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!

Volvo P1800 - a car, that almost looked like a Ferrari

Here's an ad from 1961 showing the Volvo P1800. It was a gorgeous sportscar that combined Swedish solidity with Italian design. The front almost looked like a Ferrari, the side and back was probably influenced by the Americans. It drove well, even if it was not that fast. Many people admired it, including Simon Templar in the so called TV series. When I was young I lost a tennis match against a P1800 driver, but the ride home was worth it.

Remember the Ford Capri RS 2600?

In March 1970 Ford presented the Ford Capri RS 2600. It delivered 150 HP with its 2.6 liter engine, quite something at that time! It was derived from the touring car and at the same time the basis for many racing versions to come. With its twin lights and the Kugelfischer injection it was steps ahead from the rest of the Capri range. Everybody wanted to have one.

One that you can buy - Lotus Europa S1

It takes a special fan to buy such a car, but it's certainly a worthwhile investment. Here's a Lotus Europa S1, 1967, for sale in Switzerland. It comes from the very first series, chassis number 149 and is one of the few still existing cars of the first year of build. It still has the closed windows, specific chassis and its original wheels. It's great that such cars continue to exist in its standard version. And it certainly need to be preserved in this condition! Freshly restored it comes with all you need.

Forgotten cars - Technical Exponents TX Tripper

Don't say you remember this car! It's a Technical Exponent TX Tripper. Here's some background: Convertible, 4 seater, 635 kg, engines sourced from Ford and Triumph, for example with 129 HP from 1998 ccm, 3,7 m long, 1,45 m wide, 4-gear-transmission with overdrive, max speed 200 km/h, said to be in 6.6 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h. The factory said it would consume 7.8 to 10.8 liter of gasoline per 100 km. The name was certainly not suited for the German speaking market, as "Tripper" is a bad illness you don't want to be connected with. Also design wise it wasn't probably a beauty and so this British product disappeared at some point of time. But good to know that these cars existed should I once spot one.

Producing bigger and bigger numbers - what about the collector?

Lamborghini celebrates 10'000 Gallardo's being built. Good for them. But is it good for the buyer and collector? Numbers produced is an important factor when it's about estimating the future value potential of a classic car. While cars like the 350 GT or 400 GT, and even the Jarama have been built in the hundreds, modern super cars get manufactured in the 10'000s and higher. I bet that Gallardos will never become as sought after as a Miura or a 400 GT. Same with modern Ferraris. The 355, but even more the 360 and the 430 have been an enormous sales success. And they usually don't rot away as many of their predecessors have. But none of these cars has reached the bottom of the price curve yet and most of these cars probably will never really gain in value through their live. But let's see ...

Peugeot 504 - yet another successful long runner

Here's another one of my leaflets from my collection - the Peugeot 504. You can see from the picture that it's probably a 70ies picture with the Volkswagen Beetle on the right side. Interestingly the star of the leaflet is out of focus. But as a car the Peugeot 504 was a huge success. More than 3 million cars were built in Europe alone between 1968 and 1973 and production continued outside of Europe in various forms until 2002. The 504 was a typical family sedan following traditional engineering routes used for French cars. It was famous for its reliability and durability and many of these cars probably drove through a desert at least once in their life. There as an break/estate version (station car), a pickup and of course the gorgeous coupé and convertible versions. From begin on the car had independent suspensions and disc brakes for all wheels. Designed by Maestro Pininfarina it looked good and survived the long period of production very well. Most people probably have been driving one or being driven in one. Compared to a Citroen DS or an Alfa-Romeo Alfetta this probably was an unexciting drive, but that was good enough for most people. The French police used these cars for many years and in movies you can often see both the villains as well as the good guys chasing each other in a Peugeot 504.

