Buckley’s market matters
I loaned my Mercedes estate to a friend the other day for a trip to Germany to deliver parts to a Benz specialist, which sounds a bit coals-to-newcastle, sand-to-thearabs, but it probably happens more than you might think.
The point is, said pal left me with his Alfa Romeo 166 to drive; a 2008 blue 3-litre V6 automatic covered in scratches and looking so sorry for itself that I will doubtless give it a good clean before we swap back. Thing is, I really like the car, not just because it has very effective air-con and is rather quieter and faster than my slug-like diesel Mercedes. It’s fun to drive, it feels handy and surprisingly solid, with a shape that – like the 156 – has really stood the test of time.
It is not festooned with warning lights and electrical things you don’t need. In fact, apart from the hard ride (and a suspicion that the shell is not amazingly rigid), very little about this car offends me and it already feels semi-classic.
I once got into trouble for writing a column in another magazine that basically said any Alfa with front-drive (other than a ’Sud) is not a real Alfa. I stick by that statement, but whatever the 166 is I’m quite fond of it. Maybe it reminds me of a Lancia Gamma?
We did the Alfa/merc swap at Ernie Warrender’s place. The bonus was getting a drive in his Daimler Majestic Major, one of the great saloons of the ’60s. I have so many funny memories of these cars: the one from The Krays I could have bought for £400; the terrible white emulsioned (seats included) ex-wedding car a pal in Manchester owned with a massive leak from the power steering; trying to drift one for a cornering shot, a sense of anarchy only exceeded by doing doughnuts in a Phantom V.
Somehow it’s not hard to believe the BNP had a Majestic Major as its official limo, but I have always been intrigued by the story of the factory prototype Jaguar MKX fitted with the MM’S 4.5-litre V8. Supposedly the resulting hot rod upset Mr Lyons because it was quicker than the production 4.2 MKX. Like so many such legends it has blurred in the re-telling: according to Ernie, the Jag in question was a MKIX that Norman Dewis later persuaded Lyons to sell him and which, in theory, is still out there somewhere.