The Aesthete picks through the ruins

The Aesthete's Fleet
Another wet Saturday spent squirming around under the wrecked GTV saw the Aesthete emerge, blackened but triumphantly brandishing an early model flexible driveshaft rubber joint, known to our Latin friends as a giubo. Efforts to purchase one internationally have failed with Highwood Alfa in the UK asking me to send them some if I manage to find any. This produced a feeling similar to that when your doctor pauses when conducting a finger test but lo!, on entering the part number into Google one turned up on a factor's shelf in Wellington. The rear suspension has been rebushed in lurid hues of purple and yellow urethane. Hopefully this is what will return the GTV to the suave open road GT that it once was, rather than the unladen motor-dray that it now feels like.

1951 Rover 90. These early Rover P4s have a Festival of Britain modernist charm that was only starting to wear a bit thin by 1964 and the last of the series. Owned by a family of engineers, Rover built the first jet turbine car JET 1 which set the speed record for such vehicles at a smidgen over 150 MPH, on a public highway in Belgium. Jules Holland is having one recreated and you can view the intro to the relevant Chop Shop show here.

For: All of that wonderful culture and history for 2.5K.
Against: At that price, nothing at all.
Investment potential: 8/10

1971 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV. One way to sell a Bertone GTV is to list it at 3.5K and stand well clear. Strong bidding has already pushed the price up but demand for these exquisite cars should ensure it does not stay a bargain for too much longer. While looking somewhat dusty and with Turners listing it as a damaged vehicle, the car sits on a new set of GTA-style alloys and appears to have lived an active life until recently.

For: Rough and neglected GTVs are now well outnumbered by restored examples but if you want a project for summer...
Against: What would you have me say?
Investment potential: It depends whether auction frenzy takes hold. Let's say 27/10.

1990 BMW 325i TC Bauer. Once the chosen car of Remuera third wives and used to ferry themselves and select girlfriends off to Club Mirage on Friday night, an open top 325 remains a desirable thing, even with an interior made from old car dealer's shoes. The six cylinder engine transformed the 3 series into a road burner and will still ruffle your Tony & Guy locks now.

For: Vorsprung durch Chardonnay.
Against: I spurned those people then so why would I want their cars now?
Investment potential: What would Jeremy Corbyn say? Nationalise Parnell Village now!

1930 Sprint special. What is this spindly thing painted the colour of a 1970s bathroom vanity I hear you ask? There is little information with the listing but it appears to be an oval track racer powered by a tuned Ford V8. The vendor claims it was a B2 model which suggests a build date of the early 1950s rather than 1930. That is 110 hp in unmodified form, plenty for that bent coat hanger chassis.

For: The vendor suggests it could be converted to road use. Hmmmm.
Against: Great for going around corners in a hail of gravel I dare say.
Investment potential: Could make an interesting project so 5/10

1958 Dodge Royal Custom Lancer. Chrysler's mid-range did well with Virgil Exner's swept look although the Desoto cars had less egregious bling hung off their flanks and were all the better for it. Even so, the idea of stretching out on the boucle nylon bench seat and driving with one finger on the wheel appeals to this Alfa owner who occasionally just wants things to be simple and comfortable.

For: Dodge Royal Custom Lancer. No truer or more descriptive car name has ever been coined.
Against: The Aesthete's usual standards cannot be applied here.
Investment potential: You may not see another but does that justify the price? 1/10

On some faraway beach...

1962 Citroen Bijou. Here is something for the 2CV devotees (You know who you are. I will not name or judge you here). The Bijou was developed by the UK side of the Citroen empire but was judged a disaster at the time, barely able to make 50 mph due to the added weight of the fibreglass body. Even so, they are pretty and have all of the advantages of the rustic French implement shed that provided the running gear. Pop a tuned Dyane twin into it and voila!

For: Small and potentially great fun.
Against: Unjustifiably dismissed Citroen oddball.
Investment potential: 4/10

The Aesthete plans his next move.

