Classic car mechanic – Predicting the future

‘In the corner of the workshop, Olli Ragbin sits watching events unfold before him’

When I was a young boy I remember developing a fascination with cars. This evolved over time and into my teenage years when motorcycles were also added. I loved ‘em all, all except classics that is. I just didn’t get an appreciation for either classic cars or classic motorcycles. To my young eye they looked just a bit naff. Classics were old. Modern was where it was at.

At the sharp end of my current existence, this view has developed and matured in the following way. The majority of modern cars are a bland and largely follow the cookie-cutter design of the moment (some notable exceptions aside) and the old stuff, the stuff I loved in my past, has now landed well and truly into classic territory.

It’s not that I have changed my opinion at all, it’s that I’ve had to wait 30 years for the modern stuff I love to drift into the ‘classic’ category.

Now this begs the question, what’s modern today that will likely find itself the classic of tomorrow without becoming yesterday’s forgettable motoring moment?

I have 3 candidates for the list of ‘classics of the future’.

Fiat

The Fiat 500 Abarth edition. If you’ve ever seen one of these blatting about I would wager your ears picked it up before your eyes found focus. It’s a noisy, bratty young upstart that is proportionally perfect. I think if you were to take the tape measure to it, you would find it was exactly square. It’s small, it’s brash, it’s shouty, it brilliant.

The designer, Frank Stephenson, literally saved Fiat with the design of the 500. At a time when the new Mini was rocking the motoring press, the Italian giants had only the ageing Panda as competition so flew in Stephenson to save their pancetta. Our man, who had had a hand in the new Mini, was given the impossible task of designing a new car to be ready in months, not years. It’s difficult to convey the enormity of the ask or the importance of the needed outcome.

Whilst it may only be a re-skin of the Panda, the design was an instant hit. Wide-spread appeal meant hot cakes never sold so good. Fiat literally owes this man the house. The Abarth, a brand from a time gone by, is the pinnacle of 500 production and I’d give my eye teeth for one (if I actually knew what an eye tooth was that is).

Bentley

A behemoth that is almost completely irrelevant. When the electric car gets its act together and has a meaningful battery life, big luxo-barges will finally have the automotive power unit exactly matched to their wafting purpose. Silent. Powerful. Economic (granted, it’s all relative).

This monster is not far off the weight of the moon and drinks petrol in the vicinity of a tenner a minute. Not for the faint of heart or light of wallet. But look at it… just look at it..! If you could take your rich great-great-grandmother’s sitting room, put wheels on it, encase it in handcrafted aluminium and then drive it down to the shops for a refill of TUC crackers, then this is what driving the Bentley must surely feel like. If you look carefully at the options list for one, you will see crushed velvet curtains and a brass standard lamp on there somewhere.

The most striking feature of this motor car is not the exquisite hand-built nature of the thing, but rather its financial performance. This car loses a 5-figure number in value each and every year. So expensive where they when new, that a 2008 MY car, can still lose a 5 figure value every year for the next 5 years and still be worth significantly more than the first house I every bought.

Big. Bad. Completely ridiculous. I want one more than I can tell you.

Ducati

Massimo Tamburini penned the incredible Ducati 916. A bike so revolutionary for its time that its influence can still be seen in modern-day motorcycles some 27 years later. If there were a parallel in the car world it may well be Issigonis’ mini. When launched, nothing in the world of motorcycling was the same ever again.

How do you follow that? Well, for Ducati, the answer was badly.

New hot-shot designer Pierre Terblanche took the pen and updated the 916 in a way that to many was the equivalent of Tracy Emin grabbing Da Vinci’s favourite brush.

The beautiful proportions of its predecessor were given industrial harshness as the bike seemingly grew in length and replaced curvature with tight cuts and boxy lines. The trade-mark single-sided swingarm was gone and the under-seat exhaust went from a classy independent double to a shoebox like single. Termignoni aftermarket pipes were a must on 916 and 999. If you can’t have the style you can at least still have the sound.

So why is this one a classic? Well, it’s un-loved (I like that), it was un-stylish to the eye back then, but the design has matured over the years, to me at least. Values are significantly lower than any of Ducati’s other big sports twins (I love a bit of a value buy) and whilst everything from the 916 to the current Panigale range of twins and v-fours look amazing and are rightly lusted after, the good old 999 is a bit of an oddity. An ugly duckling. The 999 for Ducati sports motorcycles is what the 996 is for Porsche and its 911 range. Gimme gimme gimme.

I do love an underdog. I have a leash in my imaginary garage awaiting the courage of a brave buy. Back in the day I had a Fila-liveried 999 as my screen saver. Surely it’s just a matter of time…..

And so to this weeks pics from the garage.

Shrimp eye Justin left his ouija board at home this week. A mint Daimler always a good alternative. "Spirit voices can you hear me now....'

Just because you can't see us, doesn't mean we can't see you. Another massive failure in Monday's hide and seek competition

The Shrimp wagon ready for the annual London to Brighton

Park your 20 minis here.....or your Bentley.... choice is yours

Let's leave it there for another week. I've asked Eric to up the ante on the photos from the workshop. We've had some great stuff in recently but his eye keeps getting drawn to catching the Techs in odd positions.

Go steady.

Olli

For all you non-motorcyclists, this is a 996 in all its glory. Revolutionary is not too big a word. Threw shade on everything else in its day. Deliciously subtle and simple design. Quite possibly the most beautifully proportioned motorcycle ever.... it's literally that good.