NEC Classic Motor Show
History and innovation unites a diverse mix of cars at the NEC Classic Motor Show
Competition classics dominate, plus a special Aston Martin
Atheme based on the classic game Top Trumps prompted clubs and collectors to wheel out ever-more significant cars for this year’s NEC Classic Motor Show. Race and rally cars and the earliest examples of classic model lines formed a common thread. The show also celebrated 35 years of itself, resulting in an abundance of 1984-launched cars including MG Metro 6R4s.
Triumph TR2 prototype
Recently rediscovered, this car is about to serve its original educational role all over again. Explains owner and Triumph specialist Neil Fender, ‘It was originally bought by David O’clarey and used for factory development work to train apprentices, as well as for O’clarey to race and rally.
‘Starting in 1956 with the Coventry and Warwickshire Motor Club, O’clarey raced it at Mallory Park and Silverstone, before turning to hill climbs and rallies all over Europe, culminating in the 1960 Monte Carlo Rally.
‘I bought it from Gary Bates of TRGB, who had it as a barn find but had done nothing with it. It was riddled with filler, and the bodywork has taken 18 months to get to this stage. We’re keeping as much original metal as possible with new door bottoms rather than totally new doors, for example.
‘The things that came with the car are incredible. I have O’clarey’s duffel coat which he wore when rallying it, the flight suit he used for night rallies, all his trophies, and trunks full of paperwork, right down to his breakfast tokens! It also has several unique features, including phosphor-backed dials that glow in the dark, and a glassfibre hardtop.
‘We’re going to have it serve its apprentice-training purpose again. Cambridge & Counties Bank is providing bursaries to students learning classic vehicle restoration skills; they’ll work on this car, recreating the learning process, and ultimately leading to the Monte Carlo Historique in 2021.’
Audi R8 LMP1
It’s the first time this multiple endurance-racewinning Le Mans Prototype has gone on show in the UK, on the stand of motor sport holiday organiser Travel Destinations, whose Thomas
Brimblecombe explained, ‘It’s come direct from Audi’s collection in Ingolstadt – incredibly for something that seems so modern, it’s nearly 18 years old and eligible for the new LMP class at the Le Mans Classic next year.
‘It debuted at Le Mans in 2002, finishing third in an Audi 1-2-3 with Marco Werner, Michael Krumm and Philipp Peter, before being bought by Audi UK, which ran it as an independent team. Under Audi UK’S ownership it finished sixth at Sebring, but ran out of petrol at Le Mans.
‘Its most successful year was 2004, when it won at Sebring, the Nürburgring and Silverstone, came second at Monza and fifth at Le Mans, with Allan Mcnish, Frank Biela and Pierra Kaffer. For 2005 Audi UK then loaned it to Oreca in France, which won the Silverstone Six Hours with it, finished second in Istanbul and at the Nürburgring, and fourth at Le Mans. It’s incredible to think that this same R8 could remain so competitive for four years in such a fast-changing sport.’
Bugatti Type 57S Le Mans
‘This is the first time this car’s been seen in the UK – it hasn’t even been to Prescott yet,’ said Charles Trevelyan of the Bugatti Owner’s Club’s stand centrepiece. The 57S Le Mans had just been restored by Bugatti specialist Ivan Dutton at the behest of its owner, a private American collector.
‘It’s unique, built specifically as a customer racing car to contest the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1937,’ added Trevelyan. Its unusual use of six separate tailpipes at the rear leading from the 3.3-litre straight-eight caused confusion amongst the press at the time. Unfortunately, the Type 57S’s French owner, Raymond de Saugé Destrez and his Spanish co-driver, Genaro Léoz Abad, retired the 57S after ten hours and 99 laps at the 1937 Le Mans.
KAT Rover SD1
It’s the first time this exotically modified Rover has been seen in public since it was new. Said owner Anthony Kearsley, ‘Simon Saunders of KAT Design built it originally – he’s helping me with the restoration. It’s got the wrong wheels on it at the moment, but it’s the only full-specification KAT Rover, complete with a 300bhp V8 and an interior fully reworked and trimmed by Tickford in the style of an Aston Martin Lagonda.
‘There was a bit of difficulty at the time because Saunders left Tickford and formed KAT during the project – it was part of the programme that resulted in the Tickford Metro.
‘It was in GTS magazine in 1984, described as a full package of upgrades, but was phenomenally expensive. No-one else went for the full hit of engine tuning, bodywork modifications and Aston Martin leather interior. The original owner passed it on to the Coventry Transport Museum, which kept it in its reserve collection for years. I picked it up at auction recently for just £1200 – it seems that I was the only person who knew it was more than just a tired old SD1 with a bodykit!’
