The Aesthete surveys the scene

Not much is being offered on Trademe that is new or of interest so apologies for returning to old and familiar territory. After five years of blogging about the one subject, the Aesthete sometimes catches sight of the younger version of himself ridiculously aiming not to mention the same car twice. There are limits to what he can bring himself to write about and so some repetitiveness must be endured if he is not to start elegising about Nissan Enemas and the sport of drifting.

Dinner at Cucina is on. Saturday 12 November at around  6.00 to be seated at 6.30. I have booked for 12 people. I will attach the menu to another message.

1978 Fiat X19. An X19 immediately whisks me backwards in time to the doorway of Club Mirage from whence I would reel out into the cold evening having used up my Brandy Alexander budget on young women with ridiculously high standards. There was always one of these parked close by as if to remind me of what I was being deprived of.

For: A certain louche charm still.
Against: They were never meant to last five years much less forty.
Investment potential: 8/10 as there can't be many left like this.

1968 Daimler 250. Much loved by retired heads of harbour boards, a number of these slim bumpered late model V8 Daimlers came equipped with wire wheels and manual transmissions making them an attractive alternative to the smaller engined Jaguar 240. I am assuming this is an auto but the wheels get you half way and the price is modest and the dark colour most comely. The current owner is unmotivated to sort it out and you should probably try and find out why.

For: A cut above a common MKII.
Against: Is that enough today?
Investment potential: Sink 50K into it and see for yourself.

1960 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. As the vendor hopefully points out, 1960 saw some useful upgrades to Volkswagen's suave coupe but it was still as slow covering the ground as an invalid chair.  Carefully take out the matching numbers motor and store it somewhere dry while making enquiries about a 2 litre Weberised engine is my advice.

For: The looks, most definitely.
Against: Looks like a rocket ship, goes like a 2CV.
Investment potential: 'Restored in the USA' always puts me on edge.

1965 Mini Cooper. Taking a leaf out of the Wood and Pickett era customised Mini handbook, this locally built example should never be returned to original order. It looks like an entire speed shop was ransacked in the effort and a Humber Supersnipe dash may have also been involved if that speedo and slab of burr walnut are to be trusted.

For: Just the thing for a '60s themed rave up.
Against: Yes, I know you are in your 60s now.
Investment potential: 8/10 for local significance.

1956 Riley Pathfinder. What can I say? Riley's make me smiley.

For: Everyone knows what I think of these.
Against: Why don't you buy this one then I hear you ask.
Investment potential: Not a car to restore but to use in a committed and gentle way.

On some faraway beach...

1963 Fiat 2300 Speciale ASA. Italian coach builders ASA produced a luxury version of Fiat's already elegant 2300 Berlina, generally for state clients. The grey wool cloth interior almost looks Lancia quality and extra sound deadening and a stretched wheelbase add to the feel. Big 1960s Italian saloons are rare beyond commonplace Ferarris and other exorbidantly priced exotics although this example is already at lesser Maserati money already.

For: Lusso indeed.
Against: You either want them or you don't.
Investment potential. At whatever it would cost landed here, possibly not great.

The Aesthete takes on the impossible

The Aesthete's Fleet
A reader recently posed a troubling dilemma. He wants a four door saloon of respectable performance with a decent pedigree that he can use and will not lose him money. This is a classic insoluble problem. If I had said Falcon GTHO he would have laughed loudly in my face (pedigree). Likewise a NSU Ro80 (use issues in abundance), Maserati Quattoporte (depreciates like a Saturn V rocket once fired) or something oozing character like a Fiat Multipla (no performance discernible). Nothing modern and no electronics of course. What is left then? 

THOSE KEEN TO DRIVE TO OAMARU ON THE 5TH OF NOVEMBER.  NOW 12TH NOVEMBER.
My apologies. Something has come up on the 5th. Email me at michael.findlay105@gmail.com this week so I can make the booking. 

1957 Citroen DS19. Apart from the eye watering price, all criteria listed above are met by this early DS. A New Zealand-new car with the full range of hydraulic powered systems including brakes, steering and gear selection, its driver had to relearn the art of guiding it along the road. 'Museum piece' is usually enough to put the Aesthete off looking any further but in this case it is perfectly apt.

For: A fully restored example of a stellar design.
Against: Alas, using it would not add to its resale value.
Investment potential: The price is already set at max. so 1/10.

