The Aesthete stirs

I was shaken into action after a long post-Christmas nap by a loyal reader enquiring where the cars were. There is no good answer to this apart from vague and evasive claims to have been busy or distracted, none of which are strictly true. At this time of year we tend to roam the neighbourhood dining on other people's leftovers so we do not even have to attend to basic chores like cooking and cleaning. Mexican taco presses seemed to be the gift du jour so there was a south of the border feel to the festivities in Puerto Chalmers which will be followed up by another ruinous Magarita party on New Years Eve. I may be late then as well.

1996 Maserati Quattroporte. Obscuring its svelte Marcelo Gandini lines under a cheap plastic cover is possibly not the best way of marketing a Maserati but at least it is not covered in possum ordure and under a tree like the last one. The best thing is the buy now price that will have you in one of the greater performance saloons of the period for the price of a high milage Nissan Fistula. Negative points are lack of use and the vendor attempting to blame his wife who should probably leave him.

For: Don't tell everyone but it is one of the ultra rare V8 versions.
Against: No WOF, no registration. What the heck is going on here?
Investment potential: 0/10 or 12/10 depending on your attitude to these matters.

1978 Fiat X19. Fiat's mid engined X19 was like flicking from Dr Who to Coronation Street, products of the same entertainment industry but intended for different audiences. Bearing in mind that you could still buy a sports car with cart springs and a Post Office van engine in 1978, can you imagine a Cyberman in an MG Midget? No, I thought not. QED.

For: Much good work carried by a marque expert.
Against: But what has gone wrong then?
Investment potential: 6/10 if you attend to the niggling bugs.

1974 Porsche 914. Porsche was always about modernity but the 914 seemed a little too far ahead of its time. The slab sided appearance lacked the immediate appeal of the Fiat and most US examples were lumbered with smog equipment and laboured to 90 mph. These were not qualities associated with Porsche and no-one wanted it as VW either. The cars beg for improvement and this vendor is half way to a 914-6 which is where the money is. Just find that disused old 911 motor in the shed and you are away.

For: Look upon it as a work in progress.
Against: What is German for neither fish nor fowl?
Investment potential: 2/10. The price will need to fall a little lower for this to make sense.

1952 Morris Series Z Commercial. This has been languishing on Trademe for a while now so is perhaps not the bargain that its agitated vendor thinks as he bellows about REALISTIC OFFERS ONLY. As I have been learning from Discovery Turbo, the realistic offer is the one that buys the car. Even so, this charming Morris Eight derived commercial deserves a new owner and a bit of light use. Uncovered storage is doing it no favours at all by the look of all that delaminating plywood.

For: Cute, just like a pound puppy.
Against: Knock a zero off the price and then we can talk.
Investment potential: 1/10 and that is being kind.

1978 Ferrari. I repeat the vendor's own hopeful description for this vehicle as I cannot work out what it is either. He mentions the name Goodwin who I know to be associated with the Fiberfab Bonito, a wickedly attractive American kit car of the 1960s. While crazy, Warren Goodwin had an eye for line and proportions which is missing here. Was it a brave local effort as suggested by Carjam? Someone must know something.

For: The Aesthete loves a mystery.
Against: Oh, plenty I am sure.
Investment potential: The previous purchaser paid for it but never collected so work it out yourselves.

On some faraway beach...

1940 LaSalle 52 Special Coupe.  Intended to be a low priced brand for Cadillac dealers to sell alongside their prestige models, LaSalle ended up with the best looking American coupe of the era. The seamless body shell and delicate details are precisely controlled under the hand of Harley Earl and it is almost enough to persuade me away from the Packard Clippers of which I am similarly smitten.

For: Oh, come on. Look at it.
Against: Not too many LaSalle fans to buddy up with.
Investment potential: It is US31K if the looks do it for you...



Oh, and vale Stevie Wright as well, co-architect of Friday On My Mind and Sorry

What to buy the Aesthete for Christmas

Any of the following will do. Thank you.

1961 Ford Consul Capri. Styled by Charles Thompson under Mk II Zephyr man Colin Neale and intended to fill a virtually non-existent gap for a slow and rather expensive two seater coupe, Ford's first Capri was almost doomed from the outset. It shared no panels at all with its saloon siblings and its pre-crossflow iron  engine was not sporting in the slightest. Even so, it takes and great picture with its fishbowl screens and mini-Thunderbird nose while the combination of primrose hull and white cabin makes the Aesthete weak with unrequited and unexplainable ownership urges.

For: Lovely to look upon.
Against: But not to drive.
Investment potential: 1/10. Approaching the outer limits of what these  cars will ever be worth.

1971 Saab Sonnet 3. More from the world of awkwardly configured two seaters with flawed power units comes this Saab Sonnet, a fibreglass concoction originally fitted with a two stroke triple under its shovel nose. The compact V4 from the Transit van was able to be squeezed in and the series 3 cars were so equipped. They sold in reasonable numbers in North America but are as rare as Swedish cactus anywhere else.

For: No one else has one.
Against: No one else has one.
Investment potential: 2/10. No one is rushing forward to buy this one so I would suggest it is over priced.

