I’m not talking about pulling barn find classics from sheds and sending them straight to auction, or even spotting our best-loved British cars starring in TV adverts. Rather, coming across classic cars that, until that point, had been a complete mystery to you.
Being born in 1986 when Walk Like an Egyptian was number one in the charts, I’m probably more likely than most to come across something new – much to the chagrin of my more salt-and-pepper C&SC colleagues (their hair, rather than the 1980s rap starlets). But that doesn’t bother me.
A perfect example came on a visit to Retro Classics in Stuttgart last weekend. As you would expect, the halls were packed to the rafters with Porsches and Mercedes-Benz, as was the huge outdoor concourse that held hundreds of punters’ cars. In dark corners though, there lurked some metal that looked strange and alien to me. Chief among the surprises was the Gutbrod stand, complete with a display of charming front-engined Superiors. They were only built from 1950-‘54, and until now had gone completely unnoticed, at least by me.
