The company was established 21 years ago and held a party to celebrate the opening, with guests including Aston Martin CEO Dr Ulrich Bez and Director of Works Service and Parts Operations, Kingsley Riding-Felce.

Riding-Felce said: “Aston Martin takes its heritage very seriously, and it is crucial that current and prospective owners of our Heritage models are able to receive the kind of levels of service and specialist knowledge that is expected of the Aston Martin brand.

“Up until now our heritage network has not had such prominence in London and it is wonderful to see Nicholas and his team investing so heavily in the future of Aston Martin’s Heritage business.”

Nicholas Mee added: “It seems essential to us that Aston Martin Heritage has a dedicated showroom in the heart of London. These premises will be London’s focal point for showing and dealing in these beautiful, collectable cars. Perfectly located at a central point between Heathrow and Mayfair, our new high street showrooms offer collectors, buyers and sellers an ideal environment to showcase their cars.”

Long-term MGB stalwart Barry Sidery-Smith and Julius Thurgood, founder and race director of the HRDC, hosted this special gathering at Goodwood, with the support of long-term HRDC sponsor CCK Historic. Guests included: works driver Alec Poole, BMC Competition Department guru Bill Price, BMC Competition Department Manager Peter Browning, BMC ‘Comps Shop’ Manager Basil Wales, BMC ‘Comps Shop’ mechanics Den Green and Brian Moylan, MG guru Malcolm Beer, veteran MGB racer Paul Campfield and MG historian John Baggott.

The Works MGB cars were not just on static display, but were put through their paces on the Goodwood circuit by Barry Sidery-Smith, Tony Dron and Paul Campfield, to the amazement of the many MG aficionados present, who all agreed that this was probably the first time that the four works cars had ever run together.

WORKS MGB COMPETITION CARS AT GOODWOOD:
  DRX255C – Le Mans car – Owner: Barry Sidery-Smith
  GRX307D – ‘Old Faithful’ Marathon de la Route car – Owner: Malcolm Beer
  BRX854B – Spa-Sophia-Liege rally car – Owner: Paul Campfield
  1964 #47 – Sebring car – Owner: Anthony Binnington

The HRDC MGB50 Series will consist of six rounds, each a 30-minute, single-driver race for pre-’66, FIA-specification MGB race cars, with an invitation class for historically important MGBs which do not comply to FIA Appendix ‘K’.

The first round of the series takes place at Castle Combe on 9 April 2012.

Further details and driver registrations can be obtained from either website:

www.hrdc.eu or www.mgb50.eu

Media & competition enquiries to:

JULIUS THURGOOD direct@juliusthurgood.co.uk

Tim Bryan and Stephen Laing from the Heritage Motor Centre are hoping to put more historic British cars on display.

Funding of £51,100 has been awarded to help the Trust progress their plans to apply for a full grant in 2012. If two more rounds are awarded building work on the new project could begin in 2013.

The Trust has a collection of almost 300 cars, telling the story of the motor industry in Britain from the 1890s to the present and although more than 160 of these vehicles can be seen on display at the Heritage Motor Centre, the rest of the collection remains hidden in store.

The project will allow people to see the whole collection for the first time in a purpose-built facility that will also include a vehicle restoration and conservation workshop.

In addition the Trust will launch a new volunteer programme allowing people to get more involved with the collection by helping with its conservation and interpretation and will also run a series of events and other activities as part of the project.

Tim Bryan, of the Heritage Motor Centre, said: “We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has pledged their support for our project which will help us make our collection far more accessible than before and enable people to learn more about the motor industry which has played such an important role in the West Midlands.”

The MG SV-R was supposed to be a sort of halo car to fill the bedroom walls of kids and empty the pockets of the gentlemen wanting a bit of ‘ugly but brutish’ in their driveway. With the chassis from another car you’ve never heard of, the Qvale Mangusta, and the 4.6-liter and 5-liter V8 engines from a Ford Mustang, this cocktail of all world was good for either 320 hp or 385 hp.

