Editorial

Try and pick a metaphor that has not been used many times before; nothing, but nothing, can prepare you for the experience that is Top Fuel drag racing. 8,000 horsepower (that’s the equivalent of more than an F1 car’s output in each cylinder) propelling a rear-engined ‘rail’ over the ¼ mile in less than 5 seconds. With a terminal speed of over 300 mph. And you can stand 30-odd foot away while it does it. It’s complete madness but something any self-respecting petrolhead should experience at least once in his life. The sound is more than a sound, it’s like standing next to an F15 on full afterburner, or next to a runaway train, or head in a speaker stack at a Grateful Dead concert. To be honest, I don’t really know if I liked it - or want to go again - but golly, this is raw horsepower at its er...rawest. And my eardrums feel as if they’ve had Buddy Rich working out on them for a few hours - and Buddy’s in a bad temper.

What I’d like to see is how the McLaren Mercedes designers (say) would approach the concept of getting from A to A + ¼ mile in the shortest possible time. "Look Ron, we’ve come up with perfect solution - it’s a 40-year old pushrod engine tuned so it’ll only last 10 seconds, mounted in a ginormously long bendy frame with bicycle wheels on the front and gumball slicks at the back. And we’re running it on fuel that’s sort of like the nitro-glycerine they blow bridges up with in cowboy films and makes people sweat a lot when they handle the bottles. Trust us."

It just wouldn’t happen would it? You’d get some colossally complicated turbo-V12 with an aerodynamic body made of carbon fibre and Kevlar, and there’s no way it would ever look like the dragsters we are used to now. Perhaps some of our learned readers could explain to me why this does not happen?

From the ridiculous to the sublime I suppose, we seem to have a lot of Ferrari content today - and things are none the worse for that. If you flip between last week’s ‘Concorso Ferrari - Los Angeles 2005’ event and the review of a new book on the early days of Ferrari, you can see just why we all hold these cars so dear.

Steve Wakefield Managing Editor sw@classicdriver.com

THIS WEEK IN CLASSIC DRIVER

Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing

4 speed, leather, restored

This 300 SL Gullwing Coupé was originally despatched to the USA in 1955, to a specification of Graphite Grey (G190) with Red leather interior. Unfortunately no further information is known about the car’s life in the USA. A the beginning of the 1990s the car was restored in Switzerland. It was painted Fire Engine Red, with a new Black leather interior. In 1999 the 300 SL came to Germany and its last owner successfully participated in the 2002 Mille Miglia.

colour Red
interior colour Black Leather
drive LHD
year 1955

Price EUR 320.000

Dealership:


DAIMLERCHRYSLER AG
Mercedes-Benz Classic Center HPC 096/R051, 70546 Stuttgart

Phone +49 (0) 711 17 84047

see all details

see complete stock from this dealer

Lamborghini Miura SV

The ex-Geneva Motor Show Car

Bonhams are proud to offer chassis 5054 from its private owner, a German industrialist who took delivery of this striking Miura SV in 1972 and on whose behalf we now offer it for sale.

As a late, European specification car, this SV does not have the unsightly side marker lights common to US market SVs, and it benefits from the split engine/ gearbox lubrification which was introduced on the last SVs. It is therefore fair to say that this SV is to the ultimate specification and with the ultimate provenance.

This was probably one of the last Miuras ever shown at a Salon as the ‘LP500’ Countach had already been announced at the previous year’s Geneva Show and later that year production of the Miura would officially be discontinued.

Since 1972 chassis 5054 has covered 69,000km in the hands of its one and only owner and has been appraised by DEKRA, the independent German car certification experts, as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ in every area. It has never been accident damaged. It retains its original colour scheme and upholstery, its original factory guarantee book, owners manual and running in instructions, and is German road registered.

colour Tahiti Blue
interior colour Pelle Naturale
drive LHD
year 1972

Price CHF P.O.R.

Dealership:


Bonhams Private Treaty Sales
7 Av. Pictet-de-Rochemont, 1207 Geneva, Switzerland

Phone +41 (0)22 300 3160/+41 (0)22 300 3035

see all details

see complete stock from this dealer

Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Tiptronic

Optional 18" SportDesign Alloy Wheels, Electric Sunroof, Electric Seats, Electric Windows, Airconditioning, Pioneer CD System, Trip Computer, 60k Miles, FPSH, Superb Example....

colour Polar Silver
interior colour Black Hide
drive RHD
year 1992

Price EUR 59.500

Dealership:


Elegance Cars
By Appointment Only - Dublin, Ireland

Phone +353 (0)1 2720300

see all details

see complete stock from this dealer

The Three Castles Welsh Classic Trial, Wales, UK
1st - 4th June 2005

Bonhams Aston Martin Sale at ‘Works Service’, Newport Pagnell, UK
4th June 2005

Christie's Exceptional Motor Cars At the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance, USA
5th June 2005

Barons Classic, Collectors, Thoroughbred and Sports Car Auction, Esher, UK
6th - 7th June 2005

Christie's Summer Sale of Motor Cars , London, UK
11th June 2005

Fine Motor Cars, The Jaguar Legend - Coys Auction , Blenheim Palace, UK 18th June 2005

Le Mans 24 Hours, France
18th - 19th June 2005

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2005, Goodwood, W.Sussex, UK
24th - 26th June 2005

The Silverstone Classic, in association with Bonhams, UK
30th - 31st July 2005

see further event details

If you want to unsubscribe from our Newsletter,
please visit our ClassicInside Homepage at

http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/community/2300.asp