1970 Rover 3500. The clever young suits at Solihull had their eye on the DS when thinking about a new class of small executive saloon although the references were somewhat watered down by the time the car reached the market. Finding a compact alloy V8 to liven things up gave it a performance edge over the Gallic moon lander and this example features the box on shelf dash that recalls a modernist sculpture by Eduardo Paolozzi .

For: Who could say it is less of a car that the Citroen and at 1/10 the price.
Against: Nothing that I can see.
Investment potential: By starting relatively cheap, you have far less to lose. 6/10

1970 Mercedes Benz 280SE. If quality is a criteria, the mid-sized Mercedes saloon is an obvious choice. By fitting the same shell with rising levels of trim and engine sizes, Mercedes could offer a model for taxi drivers as well as plutocrats. Quite an accomplishment as class snobbery generally prevailed against that sort of efficiency. This one in appealing tobacco brown has a sun roof and manual gearbox for added entertainment.

For: Trans-Europe Express.
Against: The burgemeister's demesne.
Investment potential: 5/10. At 20K less than the other one listed on Trademe there is potential.

1964 Jaguar MkII 3.8 MOD. Still with enough performance to show its shapely hindquarters to most other road traffic, many of these cars have been further upgraded so that they are essentially modern Jaguars in quaint period costume. This one already has the most desirable specification so a handing kit and brake upgrade is all that is required. Air con if you are really fussy. Maybe better seats... Oh go ahead. Buy a Beacham then.

For: Looks, speed and atmosphere.
Against: Can sometimes not be quite as they seem.
Investment potential: They have fallen hard from their high point so difficult to say.

1954 Lancia Aurelia B12. The ideal saloon is not always the fastest and most highly specified but the one that provides the best evidence of your quiet good taste and discretion. If you do not want to look like a fleeing bank robber, an architect of brutalist flats, a Ruhr accountant or a surgeon with an unattractive specialisation you might find the anonymity of this Lancia Aurelia appealing. The best Italian designers knew that making a scene was not the best way of making a impression.

For: Like a well cut suit.
Against: No specialists here when something untoward happens.
Investment potential: For those that know...

On some faraway beach

1972 Fiat 130. If you load all of these values into the Aesthete's saloon synthesiser (analogue, not digital of course) its finely calibrated sensors would immediately flick towards the Fiat 130. This selection is based on the simple logic that anything good enough for Gianni Agnelli  is quite good enough for the likes of you.

For: There are some tucked away in New Zealand.
Against: It should have been a Lancia.
Investment potential: The big Fiat jinx is a hard one to escape but that means low prices.

The Aesthete hits the bid button

The Aesthete's Fleet
...on that Fiat 850 Sport upon which I bestowed the maximum reasonable sum for a non running, partly stripped but otherwise sound car. Someone in Christchurch wanted it more than I so away it goes with my spittle driven curses. My only real achievement was to make coffee come out of a reader's nose with my thoughts on 5 series BMWs so it has not been a completely wasted week. Another loyal reader suggested  a Petrolhead Aesthete outing to Oamaru where we could try out the trattoria Cucina. Saturday 5 November seems to suit so  we could all converge there from multiple directions in the late afternoon without tedious route maps. Anyone willing to partake should email me at michael.findlay105@gmail.com and I will make the requisite booking for dinner for anyone who wishes to stay.

1968 Bedford Dormobile Romany. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! A Dormobil Romany brings out something in the Aesthete that makes him want to flee the city for the rude countryside where there is no espresso. There he would strip to his briefs and lie about on stripey plastic folding furniture with a handkerchief knotted on his head and his favourite briar pipe at a jaunty angle. The Aesthetette would make curried egg sandwiches and pour elderberry cordial from a cut glass pitcher.

For: Yes, it is all a dream and I will soon wake up.
Against: Get it before the rust ruins it.
Investment potential: About 10% of a Kombi so not great.

1990 Peugeot 205 GTI. While you would need to have a head full of angry bees to want any recent Peugeot, the 205 GTI was a proper car in all known respects. More than enough oats to see off any pesky Golfs and anything from the Oriental distaff side, a 205 GTI was that generation's Mini Cooper. Strangely classless and as good now as it was then.

For: Desirable Franco Italian.
Against: Not a lot that is clear from here.
Investment potential: 8/10 as good examples are thinning badly.

