https://www.johnwesternmotors.co.uk/

John Western Motors, laurel Road, Kettering (2026)

22/02/2023

Cats in disguise: 10 Italian cars that were actually a Jaguar

Several Jaguars are routinely cited as being design classics. However, that didn’t stop Italian coachbuilders and styling houses from attempting to improve upon perfection.

The movement began as far back as the early 1950s. The 1960s and ’70s, in particular, witnessed the release of several memorable makeovers, some of which had arbiters of beauty championing their cause far and wide. Others, by contrast, were poorly-received – often with good reason. Yet none were boring, which gives car enthusiasts like us plenty to talk about.

What follows is a rundown of the better-known Giaguari Latini, and a few that have long since been forgotten by history. The real shame is that Italian coachbuilding is now facing extinction, so there may never be another masterpiece of this kind. The cars featured here serve as a reminder of how good – or, at the very least, memorable – it was while it lasted.

Frua E-type, 1966
Frua’s best-known Jaguar remodelling was more of a restyle than a complete redesign. It was completed at the behest of well-known dealer, John Coombs. The sometime race entrant envisaged selling specially-tailored Jaguars to a discerning clientele, the prototype being displayed at the 1966 British International Motor Show at Earls Court.

Some 250mm (9.8in) was removed from the nose, while the power bulge was replaced with an air-scoop. A new grille was also substituted. The rear end was similarly truncated. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the popularity of the standard E-type, there were no takers and accordingly the car remained unique, much like the Frau S-type (below). It was later lightly modified by Italsuisse – a firm for whom Frua was a close collaborator – which added a rather boxy, full-width rear bumper. The car was offered recently on auction platform Collecting Cars, but the auction ended with the car unsold.

Frua S-type, 1966
Pietro Frua’s bulging resumé included several landmark classics. Milan Jaguar concessionaire, Faltori and Monanti, commissioned the build of a custom-bodied S-type in 1965. A rolling-chassis was dispatched to Turin in December of that year, and remarkably the prototype was completed in time for its big reveal at the March 1966 Geneva motor show. Whether it was always going to be a one-off, or if the intention had been to create replicas, is a source of debate among historians. What is beyond doubt is that it remained unique. The Frua S-type remained unsold for several months until it was acquired by Italian gentleman, Francesco Respono. He, in turn, moved it on to former motorcycle racer, Hans Haldemann.

Bertone Pirana, 1967
The next Bertone Jaguar was infinitely sexier, and well-publicised in period. That is understandable given that it was conceived by The Weekend Telegraph’s editor, John Anstey, and his staff. It presented their idea of the perfect GT car. Nuccio Bertone was quick to come onboard, agreeing to complete the coachwork in time for the Pirana’s debut at the October 1967 British International Motor Show.

Bodied in steel save for the aluminium bonnet, and styled by Gandini, the resultant creation cost a rumoured £20,000 to build – nearly £400,000 today. There was never any intention of building even a small run of replicas. The Pirana’s outline proved influential, however, in that it provided reference points for the Lamborghini Espada.

Bertone Ascot, 1977
Gandini’s follow-up was diametrically opposed in terms of styling. The shy artiste was at the height of his ‘folding paper’ powers when he styled the brutally angular Ascot. Based on a shortened XJ-S platform, complete with 5.3-litre V12, it was created at a time when Bertone was pitching to shape mainstream production cars for Jaguar.

What the creative types in Browns Lane made of the Ascot remains unrecorded, but this most serrated of big cats was nothing if not noticeable. Sharing styling cues with another Gandini creation, the Ferrari-based Rainbow, it was unveiled at the 1977 Turin motor show. It was greeted with muted praise, which would explain why it remained unique.

Italdesign Kensington, 1990
Styling great Giorgetto Giugiaro had high hopes for the Kensington when it was released in 1990. The Italdesign principal opined in period that Jaguar was too rooted in the past; that he was keen to move the marque’s design language forward.

