Wednesday 22nd February 2017

£100K Garage: Will Sheward

Why limit your £100K Garage to one Brit V8 when you could have four?

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Name: Will Sheward
Previously owned: Alfa Brera, Alfa GTV, Fiat Coupe, Mazda MX-5 (Mk1), Alfa 145, Renault Laguna, VW Camper, Ford Escort XR3i, Opel Manta, Wolseley Hornet
Currently owned: Mini Cooper, TVR Chimaera
On the shortlist: Maserati GranTurismo, Lotus Evora, Rover P5B, Volvo P1800

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70s: Rover 3500
Cost: £6,330 (7,500 euros, converted 22/02/2017)
Balance: £93,670
Why I chose it: "Firstly I should mention that there's a theme at work here - see the bottom for details! My dad was never into cars and, as a child, I suffered through a series of very uninspiring rides. His younger brother, however, fancied himself as a bit of a style icon and would often drive down to visit from London in his latest purchase. I remember his Rover 3500 clearly as it was the car that got me interested in cars. To my young eyes it looked like the future, had crazy performance (OK, I was comparing it with a Ford Prefect) and came with leather seats - such luxury! This LHD model is particularly suitable for PH trips to Le Mans, Spa and so on, where our continental cousins will surely be amazed at the quality of British 70s automotive engineering."

80s:Range Rover
Cost: £16,850
Balance: £76,820
Why I chose it: "Every garage needs a Chelsea tractor, and what could be more Chelsea than a Range Rover? Ideal for a wide range of uses including lording over the plebs from the command driving position, stowing all of that Harrods shopping and towing the other cars in this list to the garage."

90s:Morgan Plus 8
Cost: £33,950
Balance: £42,870
Why I chose it: "Why wouldn't I choose a Morgan? Ideal for those rare sunny days in the English countryside (which is probably why this 17-year-old example is alleged only to have done 6,000 miles) when one absolutely must break out the tweed driving gloves and the moustache wax! The colour combination on this one is fantastic. True, it lacks the superfluous bonnet strap (I would source an aftermarket example) and has very little luggage space, but that's what the Range Rover's for!"

00s:TVR Griffith
Cost: £29,990
Balance: £12,880
Why I chose it: "At first glance it appears I have two convertibles in the list - surely some mistake? No, the Morgan and the TVR have entirely different uses; Morgans are tweed, driving gloves and gin and tonic, TVRs are fleece, baseball cap and Red Bull. The Grif would be my track day car. It's ferociously quick, sounds like somebody's set fire to a pride of lions and has plenty of room for track day-specific alterations (up to £12,000 worth). Plus it allows the owner to position himself as a 'real driver', superior in every way to those mere mortals with their namby-pamby airbags, anti-lock brakes and traction control."

"And the theme? 2017 is the 50th anniversary of the Rover V8 which, in one form or another, powers all of these vehicles."

[sh33n]

It's a no from me on all of them - I respect some brave choices, but getting up every morning, trying in vain to start each one, failing, then walking to the bus stop would get boring very quickly