A show as big and all-encompassing as the NEC Classic also celebrates the unexceptional as well as the exotic, the ordinary, everyday classics of yesteryear as well as those expensive lovelies from Maranello, Stuttgart, Coventry and Sant’Agata, and here at ViaRETRO, we endeavour to do the same.
Few cars are as unexceptional as the much-maligned (probably rightly) Morris Ital and I don’t recall seeing one for quite some time. I was at the launch of this barely-facelifted Marina back in 1980 and only 30 remain on the road – I doubt the brown 1.7L that I was forced to drive for three months is one of them. There were two at the NEC, one a red 1971 1.3L, the other a metallic green 1.7L from 1982; these, and cars like them, might be deeply unfashionable but it warms the heart to see that some enthusiasts are prepared to make the effort to keep at least a few going.
Can you remember the last time you saw a FIAT Argenta? Nope, neither can I, although it was such an anonymous car I probably wouldn’t remember it anyway, but there was one on one of the FIAT Club stands, a 1984 model in dark blue. There are just a handful (sic) on the road in the UK, so this was a rare beast indeed.
All around the exhibition halls were reminders of almost-forgotten or rarely mentioned everyday classics – Metro’s, Montego’s and Maestro’s, Vauxhall Cavaliers and Viva’s, basic (as opposed to fast) Fords, VW Beetles and Golfs, and more.
French manufacturers were well represented – the Citroën Car Club had a group of Ami 6’s and 8’s on show – whether you think these are quirky or just plain ugly, there’s no disguising their charm. For Renault, there were not one, but two Fuego coupés (of just 18 left on UK roads) and for the third of the major French car companies, a lovely white 504 cabriolet – maybe that one could be classed as more exotic than everyday…
There were also some unusual one-offs, and two in particular caught my jaundiced eye, starting over on the Riley stand, where a long, sweeping pale blue Riley Royale stood out. This was in fact a “new” car built on a 1954 Riley RME chassis. The original car was beyond saving but the chassis was in good shape, and a new fibreglass coupé body was created with a design inspired by Riley’s of the period but also the French coach-built cars of the 1940’s. A reconditioned Riley 2.5-litre engine was fitted, making this unique car an interesting hybrid of old and new – it was certainly very impressive and attracted a lot of attention to the stand.
On the Klasyczna Polonia (Polish Classic Car Club) stand was another coupé that attracted a lot of attention but it couldn’t have been more different to the Riley. This was a Polski FIAT 125 Coupé – yes – that had been built as part of a TV programme challenge (Poland has an entire channel dedicated to cars called TVN Turbo). Using a standard 125 as a base, Grzegorz Duda and his small team converted the boxy saloon into a significantly more stylish pillarless coupé. 30cm was added to the car behind the rear wheels and it’s been done seamlessly. The rear doors were removed, the interior upgraded and details such as the badging and the gear-lever knob were handcrafted, as were the panels inserted to make the car longer. It has a touch of the Taunus 17M Coupé about it, I think. The quality of the work – carried out over just fourteen weeks – is high, and this unique take on one of the world’s most ordinary cars attracted a steady stream of visitors wanting to be photographed with Grzegorz and his creation.
Individual stories were also the basis of the Pride of Ownership Awards, and two cars in particular stood out for me here. One was the delightful pale blue 1964 FIAT 1500 Cabriolet, painstakingly – and slowly! – restored by Jim Smyth over a 29 year period, and this year he has been able to enjoy driving the car for the first time. Jim did all the work himself except the paint and due to the scarcity of spares for such a rare car in the UK (despite his being RHD, FIAT never officially exported the car to the UK), had to source many parts from Europe and the US, as well as make quite a few himself. He’s done an absolutely splendid job, he now has a peach of a car, and got my vote.
