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 • As the Spitfire hits 60, we’re reminded of its colourful past, even when we’re looking at black and white pictures

‘The engine sells it… the exhaust is so, so loud’ • The 1969 Dodge Charger seemed a world way to a young Rob Squire: five decades on he’s eager to discover whether the drive lives up to its muscle car image

ROBERT’S TOP TEN

[Want a Drive?]

ROBERT SQUIRE’S CAR CV

The 250GTE - one to eclipse a DB • Quentin tips the Sixties Ferrari icon as an Aston-beater, on driving and appreciation

ASK QUENTIN

Unreserved • Market left to decide at Artcurial sale

Market indicators • Some really strong prices achieved this month, though there’s still the odd bargain to be had

PRICE GUIDE MOVERS

DfT danger for modified cars • Even small changes could be illegal under proposed legislation

WHAT THE K500 MARKET INDEX SAYS ABOUT THE…

IN THE TRADE

Two’s company • RM Sotheby’s to offer this remarkably original unrestored 20,750km Facel II

Late meeting with late braking • Postponed 78th Members’ Meeting sees BSCC stars and cars go at it at Goodwood

Rallying up the hill • Inaugural Rallye Prescott sees the hill climb venue become a tarmac rally stage

Nov 2021-Apr 2022 highlights

‘First’ Seven’s Highland hideaway • Colin Chapman himself offered a prospective Lotus Six buyer the first customer Seven. Sixty three years on, this important car emerges from a Scottish barn

BUCKET LIST • Our pick of the defining classics to experience, from hot hatch to cool cabrio

LETTERS

Leyland Down Under

Classic Cars

Quentin Willson • Raise an end-of-year glass of something fizzy to classic cars – our hobby has weathered the pandemic storm on an even keel, says Quentin

John Fitzpatrick • A whiff of something suspicious was hanging over some of the teams that I competed against in the American IMSA series through 1979-80

60 Years TRIUMPH Spitfire • Conceived as a Frogeye Sprite rival, the car once codenamed ‘The Bomb’ helped to define the low-cost British roadster - and put some swing into the Sixties.

Forever young • The Triumph Spitfire put Le Mans glamour into the hands of the mass market, at home and abroad. We drive one of the earliest survivors and explore the impact it made in the Sixties – and continues to make today

Second time LUCKY • This pair of Triumph Spitfires – unseen for decades – battled French and Italian exotics to a 1965 Le Mans class victory. We tell their nailbiting, giant-killing story

60 years TRIUMPH Spitfire • Le Mans Triumphs in the rear-view mirror – the works racing Spitfires at work, rest and play in the Sixties

REBORN BE WILD • Rebodied by Zagato, this original Aston Martin DB4GT is elevated above the many GTZ replicas as a test drive reveals

‘We had to convert it back to road use – and enact a full restoration’ • A complex super-GT makes a brave choice for a racing car, and after a fraught spell on track, an even braver choice for a restoration

MY FAVOURITE TOOL

BABY YOU CAN DRIVE MY PORSCHE •...