The car gods smile on the Aesthete once again.

The Aesthete's Fleet

Perhaps the gods were busy with other hapless road users over the weekend but the recovery of the Alfetta wreck from Christchurch went completely without incident. I visited the Flavia in its new garage where it keeps company with an early Fulvia coupe. If an inanimate thing could be said to look smug, the Lancia did and its new owners have done a fine job of fettling so now it runs as it should. There remains the small matter of the transaxle swap for which the wreck was purchased so there are many opportunities for tragedy there. The house already looks like Italian hillbillies live there so a rusted out Alfa can only lower the tone a little further. 

1967 Lincoln Continental. I have said unkind things about the Ford styling studio in its period of high pomp but they recovered once they stopped looking at jet fighters and started studying architecture. The linear and austere Continental is every bit as smooth as a Mies van der Rohe building and nothing could look better reflected in a plate glass window than this. I can even pardon the white top which is usually a crime against pubic decency.

For: Forget all those cheesy LA music videos. This is it.
Against: The frame needed to keep the doors from jamming weighs as much as another car.
Investment potential: 1/10. Sadly, dinosaurs no longer rule the earth.

1961 Bedford Dormobile Caravan. From time to time the Aesthete nurses a disturbing fantasy that simply by thinking about a particular car, one will appear on Trademe as a direct result. So it was with the weekend's discussion about Martin Walther-bodied Bedford campers, occasioned upon seeing a restored Kombi and wondering how many of these English vans you could get for the price of one split window Type 2. Five is the correct answer.

For: Oh come on. Wouldn't you rather have one of these and a 40K travel budget?
Against: It appears to be missing a bed. You must have one of those to put the candlewick cover on.
Investment potential: 4/10 and so much fun compared to a modern camper.

1958 MG Magnette ZA. The sad fate of MG designer Gerald Palmer also cropped up as we zoomed through Christchurch in Tom's Alfa Giulia Super. I was reminded of the ad where two lovely English girls are leaning their Giulia into a roundabout while their confectionary rolls across the dash but we were two hirsute middle aged men so the effect was dimmed. It was nonetheless agreed that the ideal garage would need to contain an MG Magnette or a Riley Pathfinder in tribute to the genius who invented the Jowett Javelin but finished his days embittered at Vauxhall.

For: Like Natalie Wood singing I Feel Pretty from West Side Story but a car.
Against: It only needs a MGB motor and a five speed gearbox to be perfect. And black wire wheels. Grrrwwlll.
Investment potential: 8/10. This is cheap for the best looking British saloon of its era.

1959 Austin Healey Sprite. While on the subject of joie de vivre, what could be better for your flagging spirits than an Austin Healey Sprite?  Lively, light and sure footed, the Sprite was an inspired shake of the British components bin that turned out to be far greater than the sum of its parts. A Mazda MX5 feels like a Buick Roadmaster by comparison but the lack of heater or side windows is suggestive of how this was achieved.

For: Save it for sunny days and you will love it.
Against: Nothing. Close to the perfect car.
Investment potential: 6/10. Small, cheap and easy to fix is the future.

1966 Plymouth Barracuda. Does no-one else see the point in a small American coupe that is not a Camaro or a Mustang? If not, why is this Barracuda still for sale? The glass fastback rear end has enough drama to overcome the frontal resemblance to a Valiant while the underpinnings are more sophisticated than the competition from Ford and Chevrolet. Strike a blow for the non-obvious and buy this car now.

For: Stylish alternative to a Camustango.
Against: Why would you need an alternative?
Investment potential: 1/10 as I do not control the market for such things.

On some faraway beach

1965 ASA 1000GT. ASA (Autocostruzioni Società per Azioni) was set up to build this Bizzarrini designed coupe which was styled by the young Giorgetto Giugiaro while at Bertone. The engine was based on one quarter of the big Columbo V12 but was almost as expensive to build as the larger car. They were also found to be highly effective on the track if you could afford to buy one in the first place.

For: Tiny exotic perfection.
Against: At a price
Investment potential: 3/10. You will still be able to use this while petrol still flows from the pumps.