I love the old British attitude about luxury cars.
Here in the US we needed a "name" on our luxury cars. Cadillac, Lincoln, Imperial, etc. We needed them to be big, chromed and scream "I paid a lot for this car!".
That didn't hold true for the Brits. They'd take pretty much any brand, any model, any size car and turn it into a luxury car. In many cases the manufacturer offered a luxury version of their cars (i.e BL's Vanden Plas badged cars), but when they didn't - or didn't offer one luxurious enough - "coachbuilders" often took on the task.
Coachbuilder Wood and Pickett specialized in Minis. They were known for their super luxurious interiors. They also offered a long list of options, which allowed the customer to personalize their car.
This Wood and Pickett Mini is based on a 1275 GT. While these were never sold in the US, this one is left-hand drive. I assume it came from somewhere on the European continent.
I may be in the minority here, but I always liked the front end of the 1275 GT and Clubman better than the standard Mini. The body of this one looks really nice with its Rolls Royce "Garnett" paint and 10" Minilites.
The interior is something else. The seats are Recaros and they, along with many of the interior surfaces are covered in Connelly leather. The dash is polished Walnut. In that dash are some great round Smiths gauges. (In a car like this they should have used gauges with chrome rings.) This car has power windows and even a power sunroof. The carpeting looks like - and probably is - Wilton wool. It even has a 1971 state-of-the-art AM/FM 8 Track player.
I was going to end this post by writing something like "it's too bad no one ever created cars like this in the US". Then I realized that it would have been impossible to create a car like this in the US. What would we have created? A luxury Chevy Vega or Chevette? A luxury Ford Pinto? This only works because the Mini is a fun car to begin with.
This car is being offered by Edenholm Motor Group in Scottsdale, AZ. Click here to see their ad.
Wood and Pickett is still in business, although they are a parts and restoration company now. You can find their website here.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, there were a lot of good things about the Renault Dauphine. There were a lot of bad things, too. One of the bad things was power, specifically the lack of it. The stock Dauphine engine developed a whopping 27 horsepower. It took the car 37 seconds to reach 60 MPH. (Count that out in your head... Imagine trying to blend into highway traffic.)
The Dauphine Gordini addressed that. Sort of. With a 4 speed transmission replacing the standard 3 speed and and engine tuned to 37 HP, the Gordini took "only" 30 seconds to reach 60.
This Dauphine Gordini is a project. While it's now in New Hampshire, it was an Arizona car and has little rust. It runs, but the seller says the carb, a Solex, needs rebuilding. Included with the car are a bunch of spare parts along with restoration parts.
There are two ways you could go with this car. You could restore it to the way it was when it left the showroom. You would then have a very cool, very unique car to drive (slowly) to shows. Or you could spend a little extra money and add some performance mods. (I've been told an R5 engine just about bolts right in, but I've never seen it done.) As much as I usually chant the mantra of originality, if I were to buy this car I'd do the latter.
Located in Somersworth, NH, click here to see the Craigslist ad.
A big thanks to JaCG reader, Gene, for sending me the link to this car!
I'm very familiar with these cars. My one time significant-other bought one brand new in 1991. She was a sales rep at the time with a huge territory. She took it everywhere, sometimes loaded to the roof with samples and display racks. It never once let her down. While I would never have admitted to her that it was as fun to drive as any of my cars, I would often come up with excuses and reasons for me to drive it.
Honda makes good cars. The CRX Si was not good, however. It was brilliant. To create the Si, Honda simply dropped a sophisticated 16 valve SOHC 1.6 liter engine in what started life as a commuter / economy car. It could reach 60 MPH in 8 seconds or less. It handled very well. (It had plenty of torque steer, though.) The Si got a nicer / sportier interior than the standard CRX, a power sunroof and a few other sporty touches.
There is very little that goes wrong with these cars. The engines run forever and the transmissions hold up well. The interiors are durable and the switches and gauges never quit.
