JAMES MARTIN: My classic cars: I'll be at CarFest with my four-wheeled family

October 2024 · 7 minute read

My classic cars: I'll be at CarFest with my four-wheeled family

Published: 17:00 EST, 25 August 2012 | Updated: 14:41 EST, 27 August 2012

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Chris Evans is holding an event called CarFest near my village this weekend – he might have mentioned it – and back in April he asked if I’d bring seven cars from my collection.

I found out by listening to the radio, of course. He tends to do that.

I can take some credit for CarFest since it was me who introduced Chris to my mate Jody Scheckter at a party at my house. It’s Jody’s farm he’s holding it on.

Generally I get my cars from private sales

Clockwise from left: 1965 FERRARI 275 GTB: Engine 3.3-litre V12: Power 375hp: Top speed 150mph: Value £750,000 to £3 million

1963 WORKS MINI COOPER: Engine 1.3-litre 4- cylinder: Power 125hp: Top speed 70mph: Value roughly £100,000

1967 WORKS MINI COOPER: Engine 1.3-litre 4-cylinder: Power 125hp: Top speed 70mph: Value roughly £75,000

1967 MUSTANG GTA FASTBACK: Engine 5.4-litre V8: Power 450hp: Top speed 140mph: Value £30,000 to buy, £70,000 to improve

1997 JORDAN GRAND PRIX CAR: Engine 3.0-litre V10: Power 730hp: Top speed 200mph: Value roughly £175,000

1963 FIAT ABARTH: Engine 595cc twin: Power 40hp: Top speed 70mph: Value £10,000 to £50,000

1985 FERRARI 288 GTO: Engine Twin-turbo 2.9- litre V8: Power 400hp: Top speed 189mph: Value £600,000 to £850,000

He’s a former F1 driver with an incredible car collection and Chris, as you know, has a fantastic collection of his own. (I’ve persuaded him to stop spraying them all white.) So I thought I’d take the opportunity to show you around mine.

It’s funny: the first time I ever appeared in Live was when they came to my house for a food interview and we ended up talking cars instead.

Not a single one of the cars I had then is still in my collection. I had a beautiful ’59 Corvette and a blue Maserati Mistral but they cost a bomb to run and didn’t handle well so I sold them.

Sometimes you look at it and think, ‘What the hell did I buy that for?’ The good news is, you get your money back when you sell it.  And then you get another car.

Of this lot, the one I’ve had longest is the Fiat Abarth 595. It’s a Sixties Fiat 500 tuned for track racing – although to be honest, this one’s not really competitive.

I put a modern-day stereo in it and use it to potter down to the shops. It puts a smile on people’s faces. It should do 70mph – although I’ve never tried – and it goes round corners like a little go-kart. Since the modern Fiat 500 became so popular, they go for about £20-£30,000 now.

I got the Abarth at auction for a quarter of that. The only other cars here that I bought at auction are the Works Mini Coopers. Why have I got two?

I’d have six if I could. As it is, I’ve got one from the start of Mini’s rallying days and one from the end.

The 8 EMO is the one my hero Paddy Hopkirk raced in 1963. I’ve kept it all original inside; it’s got all the map lights, twin tanks and a fire extinguisher. The 48F is from 1967.

It’s subtly different at the back, with different lights and a thing for refuelling faster, but neither will do much more than 70mph. That’s plenty when you’re on a forest stage, believe me.

Generally I get my cars from private sales. The classic car market is quite small and people tend to know who owns what at any given time. If there’s a particular car you like and want, you ask an agent to keep an eye out.

I’ve got about three, usually Gregor Fisken, DK Engineering and Paul Osborn. They even look abroad, which is what happened with the Ferrari 275 GTB.

I tried to buy this 275 six years ago when it was half the price, before the influx of Chinese money. It got sold to a guy who spent a fortune restoring its engine and gearbox.

I was live on Saturday Kitchen one day and got a text message from one of my guys saying, ‘Your car’s come up for sale. In Germany.’

I had four hours to get on a plane to Germany and half of that time I was live on TV. I made the decision to buy it without seeing it. I’ve never driven any of my cars until I’ve bought them.

To understand why I love cars, all you have to do is stick your head inside the 275 and smell. When you  start it up it’s even better. It was built for racing in 1965, so it’s not easy to manoeuvre around the drive.

You’ve hardly got any steering lock, you’ve got a racing clutch. You’d never drive it in London. But I’d only sell the 275 for one thing: the 250 Short Wheelbase that I test-drove for Live about five years ago. I’m saving up.

Sixties Ferraris are iconic; just ask Chris Evans.  I don’t like cars from the Seventies, but the Eighties were my childhood and the 288 GTO was on my bedroom wall. I never dreamed I’d own it. I had the chance when it was half the price – but that was the day I bought the Gullwing Mercedes 300SL, the very first car in my collection (long since sold). Prices for the  288 GTO have overtaken the Gullwing now.

   

More from James Martin for The Mail on Sunday...

 

It was a 180mph car, back in 1985; only about 20mph slower than the latest Ferraris. Despite that, it’s quite a friendly car to drive – certainly compared to the famously dangerous F40 that came out after the GTO and had the same engine. That’s why these are twice the price.

F1 cars are far more expensive to service and run than to buy – although if you had a car that Michael Schumacher had driven you’d be sitting on a goldmine. Schuey didn’t drive my Jordan 197, his brother Ralf did, with Giancarlo Fisichella in the 1997 season.

I remember seeing this car come second in Buenos Aires on telly.  I’ve got a Benetton one from the same year. I like F1 cars from the Nineties, as that was the last era when someone my size could actually get into the car.

But of all these, the one everybody loves when I give them the tour is the 1967 Mustang.

I bought it as a rust-bucket from America and gave it a new engine, new transmission, new suspension, new interior; the only original part is the roof. Some purists said I’d ruined it.

But Ford built thousands of these, quite badly, and the handling was atrocious. So why not make it better? I spent a lot of money turning it into something I loved.

My rules for car collecting?

1) Be careful with eBay: I once bought a £1,500 Fiat at 3am then woke up the next day and realised it would cost me £1,600 to collect. 

2) Don’t tell Chris Evans: I once told him about a Ferrari 512 TR I was due to view that afternoon; he went out in the morning and bought it.

3) Buy to enjoy, not to invest. You’ve got to drive these things.

That’s the most important thing, really. I can’t understand people spending a million quid on a painting, but I can understand this.

This is moveable art. Now about this Lancia Stratos I’ve got my eye on…

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