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‘It’s made out of a bathtub and a bedsheet’

In the April 2025 issue of Practical Classics, we take an in-depth look at the cars launched in 1975. From Leyland’s Princess and the Vauxhall Chevette to Jaguar’s ground-shaking XJ-S, our John Simister takes a spin in each car to see how they stack up.

Our journey around Cornwall in our finished project cars continues as we meet the fine folk of the southwest of England and their classics, while there’s an adventure in the other direction – Scotland in a Volvo 740! You’ll find a guide on how to buy the best VW Beetle and Toyota MR2, while there are stories of epic restorations carried out on a Wood & Pickett Mini and a Delorean.

In our workshop pages, you’ll find tips on rattle can repairs and suspension springs, while our writers tell you about their own 2025 projects – from Fiat 124 Spider and Austin Ten to Citroën Dyane and Trabant!

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**Bangernomics** **Adventure**  
Bargain Volvo 740 gives Eighties family holiday vibes with a 1500-mile Highlands to Land’s End road trip

Could be a brochure shot.  
  
**BOUGHT BLIND ON THE INTERNET**  
**Volvo 740**  
High mileage –200k –but used everyday and serviced to support that use. New parts always fitted as required and bodywork kept on top of.  
**Gareth Charlton**

  
I’m impulsive and appalling at judging time or planning ahead. I’m also more of a words than numbers man and even my ‘man maths’ is highly questionable.  
I had more than six months to prepare one of our vehicles for a camping holiday to the far-flung reaches of the Cornish south coast: the T4 Caravelle is perfect for such a trip, except for the head currently being nowhere near the block; and I discounted the pre-Defender One-Ten V8 station wagon at the last minute on account of 1000-plus miles causing equal damage to my wallet and my creaky knee.  
Days before departure, an exquisite teal ’n’ tan solution presented itself in the form of a 1988 Volvo 740 GLE, that was bought completely blind from a lovely lady who’d owned ‘Miss V’ for 22 years. The only downside? It was in Inverness, I live in North Yorkshire and existing commitments meant I’d be setting off for collection from near the south coast.

Sustenance required!  
The only solutions were train or plane… I opted to stay on the ground. I fidgeted on the sleeper train to Inverness and contemplated all the tools that I’d been unable to pack in favour of a sleeping bag. I also questioned my life choices as a cocktail of black coffee and sweets churned. ‘If all runs smoothly I will have time to meet Julie, the 740’s long-term custodian, then drive home to North Yorkshire, while hopefully stopping for some shut-eye on the way,’ I thought. I’d then collect my family and 14-tonnes of camping-focused addenda, and drive to Cornwall.  
I glanced at my phone as an unneeded reminder, which told me that, once the 14-hour train ride was over, I’d have a 779-mile drive ahead of me. In my head, this trip would prove that well-maintained old cars can still be relied upon, that we should stop throwing things away and that summer holidays in the Eighties were much more fun. It’s what Bangernomics is all about.

Boxy styling is actually improving with age.

Big Swede in its natural habitat.  
**Meeting the steed**  
The Volvo 740 in question had always been a daily driver and wore its 200,000 miles with pride. It had clearly been loved, well serviced with belt changes carried out on time, a replacement clutch fitted in recent years and any welding that you’d expect of a 700-series car living in northern Scotland completed successfully. Bar a few bumps and bruises that I was anticipating, it looked very straight and original and, once I’d made a final stop at a cashpoint, I was very happy.

Dog definitely approves!  
Purchase made, and armed with hot food and scolding coffee, I set off lamenting the lack of cupholders and the heightened risk of sustaining lap burns. However there were greater worries afoot. My concerns grew at the unmistakable whiff of burning oil. I was, by this time, in the middle of the Cairgorms and I’m no Bear Grylls. I pulled over to inspect. Fortunately, it was a short stop. An ill-fitting non-OE oil cap that I must have disturbed when giving the car a once-over was letting oil gently seep out on to the exhaust manifold. I cleaned and replaced the cap carefully.  
I needn’t have worried. The 740 completed the drive home effortlessly, swallowed an indecent amount of camping gear and hauled us to Cornwall the following day on only two tanks of fuel. For my taste, this is peak Volvo. The naturally aspirated B230 ‘redblock’ and M46 four-speed manual 'box with overdrive fifth provides a blend of relative mechanical simplicity, economy and quirkiness. It’s practical as well. Across 1500 miles the Volvo returned over 35mpg.

After a good wash and brush up, the new motor was ready to be pressed into holiday duties.  
We camped just outside Helston, which provided the perfect base from which to explore Cornwall’s extremities. As a fitting tribute to Volvo build quality and reliability, the 740 made it to Land’s End less than 48 hours after leaving Inverness and was the perfect family holiday wagon, carrying children, puppy and, seemingly, 50 per cent of the sand in Cornwall with ease.  
If, by now you are thinking a 700 series Volvo might be for you, let me remind you that early examples are now tax exempt – yep, the 740 was 40 in 2024. In total, more than 1.2 million Volvo 700s rolled off the production line before 1992, when the Volvo 940 and Volvo 960 took over the flagship role – parts supply is therefore good, as is club support. Huge passenger space and load capacities meant the Volvo 740 estate became the benchmark in its class from 1985 and its internal dimensions make it a superbly practical classic choice today.

End to end wagon.  
You can tell this Volvo’s been well loved: little things like interior lights and rear wash/wipe all work, it wears recent tyres and stops with fresh discs and pads. It rides fantastically and drives without a hint of rattle, knock or noise from gearbox, diff or wheel bearings. I was also surprised at how nicely it steered, with the rack providing unexpected precision, weight and a very Cornwall-friendly turning circle. The body roll was as you’d expect and the soundtrack memory to the holiday will be of rear mudflaps catching the Tarmac at the faintest opportunity.  
Now that we’re home, the next steps will be to clean out the B230’s flame trap, to eliminate the risk of a blocked breather, give it a much needed polish and fix up the interior – the headlining is makeshift and the Eighties interior plastics are dangerously brittle, which is a risky combination for a man with hands and fingers of sausage and ham.

There’s plenty of hotel room in the back of the capacious Swede, as Gareth found on his journey home from Inverness.  
**THE VERDICT**  
Old Volvos may not live up to all the old stereotypes. Reliable and cavernous yes, but as a week of driving one around tight Cornish lanes proves, they’re significantly smaller externally than the majority of new cars on UK roads. They still affordable, too.

What better way to take in those Cornish coastal views than from the comfort of your Volvo’s tan leather pews.  
**Ben says**

  
‘I’m really glad Gareth mentions the tyres. A daily driver is more likely to have decent rubber than a car that is never used. Always worth asking over the phone before you buy, too.’

Swede Temptation

**ME AND MY RESTO**  
**Vince Moore** needed a new car, so he built one himself using whatever he had to hand  
**INTERVIEW & PICTURES** JAMES WALSHE

**T**his car began as a 1932 Standard Little Nine – a boxy little family car produced between 1930 and 1933. I got it off a chap whose advancing age meant the amount of work involved had become just too much for him. The engine was shot, and the body was completely rotten. The Little Nine’s body is also quite heavy, so I decided to do away with that completely, leaving just the chassis and engine. I’d always fancied a special!  
Living in the far north of Scotland means car restoration can be a bit of a challenge. I power everything via solar panels and, while we have a wind turbine, I turned it off in the end as the wind up here was just too wild for it! When winter comes, it can be difficult as the days are so short but, on a sunny day, you can just about do some welding and get the washing done! Nevertheless, I had a fair idea of what I wanted to create.  
I started at the front. Having raked back the steering to decide what height I wanted the car to be, I found a steel bath in a nearby field and made a grille out of that. It pretty much set the shape of the car. Using strips of cedar and oak, along with some ash, I made a frame – the long strips out of the cedar. Having built and fitted the frame to the chassis, I threw an old bedsheet over it and applied boiled linseed oil. This soaks into the fabric and goes quite rubbery, holding it all together. I then applied red oxide paint, some leftover masonry paint, then more red oxide paint and a coat of cellulose. The most expensive purchase, aside from tyres, was a sheet of aluminium for the bonnet. I didn’t want a roof, so the seat had to be waterproof. I made it out of an old canoe and some faux rattan. Just leftover stuff lying around, really.

