The Aesthete rounds up another five

The Aesthete's Fleet
My name dropping of Eric Brook last week revealed that he is maintaining his standards in Auckland and has a pair of old Mercedes to amuse himself with in retirement. Eric was the first person I met who really knew anything about interesting old cars. He ran a stylish operation from Birkenhead selling Saabs, Alfa Sprint Speciales and other vehicles that rarely troubled the roads in New Zealand. I would sometimes take my purchases down for him to see and once bought an Alfa 1750 Berlina just because I saw his name on the papers. His response when I rang him in triumph? "Oh, f--k. You haven't."

And the song? Keith Mansfield was an arranger and session musician whose instrumental albums provided the soundtrack for just about everything made by the BBC during my youth. Now avidly sought by hipsters and remix addicts everywhere. 

1951 Rover 75. I use this rear view to show how Rover's post war saloon became less modern over time as its Studebaker looks were toned down. The mail slot window and tapered boot were matched by a smooth nose with faired in lights and a delightful driving lamp in the centre of the slatted grill. This made then very easy to spot at night and therefore scored extra points in the dog eared Observers Book of Automobiles that I annotated from the back seat of my parents' Mk 1 Jaguar.

For: Low miles, low owners and looking very sound.
Against: Lengthy disuse may cause you to do some work
Investment potential: 6/10. Low start price suggests that the vendor is in a reasonable frame of mind.

1966 Subaru 360. The vendor seems to not know that the air has gone from the recent microcar bubble but this is the first time one has come up on the list so we must give it our attention. The Japanese Kei class cars produced some creative engineering as makers sought to get acceptable performance out of their 360cc's. Subaru's two stroke sounded like a leaf blower and covered the neighbourhood with oily fumes but a few were sold here to those that for some reason could not abide a Fiat 500.  Why?

For: Well, they are cute.
Against: But again, why?
Investment potential: 1/10 and it may be some time before the next cycle of greed touches this part of the market.

1972 Mercedes-Benz 280 SEL 3.5. From the ridiculous to the sublime with the peerless Mercedes V8 in the beautifully detailed early W108 hull. It did without the complex air suspension of the earlier 300 SE and so did not leave its plutocrat owners stranded in a tail down attitude in a car that cost as much as a Bentley. UK writer Martin Buckley opines that this is the best looking Mercedes saloon of all, to which I am politely inclined to agree.

For: How often to you get to own one of the best cars in the history of the industry?
Against: Are you becoming suspicious?
Investment potential: 4/10

1989 Fiat Tipo 2.0 ie GT Sedicivalvole. All of those numbers and foreign words suggest something is a bit novel about this Tipo, otherwise yet another wallflower Fiat saloon. The engine was effectively the 16 valve unit from the Lancia Delta EVO so the performance was vivid. There has been another for sale on Trademe forever so the price is probably right. If it had appeared last week we would have enjoyed a Fiat only list.

For:  So much fun for so little mun.
Against: Nothing. Buy it now.
Investment potential. 23/10

1982 Lancia Montecarlo. South Africa was always a significant market for Lancia and one of the few places where you could buy a right hand drive Montecarlo, most of the very small number here being US imports. The European specification of this example makes it very attractive and the fact that it is a rare spider even more so. Come on one of you. Step forward please.

For: Answer your inner Lancia fan.
Against: What? You lack an inner Lancia fan? What kind of monster are you?
Investment potential: Oh, vast.

On some faraway beach...

1963 Simca 1000 Coupe. Reader Simon sent a tip about a shed full of Simca coupe body shells in the UK last week, thereby reminding me that they are a very pretty car and that I had never actually seen one in the metal. If you were resourceful you could find a twin cam motor and the necessary Abarth accoutrements to build one of the exciting Italian variants. Or not as you see fit.

For: Elegant, rare and affordable.
Against: A bit tame in standard specification.
Investment potential: It depends on your intentions.