1967 Fiat Crusader. This Crusader has cropped up on the blog from time to time but let us assume that there is nothing greatly wrong with it and focus on its many advantages. Retro-fitted with a Lampredi twin cam engine and five speed gearbox in an unmodified 1500 shell, it would be as much fun as a Lotus Cortina but at a generous discount.  Swap the ugly 80s wheel for a nice wood and alloy one and you will not look back.

For: Oh come on.
Against: Unless you know something that I don't.
Investment potential: Do you feel lucky?

1970 Lotus Europa S2. The high sided Europa was an uncompromising device. So low that the details of the roof and window frames can best be seen from top 3/4 view while standing, the driver also needs an extra set of rearward folding knee joints to get inside and work the teaspoon sized pedals that feel on centre with the front wheels.

For: Every trip to the shops like a night time run at Le Mans.
Against: Fragile and impractical as only a Chapman Lotus can be.
Investment potential: It has been on offer for a while so not great.

1960 MGA Coupe. This was the sort of thing you bought when Priscilla refused to ride in your draughty old heap and get her new suede boots coated in gearbox oil. Fair enough too and an unusually smart piece of product planning from MG which had yet to settle into making more MGBs than anyone actually wanted.

For: Oui, comme ça.
Against: Not remotely butch if that matters to you.
Investment potential: 3/10 but other pleasures made be had through ownership.

On some faraway beach...

1999 Renault Sport Spider. If you gave a Frenchman the job of designing a Lotus Elise it would turn out remarkably like this. Spurning bourgeois comfort to the extent that the first models lacked a windscreen much less a roof, their purpose was to allow the rich fils of the finer arrondissements to scare each other on the race track. Much celebratory swilling would follow and everyone would wake face down on the parquet covered in Moet.

For: Party like its 1999.
Against: You may look silly.
Investment potential: More fun than a barrel of monkeys.

The Aesthete's carefully curated selection

The Aesthete's Fleet

I drove over the hill to Waikouaiti on Sunday to look at the Fiat 850 Coupe and met its charming vendor. She really does deserve better than the cheap huckster's offer I made so I have reversed my position from last week and now encourage you all to bid right up to your limits. It is a solid little car with a few missing items and would make a rewarding restoration. The vendor is selling some other fine vehicles as well, information that I will drip feed in tantalising instalments over the coming weeks.

1960 DeSoto Diplomat. A Dodge Dart prepared for distribution in the colonies, the Diplomat was an occasional sighting on local roads, usually in the hands of wealthy dairy farmers and other beneficiaries of the booming export economy. My wicked uncle Eddie let me drive one through the Highbury shops while sitting in his lap so I can confirm that they are remarkably easy to control and quite suitable for a nine year old.

For: With that milage, it is virtually unused.
Against: Would you buy a car just to go to the Beach Hop?
Investment potential: 3/10 using the Aesthete's behemoth calculator of value per metric tonne.

1956 MG Magnette ZA. Come on man. Make an effort! You are asking for money for it after all so get the damned bumper off the front seat and give the outside a wipe. I hope it is not as bad as it looks because these Magnette's are fine cars bearing all the hallmark's of Gerald Palmer's particular design genius. Channeling Pininfarina's work for Lancia did the profile of the traditional MG no harm at all and I can see it in grey on wire wheels. Grwwwlll.

For: Best looking small car of its era.
Against: That does not save them from a grisly fate like this.
Investment potential: 6/10

1978 Fiat 128. Like a Tic Tacs dispenser scaled up into a car, you do not love Fiat 128s for their shapely form. However, much like the eponymous Italian mint, there is a fizzing treat of an engine inside the box that will cause you to overindulge and become childlike in both mood and action.  You may not ever see a better example so I advise you to pay up and start enjoying small cars again.

For: Forget an Alfa Mito. What? Everyone has already?
Against: Nulla!
Investment potential: 8/10

1988 Maserati Biturbo. The idea of Maserati Biturbos rotting under trees always strikes me as a criminal waste of a fine car and makes me wonder how this situation arises.  They have plummeted in value like a 5 Series BMW although they were faster, better equipped and more chic than their Bavarian competition. I suggest you would get an eyebrow flick and a smile in Queenstown if you pulled up in one of these whereas a 5 series suggests little more than a backpacker who could not afford a Subaru.