The original engine was toast, so I used a tired A-series engine from a Morris Minor that had been donated to me. I rebuilt that and made it fit to the original gearbox – the clutch is an A-series pressure plate with the splined friction plate the original Standard one. I was recently given an original two-bearing Standard engine, so I’ve decided to rebuild that and will install it at some point in the future.  
It has been a thoroughly enjoyable project, which I’ve steadily been able to modify and adapt to my taste. But you must use a bit of ingenuity when you live up here. I had to come up with a solution for the exhaust silencer, so I got a big bore tube, filled it with a spiral of fence wire, surrounded with kitchen pan scourers. I did many of the jobs in my workshop and other aspects of the build in my shed, the roof of which is made from an old boat made on the island of Stromer. I bought that for fifty quid and trailered it home. Stromer hasn’t been lived on for decades and the boat was one of the very last built, we think sometime back in the 1880s.  
My Standard Special is great fun to drive and surprisingly quick. It’ll do 60mph. It was a bit skittish to begin with, so I had to change the castor with wedges between the spring and the axle, while I remade the cable brakes – it’s very primitive, but everything works as it should. I drive it in all weathers and you tend to get very wet when it rains. Once the water warms up though, it’s fine…  
  
**ENGINE**

Currently a Morris Minor A-series with a clutch adapted to fit, it will be replaced by an original Standard unit in due course.  
  
**WORKSHOP**

Inside Vince’s workshop – an upturned Stromer boat from the 1880s, which he bought for £50 and dragged up to the house on his trailer.  
  
**CABIN**

Spartan cabin is a result of Vince’s carpentry skills, and a seat from an old canoe.  
  
**BODYWORK**

It’s a homemade wooden frame covered with a bedsheet soaked in boiled linseed oil and a bathtub for a grille. All perfectly normal.  
  
**DRIVING**

Car was skittish to start with but once he’d modified the suspension, Vince says it’s good for about 60mph tops.  
  
**TIME TAKEN** 3months  
**EST. COST** £1500  
**BEST ADVICE** ‘It’s a good idea to look around you to see what you have lying around. You never know how useful it could be!’

**Practical Classics Restorer of the Year 2025**  
Vince is entered into the 2025 Restorer of the Year competition. You can vote for your favourite in a future issue of _Practical Classics_ magazine.

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**BUYER’S BRIEF**  
Sturdy, easy to own and a great community of owners, here’s how to buy a Bug

**MARKET ANALYSIS**  
Projects cost from £2000, but you’re better off buying something from £4000 that will need less work or is still near MOT ready. Good Beetle saloons are priced from £5000, but you can easily spend double this on a late Sixties saloon. Cars from the late Seventies are less sought after, which is why they only go up to £8000 or so. If you fancy a cabriolet, you can double all these values, with superb open-topped cars fetching as much as £25,000, although only the very best car is worth more than £15,000.  
**Why you want one**  
Volkswagen has never been anything less than candid in its promotion of the Beetle. As its 1975 brochure declares: ‘It’s the car that made us famous’. It then goes on to state that ‘nothing of the original Beetle is left in today’s Beetle’. In slightly different context, that may well be the case with your prospective purchase in 2025, so it’ll pay to study the car closely. We’ve focused here on Beetles from 1965 onwards because they’re more usable, more readily available and more affordable. Worth noting that nothing is interchangeable between the very first and last Beetles. Indeed, there were changes of some sort just about every year.  
You can expect your Beetle to be fitted with an 1192cc or 1285cc engine, while a 1493cc unit was introduced in 1967 and, later, a 1584cc lump. The earlier sloped headlamp design is the purist’s favourite; buy a 1966 or 1967 car and you could have this with 1500 power, making it the pick of the bunch for many. The 1200 model was always aimed at those on a budget; this was the model that was last to get brake, suspension and electrical upgrades.  
The 1302S and 1303S are more usable than most Beetle variants thanks to their 1600 powerplant, bigger boot and MacPherson strut front/semi-trailing arm rear suspension. These days, most Beetles have been modified in some way, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing – it often makes them more usable.  
**The inspection**  
For all their period advertised Volkswagen build quality, Beetles still rust like any other classic. The body bolts to the floor pan, and poor repairs often leave them welded together, complicating future restoration work. Trickier corrosion spots include the windscreen surround and heater channels – a box section running the length of the car on either side, roughly under the doors.  
This hollow space transfers heat from the engine to the interior and suffers from internal condensation. Repair panels are available, but it’s a labour intensive – and so often pricy – job.

**CABIN** There isn’t much to worry about inside the car but if it’s RHD, check it’s genuine as many have been converted. In our view, that’s not an issue if it’s done properly.  
Perished window rubbers will contribute to a dissolving floor, and you must ensure that all the electrics work as they should. Old wiring and poor modifications are potential issues; while the Beetle switched to 12-volt electrics in 1967, earlier cars may also have been converted. Seats are likely to have sagged if they haven’t yet been replaced or re-stuffed and while generally hard-wearing, carpets and seat covers will need refreshing by now. All of this is available but worth bargaining over.  
Overheating – generally caused either by poor tuning or hard driving – will quickly ruin an otherwise sound engine. There's no coolant, of course, so check cooling flaps to be sure that they aren’t corroded and make sure that the oil thermostat hasn’t failed or been removed. The tinware surrounding the engine is important in controlling air flow so make sure that it’s not damaged or missing, while corroded heat exchangers can allow fumes into the cabin with potentially dangerous consequences, so check them carefully.

**BODYWORK** Beetles might have been famed for their build, but they still rot. Happily, bolt-on wings, bonnets, doors and boot lids ensure that they are easy to replace.  
Oil leaks tend to come from the rocker cover gaskets and crankshaft oil seal; fixing the latter is fairly involved but it’s not too difficult to pull out the engine. Noticeable movement at the crank pulley (back and forth) means that there’s excessive crankshaft end float and an imminent re-build is needed. Oil changes every 3000 miles are advisable, so be very suspicious of a car whose owner cannot prove that it has been regularly serviced.  
Power was a bit restricted by carburettors that didn’t allow the engines to sing. There are plenty of alternatives, including single and twin-choke EMPI or Webers. Beetle engines can feel strangled by the factory exhaust, so installing freer-flowing stainless-steel pipes and a manifold can release an extra 10bhp. The Bosch distributor has an unreliable vacuum advance, so swap that for a mechanical one. Change the points and condenser for a Pertronix electronic setup, too. The 6v electrics became 12v in 1967. Any car can be converted for more reliable starting and easier fitment of ancillaries, but it’s a big job with lots needing to be replaced.

**ENGINE** Lumpy running can be caused by perished hoses, an ignition system past its best or valve gear in need of an overhaul.  
The four-speed transmission can suffer from worn synchromesh, and bearings so check for any nasty noises or jumping out of gear on the overrun. Difficulty in selecting gears is often a result of linkages that are out of kilter, which is easy to sort, but test a gearbox that has this issue thoroughly to be sure that it isn’t indicative of general wear. Removing and overhauling the gearbox is very easy, however, so don’t be too put-off by a car with engine or transmission issues if the body is in good order. Low gearing means that the engine can feel busy on motorways. A ‘Freeway Flyer’ gearbox has a higher differential ratio (3.875:1) and fourth gear (0.82:1), but may require a clutch upgrade at the same time.  
The suspension system is a straightforward arrangement of telescopic dampers and torsion bar springs but needs checking for rot around the mounting points and general wear and sagging. Overhauling the drum brakes is a relatively cheap and easy job but do check the steering for excessive play – this can be adjusted, but old boxes will soon run out of available adjustment. So too, a car whose steering wheel is reluctant to return to centre because there's a good chance that someone before you has overtightened the steering box.  
Inside, check for leaky window rubbers as you'll be mopping rainwater off the floors (if they haven't rotted out)! Otherwise, there isn't much inside a Beetle to begin with but if parts are needed, everything is available from specialists and, predictably, it's all easy to fit at home.

More gentle cruiser than B-road blaster.  
  
