passion for the automobiles carrying
Rolls-Royce and Bentley badges… both old
a huge amount and new. What follows is not
a plea for new members, but
rather a series of observations
of valuable that explain why the headline
above makes great sense… and
information… a smart person would probably
follow it.
even if you never There are a great many
people in our hobby who don’t
go to a single belong to a single car club!
While I have not surveyed
those hundreds of thousands
event or attend a of non-members, I suspect that their primary
reason for not belonging is that they don’t see
single meeting. themselves as “joiners.” They don’t crave more
friends, their lives are reasonably full, they
don’t need more obligations, and they don’t
want to be surrounded by people they don’t
know. I think I may have just described myself!
But even I belong to four car clubs, because
they can provide you with a huge amount of
valuable information … even if you never go to
a single event or attend a single meeting.
One of the first clubs I joined was the Sports
Car Club of America, because I wanted to go
sports car racing and, at the time, they were
the sanctioning body of most sports car races in
the U.S. That was about 30 years ago. I went to
an SCCA drivers’ school, where I received my
competition license, and I was one of the first
purchasers of a new race car the club designed,
called a Sports Renault. I have not been racing
in over a decade now, but I am still a member
because I am still interested. While I did love
the racing and the club magazine, I was never
big on attending meetings. But they literally
made sports car racing possible for me.
Today, I want to encourage you to join a ded-
icated marque (brand) car club…ideally, before
you buy the car. Clubs like ours, the RROC, can
provide a prospective buyer with huge amounts
of information on which years and models are
the easiest to maintain, and conversely, which
are the most difficult to keep running. We can
help you find the best places to get your car
repaired, the best sources of parts, and even
help you find a car that other members may be
interested in selling. Not only can we help you
to find the right car, we can help you avoid the
wrong car! And that is worth way more than the
price of an annual membership.
r.austinconsulting@gmail.com
While I was putting my thoughts together for
this column, I received an email from an RROC
member that actually gave me a reason for
joining a club that was light years ahead of any-
thing I had imagined. The note was from Clive,
a member from New Zealand, who explained
he was in the process of continuing a long-
stalled restoration of a 1923
Rolls-Royce that had a long his-
tory in Australia.
Among the parts that had
gone missing were a set of
headlight stanchions. Clive
reached out on our forum to
see if a club member might
happen to have a spare set.
Now, to be honest, there are
probably not a lot of headlight
stanchion hoarders in the club,
and it is not the kind of part that the factory
was likely to have produced for inventory. You
just do not get a lot of demand for headlight
stanchions. But Clive asked, and Peter, a fel-
low member from Ontario, Canada, responded,
sending photos of the ones from his car. They
were off the car and could easily be photo-
graphed from virtually every angle. But that was
not all! Once they realized these were the right
parts, Peter reached out to a local community
college that was able to produce 3D scans,
which he then sent to Clive.
Armed with the photos and 3D scan, Clive
set out to find someone with a 3D printer to
produce the parts in resin, which could then
be used to produce a pattern from which new
brass stanchions could be cast. All of this
was new both to Peter in Canada and Clive
in New Zealand (and me in Mechanicsburg,
Pennsylvania). But, Clive found a company
with a 3D printer who quoted him about $300
to make the two plastic stanchions. A bit put off
by that quote, he did a bit more research on the
web and found a Dutch organization named
“3D Hub” whose stated objective was: to have
a member with a 3D printer within 50 miles
of every customer around the world! It turned
out that there was a member located less than
a mile from Clive who had a 3D printer in his
spare bedroom, and agreed to produce the two
plastic stanchions for just $50! Tell me we do
not live in amazing times.
Think about it: A man living in New Zealand,
restoring a 100-year-old car built in England,
operated in Australia, with the help of a fellow
club member in Canada, using technology sup-
ported by an organization in Holland. I guess
emerging technology is just one more reason to
join a car club.
Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 61
A Public Service of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car
 Richard Lentinello rlentinello@hemmings.com

There are My favorite ______ car

I had just finished writing a very similar column
so many for the July issue of Hemmings Classic Car
magazine when I thought that it would also be
different cars interesting to do a foreign-car specific version
for Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car. This column
that I admire idea all came about when I was returning home
from a recent photo shoot and I began thinking
and would about various automobiles and their distinctive
designs. There are so many different cars that
I admire and would like to own, I decided
like to own, to make a list of all the separate categories Maserati A6GCS/53 Frua Spyder
and which car would top that category. Very
I decided to quickly the list got larger and larger as I tried to
cover all the special classifications. And just for
make a list. the fun of it, I included my favorite motorcycles
and racing cars, too.
So here’s my list of favorites. What are yours?

Abarth: 1961-’63 1000 GT

Alfa Romeo: 1949 6C 2500 SS
Alvis: 1963 TE 21 Coupe
Aston-Martin: 1957-’59 DB MKIII
Austin: 1951-’56 A30 two-door saloon
Austin-Healey: 1955-’56 100M
Bandini: 1952 Maserati Sport 1500 Barchetta
Bentley: 1956 S1 Continental Fastback
BMW: 1971-’73 2002
Bugatti: Type 32 “Tank”
Citroën: 1966-’72 DS21 Sedan
Daimler: 1959-’64 SP250 “Dart”
Datsun: 1968-’70 1600 Roadster
Delage: 1937 D8-120 Aerosport Coupe
Delahaye: 1937 Type 145 V-12 Coupe
De Tomaso: 1971-’72 Pantera
Elva: 1965 GT160
Ford: 1966-’70 Cortina 1600E MKII
Ferrari: 1963-’64 250 GT/L “Lusso”
Fiat: 1965 1500S/1600S Cabriolets
Gilburn: 1971 Invader MKII
Glas: 1965-’67 1700 GT
Hillman: 1963-’67 Imp
Honda: 1964-’66 S600 Roadster
Iso: 1963-’70 Rivolta
Jaguar: 1957 XK-SS
Jensen: 1962-’66 CV8
Jensen Healey: 1975-’76 Jensen GT
Jowett: 1950-’54 Jupiter
Lagonda: 1939 LG6 Rapide Drophead Coupe
Lamborghini: 1964-’66 350 GT
Lancia: 1950-’58 B20 Coupe
Lotus: 1967-’75 Elan +2
Maserati: 1953-’56 A6GCS/53 Frua Spyder
Mazda: 1991-’02 RX7
Mercedes-Benz: 1965-’69 250/280 SE Coupe
MG: 1945-’49 TC
Morgan: 1963-’67 Plus 4 Plus
Moretti: 1966-’67 850 SS Sportiva
Morris: 1956-’71 Minor 1000 Estate
Renault R8 Gordini
Opel: 1968-’73 GT
Peugeot: 1969-’75 504 Cabriolet
Porsche: 1964-’65 904 GTS
Reliant: 1968-’75 Scimitar GTE
Renault: 1964-’70 R8/R10 Gordini
Rolls-Royce: 1959-’62 Silver Cloud II
Rover: 1967-’73 P5B Coupé
Saab: 1958-’60 GT750 “Monte Carlo”
Siata: 1954 200CS berlinetta
Subaru: 2008 WRX STi
Sunbeam: 1961-’63 Harrington Le Mans
Talbot Lago: 1955-’56 2500 Coupe T14
Toyota: 1971 Celica ST
Triumph: 1968 Spitfire MKIII
TVR: 1969 Vixen S3
Vauxhall: 1957-’62 Cresta Saloon
Volkswagen: 1961-’69 Type 34 Karmann Ghia
Volvo: 1972-’73 1800ES
Wolseley: 1933-’35 Hornet Special
Anglo-American hybrid: Jensen Interceptor
Formula 1 Grand Prix: 1955 Lancia D50
Le Mans: 1972 Matra-Simca MS670
Racing circuit: Monza
Racing corner: Eau Rouge
Automotive book: The Immortal 2.9
British motorcycle: Norton 750 Commando
German motorcycle: BMW R90
Italian motorcycle: Ducati 750 SS
Japanese motorcycle: Kawasaki KZ900

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 63

Workshop

In the
Long Run
Countless hours of labor, and a homemade
paint booth, go into the amateur restoration
of a 1968 Datsun 2000 Sports
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LaCHANCE
RESTORATION PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF PAUL GARNISH

C
ars from Japan have finally begun
getting the respect they deserve
from collectors, but don’t count Paul
Garnish among the recent converts. He
bought his first 1968 Datsun 2000 Sports,
or roadster, in 1972, and fell in love with
its driving qualities — and its willing, over-
head-cam engine. “After driving a 1963
Volkswagen Bug, I thought, oh, man! It
actually had some power,” he laughs.
Paul’s Datsun was from the first year
of so-called “high windshield” produc-
tion, denoting its maker’s elimination of
the lower, bolt-on windshield. One of
5,800 left-hand-drive examples built in
that model year, the 2000 was powered
by a modern, 1,982-cc inline-four rated
at 135 hp, which drove the rear wheels
through an advanced, full-synchromesh
five-speed manual gearbox.
Though Paul’s car was just four years
old, it had been in neglectful hands, and
was already in urgent need of some TLC.
“It was a mess. The top was ripped up, it
was wet inside, and it had been repainted
once already, but it ran,” Paul says. He gave
the car the care it needed, and enjoyed it
for about a decade before parking it away.
Idleness is seldom kind to cars, and
Paul’s roadster suffered. The worst dam-
age was caused by mice, who rusted away
chunks of the body by using various cavi-
ties as combination condominiums and
restrooms. Despite its rough condition,
Paul decided to rehabilitate the car, and
launched an on-again, off-again restoration
that stretched across more than 20 years.
“On weekends, I’d go up and I’d take,
for example, the heater box, and I’d disas-
semble it, clean it up, paint it and put it in
a box, until I had all the parts done. Over
many years I worked on bits and pieces of
it, mainly weekends, if I had spare time,”
he says.
It was just as Paul was finishing up the
welding that he found an opportunity he
could not pass up: A rust-free 1968 Datsun
2000 from California, just like his, was
advertised for sale on craigslist. “It was a
no-brainer, as they say,” he laughs. And so,
six years ago, he launched Phase 2 of the
restoration, recasting his first roadster in
the supporting role of a parts car.
The California car is the one that appears
on these pages. The spectacular results are
a credit to Paul’s courage, his patience, and
his ability to teach himself an extraordi-
nary number of new skills, from upholstery
to bodywork to painting. Through either
desire or necessity, Paul carried out every
facet of this car’s restoration, working in a
garage that he and his son, Eli, had built at
Eli’s home in Pownal, Vermont.

HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 65
 The SOHC, 1,982-cc inline-four was rebuilt,
with new pistons, bearings and other
components from DatsunParts.com. New
brake parts came from Rallye Enterprises.

