The Aesthete goes for the big numbers

The Aesthete's Fleet

Old friend Hugh has bought that fabulous red Lancia Montecarlo that was on last week's list but he is moving to Wellington so that he can gloat over his new purchase in private. This is almost Boris Johnson territory but I will overlook his treachery if I can have a drive at some point.  

1975 BMW 2002 Tii. I have seen this car and you have nothing to quibble about on the price which is a substantial discount on what it would cost you to put a shabby one into such immaculate condition. Apart from the rare, fragile and tricky turbo models, the Tii is the ideal specification and this is the next best thing to a new one, could you possibly procure such a thing. Buy it, keep it and enjoy it.

For: The colour will clear your sinuses.
Against: Yes, it is expensive but it is that good.
Investment potential: 7/10

1972 BMW 2002. Or could have this one. Not as correct but very usable and I warrant a lot of fun. Some say the 02 cars are not particularly  engaging to drive with wooden steering and slow responses. This sounds like one of the baggy examples that have clocked up vast miles with no real work done, but testimony if you will to their indestructible quality. Get one that has been spruced up like this and you will be impressed.

For: Maybe not as good but not as pricey either.
Against: Nothing that would put the Aesthete off.
Investment potential: 6/10

1964 Bentley S3. The vendor is gilding the lily calling this little confection a Continental, it being an S3 saloon with standard factory bodywork. Even so, it can probably get along at a thoroughly undignified sort of rate with its Bentley Turbo R repower, just the sort of thing for rapid weekend getaways to your favourite winter resort.  The overworked imagination strains to work out what the remaining compliance issues might be.

For: An old man's car if the old man was a Vampire pilot.
Against: Undefined legal issues.
Investment potential: How much is too much for a hot rod Bentley?

1990 Maserati 222 Coupe. Marcello Gandini's cautious restyle of the BiTurbo softened the chiselled looks while retaining the eager wedge profile of the older car. A low milage car of this specification is a hot prospect now and the improved reputation of the brand has revived the fortunes of the 1990s cars. Sumptuous Poltrona Frau leather interiors and jewel like instruments might be like scoffing tiramisu for each meal but why deprive yourself?

For: Go on. I dare you.
Against: I know what you are thinking.
Investment potential: 5/10 and rising.

1954 Ford Thames 83W. If anything on the list has ever been a candidate for an oily rag restoration, surely it is this Thames commercial replete with period sign craft. Even the trade it was advertising is almost dead and gone with mowers reverting to scrap as soon as they refuse to start. The Aesthetette recently went out and bought a Subaru powered mower that does everything but make you a cold drink at the end of the day.

For: Perfect as it is in my view.
Against: Like I said...
Investment potential: 8/10 if you resist fixing it up.

On some faraway beach...

1955 Fiat 1100TV Pininfarina. What could be better than a hand built Fiat from the era of Three Coins in the Fountain and other such Italian-American fantasies? I am far too young to have experienced such things first hand but nostalgia is like that. My desire is based on the idea that an exotic body on an ordinary chassis allows the best of both worlds, like having your pasta made by Gina Lollobrigida.

For: Oh come on. Look at it.
Against: "You paid how much for what?"
Investment potential: Ask an economist

The Aesthete rounds up another five

The Aesthete's Fleet
My name dropping of Eric Brook last week revealed that he is maintaining his standards in Auckland and has a pair of old Mercedes to amuse himself with in retirement. Eric was the first person I met who really knew anything about interesting old cars. He ran a stylish operation from Birkenhead selling Saabs, Alfa Sprint Speciales and other vehicles that rarely troubled the roads in New Zealand. I would sometimes take my purchases down for him to see and once bought an Alfa 1750 Berlina just because I saw his name on the papers. His response when I rang him in triumph? "Oh, f--k. You haven't."

And the song? Keith Mansfield was an arranger and session musician whose instrumental albums provided the soundtrack for just about everything made by the BBC during my youth. Now avidly sought by hipsters and remix addicts everywhere. 

1951 Rover 75. I use this rear view to show how Rover's post war saloon became less modern over time as its Studebaker looks were toned down. The mail slot window and tapered boot were matched by a smooth nose with faired in lights and a delightful driving lamp in the centre of the slatted grill. This made then very easy to spot at night and therefore scored extra points in the dog eared Observers Book of Automobiles that I annotated from the back seat of my parents' Mk 1 Jaguar.

For: Low miles, low owners and looking very sound.
Against: Lengthy disuse may cause you to do some work
Investment potential: 6/10. Low start price suggests that the vendor is in a reasonable frame of mind.