**USEFUL CONTACTS**  
**VW Owners’ Club GB,** :a[vwocgb.com]{href='https://vwocgb.com' }  
**Historic VW Club,** :a[historicvws.org.uk]{href='https://historicvws.org.uk' }  
**Beetle Werks,** :a[thebeetlewerks.co.uk]{href='https://thebeetlewerks.co.uk' }  
**Heritage Parts Centre,** :a[heritagepartscentre.com]{href='https://heritagepartscentre.com' }  
  
**WHAT TO PAY**  
**PROJECT** £2000-3000  
**GOOD** £3000-5000  
**EXCELLENT** £5000-25,000  
**TECH SPEC**  
**ENGINE** 1584CC/FLAT-4/OHV  
**GEARBOX** 4-SPEED MANUAL  
**POWER** 50BHP@4000RPM  
**TORQUE** 79LB FT@2800RPM  
**TOP SPEED** 81MPH  
**0-60MPH** 12.2SEC  
**ECONOMY** 28-34MPG  
  
**WHAT IT’S LIKE TO OWN**  
**James Walshe** finds out what it’s like to live with a Beetle…

Andrew's Beetle has certainly lived a life!  
From the looks to the unique noise, to it’s… err… history, the Beetle is a shining example of what happens when sunshine emerges from the dark clouds of our past. It is loved almost beyond any car on the planet. Whichever one you buy, you’ll stumble into a community of fellow fans. There has been a Beetle scene for many decades, after all. Owners adore them, but are they as simple and enjoyable to own as you’d expect? ‘It’s like anything else if the car has been bodged’ says Andrew Leggett, who owns a well-travelled 1973 Beetle 1300. ‘It was MOT’d when I bought it, but when I got it home, my mechanic dad insisted I wouldn’t be driving it again until we’d sorted out the rust and body filler. You could almost have lifted the body off the floorpan. It was bad!’ Andrew learned to weld though and set to work on the suspension and brakes. ‘Good thing is parts are cheap and easy to find!’  
It was a similar story for Paul Warren, who restored a 1966 Beetle for his wife Rachael. That said, it feels like Volkswagen made changes to the Beetle every other year so it’s worth researching carefully to check you’re buying the right parts. ‘From bumpers to the cabin, there are subtle differences here and there’ says Paul, who finished the car with help from friends, before Rachael sadly passed away. ‘We’d built Rachael’s dream Beetle, which meant the world to her and to everyone else.’ The car became famous locally at shows and the fact it’s a Beetle makes it even more significant. ‘People just smile wherever you go!’ Sure enough, as we’ve seen on the silver screen and at car shows across the world, these cars have a personality all their own. There’s simply nothing quite like a Beetle. Volkswagen’s own 1973 brochure concludes with words that are as true today as they were back then: ‘The longer this car goes on, the more people love it.’

VW Beetle (1965-1978)

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#### Devitt Insurance MCN London Show welcomes the cream of Sammy’s collection

**A fifteen-strong selection of the most rare and exotic motorcycles ever produced** will make their Devitt Insurance MCN London Motorcycle Show debut **at the ExCel this February 14-16**. Owned and curated by l**egend of biking Sammy Miller MBE**, the bikes are usually only displayed inside his dedicated museum in the New Forest. Now Sammy will be sharing this hand-selected fleet of special machines for the pleasure and delight of all London showgoers.

Among the collection are iconic racing machines including the **multi-cylinder 1957 500cc V8 Moto Guzzi racer**, as well as the **1953 ex-factory Norton ‘Kneeler’**, ridden by Ray Amm on the way to breaking more than 33 speed records, and an **ex-works MZ 125cc GP bike** raced by legends Mike Hailwood and three-times 125cc Grand Prix World Champion, Luigi Taveri.

Other unique motorcycles making their way to next year’s show include one of the rarest German motorcycles of all time, the 1200cc Münch Mammoth from 1969, which is one of just 150 ever built. The BMW RS54 Rennsport, a 1947 AJS 500cc Porcupine and a BSA MC1 are also part of the exceptional display of historic two-wheeled marvels, with plenty more special bikes to see across the three-day London event.

The eclectic assortment is owned by Sammy Miller MBE, a true motorcycling legend. His career spans eight decades, during which he became 11 times British Trials Champion and winner of over 1400 competition events across multiple disciplines, all while developing and maintaining his own machines.

Somehow, Sammy still found time to restore interesting motorcycles from ‘rust buckets’ into stunning factory condition, <span>which he kept as a private collection until 1980 when he opened the now famous Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, which displays around 500 beautiful bikes. Now in his 90s, Sammy continues to work six-days-a-week in the workshop restoring soon-to-be new additions to the museum and maintaining existing ones.

The Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum feature at the 2025 Devitt Insurance MCN London Motorcycle Show gives visitors the opportunity to get up close to some of the most unique and historically relevant motorcycles in the world and is a must-see for any enthusiast.

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● Don’t miss historic wonders at the Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum feature.

● See the biggest names in biking, with a huge line-up of celebrities from TV to track.

● See the latest models for 2025 from top manufacturers.

● Premium motorcycle kit and accessories at fantastic prices!

● The Iconic Auctioneers motorcycle auction gives you the chance to take home your dream ride.

● Live flat track racing action with Britain’s finest talent.

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Miller’s Marvels

ME AND MY RESTO  
Alan Plowman rescued this rotten 1983 XR2 and turned it into a show winner  
**WORDS & PICTURES** JAMES WALSHE  
![XR2](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/xr2.png)  
**W**hen you spend each day painting other people’s cars, you spend much of your life going to shows and seeing classics that you’ve painted – but never ever your own! I thought it was time I did my own car for a change, so this Fiesta was my first personal resto project. I’ve always been proud of doing a good job when it comes to paint – but nothing compares to the feeling you get when it’s a car that belongs to you!  
Here in the far north of Scotland, you’re not exactly spoilt for choice with any kind of classic when the nearest big town is four hours to the south. The priority was sourcing a Fiesta with a complete interior and decent mechanical parts. It wouldn’t have mattered how shabby the body was since I knew I’d be able to sort even the worst rust, but finding bits of trim for instance… it has become a challenge on cars of this era.  
In 2018, I stumbled over a rusty 1983 XR2 in Wick. It had been off the road for a decade or so, but it started and ran, and the interior was complete. I bought it but then the pandemic hit, and I was back to doing other people’s cars again! It sat there until two years ago, which is when I began the resto.  
I put the car on a spit, blasted it and discovered that while there were areas I was able to do myself, I had some help from my friend Nick Manson. He’s better at fabricating than I am and having painted his Ford Thames a while back, he was happy to assist. The shell was full of patches, so I cut out the bad parts of the floors, sills, boot, scuttle panel and front wings and while Nick fabricated some of the trickier areas, I sourced replacement panels for others. The sunroof is double skinned, so the frame had to come out – getting it back in wasn’t fun but managed after some long evenings!  
![XR2 Shell](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/xr2-2.png)**AS FOUND** The Fiesta had been gathering dust in a barn for ten years, so the shell presented some challenges to Alan when he began working on it.  
**Under the bonnet**  
The engine had done around 100,000 miles and was running, but I decided to re-bore it and fit new pistons, while all the bearings were replaced and the valve seats hardened to take modern fuel. It was all familiar territory – my dad was a mechanic so I spent a lot of my youth tinkering with engines. In the end, I fell into working with the bodywork side of things more in my career – I just preferred it. My first job was at a local Ford garage so, in painting my Fiesta, this was the easiest part for me. I was still a bit paranoid though! I tend to use Novol products, so on went the epoxy primer, then the filler which I carefully did after work over the course of a few weeks. I went for metallic Caspian Blue with Ford’s trademark pinstripe.  
The only big change I made inside was in finding a replacement for the cracked original dash. It was so satisfying to put it all back together again and then hit the road for the first time. I’ve definitely caught the resto bug! I like an XR2 MkII, so I'm considering one as my next project – but only if I have time. Cars aren’t a priority for me – my main hobby is playing the bagpipes!  
![Cabin](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/xr2-3.png)**INTERIOR** Alan’s mission was to find a car as complete as could be – which included the cabin. Fiesta interior trim is difficult to find, and he didn’t want the headache of searching for missing bits of plastic. ‘I didn’t mind how rusty the car was – that was the least of my worries!’  
![XR2](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/xr2-4.png)**BODYWORK** Paintwork is Alan’s forte. Once the floors, sills and front wings among other areas had been cut out, fabricated and welded, a typically thorough amount of prep took place from Alan before he lavished the Fiesta with its metallic Caspian Blue paint job. It’s among the best we’ve ever seen.  
![Engine](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/xr2-5.png)**ENGINE** The XR2’s engine was running when Alan bought it, but he nevertheless wanted it to match the rest of the car, condition-wise. He rebored it, fitted new pistons, replaced all bearings and had the valve seats hardened for modern petrol.  
  
**ORIGINALITY** With so many Fiesta XR2s having suffered at the hands of boy racers in the Eighties and Nineties, Alan wanted to keep his car as original as possible.  
**TRIM** Fiesta trim, from door cards to window winders, isn’t all that easy to find these days, so Alan says it pays to find a project car that’s as complete as possible.  
![](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/xr2-6.png)  
  
**Practical Classics Restorer of the Year 2025**  
![Restorer of the Year](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/xr2-7.png)  
Alan is entered into the 2025 Restorer of the Year competition. You can vote for your favourite in a future issue of **Practical Classics** magazine.

