Grace Kelly reached into her picnic basket and asked Cary Grant,
innocently enough, “Do you want a leg or a breast?”

Before the 1960s Sunbeam Alpine that we all remember as the basis for the Tiger, there was another Alpine, made from 1953 to 1955.

For my money, the stories attached to this seldom-seen model (of approximately 3,000 built, only 200 may now survive) are more interesting than those Read More

The number of British cars available to sentimental Baby Boomers is fixed at the total produced between 1948 and 1981

Any basic economics course teaches that price is determined by supply and demand. That principle is vividly illustrated in the current market for collectible British cars, where prices have been rising on almost all marques for five years. Here are a few reasons why.

More buyers in the marketplace

Who Read More

By contrast to other weekend concours, the classes here were oriented toward production cars to which the spectators could relate

“Monterey needs another event like it needs a hole in the head,” was a typical comment on the enthusiast blogs when the announcement was made earlier this year that Carmel-by-the-Sea would present the “Concours on the Avenue” on Tuesday of the Monterey week.

However, when the last award winner had Read More

Constant attention is part of the experience of English cars. When you arrive at your destination, you have achieved something

Most gearheads agree that a classic car doesn’t come to life until it’s driven on the open road. Highly organized thousand-mile tours have allowed many owners to put some miles under their classic wheels, but don’t hold a candle to a plan-as-you-go long-distance road trip with one or two friends Read More

I asked a group of gearheads why Tigers can be bought so cheaply, and
almost in unison they said: “Because of the styling”

The story of the Sunbeam Tiger remains a frustrating one to aficionados, who struggle with a version of the Rodney Dangerfield Syndrome. If the car can win respect for its performance, why doesn’t it bring more money?

Heavily influenced by the immensely successful AC Cobra, the Tiger Read More

The Ford Popular was happy only on the crown of the road, and steering one was likened to stirring jam with a rubber spoon

The British must truly love their Fords, since the models produced after the end of World War II appear so frequently in popular media.

One definition of “icon” is a symbol conveying deep and complex cultural meaning. By that measure, the Ford Prefect, Popular, and Read More

If the Mini you’re looking at has roll-up windows and no visible door hinges, it was made after 1969.no matter what the owner or the title claims

The success of the new Mini has meant that classic Minis are starting to reappear in the United States, despite the fact they haven’t been legally imported since 1967.

However, there’s something a little suspicious about many of these cars, with their roll-up windows, Read More

The Scootacar was promoted as having room for a driver and groceries, but in practice, it was one or the other

Sometimes I wonder how the British ever managed to produce distinguished automobiles when the government threw so many obstacles in the path of the motor industry.

Perhaps the most significant was the motor vehicle tax policy with its quixotic exemptions, arcane methods of calculating horsepower, and arbitrary categorization.

The most Read More