The writer of Octane’s Letter of the Month can select from a range of Mountney Classic steering wheels
Mountney Classic is part of the Mountney Group, which is based in Banbury and has been established nearly 50 years. It encompasses a host of brands and covers, not just modern and classic steering wheels and bosses, but also a wealth of other high-quality interior and exterior accessories, such as gearknobs, mirrors, horn pushes, fuel fillers and much more.
To find out more, visit www.mountneyclassic.co.uk or call +44 (0)1295 270770.
Grifo regenerated
This is a call for help! In 1986 I bought a very rusty Iso Grifo, chassis 049/D, from Bill Dick, a Concorde pilot who had a fabulous collection of cars scattered around lock-up garages in Watford. It was a non-runner, with the engine and gearbox out, and looked to have been broken into at some time (Plexiglas side windows; smashed steering lock and fuel-filler lock). For the last 30-odd years I have attempted to find any history of the car pre-Bill Dick, and have failed.
In the process I have documented the history of pretty much every other right-hand-drive Iso Grifo (there were only 31 such cars) but have not been able to fill in any of the history of mine [pictured, below, as it is now] between 15 June 1966, when the car was landed in the UK for Eton Motors in London, and 29 August 1984, when it was re-registered by Bill Dick on a Derby plate, LRA 999D.
The DVLA suggested that it might have been re-registered with its original number. Letters to the local Derby press resulted in quite a few recollections, all of which pointed to the ex-George Abecassis/Don Lowndes Iso Grifo A3/C, B-0215. So I think the Derby plate is a red herring.
What I do know of my car is that in its early life its 300bhp engine and four-speed gearbox were removed and fitted to the ex-1963 Earl’s Court Motor Show Rivolta GT 340/4-carb chassis 107/D, and at the same time my Grifo was uprated to a 350bhp engine and ZF five-speed ’box.
I have spent the past 37 years restoring the Grifo and finally got it on the road for the first time in May this year. While I am still in the process of debugging it, it is fabulous to drive.
Peter Wolfers, Cambridgeshire
From hero to zero
Robert Coucher has in recent years become my hero to zero contributor. I’m a petrolhead and certainly not a ‘leftie’ but my patience ran out after yet another politicised column in Octane 244. Talk of ‘woke’ males being forced to buy SUVs is nonsense. Stating that ‘soccer moms’ dictate the market is untrue and sexist. I