Northridge, California. “A guy named

Though the body and the frame were
truly free of rust, it needed a full mechani-
cal and cosmetic restoration. “When I
pulled the engine apart, the insides of the
cylinders were rusted, and it needed to be
gone through entirely. I had a couple of
engines, and I picked the best parts from
each,” he says. He brought the engine
to Dutcher Automotive Engineering in
Greenfield, Massachusetts, where the block
was bored .020 over, and the aluminum
cylinder head was machined and rebuilt
with new valves. The crankshaft needed
only a polishing of its bearing surfaces.
New pistons, bearings and other com-
ponents came from DatsunParts.com in
Dean Apostle runs the place. I don’t know
if you could do one of those cars without
what he does,” Paul says.
The five-speed gearbox, too, needed a
total stripdown. “I had to replace reverse
gear and first. That was the first transmission
that I’ve taken apart that I wanted to put
back together again!” Paul quips. “I learned
a little bit about that one.” The pace of the
work picked up four years ago, after Paul
retired from his job as a quality assurance
representative with the federal Defense
Contract Management Agency, inspecting

The Process
1 The body
was stripped
down to a shell,
2 Stripping
the body
to bare metal
which was revealed that
then mounted the back end
on a custom- of the car had
made dolly. A been damaged,
California car, and repaired
it was free of with gobs of
rust, unlike Bondo. Hours
Paul’s first of work made
restoration the metal
candidate. smooth again.

3 Borrowing the use of a lift at a local

garage made the task of removing the
old undercoating much easier. Here, Paul
applies new 3M undercoating.
4 To get the fenders and hood to line up
perfectly, the front of the body shell
had to be tweaked a half-inch. The car is in
5 After smoothing the surface with
Evercoat Rage filler and countless
hours of sanding, a PPG epoxy primer was
Paul’s homemade paint booth. applied, followed by a primer surfacer.

66 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

The availability of an interior kit greatly
aided the restoration. The unblemished
dashboard came from owner Paul’s first
2000, which he bought in 1972.

federal contractors within a day’s drive of

his Williamstown, Massachusetts, home.
Wrenchwork didn’t frighten Paul — he’d
been a professional mechanic for four
years in the mid-1970s, inspired to learn
the trade after seeing how much of his
VW’s repair bills were for labor. “I wasn’t
really scared about getting into any part of
it,” he says. But the bodywork was differ-
ent. “I never liked bodywork, so it did take
me about 10 months, part-time, to do the
body, learning as I went.”
He stripped the body back to bare metal,
using a dual-action sander. There were
dents and dings, and evidence of a hit in the
back end. “Whoever did the repairs before
me used a lot of Bondo, which I removed
and got the metal as straight as I could.
“YouTube is quite a good resource to get
some ideas on how it’s done,” he advises.
Removing dents in one fender without
stretching out the metal was a major
headache. Paul tried using a hammer with
a swirled face, designed to shrink the
metal as it removes dents, but it seemed
to stretch the metal instead, making things
worse. “Finally, I got out the grinder, cut
an X in the panel to remove some metal,
welded it up and started over.”
He had much better luck with another

7 The
rebuilt
alloy cylinder
head was
given a
cosmetic
restoration.
Paul cleans
up casting
marks with
a Dremel

6 Having given the body two coats of

Silver Blue Poly basecoat, Paul applied
three coats of acrylic urethane clearcoat.
tool before
applying
protective
8 The five-speed transmission
required two new gears. Paul, once a
professional mechanic, dove into the work,
Both were PPG products. clearcoat. despite never having rebuilt one before.

9 Like the
body, the
chassis was
10 The seats
were
stripped to their
rust-free. It frames, which
was stripped were then given
to bare metal a bare-metal
and refinished respray. New
in Rust-Oleum rubberized
semigloss webbing,
black, using installed under
rattle cans. tension, gives
the seat bottoms
proper support.

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 67

 dent-removal tool: a stainless-steel disc.
“It’s just a smooth piece of stainless that
you put on a grinder, and once you get it
spinning you push it against a high spot,
and friction heats it up, you heat it up, pull
it away, and let it cool down. You do that
several times, and each time it cools, it
shrinks a little bit.”
He patiently worked at smoothing the
body, applying thin coats of Evercoat Rage
filler and sanding with a long board,
a technique he learned from YouTube.
“One thing I will say: You certainly need
patience doing that. I’m not sure there’s
anywhere where the filler is over an eighth
of an inch thick, and that would be only a
few small spots. One of the reasons for that
is if that stuff is too thick, it just won’t last.”
He learned that one key to success is to
do all of the block-sanding with the panels
attached to the body — it’s the only way to
get the contours to flow properly.
The great majority of restorations, either
done at home or by a shop, involve the
work of a professional painter, and Paul’s
would have, too — if he could have found
someone to take on the work. A friend who
runs a body shop said no, explaining that
he only did collision work on late-model
cars. “Then he says, ‘Why don’t you paint
68 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
it yourself?’ I thought, okay—because I
didn’t have a choice! I didn’t know who
else to call.”
Paul bought his primer and paint at
Bond Auto in Hemmings’ hometown of
Bennington, Vermont, flipping through the
color book until he found a shade of silver
close to that used by Datsun in 1968. The
paints were PPG products: a JB color coat,
and JC620 acrylic urethane clear coat. He
needed a paint gun, too, and, after doing
some web research, picked out a moderate-
ly priced Neiko. “I don’t think it was more
than $100. I mean, you can’t do the job
with a $10 gun, but I don’t think you need
to spend $1,000 on a gun, either,” he says.
Now we come to the part of the story
where Paul builds his own paint booth.
That’s right, a paint booth, complete with
an exhaust fan, air filters and horizontally
mounted fluorescent lights. Paul decided
to build it after seeing how much dust his
sanding had generated. It’s a simple affair:
some PVC conduit, bent into a rough
semi-circle, with the ends anchored in 2x6
lumber, and with translucent white plastic
stretched over. Duct tape makes the seams
airtight. He found all of the necessary com-
ponents at his local Home Depot.
Paul applied two coats of PPG JP371
sandable epoxy primer, sanded that down,
added more primer in spots were it was
needed, sanded again, and laid down
a third coat, followed by a coat of PPG
JP202 two-part primer surfacer. That was
followed by two coats of color, and three
coats of clear. He then wet-sanded the sur-
face with 2,500-grade paper before polish-
ing the finish with a used Blue Point buffer
he picked up on eBay.
It came out right on the first try. “I’ve
been painting pieces and parts with a
rattle can for years, so that kind of gives
you the basic idea: Lighter coats, overlap-
ping, don’t try to do it in one heavy coat,”
Paul says.
Before installing the interior, he applied
Thermo-Tec Cool-It sound-deadening mats,
using the material only where it was need-
ed. “The big, flat areas, if you tap on them,
you can tell what’s going to make noise and
what’s not. So I only put the mats on places
where it was going to do some good,” he
says. He covered the inside of the firewall
and the footwells to ward off engine heat.
He bought a new interior kit, including
seat covers, interior panels and carpets,
from DatsunParts.com, and installed it
himself. He also bought a complete kit of
rubber parts — window scrapers, gaskets,
grommets and such —and a new top and
boot from the same supplier.
Was any particular part very hard to
find? Not really, Paul says; “There seem to
be enough people parting these out that
you can get different things.” A good, used
gas tank to replace his gunk-filled tank
came from eBay; a new windshield was
provided a while back by a member of the
now-defunct Datsun Roadster Owners of
New England, or DRONE, who evidently
had a batch made every few years.
Some mechanical components, such
as a complete braking system, came from
Rallye Enterprises, a Datsun roadster spe-
cialist in Graham, Washington. “I know I
got some things from him many years ago,”
Paul says. “Over the years, I’ve been col-
lecting parts from here and there, in hopes
that someday, I would get to finish the car.”
The alternator, listed for a Ford Courier,
came from a local parts store.
Paul didn’t keep close track of the dollars
he spent over the years on the project, and
when I asked if he’d counted the number
of hours he’d put in, he could only laugh.
But the reward is a car that’s delightful to
look at, a joy to drive, and a paradigm of
reliability. He puts about 2,000 miles on
the car each summer, and has never had a
mechanical problem.
“I’m glad it’s done,” he says. “It’s nice to
“
drive an old car that is, I guess, not old. I
went through pretty much everything, so
When you do it if there was a problem with anything, I
replaced it. So that when I did start to drive
it, I wouldn’t have anything big go, ‘Hey,
all yourself, you can you forgot to rebuild me.’
“There’s no squeaks or rattles or clunks.
do it whatever When you do it all yourself, you can do it
”
whatever way you want. And I just tried to
do this one as best I could, so it would be
way you want. quiet and comfortable to drive, and would
handle, too.”
Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 69
 BY TONY PEARSON • ASK_TONY@HOTMAIL.COM

Q: I have a problem with the security alarm and door locks on

my 1995 Mitsubishi 3000GT SL. If I lock it, the alarm will go off
randomly. I looked in my factory repair manual, and it does not
matter what I disconnect, it’s all interconnected to the horn, lights,
and some module under the dash, which keeps the windows from
going up and down. I took it to a dealership, and that was a waste of
time and conversation. I will try anything you could suggest. I would
even contact the Mitsubishi factory in Japan, if you could provide
me with the address. I would love to lock the doors manually with
just my key like on my old Chevy Monza V/R.
Rick Anderson
Via email
A: I was working for Subaru R&D when the Grand Touring Wars
began to heat up in Japan. We had the SVX, Toyota the Supra,
Nissan the 300ZX, and Mitsubishi had the 3000GT. These were
state-of-the-art supercars that showcased the best technology
each manufacturer had to offer. This meant these cars were
highly sought after and complicated to work on. This also
meant they were prone to being “reappropriated” when you
weren’t looking. Mitsubishi decided to make the theft-deter-
rent system part of the Electronic Time and Alarm Control
System, or ETACS. Think of this as your 3000GT’s central
nervous system: One careless clip of a wire means you won’t
be going anywhere for a while. If it helps, you’re not the only
one with a possessed alarm system. First thing to do is make
sure all of the door and hood switches are in working order
and aligned properly, especially the one under the hood, as
it tends to get bent out of alignment. Of course, make sure
all wiring and connections are in good condition and you
have good grounds. If all looks good, there is a way to trick
the system into thinking the alarm is always off by ground-
ing a wire at the trunk latch. I’m glad you’re committed to
keeping this car on the road. It was quite an era.