The most controversial part of the XJ12-based Kensington was the high-sited rear three-quarter treatment, but it proved influential. Many well-known designers freely admit to having been inspired by this one-off, but Jaguar – which didn’t sanction the build – was sniffy about it. Giugiaro has rarely been one to let things go to waste: he subsequently reworked the outline for several Italdesign-shaped cars wearing Lexus and Daewoo nameplates, among others.

Pininfarina XJ220
The most recent Pininfarina Jaguar remains shrouded in mystery. It wasn’t publicised by the firm in period, that’s for sure, nor does it appear in most books on the subject. The Sultan of Brunei was once a highly-valued customer, and in 1995 he requested a customised XJ220.

The regular car’s outline, the work of Keith Helfet, remained, only with fixed headlights in place of concealed items, the rear end being reworked to accommodate different light clusters and a larger spoiler. The interior was also altered. However, the task of building the car was subcontracted to Sergio Coggiola’s eponymous carrozzerie. Whether the Italian reinterpretation was an improvement over the Coventry original depends on your artistic bent.

Zagato Jaguar XK140/XK150
Milanese coachbuilder Zagato created several significant designs during the 1950s, but its take on the XK-series remains a subject of confusion and conjecture. It was once widely held that three cars were made, but some historians have adopted the view that only two were so bodied.

The first example was built on an XK140 platform at the behest of Italian playing card manufacturer, Guido Modiano, who had crashed the donor car. The finished article was displayed at the 1957 Paris motor show. A second example, based on XK150 running gear, was then fashioned for a Swiss Jaguar dealer and exhibited at the 1958 Geneva Motor Show. A third car was purportedly built, based on an XK150 SE.

by Richard Heseltine at Hagerty

John Western Motors are a family owned, used car dealer in Kettering, Northamptonshire jointly run by John and his son Craig, who pride themselves on taking care of their customers from the first initial enquiry to handing over the car keys.
For more information on any of our used cars, and to book a test drive call us on 01536 671 647 or 07523 967 244 or via email to [email protected]

03/02/2023

John Western Motors are delighted to offer this stunning, well looked after Jaguar XK in British racing green. Offered for an exceptional price of £10,950. To find out more, visit our website:
https://johnwesternmotors.co.uk/our-cars/

26/01/2023

From the archive: on this day in 1979

Lotus pushed upmarket and away from its kit-car roots in the 1970s, launching the Elite, Eclat and Esprit coupés, designing its own engines and upgrading its production techniques to match.

“In the sort of markets Lotus is in today, design brilliance is not enough. Quality of construction and reliability must match the exotic alternatives from the bigger manufacturers,” we said as we headed to Hethel to see how the latest Lotus cars were made.

The machine shop was “clean, tidy and efficient, thanks to a series of modern tape-controlled machines” (computers). Only one alloy casting wasn’t done there.

In the engine shop, ‘907’ units were built up by hand, the spec differing per market. Valves had recently started to be ground in by hand to improve reliability. Each engine was then run on a test bed for 75 minutes, attached to its (also hand-built) gearbox.

Metal sheets and tubes became chassis in the fabrication shop, then were sprayed with a rubber compound to protect against rust.

The Elite and Eclat bodies were made by pressure-injecting resin into vacuum moulds; the Esprit bodies by the old way of laying up material into open moulds. Each chassis was mechanically built up and had an interior fitted before a body was fitted on top.

The final-assembly mechanics would test the car on track before giving it to quality-checkers and subjecting it to an emissions test. Lotus still ‘hand-builds’ sports cars, but the complexity of them and the sophistication of Hethel’s production has come a long way.

Our insightful interview with Lotus boss Colin Chapman
As Lotus confidently grew in the road-car market (albeit still on a small scale and a shoestring budget) and enjoyed another period of big success in Formula 1, we interviewed the man who had founded the firm as a student just 31 years prior.

Could somebody replicate Colin Chapman’s story? “I don’t think it would be impossible,” he said. “I was helped by the times; just after the war, everything was new, business was starting again and everything was a lot more fluid. But there’s plenty of scope for young people who work hard to start a business now. It’s just that there aren’t enough engineers – or well-trained people – about.”