Everything about this car looks great. The CRX's one weak spot was it's ability to rust, but this is a CA car and it appears to be rust free. The asking price of $6800.00 might seem steep at first, but unmodified, unmolested cars like this one are getting very hard to find. A few years from now $6800.00 may seem like a bargain.
Located in San Jose South, CA, click here to see the Craigslist ad.
A big thanks to JaCG reader, Tamerlane, for sending me the link to this car.
As I've mentioned before, I have a soft spot for cars made by Rootes. My grandmother worked for Rootes in their Manhattan office. My first British roadster was a Sunbeam Alpine. I even had a dog named Rootes. Rootes, the dog, came into my life around 1988 when some a**hole threw her out of a car in the parking lot in front of my business. I grabbed her before she ran into traffic and took her inside.
A few days later a man, who had a few too many drinks at the bar next door, came into my business and started playing with the dog. He then started insisting that the dog was some sort of exotic breed. (She was very obviously a mutt. She most likely came from a very long - but distinguished - line of mutts.) The more I insisted that she was a mutt, the more he insisted that she was a purebred exotic dog. He just couldn't remember what the name of the breed was. (As drunk as he was, I'm not certain he would have been able to tell me his own name had I asked.) I happened to be looking at a catalog of Sunbeam parts at the time and, seeing the word Rootes, I finally said "Yeah, you're right, she's a New England Rootehound", just to shut him up. Much to my amazement and amusement, he replied "I knew it! Rootehounds are great dogs! They make great pets. You're going to love her!" For the next few days me and the guys who worked for me called her "The Rootehound". Eventually it was shortened to Rootes.
Rootes lived to the ripe old age of 16. For 13 years she came to work with me everyday. When I'd take one of my roadsters to work, she'd bark until I put the top down. On mornings when it was too cool to put the top down, she'd spend the 20 minute drive looking at the roof and barking. I think she thought she could intimidate it into lowering by itself. She spent her last 3 years of life at home, sitting on the front lawn in the summer and in front of the fireplace in the winter. Not a bad life for a dog who was so unwanted by someone that they threw her out of a car in a parking lot near a busy street. She was the first and last of the noble New England Rootehound breed.
OK, this isn't a pet blog, it's time to write about the car...
I wrote about this car back in February, 2010. You can find the post here.
The Alpine GT replaced the Alpine roadster in the US. Looking a lot like a shrunken Plymouth Barracuda (no surprise as Chrysler owned Rootes Motors by the time this car was designed and built), the Alpine GT was relatively quick and very well appointed. It was one of only a few reasonably priced British GT cars ever sold in the US (I consider the Triumph GT6+ and the MGB GT sports cars. A true GT has a backseat that is at least semi-inhabitable. The Sunbeam's is, the Triumph's and the MG's are not. The Jensen Interceptor and Jaguar XJS are GTs, but they weren't reasonably priced.)
These cars never sold well in the US. Few survive. This is one of the nicest I've seen.
The asking price is $4500.00, but the seller is willing to take "interesting trades", including your "unfinished project". Hmmm... If it wasn't so far away from me...
Located somewhere near Portland, OR, click here to see the Craigslist ad.
A big thanks to JaCG reader, Tim, for sending me the link to this car!
The picture below is of Rootes sitting in the front yard. In the background, in front of the garage, is one of the Alfa Spiders I owned at the time.
1966 Riley Kestrel - I posted this car 2 years ago. (You can see the post here.) Since then it's been through two owners and is back on eBay.
As I mentioned in the earlier post, the Riley Kestrel was more "upmarket" than the Austin and MG ADO 16 (BMC's name for them) cars we received here in the US.
This car is a New Zealand import. It's in great condition. The big downside to it is the steering wheel being on the right. However, if you can deal with that, this is a car that you you could be driving and enjoying as soon as you finish signing the paperwork.
Located in Ardmore, PA, click here to see the eBay listing.
