100 BEST CARS

Mini, McLaren, Jaguar and Range Rover are easy leaders in Autocar’s list of Britain’s best-ever 100 cars. I’ve no problem endorsing the first couple of dozen but, notwithstanding Gordon Murray’s ingenious contribution, the Yamaha Motiv.e at 5 looks like lip-service to greenery-yallery. The Jaguar XJ220 also poses a question. It was neither a commercial nor technical success and needed a lot of fettling before it reached reality. Driving it was like looking at the world through a letterbox. The Aston Martins in the list are an odd bunch with no ground-breaking DB2, elegant DBS or Ian Callum DB7. Similarly it’s difficult to include a D-type Jaguar – OK on the Mulsanne straight but a bit of a handful on corners – and leave out the C-type which was more precise and exciting.
McLaren F1 (above): Collected daughter Joanna from school during my road test. She’s older now, still beautiful.
Austin-Healey Sprite. 71st. This was my second one at Turnberry. Wonderfully crisp, precise car.

Lotuses are questionable on grounds of quality and reliability but I’m surprised there is no Elan Plus2S. It was beautifully proportioned. I once did 300 miles in three hours with one. There you are the older I get the faster I was. I would not include any TVR; all I drove were just brute force and ignorance. Blower Bentleys were something of an aberration. I suppose they were glamorous but never won anything like the unsupercharged cars. Derby Bentleys are missing from the list. Surely the Silent Sports Car deserves better. Jensen-Healey – delete. Not well made, hastily modified and really quite dull. Same goes for the Daimler Dart SP250. The Edward Turner engine was ok but Daimler was so strapped for cash it had to cobble up a horrid plastic body that creaked and cracked.
One of my first drives in an E-type; Scottish Motor Show after introduction at Geneva in 1961 (below), with Jaguar apprentice Clive Martin.

No Bristols please. Except for the BMW-based 400 and the beautiful 404 they were heavy and lugubrious. I never went for the mystique so assiduously promoted by writers like the matchless Leonard Setright. Triumph Stag? I thought it was rubbish when I went on the press launch. Hillman Imp? I owned one and when it went it was OK; I drove it to Maranello where I had lunch with Enzo Ferrari, but it was not made very well. Same goes for any Avenger, even the Avenger Tiger. The press launch was on Malta where we couldn’t drive them far enough to grow suspicious of unreliability. The Morgan 3 wheeler or Plus 4 were fine, but the Plus 8 was where Morgan began to lose its way and power outstripped handling. I wouldn’t include a Delorean in any list except perhaps one on how not to develop a sports car. It was terrible. Reliant Scimitar? A definite maybe. Triumph TR5 - not bad until they put a wiggly independent back-end on making it pitch and curtsy. Triumph 1300 absolutely not. And why relegate the MGA to 95th? Shame

Range Rover. Deserves its place. Took this on the press launch by Goonhilly Down, 1970.



Love lists

Hillman Imp. On road test for The Motor with Penny Duckworth by door. Pre-launch picture so badges taped over.

100.Range Rover Evoque 99. Ginetta G40R 98. Vauxhall Astra 97. Marcos TSO 96. Honda Civic 95. MGA 94. Vauxhall Chevette HSR 93. Triumph Dolomite Sprint 92. Allard J2 91. Honda Jazz 90. Sunbeam Tiger 89. Nissan Juke 88. Invicta Black Prince 87. Noble M12 86. Lotus Carlton 85. Caterham Seven 160 84. Caparo T1 83. Rolls-Royce 10 HP 82. Triumph TR5 PI 81. Radical RXC 80. Triumph 1300 79. Daimler SP250 Dart 78. Morgan 4/4 77. Renault Megane RS 225 76. Noble M600 75. Lotus Sunbeam 74. Morgan Plus 8 73. BAC Mono 72. Gordon-Keeble 71. Austin-Healey Sprite 70. MGB GT 69. Bristol Fighter 68. Ford Cortina 1600E 67. Bowler EXR 66. AC Ace 65. Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow 64. Austin FX4 63. Napier-Railton 62. Caterham Supersport 61. Triumph 2000 60. Jaguar F-type 59. Morgan 3-wheeler 58. Reliant Scimitar 57. TVR Sagaris 56. Ford Escort RS2000 55. Bentley Continental GT 54. Ford Capri RS3100 53. Delorean DMC-12 52. Aston Martin V8 51. Ascari KZ1 50. Aston Martin V12 Vantage S 49. Subaru Impreza WRC 48. Hillman Avenger Tiger 47. Triumph Stag 46. Hillman Imp 45. Lister Storm 44. Rover P5B 43. Lotus Evora 42. Rover P6 3500S 41. Nissan Qashqai 40. Ariel Atom 39. Vauxhall Prince Henry 38. Aston Martin One-77 37. Rover 75 36. Jaguar XJ 35. Austin Seven 34. Bristol Blenheim 33. Lotus Cortina 32. Austin-Healey 3000 31. Aston Martin Vanquish 30. Lotus Seven 29. Land Rover 28. Jensen-Healey 27. Lotus Esprit 26. MG Midget 25. McLaren 12C 24. Morris Minor 23. Lotus Elan 22. TVR Speed 12 21. Rover SD1 20. TVR Chimaera 19. BMW Mini 18. Bentley Blower 17. Jaguar XF 16. Ford GT40 15. Rolls-Royce Phantom 14. Lotus Elise 13. Jaguar D-type 12. Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 11. Jensen FF 10. Ford Escort Mexico 9. TVR Griffith 8. Aston Martin DB5 7. Jaguar XJ220 6. McLaren P1 5. Yamaha MOTIV.e 4. Range Rover 3. Jaguar E-type 2. McLaren F1 1. original Mini

Works Austin-Healey 3000 rally car test. I am the fresh-faced youth.