Had he been lucky, then? “Oh, l think so. Where l’ve been lucky is in having a number of opportunities presented to me which l’ve been able to take. You make a lot of your own luck in that respect, in that you’ve got to be quick.”

Turning to F1, he wasn’t happy: “There should be no regulation other than perhaps one parameter governing performance; the rest should be confined to providing maximum safety. Engineers should be given free reign.”

And finally, what of the future for Lotus? “l think you have to be [really excited]. Once you start being interested in the past and start living in the past, then you stop making progress.”

Renault's disastrous partnshership with AMC

American Motors Corporation (AMC) was always the smallest of the ‘big four’ in the US, and by the late-1970s it was really struggling, losing money on everything but Jeeps yet facing huge bills to achieve compliance with new emissions standards and seeing its US market share fall below 2%.

It therefore struck a deal with Renault whereby AMC and Renault dealers could sell and service each other’s cars; the 18 would be sold in the US from 1980; and work would start on new cars for the US. The end result? Renault losing a lot of money, its boss being fired, it leaving the US and AMC being swallowed up by Chrysler. Oof.

The six-wheeled Renault 5 Alpine

In late 1978, we were bewildered by a photo of a six-wheeled Renault 5 Alpine hot hatch. It turned out to be a creation of engineer Christian de Léotard, who was convinced that the layout had safety benefits. “With six wheels instead of four, he says, braking power is increased almost 50%; and directional stability is vastly improved so the car won’t swing out of line, even when – as he vividly demonstrated – it’s braked heavily on corners.” The Frenchman made several such conversions, the best known being on a Range Rover.

Kris Culmer at Autocar

John Western Motors are a family owned, used car dealer in Kettering, Northamptonshire jointly run by John and his son Craig, who pride themselves on taking care of their customers from the first initial enquiry to handing over the car keys.

For more information on any of our used cars, and to book a test drive call us on 01536 671 647 or 07523 967 244 or via email to [email protected]

06/01/2023

Your Car Stories

We asked you to send us your car stories so we could share them with the world—and send them you did. We thank the dozens of people who wrote in, and, after sifting through your handiwork, we've chosen the following amusing anecdotes

He Should Have Listened

I'm retired now, but I was a California Highway Patrol officer in South Los Angeles for 28 years. Early in my career, I was on my way back to the office on a Saturday night after a long shift and a longer week. A driver was weaving up ahead, and I pulled him over, praying that he wasn't drunk, which would have extended my shift by several hours.

He wore a neck brace and appeared out of it. He stammered, "I'm sorry, real sorry." He was sober but had suffered a head injury in a recent accident. He had no insurance, and his license had been suspended. Normally, I might have had the car towed. But his wife and child were in the car and the neighborhood wasn't the best, so I allowed his wife to drive the car and admonished him not to drive.

The following Monday morning, I was dressed in my best suit, driving my used but freshly painted Z/28 on my way to court in downtown L.A. Traffic was heavy, and I got rear-ended. When I walked up to the car that had hit me, the driver said, "I'm sorry, real sorry." He was wearing a neck brace. Out of the thousands of cars on the Harbor freeway that morning, I was hit by the same guy I had let go 36 hours earlier on a street 15 miles away!

"I told you not to drive," I yelled. He slowly recognized me and stammered, "I'll pay for it," to which I replied, "You don't have insurance!" This time, I called a tow truck to haul his car away, shook my head, and went on to court. For the next week, nobody got a break on my beat.

John Tye/CHP South Los Angeles (ret.)

Arrivederci, Fenders!

