ROBERT BARRIE

RECOVERING FROM A FREEZING COLD GOODWOOD MEMBERS’ MEETING, ROBERT LOOKS AT BRITISH 904s AND HOW THE CLASSIC MARKET IS GOING THROUGH A PERIOD OF ADJUSTMENT

here is some coverage of the excellent, if extremely cold, Goodwood Membersʼ Meeting elsewhere in this issue. The first race on the card was the Ronnie Hoare Trophy, named after the founder of Maranello Concessionaires. I guess the idea was that a Ferrari might win. In the event, the grid was dominated by more than a dozen Porsches and, despite Vincent Gayeʼs best efforts in his lovely 275 GTB/C, the winner was Ferrari specialist James Cottingham in a 904.

I have heard it said that the Colonel, as Hoare was frequently known, might not have approved. I wouldnʼt know, but I can reveal that he was – if briefly – a 904 owner himself. Jenkinson lists the small number of examples that came to the UK in period in From Chain-drive to Turbocharger. He suggests Hoare owned chassis 092 in 1965.

Olcyzk and Morrisʼs Porsche 904: The Truth and Rumours says the car initially went to Godin de Beaufort in the Netherlands before coming to F English in the UK. For those who donʼt know, F English was Hoareʼs large and successful Ford dealership in Bournemouth. In the early days, Maranello Concessionaires wasnʼt much more than a couple of bays in the workshop.

The car seems to have moved on again after a few months, remaining in the UK under the registration AFX 1B. There are pictures of it hill-climbing at Prescott and Ollon-villars. A young Alain de Cadenet owned it for a while and raced it at Silverstone before the car went to the US and, from there, the Matsuda Collection in Japan. There is a book about the car, but you read of the Ronnie Hoare connection first – and possibly last – here.

The ex-ronnie Hoare car may not have made it to Goodwood, but the exDickie Stoop 904 – chassis 045 – did so along, remarkably, with seven other examples. I doubt if so many have been seen in the same place at the same time in the UK before. It was a welcome return to the circuit for the Irish Green car, looking very smart indeed following a race prep at Maxted-page.

The car and its history were profiled in issue 27 of this magazine in Jan/feb 2015. The story is that Stoop originally ordered it with special ratios to suit Goodwood, but final checks at the factory found they hadnʼt been fitted. The correct ratios were made in double-quick time and Stoop duly collected the car from AFN in March 1964. The handover is recorded in a series of pictures taken outside the Isleworth showroom.

Itʼs possible Stoop wanted the special ratios for testing at the circuit – he knew Goodwood well. In any event, his first race in the car – with the registration YOU 4 previously seen on his 356 Carrera – was at Silverstone in May. He took a class win in the Archie Scott-brown Memorial Race at Snetterton in July, before coming to Goodwood for the TT meeting in August. Stoop led the two-litre support race early on, but finished second to Mike Spenceʼs Chequered Flag Elan, ahead of Mike deʼudy in third in another 904. He also took the car to Germany for a race and a hillclimb or two, towing it behind a BMW saloon with the registration OU 4. A great combination and surely something for the current owner to consider!

Weʼve talked about the HAGI historic car price index before. Itʼs typically been one of the more bullish metrics of the old car market, but itʼs not so bullish now. The most recent observation shows the first annual fall since the period after the financial crisis. It shouldnʼt come as a surprise. And not before time, some might even say.

The re-rating of old cars as a lifestyle accessory – of which the events at Goodwood and elsewhere have been a key part – as well as a plausible investment seems, for the most part, to have played itself out. With interest rates set to rise, further progress looks some way off. Weʼll see. In the meantime, we need to get used to the new normal – including those of us who protested that we didnʼt care what our cars