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 • Have you filed your dream classic into the drawer marked Ones-That-Got-Away? Maybe it’s time to open it again as the market delivers increasing affordability

‘If you don’t rev it enough you’re going nowhere. Keeping it spinning is the secret’ • Clive Moore has lusted after the Saab 99 Turbo for decades, so we put him behind the wheel of one for a day to see if it lived up to his dreams

CLIVE MOORE’S CAR CV

I’m tripping over Merc bargains • Mercedes 280SL Pagoda prices are cooler than they were two years ago

ASK QUENTIN

Merc C-Class ticks the Principle of Intrinsic Value box

£10k Mercedes W208 CLK55 AMG really was huge value

Sierra nirvana • Iconic beats the odds with great catalogue

Market indicators Hatches are hot, exotic Italians are not – unless it’s a trinket for your yacht

PRICE GUIDE MOVERS • On the up A positive start to the year with lots of risers led by Fords and affordables

Time to buy a MkII Midget as prices start to fly

Peugeot’s little star in record-breaking form

On the Slide • Are we going soft? Sporty section of the market continues to fall from favour

Shapely and spirited

Leaving home • RM offers a low mileage 5000QV that’s been with the same owner since 1989

IN THE TRADE

HCVA announces EV conversion standards

Growth in homologation heroes • 1980s specials all rise over past five years; Sierra leads pack

Racing glory at Rétromobile • Spectacular Parisian season-opener plays host to competition Ferraris galore

Elvington gets up to speed • Elvington Speed Show kicks off the classic drag racing season with muscle cars

Ferrari finds at Amelia Island • Gooding unearths trio of forlorn Ferraris, including Jo Siffert’s old 275GTB/4

Dr Strangelove’s Strange Rover?

Brussels warehouse hides modern-classic supercars

Vanished in Scotland

QUENTIN WILLSON • I respect the craftsmanship in restoring cars to perfection, but I can’t help feeling that eliminating the marks of time ends up eradicating their soul

ALEX RILEY • From the Wolselification of Fifties Austins to Ford inventing upmarket brands based on humble cars, badge-engineering is a travesty. Except when it’s not

SMART BUYS 2024 • If you thought you'd missed out on that dream classic, think again. Over a broad spectrum of prices, some of the most desirable models have been sliding back

The Ones That Got Away • The Classic Cars team reflects on our regretted hesitations and procrastinations

The Art of Performance • This Vignale-bodied 212 Inter was owned by one of the first privateers to campaign Ferraris in motor sport. It’s in the UK after a 50-year absence – a chance for us to drive back to the early days of the marque

‘If it could throw a problem up, it would’ • Found in a field, this rare Group 4 rally Audi Quattro needed HanSport’s exacting restoration to cater for preservation, usability – and Stig Blomqvist

THE LIFE STORY OF A Reliant Scimitar GTE • This Scimitar’s story is intertwined with that of one Staffordshire family,...