A new life beckons as the last coffees are poured in the staff room and those that remained to the end of design at Otago are ushered out the door with a payout calculated by some Bartleby the Scrivener type in the registry. I began writing this blog to help my old patron Nicholas, Laird of Excelsior waste his redundancy cheque and now it is my turn. Quel dommage! As a form of penance,  the Alfetta gearbox has been clawed from the rear end of the wreck with only a scraped knuckle as evidence of the mighty struggle waged on the shed floor. The bits have been dispatched with the other GTV to be swapped around in the expectation that all bumping and grinding will then cease.

1962 Morris Mini Delux. Early unrestored Minis in this condition are a rare thing nowadays and are the best way of recapturing Alec Issigonis' moment of pure genius. Fair to say that the British Motor Corporation did not really know what to do with it and it was left to the bright young things of the day to adopt it and turn it into the reverse status symbol that it became. The whole car was designed by a team of nine. Those were the days.

For: Buy this and avoid the travesty of values reflected in the new Mini.
Against: Noisy, cramped, slow and leaky. Everything that we expect from a classic.
Investment potential: 8/10 and rising.

1969 Sunbeam Imp. And on the distaff side we have the Imp which does everything that the Mini does but from the wrong end. The Rootes combine outdid BMC with its selling tricks, badging its little buzz box as a Hillman, Sunbeam or Singer but adding a very pretty coupe to the range as well. This is from the middle period of the lengthy Imp life cycle where the early technical issues were resolved. The results were then tested by aged customers who drove everywhere in second gear pulling peak revs.

For: Is an Imp what they drive in hell? Suggestions please.
Against: Don't let that put you off the little devil.
Investment potential: 5/10 and also rising

1985 Fiat Strada 105TC. Just one step below the alarming Strada Abarth came this, a sporting three door to compete with the Golf GTI.  You get the wonderful Lampredi twin cam with appealing early front wheel drive dynamics which will have the steering wheel quivering in your lap like an excited lurcher puppy. Just what you need on your favourite greasy stretch of road.

For: Too good to put on the track in my humble opinion.
Against: Nothing. Buy it immediately.
Investment potential: 15/10 at that price.

1979 Toyota Century. What is this that looks like a hyper-gonadal Corona, I hear you ask? Once only seen parked around Japanese embassies, the Century was what Toyota made as an exclusive saloon before conjuring Lexus out of a puff of marketing smoke. Even then they were only available on special order. The plush decor, strip speedo and column shift suggest something of the values held by its Japanese buyers who probably shared Stalin's views on what made a good car.

For: Something to make your neighbours think the Japanese emperor has come to visit.
Against: Driving it may well make you lose consciousness.
Investment potential: 2/10 or lower if you can't find anyone else who can see the point.

1967 Fiat Crusader. The already pleasing dynamics of Fiat's 1960s family saloon are sharpened in this lightly modified example. Originality is all well and good but the extra camshafts, instruments, gears and brakes cleverly acquired from the donor 124 combine to create a Supermillecinquecento. I can see that on a new chrome boot script so get to work with the fretsaw and a sheet of brass now.

For: A good car made better.
Against: You are up for a repaint and better seats.
Investment potential: 4/10

On some faraway beach.

1939 Panhard et Levassor Dynamic 140 X81 Limousine. In one of the car books I pored over endlessly as a youth was a picture of a Dynamic Coupe. It seemed the last word in avant-garde so when the 'What is the coolest car in the world?' playground conversation was had, I would flute "The Panhard et Levassor Dynamic 140 X81" to jeers and loud disapprobation. Anyway here it is. Decide for yourselves.

For: You will be the toast of the Napier Art Deco Weekend in this. They will carry you through town on their shoulders for certain.
Against: You will have to get it there first.
Investment potential: Oh, negligible I am sure. People are cruel to the differently gifted.

The Aesthete rewards himself.

