Petrolhead Classics are experts in many aspects of classic car ownership: sourcing, buying, selling, restoring and upgrading. We focus on European sports cars, in particular Mercedes and Porsche, and serve both private and trade customers all over the world.
Our philosophy is to provide the highest level of service to our customers and to add significant value to their cars for a very competitive price. We strive to maintain originality and authenticity wherever possible, while satisfying the individual wishes and expectations of our clients.
Our network within the classic car world is truly international, and includes manufacturers and leading auction houses.
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I first saw a red example back in 1972 at Henry Merig Fiat in Lancaster, PA and fell in love with the little car. The dealership installed an Abarth 1000 engine and was used for racing the first couple of years before they offered it for sale with a Fiat 850 engine for 5,200.00 (a bit more than I wanted to spend at the time). Two years later, a private owner posted the same car for sale (VIN 0079, but was repainted yellow) at 3,300.00 and I purchased it in September of 1974. A fresh 903 GBC engine with some performance parts from Al Cosentino made it's way into the car and I drove it for the next 10 years until put away in storage. The car was driven occasionally after that and eventually sold in December of 2008. A very entertaining car to own and drive!
What an amazing story! Thank you so much for sharing it. It's fantastic when our videos bring back memories of happy times. The Grand Prix is truly a fun and lovely little car to drive. I can imagine even more so with some tuning. Do you know what happened to your car? Should you want to relive those memories, our car is still available! Only problem for me at 6"4 (193 cm) is that there's not enough headroom. I need to tilt my head to one side to be able to drive, which is not ideal :) For the right sized driver though it's really entertaining, Thanks again for watching and commenting!
@@petrolheadclassics A fellow from Montreal purchased my car with the intent to restore it. Unfortunately, I lost track of the car after that and never heard from him or saw the car again since. We bought a home in Abruzzo, Italy last year and having driven there extensively this past summer, I now know why the GrandPrix was designed and built the way it was... It would be so perfect for these roads! At only 5'8", the car fit me very comfortably and was always an absolute pleasure to drive!
@@1980NikonF3 Hopefully your car got restored and is being used again. Yes, Italian country roads are perfect for the Grand Prix and it is so much fun indeed! It just feels so much faster than it is. Congratulations on your move to Italy! If you want to relive those memories, our Lombardi is still available and quite close to you a that :) Have a great weekend!
Congratulations to an awesome Lamborghini collection! All of your cars are great. It must be a tough decision indeed but someone's gotta do it :) Thanks for watching and commenting and do let me know if someone in your network would be interested in our Diablo. How do you value the mileage? If it were a Porsche, it would be low-mileage. I've been thinking Jay Leno would be the ideal buyer for our car :)
I've got a manual 1980 with the 4.7L V8 which makes around 300HP. I've driven the 4.5 and it felt a bit lacking, the extra HP of the 4.7 make a big difference and is probably closer the what Porsche envisioned for the 78/79. Incredible cars, amazing handling & finally getting (some of) the recognition they deserve
Lovely car you got there! I can imagine, that the extra power will make your 928 more inspiring to drive. I fully agree with you, that they're amazing cars and I've loved them since I was a kid, reading about them in car magazines. Sometimes it's difficult to be ahead of your time... Thanks for watching and commenting and enjoy your 928!
Coupe all the way! The convertibles lose the gorgeous curves when the roof is cut off. In my opinion. I had a 59 Ghia (not a lowlight) as a parts car once. It was a rust bucket. Same colour as the 59 in your video. In currently using many of its parts to restore a 61. Great video thanks for sharing 👍
Thanks for watching and commenting! Always great when our videos bring back memories. Looking forward to seeing your '61 when it's ready! You could argue, that convertibles always loose a bit of the original design, yet they're both gorgeous cars!
Good question! Or in the heartfelt memory of Jeremy Clarkson rushing to see his dying father and making it in time only thanks to the 928: ‘The chicken was still warm’.
Thank you! You’ve probably seen an SGS (Styling Garage) built car. They did a widened version with Gullwing doors. There was some pretty crazy stuff in the Eighties 🙂
I always loved the sleek lines of the 4 door Jaguar XJ. Then one day back in the 70`s this young car loving teenager saw an XJC drive pass in shiny black with vinyl roof and red leather interior, I was so impressed it became there and then my favourite all time car, still to this day, they are a timeless classic and one of Jaguars finest hours.
Couldn’t agree more! The design of the XJ, and particularly the XJC, is brilliant with timeless elegance and style. So happy when my videos bring back memories, as I have so many myself. Black over red must be amazing. Do you own an XJC yourself or are you yet to realise your dream? Thanks for watching and commenting!
I fully agree, that the design is awesome. The 928 was really ahead of its time and therefore it still looks contemporary today in my view. Not always easy to be the pioneer.
I believe why the 928 didn’t take over from the 911 is because it didn’t have the 911’s racing heritage, plus the price was so high, that the 911 Turbo was in range. Also it seemed too ‘American’ for a German car. Designed by American Tony Lapine.