Q: While working on my MG TD, my

brother and I got into a discussion… okay,
into a nipple at the outer rim. Everything
is held together by tightening each nipple
an argument, about the wire wheels and to apply tension to the spoke. Tension is
how they work. My question is, do the the key word here. This means that the
spokes suspend the hub from above, or do hub is suspended by the top 90 degrees
they support the hub from below? I won’t or so through the tension of the spokes.
comment here as to who has which theory, Essentially the hub is hanging from the
but I know my younger brother is out of hisspokes. There is almost no compression of
mind, and I don’t want to embarrass him the lower spokes. Now let’s look at your
in print. typical wagon wheel from the 1800s. The
Robby Mullin hub, spokes, and outer rim were made of
Via email wood and fitted together as one piece. An
iron band was fitted around the circum-
A: I’m going to guess that one of you is a ference of the wheel to apply compres-
fan of mid 20th century sports cars and sion and hold it all together. This type
the other is knowledgeable on 19th cen- of wheel uses the spokes to support the
tury Conestoga wagons. Let’s start with hub from the bottom. Your typical steel or
how the “modern” sports car wire wheel aluminium-alloy wheel works on the same
works. This wheel is held together with principle. Now, I think both of you should
a number of thin metal spokes that are jump in the TD, find a quiet little back
laced through a center hub, then threaded road and have a little fun.

70 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

Q: I have a ’73 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL.
It’s rust-free desert car with 71,000 miles,
and I’m the second owner. I love driving
older cars as long as everything on the car
works as intended. Once I had the analog
clock refurbished, the only problem left was
that the indicator lights worked intermit-
tently. I had the flasher replaced (with a
used flasher), but now, although it works
all the time, it blinks too quickly. It doesn’t
flicker as when a bulb is out, but just faster
than it should. I know that this is a small
issue, but it drives me crazy. I’ve replaced
all the bulbs and cleaned the contacts, but the problem remains. piece of spring steel, causing it to expand and break circuit, turn-
Evidently Mercedes no longer makes the original flasher. ing off the lights. When it cools, it goes back to its original shape,
Stan Cohen closing the circuit, and the lights come back on. This expansion
Palm Springs, California and contraction causes that familiar clicking sound and should
happen between 60 and 120 times per minute. As a side note,
A: As you’ve already found out, M-B has discontinued selling the most modern cars use the vehicle’s on-board computer to per-
flasher relay that fits your SL. If you’ve replaced all the bulbs with form this function, and the sound you hear is created artificially.
original wattage 21-watt incandescents, and you’re sure every- Car manufacturers spend thousands of hours getting just the right
thing has a good ground, then the only thing left is your used sound. I always wanted a duck quacking sound in my car. Buying
flasher relay. These relays operate like most flasher units that we any used electrical component is always a gamble, so look for
all grew up with. When you move the turn signal lever, the lights another unit (part #001 544 97 32) that you can verify came out
come on and current flows through the relay. This heats up a thin of a similar year Mercedes.

Q: As a subscriber to Hemmings Sports &

Exotic Car magazine, I enjoy your Workshop
section. I have a nice ’73 MGB and have
a question regarding the fuel evaporative
loss control. After driving, I can smell gas.
I presume it’s coming from the separation
tank that is on the inside of the right rear
quarter panel. I can’t smell it in the car or
under the hood. I’ve checked all the line
fittings that come from the gas tank to the
separation tank and the line that goes from
the separation tank to the charcoal absorp-
tion canister. Also, the run-on control valve
is still hooked up and all other emission
control stuff has been removed. Any ideas?
Bob Larsen
Sequim, Washington
A: It sounds like you have a breach in what
should be a closed system. It doesn’t take
much for hydrocarbons to escape and ruin
a perfectly good top-down day. The best
way I’ve found to locate fuel vapor leaks
is to visit your friendly neighborhood smog
technician and ask if they will help you find
the source using their tailpipe sniffer. Find
one who has a lift, since you’ll need to get
underneath and trace fuel and evap hoses
from bonnet to boot. This should take
about 30 minutes, so you’re not spend-
ing a fortune for their labor. If everything
on your B is original, then you’re dealing
with 43-year-old hoses and plastics, and
if they’re like most 43-year-olds, they’re
in the beginning stages of falling apart, so
it’s a good idea to replace as much as you
can. If you’ve partially removed most of
the evap system, make sure everything is
capped off, especially at the fuel tank.

Questions for Tony? Send an email to

ask_tony@hotmail.com. Or, if you live
in a cave and don’t have access to a
computer, write a letter to Ask Tony,
c/o Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car,
P.O. Box 904, Bennington, Vermont 05201.

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 71

 Lodge Spark Plugs
Credited by some as the inventor of the spark plug as we know it,
Lodge made gains on the ground, in the air and on water
BY TERRY SHEA • IMAGES COURTESY OF GRACE’S GUIDE UK
B
orn in 1851, Oliver Lodge became
a prominent physicist and academ-
ic, quite renowned for his work on
wireless telegraphy. Experimenting with
lightning rods, Lodge discovered that the
lightning would bypass the coiled copper
wire attached to the rod by jumping a gap,
essentially taking the shortest path.
It wasn’t Oliver Lodge who developed
the spark plugs that took the Lodge name,
but rather two of his 12 children, sons
Brodie and Alec, who, in 1903, at the
respective ages of 23 and 22, filed a pat-
ent for a high-tension ignition system.
As the brothers worked on their ignition
and sparking system, they formed Lodge
Brothers in Birmingham in 1904. Some
history books point to the Lodge family—
father and brothers—as the inventors of the
spark plug as we know it today, though oth-
ers, such as Albert Champion, were work-
ing on similar projects at the time.
Alec, the younger Lodge brother, brought
the technical knowledge to the firm while
Brodie handled the business aspect. As
ignition systems advanced, the brothers
faced challenges they had to work out, like
coming up with a suitable insulator and
figuring out how to seal the combustion
chambers with the plugs. Porcelain was
one solution to the former, and the struc-
ture of the plug and varying metals used
were a solution for the latter.
While Lodge Brothers designed the
plugs, they went into a partnership with
another Birmingham firm, the Sphinx
Sparking Plug Co., to manufacture them.
Sphinx later became part of AC-Delco.
But Lodge took a different tack a few short
years later, in 1913, when the company
merged with the Mascot spark company,
which had mastered the gas seal. The
new company bore the name The Lodge
Sparking Plug Company.
By 1916, Lodge had consolidated
its offices with the former Mascot fac-
tory in Rugby, some 30 miles or so east
of Birmingham. Lodge’s product line also
included electric lighting, coils and other
ignition components. During the World
72 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
War I years, the company contrib-
uted immensely to the Allied effort
by perfecting plugs suitable for use
in aircraft engines, ultimately suc-
ceeding in producing them into the
millions. After the war, the company
shortened its name to Lodge Plugs.
Though Lodge had become a well-
known name to consumers and the
automotive and aircraft industries
through substantial promotion that
included heavy advertising in motor-
ing magazines, on buses and at auto
shows, it continued its research. A
big breakthrough came in the mid-
1930s, when Lodge chemists synthe-
sized a new aluminum oxide insula-
tion material they dubbed Sintox.
Malleable when made, but hard and
far from brittle when heated, it could
be manufactured by machine, unlike
porcelain, and was much easier to
work with than mica-based insulators. they also became known as a choice for
During the war years from 1939 through two-wheeled racers on Harley-Davidsons
1945, Lodge’s production doubled as the and Indians, too, in the U.S.
company provided spark plugs to virtually Lodge also made a splash with four-
any sort of gasoline-powered engine, from wheeled competitors, including under
aircraft to tanks to boats. It also produced the hood of the Le Mans-winning Jaguar
a modified plug to be used as an igniter for D-type and the insane BRM V-16 Formula 1
flame throwers. But the majority of Lodge engine. Lodge promoted the use of its plugs
World War II production went to aircraft in endurance runs conducted with Austin,
engines, which were then operating under Land Rover and Morris across different
very high heat and pressure, particularly in parts of the world. Lodge advertised sup-
engines like the supercharged Rolls-Royce plying no fewer than nine cars at the 1957
Merlin V-12. In order to make its plugs Indianapolis 500, and providing the spark
work in such a high-pressure environment, for the top two finishers at Sebring that year
the company perfected the use of platinum as well. For automobiles, Lodge made a
on the electrodes, rather than the nickel wide range of plugs, and became an OEM
previously used. supplier to a variety of British makes, as
Lodge’s close association with the air- well as the likes of Alfa Romeo.
craft industry led to them becoming a In the early 1960s, Smiths Industries
supplier of igniters for jet engines as that (Supply Side, HS&EC #82) acquired the
industry grew exponentially after the war. company, but Smiths, too, eventually spun
Still, Lodge remained a name in gasoline- it off. Morgan Advanced Materials acquired
engine ignition systems, on two wheels the Lodge Ceramics division in 1992, and
and four and even no wheels, including Swiss-based Meggitt Sensing Systems
marine and stationary engines. As the bought Lodge Ignitions from Smiths 10
British motorcycling industry dominated years later. Meggitt continues to produce its
the first couple of decades after the war, aircraft-engine ignition systems in a factory
Lodge plugs became a sort of standard, but in Rugby.
 Hemmings Motor News

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kits contain 16 hoses (1994-on has 14 pieces) and are a convenient way of making sure you
get all of the correct hoses the first time. The kit will save you 10 percent, compared with
buying the components individually. Cost: $81.23 (pre H.E.); $79.20 (1982-’92); $77.23 (1993);
$100.57 (1994-on). Contact: XKs Unlimited; 800-444-5247; xks.com

THE DAILY GRIND »

If you have a frequent
need for metal shaping,
sharpening, polishing or
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industrial bench grinders
with wheel diameters
of 8, 10 and 12 inches.
Equipped with powerful,
FIAT OVERFLOW » Vick Autosports offers heavy-duty capacitor motors,
a new coolant overflow tank for all models these grinders are smooth
of Fiat and Bertone X 1/9. The tanks are operators anchored with cast-iron
reproduced from stainless steel, and are bases for smooth operation. Each grinder
said to be identical to the units used on the features safety shields and adjustable tool rests. They also include a 1.25-inch
assembly line. Aftermarket replacements wheel dresser. Each of the grinders comes with two grinding wheels, one fine and
have been unavailable until now. These one coarse, and has predrilled bases for mounting to a workbench or optional stand.
tanks, part number 11-6399, will fit all X1/9s Stands with optional LED gooseneck lights are available from JET at additional cost.
from 1974 to 1988. Cost: $150. Cost: $259 (8-inch, #578008); $479 (10-inch, #578010); $1,199 (12-inch, #578012).
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www.vickauto.com

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that will fit most sizes of cars and
trucks. The covers are five times
thicker than most covers that are on
the market, and don’t require the use
of magnets, straps, or clips. The cover
simply rests on the car’s fenders, with
no hardware that could potentially
damage the paintwork. Cost: $139.95-
$184.95 (custom); $149.95-$199.95
(universal). Contact: Bob’s Original
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74 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