A big thanks to JaCG reader, Ben, for pointing this out to me!
1978 Fiat X1/9 Signature Edition - I'm not familiar with the "Signature Edition", but it really doesn't matter whether this a special edition or not. This is a very nice, low mileage X1/9.
This car has just 15,000 miles on it. The seller says it has never been "restored, improved, or modified".
The seller has, and is including in the sale, the factory/dealer window sticker, warranty booklet, factory sun visor starting instructions, owner's manual, and even the original temporary registration from dealer. For an extra $600.00 he'll include a set of beautiful BWA wheels.
Rust and mechanical issues destroyed most of these cars. Virtually every one you see today has been restored or at least refurbished. Original cars like this one are few and far between.
Given its low mileage and condition, the asking price of $7900.00 seems very reasonable.
Located in Paxton, MA, click here to see the Hemmings ad.
1989 Volvo 780 Bertone - I've posted a few of these before. Based on the comments and the number of "hits" those posts received, these are very popular cars among JaCG readers.
This one seems like it might be a bargain. It has 150,000 miles on it. The last 55,000 were put on by the seller, who has owned it for the past 5 years. He has all the service records for the past 5 years.
The seller says it needs some minor work and is including a list of what needs to be done. The car recently had a tune up and "thorough checkup".
These are very cool cars. It would not be that much of a stretch to look at them as Italian cars with Swedish reliability.
Located in Newmarket, NH, click here to see the Craigslist ad.
This is such a great looking car.
The Simca 1200S coupé started life as the 1000 coupé. The body was designed by Giorgio Giugiaro, who was with Bertone at the time. The car was built by Bertone in Italy and transported to the Simca factory in France where it was put together.
The 1200s coupé is an updated version of the 1000 coupé. The 1200 had 1204cc, 80 HP engine.
The radiator in the 1000 was in the rear, but Simca moved it up front when they created the 1200. That required it to have a grille. That grille, and the set of driving lights mounted within it, improved the look of the front of the car dramatically.
This car was restored in the 1980's and still looks to be in very good condition. Originally, these cars came with two twin choke Solex carburetors. This car now has a set of Weber DCOE 40s on it. With the Solex carbs the engine put out about 80 BHP. The seller claims this car has around 125 HP. While the Webers will add a little more HP, 125 seems very high. Either more work was done to the engine or that figure is optimistic.
This would be a great car to own. Being rare in the US and very attractive, it would draw attention anywhere you took it.
Located in Rimbo, Sweden, click here to see the eBay listing.
The pictures in the eBay ad are mostly close ups. Click here to find a site that has some better pictures of a 1200S.
The Fiero was a bit of a joke when it was introduced in 1984. It looked like a sports car, but it had a pretty anemic 4 cylinder engine and suspension parts from the very-less-than-sporty Chevrolet Chevette and Citation. Pontiac didn't even bother calling it a sports car. They referred to it as a "commuter car". There was so much potential there, though. A mid-engine layout, wedge shaped body...
Eventually the Fiero became the car it should have been all along. In 1985 a 2.8 liter V6 engine became an option. In 1987 the body got a makeover. It looked sleeker, rounder and more modern. 1988 saw the best change; the suspension was completely redesigned. It finally drove like a real sports car.
General Motors, in its infinite wisdom, decided to discontinue the car after the 1988 model year. ("Hey, we finally got it right... let's stop selling it." They did the same thing with the Cadillac Allante. It's no wonder they were in the financial mess they were in...)
Because of the stigma of the early cars (which, besides the anemic engine and so-so handling, at some point always seemed wind up in the hands of 18 year old gum chewing bleach blondes who were attending hairdressing school), the 1988 Fiero is often overlooked. It's really not a bad car. Not a bad car at all.
The 1988 V6 Fiero hit 60 MPH in 7.8 seconds. Its top speed was limited at 120 MPH. On the skidpad it could pull .85g. That was Porsche 911 Carrera (.85g,) Ferrari Testarossa (.84g) and Lotus Esprit Turbo (.86g) territory.
