Editorial

We’ve got three separate ‘experience’ stories this week - and you can take your pick according to marque-preference; Rolls-Royce, Ferrari or Mercedes. There’s a great piece, courtesy of Auto Italia Magazine, on driving two very different Ferraris built within 10 years of each other but showing very different performance characteristics. We’re also fortunate in having a very honest road-test of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, a car that seems to be picking up admirers and critical acclaim in a very RR-like effortless ‘waft’. If you hanker back to the days when men were men (with sadly abbreviated lives if racing drivers of the time), look no further than John Young’s experiences as one of the first dealers for the glorious 300SL - there’s also a rather nice example for sale highlighted below.

For the last two weeks Great Britain has been in the grip of the latest reality television phenomenon where celebrities are left in the forest with 24/7 TV coverage. Dwelling on this over-publicised subject in as short a space of time as possible, looking at the fabulous McLaren M23 F1 car for sale it occurred to me that there could be only one representative from the world of motor-racing in this genre. Were he still alive today I have no doubt James Hunt would have added the ‘King of the Jungle’ crown to his 1976 Driver’s Championship.

The newly-announced MINI convertible looks fun and the success of the whole MINI project shows what excellent engineering, good build-quality and innovative design - coupled with clever marketing - can do. Compare that with the current state of its late parent company, poor old MG-Rover, who can do no right at the moment, despite producing some very good cars. Selling cars is a very tricky business and BMW, universally panned for the whole Rover project and now under constant ‘comment’ in the trade press for their 21st Century styling, must be delighted with the way the little ‘British BMW’ is going. I think they’re great.

With the events season under way, today sees me en route to Paris for Rétromobile and next week will be the inaugural International Historic Motorsport Show in the UK, an exhibition dedicated to historic motor-racing and rallying. Full reports to come.

Steve Wakefield Managing Editor sw@classicdriver.com

THIS WEEK IN CLASSIC DRIVER

Advertisement
PREMIUM OFFERS

Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster

1957 MERCEDES BENZ 300 SL ROADSTER, BLACK WITH BLACK LEATHER INTERIOR & TOP, STUNNING, FULLY RESTORED U.S. CAR, RUNS & DRIVES AS GOOD AS IT LOOKS

colour Black
interior colour Black
drive LHD
year 1957

price $236,500

Dealership:

Heritage Classics
8980 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood California 90069, USA

Phone +1-310-657 9699

see all details

see complete stock from this dealer

McLaren M23 /11 ex-James Hunt

A genuine and successfull James Hunt factory car. Please apply for results and history.

drive LHD

price 250.000 GBP


Dealership:

Taylor & Crawley
32 Wilton Row, London, SW1X 7NS

Phone +44 (0) 20 7823 2599

see all details

see complete stock from this dealer

Christie’s Sale at Retromobile, Paris, France
14th February 2004

Retromobile, Paris, France
13-22nd February 2004

International Historic Motorsport Show 2004, Stoneleigh Park, Coventry, UK
20-22nd February 2004

H&H Classic Auctions, Stoneleigh Park, Coventry, UK
21st February 2004

Bonhams & Goodman Auction, Sydney, Australia
29th February 2004

Bonhams Auction, RAF Museum, Hendon, UK
1st March 2004

see further event details

SERVICE

If you wish to be removed from future mailings,
please visit our ClassicInside Homepage at

http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/community/2300.asp