Índex per April 2023 a Practical Classics

‘Sometimes you just need a change of perspective.’ ‘I think they're doing great!’ ‘Onwards! Give it a week, it'll be on the road!’ ‘Hopefully the project goes without a hitch.’ Times are pretty tough, so our tech section is becoming more and more important. Why? Well, the simplest and easiest way to make your hard-earned cash go further is to do your own servicing and restoring. It’s a core remit of PC and it’s a fantastic way to get to know your car better. Each issue there’s a load of real world expertise at your fingertips, taking you through from the basic principles in our ‘Academy’ series, to great big projects and the very best reader restorations. Inspiration, information and entertainment, all for the cost of a pint, every four…

Shining light NOVA STAR RECHARGEABLE LED WORK LIGHT £67.92 Matt says ‘Chucking out plenty of light over a wide area, this lamp is perfect for when you're working under your classic.’ A good work light can make a breakdown repair a breeze and workshop tinkering a pleasure. Boasting a light output of 2000 lumens, the Nova Star LED work light really could be the perfect companion for working on your classic. Featuring an adjustable stand, hook and magnet, it’s versatile in ensuring you’ve always got light when you need it, and with five different lighting modes (including emergency red and flashing options) and in-built USB power-bank, it’s as useful out on the road as it is in the workshop. nightsearcher.com Unflappable TR COLD AIR INTAKE FLAP £24 British Motor Heritage…

AS FOUND With a rotten chassis and brake failure-induced accident damage to the GRP body, the little Bond was going to be no small project. I didn’t set out to buy a Bond Bug. I’d been over to Anglia Car Auctions to buy a Porsche 914 as a project, but it was too far gone. On the way home, I stopped at the local shop for a chocolate bar and got talking to the owner. Before long the conversation turned to the Bond Bug that I’d spied in an outbuilding while I had been replacing the shop roof some months previously. I told him about the Porsche being too much of a project and he said: ‘You can buy the Bug if you like’. I laughed, and made my way…

Ihave optimistic news to mark this year’s International Women’s Day; the gender balance of classic car ownership is changing. More women are finding empowerment behind the wheel. The shift, which specialist classic car insurer and lifestyle brand Hagerty confirmed in an exclusive report for Practical Classics, is being driven by Generation X, the classification employed by economists, sociologists and futurologists that covers those born between 1965 and 1980. In the past five years, Hagerty policyholders who identify as women in this demographic have nearly doubled, with an increase of 81 per cent, compared to 25 per cent for those who identify as men. It’s indicative, I hope, of a minority that’s coming up on the outside lane. 'At Hagerty, our purpose is to save driving and to protect car culture…

This month’s been quiet for me on the buying front. Deepest winter supposedly puts people into hibernation mode when it comes to cars – and it feels like that’s been the case for me this year. I’m not alone. For many, the need to put something new on your drive gets overtaken by Christmas, keeping warm and surviving the dark months. Well, that’s the conventional wisdom. In the classic car world, things seem to be different. I’ve also set a monthly personal best for cars sold. These include a Skoda Fabia vRS, Audi A2, my sadly barely used Renault GTA V6 Turbo, Lancia Delta and Austin 1300 De Luxe. That’s quite a line-up. If nothing else, it shows that us car enthusiasts never go to sleep, come hell or high…

NIGEL'S JOB CARD REPLACE OLD FILAMENT BULBS WITH MODERN LEDS First, I’m checking through the wiring and bulb holders on my TR6 then I will replace all its bulbs with LED equivalents. I’ve chosen a warm white colour option, which looks more original than the cooler white/ blue appearance of modern lighting. + Greater light intensity, especially important for headlights and brake lights. Reduced power consumption is better for switches and charging systems. Longer life than filament bulbs - Cost TESTED Fitting LED bulbs to my TR6 was a straightforward job that makes a big difference. The new lights are brighter, last longer and are easier on the car’s electrical system. Why did you do it? LED replacements are now available for most of the traditional Lucas style filament bulb…

PAY LESS AND NEVER MISS A COPY! See p50 Buying Guides We look at the Wolseley 1500 (Riley 1.5) and the MR2 MkII, then tell you how to bag a good one Reader Restorations The oldest known Cortina MkI revived by one man and a magnificent Bond Equipe rebuild Cash savers Knowledge on how to save money looking after your classic – from learning skills to simple checks Plus the latest news, views, listings and events. Modern Classics with J-J and Keith, our workshop stories, then amazing adventures – Reliant Rebel run for the NHS and our 306 tries to find if there is anything at all left of the old Ryton plant. Of course, there'll also be Memory Lane, Rust in Peace, Your Cars, Spotted, Charity Heroes and tons…

