£100K Garage: James Kelly

James will need an Aston and Bentley for relaxing with an Ultima, Lancer Evo and Megabusa as well!

By Nik Attard / Saturday, 12 September 2015 / Loading comments

Name

: James Kelly

Previously owned

: An assortment of Nissan Micras, Ford Sportka, TVR Tamora

Currently owned

: Toyota Aygo, Caterham Academy car

On the shortlist

: "I like to be different, seek out extremes, compromises and above all sensory stimulation."

Ultima Can-Am
Cost: £49,995
Balance: £50,005
Why I chose it: "It has always jumped out at me as 'the' car, my goal in life. A Le Mans car for the road, small and wide, those massive, fat rear wheels and wide sills that you have to slide over to get in. Every trip would be like buckling into a Group C race car waiting for the race lights. Normally I would go for the GTR, but this Can-Am jumps out! The spec, the colour and attention to detail are superb. The thought of the 6.7-litre V8 rumbling and 600hp+ on tap for some proper open-top motoring. Nothing can come close performance-wise for £50,000."

Aston Martin DB7

Cost

: £23,995

Balance

: £26,010

Why I chose it

: "It's an Aston. It's green. It's done 78,000 miles and I just love the green and cream piped seats. It's a manual, the DB7 for me looked good but then fell out of favour and looked ugly for a while but now they're getting better and better looking with age. Classic GT car with room for the wee bairn in the back."

Westfield Megabusa
Cost: £14,500
Balance: £11,510
Why I chose it: "My Caterham now is 540kgs and 130hp, so this car only offers the same power but with a 100kg or so drop in weight! There's a diff! And a cage! Not only is there that screaming bike engine but a trailer and some spares too; happy days." [Unfortunately the Caterham Fireblade James originally chose has been sold and the Westfield was the closest substitute; both bike-engined and very light!]

Bentley Eight

Cost

: £7,990

Balance

: £3,520

Why I chose it

: "Hipsters! Everywhere I go, beards are in, tattoos are everywhere, everything retro is cool... You ain't as cool as me in this old school Bentley. It's just fabulously plush and gorgeous.

"Not a young guy's obvious choice but the school run in this baby will put daddy cool on the map."

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo I
Cost: £3,995
Balance: Yes, it's minus £475 but it was the only way possible with the Caterham sold
Why I chose it: "My daily car, 4WD rally car turbo sleeper, the forgotten Evo! Every other generation of Evo, well, evolved wilder and wilder, sprouting wings and vents and aggression all over, but the first was more subtle but not too subtle. The R32 Skylines fall in the same category in my mind but the prices are going up and the Impreza is too common. Maybe this will start appreciating!

"This example is the only one on PistonHeads and looks to have the body kit from the later Evo III; I would have to source original spoiler and some original wheels too, but definitely a bargain and on the right side of been different too keep me very happy."