Devin D restoration project for sale - now on ebay

I have been writing about this Devin D restoration project before. It's a very rare find! It has been with the same owner since 1973 and comes with a clear title identifying the car as the number 20 of totally 49 Devin Ds every built. It will make a splendid vintage racer, but could also be finished as a street car. Of course, there's some work to do, but the components are available.
The odometer apparently reads only 1139 miles. The car had been raced in original red with black interior and also with Porsche silver with burgundy accents. The car had been prepared to re-paint when the current owner bought it. The instruments, wipers, windshield and other components where remove to sand and refinish. The car has remained in this condition to this day. There is an additional windshield glass from 1956 Porsche Speedster, full top, bows and side-curtains. There are other additional parts, such as exhaust and muffler and other sundry parts.
So, if you are in the market for a rare vintage racer (I know of only two D Devins in Europe) then here's an opportunity to acquire a fantastic platform to start with.
As said, it's on ebay now. Have a look.

The Classic Car Season is over

A few days ago I posted a comment on my last trips with my cars for this year, and I was right. In the meantime the winter has visibly arrived, with snowfall and cold temperatures.
So for the next couple of months it will be more about reading books and magazines, watching movies and maybe working on the cars, than driving our cherished classics. Well, that's how it is when you live in central Europe.

When you have to pay more to NOT get an aircondition

This is the Porsche Cayman R. It's a lighter and more powerful version of the Cayman S. To save weight, the Porsche Engineers got rid of the radio and the aircondition. They also got rid of some other comfort accessories and items. They increased power by 10 HP, which shouldn't cost them much more as it's probably chip tuning only. So, you get almost the same, but less and you pay a lot more for the package, Euro 7'300.- to be specific. Okay, the lighter wheels may be a bit more expensive, but honestly, why would you pay so much more to actually get less? True weight saving must start with the basic concept of the car, not by removing convenience.

Auto Zurich 2010 - McLaren MP4-12C Ferrari 599 GTO Aston-Martin Cygnet ...

Auto Zurich cannot be compared with the Geneva car show. But looking at the range of new cars presented in Zurich it must be said that it's still an impressive show. New cars on scene were the Ferrari 599 GTO (for people with a lot of money) , McLaren MP4-12C (for people with a need for exclusivity), Volkswagen Passat (for people with families), Aston-Martin Cygnet (for people who want to pay twice the money to receive a Toyota IQ), Ranger Rover Evoque (for people who thing the BMW X6 isn't nice enough), Brabus Mercedes-Benz SLS (for people who thing the standard thing isn't expensive enough), Mercedes-Benz CLS (or people who only know short people to get into the back), Porsche Carrera GTS (same as a standard 911 for the GT3 price when fully loaded), new Veritas (if convenience is not an objective), Mitsubishi MIEV (if electricity is available where you park), and so on. The Zurich show is also a good show, because you can see all the cars in roughly 90 minutes ...

Has been here before - 4 door Coupés

Pininfarina designed this Lancia Florida Four Door Coupé in the mid fifties. It really looked sharp! So, what we see from Mercedes (CLS), Volkswagen (Passat CC) Aston-Martin (Rapide) or Porsche (Panamera) isn't really that innovative and new, isn't it? By the way, Rover and other brands continued this tradition of building 4 door coupés through the 60ies and 70ies, into the 80ies.

One that you can buy - Amilcar C6 Grand Prix Car

Here's again a car, that is for sale. It attracted my attention because it has a lovely patina and combines Grand Prix feeling with a road registration. It's a 1927 Amilcar C6 with a straight six cylinder engine with a double overhead camshaft, a dry sump system and a compressor. When the C6 was launched in 1926 it achieved no less than 74 victories in that year, such as the Italian Grand Prix, the Provence Grand Prix and the Brooklands 200 Miles. The C6 was also the first 1100ccm car to go reach speeds above 200 km/h.
The car for sale at VDV is in completely original state, with a fully reconditioned engine. There's no mentioning of the sales price, but it won't come cheap, but could be worth every penny!

The best ever driver's car? Not an obvious choice

Here's a picture from Pistonheads. Actually they sort of borrowed it from Classic and Sportscars. C&S is celebrating the best ever driver's cars in a coming issue and that's where the foto is coming from. As you can see in the picture, the top 5 are the Alfa 8C, the McLaren F1, the Mini Cooper, the Porsche Carrera RS 2.7 and the Lotus Elan Sprint. Now, the question of course is whether we agree with this selection (and the winner RS 2.7). Difficult to say, as I haven't yet driven four of the five, at least not in the proposed disguise. But I wonder whether they didn't miss a couple of additional candidates, i.e. the Dino 246 GT or something from the 50ies for example. And, three out of five are British, but only one German and one Italian car? Seems to be a bit harsh. No Japanese car, not even the iconic Honda NSX or the Toyota GT 2000? No French car, not even the multi-times-Monte-Carlo-winner Alpine A110 1600S or one of the sought after Bugattis? No American car - well, maybe that's okay.
But, if given the choice, which of the five would I take? Probably not the McLaren and neither the Mini. Rather the Lotus or the Porsche. But my winner would be the Alfa-Romeo. Yes, I am slowly getting mature enough to fancy pre-war cars ....

Last Classic Car Blast before the Winter

One thing we, central European Classic Car drivers, share is the winter issue. At the end of every good classic car season there's the day where you take your car out for a blast the last time before you prepare it for the sleeping period over the winter. The last drive is always a great experience even if there's also some sadness combined with it. Why can't the Autumn just last forever, why can't we have more days like the ones we just experienced? Ten to fifteen degrees of Celsius, dry condition, wonderful Indian summer colors, that's a great combination for the last drive. Well, soon we'll see snow, salt on the streets and limited daylight conditions. That will be the time when you read all the old motor magazines, new books and test your reflexes on the Playstation 3.
Well, at least I had the opportunity to take out my cars once more. And they all seemed to respond to that last drive very well.

Picture of the Week - Abarth

Carlo Abarth built some of the best sportscars in the 60ies and early 70ies. Many won big races despite a engine size deficit. And many great driver was a works driver with the Abarth team. Many of the cars were beautifully shaped, but efficiency was more of a concern for Carlo Abarth than beauty. When he sold his company to Fiat the end was soon to come, too bad. Today you can again buy Abarth cars, but they are mostly tuned Fiat derivates. However there's a rumour that a new lightweight sportcar might be arriving!