Concours highlights

One of the highlights of the concours car show at Ellerslie tomorrow will be a 1931 MG C-Type, one of only 44 made by the factory for competition. The car belongs to Aucklander Lawrence Poolman, who races it on the vintage circuit. It came off MG's assembly line in Britain on August 28, 1931, and was imported into New Zealand in 1938 by Edmonds Motors, an Auckland garage which specialised in exotic sports cars. Poolman rebuilt the car in 1994. Also on show will be a recently restored 1955 Austin-Healey 100S, similar to the car once raced by Bruce McLaren and Ross Jensen. The 100S, one of only 55 built and worth around $500,000, is being shown by its US-based owner, Bill Lillibridge. Renowned automotive artist Don Packwood will exhibit his work, and a new book, Hey Charger, a history of the Chrysler nameplate co-authored by Air New Zealand pilot Gary Bridger, will be available.

CLASSIC BIDS

Around 300 bidders spent more than A$500,000 ($562,000) on cars at an auction in Sydney. Top price was the A$168,000 (NZ$181,000) paid for a long-wheelbase 1997 Bentley Turbo R saloon, with 61,000km on the clock. Hot on its tail was the A$116,000 for a red 1972 Ferrari Dino 246GT coupe, which came with receipts worth more than A$60,000 for restoration. A white, original three-owner right-hand-drive 1958 Jaguar XK150 Fixed Head Coupe went for A$40,500, while a 1969 Series II Jaguar E-type made even keener buying for A$31,000. Others: automatic bi-turbo 1991 Maserati 222E V6 coupe A$22,750; 1965 Ford Mustang V8 manual coupe A$22,500; white Honda S600 sports car A$15,500; 1977 Triumph Stag V8 convertible A$10,200; a 1963 Vespa large-frame 150cc scooter A$2750.

BUMPED UPSTAIRS

BMW has confirmed it has created a new role for its controversial designer Chris Bangle, that of director of design. The 47-year-old American will still oversee future styling plans for the BMW group but will relinquish his hands-on activities. Those duties have been assigned to Adrian van Hooydonk, the Belgian stylist who has been running BMW's California-based studio, DesignworksUSA. Industry watchers in Europe see the move as a bump "upstairs" for Bangle, who touched off one of the loudest debates in recent automotive history by dramatically reshaping the BMW look with the new 7-Series and 5-Series models. There was even a website set up lobbying for Bangle to quit.


WE ARE THE WORLD

* What is believed to be Britain's longest car chase involved a 17-year-old wanted for motoring offences and other crimes. He gave police the runaround from Dumfries and Galloway in south-west Scotland all the way to London. That's about 550km, roughly the distance between Auckland and Palmerston North.

* Former Scottish policeman George Gilfillan won the equivalent of about $210,000 in an Edinburgh court for a neck injury which happened while pursuing a drunk driver. Gilfillan's patrol car collided with one being driven by a husband and wife. The husband survived but his wife died. The judge said Gilfillan was going too fast but part of the money was for Gilfillan's "depression" over witnessing the woman die, the Daily Telegraph said.