The buzz is bigger than ever this year as the classic world gears up for the annual March Restofest at the NEC. Clubs and specialists are all ready to go back to the halls and get busy at the show where there is action on every stand. This year's PC Show will see numerous high profile projects on display and being worked on. The Reverend Adam Gompertz and his REVS team will be hammering away all weekend on their Land Rover SIII charity rebuild. Another charity rebuild, our very own Reliant Rebel, will be front and centre at the CCA Auction during the weekend. CCA has waived its usual fees, so every penny that the Rebel raises will go straight to NHS charities. On the PC stand we'll have our…

What is your first car memory? 'We went on holiday to Weymouth in my Dad’s Rover SD1. It had a 2.0 Perkins diesel engine which he had just finished restoring. He looked at the fuel gauge when we arrived and it hadn't moved much. Thinking the fuel sender was stuck, he topped the tank back up, turns out it had only used four gallons from Derby to Weymouth. That's 70mpg! Dad was pretty pleased with that.' When did you realise you were a petrol head? 'I've always been involved in cars, whether that's from going to weekend meets with my family or working at the NEC with the P6 club or being in the workshop. It's more of a way of life! I guess becoming a petrolhead was pretty much…

Capital returns All roads lead to Olympia… London isn't the mostclassic-friendly city , but its Olympia venue is a cracking place to have a car show. Which is handy, because that's where the London Classic Car Show will be taking place on February 24-26. The Porsche 911 celebrates its 60th birthday this year, so expect lots of examples to be lined up. Also on show will be the cars launched in 1983 which achieve tax-exempt status this year. Perhaps more importantly, they're also ULEZ-exempt in London. Historics will be holding an auction crammed with mouth-watering classics, while 70 years of the Corvette will also be marked. theclassiccar showuk.com BANGERS & SMASH Promoting diversity and inclusivity For years there's been a 'them and us' attitude between most classic car clubs and…

This is local car for local people and should not be removed!’ Hearing the story of a Series II Morris Oxford, now for sale, almost made me utter the above ridiculous statement, or something like it. Delivered in August 1955, YFC 217 still has its original Oxford registration, even retaining its original silver on black number plates. Most importantly, during its 68 years in existence, the car has never resided outside a ten-mile radius of the city in which it was built. Much of the time it has been within the Oxford ring road. New to a Morris employee who lived in nearby Abingdon, the Morris later spent many years with various members of a family in St Marys Road, I reckon in the leaded windowed garage of an Arts…

Triumph Spitfire Jack Brands has been to Montana, USA and has taken vast quantities of photos. Here, we present the non-US element of his hauls, beginning with an almost complete Triumph Spitfire MkIV or 1500 (with AMC Pacers behind). Triumph TR7 It's a mystery what hit this TR7 as the big dent across the bonnet is filled with charcoal. Did it gate-crash a barbeque? VW-Porsche 914 The VW-Porsche 914 was intended as a replacement for the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, but was never as successful as its predecessor. FIAT 850 Spiders This sportscar-heavy haul also includes a trio of rear-engined Fiat 850 Spiders, with these dinky models somewhat dwarfed by the American saloons of the period parked all around them. Toyota Corolla Sportswagon This rare Corolla Sportswagon clearly completely lost its…

WHAT TO PAY PROJECT £500-£1500 RUNNER £2000-£3500 GOOD £5000-£8000 TECH SPEC Engine 1498cc/4-cyl/OHC Power 65bhp@4600rpm Torque 84lb ft@4600rpm Gearbox 4-speed manual with freewheel 0-60mph 16sec Top speed 90mph Fuel economy 30mpg LIVING WITH A SAAB 96 How easy to work on ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Parts availability ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Running cost ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Performance ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ MARKETPLACE Why you want one In 1967, Saab’s stylish little car grew up. With the introduction of a four-stroke V4, suddenly the 96 was hurled into a league above, taking on other small family car offerings with a 30 percent power hike and a great deal more refinement. It opened up new markets for the company and it’s a whole lot easier to own…

Why you want one Where does one begin with this giant, pointy pillarless coupé? Was it a courageous, avantgarde work of automotive art, or an act of unspeakable lunacy? I think we can all agree that nothing of its kind will ever be seen again. No car maker in 2023 would have the balls to build such a thing, that’s for sure. The Avantime was another of those unusual vehicles that came out of the late Nineties/early Noughties, joining the likes of the Vel Satis, Fiat Multipla, BMW M Coupé, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Nissan Cube, Smart Roadster, Ford StreetKa and… well, the list goes on and on. We’re thankful they all exist. Some flopped, including the Avantime, quite badly as it happened. It proved to be the product that killed…

