WELCOME PARTY

As promised or threatened (depending on your viewpoint) by Keith last month, it’s my pleasure to introduce myself as the new Editor of Classic Car Mart. Some readers may remember me from sister Kelsey Publishing title Classic Car World and if your classic interest is BMW ’02-shaped then the reason the chap at the wheel of the M635 in the photo at the top of the page might look familiar is a couple of previous stints as Editor on Total BMW magazine.

Ironically, one of my first jobs for CCM involved a twin test of a BMW 6-Series and a Mercedes 280 which you can read next month, but as is so often the way, a few days later I found myself driving another early ’80s Merc during a visit to R107 specialists the SL Shop. It was a far cry from their pristine sales cars though, being a tired SLC coupe bought in purely for spares. With the mileage showing a colossal 209,000 and the thing clearly having lived a very hard life, I was slightly cautious when the SL Shop team enrouraged me to take it out for a spin, but within half a mile I was impressed. If I’d been blindfolded, I would have guessed at maybe 30,000 miles rather than well over 200,000 which just goes to show the appeal of these old Mercs; they really are built to a standard you just don’t find in anything nowadays. Which explains why when my Apple Mac laptop went in for its second repair inside a week and I told my Mercedes SLC anecdote, the staff seemed surprisingly disinterested...

It’s not all mid-’80s German metal this month though, and we’ve covered the best of British ingenuity and engineering skill in the shape of the MGF which we’ve pitched against Mazda’s MX-5, itself now some 21 years old and a classic by any standards.
Although if the idea of a ’90s Japanese roadster masquerading as a bona fide sports car doesn’t sit well with you, then this issue also brings with it a comprehensive buying guide to what some people have described as the best of all the Triumph TRs in the wedged glory of the TR7. And on that perhaps controversial note, enjoy the issue!