Adam’s Way
One of my dreams when I was younger was to become a motoring journalist – I became an engineer instead, as I just needed to pay the bills.
So one of the great things about being the scribe for petrolhead club is that I get to live the dream in my ‘golden years’.
It also allows me to get to know the petrolheads motoring histories which are simply fascinating.
Cars, like music take us back, maybe with a rose tint to key moments in our lives. Our first car, the car we brought our kids home in, great family holiday cars loaded up with luggage and dream road trips.
This piece has been supplied by Adam and I just tinkered with it and published it.
Adam is just the kind of person that we like to feature in the articles as he took the alternative route – no obvious choices here (weird classics in his words) – every choice is brave, unusual or exotic. Some of these I had never heard of or had forgotten about.
You probably need an understanding partner and family to make this work and maybe sometimes Adam wondered whether his specialist options were worth the hassle – but as he admits, he did it on a budget – which may have meant he had to keep hold and just make it work – simply fascinating life of specialist cars.
Adams Way
It seems to be a recurring theme with me, in part because I don't have the deepest pockets, so having the pick of the best known and admired classics is not an option.
Consequently the vehicles that I have got into, have always been under the radar to the classic car buying public.
That said, there's actually a lot of choice if you look carefully. My first under appreciated and unloved car was a 1968 Jensen interceptor MK 1. At the time they were very unloved and I was tipped off to the market by a front page article in classic cars, espousing the view that it was the last hand built supercar available for sensible money ( so I ran with that ).
No internet don't forget, or at least not to the car buying public, the way to track stuff down was exchange and Mart! you may remember, 1988 I think it was when I got it.
I had at the time just finished restoring a lotus Elan 2+2 130/5 Which was almost my daily driver, my other vehicle was an air portable Landrover lightweight, with a V8 rover I had transplanted into it before that was a "Thing" to do, anyway it was an exhilarating drive, for a land rover (Range Rover 3/5 diffs fitted and an overdrive by Beyermacht).
Thumbing through the Exchange and Mart I came across the car section and found a 1968 Jensen interceptor Mk1 for sale "offers" it said, I needed no further invitation and with the classic cars review ringing in my ears I rang it up. A nice chap said that I could have a look at it but he said there were more people arriving from Manchester that afternoon, who were interested in it too.
I jump into the Lotus and fly down the M1 to Sheffield. I was living in Leeds then. I arrive first!
We go for a short test drive, me driving, it was the complete culture shock from a finely balanced Lotus Elan to the behemoth that was the Jensen, no points of reference in common other that the same number of wheels.
We return to the chaps house and I have a good look round it for the usual tin worm etc it was rust free! and had had a lot of bodywork freshly installed the only downside I could see was it had wolf-race wheels, which had already passed their sell by date in the late eighties.
I offer him £3500. which he remarks is not as much as he was hoping for but as I hadn't pulled it apart he was happy with. Then disaster, the team from Manchester pull up, they see what's happening and offer to start a bidding contest, The Jenson owner then astounds me he declares that he's sold the car and he's happy with the deal, and wont enter into a bidding contest, he thanks the guys from Manchester.
That's it !
I Then realise that i have only a cheque book on me, and a bankers card for i think it was £25 in those days. The chap baulks a bit but I assure him it wont bounce and he takes it, I arrange to collect the car from him at his works in Sheffield after the cheque clears and off I go.
So from a chance reading of a classic car mag, that predicts the rise of that market, to owning one in a an afternoon! The car market then went crazy if you remember and then blew up shortly afterwards, but I had the car before they went through the roof.
I also bought another very rare car, at the same time which was an Iso Rivolta Lele.
It was to me, a car I had never heard of but buy it I did £7,500 only 35 Units were made in right hand drive and around 300 in total so the Jensen was mass produced by comparison, this was a so much better a car than the Jensen, Monocoque construction ( no twin telegraph poles for a chassis) and a better engine than the 6.8 litre Chrysler It had a 351 ford Cleveland 5.7 litre As fitted to the boss mustang around 350-60 BHP in a car half the weight of the Jensen, it handled,
The Jensen was a lump, which would catch you out if you weren't careful, the massive weight at the back would regularly try and overtake the front, it boiled like a kettle, the steering was horribly vague. It did look wonderful, but it was no pleasure to drive.
The owners club used to meet at the hotel at the A66 junction with the A1 Scotch corner. No coincidence you can pull straight off the A1 without sitting in traffic a vital part of owning a boiling over Jensen.
Under bonnet temps were always a problem despite a re-cored rad and new fans.
Below are a couple of snaps of the vehicles mentioned, none are concourse but they were nice. It goes to show what a little lateral thinking can achieve other silly cars of note a very rare Volvo Tp21 SUGGA and currently the Alpina B5.
The Upside of owning such odd stuff is that the American engined designer cars, the iso Rivolta (Bertone), and the Chrysler Engined Jensen was that engine parts were... and are readily available and at sensible prices, not for me the pain of a rebuild for a Ferrari or Lambo.
In essence so long as I didn't bend it I could maintain and fix it. Bodywork would be beyond me, especially as there were little to no panels available for any of them. Rodley Motors in Bradford had all the American engine spares necessary.
A starter motor for the Jensen was about £50 as I recall the ford was an easy one to source stuff for too, simple engineering as well not for me the overly fussy double OH cam set up of an Italian thoroughbred – with all the costs that go with it.
Conversely, the downside of such oddball choices was the lack of available parts for the Volvo and ISO with such small production runs getting replacement door handles etc was virtually impossible.
So the Upshot, buy the best most complete one you can afford. US drive chain not a problem, Italian Bertone body forget it. Or obscure Fifties Volvo military truck,.... Best book a holiday in Sweden and go looking or learn the language and register for Blockett, Swedish Ebay-alike.
Not caught a cold so far, And have generally improved all of them without breaking the bank or the children's Inheritance.
Happy weird classic hunting
Adam S