‘I like cars almost as much as my bagpipes’

BUYER'S BRIEF  
How to buy one of the greatest British roadsters of all time…  
![Triumph TR6](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/tr1.png)Square-jawed profile ushered the TR range into the Seventies.  
TR6 values may have plateaued, but they’re still quite high. As a result, you’ll be doing well to find anything decent for less than £15,000, while superb cars can command circa £22,500. TR6s with overdrive and a factory hardtop sell for a premium, with the best now as much as £26,000. All of these prices are for genuine righthand-drive cars; knock off around 15 per cent for US cars converted to right-hand drive. TR6s still to Federal spec are typically worth around 25 per cent less than an equivalent RHD examples.  
**Why you want one**  
Muscular styling, six cylinders, an indiscreet exhaust note and enough torque to make gear changing optional? That’s the TR6. It’s one of the true greats. Launched in 1969 as a re-skinned TR5, this was the last proper TR in the eyes of many and one of the last of the old-school British sportsters, too. It’s also technically intriguing because it was one of the first mass-produced cars to be offered with fuel injection. While the Lucas system would go on to gain the Triumph a reputation for being highly strung, it’s now easy to overcome any faults that the design originally highlighted. Supported by an army of specialists and catered for by numerous clubs, the TR6 is also an ideal way to enjoy many events throughout the year.  
With alternatives such as the TR5 and big ’Healey now priced out of reach of most, it’s the TR6 that offers the most affordable traditional British sports car thrills – unless you move down the ladder several rungs and buy something with just four cylinders. A well-sorted TR6 is unlikely to ever be worth less than what you paid for it, which is a bonus.  
![BODYWORK Corrosion can be found where panels meet here, with bodyshell flex causing trouble in seams in the rear deck.](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/tr2.png)**BODYWORK** Corrosion can be found where panels meet here, with bodyshell flex causing trouble in seams in the rear deck.  
**The inspection**  
The TR6’s bodyshell can rust badly, so you need to scrutinise the whole structure and all panels. Starting at the front, the wings can corrode along the top and around the headlamps but you need to lift the bonnet to see the true extent of any potential rot. The base of each B-post can rot where it meets the sill; the seatbelt mounting points’ proximity means that this is an automatic MOT failure. The doors rust along their base, as well as along the top edge, near the rubber weather seal. Also, check the sills and floorpan, which can both rust badly. Rot is also common in the rear deck; several panels meet here, and the multiple seams don’t help because the bodyshell flexes. The rear wings corrode around the wheelarch lips and aft of the rear wheels, while the spare wheel well is as rot prone as the base of each rear wing.  
The TR6 has a separate chassis, so spotting poorly repaired accident damage is easy. Chassis corrosion is also common; check the area just ahead of the rear wheels where the chassis members meet between a pair of bracing plates.  
These can rot so the trailing arm mountings are weakened. If there’s evidence of repairs here, check if the body has been removed for proper restoration. A seriously corrosion-weakened TR6 chassis will bend in the middle, so look for door gaps that open at the top. The only proper fix is chassis replacement or a body-off rebuild.  
![Engine](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/tr3.png)**ENGINE** Don’t worry about oil leaks or let rattles at start up put you off – these engines are tough.  
Under the bonnet, the TR6’s straight-six will easily cover 120,000 miles with regular oil changes and proper servicing. Check for play in the crankshaft thrust washers by pushing and pulling on the bottom pulley. This is made easier by depressing and releasing the clutch – any detectable movement means that the thrust washers may have dropped out, which could scrap the engine. If the thrust washers are still in place, it’s possible to replace them with oversized ones, without having to remove the engine first. This engine is also famed for its oil leaks and rattles at start up. But these characteristics can be engineered out easily and cheaply. All parts are readily available and it’s an easy engine to re-build.  
Black exhaust smoke under load suggests that the fuel injection metering is running rich, with attendant steep fuel bills and premature bore wear. Other well-known injection problems involve difficult hot starting, fuel vaporisation and misfiring on startup – all easily fixed by yourself with ease or at little expense with a specialist. Parts are readily available either on an exchange basis or outright, too.  
All TR6s came with a four-speed manual gearbox… which isn’t always strong enough if the car has been driven hard on a regular basis. Worn layshaft bearings create a rumbling noise in the intermediate gears that disappears in top. It can also be identified when the car is stationary with the engine running by a hissing noise that disappears when the clutch is engaged. The cure is a gearbox rebuild. Overdrive faults are often down to easily fixed wiring problems. Look out for things like broken wires, dodgy relays or loose Lucas electrical connections. But it could be because the overdrive unit’s filter is clogged inside, or the solenoid has packed in.  
![Cabin](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/tr4.png)**CABIN** Electrical system is pure Lucas, so many parts are common to other cars of the time.  
The TR6’s interior trim is straightforward, with everything available to buy new if required. Seams can give way in the seat trims and there’s a good chance that there’ll be a tear or two in either the seat covers or door panels. If you need to replace the former, they’re available from £350 per pair while a trim panel set costs from £300. The whole electrical system is Lucas, which means that many components are common to other cars of the period. It also means that they’re all available, which is just as well, as looms and connectors will potentially be giving problems by now. Sometimes only cleaning is required, but most parts are still available to buy new.  
Updating your TR6 has never been easier. Many owners opt to replace the Kenlowe fan that was a popular upgrade in the Nineties with a Revotec unit that sits behind the radiator, rather than in front of it. This has a much stronger mounting and has proved to be more reliable and efficient. Fitting drilled and grooved discs and four-pot calipers with uprated pads gives the pedal a much firmer feel and there’s less travel, too. Classic Driving Developments’s PAS kit includes a replacement steering rack and an extra pulley, which mounts onto the crankshaft pulley to drive the pump. It’s a pain to fit, but works brilliantly. The fuel system must be in good condition to get decent economy, so we suggest that you check and, if needed, replace the linkages, injectors, metering unit, fuel tank and fuel pressure regulator. You can also replace the Lucas petrol pump – which is prone to overheating – with a Bosch one. The original lever arm dampers are notorious for wearing. The key is to replace them with adjustable telescopic dampers. While you’re at it consider fitting adjustable front dampers.  
![Triumph TR6](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/tr5.png)Angular ‘Kammback’ certainly cuts a dash.  
  
**WHAT TO PAY**  
**PROJECT** £7000-£12,000  
**GOOD** £13,000-£18,000  
**EXCELLENT** £18,000-£26,000  
**TECH SPEC**  
**ENGINE** 2498CC/6-CYL/OHV  
**POWER** 150BHP@5500RPM  
**TORQUE** 164LB FT@3500RPM  
**GEARBOX** 4-SPEED MANUAL + O/D   
**TOP SPEED** 119MPH  
**0-60MPH** 8.2SEC   
**ECONOMY** 21-28MPG  
  
**WHAT IT’S LIKE TO OWN**  
**Matt George** on what it’s like to live with a TR6…  
![Matt in a Triumph](https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/17/2025/01/tr6.png)Always guaranteed to put a great big smile on our Matt’s face!.  
My dad has owned TRs since before I was born, while I’m now on my second TR6, having bought my first one in 2010. So, although I might be biased, believe me when I say that if you’re looking for that classic British roadster experience, you won’t go far wrong with one of these.  
I’ve been all around Europe in mine and, thanks to that combo of torquey straightsix engine and overdrive gearbox, the ‘6 is equally at home cruising down the peage or autoroute as it is when being hustled up and over a mountain pass.  
While values have slowly risen over the past decade, the TR6 is still attainable, too. UK-spec cars with Lucas fuel injection will always hold a decent premium over US-spec versions running on carburettors, but the latter can also make a lot of sense if you’re on a tighter budget and are in a position to take on a project. I did the same back in 2017, buying a cheap ex-US example and slowly restoring it over two years, which spread the costs out and meant I could get back into a TR6 that way, whereas I would have struggled to get the money together in one go for a UK car that was ready to rock and roll immediately.  
Club and specialist support is excellent, while most parts are relatively inexpensive and widely available, too. So, what are you waiting for!  
  
**USEFUL CONTACTS**  
**TR Register,** :a[tr-register.co.uk]{href='https://tr-register.co.uk' }  
**Triumph Sports Six Club,** :a[tssc.org.uk]{href='https://tssc.org.uk' }  
**Club Triumph,** :a[Club.triumph.org.uk]{href='https://Club.triumph.org.uk' }

Triumph TR6

In the March 2025 issue of Practical Classics, there’s an astonishing Fiat 128, restored and fitted with a Kawasaki superbike engine, plus the revival of a stunning Fiesta XR2 – bought as a barn find and restored to perfection.

We set course for Cornwall in our project cars, unsure as to whether we’ll break down on a clifftop or not, while our new columnist – YouTuber Steph Holloway – buys herself a Standard 10. There’s an exclusive chat with Jon Murden of the National Motor Museum, Danny buys himself a hybrid Vauxhall, and we take a close look at the Mercedes-Benz W124 while showing you how to buy the best Triumph TR6.

James gets his Smart Roadster project finished, while Matt George gets deep and dirty with his Renault Trafic camper. Plus loads of tech tips on all sorts, from dealing with vinyls and plastics to understanding wheel sizes, offset and PCD.

