Quite a few Land Rovers crossed the block at Bonhams’ July 13 Goodwood Festival of Speed auction, but three Landies in particular give us an interesting glimpse at the current market.
All three of the recent Land Rovers sold way over their estimates, while the 1963 80-inch Series I was bang on the money. What is it about Landies these days?
Inspired by the U.S. Army’s wartime Jeep, developed in haste and intended for short-term, small-scale production, the Land Rover Read More
Chassis S814286 was built on May 25, 1955, as a left-hand-drive XK 140 SE coupe. The Jaguar was delivered new in France via the French distributor, Charles Delecroix, to its first owner, Mme. Jeanne Gaymard in Paris.
It is the 286th left-hand-drive coupé built, with body number J4457. The original colour scheme was cream with two-tone blue interior.
In 1957 the car had an accident. As the original body was beyond repair, the XK came under the eye of the Read More
This magnificent 8 Litre is one of only 100 such cars produced by W.O. Bentley, of which only some 80 or so survive.
Originally bodied as a limousine by Thrupp & Maberly, it was sent directly to Singapore, where its Chinese owner used the Bentley for sporting adventures with his lady friends. The Bentley was known as “the Harem Saloon.”
Returning to the U.K. in the early 1950s, it was owned by a Mr. Peter Quinn, who removed the original Read More
Searching for new engines in the 1960s, Morgan concluded a deal with Rover for supply of its all-aluminum 3.5-liter V8, thus creating a car — the Plus 8 — that combined vintage charm with Cobra-like grunt.
Morgan’s Plus 4 chassis, strengthened and extended, formed the basis of the new car, while the existing Moss 4-speed gearbox was retained. After a successful debut at the 1968 London Motor Show, production commenced at about 15 cars per month and continues to this Read More
Launched in 1954, the Jaguar XK 140 was broadly similar to — although more refined than — its sensational XK 120 predecessor. The major engineering changes were confined to the repositioning of the engine three inches farther forward and the adoption of rack-and-pinion steering as used on the racing C-type. The suspension and brakes remained much as before, though with stiffer torsion bars at the front and telescopic shock absorbers replacing the previous lever type at the rear.
Like its Read More
Standard-Triumph entered four Triumph TR3As for the 1958 Monte Carlo Rally. The cars carried near-sequential registration numbers: VRW 220 for Paddy Hopkirk/Jack Scott, VRW 221 for John Waddington/Mike Wood, VRW 223 for Maurice Gatsonides/Marcel Becquart and VRW 219 for Annie Soisbault/Tish Ozanne.
Poor weather delayed Waddington in VRW 221 — this car — and he was excluded from the event before reaching Lyon. However, excluded parties could continue to Monte Carlo to compete in the Driving Tests on the promenade Read More
Brussels coachbuilder Vesters et Neirinck produced some of the finest and most interesting designs to come out of Belgium during the Classic Era. They were particularly proud of their close relationship with Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
One of their most stunning creations, this Rolls-Royce Phantom III, was ordered with such unique features as a speedometer calibrated in kilometers, a petrol gauge in liters, and a pulley-drive Smiths tachometer. Inspired by the French stylings of Letourneur et Marchand, the body was a Read More
Chassis 1653R was completed at Newport Pagnell on July 3, 1964, and delivered on September 22, 1964, to Bryce, Hamer & Isherwood, Paul McCartney’s accountants at the time.
McCartney ordered the car prior to his departure for the Beatles’ world tour in the summer of 1964. The DB5 was subsequently registered in the musician’s name. Accompanying paperwork shows the price was £3,800 10s 0d plus purchase tax of £793 6s 8d.
The BMIHT certificate on file shows that the Aston Read More
The words “supercar” and “sensational” are often to be found in conjunction, and no more justifiably so than in the case of Jaguar’s fabulous XJ 220.
Worthy successor to the multiple Le Mans-winning C-type and D-type Jaguars of the 1950s, the XJ 220 grabbed the headlines just as its illustrious forebears had done in previous decades, when the prototype burst upon an astonished world in 1988.
A planned limited-production run of a minimum of 220 and a maximum of 350 Read More
