How time flies
Any Australian motorsport fan, will always remember where we were when news came through of Peter Brock’s tragic accident in the Targa West rally on September 8, 2006.
The car he was driving, a Daytona Coupe replica, hit a tree near Gidgegannup, east of Perth when he and navigator Mick Hone (who was injured in the crash) were in second place.
One of Australia’s most revered racing heroes, Brock was 61 and given a state funeral, plus a memorial service at Sandown International Motorway attended by 10,000 fans.
Six days earlier, he had been racing a Holden 48-215 at the Goodwood Revival in the UK (he finished fourth).
In a remarkable career, he won the Bathurst 1000 nine times and started from pole position six, and was on the podium 100 times in the ATCC/Supercars Championship.
How to start an argument
If you want to start an argument (and who doesn’t love a good argument?) try telling a classic car enthusiast that a fake classic (or replica) is better than the original.
Replicas come in all shapes and forms, from fibreglass, home-assembled Cobra kit cars using modern mechanicals to authentic recreations of Jaguar C-Types.
As Gerry Hawkridge of Hawk Cars (Lancia Stratos and AC Cobra replicas) explains, “Welding is stronger, body panels are symmetrical and the cars are assembled far better than manufacturers could ever have dreamt.”
And as many of you know, some of those classic cars were very poorly put together.
With many classics now selling for multiple millions of dollars, a replica is the only way most of us could possibly get into these cars and putting the real thing at risk on a racetrack doesn’t bear thinking about.
Improved safety is another bonus, as is improved cooling, steering and braking, and if something does break, you won’t need a second mortgage to fix it.
The car illustrated here is the STR built by UK company LB Specialist cars, with a choice of engines from a 2.5-litre Alfa V6 through to a 3.5-litre supercharged Toyota V6 capable of more than 350hp (260kW).
Wrong again!
We’ve all been warned, many times, not to try and predict how the value of classic cars will trend in the future.
In fact, the best advice is to ignore the supposed value and enjoy your classic car for what it is and if it goes up in value, treat it as a bonus.
I was researching a story on the Austin-Healey 100 when I came across an article in 2006.
It suggested that “reasonable” Healeys go for “between £15,000 and £16,000 and nice cars for about £20,000,” (2006 UK prices) before adding “There may not be huge growth left in Healey values but owners’ money is pretty safe.”
The latest price guide in the UK lists a concours Austin-Healey BN1/2 at £56,000 (roughly $A106,000).
The price of the rarer 100M is £100,000 ($A190,000) and the vaunted 100S a rarefied £535,000 ($A1.845 million).
More relevant, perhaps, is that Healeys typically sell in Australia for between $A50,000 and $80,000 with concours cars achieving $90,000 to more than $110,000.
And to think! My parents refused to let me buy one for $2000 when I first got my licence in 1970.
Mind you, it certainly wouldn’t have been concours…
A marriage made in heaven. Or hell?
There have been more than a few strange agreements between car companies over the years, but the latest looks to have every chance of being a real disaster.
Stellantis (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Abarth, Citroen, Fiat, Opel, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Alfa Romeo, DS Automobiles, Lancia and Maserati… I don’t think I’ve missed any!) has signed a basic agreement with Jaguar Land Rover to look into building cars and sharing technology in the US.
Current bosses Antonio Filosa (Stellantis) and PB Balaji (JLR) want to pool their resources.
Some big corporate team-ups have included the Daimler-Benz/Chrysler merger (ended in 2007), Renault entering an alliance with Nissan, BMW buying an 80 percent stake in Rover, Geely buying Volvo from Ford and Nissan buying 34 percent of Mitsubishi. But back to Stellantis and JLR.
One part of the merger makes sense: Jeep and Land Rover are both trying to build hybrid and electric trucks, so they could share a frame.
Land Rover could build a cheaper entry-level SUV while Jeep could use British luxury secrets to move the Grand Wagoneer further upmarket.
It also makes some sense because JLR doesn’t build a single vehicle in the US and so faces high import taxes.
Stay tuned… there’s a long way to go.
The illustrated car is a Chrysler TC by Maserati from 1990 (introduced in 1986), a joint venture between Lee Iacocca of Chrysler and Alejandro de Tomaso.
It was built in Milan (Italy). Some wags suggested “TC” stood for “Too Costly”, and at nearly three times the price of a LeBaron, they had a point.
In its brief three-year production run, Chrysler managed to sell just 7000.
The background to car badges
The de Tomaso badge is a stylised “T” on a light blue and white background, a direct nod to founder Alejandro de Tomaso’s Argentinian roots.
The “T” itself is the brand used by the family cattle ranch while the blue and white background represents the Argentinian flag, despite the company being established in Modena in 1959.
Contrary to popular rumours that the logo represents the Egyptian goddess Isis, it is simply a mix of the family crest and Argentinian flag.
In 2019, the logo was modified using a simpler calligraphic typeface with two curved lines forming the letter “T”.
It was changed again in 2022, the most noticeable change being the colour blue which is no longer as bright.
The white has also been given a subtle undertone, and the full company name was added under the rectangular emblem.
And that’s how the fight started…
Arguing with my wife is like trying to read the “Terms of Use” on the internet. Eventually, I just give up and say, “I agree.”
Paul who?
Paul Murrell has a fascination with cars. Like the rest of us at Cars4starters he has been writing about them for a long time. He’s found the best stories are sometimes the small ones. Look no further.
Paul is a freelance motoring journalist who contributes to seniordriver.au, SA Life, Highlife, Survivor Car and a number of other motoring publications. Readers are encouraged to agree, disagree or express contrary points of view in writing at any time.