One morning in Rome, Italy, I stepped outside my hotel into a narrow alley. I watched as a newish Fiat approached the old brick building across the street. The car was virtually as wide as the narrow garage door it was headed for. There was no way it would make it through without a lot of maneuvering. I just had to watch how the old lady behind the wheel planned to negotiate the situation. She didn't even pretend to try to be careful. She drove the left front fender hard into the door frame. Foot firmly on the accelerator, she screeched and crunched forward. I laughed as the right rear quarter-panel suffered the same fate as the front fender. That tough old lady clearly had no intention of wasting a single second worrying about the condition of her car.

Nik Kave

A Smashing Send-Off

My first car was the first car my dad had bought new: a 1985 Honda Accord. After my father succumbed to cancer, my uncle kept the car until it died. Years later, I "bought it back" by paying for all the parts needed to rebuild it and by providing the labor to get the job done on the weekends. Nearly four years and $5000 later, I had a running, 20-year-old car. It lasted me all of seven months. While parked, it was hit hard enough to push it five feet and rip off the front end. Rather than let it go silently into that good night, family and friends gathered to pay our respects and let the old car give us one last gift: it became a huge piñata that let us blow off steam with a sledgehammer.

Brian J. Garrity

It Was Her, Really

In summer 2007, I was driving from Middletown, Connecticut, to Mystic. Just outside Middletown, I was passed by a gold Mercedes 500SL convertible doing 90 mph. It was driven by a woman with long, black hair. Curious, I decided to follow. I wanted to pass to see who it was, but it was all I could do to keep on her tail. I thought I would get popped at that rate. We ran the last 30 miles to Mystic at about 90, and, approaching the town, I was finally able to pull alongside. As I drew even, my suspicion was confirmed: the driver was none other than Danica Patrick. I never told anyone this before; after all, who would believe that story?

Charlie Francisco

Rich Ceppos at Caranddriver

John Western Motors are a family owned, used car dealer in Kettering, Northamptonshire jointly run by John and his son Craig, who pride themselves on taking care of their customers from the first initial enquiry to handing over the car keys.

For more information on any of our used cars, and to book a test drive call us on 01536 671 647 or 07523 967 244 or via email to [email protected]

07/12/2022

John Western Motors are pleased to offer this stunning Peugeot RCZ with black leather interior. A private number plate is also included in the sale. For more information please visit our website: https://johnwesternmotors.co.uk/our-cars/

01/12/2022

Driverless Cars: Where They Stand Now

The Society of Automotive Engineers' Automated-Driving Levels

Level 0: No Automation
No robot. A conventional vehicle where the human controls everything.

Level 1: Driver Assistance
The car can help. Most functions controlled by the driver, but steering or gas/braking (not both) may be automated at certain times.

Level 2: Partial Automation
The car can help more. Most functions controlled by the driver, but steering and gas/brakes may be automated simultaneously. The driver must monitor the environment at all times.

Level 3: Conditional Automation
The car can drive in certain situations. The driver must be ready to retake control at system's request.

Level 4: High Automation
The car can do all the driving under certain conditions. The human doesn't need to pay attention in such circumstances.

Level 5: Full Automation
The car can do all the driving in any circumstance. Humans are merely passengers and need not be involved in driving.

Level 4 fully automated (in certain conditions) driverless vehicles are already present in the US. In Phoenix, residents can apply for Waymo's Early Rider program, which allows them to take taxilike rides around the metro area in the company's automated Chrysler Pacificas and hybrid minivans—no driver necessary. "It makes sense," Huei Peng says. The University of Michigan mechanical engineering professor and director of the Mcity research facility continues: "Phoenix has no snow, very little rain. It's easier to keep the camera lenses and lidar clear without degrading operation."

Peng's Ann Arbor-based Mcity operates two automated shuttles students can ride around the University of Michigan campus. "I call it Level 4-minus," Peng says. "Because our shuttles are fixed-route only, it's hugely different, a much simpler environment. We only need to be perfect on this one route. A driver isn't necessary, but for now we do have a safety conductor on board at all times. We choose to operate the shuttles as Level 3 vehicles so the community and riders feel more comfortable."