Too old to drive a Duster

Three months before its UK launch the new Dacia is Scottish Car of the Year (SCOTY) and The Sunday Times thinks it fifth best 4x4. A thousand have been ordered. It looks a bargain. I even thought of replacing my Nissan Terrano with one, when I saw it at the SCOTY awards. As a Life Member of the Association of Scottish Motoring Writers I was not eligible to vote. No longer on the Scottish rota, I thought I might borrow one on road test.

No, said Dacia, only if you arrange your own insurance. We know you are over 75.

I have only once been refused a test car on account of age, a Porsche 911 Turbo so a certain caution was perhaps understandable. I said I had been road testing Porsches without incident since 1964 and the ban was quickly rescinded. I test drive Jaguars and Bentleys and Audis but Dacia seems to doubt I can handle its 1461cc and 0-60mph in 12.5sec. Even The Sunday Times thinks the build quality isn’t great. Should Dacias be sold to over-75s? If Dacia has such concern over its press cars, probably not.

I will carry on with my trusty Nissan (behind the Bentley, below).

Montagu Award

Rob Halloway of Mercedes-Benz, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Eric Dymock

I could not have put it better myself. Clive Jacobs’s introduction to the award at the Guild of Motoring Writers’ dinner in the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, was gracious.

“There was a very large entry for this year’s Mercedes-Benz Award for the Montagu of Beaulieu Trophy. A tough task for the judges then in deciding who in 2009 made the greatest contribution to recording, in the English language, the history of motoring.

But in the end they reached an accord and the trophy will be jointly presented by Lord Montagu and Rob Halloway, Public Relations Manager of Mercedes-Benz Cars.

The winning citation says – "this book is beautifully written, well laid-out and provides a very thorough history of an important British marque that is equally attractive to both enthusiasts and passing browsers. With its company chronology and history of production models and prototypes it is also a comprehensive reference work."

That book is…”The Complete Bentley”… and the author and publisher is Eric Dymock.”
There were lots of people to thank. Clive’s reference to the book’s layout was a tribute to Andrew Barron’s design. It was good that Martin Broomer of Bentley Motors was on hand; he was encouraging throughout the book’s production. The reviewers have been generous, particularly Stuart Bladon in the Jewish Chronicle: “A brilliant production, The Complete Bentley deserves to be recognised as one of the great works of motoring history and merits a place on any keen motorist’s bookshelf, eminently worth its price of £55.”

Malcolm Tucker wrote kindly, in the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Bulletin: “Buying a book by Eric Dymock is a bit like eating a meal prepared by Gordon Ramsay, watching a film starring John Travolta or visiting The Dorchester Hotel in London; you expect something special. This does give us the whole panoply of Bentley lore.”

There were more to thank, including Richard Charlesworth, Julia Marozzi, Denis Miller-Williams and other members of the communications staff at Rolls-Royce and Bentley, Crewe. Thanks were also due to Philip Hall of the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation, who was especially helpful in providing access to the photographic archives of the Foundation and the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts’ Club. Alan Bodfish administrator of the WO Bentley Memorial Foundation and the Bentley Drivers’ Club provided many photographs. Motoring art collector Tony Clark of Burrington, Cherry Garden Lane, Wye, Ashford, Kent gave permission to use artwork items loaned from his extensive collection. More photographs came from Frank Dale and Stepsons and LAT. Michael Turner allowed us to reproduce his 1984 painting of a Bentley at Mulsanne. It was thanks to Warren Allport, formerly of Autocar and editor of Queste, who read the manuscript and made valuable amendments and corrections that The Complete Bentley is notably accurate in the detail of the specifications and descriptions. Notable Bentley book writers whose work we consulted include Malcolm Bobbitt, Jonathan Wood, Graham Robson and Richard Feast.

As with all Dove Publishing books, my thanks also went to print consultant David Bann, publishing director Mike Roberts and most of all Dove Publishing’s finance director Ruth Dymock.

At 83 His Lordship is taking time to get over an injury to his head, suffered when he fell out of a bunk on a rolling ship, sustaining an injury requiring 13 stitches. He couldn’t quite make the podium for the presentation. We are fortunate that Mercedes-Benz is so mindful of its heritage role that it can sponsor an award like this, which inevitably can feature rival makes of car.

This was our second Montagu Award. In 1997 the Guild presented it for Saab, Half a Century of Achievement.



Guild Award winners including, from sixth left Ray Hutton (Bentley International Award), Tony Dron (Rootes Gold Cup), Rhian Angharad Jones (Sir William Lyons and Phil Llewellin Awards), Ray Massey, Daily Mail (Journalist of the Year) and Eric Dymock.