 1- s i d

Ke Le
2- e r
in
3 in
10th Annual

yn e H
fin fo
ish r m

ot o
a t a ti o

e S lm
Ow harl as r 66. isto
Hemmings Motor News

Le n

C w 19 h
th ns i ord

ne otte esp Ce ric

M on

pe an
at n ’s

r o -b on rta pe
a F

f t a s s ib in r f o

ak
he ed le to rm

er
Ho ra fo pro an

:
lm cin r th vid ce
an g o e e on
& pe F o r f a s s la
M ra d ci ug
oo tio G na ht
dy n T’s tin !
SEPTEMBER 23, 24, 25, 2016
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23rd SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th
REGISTRATION & RALLY CRUISE-IN SPECTACULAR

• 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Registration at the Saratoga Automobile
Museum, 110 Avenue of the Pines, Saratoga Springs, New York.
• 12:00 noon – Join in a Rally through the beautiful Adirondack region
• 2:00 p.m.– 4:00 p.m. Cruise scenic Lake George, Queen of the
Lakes, aboard the Adirondac Shoreline cruise – w/luncheon buffet
( boarding promptly at 2:00 p.m.)
Deadline to purchase Lake George Cruise tickets: 9/2/16
g
Gates open at 8:00 a.m. An all-makes car show that’s
open to cars, trucks and motorcycles. Including: muscle
cars, street rods, sports, exotics and classics.
Awards at 2:00 p.m.
Cocktail reception with cash bar at 6:00 p.m. and dinner available at
7:00 p.m. at the Courtyard Marriott. Keynote Speaker/Honorary
Chairman: Lee Holman, President of Holman & Moody.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25th TO ENTER YOUR SHOW CAR IN THE

SUNDAY CONCOURS:
CONCOURS d’ELEGANCE
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Open to concours-quality, pre-1974 cars, Submit photos to concours@hemmings.com
by invitation only. Open to concours-quality, pre-1974 collector cars, by invitation only.
MORE TROPHIES TO BE AWARDED THAN EVER BEFORE! TO REGISTER FOR THE SHOW . . .
Winners also will appear in the pages of Hemmings Motor News
and Hemmings Classic Car. . . . or to find out more, log on to: hemmings.com/concours
Call 800-227-4373 / e-mail Trisha Grande at tgrande@hemmings.com
Master of Ceremonies: Ed Lucas Register early to ensure you’re able to stay at the host hotels.
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Marketplace

A Cool T for Thee

What to expect when you’re shopping for an MG TF 1500,
the glorious finale for the traditionalists from Abingdon
BY JIM DONNELLY • PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LaCHANCE

R
ejected. Despised. Repudiated by
the people who theoretically ought
to have fallen in love with it. Yet that
was the reaction that the MG TF received
in its home market when it was first intro-
duced in September 1953, the last of the
traditional T’s from MG, a heritage that
stretched back to 1936. And it looked it.
You see, what was happening was that from
1952, John Thornley’s design team was
dealing with the merger between Austin
and Nuffield that had led to the creation
of the British Motor Corporation, which
had immediately resulted in some Austin-
heavy management types at the top. MG
had an exceptionally attractive replace-
ment cooking for the MG TD, code-named
the EX 175, which showed some obvious
resemblances to the future MGA in its lines
and shapes. With the new Austin-Healey
coming on line, the BMC brass didn’t want
anything to spoil the party, especially a new
MG. The directors would only approve a
moderate facelift for the TD.
Thus, we got the MG TF, with its wire
wheels and side curtains, plus for the first
time, a bonnet that couldn’t be opened
from the sides. Buyers (a majority of whom
were located in North America) read it
rightly as a massaged TD with a gently
breathed-upon engine and held onto their
wallets. Clearly, something had to be done.
The quick-turnaround rescue plan focused

HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

on an enlarged version of the OHV MG
engine, dubbed the XPEG, its displacement
boosted from 1,250 cc to 1,466. Thus,
the official name of the TF became the
TF 1500. The biggest news was that that
change boosted the Coventry-built engine’s
torque by an enormous 17 percent in one
fell swoop. That got lots of people’s atten-
tion, especially on this side of the pond.
Unfortunately, it was enough, especially in
Merrie Olde. The TF 1500 was cashiered
after just 18 months to make way for the
MGA. Exactly 9,600 units were produced,
the majority for export, compared to more
than 30,000 copies of the MG TD. The TF
1500 can be easily distinguished visually by
looking for its cream-color enamel callouts
on either side of the bonnet, located just
ahead of the locking release buttons.
In hindsight, the TF 1500 deserved to
succeed even though buyer tastes were
evolving much more rapidly than BMC’s

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 77

 Timeline
1949 John Thornley leads team of MG
planners looking to build MG’s first true
postwar car

November 1949 First MG TD produced,

would remain in the line for four
production years

1952 Thornley’s team comes up with a

sleek experimental MG, but the design
is rejected

August 1953 MG TD production ends

September 1953 The MG TF arrives to a

less-than-lukewarm public reception

July 1954 TF 1500 introduced with 1,466-

cc engine

September 1954 TF 1250 production ends

April 1955 TF 1500 production ends; the ENGINE » The X-series engine from Morris dates back to the late 1930s, when many of
MGA debuts as a 1955 model them were used to power generators or hydraulic pumps during the war years. Thankfully,
like any number of vintage British engines, they’re built anvil-strong and should be nearly
unbreakable given reasonable usage and regular maintenance. If something does go
Specifications seriously awry, virtually every component can be sourced in either NOS or reproduction
form. If you’re really adventurous, you might want to bolt on an Eaton supercharger,
Engine MG/BMC XPEG OHV inline- which is designed and marketed through Moss Motors. Moss also offers a matching
four, cast-iron block and cylinder head higher-lift Crane camshaft.
Displacement 1,466 cc Horsepower 63
@ 5,000 RPM Torque, lb.ft. 76 @ 3,000
RPM Compression ratio 8.3:1 Induction
system Twin 1.5-inch SU semi-downdraft
carburetors Gearbox Four-speed manual,
top three gears synchronized 0 to 60
MPH 16 seconds Top speed 88 MPH Fuel
economy 23 MPG Overall length 147
inches Overall width 59.75 inches Overall
height 52.5 inches Wheelbase 94 inches
Curb weight 1,932 pounds

Parts Prices
Bottom main timber .......................$130
Brake shoe set .................................. $50
Brooklands steering wheel ............$460
Carpet set ....................................... $294
Cluster panel ...................................$374
Convertible top kit ......................... $520
Cylinder head gasket ........................ $59
Front fender ................................$1,895 BODY » Two big warning flags can exist in this department: rust for the outlying panel
Leather seat kit ........................... $2,948 skins; dry (or more likely, wet) rot in the supporting ash framing. Much of the related
O.E.-type camshaft ........................ $450 componentry, both wood and metal, is readily available from aftermarket suppliers,
virtually indistinguishable from the factory-original pieces.
Pushrod set ...................................... $80
To minimize your headaches, try to get the best TF you can afford, regardless of engine
Valve guide set ................................. $28 size. Less up-front work means that most of these tasks will already have been dealt with
Wheel cylinder kit ...........................$130 by previous owners. These cars deserve to be enjoyed, not endlessly have dollars thrown
Wiring harness ............................... $428 at them.

78 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

 Price Guide
1954-’55 MG TF 1500
Low Medium High
$21,500 $37,500 $53,500

Production
MG TF 1250 1953 1954
1,635 4,565
MG TF 1500 1954 1955
1,951 1,449
Total MG TF 9,602

Recent Ads
1955 MG TF 1500: This is a great driver
just in time for summer. Red with
»
INTERIOR There’s a good likelihood that a lot of your restoration dollars will go right red interior and a black soft-top. A
here. The price list gives an indication of how costly replacement upholstery and tops can very straight and solid example that’s
be, but the results, especially when fitted by a skilled craftsman, can be astoundingly mechanically very sound as well. For only
good. Use either a kit from a reputable seller— plenty of them exist—or else make a deal $21,750
with a fabric and upholstery specialist who knows what he’s doing. You’ll never regret it.
Everything down to the bezel for the ignition switch can be easily sourced through MG 1955 MG TF 1500: This roadster was
suppliers, of which many exist. In many cases, the quality and ease of installation for treated to a thorough mechanical and
modern convertible tops is superior to the stuff that came from Abingdon. cosmetic restoration some time ago and
still presents quite nicely today. While
the exterior finish shows blistering in
certain areas, the interior upholstery and
carpeting remain in impeccable like-new
condition. Accessories accompanying
the 1500 include: side curtains, canvas
top, tools, and chrome wire wheels with
matching rear mounted spare. Price:
$35,000, negotiable.

1955 MG TF 1500: Excellent original

engine, perfect compression and oil
pressure, no smoke, excellent gearbox,
wire wheels, maroon with deep maroon
leather interior, excellent chrome, just
installed a new cloth covered wiring
harness, new smaller wood steering
wheel, and some minor detailing. NOT a
concours restoration but a superb driver
certainly suitable for low key show AND
road use. $34,900.

1955 MG TF 1500: This is a nice solid

driver. The motor runs strong and the
ALSO CHECK » We can’t emphasize it enough: Make sure that you closely check the brakes are good. The car has good tires, a
wooden body framing on any TF you may be considering. Up-front inspection is necessary new carpet, and its original leather seats.
to detect the potential presence of rot. If the framing is completely shot, your best option The car also comes with its original
may be to simply walk away and find a less-ravaged example. Well-kept versions of the Bakelite steering wheel with leather
TF 1500 exist in surprisingly good numbers, given their relatively small build quantities cover. Overall this would be an excellent
when compared to the TC or TD. Finding a solid one is mainly a matter of having the time classic to own for only $21,500.
to locate it and the money to consummate the sale.
Source: Hemmings Motor News