1991 Mazda Eunos Cosmo. Speaking of two strokes, the Wankel rotary is technically one which explains the high pitched howling and exhaust pings that you hear when the cap on backwards set are out on Saturday night. When searching for added performance, Mazda's engineers attached another beer keg full of rotors, instantly increasing output by a third and enabling their boulevardier coupe up to 160 mph. Talk nicely to the pimply boy with the laptop and 180 is not out of the question.

For: An odd lapse in taste, I know.
Against. Wouldn't you rather have a Porsche 928?
Investment potential: 2/10. As the usual buyers are all out of work or in prison, not great.

1973 Porsche 911. Built to an uncertain specification but to an apparently scrupulous standard, this 911 points to the skyward prices for the early series cars that went through the 100K bracket some few years past. Anyone who has one sitting around in pieces (and you know full well who you are) should probably get moving while the bubble still holds air.

For: A white 911 on Fuchs wheels. Grwwlll.
Against: Other Porsche 911 owners.
Investment potential: 3/10. Uncertain parentage warrants close inspection.

1982 Porsche 924. Or for approximately 1.8% of the asking price of the hybridised 911 you could enjoy this 924, also in white, and never have to worry about installing a surveillance camera in your garage or employing private security. They will never be worth anything and are consequently a lot of fun.

For: Its white and its a Porsche and its almost free.
Against: I know. Its a VW with a van motor in it.
Investment potential. 2/10. Don't be the pub bore and say it is not a real Porsche. Buy it and enjoy it.

On some faraway beach...

1969 Plymouth Barracuda. Because the Aesthete has no masculinity issues he would be happy to drive this Plymouth Barracuda with its rare Mod Top trim option down to the beach and throw the doors open so that onlookers could coo at its flower print seats. He would be wearing matching Bermuda shorts and carrying a cooler bag full of Margarita while playing sounds suitable for the Age of Aquarius.

For: Help the Aesthete live his dreams.
Against: No. Save him from himself.
Investment potential: 12/10.

The Aesthete has an epiphany

The Aesthete's Fleet

An epiphany is not a new type of party drug (now there is an idea...) but a moment of sudden and great revelation or realisation. I had one when I realised that the loud rattling in the GTVs cabin that sounded like it was right inside the car indeed was right inside the car. The long rear side window had become unglued from its fragile supports and a healthy dab of Araldite stopped it resonating. You would almost want to drive it a long distance now so I am weighing the options for a modest road trip. The blog has an impact greater than I expected with Andrew Fletcher's Daimler Dart listing making its way to the Herald's motoring section where his good reasons for not calling him about his car were enumerated again for the benefit of North Island readers. For those that missed the listing, I quote but a modest section of it below...

Beware…. if you like shiny, over restored, buffed up, trailer puppy’s, don’t contact me. Or you think you might like to own an old car and does the hood leak - don’t ring me. If you think a sensible question is “what’s it like on gas” don’t ring me, if your favourite teacher, uncle, mate etc had one once, I don’t care. Or if you think because there are some cracks and scratches in the paint and seats stitches are coming apart it needs “restoring” do us both a favour and don’t contact me. If you have ever owned an Italian car don’t ring… If actually you want an SP250 think hard..why? then don’t call. Ok. 

1988 Maserati Biturbo. If you are going to find a Maserati mouldering away under a tree nowadays, it will be a Biturbo. This is not just to do with the relatively high production rate but a general lack of feeling for these fine cars that were BMW challengers rather than competing in the Ferrari league. They have depreciated in the same way as their Bavarian fellows but their electronics are even more of a hurdle today. Befriend a helpful young person with a laptop and a talent for hacking ECUs and you could be on your way with a 230KPH Italian for the price of a Nissan Nopulse.

For: An early Biturbo with manual transmission is almost as good as a Porsche 928 but even cheaper.
Against: They are cheap for a variety of good reasons.
Investment potential: 4/10 but I would say that.

1957 Buick Riviera. This black Riviera pillarless coupe has a menace about it that lifts it from the usual heavy iron. It would look even better with a silver roof, almost like a Facel Vega, and the vendor has the original steel wheels to replace those egregious low profile tyres that do nothing for the car at all.

For: I could see this being driven around Monaco in 1957 and getting the right looks.
Against: Would need a red leather retrim and an expensive repaint before you parked outside the casino.
Investment potential: 2/10

1937 International D-Series Van. The vendor explains that this is a New Zealand built delivery van on an International Harvester frame but I am sure there is more of a story to it than that. The questions on the listing suggest it was a grocery delivery van but there are no images of the interior and it seems to have a row of rear seats. Whatever, it hits the Aesthete's spot for unusual commercial vehicles and local design significance.

For: Do you need an unusual load carrier?
Against: An esoteric one?
Investment potential: 2/10 with its dumpy looks a minor drawback.

1975 Daimler Vanden Plas. Early V12 XJs are a rare sight now, most being too expensive to maintain and consequently suffering from long periods of disuse. This vendor has not stinted on the repairs and shows us this by offering up lots of images of expensive garage bills. You may not consider this a clever way of selling a car but a fuel fire in a V12 engine bay is the unpalatable alternative.

