The Classic Car Show 26th March 2015

Tonight's episode begins with Quentin Wilson's article about the Mini. The design by Alec Issigonis took two and half years to finish. The original prototypes were too fast being able to reach 95mph. The engine was then reduced to 850cc. Stirling Moss was the first person to crash a Mini but the Issigonis was happy as the transverse engine protected the passengers in the Mini. He also designed door pockets that could hold eight bottles of Gin and the Mini came with three ashtrays, one in the front and two in the back. The ones in the back were illuminated. When the Mini was launched in 1959, the motoring press took it for drives around a track in Surrey and could not believe how well it handled. It made everything else at the time seem dull and slow. In the first year of production the Mini bombed as the original Mini took just two hours to build, BMC penny pinched in the production process, and there was an endless list of glitches. One of the problems was a boy was impaled on a door handle as they were very sharp  so they had to be redesigned. Another was the the window catches only had one screw so they spun around and scratched the glass. The guttering on the roof would fill like a bath as nobody put any drain holes in so every new mini had a drain hole put in by the dealer before being sold to a customer. The biggest problem with the Mini though was the public did not like it. It was a happy looking car in a time when Britain was a gloomy place. Food rationing had ended in 1954 and the Mini looked silly and frivolous. Issigonis then had a plan. He lent a Mini to Princess Margaret's husband Lord Snowdon, the press ran photos of them and everything changed. Suddenly everything changed, sales figures rise quickly and the Mini became a hip car to own. By 1963 three quarters of a million Mini's had rolled off the production lines. So the car that nearly failed has become an icon simply because of its design and personality. It design was a revolution, four tiny ten inch wheels in each corner, thin flat sides, a big glass area and room for a family of four. It's personality, in 1959 if you pushed a car hard around a corner, it would fall over. If you drove a Mini around the same corner it would be able to manage it. You say nine inches above the road and you were pulled along by a shouty engine. This is why it did well at rallying. The Mini can claim that it won the Monte Carlo rally, was driven by royalty, rockstars and Hollywood icons and had the film The Italian Job based around it. The Mini is the longest selling car in British history. It also had over 50 special editions, there was the Mary Quant, the Piccadilly, the Red Hot and the Paul Smith. In the 1990's they had a revival with a modern Cooper version. The last Mini, a red Cooper Sport rolled out of the factory in October 2000 and ended an era of 5.5 million Mini's sold.

The irony of the Mini is that although this is Britains best selling car, it never made any money. Ford did an experiment, they bought a Mini for £350 before purchase tax and took it apart and looked over it with their accountants and calculated that for every car sold, BMC were losing £30 per car. This was denied by BMC so seven years later, Ford did the same experiment and came to the same conclusion. Using Ford calculations, the Mini lost BMC and British Leyland 165 million pounds. Today a 1959 Mini will cost around from £25,000 up to around £40,000. 

Next up is Chris Routledge with his barn finds article. This week Chris has gad a call about a car collector who has all kinds of cars in all kinds of conditions. Upon arriving, Chris finds a collection of mostly post war British cars that have seen better days. He spots a Rover 3500S,  a Humber and an Austin. Chris also finds an old speedometer and the bonnet of an E-Type Jaguar. Chris then finds a rare Crayford Capri Convertable. Only 30 of these cars were made and it is in a bad state with most of the car stripped out. Even the engine is missing. In this condition it is worth around £5,000. Restored it would be worth around the £50,000 mark.

Jodie Kidd now presents us some more classic car adverts. First up is the AMC Pacer, dubbed as the widest small car. The smallest engine for this car was a 3.6 litre straight six, so it packed some power.

Next up is the Austin Princess. This really is an amusing advert and it probably helped sell them. Last up is an advert about the Volkswagen Passat.

Next up, Alex Riley presents his article on £5,000 classic. Today Alex is driving a BMW 635CSi. This car would have cost £80,000 in today's money, it had a luxury interior with leather upholstery and carpets. Launched in 1976, it was a replacement for the 3 litre CSi and CSL, the 6 series was bigger and heavier and a bit of a disappointment. In the early 80's however, it got a new dash board, new suspension from the 5 series, ABS brakes and a lower weight. This helped the car become a big success and with that BMW put the price up. In 1982 the BMW cost more than a Ferrari 308. In 1984, it took the first four places in Germany's racing event, the DTM and a CSi went on to win the championship.

The 635 was powered by BMW's straight six M30 engine. This produced 218 horsepower and could get to 60mph in under 8 seconds. In 1983 BMW put the same engine that powered the M1 creating the M635CSi. This gave the car 286 horsepower. The 6 series stayed in production for 13 years, ending in 1989.

Next up is Bruno Senna driving s classic car around the Brooklands handling track. Today he is driving a 1965 Mini Cooper S. This Mini is a touring car legend. In the hands of John Rhodes it won 4 saloon car class titles between 1965 and 1968 and claimed 3 overall victories beating Ford Falcon's, Mustang's and Lotus Cortina's. When Bruno takes the Mini to the track it looks very quick, hardly slowing down for the corners. At the halfway split he is .698 of a second slower than the Jaguar. By theend of the lap, the Mini is 3.146 seconds slower.

Quentin Wilson then gives us 3 classic cars that are rising in value. First up is the  BMW 850. Top speed is 160mph and will get to 60mph in 6 seconds. In 1989 it cost £52,000 they now cost sound £10,000. Prices are set to rise. Next up is  the Renault 5 Gordini Turbo. This was the pioneer of the hot hatch. It's thought that only 200 of these cars survive. Top speed is 116mph, 0-60 in 9 seconds. It cost £4,000 when it came out, a mint one now will cost around £4,000 but due to so few remaing, prices will go up. Lastly is the Rover P5B saloon. It has a Buick 3.5 litre V8 that will get to 60mph in 12 seconds and a top speed of 115mph. In 1967 they cost £2,700 prices are now at £7,000 but this will rise.

Last up, Jodie Kidd goes rallying in a Mini Cooper S with Paddy Hopkirk. In the 1960's Paddy Hopkirk led the charge with Mini, winning the Monte Carlo rally against bigger and more powerful cars from America and Germany. At a rally test stage in Bradford, Paddy will teach Jodie the art of rallying in his Mini. With Paddy taking the wheel you can see his skill in the way he drives, he really quick but without going over the top. It's easy to see why the Mini was a great rally car.

It's Jodie's turn at the wheel. Jodie excels at driving on this rally stage getting to grips with how to control the Mini and how to flick into the corners. Jodie really enjoyed the experience but who wouldn't?

This has been a brilliant episode. All of the presenters are clearly loving their work and the banter between Jodie and Quentin is amusing.