With strange looks and lack-luster performance figures, it’s no wonder that only 82 were ever sold, of which 42 were the SV-R version with 385 hp, like the one in the picture. However, that doesn’t mean that this particular one, which will go under the hammer early next month, isn’t worth your time.

Expected to fetch somewhere in the region of $55,000 (about €44,000), this example is a left-hand drive model that should make some lucky owner happy if he decided to buy it at the upcoming Silverstone Auctions on November 4, 2011.

It’s got lots of quills on the side, a badge few people will know outside Britain and track car looks, so there’s plenty of reasons to like it.

Bugeyeparts.com is a web site developed to assist people buying or selling used Austin Healey and MG parts and cars. There are thousands of people trying to sell or buy these classic cars and parts. The methods to advertise are limited and difficult. Ebay, Craigslist and AutoTrader have been primary choices but each comes with challenges of too many fees, spams and scams that are not only annoying but can be costly. Bugeyeparts.com has become the largest trading site for these items in the world. The customer base is growing and never-ending. Those who drive a British sports car are always going to be in the market for parts.

Bugeyeparts.com has had thousands of people visit the site looking for Austin Healey and MG specialized cars and parts; type search word, “bugeye parts” into “Google,” the company is in first position.

Gary De Roos, CEO, states, “We are very happy to have John Felts’ expertise with us to build and maintain websites like bugeyeparts.com. We are exploring self replicating sites with this model in other car industry sectors. John Felts site is like a Craigslist for Austin Healey, MG parts and cars with a very interactive community of enthusiasts. John Felts’ experience as being a pioneer in internet radio as well as building sites for KABC will only enhance our overall business model of success and growth into the future.”

New and used parts are what are found on bugeyeparts.com in addition to the popular cars for sale section. It’s free to place a classified ad and you need to become a member in order to do so. Thousands of people search through the ads monthly and members upload photos of their cars and trade technical advice.

Gary DeRoos, CEO, further states, “We believe that this recent stake in bugeyeparts.com will add to the bottom-line revenue numbers at Citadel EFT Inc. Additionally, as the Company’s CEO, I’m excited to announce another profitable fiscal year. We continue to grow our core business and customer base and we are proud to be a debt- free company.”

Bugeyeparts.com founder, John Felts, has been involved in advertising for over 25 years. In 1995 he co-founded ONRadio, a web development company that created over 650 top radio stations web sites including Dr. Laura and KABC. He went on to become Vice President of Sales with a small start up called Kerbango which was the first company to develop an Internet radio. He was instrumental in the company going public in 2000. After taking a 10 year “vacation” Mr. Felts has started bugeyeparts.com. Mr. Felts currently owns six Austin Healeys.

Citadel EFT Inc. cautions that the statements made in this press release constitute forward-looking statements, and not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from the projections in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the estimates and opinions of management at the time the statements are made.

The Centre has been awarded a first round pass by the HLF along with funding of £51,100 to help them develop plans to apply for a full grant in 2012. The complete project is expected to cost around £2.5 million. If second round funding is awarded and match funding is also obtained, building work on the new project could begin in 2013.

Keep an eye here and on their website for future announcements.

Best known for the manufacture of replacement bodyshells and individual panels for the MGB, MGR V8, MG Midget, Austin Healey Sprite, Triumph TR6 and original Minis etc, BMH these days also produces bonnets for the Series 1, 2 and 3 Jaguar E-Types.

Supplied exclusively to Unipart Jaguar Classic and distributed by Jaguar Classic Parts, the bonnets are manufactured using the original Jaguar tooling and the 100th one (that for a Series 1 model) was completed on September 11 by Stephen Fry, Martin Pollard, Alan Stacey and Dave Jeffs, who between can boast over 40 years’ service to BMH. The E-Type bonnet is just one of a range of body panels now made by BMH for Unipart Jaguar Classic.

