Legendary Audi quattro, 1950s sporting coupés and concours-winning Cloud star in brand-new issue

By Greg MacLeman

| 8 Sep 2016

Audi’s groundbreaking quattro, a concours-winning Rolls-Royce Cloud restoration and a quartet of incredible sporting coupés from the 1950s take pride of place in the October issue of Classic & Sports Car, which hits the shelves in the UK today (7 September). They’re joined by Hans Stuck’s mountain racer Austro-Daimler and a pair of beautiful Porsche 914 variants, plus an epic charge of Jensen Interceptors from Blighty to Turin and buying advice on the charming Jowett Jupiter.

This month’s cover is dedicated to Audi’s turbocharged, four-wheel-drive technological tour de force – the groundbreaking quattro. The UR quattro forever changed not just the face of international rallying, but the public’s perception – and the long-term future of – the Ingolstadt manufacturer. James Page fires up a stunning two-owner example to discover what period road testers described as being like ‘a visitor from another planet’.

No less desirable, yet considerably older, are four sporting coupés from the 1950s; the MGA Twin-Cam, Lotus Elite, Porsche 356, and Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint. Each cars offers the ability to top the ton combined with achingly beautiful bodywork and a level of practicality missing from pre-war alternatives. Malcolm Thorne gathers four cars with differing approaches to the same concept to see whether peppy MGA, futuristic Elite, stylish Giulietta Sprint or the hugely popular 356 will win his affections.

We’ve long been advocates of getting out and enjoying your classic, and few have embraced that idea quite so completely at the Jensen Owners’ Club, which carried out an epic tour from Turin to the UK via Le Touquet to retrace the tyre tracks of the original Vignale show car. James Elliott joined the fun on the 700-mile return trip from Italy – and it wasn’t all plain sailing!

With values of air-cooled Porsches enjoying a meteoric rise in recent years, so it was only a matter of time before the oft overlooked mid-engined 914 experienced a revival. Ever a fan of Stuttgart’s finest, Martin Port gets behind the wheel of an entry-level 1.7-litre example and a more fruity two-litre ‘six’ to make the case for Porsche’s hidden gem, and why the time to buy is now.

Next we step back in time to 1930, and to the Bergmeister – Hans Stuck’s – assault on the Shelsley Walsh hill climb. The German ace’s powerful 3.6-litre Austo-Daimler demolished the track record by a full three seconds, wrestling the record from Raymond Mays. Mick Walsh relives that epic era of motorsport by taking the wheel of the same car for a full-blooded run along a favourite 1920s test route of Austo-Daimler and Steyr through the picturesque Almtal Valley in upper Austria. Hair-raising stuff!

We all dream of finding a special classic lying in wait behind a set of heavy barn doors, but most would baulk at the level of work required to return it to the road. That didn’t phase Rolls-Royce enthusiast Chris Browne when he was led to what he was told was an old Shadow, only to discover a one-owner, 27,000-mile Silver Cloud. The car’s paint raking restoration is fully documented in the new issue, from when it was first disinterred through to the first passenger ride taken by the car’s vendors. If you need inspiration for your own project, look no further!

The Classic & Sports Car Show makes its triumphant return to London’s Alexandra Palace from 28-30 October, and there’s a lot to get excited about. The first round of voting in our massive supercar poll has narrowed down a field of 33 to just 11 finalists, each of which will grace a special display at the event. Have your say on the winner plus enter the draw to win two places on a special event guided tour by clicking here to vote.

To ensure you don't miss out on any of the action, click here to buy tickets for the show

The latest columns from Mick Walsh, James Elliott, Simon Taylor and Martin Buckley are present and correct, featuring topics ranging from Austrian specialist Egon Zweimuller through to memories of the British Motor Show.

David Evans’ BMW 2002 gets a full facelift in Our Classics, while Martin Port wrestles the engine from Greg MacLeman’s MGB GT.

Before you get stuck into the new issue, why not download a free desktop background? Simply click to enlarge the image, then right-click and 'save as'. Alternatively, drag and drop the image onto your desktop. Click here for the terms and conditions.

1950s Coupés