Audi thinking about bringing A2 back

Apparently Audi is thinking about the Audi A2 back. The A2 was a quite innovative car with less than 900 kg and a fuel efficient engine. However, it didn't sell to well, which was, I think, because of the fairly ambitious price and the less than exciting design. Anyway, the new A2 is supposed to be much more modern and coming with electrical power. What is even more new though, is the idea to build one version of the hardware only, sold at a standard price and have the customers customize their car with "applications". For this Audi builds an "app store", similar to what Apple is doing so successfully. But the Audi apps will not only allow to customize the color of the dials, but also to enable functions built into the hardware. You want a seat heating? Download an app for let's say 300 USD and you can actually switch on the already built in heater. Now this creates a number of issues, I think:
First, I wouldn't want to buy complexity for features I will not use (download). Every additional piece of technology makes cars more complex and more heavy usually.
Secondly, it makes me feel stupid that I buy something, have it, but can't use it, because I don't have the permission as I didn't download the app. If it's pure software functionality then this may be okay, but if it's hardware? However we have already had this and the whole engine chip tuning industry lives from the same concept.
Thirdly, I wonder how long we have to wait until you find instructions on how to "jailbreak" your Audi A2, hack into the "operating system" and free all these available features using an "illegal" approach. And how long will it take until legal battles are fought whether the warranty can be canceled if somebody jailbreaks the software.
Let's see ...

Nice Lotus Elite for sale in Switzerland

And here's another one. I have rarely seen such a nice Lotus Elite 75 for sale over the last years. With less than 44'000 km (30'000 miles) in an apparently almost as new condition and with overhauled engine (39'000 km) it certainly looks sharp. The price seems high with CHF 25'700.- (ca. Euro 18'000), but if you look for an Elite 75 this 1979 model with LHD might be the right car to buy. I, myself, have never really liked the shape and probably rather would add a couple of thousand CHF to get the Esprit S2 of the same year. But that's me, not thinking about happy children in the back of this four seater car.

Picture of the Week - colourful Minis

This week's picture shows a row of Minis at the British Car Meeting in Morges 2007. There were actually many more and they are so cute. And with all these colors they really make you smile!

Isdera spyder and imperator - very exclusive sportscars in the 80ies

Who wouldn't want to build his own sportscars? Well, one who was able to make his dreams come true was Eberhard Schulz. The article pictured on the left is titled "dream dancer". His cars are called Isdera, an eagle is pictured on the batch. Engines and drivetrain usually came from Mercedes, making the cars easy to live with. The design though was exclusive and quite special. The spyder 033-16 for example didn't have a full wind screen and a top neither. So it was recommended to be driven with your helmet on. 900 kg of weight met 170 hp allowing for 6.8 seconds from 0-100 km/h and 228 km/h top speed. If this wasn't fast enough, then the gullwing imperator 108i with a 5.5 liter V8 engine delivered 242 hp and reached a top speed of 262 km/h. That was quite a lot, so was the price, beating a Ferrari 328 by a factor two. Over time they got more powerful and faster, but you rarely see one of these on the road, so few were built. They do not even show up at auctions or on classic car price lists, so I have no idea what a good one would be worth today. I might get tempted though, just look at the gullwing doors ...

Lada Niva - a classic car you can buy new today

This is a Lada Niva, difficult to say what year. Few people know that this is one of the cars with the longest production history. Since 34 years it has been produced with minor changes except engine updates. 34 years is quite something, the Ford Model T for example was only manufacturered for 19 years. And even the Mercedes SL R107 made it "only" 18 years until it was replaced by its successor. But there are a few cars that are even more successful long runners, i.e. the Volkswagen Beetle with 65 years or the Porsche 911 with 47 years (if you include the water cooled generation), the Morgan 4/4, +4 with roughly 74 years (still in production) or the Land Rover (Defender) with 62 years of manufacturing history. Now, a good question is, whether these cars really have been the same car from the first to the last version produced. At the end it's a marketing decision, whether the name or the shape of a car changes. For example the 911 has probably changed quite drastically in the 47 years it has been produced, a shift from air cooled to water cooled engines is just one aspect. I would say that if basic parameters substantially change (i.e. drag factor, length, width, height, weight) then it's questionable whether we still can speak from the same car. But it's not an easy distinction.
Let's go back to the Lada Niva. I tried to convince my father to buy one of these 30+ years ago. They were cheap then, they still are. They were robust, they still are. And they offered a low cost entry into 4 wheel off road driving, they still are. But off road cars around the Niva have changed quite a bit, so buying a new Niva today is probably more like buying a classic car than a state of the art off road vehicle.