Said BMH’s Managing Director John Yea, “Enthusiasts restoring or repairing treasured classics are increasingly particular about the fit and finish of any replacement panels, and never more so than with the bonnet of the E-type, which forms such a large percentage of the car. Not only are our pressings identical to the originals, but they benefit from the quality of hand finishing for which all our products are renowned.”

Further information on BMH’s replacement parts for the Jaguar E-Type; Mini; MG B, F, TF and Midget; Triumph TR6, TR7, TR8, Spitfire, GT6 and Stag; Austin-Healey Sprite; Morris Minor etc can be found at bmh-ltd.com.

To celebrate the million mark, 350 bright lilac models were produced and 10 of the special cars took part in Sunday’s rally. Enthusiasts travelled from far and wide to be part of the event, which took the cars from Steeple Aston to Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire.

Oxfordshire was chosen for the event because the car was produced at the Cowley car plant. It was 40 years ago the last Morris Minor was built in this country.

Denis Lynch, 69, owns one of the limited edition Minors and travelled from West Limerick in Ireland to be part of the event. He said, “I am a Minor fanatic – my first car, back in 1962, was a Minor – and we like going to these events. It was a very enjoyable event because everyone was so enthusiastic about the rally and the anniversary. The Minor was one of the first cars people were able to afford back in the late 60s, and it is a British icon.”

Ken Giller, 54, from Wageningen in Holland, also owns a lilac Minor and travelled down in the vehicle on Friday with his son, Onno, 22, to be part of the event.

He said: “I have had this car for 28 years and, to me, it is very special. The Morris Minor is a car that is very, very easy to work on, it is amazingly reliable and it is part of English history.”

Assistant organiser Andrew Dyer, originally from Oxfordshire, said: “The Morris Minor was the first British car that ever sold one million units. At the time, to celebrate Morris made a specially edition of 350 cars, the idea being to send them out to each of the dealers for publicity.

“They are spread all around and today was about getting to see how many of those special edition cars that have survived we could get together. We think there is somewhere around 40 of the 350 that were originally made on the road and we managed to get 10, which is pretty good.”

CPP, a Coventry-based coachbuilder and owner of Spyker sports cars, has won the contract to engineer, develop and build the new Jensen Interceptor from the brand’s Swiss owners, Healey Sports Cars.

Based on an all-new aluminium platform with aluminium bodywork, the newcomer will be extremely light for its size. It will use the same four-seat layout as the original and features many of its forerunner’s design cues – including the wraparound rear screen, vents behind the front wheel and quad headlights.

Annual production numbers and pricing are yet to be released, but will be capped to maintain exclusivity. There’s no word on the engine or gearbox either, but as the original used an American V8, a powerplant borrowed from the current Corvette seems likely.

Brendan O’Toole, founder and co-owner of CPP, said: “The Jensen Interceptor design team has respected and honoured the great heritage and attributes of the original Interceptor, while injecting a contemporary edge and advanced technologies that will ensure it appeals to the passionate, discerning motoring enthusiast of today.

“This work is at an advanced stage, and married to CPP’s expert coachbuilding, craftsmanship and engineering skills, the new Interceptor will be an exceptional example of British automotive excellence.”

Source: AutoExpress

Of the authors, this is said, “There is a persistent rumour that Rainer Schlegelmilch’s birth was initiated on the back seat of a Mercedes Benz 170V. Whether or not this is the source of his ongoing affinity to anything that has four wheels, his fascination with cars is vividly expressed in his photographs. How do you get from German and English philology to automotive journalism? Chalk it up to car racing: the appearance of the Silver Arrows (Silberpfeile) in Spa, Zandvoort and at the Nurburgring, says the Germanist and Anglicist Hartmut Lehbrink. Numerous books on automobiles and racing penned by Lehbrink testify to the long-term impact of these early experiences.”

Check out British Sports Cars by Schlegelmilch and Lehbrink and let me know what you think. I don’t believe you will be disappointed.