Classic Cars

Classic Cars is the original classic car magazine. It defined the world of classic motoring 40 years ago and still does it today. Every issue is put together by our team of classic car experts and enthusiasts. Using the best expert writing and photography, the magazine helps you experience what it's like to drive, keep and restore the classic cars of days gone by. We bring the stories and people behind the cars to life - showing you how to buy, keep and enjoy your cars. Every issue of Classic Cars is packed with: - Road tests - Drive stories - Expert buying advice - News and events coverage Classic Cars is the original classic car magazine.

Welcome • By necessity, modern cars push the boundaries of performance, efficiency and safety, diluting the raw joy of driving in the process. When was the tipping point?

The List

Better buys than a 911 • Finding potential in front-engined Porsches – but with four cylinders or eight?

September slump or surge? • Highly varied results make the summer season a truly hard one to call

Bizza paradox – original is best?

Loophole closes for neo-classics • Tightening emission regulations will only affect 2011-on cars

Aston's homecoming celebration

Touring to Blenheim • Carrozzeria’s centenary honoured at Salon Privé

October-November highlights • Shows move indoors and rally cars emerge

Jensen FF crawls out of the dust • Running costs once put these 4WD GTs into storage, but they're now resurfacing

Bentley at full chat • Reading Nigel Boothman’s account of Frederick Söderström’s Bentley (Born-Again Blower Bentley, October 2026) brought to mind my own experiences as co-driver to Ralph Stross in his 1930 4.5 litre Blower Bentley, in which we completed the Mille Miglia four times in the Nineties.

JULIAN THOMSON • I pitched up at Lotus, eagerly expecting I would be designing a new Esprit. That there was budget only to re-do the rear spoiler was quite a reality check

THE INSIDERS • Every few months there seems to be another classic recreated, resto-modded or reborn for the modern age. Gordon Murray, inevitably, went his own way

Let's Get Physical •   Before traction control, stability programs and digital intervention diluted the driving experience, these six machines delivered raw, tactile thrills the old-fashioned way – with engineering, not electronics

King of the wring • Matt Clark of Roger Clark Motorsport explains how to extract maximum dynamic capability from a road car – and how not to upset its balance

WARHORSE

'I think they've sent you the wrong car'

THE LIFE STORY OF A '93 Caterham Seven HPC

Six steps to buying a Rover 800

BOOKS & MODELS

It's time to move on

All systems go... ish • 1980 Triumph TR7 DHC  Time owned 21 years Latest/total miles 98/74,459 Latest/total costs £405/£1879 Previously New – and unexpected – fuel tank

Saved by vanity

1954 Jaguar XK120 £74,995

1995 Marcos LM400 £45,000 • This outrageous Marcos is also historically significant, but Sam Dawson asks – could you live with it? It’s a bit of a handful...

2001 Maserati 3200 GT £14,750 • This bargain supercar has had its Achilles' heel addressed, as Alan Anderson discovers. So do you need to be brave to buy it?

1989 Ford Escort RS Turbo £29,995 • We tipped Escort RS Turbos two months ago. Theo Ford-Sagers has found one that fits the bill perfectly

'This is equivalent to 170mpg from a petrol car' • In December 1966, despite big V8s dominating the road tests, CAR looked to an electric future