So far, more than 14,000 examples of the GT3 have been sold; quite a considerable figure, given its track-biased dynamic set-up. But despite the model's obvious popularity, even the widely acclaimed ‘ultimate 911’ needs to move on, if only to stay ahead of the game rather than keep pace with it.
Registered new to one Mr A.C.B. Chapman of Lotus Cars Ltd, the mustard-coloured Rangie is one of the earlier two-door ‘Classics’, complete with the characteristic vertical door handles. It spent over five years in the ownership of Chapman, being briefly passed on to Team Lotus for use as an official car before returning to the Chapman estate soon afterwards. In total, it remained in Chapman/Lotus ownership for 13 years, and today – still bearing its original registration number XOK 567T – the odometer reads around 41,000 miles.
In Part 3 we saw how it was meticulously prepared for painting and then sprayed in lustrous ‘Flame Red - Touring Superleggera'. Now, all the interior trim will be re-fitted and the car readied for the show.
That point becomes even more pertinent when it’s a rarity such as this ‘Novaswiss Turbo’.
The first-generation Range Rover, initially launched in 1970, found a cult following long ago. Restoring one can be a tricky business, though – high costs might put some customers off, while non-specialist garages might lack the required know-how to complete the work to an appropriate standard.
But that does not mean that the car is less capable when the going gets tough. No, with lusty 4.0 or 4.6-litre versions of the Rover V8, the new-for-1994 Range Rover could still get through despite the conditions. That was the easy part for the British engineers - the difficult bit was to offer passengers a comfortable on-road ride to match the car’s superlative off-road performance.
Most know Jensen for one model, and one model only: the Interceptor, with its trademark ‘goldfish bowl’ rear screen. But the company was founded in 1934 and was a well-respected supplier of ever-so-slightly flashy vehicles, best-suited for those in receipt of a recent windfall.
Production was based in the West Midlands, although financial troubles and several receiverships and reincarnations meant that it popped up variously in Speke, Merseyside, where the SV-8 was built, and latterly near Banbury, Oxfordshire.
Almost visually unchanged from the Paris concept, the P1 will boast a total of 903bhp: 727bhp comes from the 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 found in the 12C (albeit with larger turbos and a special crankcase), and 176bhp from an electric motor. This will allow the P1 to reach 186mph from standstill in less than 17 seconds, on its way to an electronically limited 217mph top speed. The P1 can produce up to 600kg of downforce, which approaches that of a Le Mans car.
Know as the Bertone Jet 2+2, it follows on from the Jet 2 concept car – a shooting brake version of the Vanquish – that the Italian design house unveiled in 2004 (and which was itself named after the Giugiaro-styled Bertone Jet of 1961). The latest Jet has been created to celebrate both Aston’s centenary in 2013, and 60 years of collaborations between Aston and Bertone. The four-seater retains the Rapide’s underpinnings and dimensions, as well as the 470bhp 5.9-litre V12, but is clothed in an elegantly stretched body.
It had only built around 100 cars, some pure racing cars and others, such as this elegant coupe by Vignale, real ‘dual-purpose’ machines, as at home in the centre of Paris or Rome as on the Mille Miglia.
The classic barchetta styling of the type 166 that had won at Le Mans and the Mille Miglia was by Carrozzeria Touring. Touring also produced a berlinetta, another competition car intended for privateers such as the Marzotto brothers, rich sportsmen looking for an off-the-shelf winning car.