The situation looks chaotic in this mid-Eighties dash for the Channel – but there are plenty of vehicles to keep classic car-spotters occupied

Apart from dalliances with V8s (and begging an exception for a currently owned Ford twin-turbo V6), I’ve always had a preference for small road cars with simple engines. So why I should be seized by a

Volkswagen’s diesel-powered plug-in hybrid took a decade to develop and cost the firm £1 billion. Weighing just 795kg and fitted with a super-frugal 800cc engine and tiny electric motor, the XL1 could

This XK120 was bought new by Lancashire cobbler Robert Lawrie whose special boot design led to him becoming the official supplier to the 1953 Everest expedition, the team that accompanied Sir Vivian F

1. This paperweight was the event memento from the 25th anniversary SVRA race meeting commemorating the silver anniversary of the Ford GT40. The event – featuring a one-hour GT40 enduro – was at Watki

They said Antonio – later ‘Tony’ – Lago was ‘spietato ma con grande fascino’ (which is to say ‘ruthless, but charming’). And they said of his most famous car that it was ‘une veritable oeuvre d’art’.