1966 Subaru 360. The vendor seems to not know that the air has gone from the recent microcar bubble but this is the first time one has come up on the list so we must give it our attention. The Japanese Kei class cars produced some creative engineering as makers sought to get acceptable performance out of their 360cc's. Subaru's two stroke sounded like a leaf blower and covered the neighbourhood with oily fumes but a few were sold here to those that for some reason could not abide a Fiat 500.  Why?

For: Well, they are cute.
Against: But again, why?
Investment potential: 1/10 and it may be some time before the next cycle of greed touches this part of the market.

1972 Mercedes-Benz 280 SEL 3.5. From the ridiculous to the sublime with the peerless Mercedes V8 in the beautifully detailed early W108 hull. It did without the complex air suspension of the earlier 300 SE and so did not leave its plutocrat owners stranded in a tail down attitude in a car that cost as much as a Bentley. UK writer Martin Buckley opines that this is the best looking Mercedes saloon of all, to which I am politely inclined to agree.

For: How often to you get to own one of the best cars in the history of the industry?
Against: Are you becoming suspicious?
Investment potential: 4/10

1989 Fiat Tipo 2.0 ie GT Sedicivalvole. All of those numbers and foreign words suggest something is a bit novel about this Tipo, otherwise yet another wallflower Fiat saloon. The engine was effectively the 16 valve unit from the Lancia Delta EVO so the performance was vivid. There has been another for sale on Trademe forever so the price is probably right. If it had appeared last week we would have enjoyed a Fiat only list.

For:  So much fun for so little mun.
Against: Nothing. Buy it now.
Investment potential. 23/10

1982 Lancia Montecarlo. South Africa was always a significant market for Lancia and one of the few places where you could buy a right hand drive Montecarlo, most of the very small number here being US imports. The European specification of this example makes it very attractive and the fact that it is a rare spider even more so. Come on one of you. Step forward please.

For: Answer your inner Lancia fan.
Against: What? You lack an inner Lancia fan? What kind of monster are you?
Investment potential: Oh, vast.

On some faraway beach...

1963 Simca 1000 Coupe. Reader Simon sent a tip about a shed full of Simca coupe body shells in the UK last week, thereby reminding me that they are a very pretty car and that I had never actually seen one in the metal. If you were resourceful you could find a twin cam motor and the necessary Abarth accoutrements to build one of the exciting Italian variants. Or not as you see fit.

For: Elegant, rare and affordable.
Against: A bit tame in standard specification.
Investment potential: It depends on your intentions.

The Aesthete finds signs of life

Not on Mars, but on our favourite trading site where a fresh crop of interesting vehicles has appeared on the scorched wilderness. I blame Turners for hoarding most of them which I searched in vain for anything to put on the list. So here go...

1988 Alfa Romeo 75 3.0. Alfa Romeo's well known jinx when it came to designing executive saloons was almost beaten by the 75 although the keen eyed and critical might say that they were as ugly as any  that had gone before. Based on the wedge shaped Giulietta with a new nose and tail section, the 3.0 V6 provided lurid performance though its rear mounted gearbox. As the last of the pre-Fiat Alfas, you are at liberty to mourn the engineering originality of this arrangement.

For: Fast and huge fun.
Against: Nothing if you can live with the interior decor.
Investment potential: 6/10 Low milage good examples must rise.

1974 Fiat 127. Everyone should experience the joys of a Fiat 127 where the engine was finally put in the correct relationship with the driven wheels so that it could be driven throttle wide open in all conditions. My old friend Eric Brook treated his like a motorcycle. leaning it into corners and passing all other road users at will. All on 903cc. Forget Mk 1 Golfs. This is better, even more rare and cheaper.

For: Even more fun.
Against: Nothing at all.
Investment potential: If you can get it for 1K, quite a sound investment I would say.

1965 Fiat Crusader. Frequent readers of the blog know the Aesthete is silly about Fiat Millecinquecentos but they have charms in abundance and would make an ideal and inexpensive car that you could use for most things one uses a car for. The lack of mad technology is a positive asset with cars of this era which, if not running, must have a damn good reason.

For: Elegant, chic and a delight to use.
Against: Complicated trim makes bod restoration an ordeal.
Investment potential: Should be worth more than the usual local values indicate.

1968 Lotus Europa S2. If you picture yourself hunched down in the cockpit, headlights boring into the fog on the Circuit de la Sartre as you close in on your class win, you could give a thought to one of these rather than throwing half a million away on something you can't drive or use. Such was the thinking of Colin Chapman in the mid-1960s in his search for the ideal sports car. He was right about many things so pay the man his money and find your inner racer.

For: Scientific and ingenious.
Against: I hope you have kept your dancer's hips.
Investment potential: Looking cheap now compared to the competition.

