Mad About Cars

Most petrol-heads dream of a ‘barn-find’, where some historic gem of a car has been left, forgotten in an old garage for years on end, waiting to be discovered. And in recent weeks, one of the most staggering ‘barn-finds’ in history saw a vintage Bugatti grand tourer, described as one of the world’s most desirable collector’s cars, found in an old lock up garage in Tyneside. This is the sort of car you expect to be kept behind security shutters, yet alone in a rotting wooden garage somewhere.

The car in question is a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante, of which only 17 examples were built. The car was owned by Dr Howard Carr, a reclusive doctor and former army surgeon from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. He bought the car in 1955 from Lord Ridley, and it is believed he drove the car for a few years before putting the car into storage in around 1960, where it has remained since. Prior to Dr Carr’s ownership the car had passed through the hands of several distinguished owners, with the first owner being Earl Howe, who was the original president of the exclusive British Racing Drivers’ Club.

Dr Carr passed away in 2007 and left the contents of the lock-up garage to his family. Staggeringly, along with the rare Bugatti, a Jaguar E-Type was also found, along with a classic Aston Martin.

Even with the classic car market suffering due to the financial climate, the Bugatti is expected to be highly sought after when it goes to auction in Paris next month. Although the car is in need of restoration after nearly 50 years in storage, auctioneers Bonhams expect the car to be sold for around £3million. Hopefully whoever buys this historical masterpiece, will give it the protection it needs with a proper garage and security shutters.

The ‘Ace Café’ situated near Willesden on the north-west outskirts of London is one of the most famous and iconic meeting places for petrol-heads from across the UK.

The café was originally built in 1938, and was designed as a transport café to serve traffic using the (then newly built) A406 North Circular Road.

Following extensive damage by bombing raids in World War 2, the café was rebuilt, and during the 1950 and 60s cemented its place as a key icon in British youth culture, with young car enthusiasts, along with ‘Rockers’ of the 1960s regularly meeting at the site. During this period, the Ace Café was seen as a central part of the Rockers movement.

The original café closed in 1969, and various attempts were made to re-open the café during the 1970s and 80s on different sites, although these were generally unsuccessful.

However, in 2001, the café re-opened on the original site. The café operates as a meeting sport for petrol-heads across the UK, and it is more popularly known amongst car enthusiasts as a meeting place rather than a café. Whilst the café remains as popular as ever with motorcyclists, the café is a key part of the classic car scene, with organisations from across the country catering for various makes, models and generation of car meeting at the site.

Today the Ace Café stands as a symbol of petrolhead culture, the most famous location for car enthusiasts to meet and enjoy their passion for cars

The Mark 1 Volkswagen Golf GTi has gone down in motoring history as being the father of the ‘hot hatch’. Initially launched in 1974, the VW Golf was designed as a long term replacement for the Beetle, which was suffering from falling sales, buyers having become fed up with the car’s novelty and choosing more modern, refined vehicles instead.

The new vehicle, a front wheel drive, front engined car, was launched as a success in 1974, but it was the introduction of the GTi in 1976 that would not only create a huge sales success for Volkswagen, but create a whole new genre of performance car.

Prior to 1976, those wanting a sporty car were forced to buy production sports cars such as the MGB, which were not as reliable or as practical as the Golf. However, by fitting a powerful engine to the Golf, and improving the handling to cope with high speed performance driving, Volkswagen engineers developed a car that matched traditional sports cars in terms of performance, yet was reliable, and also practical, having the body of an everyday family car.

The Golf GTi was a huge success, and during the 1970s was virtually unchallenged. However, the early 1980s saw rival manufactures aim to compete against the Golf with rival cars such as the Peugeot 205 GTi and Ford Escort XR3 share the limelight during the 1980s heyday of the hot hatch.

Whilst a sharp increase of insurance premiums would eventually bring the original days of the hot hatch to an end, Volkswagen continued with the Golf GTi, which has since continued to develop along with the Golf.

With Ford reeling from the negative press given to the Escort during the early 1990s, the car was heavily revamped in 1995, with the Mark 6 version being launched in 1995. The car shared the same body shape as the Mark 5, but featured various revisions including an all new, smoother front end, and redesigned interior of far superior quality than that of the Mark 5.

With expensive insurance premiums killing off the ‘hot hatch’ traditional performance models such as the XR3 had ceased production in the early 1990s, however with the Mark 6, Ford introduced two so-called ‘warm hatches’, which lacked the sporty looks and extreme power of the hot hatch, but offered improved performance over the standard with somewhat cheap car insurance premiums.

Escort’s Si model was launched along with the Mark 6, with firmer suspension and a peaky 1.6 engine allowing the car to deliver a good level of performance. The Si was later replaced by the Escort GTi. Launched in 1997, it remains the only European Ford to date to have been sold carrying a GTi badge. Featuring a modern 1.8 Zetec, and interior upgrades such as half-leather seats, the GTi was to prove a moderate sales success.

However by 1998 the car was essentially an eight year old design that whilst still remaining popular, had been poorly received at its launch and was dated compared to its rivals. Ford responded by designing an all new medium-sized car, the Focus, which would replace the Escort.

The Focus was initially sold in 1998, however with the car so radically different from the Escort; Ford opted to continue selling the Escort for a short period.

The new Focus proved to be a huge hit, leading to the Escort range being reduced to a handful of special edition models before it was quietly phased out in 2000.

Whilst the Escort fell behind its rivals in its latter years, the car struck a chord with the British public as a cheap, reliable car. For this it will be remembered as a car which helped turn Ford into Britain’s most popular choice of car.

By 1990, the Ford Escort had proved to be a popular car amongst the public for over 20 years, and the new Mark 5 version was eagerly awaited by both the press and the motoring public.

Launched in September 1990, 10 years after the groundbreaking Mark 3 version, the Mark 5 once again featured a radical new bodyshell and interior.

Rivals at the time included the all new Rover 200, which itself was a radical new design with all new engines.

Although the Escort continued to be a huge seller, the car was seen as a flop, with Ford receiving widespread criticism over the new car.  The car was seen as a cheap replacement for the well regarded Mark 4, with many accusing Ford of placing too much of an emphasis on cost-cutting, to the detriment of performance and build quality, which many owners felt was questionable.

Ford attempted to redress some of the criticism by face-lifting the car in 1992, which included a new ‘oval’ front end, along with a new range of engines to try and compete with its rivals. However, the Escort’s once secure sport as Britain’s most popular car was lost as rivals such as the Vauxhall Astra, VW Golf and Rover 200, which offered superior levels of build quality, handling and performance, became more popular.

However, the Mark 5 saw the release of arguably one of the finest Escorts ever, the Escort Cosworth. Designed as a replacement for the Sierra Cosworth, the Escort Cosworth brought the Escort back as a leading rally car. Although the world rally stage was dominated by cars from manufacturers such as Subaru and Toyota, the Escort Cosworth helped keep Ford as one of the leading rally teams during the 1990s. Production Escort RS Cosworths were produced until 1996 before EU noise regulations led to its demise. The car is very rare and collectable, far more than standard Mark 5 Escorts.