The big news this issue
has to be our special feature starting on p55, looking at 20 of the very best classics you can buy. So how did we whittle it down to just 20? In all honesty it came down largely to a mixture of personal preference, seeking a range of price points, the desire to showcase something different and a little dash of the intangible
‘it just feels right’... We certainly can’t claim there was a whole lot of science behind the process, but isn’t that pretty much how our enthusiasm for all classics is fuelled? After all, I’ve said more than once that investing huge amounts of time and money into restoring or running a classic makes little objective sense, but we do it just the same because we love them. As hobbies go it makes far more sense to me than train spotting or stamp collecting, but no doubt anybody passionate about those pursuits would argue differently.
Anyway, however we came up with our choices, I do hope that you enjoy the feature. We’ve tried to keep it light and fun, albeit mixing in a fair amount of practical advice. But if you feel that we have missed out an obvious candidate, then rather than fume quietly, why not pen your own sales pitch for that model? I’d love to run a series of profiles by readers in future issues, and you are more than welcome to champion one of the core classics that we avoided this time around because we have featured them in similar circumstances recently, cars such as the Jaguar E-type, the Morris Minor or the MGB. We would want around 600-800 words, and I am eager to see what you come up with.
None of which has anything to do with the picture at the top of this page! This is of the E-series engine in our former project Vanden Plas 1750. We replaced that with a secondhand engine and gearbox after our AP automatic transmission started playing up. The car has now been sold and the new owner does not want this engine, so can any of you make use of it? It is as I said attached to a defunct automatic gearbox, but the engine itself was running well. It is being stored in Rutland, and is available free to any reader who can make use of it or its parts.
Finally, thank you to everybody who has rummaged through family albums and shared personal stories from their past. We haven’t managed to get them all into this issue’s Postbag pages, but rest assured that we will run them as soon as space permits.