You could be forgiven for thinking that the classic car scene generally puts itself into a state of hibernation at this time of year, salt-strewn tarmac not being the best thing to mix with 50-year-old car bodywork... but you’d be wrong.

Early January saw us driving frosty roads in a fine selection of classics ranging from a Vitesse (of which more next month) to a 1275GT Mini, with MGCs, Stags and even an SD1 thrown in. Surprise of the month though was finding someone prepared to take both an MGC and a Stag out in the freezing temperatures of late January, which rather silences the criticisms of the Stag’s suitability as an everyday car. Big thanks to Phil Rowe of Vintage Classics for helping us out with this month’s twin test, especially since the fact that the South West was covered in snow just a few hours later probably made him wish we’d asked to photograph his Quattro instead.

As we discovered, despite the criticism they both received back in the day, both the Stag and the MGC make good classic prospects these days, especially the Stag which has the virtue of being so much more affordable than the comparatively rare six-pot MG which has quietly sneaked up in value over the years.

And on the subject of value, even the most keenly priced Stag doesn’t offer quite the sheer amount of metal for the money that the cheaper end of the Silver Spirit range does. The cars are yet to achieve the following the Shadow has generated and as such can be picked up for peanuts, although chatting to specialists for this month’s feature had me both tempted and scared off in equal measure: it turns out that a cheap Spirit can be both a very expensive mistake and a tremendous bargain, largely depending on how lucky you are. All of which is a very good reason to read our Rolls round-up. If it makes you rush out and snap up a bargain Spirit then do let us know how you get on...

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For all this and much more see the April 2012 issue of Classic Car Mart.