Level 2 partially automated vehicles are sold by GM (Cadillac Super Cruise), Nissan (ProPilot), Tesla (Autopilot), and Mercedes-Benz (Distronic Plus), among others. The first commercially available Level 3 vehicle, which can take full control under constant driver supervision, is expected to be Audi's 2019 A8, although its Traffic Jam Pilot system has yet to be approved for the U.S. market. Interestingly, in 2012 Google built a Level 3 vehicle for testing by its employees, who could ride from Mountain View, California, to Lake Tahoe. "After looking at the data from onboard cameras, they stopped the program," Larry Burns says. "People were falling asleep, eating, reading—they were doing things that made it impossible to re-engage the driver. That's why Waymo is aiming to take the driver out of the loop entirely." (It's a development some Arizonans aren't particularly happy with.)

How far off are Level 4 or Level 5 vehicles? "I think we'll reach the tipping point," Burns says, "when it's clear that the value of the system exceeds its price. I think we're in a five-year window where that could happen. But I don't think Level 5 is ever gonna happen. I don't think it has to happen. Level 4 vehicles, even restricted to certain areas and conditions, will get us where we want to be. Do we really want a Level 5 vehicle driving in a snowstorm on Colorado's Loveland Pass at night? I don't think any vehicle should be doing that."

Richard Wallace of the Center for Auto Research says an industry survey suggests Level 5 vehicles might appear around 2030. But he agrees with Burns: "I think [artificial intelligence] alone isn't the answer. If it fails, there's nobody there. So maybe it's AI working with humans."

Naturally, the advent of computer-driven vehicles has spawned book after book of new government regulations. Since 2012, 41 states and Washington, D.C. have put forward proposals for automated cars; 29 (and D.C.) have enacted legislation. On a federal level, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2016 issued a Federal Automated Vehicle Policy designed for safety assurance and enabling CAV innovations. In 2017, following public comments and congressional hearings, the agency released "A Vision for Safety 2.0," incorporating safety-related voluntary measures for CAVs. As we go to press, the Department of Transportation and NHTSA are at work on version 3.0.

"We don't know what's going to be in the federal safety standards that are going to govern Level 4 or 5 vehicles," Wallace says. "I'm not sure NHTSA wants to become a software-testing company. Do they outsource this to AI experts, cyber experts? Do they bring them in house? Will they be competing with GM and Google for talent? NHTSA is going to have to figure out a lot to certify these new vehicles."

John Maddox, formerly of ACM, notes we have a century of experience with today's system. "We know how to validate a vehicle, but take the human out of the loop, and you can't apply the same 100-year methodology," he says. "That's the key tech hurdle. The technology is moving so fast that no one company knows how to do it all. Companies have learned bits and pieces—so a little sharing could go a long way. We need to work across companies, across countries. That way, we have a chance of creating a harmonized standard. At the ACM, we're reaching out to help create that standard."

For now, the world of automated vehicles is the Wild West. So buckle up. It's gonna be a helluva ride.

Arthur St. Antoine at Motortrend

John Western Motors are a family owned, used car dealer in Kettering, Northamptonshire jointly run by John and his son Craig, who pride themselves on taking care of their customers from the first initial enquiry to handing over the car keys.
For more information on any of our used cars, and to book a test drive call us on 01536 671 647 or 07523 967 244 or via email to [email protected]

17/11/2022

Owning an EV went from a dream to a nightmare: A cautionary tale

After buying a 24kWh 2013 Nissan Leaf in 2018, initially the biggest adjustment to getting an electric vehicle, was psychological. Watching the battery go down a percentage every couple of minutes takes some getting used to, but eventually with time, this is something you just don’t think about. In a two-car family, the plan was to use the petrol car for longer trips, and the EV from day to day.

With a reverse commute of about 60km a day, the Leaf was ideal. Nobody who has an EV ever wants to go back to the cost and noise of driving a petrol car. So, for me, I drive my EV wherever possible now, which is everywhere.