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 79

 A Pro’s Advice
There’s a rainbow of colors, disc and wire
wheels, left- and right-hand drive, so
you’ve got a good opportunity to buy the
specific car you’ve dreamed about. That
leads me into the six rules of buying an
MG: Look at six before you buy one; buy
the one you want; avoid rust, your great-
est enemy; same thing for wood, which
can rot; buy the best one you possibly
can, because you’ll be dollars and dol-
lars ahead (a full body-off nut-and-bolt
restoration is easily $100,000); and take
your time because haste makes waste—
the market moves slowly with these cars.
And make sure you have it checked out
before you buy it. –John Twist
Viewpoint
We really like the styling of the MG TF. One thing that
a lot of people didn’t like was that the headlamps
actually became part of the front fenders, but we liked
that. We also liked the fact that the Kimber-style grille
is sloped backward a little. One thing you notice is that
with the 1500 engine, there’s a lot more pep than you’ll
get out of the 1,250-cc unit. It’s a blast to drive. It’s tight, responsive and energetic. It’s
easier to drive than our MG TC. It’s more forgiving on the road and you don’t have to
work as hard to steer it. We love it. If I had to give advice, first see that it’s a numbers-
matching car because that improves the value of the car. Next, look at the condition
of the wood, which is ash. I’d also look at the condition of the body panels to see how
much bodywork the car is going to need, and how complete the car is. I would say the
toughest thing we had to do with it was wet sanding and buffing the body after it was
painted. That and repairing the wood. The fact that other people look at it the way that
they do is just the biggest compliment that you could ask for. –Bill Rule

ment), MG—would plug along eagerly at
Alternatives American or Canadian highway speeds,
deep in the countryside. It looked more
contemporary, after a fashion. And the car
was stone reliable, something that makes it
an attractive proposition today, if it indeed
exists as something of an asterisk to British
sporting history. It’s a transitional piece of
history. And if you find a good one, basic
maintenance can be a snap, though a full
restoration will obviously present more
complicated challenges.
1950-1954 JOWETT JUPITER Like most traditional English sports cars
Price now $11,000-$40,000 Pros Open- of the era, the MG TF 1500 has a body
air motoring, wonderfully weird flat-four supported by a wood frame. Finding one
engine, very rarely seen Cons Cramped with the framing intact and in good shape
interior, sort-of-odd handling, parts is, well, perhaps not essential, but certainly
availability preferred. Our feature car, owned by Bill
Rule of Concord, New Hampshire, and his
father, Steve, was finished in just 187 hours.
Not days or weeks, but hours. The Rules
found it advertised in Hemmings Motor
News, offered by a seller in Georgia. A run
up Interstate 95 inside an enclosed trailer
revealed the TF 1500 to be absolutely com-
plete, but not running—with good reason,
given that the previous owner had removed
the SU carburetors while working on the
1939-1955 SINGER 4AD engine, but never reinstalled them. The
Price now $9,800-$21,800 Pros wheel cylinders were frozen, evidently from
Surprisingly good performance, another the car’s having spent an extended period
rare sight today, oh-so-British Cons of time parked and immobile. However,
Slightly lumpy looks, finding fellow this particular car boasted extraordinarily
owners, searching for parts good panel fit and door alignment, so Bill
fabricated a custom mobile wooden jig to
hold the body tub together while doing
technology was. With its expanded under- some replacement and reinforcement work
hood muscle, the TF 1500 was much more on the framing. What was wrong? Mainly,
in keeping with open-road driving man- rotten wood, the sort of thing that anyone
ners than any of its hoary predecessors. might expect to find on a stressed structure
Heck, it was the first MG sports car built that was accessible to the elements for close
from the start with left-hand drive. The to half a century.
XPEG—it stands, incidentally, for X-series, “It was nice to have taken it apart myself
Pushrod, E for 1,500 cc (the “A”of the ear- with my father, because you had a much
lier engine identified a 1,250-cc displace- better idea of how it was going to go back
together, which may sound stupid, but at
least you knew ahead where things were
supposed to go when it was apart,” Bill
(Rule) explained. “Basically, everything
was there. The reward when you do some-
thing like this is amazing, even though it
wasn’t that hard to do. All we had to do
was replace some of the wood in the body
framing. We did a Healey that took five
years to finish, so in that sense, the TF was
unbelievable. I would do another T-series
in a minute. The two main structural pieces
on either side of the body tub were just
rotted away, so was the area ahead of the
front bulkhead. I had the body tub in three
pieces for a while. That’s why I built the
dolly to roll it around on.”
“The only thing we did to the engine was
paint it. We put a new clutch in it, but other
than that, the engine and transmission were
both perfectly fine,” Bill recalled. “There
weren’t any issues with the chassis on our
car. All we did was, we gave it a fresh coat
of black paint, probably a Nason product,
and that was it. Obviously, we needed to
replace the brakes and the wheel cylinders,
or at least going to the extent of putting new
rubbers in the wheel cylinders.”
As is the case with any T-series from
Abingdon, the TF 1500 is an iconic British
sporting car, its comparatively low produc-
tion numbers notwithstanding. That’s the
strong opinion of John Twist, the British-
trained MG expert who operates University
Motors Ltd. in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
and is recognized as one of the country’s
top T-series guys when it comes to service
and restoration. He shared his knowledge
with us about the TF 1500’s foibles and
favorables.
“The engine’s cylinder block is different,
as is the cylinder head. So when you’re
looking for an engine for one, that is the
huge prohibition. It’s kind of nice because
you can take the pistons out through the top

