£100K Garage: Brendon Kelly

PHer Brendon has only ever owned American or Japanese cars, so this could be interesting...

Name: Brendon Kelly
Previously owned: All my cars have been modified American or Japanese, all have had engine swaps of some-kind. Stand outs among them are the Daihatsu Charade GTti turbo, R31 GTS-X Skyline, 1969 Chevy El Camino, MY01 WRX STI
Currently owned: 1974 Beetle, 2008 Peugeot Partner
On the shortlist: Unimog 403, Lancia Delta Integrale, Baja Beetle, FPV F6 Typhoon (BF), Renault Megane R26.R

America: Chevrolet Corvette (C6)
Cost: £23,000
Balance: 77,000
Why I chose it: "Modern Vettes represent a high level of performance and technology for the money. Easy to live with, good on the track, whether it has corners or is just straight. The LS engine is ubiquitous but I'm yet to own a vehicle with one and this particular example is the cheapest with an LS2 and a manual, so it got the nod."

Great Britain: Land Rover Discovery
Cost: £4,995
Balance: £72,005
Why I chose it: "This era Disco fits right in between the classic Range Rover and the Defender for me. I wasn't keen to delve into which models had the good diesel so went straight for a V8 - they always sounded good. This narrowed the selection down tremendously, and I went with this one purely as it seems very over the top and maybe even suspiciously cheap? If it was intended for the Japanese market it's sure to have a few novel features."

Germany: Mercedes CL65 AMG
Cost: £19,995
Balance: £52,010
Why I chose it: "It's the engine that got me. I'm really keen to modify one of these bi-turbo V12s, it's a great starting point for a serious beast. With this in mind I sorted the Mercs by 'only V12s' and this one was the cheapest - that was the key!"

Rest of Europe: Renault Megane R26.R
Cost: £16,995
Balance: £35,015
Why I chose it: "I drove one at the 'ring and have wanted one ever since. Renault really knew what they were doing with the Megane and the Clio, it can not be overstated. Most of my Australian mates think I am mad when I go on about them. This is a great example coming right from KTR with a full history and low miles. I could easily go with a later model RS or even a lowly R26, it just needs to have an LSD that's holding together."

Japan: Subaru Impreza WRX STI
Cost: £15,750
Balance: £19,265
Why I chose it: "I've owned a very modified MY01 WRX STI and it was great: started every time, pottered to the shops, blasted all kinds of exotic machinery all day - it almost turned me into a fan! The GDB platform is my favourite for Subarus and I wanted to find something with a similar spec to the one I owned. This one was very,very close. I can imagine exactly how it drives and what it sounds like. Having seen the insides of a few EJ motors I appreciate anything less than a 2.5, especially when it has a closed deck."

"If the left over money has to go somewhere immediately it can go to some kind of charity that lets sick kids go really fast on four wheels or otherwise."