Classic Cars

Classic Cars is the original classic car magazine. It defined the world of classic motoring 40 years ago and still does it today. Every issue is put together by our team of classic car experts and enthusiasts. Using the best expert writing and photography, the magazine helps you experience what it's like to drive, keep and restore the classic cars of days gone by. We bring the stories and people behind the cars to life - showing you how to buy, keep and enjoy your cars. Every issue of Classic Cars is packed with: - Road tests - Drive stories - Expert buying advice - News and events coverage Classic Cars is the original classic car magazine.

Welcome • Those brilliant craftspeople who can turn back time on damaged, neglected and bodged classics are the superheroes of our world, and deserve celebration

‘Ambience like a Bentley, at a fraction of the price’ • Andrew Lobb has fond childhood memories of a Jaguar 420G. Today he rekindles them as we put him behind the wheel of one

Condition trumps service history • BMW E30 3 Series hunters are chasing even the lowest-specification examples

Range Rover A-suffix values are losing their shine

Boxster bargains are out there, for now

ASK QUENTIN

Starter’s orders

Aston’s Vantage hero now far below peak values

Lotus Esprit Turbo – a good buy despite rises

PRICE GUIDE MOVERS

A vibrant legacy

DVLA front frame assembly clarification

IN THE TRADE

Generation Godzilla • Japanese and German classics dominate young ownership

Stars of Stage and Screen at NEC • Practical Classics Restoration Show sees rare Brits unearthed after decades in hiding

Striking gold at Gaydon • Rustival pioneers a new all-inclusive kind of show at the British Motor Museum

Marcello Gandini, 1938-2024 • Italian car designer best known for his radical work for Bertone has died at 85

April-May event highlights • Start your engines and power into summer as race season gets going

The South African superhoard • Hundreds of cars in startling Eastern Cape hoard make it one of the largest ever

THE GREAT MODIFIED CLASSIC DEBATE

Classic Cars

The Offord mystery

QUENTIN WILLSON • I’ve lost count of the cars that have passed through my hands, but a select few I wish I’d kept, and one in particular I wish I still had in my garage

ALEX RILEY • Immersed in my collection of old car magazines, I found myself travelling back in time to the curious new-car market of Italy in 1965. Mamma mia!

Eternal Extremist • The Lamborghini Countach has lost none of its power to amaze. Today, 50 years on from its release, a drive in the last of the line draws all the threads of this landmark supercar together

VALENTINO BALBONI • Lamborghini test driver Valentino Balboni was there at the dawn of the Countach and helped develop each iteration thereafter. Here he reveals the evolutionary hurdles it overcame

LIFE STORY OF A 1970 VW Beetle • Bought new as a decorator’s workhorse, this Beetle eventually fell off the road before being transformed into a treasured family heirloom. Today is its first drive in 24 years

THE FULL MONTE • It takes guts to call Enzo Ferrari’s bluff. What better way than to build your own 7.2-litre super-GT, and call it the High Speed? Say hello to the Monteverdi 375L

SWISS TIME’S UPV • What better way for my Monteverdi 375L and I to leave our homes in Switzerland to settle in the UK than by driving all the way, taking some of the most breathtaking roads Earth has to offer…

‘I told him he had such anice name, he must call the car Monteverdi’ • As Peter Monteverdi’s sales manager, right-hand man and life partner, Paul Berger played a crucial role in the Swiss outfit’s ascension...