1935 Morris Eight. Fun of a different kind may be had from this Morris Eight, an early car on wire wheels and in two door form. This one has been upgraded to later Series E power and four speeds which should see you up to practical open road speeds. Remember that you have to stop, however.

For: Surprisingly modern and pleasant.
Against: Not original but do you really care?
Investment potential: 4/10 and cheap to run.

On some faraway beach...

1961 Facel Vega Facellia. Well, what do we have here? An unlikely rival for something the Italians had already perfected, Facel's small sports car had both character and hubris. French pride determined a unique engine and one was provided by gear box maker Pont-à-Mousson. Alfa-like in its architecture, it was poorly developed and most blew up and were discarded for lesser units, the final models being Volvo powered. Facel's unique slab sided styling was scaled down and the result is charming, particularly the shapely tail with knife blade tail lights.

For: Not cheap but no one else will have one.
Against: Dare you use it?
Investment potential: Save it from some awful museum collection.

The Aesthete scratches around Trademe

The Aesthete's Fleet

Our favourite trading site is undergoing one of its periodic contractions although I imagine if you are a fan of grey four door Nissan Enemas you would have no trouble filling the quota of five interesting local cars per week. That's your fault for being a snob, I hear you say as you compare the fourteen different Daihatsu Fistulas on offer in tempting shades of burgundy metallic. This is what I am confronted with every time I shift the search criteria to 2000 instead of 1990. The sheer bulk of awful and unsalable cars is rather demotivating but as the blog passes its fifth year I will have to go there, as young folk are known to say.

Song this week? The blinding genius of Roy Wood as he says goodbye and leaves the show to his old sidemen. Rediscovered in the movie American Hustle.

1969 Buick Riviera. Buick's big coupe was still gorgeous in 1969, a flaw that was gradually corrected through the following decades until they were as hideous as anything else available on the American market. The final model in 1999 looked like a bloated Mazda, showing how far the industry had lost sight of what made it wonderful. With the possible exception of the boat tail version that came after this, the last Riviera that will not make you laugh out loud.

For: Recapture the Playboy Club ambience but not the medallions and open to the waist shirts, thanks.
Against: People will think you are a Trump supporter. No liberal credentials here.
Investment potential: 0/10. Sorry.

1959 Tiki. The uncertain provenance and modest price suggest that we should be cautious in approaching this little fire cracker but what the hell? It is by far the most interesting thing to appear on Trademe's blighted shores for a while. One imagines that the 1928 Morris Cowley chassis has long been superseded by something else otherwise you will be hurled off the road to an instant fiery death.

 For: Better than conking out mowing the lawns.
Against: Mad, bad and dangerous to know.
Investment potential: 6/10. If you get it roadworthy invite me out for a drive. I have nothing left to live for.

1990 Citroen XM. One hundred dollars for a Bertone styled autoroute rocket ship? Yes, indeed and it is not even one of the lame four cylinder versions but a 3.0 V6. XMs were a difficult proposition from the  start with typical French problems such as erratic electrical and suspension systems coupled with confrontational styling. Inevitably, the 1990s will be cool again and indeed already are for my current cohort of designs students who play Billy Joel on the studio sound system...

For: Show them you are not afraid.
Against: Well, perhaps you should be a little afraid.
Investment potential. 10/10 at 100 smackers. Anyone should be able to make a profit in that.

1954 Riley Pathfinder. In extremis, a Riley will always fill an otherwise blank spot on the list. I investigated this one through a chain link fence on my recent visit to Christchurch and it looks great as only a Pathfinder can. Gerald Palmer's combination of patrician Riley grill and pontoon body was daring and modern as far as the UK market was concerned. It was the sort of thing you could have driven across to the Amalfi coast in 1954, staying at charming cheap pensiones along the way.

For: A British classic from before it all went terribly wrong.
Against: Compared to anything from modern times, heavy and slow.
Investment potential: It has been for sale forever so modest.

1991 Marcos Mantula Spider. Dennis and Peter Adams' striking shell for Marcos looked like nothing else on the road in 1964 and the same was true almost thirty years later when the shape was nearing the end of production. The convertible Mantula Spider managed to integrate a soft roof enabling drivers of average height to fit the cabin without causing themselves injury, so neatly outselling the coupe in the final years. The big Rover engine finds TVR like speeds from the lighter frame so performance will not be an issue.

For: Comes from the 1990s, looks like the 1960s.
Against: All a bit Nigel Essex really.
Investment potential: Not a fanatical following here I suspect.

On some faraway beach

Nope. Nothing there either. Bring A Trailer has turned into a horrible auction site with nothing interesting on it.