‘My heart leapt a little when I spotted her’

This is my ultimate ‘practical classic’.

That’s what I wrote just over a year ago after getting to meet (and drive) ‘Zoey’ the Austin A40 at PC’S 40th birthday bash – my final outing before Lockdown 1.0.

Zoey, named after her numberplate ‘XOE 778’ was PC’S first project car resto. She was a scary wreck, only worth saving as this was the car Pat Moss drove on the 1958 and ’59 Monte Carlo Rallies. Pat finished tenth overall and won the Ladies prize on the second attempt. That is serious provenance. And in its restored state, Zoey also won the 1985 Coronation Rally in Wales outright in the hands of ex-editor Paul Skilleter and Paul Rosenthal.

As reported in our birthday issue, this was the car that first made me pick up

PC from the newsstand in the first place. As my first two cars had been A40s, I had something of a soft spot for them. Look where that impulse purchase led...

Now, for the first time in 30 years, Zoey is on the market. I’ll be honest, my heart leapt a little when I spotted her as one of the preview lots for the Bonhams MPH sale at Bicester on May 22. Then I saw the estimate they’d stuck on her and came back down to earth with a bump. I cannot really argue with £40-50k being the right ballpark for a car of this significance. But if it is, then it brings on a bout of rationality.

I like to use my cars, but with something like this you are paying to be the guardian of its existence and history. Never mind the expense – that feels like too great a responsibility. I’m glad we met, but the truth is my ultimate practical classic must actually be something just a little more practical.

‘The estimate brought me down to earth with a bump’