The Aesthete's Fleet.
After much groaning and writhing on the cold garage floor to remove the wrecked Alfetta's transmission, I rushed into the city for a quick look around the Dunedin Autospectacular. It should really be called the Automuchasyouwouldexpecttofindit but it could be that looking at photographs for the Hocken exhibition has burnt out my visual cortex and I can no longer see anything that looks like a car. This week's list will therefore be made up of flower pots and kittens playing with bits of string.

1993 Mercedes 600 SEL Brabus. Depreciation has brought these plutocratic bruisers down from the lofty peaks of the movie Ronin (Dir. John Frankenheimer, 1998) to within reach of the irregularly employed. The vendor's pitch is certainly entertaining with claims of lady drivers, lack of thrashing and bullet proof windows but reticent about recent bills. If you want to signal to the neighbours that you have acquired a taste for methamphetamine and are needing to rob a Michael Hill store, here is your car.

For: It will probably still do 240KPH in silence.
Against: You will certainly  be pepper sprayed at the next police drink driving test stop.
Investment potential: 0/10 but imagine the joy of the scrap metal dealers when they get their hands on it.

1958 Mercedes 220. Nowhere near as exciting but considerably less life threatening is this handsome Ponton Mercedes. The six cylinder version is capable of getting out of its own way although the bridge like construction and lavish sound proofing dulls whatever performance there may have been. The otherwise comfortable interior has lost its carpets but that is an easy thing to rectify, unlike a 240 KPH blow up in a Brabus.

For: Solid mittelklasse taste.
Against: I am against such thinking in general.
Investment potential: The owner cohort is ageing so it depends how superannuation tracks alongside the cost of living. 2/10

BMW 3.0 CSA. With manual cars chasing Porsche 911s into orbit, 60K for an auto BMW coupe does not seem entirely out of order. Being perverse, I would prefer one of the glass nosed older four cylinder cars that are redolent of 1960s art house movies and black polo necks rather that the body shirt and medallion decade that followed. Fashion reveries aside, values for these fine cars will continue to escalate until we mortals have lost sight of them.

For: Sublime in every detail.
Against:  The price mainly.
Investment potential: 5/10 if things hold up.

1969 Fiat 850 Coupe. Legendary in Fiat 850 Coupe circles is the one owner, 30,000 mile earthquake damaged example owned by the Bain family in Christchurch. It does exist and here it is in its battered but restorable condition, supplied with a parts car for the needed repairs. It was not included in the recent auction of Bain memorabilia but has now found its way onto our favourite trading site to make me break my stern resolution not to buy another project. Therefore one of you must.

For: Needs a face lift but will be a stunner once completed.
Against: Possibly not worth a professional restoration, otherwise why sell it?
Investment potential: Do the work yourself and 10/10

1932 Riley Special. The vendor is not a lot of help with this Riley Special, unaware that if he wants someone to pay 60K for his artful confection he must call it something other than Other, supply copious pictures and a history of its construction. It looks like it means business with its cycle wings and the Riley twin cam engine is a good place from which to to start. This is what the Aesthete wishes to blast along the Dunedin-Port Chalmers Highway with droplets of frozen Castrol motor oil hanging from his nasal hair.

For: Like being whipped by your favourite dominatrix.
Against: Only if you are partial to that sort of thing.
Investment potential: 0/10, sorry. It may have cost that much to build but that is not how it works.

On some faraway beach...

1963 Fiat 2300 S. With its glassy Maserati looks and fabulous interior, this Ghia designed Fiat is your last chance at la dolce vita before the value of anything similar exceeds the bounds of economic rationality. In contrast to rusty Iso Rivoltas in need of full restoration, this Australian domiciled car represents the ideal and affordable path to rewarding Italian classic ownership. If the estimable C. Werner is reading this post, I suggest a plane ride is in order.

For: Dunedin Public Art Gallery director John McCormick once explained the institution's collection policy as I like it,  I want it, I am going to have it. Good advice.
Against: Nothing.
Investment potential: 5/10. It will not be worth any less in the near future anyway.


