Local Barn Find

Barn finds are always exciting and this one, as it is just down the road from us here in Suffolk, is extra exciting as the two cars discovered are going up for sale in an auction hosted by Reeman Danise on Saturday 16th November.

1952 Mercedes-Benz 220 Type A Cabriolet (Reg. FCF 902D)

With only three owners since new, this left-hand-drive 1952 Mercedes-Benz 220 Type A Cabriolet has a very interesting history.

The car was originally bought by a British Army Intelligence Corps officer on 28th September 1960 from Autohaus Mauss in Düsseldorf. Painted in classic white with green leather upholstery and a black roof, it accompanied its owner throughout his service abroad.

In 1962, the car was shipped to Cyprus, where it saw (and survived) a local riot. A projectile cracked its windscreen and this crack is still there today! When the officer was due to return to England in 1964, he didn’t want to leave the car behind. Instead, he drove it on a month-long journey with his wife, across Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Holland, and Belgium before finally arriving in England.

It is being sold with a collection of historical documents, including the original 1952 German logbook, the 1960 bill of sale, a 1958 service book, military petrol ration cards, a Republic of Cyprus registration document, the official 1964 travel permit covering all countries visited, entry permits for Beirut, English import documents, service records, photos from its travels, and an official workshop manual.

The car was taken off the road in the 1970s and has been in the same spot ever since.

Estimate: £30,000 – £35,000

Full details can be seen here.

1921 Talbot-Darracq 16hp V21 Open Tourer (Reg. XH5797)

Keeping the Mercedes company all these years was a 1921 Talbot-Darracq 16hp open tourer. Originally designed in 1913 but reintroduced after World War I when the factory switched back to car production (it was used to manufacture aircraft during the war), it has a 3-litre, four-cylinder engine, and, quite impressively considering it is from the 1920s, had a top speed of 45 miles per hour.

The car was purchased by the late owner’s husband in 1967 from CJ Bendall Ltd in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, for £750. Amazingly, the original bill of sale, purchase cheque, and a photo of the couple standing beside their new car are included in the sale. It has green and black coachwork, a black buttoned leather interior, and a canvas roof.

After being used frequently by its past owner, it underwent a sympathetic mechanical restoration in the 1970s and early 1980s, with the last MOT obtained in 1982. Since then, it has been sitting in the barn, with its engine periodically being turned over.

The car comes with a history file containing old logbooks, receipts for restoration work in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as some photographs.

Estimate: £6,000 – £8,000

Full details can be seen here.

Caterham Seven CSR Twenty

To celebrate 20 years of the CSR chassis, Caterham has released a very limited-edition car in the form of the Seven CSR Twenty. There will only be 20 vehicles made and these will be exclusively for UK customers. To make the Seven CSR Twenty even more special, it is the first vehicle that will be made for the UK market at Caterham’s brand-new multi-million-pound factory in Dartford.

This special edition Seven brings together some of Caterham’s most successful engineering. For example, it pairs the 210 bhp version of the 2.0-litre Ford Duratec engine – the one most likely to be seen in the Seven 420, with the CSR chassis, This is the very first time this has happened so these 20 cars will be the only ones with this setup.

“This is without doubt the most premium Seven we’ve ever built. The interior of the car is a level up from what we’ve produced before thanks to an array of high-quality materials used throughout.
“When you combine this with the exhilarating and engaging handling of our CSR chassis, this really is a Caterham built for longer distance road trips.
“It’s a vehicle that truly celebrates 20 years of our CSR chassis and I’m proud to see it being hand built here in our new Dartford factory.” 

Bob Laishley, Caterham Cars CEO

It will have a 5-speed manual gearbox and a 0 to 60 mph time of just 3.9 seconds before continuing up to its top speed of 136mph. To help cope with this performance, the Seven CSR Twenty also has ventilated front discs with quad-piston callipers. The chassis has inboard front suspension and fully independent rear suspension. This helps give the Seven CSR Twenty the known Caterham handling.

Inside the car, there’s a satin carbon dashboard, CSR-exclusive dials, and Alcantara details on the gearstick and handbrake gaiters. Caterham cars aren’t necessarily known for their comfort and luxury but, in these 20 cars, you’ll get plush black carpets, a leather Momo steering wheel, and specially designed leather seats with red stitching and CSR Twenty logos. Each of the 20 cars includes a unique numbered plaque positioned between the seats too.

To look at the car, you’ll see a Seven 620-style nose cone, LED lighting, and a Union Flag grille. For the first time in the UK, the CSR Twenty has Vulcan 15” alloys and customers can choose between two exclusive paint colours – Kinetic Grey and Dynamic Silver.

Prices start from £79,995.