Nigel Clark CONTRIBUTOR 1977 Reliant Scimitar SE6A Engine 2994cc/V6/OHV Power 138bhp@5000rpm Torque 192lb ft@3000rpm Gearbox 4-spd man + o/d 0-60mph 9.4sec Top speed 118mph Fuel economy 21mpg Work done Scimitar exhaust mounts and fanbelt replaced; new thermostat for the BMW. Also In Nigel’s garage 1970 TRIUMPH TR6 Hibernating in the garage, waiting for some brighter weather to arrive. 1972 TRIUMPH GT6 MKIII Getting occasional use during the winter months. This time it’s the faithful Scimitar calling for a little TLC, due to some tired rubber. Not the tyres, which still have plenty of tread left, but the exhaust mounting rubbers and the fanbelt. I’d noticed a few months ago that the fanbelt was showing signs of fraying, nothing serious but enough that I bought a replacement, finding an OEM quality…

Starting HANDLE Danny Hopkins mulls over the best way to resist ULEZ The debate over the extension of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone is a noisy one, with several councils deciding not to cooperate with the zone’s expansion. Despite ULEZ being entirely the wrong sledgehammer for the emissions nut, I am still not on board with the Sadiq Khan-bashing that seems to be part of the anti-ULEZ routine. For starters, it was Boris Johnson who first championed ULEZ in 2015. Mayor Khan has targets to hit and lobbies to keep happy. He also has thousands of case studies, parents of kids with asthma, who want something done to give their little ones a decent quality of life. That’s a very compelling set of pressures to deal with and it means…

JUN 2014 THE RESTORER After graduating in Chemistry and doing a short stint as an R&D chemist in automotive paint, Ian Brindley took a few years ‘out’ working in a classic restoration business during the Eighties. In 1991 he took an opportunity to work for a supplier of adhesives and sealants. He remains in the industry, but now works in a European role supporting markets as diverse as rail, renewable energy and automotive aftermarket. For many of us classic enthusiasts, the vehicles owned by either our father or another family member had a great deal to do with the marque or marques that we ended up favouring ourselves. This was certainly the case for Ian Brindley, as he explains. ‘My father was a Triumph man, owning a 2000 MkI, 2000…

FANTASY FORECOURT There’s a lot more to ‘Quattro’ than a mere badge. That Q-word still means something today. It put Audi on the map, for starters. A firm that began as the maker of mildly innovative, well-engineered executive saloons has since become one of the most successful manufacturers on the planet… and that all started with the Quattro. Many an Audi has sported the badge since that very first rally-bred hyper-coupé, from the humble Audi 80 to the new generation of advanced electric Audis. Here, our team gets together to ponder the most meaningful and memorable of the bunch. We had to include the earliest Quattro, for sure. Its turbocharged, fuel-injected fiv-ecylinder engine warbled while four-wheel drive gave drivers previously unheard of grip (unless of course they’d tried a Jensen…

‘I was on my way as soon as I saw the ad’ Hiring a car is the loser’s option. Buying one, however… FOUND ON FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE 2001 Volvo V70 Cross-Country 2.4T Geartronic One owner from new, 10 months MOT, 113,000 miles from new with comprehensive history file. Small dent on rear quarter panel. BOUGHT FOR £900 Craig Cheetham Having left the safety net of employment in 2018 to set up as a freelancer, another thing I left behind was a secure pension. So, in a moment of behaving like a grown-up, I put every penny I’d ever saved into a deposit on an old crofter’s cottage in the Scottish Highlands. I love it there and when I can afford to retire, I’ll live there, so it was a sensible investment…

James Walshe DEP EDITOR 1985 Citroën 2CV Engine 602cc/2-cyl/OHV Gearbox 4-speed manual Power 29bhp@5750rpm Torque 31lb ft@3500rpm Top speed 71mph 0-60mph 32.7sec Fuel economy 46mpg Work done Stripdown number two! Also in James’s garage 2001 FORD PUMA 1.7 Waiting for spring fun! 2004 SMART ROADSTER On shopping duties. 2003 CITROËN BERLINGO Faithful old box of delights. You’re not seeing things and you’re not going mad. Yes… my 2CV is, once again, in bits. The journey so far has taken us from accident damage victim (PC, Oct 2022) to rebuilt live stage project at the NEC (PC, Feb 2023) and then heroic conqueror of the Lakes (PC, March 2023). So, why is it all in pieces again? Well... The post-NEC journey to Cumbria, as part of our annual winter road trip,…

THEOS JOB CARD AIMS AND OBJECTIVES By the end of this workshop session, you should be able to distinguish between a hazard and a risk, differentiate acute hazards from chronic ones, and identify the main categories of hazard likely to be encountered when working on classic cars. You should be able to list the core personal protective equipment (PPE) required when carrying out the majority of workshop tasks and be able to link common tasks with the appropriate PPE, thus identifying some specific hazards and risks associated with basic workshop practice. EXPLAINER HAZARD AND RISK? A hazard is anything that has the potential to cause harm, such as using a cutting blade or moving an engine; risk is the likelihood of harm being caused when carrying out activities. Hazards can…