The classics you love, drive and restore
‘You can’t beat the sound of Weber 40s at full tilt’
1981 Talbot Avenger, Ian Macleod, Stornoway
This is a very late Avenger, from the last year of production. I’ve spent a couple of years giving it a thorough makeover and turning it into a Tiger replica. A lot of friends helped me along the way.
I’ve been in touch with a previous owner, Jack, who told me about his memories of building it with his uncle, Mal Stewart. Mal was well known for building and rallying Talbots. It was Jack’s first road car, and the pair of them spent a few years converting it from a standard Avenger into a road-going rally car. They gave it a GT cam, a works-spec exhaust, roll cage and adjustable suspension.
By the time I bought it, it had been off the road for a few years, so it needed work. So it had another strip and rebuild, including a full respray. Structurally it was pretty good and getting parts for it hasn’t been too bad, either. I’ve been using Speedy Spares. I sourced the front spoiler through the Avenger club, and added 13in Revolution four-spoke alloys, plus a set of new spotlamps, an air scoop and the Tiger-spec rear spoiler. The respray is Ford Frozen white, and the Tiger decals are in Pastel Blue. The inspiration for that came from the original concept car, which was white with a blue stripe. I have kept the sticker in the rear window that shows the name of the original dealer in Warwickshire.
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The engine is a 1600, as used in the Sunbeam Ti. It was found to be OK, but we upgraded it to twin 40 Weber carbs and changed the inlet manifold. They’re a bugger to set up and could still do with a bit of tweaking.
It’s not a bad looking car, and you can’t beat the sound of the 40s at full tilt…
‘Rarest of all Cavalier MkIIs’
1988 Vauxhall Cavalier Calibre, Kevin Bricknall, Milton Keynes
My Cavalier MkII Calibre E30 FTL is one of only around 26 remaining out of a production run of 500. It was the top spec MkII Cavalier and it’s finished in Carmine Red. It has the 2.0i 8v lump which produces 130bhp at 5600rpm. A product of Aston Martin-Tickford and Irmscher, mine was in the final episode of James May’s Cars of People series on BBC2 and took part in the travelling salesman race with a Ford Sierra. The car is a regular at classic car shows and has been displayed at the Lancaster Classic Motor Show at the NEC. The Cavalier MkII was once a common site on Britain’s roads – but there are now less than 400 left on
