The Aesthete resumes his duties

 The Aesthete's Fleet.

Forget the ABs. The greatest conflict of 2015 has been brought to a draw with only a slight buzz from the driveshaft left behind after weeks of work by Dennis.  The GTV is a different car now and considerably more relaxing to drive. I have been busy trying to seal it against the rain now that it has to park outside while the wreck occupies its space in the shed. Parts are being slowly recovered from it and carried away to another shed. And so we spend our lives like dung beetles, rolling piles of the stuff from one hole to another.

1961 Hillman Minx Estate. Despite a slightly raddled appearance and piebald paintwork, this Minx looks solid and usable.  I have always fancied a load carrier of this vintage although there would need to be a load to carry, other than the iPhone and mac laptop that are the Aesthete's current tools of trade. Perhaps when I take up an honest career...

For: Becoming quite rare now, I imagine.
Against: That may not turn into instant reward for the purchaser.
Investment potential: 3/10. Freshen up the paint and you never know your luck.

1957 Hudson Hornet V8 Hollywood Custom. Surely the name badge is worth 6K alone but I feel that the hapless vendor has come a cropper on Hudson's last hurrah and is trying to recover the shipping costs. There is the conundrum as the market for Hudson Hornet Hollywood Customs is probably not humming even in their country of origin. That being so, you get a Packard V8, tri-tone colour scheme and the interior is a riot.

For: Oh come on. We like an oddball.
Against: There is an immaculate example for less than 20K on Hemmings.
Investment potential: -12/10. Chinese commercial property is a better bet.

1955 Peugeot 203. More agreeable than any Light 15 you could have for the same price and the driving experience is better in my view. The 1940s streamlined looks put me in mind of Paris in the springtime and Rue des Francs-Bourgeois where the French version of hipsters dwell in roof top garrets to this day.

For: Is there a more chic way to spend 3K?
Against: I imagine you have thought of some.
Investment potential: 4/10 if there is not much to do.

1956 Jaguar Mk VII M. Big 1950s Jaguars offer value, particularly older restorations like this one where the vendor has not calculated the selling price by dredging through a huge pile of current receipts. The price of rechroming, trim and a respray would easily overtake 22K and you still have to find a decent car to buy in the first place. The automatic suits the genteel side of the Mk VII although you may find yourself wishing for a power steering conversion as well.

For: Bespoke motoring on a budget.
Against: At that price, not much.
Investment potential: 4/10

1935 Daimler 15 hp Martin Walters Wingham All-weather Cabriolet. Daimler's small six for straightened times was a gamble as the brand was associated with state limousines while Lanchester dealt with the suburban trade. They came in numerous versions thanks to the efforts of coach builders such as Martin Walters who later made the Dormobile campers to which I am unnaturally attracted. Will the vendor achieve 40K for his pile of bits? Not in a thousand years but it is jolly nice in a King's Speech sort of way.

For: Good for a toddle around the old estate during the annual grouse shoot, should you own one.
Against: 40K? Holy mother of God.
Investment potential: Bwahahahaha. Not even it belonged to King George himself.

On some faraway beach.

I looked. There is nothing apart from the Hudson and that would be repeating myself.

The Aesthete casts his net.

The Aesthete's Fleet  

The GTV returns to the long suffering Dennis to fix a list of niggling faults which appear to be the work of his charming and guileless apprentice. Loose exhaust manifold nuts, non-functional speedo and handbrake, maladjusted gear shift, that sort of thing. One of us will succumb to wounds before the Alfetta is made reliable and it will not be me.

1971 Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV. Observant Alfa owning friend Terry followed the bidding on this distressed GTV which reached a rather staggering 22K when the auction concluded. But behold, here it is again turning up like the proverbial bad lira so who knows what occurred after the first attempted sale? Cold feet or did that princely offer fail to  tempt the assignees who repossessed the car in the first place? Answers please.

For: Any intact Bertone GTV would make an ideal restoration project.
Against:  But not at any price.
Investment potential: See caveats above.

1985 Lancia Volumex. The vendor is clearly a man of few words and he does not intend to waste them on us. His Lancia looks appealing though, particularly as it is the rare-ish coupe version with the clever combination of engine driven supercharger and fuel injection. So much more sophisticated than those whooping and clanging turbos so admired by the cap on backwards set.

For: Low KMs even if it has 149 on the clock and regularly exercised.
Against: Come along man, make an effort.
Investment potential: 6/10. I have long picked these fine cars to go places. Not yet, however.

1965 MG 1100. BMC's range of small cars was ingenious, both due to and in spite of their autocratic author Alec Issigonis. The MG variant featured a new cylinder head developed by Downton Engineering and produced a zingy 55 bhp. Hydrolastic suspension and disc brakes completed the specification while down at Dagenham, Ford costing engineers rubbed their hands with glee in the sure knowledge that money was being lost on each one their competitors sold.

For: 1960s chic. There is no better kind of course.
Against: Not everyone can get them right.
Investment potential: 5/10 and rising surely.

1937 Morgan 4/4. Flat radiator Morgans attract a particular owner profile for whom an MG TC would be the equivalent of wearing a knitted twinset and pearls. The sliding pillar front suspension allowed sharp steering as long as no bumps were encountered while the unusually configured 1122cc Coventry Climax engine kept performance on the safe side of the chassis' abilities.

