Will Best visits The Classic Car Club in London to find out if a classic car gets a better reaction from people than a modern car. Will Best first drives an Audi R8 V10 Spider around London to see what reaction it gets. To be fair, it's underwhelming. He starts at a junction to see if anyone would let him out, no one did and in general he did not get a good reaction. Will then makes a good point, if you are going to hire a car for a day you want it to feel special. He then hands the Audi over and then gets into a 1967 Corvette Stingray. The reaction is amazing, people are waving at him and at the same junction where he was made to wait, a van lets him out. People do seem to love classic cars.
The next article is about Concours D Elegance. This is where people display rare cars and they are kept in beyond pristine condition.
Alex Riley then introduces his under £5000 classic. In this episode it is a Jaguar XJ-S. This car was the replacement for the E-Type Jaguar and was designed to take customers away from Mercedes. The XJ-S came equipped with a low driving position and an 5.3 Litre V12 that could take it beyond 150mph. In 1979 a fuel crisis struck and with the XJ-S only capable of 14mpg, something had to be done. Enter Swiss engineer Michael Mays who created the High Efficiency version of the XJ-S and saved the car. The car was a success and stayed in production until 1996.
The next article is by Chris Routledge Introducing his barn finds. This week he has been given a tip about an Amilcar that is in a garage. Amilcar were bespoke racing car makers based in France. They were only made for 3 years. Chris arrives at a garage with a car parked in front of it not convinced about how much of the original car will be left. He scrambles in to find an all original Amilcar. Some of the paint is peeling but all in all the car has remained untouched. The dials are all in place and in good condition. The last time the car was belived to be on the road was 1957. The car outside moves away and the garage can be opened. Chris then moves the car into the drive and takes a proper look. The car is complete but what if the future for the car. This question remains unanswered.
The owners do not want to sell but this is an important car.
Quenten Wilson introduces the future classics. First we have the Renault Clio Williams. Only 390 of these were made and they are gaining in value. Next is the Datsun 240z. Prices are around £25,000 and rising. Finally we have the Jeep CJ.
Jodie Kidd then introduces the final article on the show. Jodie travels to The Champagne Region of France to visit the Reims circuit. Reims has a legendary relationship with Grand Prix racing. In 1926 the winner of the first Reims Grand Prix was presented with a bottle of local produce. The rest as they say is history. Jodie is driving a stunning Ford GT40 replica, the last car to win at Reims, around the French countryside, Jodie then spies what looks like a grandstand and finds the start/finish straight. Jodie then walks around the abandoned buildings and grandstands its quite haunting. It's also easy to imagine it back in its heyday full of people. No visit would be complete without a lap of the track. The Ford GT40 replica looks and sounds the part while the start/finish straight is closed to the public, the other parts of the track are on public roads and motorways.
The Classic Car Show has again given us a wide mix of classic cars and another brilliant episode. Below is a link to the programme.
http://www.channel5.com/shows/the-classic-car-show
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