Smart Buys
Quentin Willson predicts Stuttgart fever and tips a pair of Noughties Mercs – the SL55 F1 and the CL500 – for future greatness. And there are bargains across the size spectrum, from little Hillman to big Bentley
‘The fabled factory F1 Performance Pack included a modified front air dam, limited slip diff, power hike to 517bhp, tweaked suspension and 19in rims’
‘The Mercedes SL55 F1 is definitely a card-carrying, low volume classic that’s bound to move in value’
There are two sets of numbers that set the R230 SL55 F1 apart. A limited top speed of 186mph and the 60mph sprint in 4.6sec. These are heroic supercar figures delivered by the optional £10,000 factory Performance Pack fitted to the standard SL55 and based on the 2002 Mercedes F1 safety car. At £110,000 there weren’t that many takers, but find a good F1 with low mileage and you’ll be buying a hair-raisingly rapid machine, which if you bypass the limiter will go well north of 200mph. In February’s Silverstone Race Retro sale, a fine black ’04 with total history and 41,000 miles was knocked down for £39,998, but look at specialist dealers and prices can be lower. Avantgarde in Tamworth has an ’05 in black with only 27k for £39,950; R&W Motor Company in Slough has another ’05 with 53,000 miles, one owner and six MB services in the book for only £29,995.
The fabled factory F1 Performance Pack included a modified front air dam, limited-slip diff, power hike to
517bhp, bigger brakes, oil cooler, tweaked suspension and 19in rims. This wasn’t a limited edition spec but an option package, so we don’t know how many were made – but I’d be surprised if more than a few hundred made it to the UK. There were quite a few MB recalls, so ensure they’ve been done, check the brakes have some meat left – discs and pads aren’t cheap – and only buy with lots of history and stamped up service books.
When low-mileage F1s appear at auction they do well, but the trade is only just understanding how special they are and the odd one still pops up at less than market money. This is definitely a card-carrying, low volume classic that’s bound to move in value. Not least because it’s one of the few genuinely useable 200mph cars (de-restricted) you can still buy for £30k. I’d look for an exceptional tiny miler, tuck it away and expect to see it move towards £60k before too long.
‘Handsome and enormously plush, I see the Eighties Mulsanne as a jumbo-sized bargain right now’
I’m looking at Eighties Bentley Mulsannes and seeing strong buying opportunities. While Turbo Rs and Shadows have climbed, values of the Mulsanne have been going nowhere for a long time. In February this year H&H sold a rare and very tidy ’87 LWB version (one of only 49) in black with 69k and history for just £5824. A Nottingham seller has a ’91 Mulsanne S in Dark Oyster with 72,000 and ‘long history’ for £8950 and even tiny milers like the 28,000-mile ’84 Turbo model with total day-one history for sale privately in Maidenhead look reasonable at £15,500. Long overshadowed by the sexier and 50 per cent more powerful Turbo R, the Mulsanne and Bentley Eight have been largely ignored. But for a bit of upmarket wafting they’re a perfect family classic for no money at all.
And they’re much rarer than you think. Between 1980-87 only 583 normally-aspirated Mulsannes were built along with 498 Turbos. Find a LWB Turbo and you’ll have one of just 18 in the world. Essentially an RR Spirit with Bentley badging, the Mulsanne was the first flowerings of the now-legendary Bentley brand re-invention. Mechanicals are the same as the Spirit with the trusty 6.75 V8 and three-speed auto (there was a four-speeder in 1991) and Bosch fuel injection. The Mulsanne S is more numerous with 909 built and has tighter suspension and handling. The Eight, made from ’84-’92, was the entry-level model with mesh grille and less opulent interior (some early cars had cloth seats). Overbrook Garage in Gloucestershire has an ’89 with 81k and ‘good history’ for £7950.
Handsome, enormously plush and not that complicated to maintain, I see the Eighties Mulsanne as a jumbo-sized bargain right now. And with prices so low you can take your time finding a mint low-miler in perfect nick for less than £10k. Like the bloke I met the other day with a 50,000-mile ’85 in best-selling dark green with black leather and 15 service stamps in the book bought for eight grand. Beat that.
‘The Imp radiates the same Sixties impudence and optimism as the Mini for less than half the price’
MKI Mini prices are getting ever crazier – there’s a ’59 currently on the market with an asking price of £50,000 – so I reckon it’s time to look at the Hillman Imp. Almost as cute and almost as revolutionary, it radiates the same Sixties impudence and optimism as the Mini for less than half the price. And don’t forget the Imp did well in competition, winning the 1965 Tulip Rally and coming second in class in the 1967 Monte Carlo Rally. That works Rootes Monte car, JDU 46E, was offered for auction by Richard Edmonds in Wiltshire for £30,000, less than a tenth of the price you’d pay for a works Mini Cooper with similar provenance. A private seller in Reading has a gold ’72 with 54k and history for £3500 and Gas Badger Garage in West Sussex has a very original red ’72 with 55,000 miles and ‘lots of history’ for £5995. And yes, the ohc all-alloy 875cc engine can overheat and warp its cylinder head, but running them on Evans Coolant and upgrading the water pump stops those boiling issues. Rust is a problem, but the Imp is well served with secondhand and new panels.
They handle like a kart, 45mpg is easy and all have that handy opening rear window. Britain’s first massproduced rear-engined car now looks a proper poppet and if you stick on a set of Minilites or period Dunlop alloys you’ll transform the appearance. Survival rates are low; of 440,000 built between ’63 and ’76, fewer than 500 are still registered on the DVLA’S mainframe. The fastback Singer Chamois and Sunbeam Stiletto are even rarer and already climbing but its also worth watching the Husky van and Imp estate. Five-digit price tags for early Minis will pull up Imp values over the next 12 months, so you don’t have long to snap up a good one – do it while they’re still cheap.
‘Five-digit price tags for early Minis will pull up Imp values over the next 12 months, so you don’t have long to snap up a good one’