The Aesthete looks for a little bird in an engine

Said bird has been lurking inside the 1750 GTV for some time, emitting an irritating cheeping. It sounded like one of the rubber carburettor mounts leaking but they were intact. I then thought I had located it in the narrow rubber tube that runs from the inlet manifold to the tappet cover but that was also a red herring. At least eliminating these causes stopped me worrying about burning a valve. Next step will be to run the motor with the fan belt off. The bird will flushed from its cover one way or the other. The other GTV is still nailed to its perch on the workshop hoist like the dead parrot in the Monty Python sketch.

1964 Riley 4/72. One Pininfarina body shape did for Morris, Austin, Wolseley, MG and Riley, as well as  exotic variants such as the Blue Streak Six models from across the Tasman. The Riley 4/72 was an attractive car if you were able to live without the many engineering virtues of the models it replaced with their high performance twin cam engines and rack steering. If you were to upgrade with an MGB 1800 engine and wire wheels, you may approach what the 4/72 should have been.

For: Handsome, if a bit  compromised.
Against: A dull Riley so it is up to you to add some zest.
Investment potential: 3/10 if it is a good as it looks.

1967 Porsche 912. No Porsche apart from the unloved 914 was ever a bargain option and the four cylinder 912 was always pricier than the competition from Alfa or Lancia. This margin is maintained today but while the snake hipped early 911 has long since moved into the stratospheric realm of the 'collectors' car' a 912 should be no more expensive to run than a Beetle. They make good sense as a driver's classic, even at 45K.

For: Less than half the price of the other 912 currently on offer.
Against: May not follow their six cylinder siblings in their wild climb.
Investment potential: Watch out for restoration costs. You may wish you had hung out for a 911.

1969 Fiberfab Jamaican. A what's that now? I hear you ask. My World Cars Annual spotter's guide listed something called a Fiberfab Bonito that looked like a Ford GT40 nose grafted onto a Porsche 911 so we should be grateful for the well balanced Italianate looks of the Jamaican. The builder of this example has used a developed Triumph 2.5 power plant so the performance should ruffle your hair at least.

For: An alternative to a Marcos, if such an alternative was actually needed.
Against: Quality is dependent on the ingenuity of the builder.
Investment potential: 20K is perhaps a little steep for the lack of respectable pedigree.

1956 Lincoln Premier Coupe. Ford products from this period were hit repeatedly with the ugly stick before they got to the showroom, the Lincoln division being a serial offender against good taste. Their stylists went from this to reverse rake rear widows and other bizarre styling tropes, not recovering until the elegant Continentals of the early 1960s. Surprisingly then, this Premier is the best looking of all the mid-50s US Ford coupes, a quality pointedly ignored by consumers.

For: Sublime show car looks.
Against: 300 HP and electric seats. What is not to like?
Investment potential: 3/10. More if good looks were any measure of value

1993 Porsche 968 Club Sport.  If it is the same vendor who had this on the market in 2013 he is still stubbornly holding out and asking 48K for it, thereby obeying the rule that you pay more and get less Porsche. Think 356 Speedster if you want further proof of this odd conundrum. However you look at it though, a stripped out 968 is likely to provide more excitement than a 912 for the same outlay.

For: So what if a 968 was answering a question that no one had actually asked. It is still a grey car.
Against: You could have a 928 with double the cylinders for quarter of the price.
Investment potential: Need I say any more?

On some faraway shore...

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado. The vendor has written a book length pitch for this first series Toronado and I dare say it warrants it. The highest moment of the American industry in its full mid-century modernist pomp, the front wheel drive Toronado looked and drove like nothing else from the era. I suspect if I had pulled up in front of the Playboy Club in this, Barbi Benton would have hopped straight in.

For: Primrose yellow is the best colour for big Americans.
Against: If all the roads were long and straight...
Investment potential: No one else understands so minimal.