Honda S600/S800 - or how the Japanese reinvented the sportscar

The Honda S600/S800 is one of the smallest real sportscars in existence. 3.3 m length, 1.43 m width and 1.2 m height, combined with a 531 ccm, later 606 ccm and 798 ccm engine and an open or closed body. Can this really be a sportscar? Sounds more like a Mini doesn't it? Well, if you have ever driven (or at least heard) one then you won't doubt. The high revving engine (ca. 8'000 rpm) is able to generate an impressive performance. These cars were so good that they were used as race cars in the sixties, Denis Hulme for example won his class in 1964 at the Nurburgring 500 km race with an S600. And the journal Hobby even achieved a world speed record while test driving the car. Between 1963 and 1970 Honda built roughly 26'000 cars, of which one third were Coupés. Good cars are quite valuable these days, you can easily pay 15'000 Euros for an S600/S800 today in Europe.
The pictures shown here stem from an early sales brochure for the S500/S600.

Really really rare car - Hino Contessa 900 Sprint

Now here's something most people have never heard of: the Hino Contessa 900 Sprint. If you look at the brochure (here in French) it was supposed to be an elegant and sportive car with a sense of modernity. Designed by "Maestro" Michelotti, it certainly looked good! The engine was a 45 hp 893 ccm 4 cylinder, probably good enough to move the car ahead but not too much more. Only 650 kg though and a length of 3.83 m show that this car was built many years ago.
Well, not too many were produced. Hino was a Japanese car manufacturer entering the private car market in 1953 by manufacturing Renaults under license. In 1961 they came out with their own model range, including the Contessa designed by Michelotti. Already 1967 the stopped the consumer car production after having entered the Toyota group.
I, myself, have never seen a Hino, I think, and to be honest, I didn't know about the manufacturer until the day I found this brochure. The picture is amazing, combining artificial colors, strange light and this elegant woman in the back with the rear engine Contessa. I wonder how many of these cars ever made it to Europe and what the price tag on such a car would be today.

Puma GTE and GTS - Brazilian sports car without attitude

One of the first cars I considered myself buying was the Puma GTS. What you see in the picture is the frontside of the A2 brochure they printed in the early 80ies. But the text was "wild" also: "PUMA is a wild CAT .. sleek and slender. It PURRS. Wide track .... this CAT. Bold and ready to move at your command. A body lighter and stronger than steel of PRP, hand molded and finished by experienced craftsmen, who love to stroke it. "
Or, "Not for everyone ... this PUMA. PUMA is for important people. For those who command and merit respect. For those who dare to be different. Easy to handle, stable on those curves; PUMA adheres to the road at high speeds."
What I liked specificially was "Serviced everywhere where cars are sold".
The car was simple, built on top of a Volkswagen platform, showing a nicely designed fiberglass body. Initially there were only Coupés but then they added the GTS. With Pirelli Radial CN 36 tyres (185/70 HR 14 front, 195/70 HR 14 rear) it looked much faster than it was. They claimed 0-100 km/h in 9.9 secs and a top speed of 182 km/h. With 90 hp SAE this sounds really fast, though the low weight of 750 kg certainly helped. They wrote that it would reach up to 35.4 mpg.
At the end I never owned one. But Puma was quite successful producing more than 21'000 cars between 1964 and 1997, 3'595 cars in the best year. That's for example three times as much what TVR did in a very good year. They cars were affordable and as you can imagine straight forward to maintain. Of course they sound was like the one of a Volkswagen Beetle, but today that would add to the excitement. There are certainly a number of cars left, but not many have found a way to Europe. I still like them when I see one.

Car Design Failures - Lancia Thesis

I have been talking about the Lancia Thesis before, and I also wrote about car design a couple of times.
This is probably one of the more interesting design experiments in car history. I really like the back of the car and specifically the design of the rear lights. In contrast the front and specifically the front lights are totally wrong and at least for me look really ugly. How is it possible that the same designer that did such a great job at the back of the car, totally failed when designing the front? Anyway, the rear light design element we can find to some extent again with the new Jaguar XJ.

Toyota MR2 1986 - affordable mid engine car

There haven't been many affordable mid engine cars after 1980, one was the MG F/TF, another one was the Toyota MR2. It was a good looking car and reasonably fast. And I remember that especially in Italian the name sounded good, i.e. "emme erre due". It was of course a pure two seater and later version had a removable targa top. Some people say the design and engineering came from Lotus, but it's not quite clear. Anyway, the car was quite successful and the first generation was produced from 1984 to 1989 with engines ranging from roughly 83 to 145 hp batteling with roughly 1'000 kg of weight. Handling was good, but there were some real drastic accidents when driver lost their tail.
The following generations both were less good looking and also less pure in my eyes.
I nearly bought one of the first generation cars as I specifically liked the interior and the nimbleness of the car, but it didn't happen.