For:A sort of long legged Remuera trophy bride kind of car.
Against: Something wrong with that?
Investment potential: Zip, sadly

1993 BMW Z3 Breyton. Normally the Aesthete averts his gaze when a Z3 is offered on Trademe, slow, awful looking suburban sports cars not being his normal gruel. They are not worth a look unless in six cylinder form and even then, the power plant was forcing the whip like structure into odd shapes. A tuned 2.8 should see you attempting to enter your own tail pipe then.

For: Fast and bulbous.
Against: I would rather ride into town on a Diplodocus but it is up to you.
Investment potential: 1/10 but less if you need to look at it.


On some faraway beach...

1952 IFA F9. This snake hipped Autobahn streamliner was the communist version of the bulkier DKWs that we are more familiar with in these distant parts. More the scale of a Renault 4CV and powered by a three cylinder two stroke, the IFA has a gorgeous interior and some were bodied in plastic enabling them to scurry along at quite a speed.

For: East German austerity chic.
Against: That does not sound like a good reason to buy a car.
Investment potential: 6/10. Its only 6K and look at it!

The Aesthete pays a house call

The Aesthete's Fleet

I took a call from Sam on the weekend who was aggrieved about his Alfetta GTV failing its warrant on a few paltry holes in the floor. It did seem overly scrupulous of the WOF issuer but it all looks repairable and the only other old GTV that you might see on the road will be seen once again. Even so, I draw his attention to the first listing this week...

I keep forgetting add a song. See if you can get all the way through this little number.

1985 Alfa Romeo GTV6. By the introduction of the GTV6 many of the irritating foibles of the earlier cars had been engineered away. The gruff roar of the old 2000 engine, little changed since the 1950s, was replaced by the more sonorous power plant from the otherwise hapless Alfa Romeo 6. Whatever other design flaws remained to be remedied, you could not Blame it on the Busso Nouva (That's a terrible Alfisti dad joke for you)

For: Glorious engine and great looks.
Against: Grim build quality and some looming rust issues.
Investment potential: Count on at least 3K of rust removal.

1983 Renault 20 TS. Little loved when new and now almost vanished from the roads, Renault gave away the avant-garde profile gained by the brave 16 for bland five door hatch ubiquity. There was a bigger V6 version, imaginatively named the 30, but I have not seen one of those for years. Those Talbot Alpine fanciers – and you know who you are – would be far better off in one of these.

For: Nothing to offend the neighbours here.
Against: Très ennuyeux.
Investment potential: What is French for bwahahahaha?

1989 Lancia Thema. Fiat sought to beat the big Fiat jinx by branding its flagship sedan a Lancia and it almost worked. Platform sharing with Saab, Fiat and Alfa Romeo was canny business and the four main variants all behaved individually on the road. The V6 was similar to that found in the Alfa 164 so the Thema sounded superb, even when equipped with an automatic.

For: Handsome in a rough hewn way.
Against: Nothing in my view could be better for the price.
Investment potential: 8/10 but you know I am partial to them.

1969 Fiat 850 Sport. You may have to race the Aesthete to Waikouaiti for this 850 Sport as it looks recoverable and is being offered at what seems a sane price. Wonder Boy gave me the low down on the orange one from last week which I note has been withdrawn from Trademe after some spirited bidding. The vendor seems honest about its faults and there are some missing parts so I hope you are being put off. I will regard it as a shocking betrayal if any of you outbid me.

For: Nothing. Terrible car. Really.
Against: Oh, many dreadful things I am sure.
Investment potential: Negligible. Minus figures certainly.

1970 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Convertible. A number of bulgy looking Karmanns have come and gone from Trademe recently so this example in its powerful shade of lapis blue with snug fitting cloth top looks very desirable indeed.  The earlier cars with their teardrop rear lights and lower nose always claim a premium although this is one of the better looking California imports to grace our favourite trading site.

For: Shapely and well presented.
Against: Nothing that you could see from here.
Investment potential: 60K in bills apparently.

On some faraway beach...

1959 Goliath Tiger. If that Goggobil from last week did not sate your unquenchable thirst for tiny Germanic cocktails, how about a Hansa? This really is a flat four and front wheel drive as well, in contrast to the Gogomobil's rather flawed formula. With 55 horsepower almost 90 mph was possible and they were popular in Australia despite being close to the price of a Holden.

For:  Look at its cute little fins. How can you resist?
Against: You may need to buy a saloon for parts.
Investment potential: Step forward Borgward-Hansa fans. Your day has come.