Classic & Sports Car

1 week ago | classicandsportscar.com | Martin Buckley

By Some cars never really go through a ‘cheap and cheerful’ period. Bought new for £7249 in 1970 (£97,500 in 2025 money), a good Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 Cabriolet – one of 68 right-hookers – might still have been worth £6000 in 1974: that’s 83% of its new value, when a contemporary Aston Martin DB6 Volante had by then lost 30% of its £5684 list price.

2 weeks ago | classicandsportscar.com | Alastair Clements

By Even with talk of a classic market slowdown, a car selling for £5.5m at auction remains relatively routine these days – particularly around Monterey Week or the annual Scottsdale extravaganza. But rewind to 1987 and that figure set a new world record in a Christie’s sale that was a watershed moment for the classic car world and remains one of those true ‘I was there’ events.

1 month ago | classicandsportscar.com | Martin Buckley

By At the beginning of 2023, Mercedes-Benz consolidated all of its classic-car-related activities under Mercedes-Benz Heritage GmbH as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz AG. Given that the firm built the first practical automobiles and has had a factory museum for more than 60 years, this feels like a significant vote of confidence in the role that historic vehicles have to play in a fast-changing automotive landscape.

1 month ago | classicandsportscar.com | Richard Heseltine

By It is the quintessence of tranquillity. Waves lap, gulls circle and swoop, and there isn’t another soul for miles. Nor cars, for that matter, save the Formula 5000 racer that lives inside the lighthouse across the way. Nobody appears to know why it’s there, just that it is. Seems reasonable. Crenellated towers that look like battlements are losing their slow-motion fight with gravity, serving up a reminder that the Isle of Man wasn’t totally immune to conflict.

1 month ago | classicandsportscar.com | Richard Heseltine

“It grew from there,” he continues. “We had an eight-car garage and lock-ups scattered all over the place, and that no longer cut it – especially when we got into American vehicles. “The first US purchase was a 1959 Cadillac ambulance.” Hence the decision to establish a permanent home for the collection, which, within a few decades, comprised around 130 vehicles. “It wasn’t all cars, either,” Darren adds. “There were lorries and buses, too.” “Having them all over the place wasn’t ideal,” he says.