Cars

Long-standing readers of Classic Driver may remember the HB Special: a limited-numbers Barchetta for gentleman drivers - and racers - which married classic, Aston DBR1-esque lines with modern technology and materials.

Now, Paul and Tino Huet – a.k.a. the Huet Brothers – are readying their latest project: the HB Coupé. The new car draws inspiration from the HB Special of 2006, but the Barchetta body has been sacrificed for a safer and more practical coupé shape.

In hindsight, creating a replacement for what has since become one of the world’s most iconic cars was never going to be an easy job for Jaguar. The car unenviably tasked with following in the E-type’s footsteps was the XJ-S, which made its debut in 1975. It was criticised for its styling, as was Jaguar’s decision to use a big-capacity V12 engine in the midst of a fuel crisis.

From what we recall, John Simister’s 2011 driving report of the McLaren MP4-12C didn’t include the words ‘inadequate’ or ‘insufficient’ – quite the opposite in fact.

Car sales, naturally enough, provide the core business. As an official Lotus and Morgan dealer - with the official stamp of approval from Aston Martin Heritage - Stratton Motor Company can always offer a selection of pre-owned cars from these brands. In addition, there are usually many other high quality models from Porsche, Ferrari and Bentley, well-prepared and priced to suit most budgets.

This year’s route will take in the beautiful Albula and Flüela passes in the canton of Graubünden. As ever, the rally starts and finishes in the main street of St Moritz, just outside Badrutt's Palace Hotel.

The adventure started in Zurich. An original, late-60s FF from British manufacturer Jensen was to be my car for the first leg of the journey: motorway out of the city to Chur and then an invigorating drive across the Julier Pass into the Engadin, with St Moritz the final destination.

The car could well be in the mould of the famous 1950s 550 Spyder, and the rumours were a result of comments made by Porsche’s CEO Matthias Müller. The possibility of a 300,000 – 400,000-euro supersportscar have not, apparently, been ruled out.

The current 911 GT2 has a selling price of approximately 250,000 euros. The 918 Spyder costs 768,000 euros.


Photos: Porsche

Picture the scene: a dry, sunny winter’s day, and you bring your precious BMW 503 out of the garage for the start of an extended tour in the South of France. The eight-cylinder engine delights you with its silky-smooth operation; the sun pursues you across countless miles of highways and byways through the winter landscape – this car was made for a true Gran Turismo continental road trip.

Until now, the latest car from the great British company to carry bespoke, Zagato-designed coachwork has only been seen in racing specification. After a debut at the 2011 Ville d’Este Concours d’Elegance, two cars were entered in the Nürburgring 24 Hours.