80 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

of the engine, running in a 72-mm bore vs.
the 66.5-mm of the 1,250-cc engine. That
X-series engine was used in marine and
stationary applications since 1939, and also
in Wolseley automobiles. The fuel pump at
first was located on the right side of the fire-
wall, but as a running production change,
they moved it to the rear of the chassis to
prevent the car’s tendency to vapor lock.
“At BMC back then, sales were going
into the toilet because the Healey had
already come out. The export ratio for
the TF was 19:1, which means that for
every 19 they sold overseas—mostly in the
United States—only one stayed home in
England. The British government’s strategy
was export or die.”
John went on to tell us that the TF’s buck-
et seats are far more comfortable than the
TD’s venerable bench seat, a major part of
its appeal. To his eye, the octagonal-bezel
dashboard is more attractive than the flat-
gauge look that’s more familiar with the TC
and TD. One thing to be aware of is that the
TF engine has a pressurized cooling system,
unlike the TD or earlier T-series MGs that
had an open cooling system. “Even though
it’s only 4 psi, it puts pressure on the back
of the freeze plugs,” John told us. “You’ve
got to be careful when you’re fitting the
freeze plugs into the cylinder block for fear
they’ll pop out. Also, the TC, TD and TF are
all made with British threading (Whitworth)
on their fasteners. At the introduction of the
TF, they changed the rear axle to American
Specialists
fine thread, who knows why.” Moss Motors
There’s a bar that holds the front fenders www.mossmotors.com
together and sits right in front of the cool- Goleta, California
ing fan. It’s frequently missing, but can be Petersburg, Virginia
replaced. Most of the cars exported to this Aftermarket and reproduction OEM parts,
country had turn indicators. On the left performance components
front of the frame is the VIN for the car, four
or five digits. Tires were originally 5.50 x From the Frame Up
15s. Thank goodness for the replacements Mesa, Arizona
originally intended for the Volkswagen www.fromtheframeup.com
Beetle, as their tires are sized at 5.60 x 15. Hard-to-find original and reproduction
They are now available from Vredestein T-series parts
as radials, so tire replacement is simple.
One little-known fact that John shared is Glenn’s MG & British Car Repair
that it’s easy to install a front anti-roll bar St. Petersburg, Florida
from an MGB, given that it and the TF have www.glennsmg.com
the same front track, which improves the Restorations and full maintenance
handling immensely. The Abingdon front services
suspension was relatively unchanged from
1950 through the last MGBs in 1980. University Motors Ltd.
“These cars represent your youth,” John Grand Rapids, Michigan
beamed. “Everyone who drives one has www.universitymotorsltd.com
gray hair. You never see a kid driving one. Restoration, fabrication and
Back when it was new, everybody said maintenance services
it was ugly, not good-looking, they were
really denigrated. But there’s something Visit the Hemmings Car Clubs pages
today about that sleek styling that people at www.hemmings.com for news and
just appreciate now, along with the low information on over 1,400 car clubs!
production numbers.”
Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 81
 Silver Auctions at
Ft. McDowell
One of Scottsdale Auction Week’s more
accessible sales notches some healthy numbers
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LaCHANCE
D
ifferent auction houses have different
ways to let the bidders know when
a seller has dropped the reserve. At
some sales, the auctioneer will intone, in a
sort of code, “Ladies and gentlemen, I am
selling the car.” At others, the auctioneer
will throw up his arms and shout, “The
reserve is off! The reserve is OFF!” Silver
falls into the latter category, but they also
fire off a pair of rotating, multi-colored
disco lights, to get the point across.
In other words, there’s a lot of fun
built into the hoopla at a Silver auction.
Silver has built its reputation on offering
affordable cars, bringing together, in their
words, “real buyers and sellers, real cars
and real deals.” The average sale here, at
about $14,500, is a fraction of the average
buyer’s fee alone at the high-end auctions.
The approach seems to be working. This
year’s auction resulted in $4.2 million in
82 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
sales, an increase of $700,000 over 2015.
The number of lots offered took a big jump,
from 324 to 515, so even though the sell-
through rate dropped from last year’s 67
percent, the number of sales still inceased
by a healthy 29 percent, as the average sale
price dipped by about $1,500.
“We are very pleased with the growth
in total sales, number of cars offered, bid-
ders, and attendees,” Mitch Silver said.
“The strategy we initiated two years ago of
doing three Arizona auctions in November,
January and March in the Scottsdale-area
market has proven to be a winning combi-
nation, and we expect this growth will con-
tinue with each subsequent event. Silver
Auctions at the We-Ko-Pa Resort completes
the vintage automobile market for our
clients.”
All sale prices include a buyer’s fee of
eight percent.
By the Numbers
Date: January 28-30, 2016
Total sales: $4.2 million
Sell-through: 290 of 492 lots sold; 58.9
percent
Average sale: $14,568
Top sale: 1958 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL,
$145,800
UPCOMING AUCTIONS
July 2-3: Jackson Hole, Wyoming
July 9: Spokane, Washington
August 13: Shelton, Washington
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Silver Auctions, 2020 N. Monroe Street,
Spokane, Washington 99205
800-255-4485, www.silverauctions.com
Condition #1=Excellent; #2=Very Good;
#3=Average; #4=Poor; #5=Major Project
Reserve Minimum price owner will accept
Top bid The highest offer made
Selling price What the vehicle sold for
Avg. selling price Average market value of
vehicles in similar condition
BMW
Year: 1995 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: 840Ci Selling price: $6,588
Condition: Original/#2- Avg. selling price: $11,850
This Alpine White coupe must have found
a buyer after it crossed the block, because it
was wearing “still for sale” signs when we
saw it in the lot. It appeared to have been
well kept, with the original paint and interior
in good condition, though the sun had done
some damage to the top of the back seat. It
was equipped with an automatic, as were all
840Ci’s sent to the U.S., and the stock 16-
inch wheels had been replaced with 18-inch
M-Parallel alloys. A sign in the windshield
revealed that it had been a California car,
and had been owned by an enthusiast.
Looks like the buyer got a fine deal.
MERCEDES-BENZ
Year: 1958 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: 190 SL Selling price: $145,800
Condition: Restored/#2 Avg. selling price: $150,000
The 190 SL was Silver’s star car, and it
lived up to its billing, becoming the auction
house’s top sale of the week. It had been
given a cosmetic restoration that stopped
short of concours quality, with a number
of details overlooked. The respray, though
not in the original Strawberry Red Metallic,
was of good quality, and the chrome,
upholstery and carpets were nicely done.
Options included a side-facing third seat
and a period-correct radio. A steel hardtop
was included in the sale. Putting this SL
into true #1 condition would be costly, but
perhaps justifiable, considering the white-
hot market for these cars.
TRIUMPH
Year: 1976 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: TR6 Selling price: $12,960
Condition: Refurbished/#3 Avg. selling price: $15,300
Emerging from long-term ownership, this
57,000-mile TR was given a new coat of
white paint and new carpet, but not much
else. Attention to detail was lacking; there
was a good amount of overspray visible,
the passenger door handle was loose and
the gasket between the windshield frame
and the cowl was curled under. The engine
bay, which should have matched the body
color, was painted matte black. The car’s
undersides were grimy. The upholstery,
which appeared to be the original, was tired,
but presentable. For a driver-quality car that
could be driven and enjoyed just as it was,
the price paid seemed reasonable.
CITROËN
Year: 1987 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: CX Prestige Top bid: $6,000/not sold
Condition: Original/#3- Avg. selling price: $12,000
Used until recently as a daily driver in
Southern California, this CX was in used-car
condition, with a couple of small dents in
the bodywork, failing clearcoat and grubby
gray velour upholstery. The seller noted that
it had been imported to the U.S. when new,
meaning it may have been one of the 400
or so brought in through CX Automotive of
New Jersey. The seller claimed the car had
been professionally maintained its whole
life, so the hydropneumatics may have
been in good order. As with the Thema, the
right bidders were elsewhere when this one
crossed the block, and the seller was right in
not letting it go.
Hemmings.com
LANCIA
Year: 1991 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: Thema 8.32 Top bid: $6,000/not sold
Condition: Original/#3- Avg. selling price: $25,000
What looks like a Saab 9000 and goes like
a Ferrari? It’s the Lancia Thema 8.32, which
combined a 32-valve V-8 from Maranello
with the platform shared with Fiat, Saab
and Alfa Romeo. About 4,000 were built,
but not one was exported to the U.S.,
making it both rare and obscure. This
example could have used a lot of TLC, with
its loose interior trim and failing clearcoat,
though it did have the advantage of a recent
service by a Ferrari master tech. The bidders
weren’t serious about chasing this one;
offered by a dealer who specializes in the
unusual, it later showed up online with an
asking price of $23,500.
FERRARI
Year: 1982 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: Mondial 8 Selling price: $22,680
Condition: Original/#3 Avg. selling price: $21,600
Early Mondials were criticized for their
relatively tepid performance and for the
heavy appearance of their black bumpers,
two issues that were addressed in later cars.
This example seemed to have been well
kept. Its original paint showed the expected
few chips, while the interior needed only
new carpeting to look showroom-fresh. A
delaminating windshield and a damaged
headliner awaited the new owner’s
attention. Just 34,000 miles showed on
the odometer; on the other hand, we saw
absolutely no reference to service records.
So long as the required maintenance has
been done, this was a good deal.
• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 83
 BENTLEY
Year: 1998 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: Brooklands R Selling price: $14,310
Condition: Original/#2+ Avg. selling price: $48,700
For reasons that weren’t obvious to us,
this Bentley wasn’t getting much love.
Retailed new for about $160,000, it was sold
at auction for $26,400 in 2011, and again,
here, for barely half that amount. Was it
running on seven cylinders when it crossed
the block? We have to wonder, because
there appeared to be nothing wrong with
its cosmetics. The paint was in excellent
shape, and the Magnolia hides looked
barely broken in. The sign in the windshield
and the catalog listing offered not a single
word about this car’s condition, history or
anything else, which must have frustrated
more than one would-be bidder.
MAZDA
Year: 1983 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: RX-7 Top bid: $7,750/not sold
Condition: Original/#3 Avg. selling price: $9,000
You could look far and wide for an RX-7,
and not find one as well kept as this two-
owner example. The original paint shone
beautifully; the gray velour upholstery
looked fresh and inviting. The engine bay
was tidy. Options included cruise control,
air conditioning, a sunroof and alloy wheels;
we’ll chalk up the pinstripes, lower-body
decoration and wheel opening trim to the
original dealer. The odometer stood at
77,425 miles. Minor flaws included a broken
rear badge, ripped weatherstrip, and some
cracks in the vinyl on the upper seat back.
We can’t fault the seller for turning down
the high bid.
84 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
FERRARI
Year: 1991 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: 348 TS Top bid: $46,000/not sold
Condition: Refurbished/#3 Avg. selling price: $48,900
The catalog listing, sadly, offered not one
shred of information about this 32,787-mile
348, so we had no idea if the 30,000-mile
major service had been done—or any other
work, for that matter. The car had been
refinished in the original white, including the
targa panel, which would have been black
from the factory. The black seats had white
inserts, a customization. The engine bay
was dirty, and some wiring splices near the
battery did not inspire confidence. We saw a
348 in slightly better condition sell at Russo
and Steele for $41,800; the high bid offered
here should have gotten the job done.
JAGUAR
Year: 1968 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: E-type FHC Top bid: $64,000/not sold
Condition: Refurbished/#3 Avg. selling price: $54,200
Billed as an unrestored, 62,000-mile
E-type, this three-owner coupe had been
refinished with a basecoat/clearcoat paint
in 2003, and its DOHC straight-six had
been rebuilt to Series 1 specifications, with
three SU carburetors in place of the twin
Zenith-Strombergs. The original upholstery,
protected by sheepskin seat covers, was
undamaged, though well broken in. The
seller provided a long list of repairs and
upgrades, including an MSD ignition and
a new clutch. The top bid offered seemed
reasonable; the seller later listed the car on
an online auction site, where it was a no-
sale at a high bid of $48,100.
ROLLS-ROYCE
Year: 1980 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: Silver Wraith II Top bid: $11,000/not sold
Condition: Original/#3 Avg. selling price: $15,200
It didn’t take us long to figure out that
this Wraith was a no-sale at another
auction—it still wore a Mecum front license
plate. The Wraith was the long-wheelbase
version of the Silver Shadow, and its
values are not significantly higher. This
example apparently wore original paint,
which showed minor chips and flaws. More
troubling were bubbles beneath the front
edge of the vinyl roof, and on the top of the
driver’s door. The driver’s seat was much
more creased than the rest; the wood on the
dashboard and door caps was undamaged.
At Mecum, bidding maxed out at $11,000,
too. The bidders have now spoken twice.
LANCIA
Year: 1979 Reserve: $3,000
Model: Zagato Top bid: $1,000/not sold
Condition: Original/#4 Avg. selling price: $2,900
This otherwise appealing, 27,991-mile
Lancia had two big strikes against it: One, it
was saddled with a three-speed automatic,
rather than the more desirable five-speed;
and two, rust was bubbling around the
windshield frame and the edges of the cowl,
possibly as the result of spending a couple
of years exposed to the Florida weather. The
paint was dull and the leather upholstery
was sun-baked, although the seams hadn’t
pulled apart; the dash pad was uncracked.
Given the rust, none of the bidders was
willing to venture beyond parts-car value, or
to bite on its $3,000 post-auction price tag.
 TI
Featured Classes for 2016

S & EXO C CAR S

R T H
Alfa Romeo Spider
(all years)

Fiat 124 Sport Spider

SPO

OW
(all years)

SATURDAY Jaguar (pre-1992)

AUGUST 6 Porsche 356
H 2016 (all years)
EM

S
EW
Rain Date: August 7
Toyota Sports Cars
M INGS N
MOTOR
& GTs (pre-1992)
BMW Motorcycles
(pre-1992)
Hemmings Motor News Modern Exotics
at any make, from 1992
to present day

Also Invited to Show:

Any pre-1992 sports cars, GTs, exotics
from France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy,
Japan, Sweden, other imports and Driveable
110 Avenue of the Pines, Saratoga Springs, NY Dreams (preservation).

p gy r
p r
ENTRANTS LIMITED TO: Sports Cars, GTs and
Exotics built outside the United States prior to 1992. We also
welcome owners of foreign sports cars and GTs from 1992 on to
show their cars in a non-judged display-only area.
33 TROPHIES AWARDED Also, your chance to have your car
appear in Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car!
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Will receive a free commemorative magnet
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or for information:
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or e-mail Trisha Grande at:
tgrande@hemmings.com or call 800-227-4373

