Octane

Octane is the authoritative guide to the best classic cars in the world.

What’s in a name?

FEATURING

Octane

Per Ardua Ad Infinitum

COMING UP… • Never has the word ‘provisional’ seemed more pertinent – please check everything and take nothing for granted!

EAST ANGLIA TRANSPORT MUSEUM • No supercars or monster trucks, just a gentle window into the way that we were

BREXIT: what it means for classics • The long-term future is swathed in uncertainty, but here is the immediate impact for cross-border sales, transport and events

The French view

NEWS FEED • Coys back from the dead… yet again; Blower finished; Hawthorn 250 GT bought by museum; VW toys; Shelsley rummage; Portuguese fleet; Lola, L-O-L-A, Lola; Jordan seat; goodbye Bob

Smartest classic buys revealed • If you are after some affordable driving fun, but with little chance of suffering depreciation on your purchase, then these are your best options

Peter Blond 1929-2021

Rebel with a cause • Designer Peter Stevens has penned sports cars for the likes of Lotus and McLaren – but his heart lies with hot rods

Car accessory shops

Andy ‘Ace’ Harrison • Yorkshire-based builder and restorer of classic and Historic race cars, notably Minis, who started rallying and racing aged just 14

JAY LENO • The Collector

DEREK BELL • The Legend

STEPHEN BAYLEY • The Aesthete

ROBERT COUCHER • The Driver

Not all heroes are racing drivers

OUT WITH A BANG • The days of combustion-engined 1000bhp hypercars are ending, as are the chances for a trans-Alpine blast in Bugatti’s Veyron and Chiron. So let’s take it to the limit, one last time

BUGATTI Mk2: ROMANO ARTIOLI

RAREST OF THE RARE • Any 8V is unusually exotic by Fiat standards, and especially so when bodied by Vignale, but this is one of only two convertibles given to the world. Richard Heseltine examines its life and rebirth

B FOR BEST • Rally legend Bruno Saby and a collection of Group B cars: cue some fascinating anecdotes and memorable recollections

GOLD RUSH • In the late 1960s, Cadillac went radical with its luxurious Fleetwood Eldorado Coupe. Glen Waddington prowls the city streets in one

Herbert Linge • Porsche’s first employee, Linge engineered some of the marque’s greatest ever race cars – and became a racing driver that Steve McQueen couldn’t beat…

‘THE CHUBB INTERVIEWS’ PODCASTS WITH JODIE KIDD

Star of stage and screams • The Talbot Sunbeam Lotus was an unlikely sounding hero of the World Rally Championship. This one has been reinvented for ultimate thrills on the track. Ben Barry risks it

MR SUNBEAM: THE DRIVER • Guy Fréquelin brought Talbot the WRC

MR SUNBEAM: THE BOSS • Lotus MD Mike Kimberley was a driving force behind the rally great

IN THE THICK OF THE ACTION • Amateur motorsport photographer EV Starr left a wonderfully evocative and poignant legacy that, thanks to a planned series of books, can now be enjoyed for the first time

ORIGINAL OF THE SPECIES • First owned by an A-list actor, this almost untouched Aston Martin MkII has re-emerged after half a century in hiding. James Elliott tells its story

Tales of the unexpected

OCTANE’S FLEET • These are the cars – and motorbikes – run by the magazine’s staff and contributors

Reasons to be cheerful

Wagon wheels

The tensioner mounts

Family gathering

Attack of the marauding moths

OTHER NEWS

Celebrating more than 130 years of history • Between lockdowns, Mercedes-Benz opened its toy-box for one lucky Octane staffer…

SYD MEAD • Vehicle designer turned ‘visual futurist’, famous for cars and machines...