I love this photo - looks like it could have been taken in the late 60's, but actually was taken a couple of weeks ago outside the workshop in Marlow. The Interceptor is a customer car and the 912 is Keith's (workshop owner's) daily driver.
As you can see the car is tantalisingly close to being finished. As this photo was taken, we were missing a rear screen, a front corner bumper, and a few little bits from the interior. Once finished, Keith's going to run it around for a week or so to shake it down, before I drive it 200 miles North to its new home. April's looking good.
And then.....
...and then what?
Well I'm often asked: "Then are you selling it?". Or "Will you drive it?" And therein lies an interesting question: Why do people plough thousands or hours or piles of cash into restorations like this?
In some cases, it might be for a quick buck. Take something that looks just "too hard" to fix, fix it, sell it at a profit. It seems to me that if you want to do that, you either (i) have to be able to do the work yourself, or (ii) are talking about a car at the very top end of the current market (the E-Types, the DBs, the Gullwings of this world) or else you risk being in that hinterland where the cost of the restoration exceeds the value of the finished car.
In other cases the investment might be longer term. Restore a collector car, put it away in a climate-controlled environment, consider it nothing more than an alternative to stocks, gold, or perhaps art. Bring it out 20 years later and cash in your chips. Personally - although I like to lean on the concept that classics will rise in value as a justification for my hobby - I think that's such a shame. Cars are built for driving, and that's the reason I love the spirit of the Goodwood Revival ( https://grrc.goodwood.com/section/goodwood-revival/ ) where you'll see grids packed with priceless exotica being driven so close and so competitively that nobody can fail to be moved by the spectacle.
And that brings me to the third reason. To drive it. When I tell people that's why I've gone into this project, I do get the odd sideways glance - like, "Ok, so won't that defeat the object of making it so nice?" No, not at all. It will be maintained fastidiously. It will be driven only when the winter salt is not on the roads. It will be waxed, undersealed and serviced regularly.
So the theme of this blog will change in future - it'll be a little less about the car, and a little more about the destination (though I'll be able to offer an insight into what the car is like to live with, maintain, and drive). I'm looking forward to finally having a classic that, come the sunny weekend and the open schedule, I can put both wife and daughter into, and pick a fine destination. Locally, the Derbyshire Peak District has some fantastic driving roads, some brilliant destinations, and I can't wait to start booking weekends away. And the beauty of the P1800 (even in early Jensen specification) is that it can be driven considerably further afield, in a fairly decent level of comfort - on my personal wish list is a trip to visit our old friends ("hey less of the old") at Les Coindries in France (http://www.ooh-la-loire.com) You couldn't wish for better hosts for a week in the French countryside, and Nigel happens to be a classic car buff too, so between the classic Bentley and the Jag, there's never a lull in the petrol-related conversation.
Well, while the guys in Marlow make the final finishing touches to the P1800, I've been gently re-awakening the 356 ready for the Spring. As I think I said in an earlier post, this car became something of a solo hobby once a new baby arrived in our life, but recently my daughter (who is now 5) has discovered that she likes the special little red car...
Quality Dad and Daughter time. Well, now it's not a case of "no room for the baby", it's a case of "no room for the wife"....
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