The Aesthete hits the bid button

The Aesthete's Fleet
...on that Fiat 850 Sport upon which I bestowed the maximum reasonable sum for a non running, partly stripped but otherwise sound car. Someone in Christchurch wanted it more than I so away it goes with my spittle driven curses. My only real achievement was to make coffee come out of a reader's nose with my thoughts on 5 series BMWs so it has not been a completely wasted week. Another loyal reader suggested  a Petrolhead Aesthete outing to Oamaru where we could try out the trattoria Cucina. Saturday 5 November seems to suit so  we could all converge there from multiple directions in the late afternoon without tedious route maps. Anyone willing to partake should email me at michael.findlay105@gmail.com and I will make the requisite booking for dinner for anyone who wishes to stay.

1968 Bedford Dormobile Romany. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! A Dormobil Romany brings out something in the Aesthete that makes him want to flee the city for the rude countryside where there is no espresso. There he would strip to his briefs and lie about on stripey plastic folding furniture with a handkerchief knotted on his head and his favourite briar pipe at a jaunty angle. The Aesthetette would make curried egg sandwiches and pour elderberry cordial from a cut glass pitcher.

For: Yes, it is all a dream and I will soon wake up.
Against: Get it before the rust ruins it.
Investment potential: About 10% of a Kombi so not great.

1990 Peugeot 205 GTI. While you would need to have a head full of angry bees to want any recent Peugeot, the 205 GTI was a proper car in all known respects. More than enough oats to see off any pesky Golfs and anything from the Oriental distaff side, a 205 GTI was that generation's Mini Cooper. Strangely classless and as good now as it was then.

For: Desirable Franco Italian.
Against: Not a lot that is clear from here.
Investment potential: 8/10 as good examples are thinning badly.

1967 Fiat Crusader. This Crusader has cropped up on the blog from time to time but let us assume that there is nothing greatly wrong with it and focus on its many advantages. Retro-fitted with a Lampredi twin cam engine and five speed gearbox in an unmodified 1500 shell, it would be as much fun as a Lotus Cortina but at a generous discount.  Swap the ugly 80s wheel for a nice wood and alloy one and you will not look back.

For: Oh come on.
Against: Unless you know something that I don't.
Investment potential: Do you feel lucky?

1970 Lotus Europa S2. The high sided Europa was an uncompromising device. So low that the details of the roof and window frames can best be seen from top 3/4 view while standing, the driver also needs an extra set of rearward folding knee joints to get inside and work the teaspoon sized pedals that feel on centre with the front wheels.

For: Every trip to the shops like a night time run at Le Mans.
Against: Fragile and impractical as only a Chapman Lotus can be.
Investment potential: It has been on offer for a while so not great.

1960 MGA Coupe. This was the sort of thing you bought when Priscilla refused to ride in your draughty old heap and get her new suede boots coated in gearbox oil. Fair enough too and an unusually smart piece of product planning from MG which had yet to settle into making more MGBs than anyone actually wanted.

For: Oui, comme ça.
Against: Not remotely butch if that matters to you.
Investment potential: 3/10 but other pleasures made be had through ownership.

On some faraway beach...

1999 Renault Sport Spider. If you gave a Frenchman the job of designing a Lotus Elise it would turn out remarkably like this. Spurning bourgeois comfort to the extent that the first models lacked a windscreen much less a roof, their purpose was to allow the rich fils of the finer arrondissements to scare each other on the race track. Much celebratory swilling would follow and everyone would wake face down on the parquet covered in Moet.

For: Party like its 1999.
Against: You may look silly.
Investment potential: More fun than a barrel of monkeys.