The Fiero's interior looks dated now, but it's comfortable and everything is where you expect it to be.
This Fiero looks like it's in good shape. The seller says it has no dings, dents (of course, the body is plastic) or scratches. The pictures show a lot of little "spots" (for lack of a better word) on the nose, so I'll just assume they're dirt and dead bugs.
The asking price might be on the high side, but recently I've seen a number of 1988 Fieros with asking prices of $6K or more. Sometimes way more. It may be that people are figuring out just how good the 1988 cars are.
There are few true sports cars (and this really is a true sports car) than have less of a "wow factor" than a Fiero. But, the 1988 Fiero is fun to drive and, unlike many sports cars with high wow factors, most parts can be found at your local Auto Zone store. There's a lot to be said for that.
Located in Mcdonough, GA, click here to see the eBay listing.
Peerless was another great tiny British car company. The story behind it is pretty interesting...
The Peerless GT was built from 1957 - 1960. It used Triumph TR3 running gear, but had it's own frame and suspension. The body was made of fiberglass.
The idea for this car came from a British restaurant owner named Jimmy Byrnes. Byrnes asked a man by the name of Bernie Rodgers to design a race car for him. Rodgers did, and the prototype was initially given the name "Warwick". Reaction to the car from people who saw it was very positive and Byrnes and Rodgers decided to see if there might be a market for it. Byrnes showed the prototype car to John Gordon, a friend who owned a used car lot. Gordon suggested some revisions and eventually Byrnes, Rodgers and Gordon formed a company to produce the cars.
The name change from Warwick to Peerless happened after the partners acquired a bankrupt car dealership. It once sold American made Peerless vehicles. The three partners liked the Peerless name and renamed the car. (The US Peeerless company hadn't produced cars since the 1930s. After the repeal of prohibition in 1933, Peerless converted their automobile factory into a brewery and started brewing Carling's Black Label. Sometime in the 1970s they sold it to the Pabst Brewing Company.)
The demand for the Peerless GT was very good. Meeting the demand was not. The bodies were manufactured by an outside company and they could not create them fast enough. Eventually Peerless contracted with another company to manufacture the bodies, but by that time fighting among the partners caused Gordon to leave the company. With him went most of the company's energy and enthusiasm and the company folded in 1960. (Gordon went on to form the Gordon-Keeble car company.)
Just 325 cars were built before the company collapsed. (Later, Byrnes and Rodgers built another 75 or so under the old Warwick name.)
The cars being offered for sale need restoration, but they are complete. Parts for the TR3 running gear is easy to find. The bodies, being fiberglass, will have no rust issues. The frame is steel, but it's mostly rectangular tubing that would be relatively easy to repair if there is any rust.
Located in Sun Valley, CA, click here to see the Craigslist ad.
I'm not crazy about the exterior of this car, but, boy, do I love what's inside.
This car was the 5th Volvo project car for the Volvo aftermarket parts company IPD. IPD has been around since 1963 and are the premier Volvo performance parts dealer. (Find their website here.) It was built to showcase the performance items and accessories they offered in 1983. According to the seller, this car has been featured in Car & Driver and Road and Track magazines.
The list of what's in this car and what's has been done to this car is long and amazing.
The suspension has been modified with IPD 25mm front and rear sway bars, IPD factory style Upper strut chassis braces, IPD front and rear "Street Coils" springs (the car is lower than stock by around 2½") and Bilstein heavy duty shocks.
The engine has an Omni intercooler kit, IPD water injection, a Flex-A-Lite heavy duty fan and an Arkay enrichening device. Inside the car is an IPD driver adjustable boost regulator that allows you to adjust the boost up to 15 lbs.
The interior is done up with some very cool items, including an Italvolanti 4 spoke wheel and a very neat looking Volvo gauge bezel.
