The Aesthete tastes victory

The Aesthete's Fleet
But it is wormwood in his mouth when the cost to fix the drive line now adds up to six times the purchase price of the car.  The final job involved swapping over the original driveshaft rubber joint from the wreck, which is of a type now unobtainable. The spare gearbox was fitted with new mountings and the oval location hole in the floor welded back into a circle again. Brakes and suspension parts were mingled promiscuously from a teetering pile of bits. It now drives as an Alfetta GTV should with no vibration, rumbles. clonks and writhing under braking.  Sadly, we cannot join the Alfa Club at Mt Cook for the AGM so the membership will be spared any incoherent ranting as the Aesthete tries to sooth his pain with strong drink.

1968 Jaguar 420. The asking price is set very low for this, the penultimate Mk II and part of the great diversity  of Jaguars swept away for the XJ6 in 1968. With a patrician prow leading the way into the small hull and finishing with the S-Type's rear wings and pinched bottom, it was the Montgomery Clift of the executive car industry but still more effective than anything thrown together by the competition.

For: A hybrid but made out of the right parts.
Against: As the old Clash song went "Who's that man, he sure looks funny? Why, that's Montgomery Clift, honey."
Investment potential: 3/10. 10K on a good paint job and you would still be on the right side.

1949 Austin A70 Hampshire Utility. The Aesthete has long hankered for an English utility and the Hampshire with its big four cylinder engine is a good starting point. The vendor has been reading the classic car press and reports a restored example selling in the UK for 40K so he is not taking a penny less than 8K for his prize. He should be reminded that we are all a long way from Blighty now.

For: Just the thing for towing your Cooper 500, should you have one.
Against: A bit of work to do which if carried out by professionals will get you to 40K in a flash.
Investment potential: 2/10 but who knows?

1982 Volkswagen Scirocco GTI. Bearing in mind the maker's current self inflicted injuries, there was never a need to fake the data on a Scirocco. Quick, smooth, reliable and rare enough to command a slow walk past on the street, Volkswagen's second generation coupe softened the folded paper Guigiaro lines of the earlier model but have aged more gracefully. And the annual peanut butter smeared lens award is won effortlessly for the vendor's views of the car in a darkened showroom.

For: Like an Alfetta GTV but without the designed in faults.
Against: Vorsprung durch fraud.
Investment potential: 4/10. With so few left it should be easy to find a buyer.

1964 Citroen ID 19. This charming Slough built Citroen features the quaint timber dash supplied so as not to frighten English buyers with the French version which looked like a scene from a foreign language space documentary. The hydro-pneumatics were preserved, however, with the system used to power suspension and brakes but not the assisted gear shift which made the DS seem even more like the work of an advanced intergalactic civilisation.

For: Even a lesser DS was ten steps ahead of everyone else.
Against: Nothing that I can see from here.
Investment potential. 4/10. They have found running water on Mars. You only need a fuel supply and some sign posted roads.

1964 Pontiac Grand Prix 455. My juvenile reading of our neighbour's pile of Playboy magazines in the 1960s was defended by my innocent interest in the car ads. Pontiacs were often beautifully rendered with the illustrator lingering over every crease and pucker in the taut skin, with particular attention to the stacked headlights and... Okay. Not so innocent then.

For: The American version of la dolce vita.
Against: Unless you are the Todd family you will pay dearly for the pleasure.
Investment potential: 1/10 but not to worry about that.

On some faraway beach...

1958 MG Magnette. What is the point of scouring the international scene just to show you something that you could acquire here? Gerald Palmer's lovely Lancia-esque saloon for the British Motor Corporation is begging for this sort of treatment but one never sees them here on wire wheels and driven enthusiastically. We must wrench them from elderly owners and start thrashing them around the streets again.

For: The best looking 1950s British saloon. There. I have said it.
Against: Only your lack of vision.
Investment potential: 8/10