 

The Aesthete gets to ply his trade

Which is curation, in this instance for Dunedin's wonderful Hocken Library which has asked for a motoring exhibition to coincide with the Festival of Historic Motoring organised by the Vintage Car Club of New Zealand (Inc) and to be held in January 2016. The Hocken Library is the research library for the University of Otago and holds over a million images as well as the records of the Otago Motor Club (precursor to the AA), sports car clubs and numerous items relating to automotive businesses and humble souls such as you or I. We are searching for images from more recent times showing the social side of motoring so if you have anything you think may be suitable, please email me at michael.findlay@otago.ac.nz. Now onto the important business of the day...

2002 Lexus SC430 Convertible. The question has been asked "Is a Lexus the best car in the World?" If this is even a remotely serious proposition, why would we all not all abandon our primitive jalopies by the roadside and run towards something like this SC430? The swirling Baroque lines of the Lexus follow the general proportions of a Mercedes but not quite enough to be individual so that the phrase "Look. There is a Lexus!" has never actually been uttered.

For: The best car in the world for those that care for such things.
Against: The best fun can often be had in the worst cars.
Investment potential: Probably worse than a Mercedes so -2/10

Toyota Celica GT4 RC. Good Lancia Integrales are now rising strongly in the old car market so if you want to achieve instantaneous Carlos Sainz status you might turn towards the Orient for the car that finished the Italian preeminence in the World Rally Championship. This is a second series model so not in the delightful Panhard inspired shell of the early car but the performance will still be electrifying and even better in gravel.

For: The best rally car of its day for 11.5K. Who could complain at that?
Against: Like driving a Starlet until you find the secret detonation device.
Investment potential: These must rise along with all other WRC icons.

1931 Vauxhall Princeton Tourer. The last of the great Laurence Pomeroy designs, the Silent 80 maintained the advanced and refined engines that allowed Vauxhall to compete with the great European touring marques. This car has been rebodied in earlier four door open style from what was probably a ponderous saloon but is devilish handsome in an Evelyn Waugh Bollinger Club sort of way.

For: Get that long motoring coat out and stop grousing about the weather.
Against: Unlike a Japanese car, will not do a million KMs between oil changes.
Investment potential: 4/10. There will be a place for something like this in the garage of the future.

1955 Riley Pathfinder. Unlike the others that sit on Trademe for years, this Pathfinder is attracting keen bidders. All the expensive work is ostensibly done for you so relax and enjoy Gerald Palmer's long legged M1 cruiser. Amiable travelling arrangements are made possible by the right hand gear shift so you can casually loft the other arm over to the left and see what happens. The Craven As and Brylcreme  may be taking things a bit far. Brylcreme, by the way, was a product of the Chemico Works in Birmingham that fell into the hands of Glaxo Smith Kline that started in our very own Bunnythorpe. Bet you did not know that.

For: A Coventry battle cruiser.
Against: I know, the connection between Rileys and the world's third larger drug company is tenuous.
Investment potential: 7/10 but I am partial to them.

1977 Fiat 131. Hybridising Fiats is fun to do so do not chastise the vendor for slinging a two litre motor and five speed gearbox into this innocuous saloon to create a virtual Supermirafiori. Grey flatters the sombre four door shell and the whole affair is rather tasteful compared to what the factory was capable of producing during the same period. You have not lived until you have driven an orange 131R with a violet velour interior.

For: Cheap, fun and quick.
Against: Rust, rust and rust.
Investment potential: Not original but neatly done. 2/10

On some faraway beach...

1969 Abarth Scorpione Prototipo. On the subject of decor, grab a load of the colour combination and graphics on this delicious Abarth Scorpione, the competition version of the rather sweet little Lombardi Grand Prix. Amongst the sensory overload you still get the brilliant pod dash with central stacked instruments, a layout which no other maker has ever tried to repeat. Every trip to the shops for milk will be as memorable as a lap of the Nürburgring if you can stop your ears from ringing.

For: Why no one really needs a Lexus.
Against: Oh, alright. I am overdoing it.
Investment potential: At 100K landed here, not great.