Buckley’s market matters
FORD WAGON DUO ROLLS INTO BICESTER HERITAGE
I still miss my old Abbott-bodied MKIV Ford Zodiac estate, and I saw that two were coming up at the Brightwells sale of no-reserve affordable classics at Bicester on 21 March. Both of them were white (they almost always are for some reason) and in need of work, but not awful so I was tempted to have a quiet look at them. Mine – one of the two in the auction! – was a wonderfully wayward barge that went sideways on demand and even threw a tread off one of its ancient tyres on the M5. A terrible but curiously wonderful car.
INFLATION LEAVES OUR MAN WITH A FEW REGRETS
I spotted a quite smart-looking 1960s Maserati Quattroporte on the Mcgrath Maserati website recently. At £49,500 it didn’t look bad value in the grand scheme of things, given what people give for Mk1 Ford Escorts and the like these days. Rare as they are, a casual search dug up 10 similar Quattroportes across Europe and North America – half of them unfinished projects, which is perhaps a telling comment on how much they cost to finish versus the maximum potential value of what is, in the end, a fourdoor saloon. Mcgrath supremo Andy Heywood reminded me that, 20 years ago, I gave him £2000 for what was probably a slightly better right-handdrive 1968 Quattroporte. Thanks for reminding me of that, Andy! ALWAYS CHECK WITH THE BILL-PAYER BEFORE YOU MAKE A CALL Here’s a horror story for you. A guy brings an average old Mercedes 220SE W111 coupé to the UK from America, and gets quoted £12,000 by a Merc specialist to get it on the road. He hands over £11,000 with the balance due when it’s finished. The owner gets a shock when, on completion, he is casually handed an invoice for £36k-worth of work, none of which was sanctioned or budgeted for. Within the invoice there’s an entry for almost £2k for ‘removal and refitting the front and rear seats’ – all of an hour’s work (being generous) and 12 bolts. Needless to say, the above is currently very much in dispute…