Aston Martin DB1
‘It’s the first time this car has been shown, an example of the first of the DB line,’ said the Aston Martin Owners’ Club’s Fay Langton of the Aston Martin Two Litre Sports Special given pride of place on the club’s stand. ‘Only 12 were built initially, just after David Brown had taken control of Aston Martin, to point to the future direction the firm was going to take.
‘By 1950, all these Sports Specials had been sold, and plans were being devised for the DB2, with the Lagonda engine, when the then-president of the RAC [John Cavendish, Lord Chesham] requested Aston Martin build him an example of the earlier car. David Brown agreed, so long as a further two could be made for it to make economic sense.’
Sure enough, Cavendish found another two potential buyers among the RAC’S membership, and a further three examples of the car were built.
‘This was his very car – Chassis 13,’ said Langton. ‘We don’t know whether Aston Martin had started referring to it as the DB1 by that point, because it only picked up that name retrospectively, but it would’ve been tooling up for the DB2 at the time.
‘You can see the earliest origins of Aston’s familiar grille in the DB1 – the three-piece style was carried over into the first DB2S in 1950.’
Middlebridge-reynard 89D
This striking Cadbury’s-liveried Formula 3000 car, which proved to be a stepping-stone into Formula One and Group C for driver Mark Blundell, has just been restored and was on show in Birmingham for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Said Mick Gaughran of the Middlebridge Owners’ Club, ‘Blundell raced this Middlebridge-run Reynard in the 1989 season, including the infamous Birmingham Superprix when he finished fifth. The car will be raced in the BOSS (Big Open Single Seater) series next year.
‘Middlebridge Racing, Middlebridge Engineering and Middlebridge Scimitar were three companies operating under one banner in the late Eighties. The Engineering was the original side of the company, with its roots in classic Aston Martin and Bentley restoration and race preparation, but owners Koji Nakachui and Dennis Nursey had an idea to dramatically expand the company. First they bought the defunct Reliant Scimitar rights in order to build a bunch of cars ahead of a plan to produce an aluminium-bodied Ferrari-style thing with Japanese running gear.
‘They needed these high-performance cars to boost the image of Middlebridge Racing, which bought Brabham and operated in Formula One as well as F3000. The racing cars took precedence over everything, but the road cars were intended to make money. It couldn’t last, sadly.’
MG Maestro EFI
This rally-prepared MG Maestro has recently emerged from the garage of Mike Beales, who navigated Tony Dron (Classic Cars editor at the time) in the car on the 1988 Lombard RAC Rally.
Said Beales, ‘I used to work as technical advisor at the MG Owners’ Club, and it was actually my company car! It had only done 1000 miles before we did the 1986 Maestro Rally Challenge Championship in it – we saved money by running it in Group N rather than Group A specification, keeping the interior around the roll cage so that I could still use it as a daily-driver.
‘Tony was committed to racing with Porsche at the time, so we missed half the events, but made more of an effort in 1987, doing well on the Cork 20 Rally, but it wasn’t particularly competitive so we decided not to bother with the championship for 1988. However, we fancied a crack at the Lombard.
‘I wasn’t fit enough to keep my pace notes up with Tony’s driving, and on day two, in the snow and ice in Kielder Forest, we slid into a ditch. The car was actually undamaged, but was stuck in such a way that the stage would have to be closed to get it out. By the time the stage ended, we were out of time and that was it, but at the time we had been running fourth in class, up against Volkswagen Golf GTIS and Vauxhall Astra GTES.
‘It’s been hidden in my shed ever since!’
Toyota Celica GT BSCC
The Classic Motor Show was a post-restoration show debut for this Toyota, one of the first
examples of a special-edition tie-in with the UK’S premier tin-top racing series.
First registered in February 1975, it was one of 300 imported in GT specification with five-speed gearbox and limited-slip differential, to support Win Percy’s campaign in that year’s British Saloon Car Championship – half the run finished in bronze, the other half in white in a nod to Toyota’s race livery at the time.
Percy finished second overall and first in class in both 1975 and 1976, before selling his racing Celica to Martin Brundle who started his racing career in it. This road car failed its MOT test in 2000, and its owner – a Mrs Turner from Lancing – gave it to a friend who intended to use it as a donor for a kit car. Current owner Malcolm Graham-jones rescued it before it could be broken for parts, and collected replacement panels while dry-storing it over 17 years to halt any further spread of rust. His restoration was completed in 2018.
It’s one of just 13 survivors of the 300 imported, and one of just six currently roadworthy.