The other car in the competition that stood out for me was the 1982 Jaguar XJS-based Lynx Eventer, a shooting-brake conversion of the standard coupé – about 60 were built in total. I think this looked much more stylish than the standard car, which to be honest I don’t think is all that difficult. This particular car was the very first Eventer built, number 001, and was owned for 35 years by musician Rupert Hine, who found it both practical and beautiful. He used it to transport instruments as well as famous names such as Peter Gabriel, Tina Turner, Bob Geldof and Stevie Nicks when he was working on their records. Since his death last year his wife Fay Morgan-Hine has kept the car and it’s in superb condition despite it’s decades-long proximity to decadent rock stars.
Japanese classics were relatively thin on the ground, though the Toyota Enthusiasts Club had a cool quartet of Celica GT’s – one of my favourite Japanese classics – on show, although the most interesting Toyota at the NEC was on sale with a dealer – a 1967 Corona in Solar Red with red interior. The sticker price was £11,995, and it looked to be in practically showroom condition. Claimed to be one of just three on UK roads, it’s certainly got rarity value. There was a lovely pair of Honda S800 roadsters in purple and red as part of the S800 Sports Car Club as well as a very smart bright orange Z600 Coupé, and an S800 Coupé as part of another stand.
Moving momentarily away from the cars, in all my previous visits to the NEC – and indeed any other classic event – I have never spent more than a few minutes in the autojumble/automobilia sections – life is too short to be ferreting through boxes of spare parts in the hope of finding a radiator hose or some clips for half price. This time, however, I actually wanted something, that something being a Haynes manual for my 911. I’d seen a couple on Ebay for c.£30 but thought I’d see what I could find at the show and lo and behold, turned up a slightly used but perfectly good copy for just £20 – result!
I also took a look at a couple of model stands, looking initially for a (you guessed it) 1972 911 that wasn’t an RS, of which there were several, but while I failed to find one of my own car, I stumbled across a die-cast 1/43rd scale 1967 Volvo 144S in blue. The first car I ever drove was my father’s midnight blue 1967 144E, and I think this was as close to that as I was ever going to find, and added it to the (currently) small selection of models of my father’s cars that I have.
A few observations to end with…
Are Friends Electric?
It seems that the remorseless march towards the electrification of classics continues. Cars at the NEC with batteries and charging cables as opposed to internal combustion engines included a Mini, a 911 (!), an Auto Union 1000 and an MGB among others. And yet, everyone I spoke to about this felt it was the wrong direction, that if petrol is to go the way of the dodo then hydrogen is the way to go in future (a view I share) for reasons I’m sure most if not all our readers are aware. The thought of wafting along silently in a 911…shudder….
Fresh blood needed
According to the organisers themselves, 93% of attendees to previous shows were male, with an average age of 57; our hobby needs more young blood, especially of the fairer sex.
The financial value of low mileage
There were a number of exceptionally low mileage cars offered up at the auction, including a 2001 BMW M3 E46 and a 1983 Delorean with just 656 and 463 miles respectively. It’s obvious that they were bought as potential investments and kept in storage rather than as cars to be driven, and they fetched very high prices. The financial value of low mileage was graphically illustrated by a pair of 1987 white Ford Sierra RS Cosworth’s. One had 40,000 miles under its alloys, the other, just 10,490. The first sold for £73,687, the second, £103,500, a differential of more or less £30,000 for 30,000 miles, or £1,000 per 1,000 miles. Obviously this is just from an unscientific sample of one, but it’s undoubtedly the case that lower mileage cars sell for higher prices, but I’m thinking more about the value rather than the amount, if you know what I mean. Personally, I think the higher mileage car – which is still barely used, really, represents far better value and of the two is more likely to be driven regularly; the six-figure car I expect will sit in a private collection and I doubt will see the great outdoors more than a couple of times a year for fear of decreasing its financial worth. A shame, but a reality of the classic car market.
While the show was busy on the two days I attended, there was definitely a lack of overseas visitors – not surprising, perhaps. It was great to be back at the NEC – hopefully by next year some of those international enthusiasts will also be back.
