Gary Axon – Content Consultant, curator and GRR contributor
First Car: Being unfortunate enough to be born on Christmas Day (of all days!) I have always lost out when it comes to birthday presents, cards and so on. To help address this, for my 12th birthday as a car-crazy kid, my parents bought me a very old (and knackered) 1963 Fiat 500 with suicide doors for about a Fiver, which was my birthday present, with socks and some car books being my Christmas gifts. I learned to drive in that 500, ragging the tiny Fiat around my parent’s back garden (which wasn’t that big), and eventually hitting one of my Mum’s beloved apple trees, which effectively wrote the 500 off.
Desperate to pass my test and get out on real roads, I bought my own first ‘proper’ car before my 17th birthday with money I’d been carefully saving for some time. Wanting either a (very used) Saab 96 V4, NSU Ro80 or Fiat 124 Coupe (all of which fell into insurance groupings too high and expensive for a learner driver aged 17), I actually bought a Honda S800 Coupe from 1970. Although the Honda was a serious two-seater sports car with a high-revving performance engine, the insurance authorities hadn’t twigged at the time that this was a proper bit of kit (faster than my friends’ tarted-up Minis and Capris), so the S800 only attracted the lowest ‘Group 1’ insurance rating, making it affordable to cover.
That metallic grey S800 was my first of three (two of which ended up at the scrapper, due to extreme rust causing costly MOT failures I couldn’t afford). These were followed by a bright orange Honda Z600 Coupe with the optional black side stripes, which I loved more than the S800, as the Z had a back seat (albeit a rather cramped one, but hey, when you’re young and agile…). I can’t find any pictures of any of my S800s, but here’s a photo of the Z600 Coupe.
Best Car: As I’ve owned more than 60 cars over the years (with an unlucky 13 cars at the same time at one point!), choosing a favorite is a very tough task. Naming the worst car I’ve owned (by some margin) is easy, as it was a rusty (and revolting) 1972 VW-Porsche 914 that disappointed at every level. Selecting my best car though, that’s considerably more difficult.
Based on looks alone, it would have to be my 1974 Fiat 130 Coupe (a work of art, but not so good dynamically), and I have very fond memories of my classic black Saab 99 Turbo ‘Combi Coupe’, my many Citroën’s (including an early ripple bonnet 2CV that was stolen from a lock-up, never to be seen again, plus a troublesome DS, fun-loving Mehari, zany Ami 6 Berline and very original 1957 H-van). I also enjoyed a rare RHD Panhard 24CT coupe, a part-share in a tired 1934 Aston Martin 1.5-Litre Le Mans, an Innocenti De Tomaso Mini ‘hot hatch’, a Caterham Seven and a funky Smart Roadster Coupe. Then there was my glorious Alfa Romeo Junior Z (oh why did I ever sell it!) and Alpine A110 Berlinette 1300 (an impatient purchase out of frustration while I was trying to find the ‘60s French sports car I really wanted; a Matra-Bonnet Djet!).
The Alpine was entertaining (and unknown and affordable in Britain back then), but overrated compared to the technically more advanced mid-engined Djet, and owning a three-seater Matra Murena as my everyday car at the time, I favoured Matra. After a pre-internet six-year search, I eventually found a Djet for sale (in Lyon), bought it, restored it and still own it today, now one of four known examples in the UK.
Having bought mostly (LHD) French and Italian cars over the years, ironically the best car I have owned is British! It’s my 1951 Bristol 401, my first of two handcrafted models from the Filton-based ex-aircraft maker, the other being my first (and so far only) V8; a 1972 Bristol 411 S3, an exquisite gentleman’s express, but with a 7mpg thirst! The 401 by comparison is acceptably frugal, as well as being beautifully made, cleverly engineered, delightful to drive and amazing to look at. What a car…
£50,000 Dream Car: I could be a little cheeky here and either split the generous (but sadly fictitious) £50,000 ‘dream car’ fund across three desirable (to me at least) cars, two of which I’ve previously owned, or spend it all on just one car.
If I were to spread the £50k across a trio of cars, my selection would look like this. For driving pleasure, I’d choose an Alfa Romeo Junior Zagato (a sweeter ‘short tail’ 1,300cc example like the one I used to own and regret selling), which will set me back around £28,000. The remaining £25k would be split between a Citroën Mehari (a four-seater at c.£12,000) with the remaining £10-grand being squandered on one of three possible late-1970s/early-‘80s small sporting machines, with a tricky toss-up between a SEAT 1430 Sport Coupe ‘Boca Negra’, a nice ‘70s Alfasud Ti, or a Daihatsu-engined Innocenti De Tomaso Turbo. As it stands today, the SEAT would be my choice from this trio, but this may well have changed by the time you read this.
If I have to spend the £50,000 all on one car only though, as much as I’d love a either a pre-war Amilcar CGSS, a Citroën 2CV Sahara 4x4, or a long-tail CD-Peugeot LM 67, I’d struggle to find any of these for the £50k budget. So, I’ll plumb for an immaculate Citroën SM in top condition as I’ve admired these quirky, over-engineered V6 GT coupes since I was a kid, and having later driven quite a few, I can attest to the SM being the most astonishing and modern car to drive, never mind those seductive looks; a cocktail of French chic and Italian mechanical brio. An immaculate SM for around £45,000 will leave me a spare £5,000 or so for a (basic) engine rebuild, which it will inevitably need at some stage, plus a few litres of fuel to head over to France, which the Citroën has a healthy thirst for.