There are many, many other cool custom parts in this car and the seller leaves a comprehensive list of them in his eBay ad.
The only thing I don't like about this car is the exterior. The white over blue color combination does nothing for me. The body colored bumpers and smoked glass make it look boy-racerish. It would be so cool if, except for the wheels and ride height, this looked like a stock Volvo wagon.
If I had a lot of spare cash - I guarantee this car isn't going to go cheap - I'd buy this car in a heartbeat. Go ahead and flame me for saying this - I know this car is a piece of Volvo / IPD history that shouldn't be messed with - but I'd paint it Volvo silver, put on some stock bumpers and an "I (heart) my Labrador Retriever" sticker on the tailgate. (Even though I don't own a Labrador Retriever.) It would be the coolest sleeper on the planet.
Located in West Jordan, UT, click here to see the eBay listing.
A big thanks to John for sending me the link to this car!
This is not the type of post I usually do, but this is too cool not to share.
According to Britain's Autocar magazine, Renault is considering reviving the R5. (Also known known as the Le Car here in the US.) The original R5 is a car that I, and many JaCG readers, still admire and desire.
Renault, of course, no longer sells cars in the US. (They own part of Nissan, but that doesn't count.) But, if Fiat (possibly the only European car company with a reputation worse then Renault's in the US) is successful in selling their new 500, maybe Renault will consider sending us this. (A man can dream, can't he?)
Click here to see the Autocar article.
A big thanks to JaCG reader, Simon, for sending me this!
You could consider this car a Saab convertible with a steel roof. When Saab decided to build a convertible version of the 900, it was based on the 2 door notchback.
Most of the "classic" Saab 900s sent to North America were 4 and 5 door sedans and 3 door hatchbacks. Very few 2 door cars made their way here. (According to the seller of this one, just 650 were sold in the US over a period of 2 years.)
This is an S model, meaning that it has some "luxury features", including power windows, a sunroof, a power antenna, alloy wheels and some fancier interior trim. Best of all, the S has the 16 valve engine. This engine is considerably more powerful than the 8 valve engine found in earlier (and later base model) Saabs. With routine maintenance, they're durable engines.
The seller bought this car in November. He replaced the brake master cylinder and repaired an oil leak in the engine.
This car is not a show car, but is in good original condition. It has just under 200K miles on it. The power locks work "when they want to" and the A/C blows hot. The headliner is starting to sag in the corners and there is 1/4" crack in the dash. Cracked dashboards are common on older Saabs. A 1/4" crack is nothing compared to some Saab dashboards I've seen. It wouldn't cost much to repair it. Parking the car out of direct sunlight and keeping a cover on the dash may prevent new cracks from forming.
The seller replaced the stock radio with a Kenwood CD player. He also replaced the wheels with a set from a Saab 900 EMS. I'd replace those with a set of Saab 900 "Shelby" wheels, although they're not easy to find.
With an automatic transmission and the few flaws I mentioned above, I don't see this car selling for an insane amount of money. If you're looking for a nice Classic 900 daily driver - one that's fairly rare - this would be a car worth bidding on.
Located in Gig Harbor, WA, click here to see the eBay listing.
Coachbuilder Wood and Pickett specialized in Minis. They were known for their super luxurious interiors. They also offered a long list of options, which allowed the customer to personalize their car. 
I may be in the minority here, but I always liked the front end of the 1275 GT and Clubman better than the standard Mini. The body of this one looks really nice with its Rolls Royce "Garnett" paint and 10" Minilites.
I was going to end this post by writing something like "it's too bad no one ever created cars like this in the US". Then I realized that it would have been impossible to create a car like this in the US. What would we have created? A luxury Chevy Vega or Chevette? A luxury Ford Pinto? This only works because the Mini is a fun car to begin with.
This car is being offered by Edenholm Motor Group in Scottsdale, AZ. Click here to see their ad.