:a[**Choose your subscription here**]{href='https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/practical-classics-magazine?utm_source=practicalclassics.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=bau_practicalclassics&amp;utm_content=promo_subscribe_today' target='_blank' rel='noreferrer noopener'} and never miss another issue of Practical Classics.

#### The Saab’s restoration journey concludes for James

**F**or the second time in my life, I have chronicled my struggles with a Saab. Back in 2017, it was a troublesome 96 V4, which just didn’t want to live despite endless hours of dedication and expense. I’ve owned a few very nice 900s and 99s before and since – all roadworthy and trouble-free – but I seem to have an aversion to project Saabs. Or, rather, they have an aversion to me.

At times, this 900 Turbo has tested my sanity – and I very nearly binned it once and for all. No, really. I’ve never done that before but it very nearly happened. This car seriously ravaged my mental health. But… we persevered, despite some cars wanting to live, and others fighting you all the way. Recently, Clive and I were in the workshop, putting in 12-hour days less than a week before the car was due to join our annual winter adventure to Cornwall. Did we enjoy it? No. Was it worth it? No. Well… not as I write this, anyway. Maybe that’ll change. I hope so.

You may have read back in the December 2024 edition about the clutch slave cylinder going pop? Well, Clive and I shoved the car back under the ramp and left it there. We needed a break. As the Cornwall deadline loomed, we got stuck in again. In order to remove the slave cylinder, which sits inside the gearbox bellhousing, the clutch must be depressed and a special tool inserted to lock the whole clutch assembly, allowing it to be removed as one unit. To gain access in the first place we had to remove numerous intake pipes, breathers and vacuum hoses followed by the cover plate that sits atop the forward-mounted gearbox. However, the failure of the slave cylinder meant that compressing the clutch with the pedal was impossible. Out came the reciprocating saw and some brutal surgery (which served as therapy for Clive, who had by this point had had enough) saw the weeping unit dissected and removed in pieces.

Access was tight, but after multiple grazed knuckles, each of the clutch pressure plate’s securing bolts were removed using ‘keyhole surgery’, the engine having been turned incrementally using a breaker bar after each to access the next. New slave cylinder in hand, Doctor Clive compressed the clutch assembly using the bench press, fabricated a retaining tool from a length of copper brake pipe, and carefully fed the assembly back into the bellhousing. Six setscrews were then carefully inserted, care being taken not to drop any into the bellhousing before, on the second revolution of the engine, each was torqued to spec. Well… five were. The sixth went tight, then loose again. Yep… the threads in the flywheel had failed!

Expletives echoed around the workshop before Clive set about removing the clutch bolts once more, followed by the assembly, before unbolting the flywheel from the end of the crankshaft. Matt Tomkins then came to the rescue with his Helicoil kit. The kit was supplied with an oversize drill to clear the damaged threads, a tap to suit the outer diameter of the thread insert and a pair of fitting tools and once the outer thread had been carefully cut, these were used to wind in the stainless-steel insert and finally break off its fitting tang. As sun set on another day in the workshop, we set to work once again refitting the flywheel and clutch assembly.

Day broke and the workshop echoed to the familiar sound of ‘Up, Down, Up, Down’, as the final bleed on the clutch hydraulics were completed, fluid having initially been drawn through with a vacuum bleeder. Pipework removed days previously was refitted, jubilee clips tightened and finally, (oh, finally), the Saab emerged humming contentedly from its longterm storage position beneath the four-poster ramp. Onto the two-poster, work could finally commence on the brakes, which required some titivation. Given how long the car had been off on the road it was no surprise. Calipers were stripped, freed, cleaned and exercised and new flexi hoses fitted – but of course in the manner we’d come to expect from this restoration so far, the hard lines at the rear were so corroded to their unions that fresh pipework needed to be made up from scratch to replace it. The clock ticked on.

Eventually it was all back together, and the MoT station beckoned. Of course, the Saab failed but, as explained in my Winter Warmers diary on page 22, there was nothing that wasn’t quickly sortable. After which, well, it was time to drive the car to Cornwall, it’s first trip out after what had been the most traumatic birth the workshop had witnessed for years. Having given the car a much needed clean, I now needed to learn how to love the thing. Let’s see what Cornwall, my former home and sanctuary of happiness and contentment, can do for us both.

**:a[james.walshe@practicalclassics.co.uk]{href='mailto:james.walshe@practicalclassics.co.uk' }**

The final straw

#### Be it saloon, coupé, estate or cabrio, there’s a W124 for everyone

The E Class of 1984 marked a significant advance for Mercedes-Benz. Its elegant predecessor might have possessed a reputation for reliability, but it was long in the tooth by the Eighties. The new car captured the Merc magic formula of quality and understated elegance but with a modern twist and was a class-leader in terms of refinement from launch to production end in 1997. Although widely known as the W124, the chassis designations are S124 for the estate, C124 for the coupé body, and A124 for the cabriolet. All are very wise buys indeed – with values rising.

Early saloons and estates got engines ranging from 2.0, 2.3, 2.3 or 3-litres in petrol or diesel form. The coupé launched in the UK in 1987 and was powered by either the 2.3-litre single-overhead cam four-cylinder engine (230 CE) or a 3.0-litre straight-six (300 CE). A pokier-still 24-valve version (300CE-24) went on sale from 1989.

The cabriolet appeared in 1991 in Europe and the following year for the UK and rest of the world. The 1993 facelift saw side mouldings and grille surround become body coloured. The three-pointed star moved to the bonnet and engines were replaced by multivalve twin-cam M111 2.2-litre four and M104 3.2-litre six-cylinder engines. Sportline, an option on all cars from 1993, brought 7J instead of 6.5J wheels, lower-profile tyres, a half-inch lower ride height from shorter, stiffer springs, quick ratio steering, plus Sportline badging.

Legendary quality is assured but these cars are getting on a bit now, so you can forgive the odd rot spot. Notoriously, front wings rust from behind the indicators where a lip under the wing traps mud. From here the rot can spread to the wheelarch. Wings are bolt-on and about £200 each. Sorting rusty rear arches is not a big job but any painting needed behind the doors is a problem because the quarter panel runs up to the roof and over the doors without a swage line to paint up to. A small ding needing a touch-in, or a rusty arch may mean the whole rear quarter needs painting.

A saloon is the cheapest way into W124 ownership. Some regard them as a little plain and while they’re not quite as glamorous as the swankier body styles available, a saloon model in good condition can still command strong prices. So, while saloons, estates and coupés start at £1500, they will probably need a head gasket, wiring loom or front wings. Pay £4-£6k at auction for something decent, £8k for a really nice one. Cabrios generally start at £6k. Good cars at £10k, £15k for a stunner and £16-20k for a facelifted cabrio with fewer than 50k miles.

On 320s – but especially on any example that’s being offered for what is seemingly a bargain price – be on the look-out for a leaky cylinder head gasket. They can soldier on for a long time when partially failed, but will need attending to eventually. It’s not a difficult job for a DIY owner, but it’s about a £1000 at an independent specialist – nearer twice that at a main dealer. On a ‘six’, you’ll spot it first by oil leaks down the sides of the motor and the radiator header tank filling up. The 220s tend to be a bit hardier, and if they go, they manifest themselves by anti-freeze leaking down the back of the cylinder head. If you do a cylinder head gasket it makes sense to change the oil filter housing gasket at the same time, so check the service history to make sure that this has actually happened. All W124 engines use a cam chain rather than a cambelt, which has no specified replacement interval and should in theory last the lifetime of the car. Likewise, bottom ends are bulletproof, so full engine rebuilds are rare.

As well as those crusty front wings, there’s another W124 weakness and that’s the engine wiring looms. They degrade with time and the first thing you’ll notice is the engine misfiring. Looms run along the top of the power unit and feed the coils, which run two cylinders each. They can be repaired, but it costs about £1000 at a specialist – that’s about £700 for the loom itself and a couple of hours’ labour charge to fit it. Or you can have a crack yourself, as there is plenty of advice available for those who can do it themselves.

Springs corrode and the bottom coils can snap off, though they are at least easy to replace – expect a couple of hours’ labour for a specialist that uses the correct spring compressor. If the lower ball joints need replacement, you should attend to them at the same time because the springs need to come out first. Suspension strut top rubbers can perish with age and mileage, but this isn’t a common problem – the first things that go tend to be the front anti-roll-bar rubbers. Citroën-like rear self-levelling suspension with an under-bonnet pressurizing pump was available on some models, although unlike the traditional Citroën application, the Mercedes system had a fixed ride height and employed rear coil springs to maintain the static ride height when parked.

