Charity sale sets new MGA record

An astonishing $115,000 has been paid for an ‘outlaw’ MGA restored and sold for charity by the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, USA. The sale took place during the museum’s 26th annual gala dinner, an event that was held virtually this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 1961 roadster was donated to the museum in 2011 and a five-year restoration included a hot engine, a Sebring-style windscreen, chrome wires, front disc brakes and Jaeger instrumentation.

The MGA helped amass a sale total of $1.2million, all of which goes to The Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation and the Hammertime Global Education Initiative, the latter of which includes The Bruce Meyer Automotive Scholarship supporting vocational training and internships. Other auction lots included a Slab Side Superformance Cobra Mk2 ($81,302), a week-long stay for eight at Peter Mullin’s Scottish estate, Tigh an Tuir ($76,000), and a track experience with Bruce Canepa in a 1979 Porsche 935 ($9935, appropriately!).

Classics for kids

Children as young as ten can now have a go in a classic car after the Young Driver programme added a Vauxhall VX4/90, Morris Minor and Austin Seven to its fleet. Ten-to-17-year-olds can have 15-minute driving experiences accompanied by an instructor, though ‘adults keen to reminisce are also welcome’. The sessions cost £25; www.youngdriver.com.

Restorer’s engine room

Thornley Kelham has taken engine builder Race Techniques in-house. Set up more than 30 years ago, Race Techniques boasts a raft of motorsport successes. It brings with it a Superflow 902 Dynamometer (for outputs up to 1500bhp) and a Superflow SSF300E Flow Bench.

Allard revival

The Allard Motor Company has announced its first new car for 60 years. The first example of the JR continuation, chassis eight, is to be sold via RM Sotheby’s at its London Sale on 31 October, with an estimate of £180,000-240,000. If you want to know more about it, you’ll just have to read the first exclusive test drive in a forthcoming issue of Octane!

Bristol bucks saved

There is good news in the saga of the dismantling of Bristol Cars. The Bristol Owners’ Heritage Trust has acquired almost 60 items sold by liquidator Wyles Hardy last month. While the auction offered almost 1000 lots including spares and whole cars, the BOHT focused on the archive material and five body bucks. The Bristol Owners’ Club bought many spares, which it will sell on.

Daimler ferreting

A new exhibition – ‘When Jaguar Bought Daimler’ – opened at the British Motor Museum on 10 October, telling the story of when Jaguar bought the Daimler Company from BSA in 1960. The exhibition covers 100 years from Daimler’s beginnings in 1896 to its ‘post-Jaguar’ life, and will run until the end of January. Daimlers on show range from 1897 to 1996.

Supercars in the City

The London Concours has not only set its dates for 2021 already, but also confirmed that it will be a three-day event. The fifth running of the concours, which takes place at the Honourable Artillery Company in the City of London, will happen on 9-11 June and feature a Supercar Friday, when a cavalcade of supercars will descend on the venue.