Starting them young, A Morris Marina ( 3dr 1.8 GT I have you know!) receives a little bit of light fettling.
Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp
Unlike normal shows, the Practical Classics Magazine Classic Car and Restoration Show does what it says on the tin, namely celebrate the art of restoration. Of the 160 clubs in attendance 110 of them had stands in which live restoration work took place. The show also promoted the joy of classic car ownership in ‘Lancaster Insurance Pride of Ownership spring final’ display, the winner being a 1985 Vauxhall Nova saloon belonging to Roy Claque. The magazine’s ‘Restorer of the Year award’ went to Bob Medrum for his restoration of his Vauxhall Viva HB Estate with a twist. The ‘Footman James Barn Find’ competition award went to Tom Wikes for his 1933 Jaguar SS2. The show also boasted an auction (of course) and a live stage with guest speakers including former Wheeler Dealer Ant Anstead, Dominic Chinea from the BBC’s Repair Shop, Simon Gregson from Coronation Street, and Salvage Hunters Classic Cars Paul Cowland.
Here are a few of the cars that were in need of a bit of work…
This Alfa Romeo Arna could probably benefit from a few weekends’ worth of work.
Work gets underway on the rebuild of the V6 engined Alfa Romeo 916 GTV.
1974 Lotus Elite, former factory press car, loaned by Lotus to various magazines, including Car and Penthouse, for road tests etc. This example was also used in the factory brochures.
What, another three wheeler in VT! in this instance a 1954 Reliant Regal MK11. Unlike later Reliant products the Regal MK1 and MK11’s had aluminum bodies over an ash frame attached to a steel chassis.
Jowett Jupiter, ex 1952 Rallye Monte Carlo.
One of only four examples constructed.
Part of the Footman James ‘Barn Find display’ Bernard Emm’s 1958 Morris Oxford.
From the Barn Find display, Tom Wilkes’ 1933 Jaguar SS2. One of only three known to have survived.
Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust’s 1954 Daimler Conquest Roadster. Completed in December 1954 and believed to have been originally bodied by Carbodies of Coventry but later shipped to Hoopers to be restyled either at the request of Daimler’s owner Lord and Lady Docker, or possibly its original owner, film and stage star Norman (later Sir) Wisdom who is featured with the car in his 1956 film ‘Up in the World.’
Launched at the 1950 London Motor Show, and designed by Jensen Designer Eric Neale, the Austin A40 Sports was based on the Austin Devon chassis with the bodies being built at the then new Jensen plant in Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, before being shipped to the Austin plant in Longbridge for final completion. Built with the export market in mind the majority were sold overseas. This example being a USA export found in a barn in Pennsylvania.
Throughout the three days of the show the team from the Practical Classics magazine workshop worked on the restoration of the editor Danny Hopkins’ 1975 Fiat 124 Spider. Here is the state of play as of Friday afternoon.
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1953 Jowett Jupiter, of the 904 examples built; it is believed that about 50% remain. This example was recovered in 2018 and is owned by Chris Spencer.
Recently purchased for £145,000 this 1960 Aston Martin DB4 has only 37’000 miles on the clock. New owner Julian Crossley plans to restore her at home. Updates should be available via his Instagram page.
Another from the Barn Find display, a rather forlorn Citroen BX Estate.
Entered in the Barn Find competition by Iain McKenzie, 1957 Morris Minor (The Transworld Minor). Modified by the Leeds Minor Centre in the late 1980s, changes including the fitment of a 1275cc engine, Toyota gearbox, raised ground clearance, a winch, and a small safe for documents. In 1990 Jay Albus set off for an around the world adventure initially travelling through Europe, Africa, India and ultimately Australia. After some repairs the Minor was shipped to South America where the adventure resumed, ultimately reaching its conclusion with the Minor’s return to Liverpool in 1997.
The Zastava Yugo Sana 1.4 (the UK variant of the Yugoslavian produced Yugo Florida) was designed by Giugaro. Still not sure that I would want one.
Built at the old BMW Eisenach plant in East Germany, the Wartburg 353 was first introduced in 1967 and whilst it featured a more up to date body, underneath was a perimeter chassis with a 3 cylinder two stroke motor under the bonnet. This example, however, first registered in East Germany in 1993, is powered by a 1300cc VW Golf engine.
So good to see a healthy interest in saving and hopefully restoring some of these otherwise forgotten classics(?) many of which as an ex-pat Englishman I remember from my youth.
Surely that Alfa Romeo Arna must be saved. An unloved and unsuccessful hybrid (in the traditional sense) concoction cooked up by the folks in Milan and Nissan it has little to recommend it except as one of very few, if any, survivors.
Hopefully the dude in Kermit green behind the Lotus Elite was part of seventies themed display, or did he really just turn up dressed like that?
Reliants and Jowetts were members of a lesser-known part of the British motoring landscape but again, it is exactly that eccentric variety that is lacking today, for better, or worse!
That Morris Oxford looks like it just needs a good clean and is otherwise ready to go. Once common, there are probably few left except for its bastard offspring that is. Later produced in their millions in India as the Hindustan Ambassador from 1957 to 2014 there are many still going strong in the land of Bollywood.
That Jaguar SS2 is surely worth saving as is the Austin A40 Sports.
The Daimler that once had a film star owner reminded me that Norman Wisdom was once my neighbour in the caravan next to ours. When I was born in 1955 my parents lived in a caravan for a few months while waiting for our new house to be finished as there was still a severe housing shortage in Arkley in an area that had been heavily bombed in the recent war. Norman kept a caravan there for a convenient place to stay when he was filming at nearby Elstree studios. So I wonder if he was driving that car at that time? I, of course, would have too young to remember.
That Aston Martin reminded me of another wreck that crossed my path back in the ’70s. In partnership with a friend we bought a DB4 cheap that had been in a minor front end accident. We rebuilt it quite nicely and did a full restoration in Old English White with red leather and wire wheels and it made us a nice profit when we sold it for £2,000! What a most remember though was the myth-exploding revelations once we stripped the body: built to the Superleggera idea of a strong but light-weight aluminum body on a steel frame and hand assembled and finished by skilled craftsmen in Newport Pagnell we were surprised to find how much lead had been used to smooth out the joins in the body panels making it Super-not-quite-so-leggera.
I once had a Citroën BX in around 1990 and often drove it from England over to France where the sight of what was a common car there but with no driver on the left side seemed to puzzle a few locals. They were nice cars but for a stiff and clunky gearshift and embarrassing when the windshield wiper motor on mine caught fire one rainy day near Rouen.
I also remember a few Wartburgs were sold in England presumably as one of the cheapest means of four-wheel transport. The early two-strokes made a lot of noise while making little progress always trailed by a thick blue smoke-screen. I did not know they were later made with ‘proper’ engines, another new fact learned today.
Thanks for a trip down memory lane.