From the start, I wanted to embrace having the EV, so I was recording battery health and researching how to get the most from the car. This proved both a blessing and a curse. The battery in my car deteriorated at a very fast rate, and in less than three years, I found the battery had lost so much capacity, I was struggling to make it to work and back if I required any kind of side-trip on the way.

By then, my research had found that the early Leafs like mine had particularly poor battery chemistry, leading to the battery losing capacity very quickly. At this point, I discovered getting a replacement battery from Nissan was next to impossible, and selling my car again was equally fruitless.

My £19,000 car two years previously, was struggling to attract any interest, and was worth £8000 now. With the help of Paul at OEM Audio, I was fortunate in the end to find the option of a second-hand 30kWh battery upgrade. I was hesitant at the cost for a battery that wasn’t even new, but in the end, feeling trapped with a car that had no resale value, my hand was forced.

I got the replacement done, along with a firmware upgrade to improve the braking, which up until then was horribly grabby. I was set back another £13,000, far more than any savings over the period. With the new battery installed and the braking improved, the car was finally great to drive.

This lasted for less than two weeks when I was rear-ended at a compulsory stop, starting off a new nightmare. The impact didn’t seem too extreme, but the cost of repairs was quoted at £10,000. I had carefully checked with the insurance company before the upgrade about the value of the car, and they had agreed to raise it to £20,000 in view of the new battery.

The other driver was liable and fully insured, but despite having received the paperwork confirming the £20,000 value the day after the accident, my insurance company wanted to write off the car for a value of £8000. With the help of a written valuation, I was eventually able to get the insurance company to accept the claim, but then I had to wait for replacement parts for my car from Japan.

Shipping being what it is, I had multiple delays and a nine month wait for the parts to turn up, which thankfully, finally arrived the day after the car failed its warrant from the accident damage. With the car finally all fixed again, I’m back to being a happy EV owner, and I doubt I will ever buy an ICE car again. I consider this a cautionary tale for anybody looking to switch to an EV.

The cars are great fun to drive, there are no more oil and filter changes, and the fuel savings look more attractive every day. That said, battery degradation as well as the difficulty of getting replacement batteries is something I believe is undersold to the public.

If you are even able to replace the battery, the impact on insurance and resale is also something of unchartered territory. For the sake of the planet, the EV is the way of the future, but I suggest approaching that future with your eyes wide open.

Matthew Hill at Stuff

John Western Motors are a family owned, used car dealer in Kettering, Northamptonshire jointly run by John and his son Craig, who pride themselves on taking care of their customers from the first initial enquiry to handing over the car keys.
For more information on any of our used cars, and to book a test drive call us on 01536 671 647 or 07523 967 244 or via email to [email protected]

09/11/2022

5 Cool Car Stories You Probably Didn’t Know About

Headline car stories enjoy robust coverage from every angle, with an army of automotive journalists and social media influencers swarming over every aspect, seeking as much information as possible. There is nothing wrong with this, and it is only logical that a story about, say, the 300 mph Bugatti gets more attention than a recently discovered Pontiac barn find.

However, beneath the mainstream car stories lies a layer of obscure tales that rank high on the ‘cool’ scale. We have scoured various sources to present this random selection of just a few of such remarkable car stories. How many of these did you know before now?

An Unlikely Inspiration for the Big Mac

Is there anyone in the automobile community who does not know about the McLaren F1? It was the poster car for many enthusiasts growing up and still commands respect and a feeling of awe even to this day. The British supercar is still one of the fastest naturally aspirated cars ever produced, with a recorded 242.96 mph top speed.

In terms of design, some of its styling elements still fit right at home with today’s supercars. The F1’s central driving position was the most notable highlight, but a close second has to be the butterfly doors, a dihedral design that swung upwards and outwards. That idea was lifted straight from the unlikeliest source – a Toyota Sera.

The Sera was a tiny hatchback coupe manufactured by Japan in the ’90s. Gordon Murray, the brains behind the F1 design, recalls driving past a Sera parked near his house in the UK. He eventually borrowed one to study the unique doors in detail. The rest, as they say, is history, and today, those butterfly doors are an enduring symbol of the McLaren F1.

