As a little light relief and distraction from the many Puzzles here during these challenging pandemic times, I thought it could be fun to spend some theoretical money (that we probably don't have!) and discover the following to get a good sense of the motoring tastes of us AP contributors.
So, just for fun, if you were given an imaginary currency sum of 10,000, 50,000 and 100,000 ($ US, Euros or £ Sterling) which three 'dream cars' (or trucks, motorcycles, etc.) would each of us AP contributors choose to buy?
To help start the process, below is my personal trio of motoring choices for the three 10,000, 50,000 and 100,000 monetary amounts, and I very much look forward to seeing your choices here too. Enjoy;
Djetset 10,000 dream car:For 10,000 (£ Sterling in my case), I would squander the cash on one of three possible late-1970s small sporting four-seater machines (as I can't fit into the Autozam AZ-1 I 'd like with the gullwing door closed!). So, my tricky toss-up would be between a SEAT 1430 Sport Coupe ‘Boca Negra’ (exotic to me as great looking, and never sold in the UK), a nice rust-free ‘70s Alfasud Ti 1.5 (amazing to drive), or an Innocenti De Tomaso (fun, fun, fun, and one of Gandini's proudest moments).
As it stands today, the
SEAT 1430 Sport would be my choice from this trio, but this may well have changed by the time you read this.
Djeset 50,000 dream car: I could be a little cheeky here and either split the generous (but sadly fictitious) £50,000 ‘dream car’ fund across three desirable (to me at least) cars, all of which I’ve previously owned, or spend it all on just one car.
If I were to spread the £50k across three cars, my selection would look like this. For driving pleasure, I’d choose an Alfa Romeo Junior Zagato (a sweeter ‘short tail’ 1300cc example like the one I used to own and regret selling), which will cost around £25,000. The remaining £25k would be split between a Citroen Mehari (a four-seater at c.£12,000) and either a Panhard 24CT (elegant engineered chic), or a Fiat 130 Coupe (not great to drive, but just beautiful to stare at for hours, rather than watching TV or researching AP puzzles!).
To keep the 'rules' simple though, if I have to spend the £50,000 all on one car only, I’ll opt for an immaculate
Citroen SM in top condition as I’ve admired these quirky, over-engineered V6 GT coupes since I was a kid, and having later driven quite a few, I can attest to the SM being the most astonishing and modern car to drive, with seductive looks and a (frightening) cocktail of French chic and Italian mechanical brio. An immaculate SM for around £45,000 will leave me a spare £5,000 or so for a (basic) engine service/rebuild, which it will inevitably need at some stage, plus a few litres of fuel for some enjoyable high-speed journeys.
Djetset 100,000 dream car:At £100,000 my dream car choice becomes much more difficult as there are so many cars I'd love to have around this budgetary amount. I would really love a pre-war French cyclecar, for example, such as as a BNC, Derby or Amilcar CGSS, or a Citroen 2CV Sahara 4x4, Alfa Romeo 2600SZ, Maserati Sebring (now probably more than 100,000) or Bristol 404 (now definitely worth more than 100,000!).
So, my mythical £100,000 will be spent on what I consider to be almost the ultimate car, a machine that combines virtually all of the key attributes I admire in a vehicle; aerodynamic design, clever engineering and an efficient small-capacity engine. The car is a long-tail
CD-Peugeot LM 67, not the most practical of machines, but an underrated work of genius IMHO.
Well, it costs nothing to dream! It will be fascinating to see your three dream vehicle choices here too please
.