For: Golden sand, tan leather and vinyl roof. Grrwwlll.
Against: More to be spent on it yet? I hope not.
Investment potential: 4/10 with a buy now price of 9K.

1959 De Soto Firedome. All looks superficially well with this handsome De Soto Firedome in coral pink, one of the Aesthete's favourite hues when applied to big American cars. The terse sales pitch tells us it needs an engine rebuild so one imagines its exterior does not match the condition of the mechanicals, so often the case with US imports. A rebuilt 361 cubic inch hemi V8 will see you to 100 kph in a bit over 7 seconds so do check the brakes.

For: Virgil Exner at his Forward Look best.
Against: Best check out the rest of it before committing yourselves.
Investment potential: 1/10. Add 10K for the motor and it is not looking too bright

Whoops. I forgot the funny foreign car

1981 Renault Alpine A 310.  Arriving at the end of the avant-garde A 310s production run was an upgrade to the V6 engine found in cars as varied in character as the Peugeot 604 and DeLorean DMC-12 Restyled by Citroen SM genius Robert Opron, the rear engined Alpine was hard to beat on the rally circuit and the equal of a Porsche 911. This well kept example is available for less than 20K EUR or around one fifth of the German competition.   Vive la différence!

For: Gorgeous and awkward simultaneously.
Against: Nothing and so cheap!
Investment potential: 6/10 and more saleable than the bigger Alpine replacement.
 .

The Aesthete forges ahead

The Aesthete's Fleet

In a further effort to tame the GTVs wayward rear I fitted new gas dampers and all the neoprene suspension bushes that mechanic Dennis had left in their bags after installing the new gearbox. Despite using more vaseline than a private gentleman's bath house, there is now a cacophony of squeaks and a ride like a race car's. As the suspension is only supported at three points it is hard to envisage where this racket is coming from. It does handle well though so perhaps I will get a powerful stereo and drown out the extraneous frequencies that way.

1960 Daimler SP250. I like the cut of the vendor's jib and the sales pitch for this early Dart is one of the best I have ever read. The reasons he gives for not calling him about the car are so fulsome that I doubt he really wants to sell it. He even whips up the ancient enmity between the British and Italian tribes that can only be settled in a field to cries of "One cam good, two cams bad!" and "MG merda!".

For: A battle hardened Dart with bits of Alfa Spider still stuck in its teeth, no doubt.
Against: Nothing really. I know the vendor and it is a great car.
Investment potential: 4/10 and half the price of a restoration project E Type.

1992 Porsche 968. Honda made a strong play for this market segment with their S2000 and set an intimidating standard for middleweight sports cars. They were aiming for the outgoing 968, a model not much loved by Porsche enthusiasts that sold on its build quality rather than overt sporting character. The automatic gearbox puts its slingshot torque to good use and at this low milage you will get years of service out of it.

For: A sports car with few of the drawbacks.
Against: It is the drawbacks that make cars interesting.
Investment potential: 1/10 if you start putting KMs on it but what would be the point of not using it?

1952 Riley RMB. There is something heroic about old Rileys that lets them get away with dishevelled paintwork and duct tape on the fabric roof although this example is falling fast towards shabby with its torn front bumper and scraped flanks. It looks good everywhere else though and a quick repaint in decent British Racing Green will have you back on the right side of the ledger.

For: An exception to the two cams bad rule.
Against: If the vendor does not care to fix the obvious faults he may have to compromise on the price.
Investment potential: 2/10 but only because I really like old Rileys.

1955 Willys Custom Sedan. Willys, Frasers, Packards, Nashs and Hudsons  are so much more interesting than the bread and butter products of the 'big three'. The Willys range was European in its packaging and pace with the larger engined version of this model having the highest power to weight ratio of any contemporary US sedan. This rhd model would make an unusual and enjoyable project with the bids currently stuck at a risible 1.5K.

For:  What sort of Belair would you get for that?
Against: At that price, doodly squat as they where Willys come from.
Investment potential: 6/10 if you have the resources.

1929 Ford Model A Phaeton. I usually avoid the American vintage cars listed on Trademe but this Model A has many charms and is being offered at a sane price. A Phaeton is a tourer with a steel panel behind the front seat  and was one of a number of body styles offered. This colonial example has the smaller capacity engine so lacks the urge of the US cars. A big bore motor and two speed rear axle will let you see 120KPH.

For: Rough but genuine.
Against: Watch the brakes.
Investment potential: 2/10 in a market where there are more Model As than buyers.

On some faraway shore

1953 Kaiser Deluxe Traveler Vagabond. Like Willys, Kaiser was compelled to get the most out of their model range and consequently invented the hatchback saloon.  Business sedans often had opening rear doors but were configured like two door wagons. Fraser marketed the Vagabond as three cars in one and the advertising graphics in the Ebay listing are descriptive and quite fascinating. 

For: The best looking of all early 50s Americans with added benefits.

Against. I know. It needs work.

Investment potential: 6/10 but I am partial to Kaisers