Cars

The late Jim Morrison, front man for The Doors, liked to expose himself on stage, and kick back with a bevy of beauties and a head-warping cocktail of drugs after a performance. He might not be the ideal candidate for a role model, but Morrison penned a few lyrics which lucidly described the philosophies and morals by which we should live our lives. Now while some Doors’ songs focused on Morrison’s Oedipus complex (the desire to murder Daddy and marry Mummy), Morrison prescribed a simple formula for safe driving when he wrote Roadhouse Blues. In the opening lines of the song, Morrison barks ‘keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel’ with as much aggressive affirmation as Adolf Hitler delivering one of his Nuremburg Rally speeches.

Reader resto 1978 Lotus Esprit S1. The guy who loves me. After it had languished in a barn for three decades, Matt Oxley took just eighteen months to transform a £200 wreck into a white-hot wedge. Words by Martyn Morgan-Jones photography by Gez Hughes.

This restored 1927 Morris Cowley, built at the end of 1927, has passed through a fair number of hands in recent years and was offered at Brightwells' auction at the end of November. Originally a saloon, it was found as a chassis in Kent in '89 and fitted with a new four-seat tourer body by Cookes of Nottingham, with an interior retrim in grey leather, a rebuilt engine, plus an overhauled Dynastart and magneto. A new hood and sidescreens were fitted in '92.

What’s it really cost. Like most of us, Tim Suddard is obsessed with cars, from his Sunbeam Tiger to his latest, a fin tail Benz sedan. It’s such a simple question: What’s it cost? In the world of classic cars, however, it's one we spend a lot of time either obsessing over or ignoring completely.

Another month, another collection of record breaking auction results. See the news pages for the full story, but the trend is definitely up, up, auction results. See the news pages for the full story, but the trend is definitely up, up, up. I don’t really like discussing the hard financial side of this Porsche obsession of ours, but it’s difficult to ignore when values are rising by the month, if not the week.

With the Fiat back on the road - I used it for the run to Goodwood for last month’s Alfa Spider cover story - and sporting its new gearbox, I resolved to get some of the niggles sorted. Brian Ingham of CBD Service Centre, just across the road from my Cirencester home, was happy to take a look at my list.

When I told a French friend that I was going back to England in the Renault, he assumed I meant that I would drive it to the local station, then catch a train. He was shocked when I told him that I was going to drive 600 miles up through France.

When the Mazda MX-5 returned to the road late last summer, a knocking sound was traced to the alternator’s rear bearing. Briefly running the engine without the belt attached seemed to confirm that because the noise disappeared. Genuine Mazda alternators are expensive and I was considering settling for a second-hand unit, but fortunately I noticed on one of my frequent visits to its website that MX-5 Parts was stocking a new aftermarket version at a far more palatable price. One of the many advantages of owning the popular Mazda is the parts back-up on offer, and the alternator arrived the day after I’d placed the order.

It’s hard to believe that this month (May) marks the 26th anniversary of my acquiring the Galaxie. It being a 1964 car means that I have been its custodian for more than half of its life. Bought from the original ‘little old lady’ in Redondo Beach, California for the princely sum of $850 - less than £500 - it arrived at Felixstowe on a sunny spring day in 1988. The first thing I did is what I always do - wound down all the windows to emphasise the coupe’s pillarless roofline.

Following in the best coach-building tradition, Jaguar’s current XK is providing rich pickings for low- volume manufacturers. And the latest to jump on the bandwagon revives a famous name, as David Brown launches an eponymous firm with plans to build a luxury GT. The David Brown Speedback will be unveiled to the public in Monaco on 17 April. It is described by its maker as ‘completely original’ - despite the clear influence of the Aston Martin DB6 in its lines.