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 • The Classic Cars line on buying advice is to encourage you to pursue dreams, but arm you with the wisdom to make the inevitable risks at least calculated ones

‘This really is a pure Eighties monster; it’s a Capri on steroids’ • The Tickford Capri has eluded and intrigued Ross Kemp for many years; we put the man with a rich and varied taste in cars behind the wheel of one at last

Quentin Willson: 1957-2025 • Group editor Phil Bell pays tribute to a much-loved part of the Classic Cars family

Market’s true strength emerges • Muscular bidding at huge NEC November classic sale breeds success – mostly

F1: stability or something more? • $20m is the established mark for this rare McLaren, unless this car revises it upwards

Classic sales fall, but ownerships rise • FBHVC survey shows mixed picture of historic motoring scene

Birmingham’s blockbuster • Huge turnout and many iconic cars make for a spectacular NEC Classic Motor Show

Rally royalty heads to Gloucestershire • McRaes lead tribute to Colin at Rallye Prescott

December-May highlights • Time to mark up your new 2026 calendars…

M6 finds – none for ages, then… • A pair of hot Eighties BMW coupés have been exhumed from Northern Ireland

Make every season classic with… Classic Cars

Next Month • The March issue of Classic Cars is looking stylish

Quentin, we’ll miss you

Classic Cars

QUENTIN WILLSON • In his last column, submitted shortly before he died, Quentin took us behind the scenes at Ferrari, where precious archives capture such spellbinding detail

ALEX RILEYS • Discovering a 1970 copy of Virage Auto magazine had me lost in a world of mouthwatering comparisons, topped with a Daytona versus Miura showdown

BRAVE new world • What classic does £10k buy you in 2025? If you have the nerve, it could be a hand-built Bentley, a motorsport-bred BMW, a Porsche 911 or one of our nine alternatives. Tempting? Of course. Sensible? Well…

‘The incredible twin-turbo V8 is temperamental and a nightmare for me to work on!’

WHITE LIGHTNING • This 928S4 Sport, a roadgoing offshoot from an aborted race programme, is one of Porsche’s rarest, most ballistic cars. And yet it’s barely known. Is it because it’s not a 911?

‘No amount of levering or penetration oil would shift it!’ • This rare Lamborghini Islero underwent an exacting concours restoration where limited information, a necessity for originality, and a challenging deadline tested the specialist team down to the wire

LIFE STORY OF AN ADD Nova • When you’ve flown a Lancaster bomber, rescue helicopters and modern jet airliners, a VW-based kit car needs to be special to compete. After 45 years of ownership and three restorations, for one man, this ADD Nova certainly is

FAST FOURWARDS • The Nineties produced some of the most capable, varied and driver-focused all-wheel drive cars ever, but can the old guard here put up a fight against the newer kids on the block?

Seven steps to buying a Lotus Esprit (S1-S3) • Bond-style original fetches a big premium now, but Esprit ownership can be...