For: Find that leather flying jacket and invite a close friend for a drive.
Against: Only the slim of hip and short of arm and leg need apply
Investment potential: 3/10. Not quite in the vintage market so a good bet for the future.

1974 Jensen Interceptor MkIII. It is impossible to  approach the qualities of a low milage car without a specialist rebuild which will cost you far in excess of the asking price. Italian styling house Touring's last hurrah was a bolt from the blue in the 1960s when it was still possible to do things with a car body that no-one had previously seen. The fishbowl rear window made every hatched competitor seem tired, even the sublime E-Type.

For: Cheap compared to an Aston or Maserati.
Against: Will you use it?
Investment potential:  5/10 with original low milage cars becoming hard to find.

On some faraway beach

1957 Fiat 600 Rendez Vous. Looking like a pedal car version of a Lancia Aurelia, the scorched engine bay of this Vignale bodied Fiat tells a frightening tale. The good part is the mechanicals are cheap and readily at hand, even on these benighted shores where Fiat Uno 55s are waiting under trees to offer up their motors. You just have to find a new rear window and I wish you good luck with that.

For: Italian coach built glamour on a simple platform.
Against: It requires a little work.
Investment potential: Fix it and see.

The Aesthete tastes victory

The Aesthete's Fleet
But it is wormwood in his mouth when the cost to fix the drive line now adds up to six times the purchase price of the car.  The final job involved swapping over the original driveshaft rubber joint from the wreck, which is of a type now unobtainable. The spare gearbox was fitted with new mountings and the oval location hole in the floor welded back into a circle again. Brakes and suspension parts were mingled promiscuously from a teetering pile of bits. It now drives as an Alfetta GTV should with no vibration, rumbles. clonks and writhing under braking.  Sadly, we cannot join the Alfa Club at Mt Cook for the AGM so the membership will be spared any incoherent ranting as the Aesthete tries to sooth his pain with strong drink.

1968 Jaguar 420. The asking price is set very low for this, the penultimate Mk II and part of the great diversity  of Jaguars swept away for the XJ6 in 1968. With a patrician prow leading the way into the small hull and finishing with the S-Type's rear wings and pinched bottom, it was the Montgomery Clift of the executive car industry but still more effective than anything thrown together by the competition.

For: A hybrid but made out of the right parts.
Against: As the old Clash song went "Who's that man, he sure looks funny? Why, that's Montgomery Clift, honey."
Investment potential: 3/10. 10K on a good paint job and you would still be on the right side.

1949 Austin A70 Hampshire Utility. The Aesthete has long hankered for an English utility and the Hampshire with its big four cylinder engine is a good starting point. The vendor has been reading the classic car press and reports a restored example selling in the UK for 40K so he is not taking a penny less than 8K for his prize. He should be reminded that we are all a long way from Blighty now.

For: Just the thing for towing your Cooper 500, should you have one.
Against: A bit of work to do which if carried out by professionals will get you to 40K in a flash.
Investment potential: 2/10 but who knows?

1982 Volkswagen Scirocco GTI. Bearing in mind the maker's current self inflicted injuries, there was never a need to fake the data on a Scirocco. Quick, smooth, reliable and rare enough to command a slow walk past on the street, Volkswagen's second generation coupe softened the folded paper Guigiaro lines of the earlier model but have aged more gracefully. And the annual peanut butter smeared lens award is won effortlessly for the vendor's views of the car in a darkened showroom.

For: Like an Alfetta GTV but without the designed in faults.
Against: Vorsprung durch fraud.
Investment potential: 4/10. With so few left it should be easy to find a buyer.

1964 Citroen ID 19. This charming Slough built Citroen features the quaint timber dash supplied so as not to frighten English buyers with the French version which looked like a scene from a foreign language space documentary. The hydro-pneumatics were preserved, however, with the system used to power suspension and brakes but not the assisted gear shift which made the DS seem even more like the work of an advanced intergalactic civilisation.

For: Even a lesser DS was ten steps ahead of everyone else.
Against: Nothing that I can see from here.
Investment potential. 4/10. They have found running water on Mars. You only need a fuel supply and some sign posted roads.

1964 Pontiac Grand Prix 455. My juvenile reading of our neighbour's pile of Playboy magazines in the 1960s was defended by my innocent interest in the car ads. Pontiacs were often beautifully rendered with the illustrator lingering over every crease and pucker in the taut skin, with particular attention to the stacked headlights and... Okay. Not so innocent then.

For: The American version of la dolce vita.
Against: Unless you are the Todd family you will pay dearly for the pleasure.
Investment potential: 1/10 but not to worry about that.

On some faraway beach...

1958 MG Magnette. What is the point of scouring the international scene just to show you something that you could acquire here? Gerald Palmer's lovely Lancia-esque saloon for the British Motor Corporation is begging for this sort of treatment but one never sees them here on wire wheels and driven enthusiastically. We must wrench them from elderly owners and start thrashing them around the streets again.

For: The best looking 1950s British saloon. There. I have said it.
Against: Only your lack of vision.
Investment potential: 8/10