Rolls-Royce Corniche IV Drophead Coupé by Mulliner Park Ward 1995 - World Of Classic Cars -

Truly great design never grows old. Rolls-Royce’s Corniche Drophead Coupé was introduced in 1970 as a convertible variant of the popular Silver Shadow, and it would remain in production for a remarkable 25 years. Each was built to individual customer order at Rolls-Royce’s H.J. Mulliner, Park Ward coachworks in London, taking over a month to handcraft to magnificent standards. Only the finest Connolly leather was used within, and the top alone was crafted so perfectly that it fit like the roof of a coupé.

Not just long lived, the Corniche Drophead was as desirable at the end of those 25 years as it was at the beginning. It was a magnificent rolling status symbol, signifying its owner’s superb taste and success, which allowed him to enjoy the greater things in life.

The Corniche presented here is the highly sought-after final-generation model, the Series IV, equipped with a more advanced suspension system, air bags, and other desirable modern features. Significantly, this car was the first to be built in the final year of Corniche production, 1995. Its build records record that it was finished in Red Pearl, piped in Magnolia, with a Beige mohair hood, Magnolia leather interior, and special-ordered interior trim modifications of a steering wheel upholstered in St James Red leather, Magnolia sun visors, and red piping on the interior armrests. The original owner also specified the removal of all exterior badges as well as the usual picnic tables on the back of the front seats.

The car was reportedly ordered by a member of the ruling family of Dubai for use during vacations in Marbella, Spain. Indeed, the build sheets document that the car was delivered to the UAE—and that the original owner received a “Special Chairman Discount”—but it was reportedly never actually taken to Marbella, or, in fact, regularly driven.

Classic Car Maintenance Tips - World Of Classic Cars -

Classic car ownership will never be without issues when it comes to maintenance and repair; scarcity of parts, the sheer age of the vehicle, and historical problems with the marque can all be parts of the process. Budget concerns are always a big factor when dealing with vintage vehicles, and often the cost of restoration and maintenance can out-strip the amount paid for the car.

Tip 1: 
Maintain your battery – keep it charged through regular outings, and remove it if putting your vehicle in storage. The RAC attend nearly 380,000 battery-related breakdowns a year, often due to poor conditioning and charge depletion.

Tip 2:
Closely monitor levels of your car’s fluids. Engine coolant, antifreeze, oil and brake fluid should all be checked regularly, particularly during the winter months. This is particularly important in older, or less well conditioned cars that may experience leaks or other similar issues. Also check any rubber piping relating to these fluids to ensure proper function.

Tip 3:
This may seem somewhat obvious, but when purchasing your classic car or committing to any repairs or complex maintenance, ensure availability of replacement parts first. Proper maintenance is impossible without the right parts for the right vehicle, and a lack of such will only hinder efforts to keep your car on the road and up to scratch.

Tip 4:
Schedule regular maintenance. It’s always best to identify potential problems before they become real issues. Include a full inspection, carefully checking your car top to bottom. Clean out all the nooks and crannies, including lights and indicators. There’s nothing worse than a crippling (and expensive) problem occurring that you could have spotted and prevented at an earlier stage.

Tip 5: 
Make sure to start your car up on a regular basis, even if you can’t take it for a spin. This is particularly important if you aren’t driving your classic regularly. Where possible, start the engine and get it up to running temperature for a few minutes. This should help prevent seizing in any of the moving parts, and may even help with the identification of running problems.
With these five tips under your belt, maintenance of your classic car should become a little easier. All of them are easy enough to achieve without the intervention of a mechanic or dealer, so should help keep costs below the budget limit. Classic cars will always be somewhat more expensive to maintain and run than regular, modern road cars. The sheer pleasure derived from them, however, is unassailable.

Mercedes-Benz 280 SL 'Pagoda' 1970 - World Of Classic Cars -

The Mercedes-Benz product line of the late 1950s had a glaring void. The 300 SL sports car was magnificent but financially out of the reach of many, whereas it’s 190 SL sibling, developed from an entry-level sedan, was more of a comfortable tourer. To remedy this, development began on a six-cylinder evolution of the 190 SL, internally coded W127 and intended to be badged as 220 SL.

Along the way, however, the development was re-directed towards the S-Class, W112 platform. The result was the W113, a fuel-injected 2.3-liter sports car introduced at the March 1963 Geneva Motor Show. Badged 230 SL, it came as a roadster or as a coupé with the intriguing pagoda-shaped removable roof. Nearly 20,000 were built through 1967, of which more than half were exported, many of them to the United States.

Road & Track was impressed by its performance: “. . . the 230 SL really belongs to the fast car group. A standing quarter mile in 17.3 seconds is not bad, and on most highways, traffic or speed limits will decide the average speed, not the car . . . . The manual-shift gearbox is first class with very fast, excellent synchromesh, and a shift lever position, which is exactly right”.

Successively larger engines kept the W113 in production through 1971, as the 250 SL and finally as the 280 SL. The latter was introduced in December 1967, the engine bored out to 2,778 cubic centimetres, good for 180 horsepower. By the time the model was finally succeeded by the R107 and C107 cars, nearly 50,000 W113s had been built.

This 1970 280 SL was purchased new on 29 January 1971 by Tom and Stephanie Walthes of Northbrook, Illinois, who traded in a three-year-old Mercury Cougar against the $8,897 purchase price. In original ownership until recently, it has since been treated to a full restoration in Germany. At that time it was converted to European specifications, including metric instruments, and desirable European lighting and bumpers. Re-finished in the original Tobacco brown paint, now with beige interior and matching carpets, it has a crème-coloured canvas convertible roof, supplemented by the characteristic Pagoda hard top, in complementary light beige. Features include heater-defroster, dashboard clock, and a Becker Europa four-band radio.