First Speed Six delivery in 94 years

The first customer Speed Six Continuation Series car has been finished, and is soon going to be delivered to its new American owner. This delivery will be the first time a new Bentley Speed Six has been delivered since 1930.

Commissioned just over 12 months ago, the classically curated Speed Six looks incredible in Parsons Napier Green bodywork on top of a black-painted chassis. The iconic face of the Speed Six is dominated by the twin round headlamps, finished in Chrome with a protective mesh and separated by a large number ‘4’ on the radiator.

Made by hand from scratch, each car takes eight months to complete, with the expert team of Mulliner technicians working closely with a network of specialist suppliers across the UK to recreate every detail of the original Speed Six.

The cockpit is as original as the exterior, with every gauge, switch and control exactly as per the specification of the Speed Sixes that raced at – and won – Le Mans in 1930. Leather-trimmed in a rich deep brown with red tones, the Rust leather and carpet pair perfectly with the Parsons Napier Green exterior.

At the start of the project, the Mulliner Classic team visited the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, Hampshire, to verify the five authentic period Parsons Paints that are available to customers. Over 600 individual new parts, including a new engine block casting, were fabricated for the new 6½ litre race spec engine, which at the time developed 200 bhp.

Dyno testing has shown the Continuation Series engines to develop 205 bhp; while higher outputs have been achievable with the aid of modern engineering materials (as many classic racing teams do), the aim of the Continuation Series team was to create a Bentley exactly as it would have looked and performed in 1930.

The Speed Six is regarded as one of the most important Bentleys in history, being the most successful Bentley racing car ever produced. Using the same manufacturing processes as the original car from the late 1920s, the Speed Six is the second pre-war Continuation Series by Mulliner, Bentley’s bespoke and coachbuilding division.

The Blower Continuation Series was the first pre-war continuation series ever created and has been built by hand using a combination of modern laser-scanned data and original drawings. Both the blueprints and the 3D data were taken from the 1929 4½-litre supercharged Team Car #2 – the most famous Bentley in the world, and one of the icons of the Bentley Heritage Collection.

Famous for pushing Bentley’s main competitor Mercedes-Benz to the point of breakdown in the Le Mans 24 hour in 1930, the Bentley Blower was known for its impressive speed – albeit, at the sake of reliability – whereas the Speed Six was known for its reliable performance.

To celebrate Bentley’s first-ever win at the Le Mans in 1924, the Benjafield Racing Club hosted a 24-hour endurance event at the famous Algarve circuit of Portimão. The event consisted of 25 period Bentleys, driven by 87 club members, with one of the competitors being a Blower Continuation Series customer car, entered into the event by its owner.

In a very special moment for the Blower family and the Continuation Series, the car completed the race – becoming the first factory-built Blower to ever finish a 24-hour event.

New Car Market Drops For Second Time In 2024

The UK new car market saw a decline of 6.0% in October, compared to last year, with only 144,288 new vehicle registrations, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). This is the second market drop this year.

Fleet sales, which have held relatively steady through most of the year, also fell in October, dropping 1.7%. The low-volume business segment was hit harder, experiencing a decline of 12.8%. Private purchases, continuing a downward trend for nearly two years, decreased by 11.8%. As a result, only about 38.8% of new cars sold in the first ten months of 2024 were bought by private consumers.

The overall market decline was largely driven by steep reductions in petrol and diesel vehicle sales, which fell by 14.2% and 20.5%. Hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles also experienced minor declines, with registrations down by 1.6% and 3.2%. The only exception to this decline was battery electric vehicles (BEVs), which saw pretty substantial growth. This was mainly due to new model releases and increased consumer choice. BEV registrations increased by 24.5%, holding a 20.7% market share in October.

The increase in BEV availability is certainly growing with UK consumers now having access to over 125 models. This is a 38% rise over the past ten months. Although BEVs typically come with higher upfront costs than traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, an expanding range of options and substantial manufacturer discounts have made approximately 20% of BEV models more affordable than average petrol or diesel cars. Salary sacrifice programs and other incentives also help reduce costs.

Even though BEV sales increased, the overall market decline in October has led to an estimated £350 million loss in turnover. The targets set for BEV adoption across the country are quite a way off being met. There are now nearly 300,000 new BEVs on the road, this is still only 18.1% of the total market share. The target for this year is 22% increasing to 28% next year as part of the UK’s Vehicle Emissions Trading Scheme.

The recent Budget likely helped to some extent by extending fleet and business incentives for BEV purchases, but changes to the Vehicle Excise Duty and Company Car Tax have reduced incentives for low-carbon vehicle investments. This could add further delays to the timeline for reducing emissions in road transport.

To return to steady market growth, government support needs to match the manufacturers’ efforts. A review of current market conditions and regulations is likely needed to help the transition from ICE to zero-emission vehicles.