I have recently returned from three weeks in South Africa, specifically, Cape Town, where my wife and I stayed with friends in Simons Town located on False Bay to the south of Cape Town, and the Mpumalanga province (formerly  Eastern Transvaal). I can report that the ownership of classic cars and membership in classic car clubs, and the general public interest in them are alive and thriving in this part of the world.   The weekend after we arrived our friends, knowing my love of classic cars, had arranged for us to attend the Classic  Car and Bike Show on the grounds of the ..read more

Tony Batchelor The quite serious question you should be asking yourself when driving around during the wet and gloomy Winter days is "can I be seen by other drivers". You might however give that question some thought in certain light conditions when driving through woodland in and out of the shadows on lovely sunny days. Hopefully we will experience that very soon. In fact this is such a serious question that the answer might mean the difference between, best case avoiding an accident and worse case, well you can guess what that is - Image Sports Classics London. I find the older I get t ..read more

By Classic Car Connections member John K Austin Healey 3000 MK 1 1959 658 FCV   1959 was the first year of Austin Healey 3000 production and they made a total of 6453 cars, but only 280 were sold in UK and 6173 exported. John's Healey has had the same owner since 1975. Modified in the 1960s with Ruddspeed conversion triple carbs, tubular exhaust manifold, brake servo,  mild cam and head mods, adjustable rear shock absorbers, roll cage.   His car was resprayed Colorado red in the ’60s and was used in hill climbs and sprints.   The Restoration (over 15 years!) was completed ..read more

By Tony Batchelor This Riley 1.5 reached the end of the road a very long time ago (image Arty Pie - Bigboxart). Whilst researching the internet for future blog topics I came across a number of images which some readers might find distressing, so you have been warned. Now as a classic car lover I must confess to initially being somewhat saddened at the sight of what I consider to be beloved classic cars as simply rusting hulks in what is effectively a graveyard. But then I looked at them again from a photgraphic perspective, and to me the images have an artistic interpretation. It is curioius ..read more

Award-winning feature car by Colin B From the moment I left College I fell into the motor trade, and despite being surrounded by brand new cars, I still loved the classics, so when my friends were hankering after the newest BMWs and Audis. I fancied a 308GTB or 1970’s 911 Carrera RS, but obviously, at that age both were way out of reach financially.   I’ve pretty much always had a classic car in some shape or form, from a host of early Classic Fords when they were not really classed as ‘Classic’ just Fords! To dabble in owning a selection of cars later in life trying to re-kindle my yout ..read more

By Tony Batchelor You often hear classic car owners enthuse about the advantages of owning a classic car. Forgetting the likely increase in value of the vehicle, the advantages of owning a classic car over 40 years old include exemption from paying road tax, no requirement for an MOT and there is low cost classic car insurance. With the latter, maybe I am with the wrong insurance company as both of our daily run-arounds cost the same per year to insure as the classic, and the former are not restricted on mileage. Coming back to the MOT, I was very interested to read an article in the publicati ..read more

This car was originally made famous in the early scenes of the Italian Job movie, where 3 black Fiat Dino Coupe 2000s were used by the Mafia. The Fiat Dino was never officially imported into the UK and only ever built in LHD, making it a rarity over here. The Coupe was styled by Bertone and the Spider by Pininfarina, giving the two cars totally different looks. Early cars used a 2L all alloy quad cam Ferrari engine with triple Weber carburettors rated at 160bhp, which was the same as used in the Ferrari Dino 206. After a couple of years the engine size was increased to 2.4L, still with alloy ..read more

By Tony Batchelor The Smart W450 Coupe. First introduced to European roads in 1998, yes unbelievably 20 plus years ago, by Mercedes-Benz as a 21st century vision for urban mobility. It is a car of the time, a milestone in Mercedes Benz history and set the benchmark for future urban driving. Smart W450 Coupe – image MoMa It is indeed a significant car, but the question is can it be regarded as what is now more commonly termed a "modern classic", but what is a Modern Classic? This question I am asking myself was prompted during a recent relaxing weeks stay with some friends at their home in Fra ..read more

1999 Morgan 4/4 We bought our Connaught Green Morgan 4/4 in November 2004 from Brands Hatch Morgans. It had only been driven 3500 miles and the first owner couldn’t justify keeping it, having bought it as a retirement present for himself. We wanted a car which would give us the “vintage” feel without the frequent maintenance and one we could happily tour in. We talked to Sarah at BHM about what we wanted and a few weeks later she told us she had just the car for us, and she was absolutely right! In the 17 years we have owned it, it has covered another 48,000 miles, from Edinburgh to Angoulême ..read more

By Tony Batchelor Are you able to name this pretty little car which is clearly attracting a great deal of interest? A Maserati or a Ferrari, a Fiat possibly. How about a Lancia. The manufacturer associated with this car is very well known to all of us classic car enthusiasts and closer to home than you might think. A great number of us drive around in cars created by the same designer. The answer, I will come back to that later. The holiday season is pretty much upon us, or for those of us who have retired it is another day not trapped in an office. It is therefore an opportunity to get out a ..read more