Bonhams’ 5 Annual
Scottsdale Auction
A sell-through rate of 85 percent sets the pace
for Auction Week
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID LaCHANCE
B
onhams has established itself as
the leadoff hitter in the Scottsdale
Auction Week lineup, with its well-
attended Thursday afternoon sale at the
Westin Kierland Resort & Spa. And its
results turned out to be a bellwether for
the five auctions that wrapped up in the
following days: generally a little off the
previous year, though not alarmingly so.
Compared with 2015, Bonhams sold 33
percent more lots, and generated total sales
that were off by 25 percent; translated, that
means this year’s average sale was around
$190,000, against last year’s $342,000.
The auction house had gone long on
Porsches for 2016, with 21 offered, and 21
sold. Among those were 15 911s, which
brought a cumulative $2.004 million. The
costliest was a 1973 2.7 RS, which sold for
a market-average $525,000.
86 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
th
As always, Bonhams was heavy on
European marques, with a sweet spot from
the Sixties through the Seventies, and the
occasional Full Classic Cadillac or Packard
in the mix. A 2015 McLaren P1 offered
early in the sale set a new world auc-
tion record for the model at $2,090,000;
Bonhams claimed another record with its
1973 BMW 3.0 CSL “Batmobile,” which
made $341,000.
“What we saw this year in Scottsdale
was that the ‘best-in-class’ cars are attract-
ing strong interest,” said Bonhams’ U.S.
Head of Motoring, Jakob Greisen. “We
sold a lot of very good cars across a broad
spectrum and collectors are responding
to prime examples that are sensitively
priced.”
All sale prices below include a buyer’s
fee of 10 percent.
By the Numbers
Date: January 28
Total sales: $18.2 million
Sell-through: 95 of 112 lots sold;
85 percent
Average sale: $191,266
Top sale: 2015 McLaren P1 Coupe,
$2,090,000
Top classic sale: 1962 Mercedes-Benz
300 SL Roadster, $1,485.000
UPCOMING AUCTIONS
August 9: Quail Lodge, Carmel, California
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Bonhams Auctions
www.bonhams.com
Condition #1=Excellent; #2=Very Good;
#3=Average; #4=Poor; #5=Major Project
Reserve Minimum price owner will accept
Top bid The highest offer made
Selling price What the vehicle sold for
Avg. selling price Average market value of
vehicles in similar condition
PININFARINA
Year: 1983 Reserve: None
Model: Spider Azzura Selling price: $26,400
Condition: Original/#2+ Avg. selling price: $18,800
After Fiat decided to stop marketing
its 2000 Spider, coachbuilder Pininfarina
stepped in to give the evergreen roadster
another three years of life. This example
showed a claimed original 14,958 miles
on the odometer, and had obviously
been babied since its purchase from its
originating dealer in 1990. Included were
comprehensive service records, as well as
many consumable parts that had been
replaced over the years. The paint was in
excellent condition, and the interior showed
only the slight wear you’d expect. You
couldn’t restore one to this condition at any
cost, so we’ll call this well bought.
DATSUN
Year: 1975 Reserve: None
Model: 280Z 2+2 Selling price: $49,500
Condition: Original/#1- Avg. selling price: $19,000
With just over 2,000 miles on its odometer,
this four-speed-equipped Z was very nearly
a brand-new car, lovingly maintained by
its single owner. Our notes say “exquisite
condition,” and that sums it up—even the
tires were claimed to be original. There was
much interest in this car during the preview,
and plenty of speculation about how high
the bidding might go. As it turned out, the
hammer price of $45,000 exactly matched
Bonhams’ high estimate. The question, as
with all time-capsule cars, is: Now what?
If it gets driven, then the value goes down
with each mile added to the odometer.
ASTON MARTIN
Year: 1964 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: DB5 Selling price: $781,000
Condition: Restored/#1 Avg. selling price: $840,000
Cosmetically, this twice-restored DB5 left
nothing to be desired—the paintwork,
chrome and Vaumol Connolly leather
interior were flawless. Originally finished
in Dubonnet Rosso over tan leather, the
car had been refinished in the ubiquitous,
though handsome, Silver Birch. It had
been converted to left-hand drive in the
mid-1990s, and its worn five-speed ZF
transmission was replaced with a Toyota
Supra unit about 10 years later. (All of
this, to Bonhams’ credit, was noted in the
catalog.) The ZF was included in the sale, so
the most significant alteration from stock
could be reversed, given enough cash.
JAGUAR
Year: 1955 Reserve: None
Model: XK140 SE OTS Selling price: $118,800
Condition: Restored/#2 Avg. selling price: $155,000
Although it’s often assumed that the
XK140’s Special Equipment (SE) package
included the C-type’s cylinder head, that’s
not always the case. Judging by this car’s
chassis number, it had the standard-issue,
190-hp verison of the XK six, but with all the
other special bits— dual exhaust, fog lamps
and a more nicely trimmed trunk. This
example, originally Pastel Blue, had been
refinished in Suede Green, with the work
done to a high standard. In February, it was
offered on an online auction site, where no
one met its $140,000 opening bid. Here, the
hammer price of $108,000 fell just short of
the low estimate.
Hemmings.com
ALVIS
Year: c.1938 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: 3-Liter Special Selling price: $214,500
Condition: Modified/#1 Avg. selling price: N/A
This latter-day recreation in the spirit
of a prewar race car was based on the
chassis of an Alvis TA14, and powered by a
3-liter six from an Alvis TC. The work was
done by Racing Green Engineering of Wales,
which also designed and constructed the
aluminum bodywork. For anyone wanting
to relive the goggles-and-flying-helmet era,
all the details were here: the dashboard
crammed with dials, the string-wrapped
steering wheel rim, the exhaust waiting to
burn a careless passenger’s elbow. This car
was entered in the 2014 Colorado Grand,
and we have a feeling that further vintage
rallying is its destiny.
MAZDA
Year: 1967 Reserve: None
Model: Cosmo Selling price: $104,500
Condition: Refurbished/#3- Avg. selling price: $117,000
Despite the catalog’s claims of a “thorough
restoration,” this Mazda was a mix of good,
fair, and not very good at all. The repaint
was well done, but much of the difficult-
to-replace brightwork was pitted, and
sometimes rechromed right over the pits.
Cracks in the dash top were filled with some
kind of goop, and the interior was tired. The
rotary engine had reportedly been rebuilt by
a former Mazda Group C racing mechanic,
and its crisp appearance stood in contrast to
the rest of the car. The new owner will find
there’s a lot of expensive work still to be
done if this car is to compete for a trophy.
• HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 87
 RENAULT
Year: 1961 Reserve: None
Model: 4CV Resort Special Selling price: $77,000
Condition: Restored/#1- Avg. selling price: N/A
The Gallic alternative to the Fiat 600 Jolly,
the 4CV Resort Special is a fairly rare animal,
with production put at a mere 50. As with
the Jolly, these were produced by Carrozzeria
Ghia. This example was treated to a stem-
to-stern restoration, its body given a bare-
metal respray in mint green and cream. A
Jaguar specialist “overhauled” the 747-cc
inline-four. What little we saw to fault —
faded instrument markings and a yellowed
radio blanking plate — could be attributed to
the car’s years in sunny California. This one
changed hands for Jolly money, with no extra
charge for the added exclusivity.
MG
Year: 1949 Reserve: None
Model: TC Selling price: $56,100
Condition: Restored/#2 Avg. selling price: $35,300
An older restoration, this TC had only been
driven a few thousand miles in recent
years, and was still presentable, though no
longer fresh. The paintwork and chrome
were in very good condition, and the vinyl
upholstery was starting to show its age.
Chromed wire wheels were a variation from
factory, as was the wood-veneer dashboard.
What drove the bidding to $20,000 over
market value? We haven’t got a clue. In
fact, we saw that this very car had been
advertised for $36,000 prior to the auction.
Somebody — well, two somebodies— got
carried away, which must have made the
consignor very, very happy.
88 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
RILEY
Year: 1950 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: RMB DHC Selling price: $52,800
Condition: Restored/#3+ Avg. selling price: $17,300
Restored in the U.K. 20 years ago, this
Drophead Coupe was beginning to fade,
with some cracks and touch-ups in the
white paint, blemishes in the woodwork
and tired chrome. The 2½-liter four-cylinder
was neat and clean, though not show-
quality, and suggested that the car had been
driven —a good thing. The DHC body had
been mounted on a 1½-liter RMA chassis in
the 1960s, and returned to an RMB chassis
in the mid-1980s, not that it would matter
to most bidders. The car was offered by
Baltimore’s BHA Automobile Museum, with
proceeds benefiting various charities—hence
the above-average price.
LANCIA
Year: 1966 Reserve: Undisclosed
Model: Flaminia GT 2.5 3C Selling price: $115,500
Condition: Restored/#3 Avg. selling price: $85,200
In the tight-knit Lancia world, a car can
be known by the company it has kept, and
this one had been through the hands of a
Who’s Who of Lancisti, among them Walt
Spak, Raymond Milo and Tom Sheehan,
who was the coupe’s longtime owner.
Cosmetically, it presented well, with a good
quality 1990s repaint still holding up; some
of the brightwork showed light pitting.
Recent work included the installation of
a new leather and vinyl interior, and new
gaskets around the glass. None of its
minor flaws is likely to matter to an owner
who plans to enjoy driving this technically
sophisticated grand tourer.
ASTON MARTIN
Year: 1989 Reserve: None
Model: Lagonda Selling price: $121,000
Condition: Original/#2- Avg. selling price: $100,000
Production of Lagondas totaled just 643,
with 105 of those being Series 4 cars, like
this example. The last generation of Aston
Martin’s four-door supercar, the Series 4
did away with its predecessors’ pop-up
headlamps in favor of six sealed beams.
This three-owner example showed just
under 36,000 miles, its only evident flaws
being a partial repaint on the driver’s side
and some wear to the leather. A complete
set of service records from new went with
the car. That, and long-term ownership in
Southern California, suggest that the slight
premium paid to own this example was
money well spent.
AUSTIN-HEALEY
Year: 1961 Reserve: None
Model: 3000 MkII BN7 Selling price: $70,400
Condition: Restored/#1- Avg. selling price: $109,000
The BN7 is one of the most coveted of the
Big Healeys, combining the two-seat
roadster body with the triple-carburetor
version of the 2,912-cc straight-six. Just 355
were built. Sold new to a buyer in Detroit,
this car in 1987 made its way to Australia,
where it was treated to a nut-and-bolt
restoration. The paintwork was done in
cellulose in the interest of authenticity,
though the color was changed from the
original red. Panel preparation appeared
to be excellent, and gaps were nice and
even. The interior was redone in gray, as it
had been when new. A hard top, weather
equipment and tools were included.
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 BY DAVID CONWILL • WCONWILL@HEMMINGS.COM

1939 Fiat Topolino

1950 Jaguar Mk V

‘Everyman Classics’ at Classic Car

Auctions Leamington Spa
While it’s sometimes fun to see what
top-dollar collectibles change hands, more
relevant to most of us are cars selling at
affordable prices. About a year ago, the
U.K.’s Silverstone Auctions recognized the
need for an auction house suited to such a
market, and created Classic Car Auctions to
specialize in lots valued at less than £50,000
(around $72,000). On March 19, CCA had
its “biggest and best ever sale” in Warwick-
shire, U.K., with 85 percent of cars selling
for a grand total of over $1.4 million.
We first caught wind of CCA’s March
Sale via an advertisement for a 1939 Fiat
Topolino built for the Duke of Westminster
two weeks after the German invasion of
Poland that began World War II in Europe
(the Italians didn’t throw in with the Ger-
mans until June of 1940). The Duke must
have enjoyed his Little Mouse, as he kept it
until his death in 1953 and it remained in
the family until 1986. The pre-war Italian
compact changed hands for $20,571.91—
an everyman’s price for a car with an
aristocratic history.
Other highlights of the sale included a
1970 Triumph Vitesse convertible (known
as the Triumph Sports 6 on this side of the
pond) that brought $10,487.36. As a Mk
2 example, the 1970 sports a redesigned
rear suspension said to give performance
equivalent to an MGB or Sunbeam Alpine.
Unlike the ‘B or Alpine, the Vitesse seats
four and has a trunk suitable to travelling.
The 1980s “hot hatch” craze seems to
be re-igniting among collectors, and those
1970 Triumph Vitesse
folks had quite a selection at the March
Sale including a 1987 Fiat Strada Abarth
130TC, which sold for $21,837.87, and a
1982 Talbot Lotus Sunbeam, which traded
for $24,528.04.
Those with more luxurious tastes, but still
shopping on the proverbial “beer budget”
could have picked up either a classic 1950
Jaguar Mk V 3.5L Saloon for $28,484.18
or a sleek, modernist 1966 Mercedes 230S
“Fintail” for $14,558.58.
You can view the full results from CCA’s
March Sale at www.classiccarauctions.co.uk.

