A new life beckons as the last coffees are poured in the staff room and those that remained to the end of design at Otago are ushered out the door with a payout calculated by some Bartleby the Scrivener type in the registry. I began writing this blog to help my old patron Nicholas, Laird of Excelsior waste his redundancy cheque and now it is my turn. Quel dommage! As a form of penance, the Alfetta gearbox has been clawed from the rear end of the wreck with only a scraped knuckle as evidence of the mighty struggle waged on the shed floor. The bits have been dispatched with the other GTV to be swapped around in the expectation that all bumping and grinding will then cease.
1962 Morris Mini Delux. Early unrestored Minis in this condition are a rare thing nowadays and are the best way of recapturing Alec Issigonis' moment of pure genius. Fair to say that the British Motor Corporation did not really know what to do with it and it was left to the bright young things of the day to adopt it and turn it into the reverse status symbol that it became. The whole car was designed by a team of nine. Those were the days.
For: Buy this and avoid the travesty of values reflected in the new Mini.
Against: Noisy, cramped, slow and leaky. Everything that we expect from a classic.
Investment potential: 8/10 and rising.
1969 Sunbeam Imp. And on the distaff side we have the Imp which does everything that the Mini does but from the wrong end. The Rootes combine outdid BMC with its selling tricks, badging its little buzz box as a Hillman, Sunbeam or Singer but adding a very pretty coupe to the range as well. This is from the middle period of the lengthy Imp life cycle where the early technical issues were resolved. The results were then tested by aged customers who drove everywhere in second gear pulling peak revs.
For: Is an Imp what they drive in hell? Suggestions please.
Against: Don't let that put you off the little devil.
Investment potential: 5/10 and also rising
For: Too good to put on the track in my humble opinion.
Against: Nothing. Buy it immediately.
Investment potential: 15/10 at that price.
1979 Toyota Century. What is this that looks like a hyper-gonadal Corona, I hear you ask? Once only seen parked around Japanese embassies, the Century was what Toyota made as an exclusive saloon before conjuring Lexus out of a puff of marketing smoke. Even then they were only available on special order. The plush decor, strip speedo and column shift suggest something of the values held by its Japanese buyers who probably shared Stalin's views on what made a good car.
For: Something to make your neighbours think the Japanese emperor has come to visit.
Against: Driving it may well make you lose consciousness.
Investment potential: 2/10 or lower if you can't find anyone else who can see the point.
For: A good car made better.
Against: You are up for a repaint and better seats.
Investment potential: 4/10
On some faraway beach.
1939 Panhard et Levassor Dynamic 140 X81 Limousine. In one of the car books I pored over endlessly as a youth was a picture of a Dynamic Coupe. It seemed the last word in avant-garde so when the 'What is the coolest car in the world?' playground conversation was had, I would flute "The Panhard et Levassor Dynamic 140 X81" to jeers and loud disapprobation. Anyway here it is. Decide for yourselves.
For: You will be the toast of the Napier Art Deco Weekend in this. They will carry you through town on their shoulders for certain.
Against: You will have to get it there first.
Investment potential: Oh, negligible I am sure. People are cruel to the differently gifted.
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