Don’t expect an overtly sporty drive – although the Sportline option is tauter and obviously the 3.2 six-cylinder cars are quicker. Some owners like to stiffen things up, with short springs and sportier dampers. As standard there were 16-inch alloy wheels but it’s possible to fit more modern items. Some owners fit AMG 18in rims that firm up the ride quite noticeably, but don’t go too far.

Inside the car, you don’t want to see an ABS alert or an airbag warning light staying on after firing up the engine. Likewise, check that the heated front seats operate as they should and that all the trim parts are there – they’re hard to find now. Seatbelt feeders (or ‘butlers’) on the coupé models can go wrong – it’s not the parts that are expensive but the time it takes to remove all the trim to get at them, especially when some of that trim may break. If they’re not working as expected, check the door switches in the A-pillars first – as well as working the interior lights they trigger the belt feeders and get damp and corroded. It’s therefore worth changing them first because they’re an easy and relatively cheap fix.

Mercedes-Benz W124

#### A restoration to factory spec was never on the agenda for speed freak Dean Harley and his bonkers Kawasaki-fied Fiat

**WORDS** MATT TOMKINS **PICTURES** MATT HOWELL

**T**he first time I met Dean Harley, this Fiat 128 was in primer, on fire and had covered just three miles since rebuild into the spitting, snarling, bike-engined monster you see here. ‘Ahh, yes’, recalls Dean ‘I built the car up completely before sending it for paint and had come to the MOT bay opposite the PC workshop to have it tested.’ It had passed, but an electrical fault when the fans kicked in (Dean suspects a dodgy switch) sent then loom up in smoke. With the fire quickly extinguished, we bonded over a cuppa and a biscuit while he awaited recovery. Fast forward to today and the car before us is a true beauty, resplendent in a its original vibrant hue of Brilliant Green (Dean had one this colour as a lad). It has been meticulously applied, with the fit and finish of the extreme modifications incredibly well executed – and because the car had its ‘dry build’ before paint, there’s no compromise anywhere on the final painted surfaces.

Now powered by a Kawasaki ZX12R engine, the 128 had covered just 15,000 miles from new when Dean bought it. Purists may gasp, and I raise an eyebrow, but then Dean pulls a bent and twisted valve from the boot. ‘This was in the sump’ he grins. ‘The chap I bought it off had started it up after many years laid up without changing the cambelt, which snapped and lunched the engine.’ A lesson in how not to recommission a car. ‘Then, he’d towed it up his driveway but the rope snapped and rolled back into his house, caving in the rear panel and boot lid.’

This isn’t Dean’s first rodeo. A serial Fiat owner in his formative years, more recently he’s built two kit cars, a Tiger Super Sports and a Spire Sport GTR, the latter powered by the bike engine now fitted to his 128.

‘It took me a long time to bring myself to sell that,’ laments Dean, ‘but I couldn't finance the Fiat’s build without doing so, and I’ve only got a single garage. I was gutted back then, but now this is done I’m over it!’

It had taken Dean a great many years to find the 128 of his dreams, reminiscing of those cars he’d owned when he first felt the freedom of the driving seat. ‘Everyone else had Escorts and the like, but I was never one to follow the crowd. I had Fiats. They were different and I respected that.’ This one came along in 2011 via eBay and Dean recalls ‘it cost me more to get it home than my winning bid!’. It sat on his driveway for four years before he could bring himself to sell the kit car but, once it was in the garage, the engineering could commence. He began by manufacturing himself a 360-degree rotisserie onto which he mounted the 128 and set to work stripping it bare.

He had an end vision in mind, having ruminated on it and collected parts ever since the car arrived on the driveway. ‘I loved the bike engine in the kit car’ he recalls, ‘and the sequential six-speed gearbox just made the driving experience so special.’

‘I also knew, taking what I’d learned on the kit car, that I would be able to get the engine running properly outside of the bike.’ So that was the first big purchase, a Kawasaki ‘Ninja’ motorbike, a four-cylinder, 178bhp race-bred machine just out of MOT that had been dropped. ‘I love bikes,’ says Dean, ‘but I couldn't trust myself on one. This is the closest I’ll get to a motorbike these days.’

With that sort of power, however, he suspected that the shell would simply pull itself apart. ‘My son in law runs a local tool hire firm, so I was able to secure the use of a hydraulic pipe bender for the weekend.’ Just £70 secured Dean sufficient gas pipe to make himself a roll cage. ‘I tacked it all together then a work colleague, who’s a coded welder, did the pretty welding for me in exchange for me rewiring his garage,’ explains Dean. ‘The front is now securely tied into the rear of the car, holding the structure together as well as providing roll-over protection should the worst happen.’

You’ll no doubt have noticed that the car’s stance is non-standard. Dean made his own coil over suspension for the front, cutting the struts and removing 30mm from their height before having his work pal weld them back together to accept a set of KYB damper inserts for an early X1-9. At this point Dean pauses. ‘I’ve had so much help on this project from friends and colleagues who have been incredibly generous with their time and expertise. There are very few people I’d let work on this thing, so it’s testament to how much I think of those who have laid hands on it that they have done so to such an exceptional standard.’

With the struts shortened, Dean added rings top and bottom to hold the spring before moving to the rear, where he replaced the OE transverse leaf spring with a pair of aftermarket coil overs from Croatia. The distinctive wheelarches are also items that Dean sourced from Croatia, originally designed to fit a two-door model. He meticulously cut tabs in the original metalwork, bending them until they touched the glassfibre then infilling them to form an inner wheelarch that would allow the aftermarket alloys to sit ‘just so’. It’s barely noticeable but there’s some fabrication artistry going on at the bottom of the door too, which has been carefully re-shaped to allow the arch profile to be retained without compromise. Dean is modest but it’s clear that there has been an incredible amount of work done here. This was all done at the same time as unpicking the damaged rear panel and replacing it, along with the boot lid, to ensure a perfectly solid shell to build on.

Braking is expertly devised too. ‘I took a full front hub to Rally Design, who helped me to work out the setup.’ Dean explains. It uses Fiat Punto HGT front and rear discs with a balance bar on the master cylinder. Willwood four-pot front callipers and Punto rears help to arrest the momentum that was to come with the Kawasaki engine.

Dean bought a blown up ‘Ninja’ engine for mocking up purposes, allowing him to strip it bare and ensure minimal strain on his back during the man hours of trial fitting. ‘I built a subframe that accepts the engine, gearbox, sprocket and separate reverse 'box,’ explains Dean. ‘I made it out of conduit first before re-making it in CDS, tacking it together and once again passing the job of the pretty welding to my friend.’ Once the ‘real’ engine from Dean's donor bike was in the frame, the electrical work could start. As with any modern engine transplant, there’s a significant amount of work to be done to ensure the ECU doesn’t go into meltdown, however taking everything he’d learned from the Spire Sport, Dean was able to unpick the original harness and build a complete new wiring loom which would run both engine and car. He’s even been able to extricate the bike’s gauges and seamlessly integrate them into the Fiat’s dashboard. It’s all very impressive.

By March 2020, the Fiat was running and moving under its own power. Just before the world went into lockdown, Dean took the car for its MOT, which is where this tale began. Once the fan wiring issues had been resolved, the car was on the road, working, functioning – doing car things – but like so many of us, the lockdown period gave Dean time to tinker. By April 2021 the car was a bare shell once more, stripped of every last component and sent to Envirostrip to be chemically dipped and stripped back to bare metal.

Back it came and into a local paint shop to receive its gleaming coats. ‘I’m a perfectionist’ admits Dean, ‘and I knew that if I did the bodywork myself I wouldn’t never be happy with it. Andrew Bateson, who runs a local bodyshop specialising in mainly dents and minor crash repairs, came highly recommended. He wasn’t keen on painting a whole car at first but I managed to persuade him to take it on.’ I’m sure you’ll agree, the result is truly spectacular – a finish befitting of the engineering genius underpinning it all.

‘It’s definitely not to everyone’s taste,’ Dean laughs ‘but I built it for me, not for anyone else – and I love it.’ I must admit, I love it, too – as does Dean’s stepdaughter, Emily, who describes it as a ‘Feral Fiat’. I can’t think of a better description.

‘Radical is the word. Some revivals are more extreme than others, but what Dean has done is based on sound engineering. Alan's XR2 is just as jaw droppiung though. A meticulous revival, from scrapyard to concours.’

Far from the mending crowd

In the February 2025 issue of Practical Classics, we take a look at the classics to buy in 2025. Underdogs, undervalued gems and cars we think will be making a real impact on the classic scene in years to come.

There are restoration stores galore – including two friends who joined forces to save a rare Triumph 2000 estate and restored it to perfection, plus the tale of a revived Leyland Tiger bus and pages of resto updates from the Practical Classics workshop, where we’ve been working on our classics – from Austin Seven to Renault Trafic camper! We take an in-depth look at Triumph rebushing, driveshaft boots and sealants, waxes and polishes.