Triumphant Triumph and

an esteemed Italian at
Barons’ Spring Classic
The U.K.’s Sandown Park
once again played host to
Barons Spring Classic on
April 6, and the results were
impressive. The top seller
was a one-owner 1963
Triumph TR4, which inspired
a bidding war culminating
in a $38,822.82 sale — more
than double its pre-auction
estimate. Its desirability was
apparently thanks to having
sat untouched since 1991.
Another notably high sale
was a 1959 Alfa Romeo 2000
Touring Spider, which took the
second-highest sales position
of the day at $51,499.66. The
Alfa, which was a left-hand-
drive import from the United
States, was presented as a
restoration project, although
it certainly looked like a good
candidate for a Driveable
Dream.
Similarly impressive were a 1963 Triumph TR4
“superb” 1973 MGB roadster
(thanks to a claimed 3,000- it had been converted to work done in the course of
hour restoration) that fetched right-hand drive at some maintenance.
$29,315.19 and a 1935 point in its history. The Riley For complete details on
Riley Falcon that went to its had lived with its original the Sandown Park Sale and
third owner since new for owner through 2012 and, information regarding future
$22,710.27. The MGB was although never fully restored, auctions, direct your browser
another re-import, although had had extensive restoration to www.barons-auctions.com.

90 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

 Sports and exotic cars at Auction Calendar
JULY
Mecum’s Spring Classic »
2-3 Silver Jackson Hole Auction
The 29th Annual Mecum Spring Classic Sale returned to the NRG Center in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; 800-255-4485;
Houston, Texas, April 14-16. As usual, there was a good selection of classics, www.silverauctions.com
muscle machines, sports and exotic cars present.
The golden age of the British sports car was well represented at Mecum
»
8-9 Mecum Denver Auction
Denver, Colorado; 262-275-5050;
Indy, with everything from a ’56 Jaguar XK120 roadster that sold for $112,500 www.mecum.com
to a ’62 MGA roadster that brought $35,500, and a ’57 Triumph TR3 roadster
that went for $25,000. Readers of this issue will be interested to hear that a
»
9 Le Mans Classic 2016 by Artcurial
Motorcars; Le Mans, France;
particularly attractive 1956 Austin-Healey 100 found a new owner at $65,000.
33 1 42 99 20 73; www.artcurial.com
Teutonic brands were also well represented, with a 1960 Mercedes-Benz
190 SL going for $95,000, and a 1964 Mercedes-Benz 220 SE coupe bringing »
9 H and H Chateau Impney Auction
$12,000. Those with an outdoorsy streak might have been interested in the Droitwich Spa, United Kingdom;
1971 Volkswagen Campmobile, which changed hands for $16,000. Lastly, a 44 1925 210035; www.classic-auctions.com
pair of ‘70s BMWs made for interesting bookends: an unrestored 1976 2002 »
9 Silver Spokane Auction
that sold for $11,000 and a 1978 320i that rang up at $7,500. Spokane, Washington; 800-255-4485;
Notably absent were older Italian cars, although someone scooped up a www.silverauctions.com
1976 Alfa Romeo Spider for $5,000.
For complete results from Mecum’s Spring Classic, or to preview
»
9 Vicari New Orleans Auction
New Orleans, Louisiana; 228-688-3478;
consignments for future sales, take a look at www.mecum.com. www.vicariauction.com
»
12 Barons Connoisseurs Classic Car
Collection; Tattersalls at Newmarket,
United Kingdom; 44 023 8066 8413;
www.barons-auctions.com
»
28-30 Greensboro Auto Auction July
Sale; Greensboro, North Carolina;
855-862-2257; www.gaaclassiccars.com
»
28 H and H Donington Park Auction
Derby, United Kingdom; 44 1925 210035;
www.classic-auctions.com
»
30 RM Sotheby’s Motor City Auction
1957 Triumph TR3 Plymouth, Michigan; 260-927-9797;
www.rmsothebys.com

Multiple Mercedes (and friends)

at Auctions America Auburn
May 5-7 marked the running of Auctions
America’s Spring Auction in Auburn,
Indiana, where several sports and exotic
cars poked their heads out among
the Yank tanks like crocuses from a
snowbank. Results weren’t yet in as of
this writing, but there were a few we
were eager to follow.
In addition to the traditional auction
sales, this year’s Auburn Sale also
featured a “Retro Swap” swap meet
for parts and automobilia, a Saturday
morning “Cars & Coffee” meet that will
continue to be held the first Saturday of
each month through September at the
Auburn Auction Park, and an Automotive
Midway, with displays by the SCCA,
Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum,
National Automotive and Truck Museum,
Turnstone, Shifters Car Club, Baer Field
Speedway and the Planters NUTmobile.
Among the eleven Mercedes that went
to auction at Auburn were a 1960 190 SL
with removable hardtop; a 1966 250 SE
coupe with a factory sunroof (said to be
quite rare) and a 170-hp, 2.5L six-cylinder
engine backed up by a four-speed manual
transmission; and a 1969 600 short
wheelbase sedan—virtually a limousine,
but without a divider window.
Anglophiles also had some selection to
choose from, highlighted by a 1957 Austin
Princess IV with limousine bodywork by
Vanden Plas. The right-hand drive Princess
IV going to market features a handsome
dark-blue finish, tan leather interior, and
a 4.0L engine coupled to a three-speed
manual transmission. Also present were
TIM PEELER
1959 Austin Princess
several Jaguars, including a 1973 E-type
Series III roadster and a 1987 XJ6 with
slight modifications to suit the taste of a
previous owner.
Those seeking two-seat, wind-in-the-
hair motoring could also choose from
a 1959 Triumph TR3A or a 1965 MGB
roadster.
To see how these lots did, see what else
sold or check on upcoming sales, navigate
to www.auctionsamerica.com.

Hemmings.com • HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR 91

 BY JEFF KOCH • ADS COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR΄S COLLECTION

Intercooling, in your face

One downside to turbocharging is the immense amount
of heat the system generates. Hence the introduction of
intercooling — a system devised to keep things cooler, and
to help performance heat up. By the middle 1980s, Saab,
Volvo and Peugeot all had intercoolers to hype — and all
did so by confronting readers with headlamps-on nose
shots of their cars in various states of aggression.

92 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016

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 Satch Carlson
She’s the one The sin of acquisition is beyond repentance
Well, another one got away from me—and it
who sent me doesn’t make any sense. No, not the part about it
getting away; many, many cars have managed to
the ad for this slip from my grasp in one way or another, from
accident, neglect, or repossession if I already
thing, and owned them, or from being snatched away by
other buyers before I could properly align my lies
then she made to the finance company.
What doesn’t make any sense is why I care.
Let’s face it: At this point, I own—or have use
me sit down of, which is another matter entirely—all of the
cars I could possibly need. I was going to say
and watch a “could possibly want,” but this is a totally absurd
notion; we old-car guys—be very careful with
video of the car that hyphen, Mr. Copy Editor—are occasion-
ally forced to admit that if overwhelmed by a
being driven. plentitude of riches, we would find ourselves in
a full-time frenzy of acquisition, buying cars and
building garages to house those cars until every
exotic-car broker had us on speed dial. And then
we’d still be reading the online ads.
The car in question was a Citroën SM. Jaded
readers may recall that I have occasionally
mentioned my brief years with a Citroën SM; I
continue to declare that if the damn thing had
included a five-speed transmission instead of that
miserable Borg-Warner slushbox, I would surely
still own the car. Of course, I could make similar
observations—and I do, usually after an evening
of adult beverages—regarding my BMW 3.0CS,
the Lotus Esprit (less so the Elite), the Bugeye
Sprite, and any number of Saabs. But the Citroën
SM was different.
I guess that describes it completely right there.
However, my most recent twitch toward even
more automotive debt was not even my own
doing, it was the work of Party A, the long-suf-
fering lifestyle coordinator who keeps me upright
and functioning. She’s the one who sent me the
ad for this thing, and then she made me sit down
and watch a video of the car being driven. So I
got to listen as the car rolled up through the gears,
the 2.6-liter Maserati V-6 making all the appro-
priate noises. I got to watch as that long, slender
wand was carefully snicked from gate to gate.
And the price was ridiculous.
Of course, I know the old rule: A thing is worth
exactly what somebody else will pay you for it.
And if it’s my imaginary money, the cost of a
project like this must include not only the price
of the car but what it will cost to actually pro-
duce the car you have found yourself envision-
ing; that might be new paint or interior, or both,
or mechanical work.
That last bit is always unrealistic for me,
because I somehow believe that in the case of
any car built before, say, 1972, the IT’S OKAY: I
HAVE TOOLS decal in my garage will magically
96 HEMMINGS SPORTS & EXOTIC CAR • July 2016
satch@satch.us
provide me with overdraft protection. Because I
have rebuilt rather primitive engines in the past,
and have far too much experience with fixing
broken cars, I somehow imagine that my history
will somehow equip me to deal with mechani-
cal issues even though I am now confined to the
garage of a condominium in San Diego.
It is true that I still have the 11/16-inch wrench
that I ground thin and then heated and bent twice
to create an offset tool to remove the starter motor
of a—yes!—Citroën SM, but now, as I look at
the pictures of that three-Weber V-6 surrounded
by Citroën hydropneumatic plumbing, a certain
depressing reality overcomes even my insane self-
delusion. Still, I remind myself, there is SM World
and Jerry Hathaway, so all my toolbox would have
to contain would be money.
Then there’s the cost of storage. A car like this
does not take the place of your daily driver, or
even mine, so one would have to find lodging.
And I am already scrambling every month to make
the rent for two nearby garages, never mind pay-
ing the mortgage on the Mondo Condo garage.
Ah, but at least the recently fumigated Termite
Garage is currently vacant, except for about a
dozen tires, plus all the effluvia that inevitably
creeps into a garage when you’re not looking.
This occurs in milliseconds if you don’t defend
garage space with a car, especially a car that no
one would dream of throwing a blanket over so
we could use it as a semi-horizontal storage space
for Aunt Milly’s Cosmopolitan collection, dating
back to the early days of Helen Gurley Brown,
but it can also occur as a kind of material seep-
age: First the car is parked, with plenty of space all
around it, but then that space attracts unprioritized
materials of every description. First the passenger-
side space is filled like a long, skinny aquarium,
followed by any room in front of the car—if you
parked it right up to the wall, the space behind the
car fills up instead—and so on, until finally only
rumor and family history testify to the presence of
a car somewhere under all that stuff.
Besides, the Citroën SM in question was in
Florida, which the last time I checked was several
thousand miles away, a great number of them
comprising Texas. I am not too current on ship-
ping costs, but somehow I don’t think Amazon
Prime is going to be any help. And for the cost of
shipping, you might as well buy a couple of plane
tickets and—ROAD TRIP!
As you can see, it was beginning to sound
like a good idea, especially since it wasn’t my
idea, so how could it ever be my fault? But alas,
by the time Herself got back to the buyer, he
had a deal in the works. Missed it by that
much—and I’m trying to convince myself I’m
glad that we did.
4TH ANNUAL / JUNE 10-12, 2016 / NEWPORT DUNES / BACK BAY

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