Picture of the Week - Alfa-Romeo Montreal V8

This weeks picture shows a detail of the Alfa-Romeo Montreal.
The Montreal was presented in 1970 in Geneva and was produced until 1977, a total of 3'917 cars left the factory. The design was done by Bertone/Gandini and it is certainly impressive, even today. However the highlight of the car is the V8 engine that came more or less directory from the Alfa-Romeo 33 Stradale sports racer. In the Montreal it had 2593 ccm. The 90 degree V8 received its fuel through a SPICA fuel injection, delivered 197 hp and was coupled to a five speed ZF gearbox. With all this technology performance was certainly up to the standard in the early 70ies. Handling was apparently less of a buying factor also because with 1'270 kg the car was quite heavy for its time. Despite the great design and the race bread engine prices for used Montreals are low, especially if you compare it with other cars of that time. But maybe, this will change.

Select your car of the year 1967

In the year 1967 the German magazine "Hobby" asked its reader to select their "car of the year". What is interesting is the choice offered, sort of a preselection. They had three categories based on engine size. In the "small" section you will find a lot of cars that people barely remember today. Cars like Autobianchi Primula Coupé, Simca Sportscoupé 1200 S, Sunbeam Imp Californian, NSU Sport-Prinz Coupé, Renault Caravelle, Bond Equipe GT or Matra Jet 5 are rare finds on today's roads and even at oldtimer meetings. I would reckon that people today don't recognize half of the cars on the first picture any more. Only the Alpine 1100 Coupé, VW 1500 Karmann-Ghia, Fiat 124 Sport Coupé and Lancia Fulvia probably are cars many people would remember.
With the bigger cars it's a bit easier. Less known cars here are probably Reliant Scimitar, Glas 3000 V8, Bristol 409, Alfa-Romeo 2600 SZ or Fiat 2300 S Coupé. The kings of the road of 1967 like the Jaguar E-Type, Iso Grifo, Maserati Mistral, Maserati Ghibli, Lamborghini Miura or Mercedes-Benz 280 SL probably are still in the memory of any car interested person having lived in the 60ies or even later.
So, what would my pick today? In the first group Alpine Coupé, Lotus 46 Europe, Honda S800, Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior and Matra Jet 5 would be candidates for the win and if I had to choose one it would be the Matra Jet 5 as it was a very innovative car with a mid mounted engine and fiberglass body and it's extremely rare today. Plus it was successful in racing too. In the large car category my winner would be the Lamborghini Miura, a car that I really adore.
Interesting at the side is the fact that Hobby didn't include the regular Aston Martin DB5 but rather a designer version.

Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Carbon Limited Edition - stereoids on a budget

Chevrolet (GM) just announced the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Carbon Limited Edition. It's a limited production run of the popular Z06 with some improvements coming from the ZR1 (braking, cooling, wheels). It's only available in special colors and probably will be sold out quickly. Part of the improvement package though can also be ordered with regular Z06s. Which brings me to the point that I do actually quite like the Corvette. It represents good things such as lots of power for fairly little money (an entry level Corvette can be yours for a bit more than 50k USD), good looks, lightweight body/chassis design, great sounds and impressive performance. This is combined with acceptable fuel economy. Of course neither the interior design nor the build quality are a global benchmark, but hey, it's okay.
The current Corvette brings supercar performance (Z06) at the price of a normal BMW street car, or it is able to compete with the fastest Ferraris and Lamborghinis at half the price (ZR1). And it has more racing pedigree than most of its competitors, having won its class in Le Mans multiple times.
Even from a collector's point of view it's something to be considered. Old Corvettes (C1, C2 split window Stingrays, C3 Stingrays) fetch high prices, and race versions are sought after. So in many years people will look for well maintained C6 Z06 or ZR1 and thanks to the substantial volume produced there should be enough specialists and good parts availability to keep them running.
I have never owned a Corvette, but had it on my list from time to time. Remember what I said about the Audi RS5? It's the wrong compromise. Rather buy an A4 Avant and a Corvette on top. At the end you will have more performance and driving pleasure AND more practicality for your money, just incorporated in two instead of one car.