There are essential guides to the Fiat X1/9 and Rover 75, a trip to the south of France in a Jaguar XJ and a ride around the dramatic landscape of northwest England – plus, we choose our favourite VWs and look back at the launch of the ground-shaking Jaguar XJ-S.

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#### James takes a break from the old routine to join our friends in the north

Explaining the less glamorous side of motoring journalism is really quite futile. The endless hours in front of a computer screen each month – researching, planning, scheduling and, unseen to colleagues or the outside world, filling in gaps and mopping up critical little tasks so essential to the magazine – is irrelevant. Just when we’re ready to begin the more satisfying process of writing, we’re dragged into dreary meetings (albeit necessary) about software updates and workflows. And you would be forgiven for not being in the least bit interested in any of that… because we’re certainly not!

We are, however, happy to be chained to the desk for 95 percent of the month if it means that we get to spend the other five percent standing on a blustery hilltop with fellow car enthusiasts about to hit the road for a day in the countryside. Sliding into the cockpit and turning the key – the joyful cacophony of everyone’s engine simultaneously bursting into life. A rumbling Stag, the fizz from an XR3i tailpipe and the mad jangling sound of a Fiat 500, forming a uniquely harmonious soundtrack? That’s what we’re talking about here. And today is one of those days. I’ve escaped the office, I’m in the north of England and we’re off for a drive.

Usually, when the PC team hits the road, we take the form of a somewhat disorganised ramble of twits with a vague plan. Indeed, you’ll be reading about that very type of road trip in next month’s edition of Practical Classics, when the team heads for Cornwall on our annual winter road trip. But today, here in Cumbria, we’re in the hands of Paul Bonsall for what is a much more coordinated kind of adventure. He is one of many enthusiasts in the UK who specialises in providing a service to we classic car owners – a well-structured, worry-free ride out to beautiful places among England’s rolling hills around his pub, the Fat Lamb Country Inn. Did I say pub? Yes, I did. Which means – at least this time of year – an open fire, ale and an extremely comfortable bed for the night.

We’ve visited the Fat Lamb many times but, on this occasion, I’ve decided to join Paul on one of his famous organised tours of the area and he has indeed promised me an ale and seat beside that fire afterwards. There’s an extra treat in store midway through the journey, which is a visit to Bolton Steam Museum. I’m no steam buff, admittedly, but I grew up completely captivated by one Frederick Travis Dibnah – the Bolton-born engineering genius, steeplejack and TV star – although in his own more humble words, and with finely-tuned Lancashire accent: ‘I'm just a backstreet mechanic, really’. The museum celebrates an industry which, at its peak, saw Lancashire producing more than half of the world’s cotton. Fred’s hometown alone had 120 working cotton mills so, for the very first time in my life, I’ll get a chance to get a taste for the things that drove Fred’s unwavering and infectious enthusiasm.

We assemble in the car park of the Fat Lamb, among cars of all shapes and sizes. My own transport for the day lurks in the background. I’ve borrowed Craig Cheetham’s second-generation Mondeo to see how it shapes up a quarter of a century after it was launched. It was also a very comfortable way of getting to Cumbria from PC HQ in Cambridgeshire, but I’m too ashamed to mention this to Steve Ormerod, who has arrived in his ’66 Austin-Healey 3000… roof down. ‘It’s all about wearing the right clothing!’ He’s fearless, having driven the car to all four corners of the nation, and across the Channel on more than one occasion. Thankfully, I’m not alone in feeling a little guilty about having a roof and a fierce heater. Finn Morriss has driven over from Kendal in his 1993 Volvo 245, which predictably serves as his daily driver, while Dougie Wilson has come down from Dunfermline in his late-Nineties Bentley Turbo R. ‘She’s big, but she’s still good enough for these country roads! And the heating is great!’

Having provided menu instructions to his excellent chef at the pub, Paul takes the lead in his 1998 Jaguar XJ8 and is followed closely by David Nugent in a stunning 1974 XJ12. He’s driven here from Surrey but isn’t expecting the economy to improve, reckoning ‘between 9 and 12mpg will be satisfactory’. I suggest ‘diabolical’ is a better description but, there you go. Paul had warned me you get all sorts turning up at these events – in David’s case, he simply wanted to get out of crowded southeast England ‘and to hell with the fuel economy!’

With grins behind every wheel, the convoy heads through the Yorkshire Dales National Park under bright wintry sunshine, past the majestic Ribblehead Viaduct, then wiggles southwest into one of Britain’s best kept secrets. The Forest of Bowland sits mostly in Lancashire, trickling into a small part of North Yorkshire, and despite its name, is mostly heather and blanket bog. Ah yes… and an outstanding network of dreamy roads scattered across this vast moorland.

I wince every time I see Steve Goddard’s cherished Triumph GT6 splosh through a muddy puddle and tell him so as we pull into a layby south of Bentham. He bought the car new from a Leicestershire main dealer in 1973 and after a serving for a while as a daily driver for his young family, he and his wife have taken the car all over Europe. ‘It’s fine! I’ve driven it in worse conditions than this! It has survived this long – and without the need for any welding!’ I glance at my own transportation, remembering just how bad Ford’s rustproofing was in the late Nineties.

Thankfully the second-generation Mondeo was a little better at resisting corrosion than its predecessor, but it did retain Richard Parry-Jones’s brilliant chassis. That means Ford’s characteristic sharpness and, while not the hottest ST version, this 2.5-litre V6 ‘Zetec S’ zings along with a pleasingly grunting soundtrack. It’s an estate, too – my favourite incarnation. Something about a fast estate, isn’t there?

That said, the Forest of Bowland is MX-5 country. All three of the examples here are perfectly proportioned for the narrow, lumpy roads and tight bends, each providing flawless, unequalled joy to their pilots. All with the added benefit of refinements such as a heater and a roof that doesn’t flap about or leak. It really was a classic straight out of the box – while so many car makers abandon the segment, long may it reign supreme. Alan Cooper says of his 2015 model that he’ll never sell. ‘The day I let it go is the day I can’t get into it!’ We arrive at Bolton Steam Museum to be greeted by a group of volunteers who enthusiastically show us around the array of beautifully preserved machines. They are truly enormous – 150 tonne monsters with flywheels 30 feet in diameter. It’s hard not to stand there and appreciate their importance in the nation’s extraordinary industrial history and we’re thankful to those who continue to celebrate it.

As for Fred Dibnah, his own place in the region’s history is just as assured. Those of a certain age will recall how a 1978 debut on a BBC news report (he was repairing Bolton Town Hall) captivated audiences. Viewers loved watching him scaling and demolishing the very chimneys built to serve a 19th century boomtown that put Bolton at the centre of the industrial revolution. Fred died in 2004 at the unspeakably young age of 66 and is remembered with a bronze statue in the town.

Having said a warm thank you to our hosts at the museum, we head out of town and we’re soon scaling the Trough of Bowland, a high pass that leads us to the Jubilee Tower and a blockbuster sight. The sun has begun its late afternoon tumble, and we get unbroken views to a sparkling Irish sea. Straight ahead of us, the Isle of Man peeps above the horizon, while to the northwest we can see the peaks of the southern Lake District and to the far southwest, the mountains of Snowdonia. Closer, and silhouetted in the low sun, is the Blackpool skyline – Tower clearly visible. Winter sun lighting up the grins of those standing beside me, it’s a moment that marks the closing stages of a journey to places none of us have seen before, on roads we didn’t know existed.

That night we tuck into a superb homecooked meal, after which Paul and I host a quiz. Later, as everyone heads for the bar, I wander outside into the dark and pad through a light dusting of snow to look at the cars, admiring the perfect neatness of the MG TF and the Scimitar’s uniquely handsome shape. Clutching my beer, I turn back and look through the window at the owners, who are by now enjoying a pint around the fire, and I smile contentedly, reminded that outside of the unavoidable daily routine, there is a place for us all to escape. This is ours – and it’s yours, too.

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Northern lights

#### There's never been a better time to buy Fiat’s brilliant little sports car

Despite being the first mid-engined car to be built in significant numbers, the X1/9 failed to shake the foundations of the UK market, where buyers were still wedded to the idea of low-tech, front engined British sport cars. For that reason, there aren’t too many examples of the little Fiat to go round.

Survivors are highly likely to have been cherished, so you should be able to drop into that little cockpit and set course for the nearest set of bends without too much concern. But if you’re on a strict budget you’ll want to make the most of it – and give yourself the best chance of it remaining affordable.

