In which Sid offers a very few car stories from Techno Classica.
In the last post Sid was a bit sniffy about the amount of 1980s classics on show. But if you want a LHD, smart, reliable, comfortable, analogue, convertible tourer how about this 1988 E30 320i with only 27,000 miles? Could you see yourself with a Michelin Red Guide, getting the map out on the floor and plotting the Grand Tour? You can.
Sid and Doris had a 325i convertible in the early 1990s. The rear suspension is pre-Z axle so do not try to hurry, but the hood is excellent. Sid commuted it 720 miles per week. We didn’t have Zoom or much WFH. At the 33,500 euros the dealer wants, an alternative might be a Mercedes SL (107) but these are really neat and the E30 shape just seems to be getting better.
Still on a touring theme this 1937 Talbot Lago T11 was offered by the very lovely Houtkamp family. They have not written it up on their site but Sid will stick out his scrawny neck: the T11 is the short chassis with two suicide doors. Many of these were exotically bodied by Figoni and Falaschi. This is more conventional and already has integrated wings and lights. Like the BMW (Sid thinks) it is a two litre straight six. Unlike the 320i, probably around 250,000 Euros.
As MG started by modifying Morrises so SIATA (SocieteItaliana Auto Transformazioni Accessories) started by making accessories for Fiat, before starting to build Fiat based cars in 1948. This is a Bertone built, 1953 300BC based on a short chassis 1400. You can see it is on drums. It does look very pretty and has apparently been rebuilt, amply justifying the 275,000 Euro price? Meanwhile back at MG a 1950s MGA will cost a fifth of that or less, you could do the Mille Miglia, have a hood and get all the parts from the Moss catalogue. And if you want a much better car for much less money see the Mk1 MX5s at Goodwoodsportscars.co.Uk who are obviously in Berwick on Tweed. But not so cute.
Sid needs your help here. When American Briggs Cunningham wanted to compete at 1953’s Le Mans the ACO required him to build or intend to build 25 road cars to achieve homologation. Being American it had US running gear: Chrysler V8, Gearbox and axle. They could crack 60 in seven seconds. And so it would look right he asked Michelotti Vignale to design it. But Vignale also designed the Ferrari 212. Sid thinks this is a Cunningham C3 but all opinions welcome.
Positively the last Essen picture with some tales for those who crave more travel stories. This 1931 eight litre Bentley was commissioned by Woolf Barnato. Born 1895 he came into the first £250,000 of his inheritance in 1914, and so naturally joined the British Field Artillery finishing the war as captain. He sued his family for the rest of his inheritance and funded Bentley, racing and winning at Le Mans in 1928, ‘29 and ‘30. When not racing he kept wicket for Surrey.
Perhaps the best known stories concern the pre war Blue Train races, aiming to beat the night express from Calais to the Riviera. Rovers and an Alvis Silver Eagle achieved the feat but best known are Barnato’s races, in one of which he left Cannes at the same time as the train and made it to his co-driver’s London club before the train made Calais. So the car here is not a Le Mans or a Blue Train car, just a vehicle for romantic travel stories.
The two-tone car is most certainly almost a Cunningham, and yet it is not. It is a Ferrari Vignale Speciale Competizioni 195 S. However, it is so closely related that it once, at a concours, sat right next to a certain Cunningham C-3 this blog’s author has driven. That very car! All confirmed by a mechanic that has worked on both cars in our little story. While unconfirmed, we can be certain the same hands built both bodies.Cue “It’s a Small World (After All)”.