Do you know how tough it is here? Let me give you just one example. Next weekend I could be at Villa Erba on the shores of Lake Como hanging out with my besties George and Amal, Sting and Ms Sting and Dickie Branson. We would be having a few Cardinales while watching 15 Ferraris, six Porkers, five Lambos and five Brough Superiors (these are motorbikes for temporary English persons) at $150,000 apiece and sundry other pricey classics go under the martello. There won’t be a lot of car metal at Villa Erba for under $1 million. Even an old BMW is going to cost you $3.5m and it’s $150 just to get in the door.
Of course it’s not a Beemer like our Weekend Australian Lemons BMW 3 series that we bought for $250 or Michael McMichael’s (who is now running a pre-owned car business as well as his globally ranked Adelaide workshop) very rusty BMW 320 E36 Shitbox Rally car. No, it’s a 1957 BMW 507 Roadster Series I, that had the one owner for 51 years and 73,000 original kilometres from new. And it’s one of only 252 made.
No, readers, next Saturday I won’t be living la dolce vita, I will be on the start line in Adelaide with 250 other examples of why the Australian motor industry has disappeared. Yes, I had to say to George and the rest of them, “Lake Como or the Shitbox Rally, give me a break. Ferrari or Ford BA ute. No competition there.”
Don’t forget to come down and say hello. We’ve got the usual giveaways including copies of the April 15 Weekend Australian, The Australian pens that still don’t work and a very limited number of the black The Australian cheap papery looking bags.
And don’t look for me tomorrow at the preview champagne brunch reception for the Bonhams auction at Spa-Francochamps Motor Circuit. If you’re there bid on the extraordinary 1979/1981 Porsche Tye 935 competition coupe for around $600,000 and the 1991 Benetton-Cosworth Ford F1 in which Michael Schumacher made his debut. This is the car Nelson Piquet won the 1991 Canadian Grand Prix in and Schuey tried to finish a race in. He first drove it at Suzuka where he pulled out with engine trouble and then in Adelaide where he was crashed out. Yours for $1.5m.
Talking of Ferraris, as predicted Lew Hamilton won Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix with Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari 3.5 seconds further back and Daniel Ricciardo one minute 15 seconds behind in third. Friends, finishing over a minute behind in F1 is about as useful as waiting on Pier 54 in New York on April 17, 1914, for the Titanic to turn up. Dan drove well but Red Bull’s Renault engines are not in the game.
While Renault owners may be concerned, Ferrari owners are laughing. Last Sunday Auctions America doubled the estimate on the 2012 Ferrari 458 GTD Race Car, which was class-winner at the 2014 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. A nice pick-up for $626,000.
Talking of Porkers, Porsche Centre Leeds is offering an Aubergine Purple 1973 RS Touring for $1m drive-away, no more to pay. Now look, nearly all old Porkers are going the same direction as Sydney property but the 1973 Carrera RS has become one of the most lusted-after of all.
In the early 70s Porsche’s 911 was looking a bit tired so Ernie Fuhrmann, who had just returned to the company, sexed up the 911S to run in the European Grand Touring Championship. To compete, Ernie had to build at least 500. They built two kinds: a lightweight full-out racer and a less Spartan touring car. Both were very quick and expensive even by today’s standards.
While the tech heads at Porsche didn’t believe they could ever sell 500 they actually got rid of 1590. Over the past few years a million dollars has been the price of entry to any 1973 RS.
Can you note in your diary Hagerty’s Annual Festival of the Unexceptional, which will be held at Stowe House on Saturday, July 22. Stowe House was built by Dickie Temple in the late 17th century. Readers will remember Dickie as a member of the council for foreign plantations in 1671 and a leader against the Popish Plot. The festival “celebrates the much maligned and long forgotten ordinary classic cars and commercial vehicles of the late 60s, 70s and 80s”. Part of the event is the Concours de l’Ordinaire. Past winners included an immaculate and rare Nissan Cherry Europe, a Morris Marina pick-up truck, and a Hillman Avenger Super Estate.
I’m looking forward to the return of Hagerty’s Feast of the Unexceptional, where participants have to bring Battenberg cake, Curly Wurly bars, cheese and pineapple on sticks and Babycham. If you actually think Battenberg cake, Curly Wurly bars, cheese and pineapple on sticks, Babycham and Kim Kardashian are pretty cool then have a look at the Mercedes GLE for around $160,000. It’s the Merc version of the BMX X6 and they both share one thing in common. They are sensationally ugly. Both will go down in automotive history with the Porsche Panamera, the 2000 Hyundai Tiburon, the PT Cruiser and the Suzuki X-90.
This is a shortened version of the original article – read the rest at The Australian