Early cars carry a premium, but beware of bodgery by somebody aiming to earn a quick buck. £1250 might get you a project car but be wary of examples needing masses of corrosion repairs. Spend around £3500 and you’ll get a runner in need of a little work. According to recent auction results, trouble-free cars are now fetching around £5000 with the very best of the best up to around ten grand – a 14,000 miler sold at CCA in September for almost £13,000.

Back in February 1973, our sister publication _CAR_ magazine courageously declared the X1/9 to be ‘the most significant sports car of our time’. It reckoned the ‘Spridget-cum-Spitfire type of vehicle would be dead by the second half of the Seventies’ and that a lucrative new market would exist for something more sophisticated and sporty. While it suggested the X1/9 was ‘the kind of car that a chap who owns a Mercedes 350SL might buy his wife as a present’, it was also clear the X1/9 had a lot more going for it for the keen driver – be they male or female.

The X1/9 was launched in Italy in 1972, but didn’t arrive in the UK in right-hand drive form until 1977. The MkI can be distinguished by a shallower engine compartment lid. The first cars sold were powered by a 73bhp 1.3-litre overhead-cam four-cylinder engine designed by Ferrari engineer Aurelio Lampredi, similar to that used in the 128 Coupé. Despite four gears and low power, these early examples are the most valuable. From 1979 the X1/9 was fitted with the longer-stroke 85bhp 1.5-litre from the Ritmo/

Strada, in conjunction with a five-speed transaxle with higher overall gearing. Bertone took over production in 1982 and introduced various revisions, including electric windows, alloy wheels, tweaked floorpans, bodywork and bumpers and two-tone paint. Black mouldings and bumpers were added in 1987 and the last-of-the-line Gran Finale model, with Alcantara trim, spoiler and metallic paint, went on sale in 1989. Production ended in 1990 with a total of 163,750 made.

Thankfully, most of the basket cases are long gone but you will, as you'd expect, need to inspect your prospective purchase very carefully as there are plenty of rot traps. Given how poor the factory-applied rustproofing was, you’ll want to check every panel and every crevice. Having panels repaired will often be a better option than trying to replace them, because some repair panels are known to be ill-fitting. The front and rear wing bottoms, sills, door bottoms and wheelarches are the first areas to go, along with the front and rear valances. Also check the engine and luggage compartment lids plus the nose panels, the inner wings and the triple-layered front suspension turrets. The windscreen surround needs careful inspection – rust is common here and fixing it properly can be a time-consuming DIY job (around £1000+ at a specialist), because it requires removal of the interior and windscreen.

Despite its location, the engine is easier to access for servicing than you’d think. That said, join the club for all the tips and tricks. For instance, fellow members will already know how awkward setting the valve clearances is, because it’s done with shims! All X1/9 engines have a cambelt that should be replaced every four years or around 30,000 miles. Oil leaks from between the camshaft carrier and cylinder head are common, and cylinder head gasket failures are far from unusual. An erratic tickover will be a clue.

The X1/9's engine needs a lot of cooling, given its location in the car. There’s a thermostatically controlled electric fan; the nose-mounted radiator corrodes internally, and the outside gets covered in debris. The alloy cylinder head can also corrode internally if anti-freeze levels aren’t maintained, plus the steel pipes that run from the radiator to the engine can corrode inside and out. It doesn’t help that the coolant pipes that run the length of the car do so within a welded-up box section, so they’re not accessible.

The X1/9’s manual gearbox was taken from first the 128 and then the Strada/Ritmo. This means that 1.3-litre cars have four ratios while 1500s have an extra cog. The four-speed gearbox tends to last extremely well, but the five-speed unit is much less robust. Look out for particularly poor synchromesh on second and third. Spare parts are currently hard to come by, but it isn’t a complicated item, so a rebuild won’t be difficult for the experienced – or it’ll be £300 to sort via a specialist. Watch for split CV joint covers and listen for knocks that signify the joint needs to be replaced. Also, the cap-headed bolts that secure the shafts to their flanges can work loose. It’ll be obvious something is amiss from the noises coming from the rear as drive is taken up.

The rack-and-pinion steering gives no problems apart from the possibility of damaged rack gaiters. Tired front suspension ball joints are easily and cheaply replaced but those at the rear are costly to renew because they’re integral with the lower wishbone. Even used wishbones are £150 apiece; new ones are at least double this. If there are any issues in this department, they’ll be given away by rear-wheel steering and a knock from the back of the car. X1/9s originally sold in the UK were fitted with alloy wheels, and there were at least half a dozen different designs. The running gear is generally tough and very reliable, as with other Fiat models of this era. Brake calipers can seize though, along with handbrake cables on sparingly used cars. There’s no servo to go wrong and assistance isn’t needed either, the all-disc system being up to the job with excess pedal effort. Mind you, the handbrake clips on the rear calipers often seize up so that's something to look out for..

This is a 1970s car and therefore worn interior trim and brittle plastics is a way of life. Split seat trim is a common issue for the X1/9 owner – especially on the driver’s side. The seat material on early 1300 cars isn’t very hard wearing at all, the vinyl on early 1500 models can crack badly, while the later cars got tougher cloth and good quality black and red leather. The Alcantara of the Gran Finale doesn’t wear at all well, so check that carefully. On the upside, the seats can be removed and dismantled easily, which helps when it comes to keeping the cost of refurbishment down.

You should find most electrical issues have been solved on cars in good order but you may still find your headlight relays and diodes failing. The same goes for the electric window switches – and if they have manually wound windows instead, the operating cables can break. The start point for fixing these things is, as you'd expect, inspection of the fusebox, which is located in the passenger footwell. Another weak spot can be the alternator; some cars got a poor-quality Marelli item while others got a Bosch unit. Before spending any time or money on a new item, first check the security of the earthing strap on the front bulkhead yourself; it often works loose or corrodes, and reattaching or replacing it is an easy fix.

Low-quality interior trim guarantees a challenge or two, so carefully inspect the whole cabin before you buy. Seats come out easily though, making a retrim easier.

The engine is easier to access for servicing than you might imagine but its location means it’s susceptible to overheating if the cooling system isn’t kept in tip-top condition.

Replacement panels dried up long ago, so you need to be on the lookout for signs of bodged repairs or rust that’s likely to be a pain to fix.

Fiat X1/9 1972-1989

#### Magic happened when Phil Smith and best pal Ray Preston joined forces…

**WORDS** JAMES WALSHE **PICTURES** MATT RICHARDSON

A humble chap, is our Phil. ‘I’ve been trying to work out if I have any skills.’ Standing beside his Triumph in the garage he built himself, he begins our day together deflecting much of the praise towards his best mate, Ray Preston. ‘Ray is a proper car restorer. He does everything. I just make the tea’. Ray chips in to confirm this, but with a wink. ‘He’s very good at fetching spanners’. Truth is, they’re both fibbing.

Phil was no mere casual observer in the revival of what began as an extremely rotten workhorse. He and fellow 2000 Register member in Kent, Charles Harrison, saved the car in 2016 and managed to get it back on the road for use as a daily driver, Phil ragging it around motorsport events such as the Blackpalfrey Motor Club’s Hughes Rally. ‘As time went by, I had the feeling the corrosion underneath was serious enough for me to take it off the road for good.’ With help from another mate, experienced bodywork guru Ray, they decided to investigate and… ‘Well, we got a bit of a shock!’ says Phil. Underneath the Triumph’s French Blue paintwork lay some genuine horror. ‘The sills were in such poor condition, it was clear the fragile old thing wouldn’t survive being jacked up in order to fit it to the rotisserie’.

It soon dawned on him that doing the work alone was unthinkable. ‘It felt just too daunting, which is where your mates come into it. Ray assured me it could be fixed and we made the decision to work together.’ However, before they could start, Phil needed to make some modifications to his house. He designed and built himself a covered area on the end of the building, where he and Ray could work on the Triumph irrespective of poor weather. Later, irritated by the cold wintry breezes rushing through the area, Phil added a wall and some doors. ‘It meant working without freezing our bums off was now possible.’

As work commenced, the decision was made to replace the sills with the car still on the ground, so with steel bars welded between the doors the inner, middle and outer sills were cut out with the angle grinder. Phil says the fitment of the bars improved things no end. ‘It was considerably stronger than before, and a trial fit of the doors confirmed everything was where it should be.’

Engine and gearbox removed, along with the interior, Phil and Ray lifted the body onto the rotisserie. ‘The quality of this one was great and with the hydraulic rams easy to get the car high enough to work on’. Ray chips in. ‘I’ve had replacement knees and have back problems, so not having to lie on the ground was handy!’ The stripping of the body continued and bit by bit, the car began to disappear before Phil’s eyes. ‘As I hacked away at the sills, it got worse,' he explains. 'Any vibration would result in another great big pile of rust forming on the floor!’

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