Living two versions of the dream
When I bought the Mustang earlier this year, I naively thought I’d drive it over the summer while making a snagging list of jobs to attend to next winter. Well, guess what – the plan seems to be working. I’ve now covered more than 2500 miles, nearly all of them with the windows down for maximum pillarless cool factor, and the car hasn’t missed a beat. My one regret in this unusually warm British summer is that I changed the 160ºF thermostat for a hotter one, as described last month: I really shouldn’t have bothered!
All I’ve done lately with the Mustang, therefore, is use it and enjoy it. I frequently find myself living out the old cliché of turning to look back at it after parking up. For a three-box saloon, its shape and detailing are amazingly arresting.
The only car I’ve ever owned that was cooler is the Lamborghini Espada that I bought with good mate and
contributor Richard Heseltine a few years ago, and which was regularly featured in these pages until, regretfully, we sold it in spring last year. We’d always hoped to make that classic Italian road trip in it, which sadly was not to be, but its new owner has just fulfilled our ambition.
Jonny Ambrose didn’t do it by halves. He drove the Espada on a 3000-mile journey through France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy that encompassed seven classic Grand Prix circuits, five epic mountain passes, ten motoring museums and three exotic car manufacturers (Pagani, Maserati and Lamborghini). Naturally, Sant’Agata was Jonny’s ultimate destination.
‘The people in Lamborghini’s Polo Storico classic department were charming,’ Jonny emailed me on his return, ‘and as a special favour they showed me all the archive paperwork
relating to chassis #7825, complete with handwritten notes. Another highlight was a spirited drive down the south side of the San Bernardino Pass, the route that Lamborghini’s legendary test driver Valentino Balboni took in this actual car when he was returning with its first owner from an event in Germany. The brakes were squealing a bit by the time I reached the bottom…
‘I also managed to drive the old Grand Prix course at Clermont Ferrand, which Jackie Stewart claimed was one of the four most difficult tracks in the world. With that in mind, I was amazed how easy it was to flow the Espada from one cambered bend to the next, even though this isn’t its natural habitat.’
Jonny had no mechanical trouble at all, apart from a windscreen wiper working loose on its spindle during torrential rain. My gut feeling is that these Lamborghinis are much tougher and more reliable than cynics tell you – after all, the company made its name building tractors. It’s really heartening to see Jonny having the confidence to use his car in the way it was intended.
Do I regret selling it? A little bit, of course. But it was a big responsibility to run on a journalist’s income – even two journalists’ incomes – and I needed the share of the money I had tied up in it to move house. Now I have a ’66 Mustang sitting outside and the sun is shining. I’m certainly not complaining.
The lure of an Italian road trip is still strong, however, even though the ’Stang’s drum brakes wouldn’t be my first choice for tackling the San Bernardino. Richard – how are you fixed next summer?
Clockwise from facing page
Mustang looks surprisingly ‘right’ in its new home of the Cotswolds; Mark’s old Espada has just returned from a trip to Italy in the hands of its current owner and auto artist, Jonny Ambrose (see www.jonnyambrose.com).