The Only ’83 Corvette?

One of the permanent exhibits at the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky is a white Corvette. At first glance, it looks just like any other C4 – fourth-generation – Corvette, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. That’s because it’s the only existing 1983 Chevrolet Corvette model. Wait! Wasn’t 1983 the year Chevrolet did not release any Corvette and instead pushed it to 1984? Also true, but hang on, there’s an explanation for this ‘confusion.’

The C4 Corvette was initially supposed to be a 1982 model, but several ambitious upgrades meant it was eventually pushed out to the spring of 1983. By then, the Corvette had been designated as an early 1984 model-year car. The museum Corvette, however, is a genuine 1983 model. It was manufactured in June 1982, the 4th of 43 prototypes and pilot assembly cars.

Among other things, the vehicles were meant for engineering and testing before rolling out the production versions. The standard practice was to destroy such vehicles afterwards since they could not be sold to the public. Somehow, this one survived a trip to the crusher and remains the only C4 Corvette from 1983 – fully deserving of a spot in the National Corvette Museum.

A Diamond in the Rough

Imagine discovering that the small car tucked away in your storage for decades was worth a fortune. That’s precisely what happened to a family when the car in question, a 1959 BMW 507 Series II, sold for north of $2 million at a Florida auction organized by Gooding & Company.

The BMW 507 was a sleek roadster produced by the German carmaker from 1956 to 1959. The plan was to mass-produce the car for export to the American market, but its high price – for an economy still recovering from the World War – off any enthusiasm for the sports cars and less than 300 units were sold. The car featured a body that was almost entirely made from hand-formed aluminum. Underneath the hood lay a 3.2-litre 16-valve V8 engine that produced about 150 hp, impressive for its time.

The 1957 BMW 507 is another example of a classic that has spiked in value in recent years (as an aside, the Trust Auto Blog has a few more remarkable stories like this one). A final price of $2.1 million for this example seemed to be a great bargain for what was undoubtedly the most important postwar BMW sports car.

The First Ferrari was not a Ferrari

Yes, that is true. The Prancing Horse brand that has given us some of the best performance machines ever made started out as a somewhat different beast. Enzo Ferrari used to work for Alfa Romeo in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1939, he left to set up his own company, but part of the severance deal reportedly forbade him from using the Ferrari name in association with racing or race cars for four years.

Enzo set up Auto Avio Costruzioni, a workshop initially to make tools and aircraft parts. However, in 1940, he designed and built an eight-cylinder, 1.5-litre race car called the AAC 815 Tipo. Enzo only made two units, both of which had unsuccessful outings at the 1940 Brescia Grand Prix. One of the cars was destroyed by mistake in 1958, but the other survives to this day and is reportedly part of a private collection in Italy.

The Ford Mustang almost didn’t happen

In 2018, Ford produced its ten-millionth Mustang, a staggering number for a car that was almost killed off before it ever saw the light of day. It was in the early ’60s, and Ford was still smarting from the Edsel debacle, an experiment that’s still considered one of the biggest automotive failures.

Henry Ford II, the company’s chairman at the time, was understandably hesitant when Lee Iacocca approached him with the Mustang idea. He eventually conceded, and Lee and his team got down to business. Working feverishly, they were able to put the car together in roughly two years, about half the time it normally took to develop a new vehicle from the ground up.

The Ford Mustang had its debut at the New York World’s Fair on April 17, 1964. It was an instant hit, and sales took off immediately. The carmaker sold over a million units sold within the first two years. Today, the iconic pony car has achieved cult status and remains one of the most popular sports cars ever made.

Tolu Akinshete at Supercars

John Western Motors are a family owned, used car dealer in Kettering, Northamptonshire jointly run by John and his son Craig, who pride themselves on taking care of their customers from the first initial enquiry to handing over the car keys.
For more information on any of our used cars, and to book a test drive call us on 01536 671 647 or 07523 967 244 or via email to [email protected]

John Western Motors

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