Octane

Octane is the authoritative guide to the best classic cars in the world.

One for the brave

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Octane

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IGNITION • EVENTS + NEWS + OPINION

COMING UP… • Snowy rallies, muddy trials and indoor shows for us lot, but on the other side of the world it’s concours season

Octane: now under old management • Hothouse acquires Octane and Historic Motoring Awards

Dakar greats heading back to Paris

NEWS FEED

The classics to watch out for in 2024 • Hagerty has revealed its winners for the next year

Cale Yarborough b.1939

Gil de Ferran b.1967

Wagon wheels • Tom Dolle is living the dream with a ’64 Ford Country Squire

New Year’s Day meets

Yuki Hayashi • Historic Motoring Awards judge, Aston Martin collector and, via Immun’Âge, long-serving partner of Aston Martin Racing

JAY LENO • The Collector

DEREK BELL • The Legend

STEPHEN BAYLEY • The Aesthete

ROBERT COUCHER • The Driver

Keeping it in the family

I DID IT MY WAY • After a singularly determined restoration, this Maserati A6GCS by Frua won Best of Show at the 2023 Concours of Elegance. James Elliott drives a super-rare 1950s deity

BLACKPOOL SHOCK • TVR stunned the world with its radical Cerbera. Matthew Hayward experiences the most outrageous of all, the 4.5 Red Rose Lightweight, and lives to tell the tale

BLOSSOMING TALENT • The first car built by Lotus co-founders Colin and Hazel Chapman has long been lost – but now their son and his dedicated team have recreated it

WORLD’S FASTEST JENSEN • Between West Bromwich and the salt flats of Utah, this 1965 Jensen C-V8 has undergone quite a transformation. Chris Tarling meets the brave Brit who took it past 150mph at Bonneville

Rob Myers • Founder of the RM auctions and restorations businesses – and a new concours event in Miami

Preaching from the converted • Two 1930s Lancia V8 racers, one built from a Dilambda saloon in period, the other the ‘Steady Special’ of legendary journalist Ronald Barker. John Simister eulogises about both

AS ONE DOOR CLOSES • The Silver Seraph was the last Rolls-Royce to hail from Crewe. A quarter-century on, Antony Ingram discovers this powerful luxury car made a fitting end to its era

THE GENERATION GAME • This beautifully restored Riley 9 Kestrel has been in one family since 1960. Glen Waddington meets the three generations who get to enjoy it

Impulse purchase • 1974 ALFA ROMEO SPIDER

OCTANE’S FLEET • These are the cars – and ’bikes – run by Octane’s staff and contributors

A vintage New Year • 1927 FORD MODEL T

A lot of pence per mile • 1981 BMW 323i TOP CABRIO

Fun with Doris and Audrey • 1954 DAIMLER CONQUEST & ’55 CENTURY

Winter games • 1982 MERCEDES-BENZ 500SL AND MORE

OTHER NEWS

The 300,000-dollar Mann • 1965/2023 EPOWER MUSTANG

Fur coat, and knickers too • 2023 BENTLEY BATUR BY MULLINER

Spike Rhiando • Hero or fantasist? Stunt flyer, racing driver, constructor or earthmoving specialist? Perhaps all of those…

UK road signs • Just letters printed on a blue or green metal board? Turns out there’s rather more to it

Rolex’s evergreen Explorer • The Swiss behemoth took an unusually Lotus-esque approach to the finer details of its long-running stalwart

Ebel 1911 Sport Classique • Everyday understatement that positively oozes class

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Movie-star Lambo tops $1.65m • ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ Countach sells...