I have always felt the reason was Porsche owners had been drinking the koolaid for 20+ years that an air cooled engine in the back of the car was engineering superiority compared to lesser vehicles and then when Porsche starts with a clean sheet of paper they give the market a front engined water cooled V8. It went against everything their diehard supporters had come to believe as truth and they likely felt like Porsche had given them the bird.
I agree, that the high price surely didn’t help sales and it remained an expensive car compared to many competitors throughout its long lifespan. And it was so different to the 911. I’ve never seen it as a competitor, but rather a sensible compliment to the 911 and a way to broaden the customer base. Beauty is in eye of the beholder. I personally love the design, yet it’s not for everyone. The exterior of car was actually designed by Wolfgang Möbius, naturally under the watchful eye of Tony Lapine, who was actually Latvian by birth, although he worked for the American car industry before coming to Porsche. Thanks so much for watching and commenting!
That actually sounds like a great summary! Diehard Porsche enthusiasts can be a difficult bunch to please and perhaps it was simply too much of a departure from everything they knew. However, the 928 really moved the game forward and how many cars from the Seventies look contemporary today? Thanks for watching and commenting!
Porsche started designing this car in 1971. Then shelved development when the oil crisis started. Then picked up development again in 1975 alongside the 924 development. It was far from “out of nowhere”. Porsche feared they weren’t going to be able to sell the 911 in the US into the future, because of increasing safety and emissions regulations. The 928 was specifically designed with the US market in mind
Thank you for watching and commenting! I mention more about the history towards the end of the video. Among other things, that development started in 1971, that the internal code was ‘911 H’ as a potential 911 successor and, that Porsche considered a much bigger V8 before the oil crisis hit etc. I think it was incredibly brave of Porsche to sign off this forward-thinking design in 1973! ’Out of nowhere’ was from the perspective of a customer in 1977, having considered competitors such as Mercedes and Jaguar 😉 So it’s not with reference to the car’s development. Anyway, seems we’re both big fans of the 928. Happy weekend!
@@chesswizard31 Thank you for watching and commenting. The first series cars had the same engine both in Europe and the US. The differences were, that NA cars had catalytic converter with O2 sensor as well as EGR. These measures reduced power slightly from 237 to 219 hp. I don't really sense much of a difference due to the torque of the engine. A bigger difference occured in 1980, when the bigger 4,7l engine was launched for the 'S' model ROW, while US kept the smaller powerplant until 1983. What is your experience of driving EU versus US? Would be interesting to know.
4:33 that’s $486k in early 2024 dollars. Using usa cpi calculator. Beat car, always drooled over the 4 door amg versions w dark petrol blue metalflake.
I agree with you, there are plenty of other great AMG models from that era, such as the W124 'Hammers' and of course the W126 limousine versons. Generally they tend to look better in darker colours. And yes, prices have gone crazy, but then again these are very rare cars. And coachbuilding is no longer done in the automotive industry. Thanks for watching and commenting!
I just got two identical ones, theyre hotwheels cars though lol, i love the villainous look of a big body black Mercedes, lately I’ve been daily driving my w221 s65, black on black of course
You're a very lucky man! Yes, the stealth look of the Widebody is emulated in today's Mercedes. Keep driving and enjoying your cool cars! Thanks for watching and commenting.
I fully agree. A lot of money, no doubt, but given it's a true bespoke supercar and the first to have a top speed of 200 mph., values actually seem great.
For precision: 3700 units produced from early 1987 to the end of 1991, 2 series (1987/1988 - 2500 units and 1989/1991 - 1150 units), the most powerful front traction car of the world in that period and the only non Ferrari car in the hystory with the 8 cyl. Ferrari engine Ps: I’m a 2nd serie 1989 owner
Thank you and great to hear from you! Yes, the 8.32 is a really special model and we should be grateful, that Lancia was 'crazy' enough to go ahead with the project. Hope you're driving and enjoying your car and would be great to see some pictures of it! Thanks again for watching and commenting. Truly appreciated.
Maybe time to make your dream come true with this one? 😉 The Diablo came with rear spoiler as standard, so probably the reason was to generate down force for stability. I can imagine lines would be cleaner without though! Thanks for writing.
The 'Standard' Beetle really displays the need for affordable mobility after WWII. Nothing you don't need. If you're US based, it's also very rare, as these cars were meant for the German home market. All others got the 'Export' model, like the brown car in the video.
Absolutely! They're awesome cars. If you haven't seen it yet, you might want to check out my first video of the cars: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zNzOn4Ebw50.htmlsi=BkN2EMlA-XcogEo5 Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thank you! Yes, the SL 55 is a truly rare model with only 65 built. There was also the SL 60 with bigger engine and build numbers between 600 and 1000 cars. Those were the V8. Top of the line was the SL 73 AMG with V12.
Awesome! It's always great to see when a video awakens emotions. Send some pictures of your car, as it's always nice to see similar examples! Thanks for viewing and commenting.
Sorry….53 original cars and 12 follow on built kit of Jaguar racing team spares and donor kit by Peter Jaye. An original would NOT have a C-type badge on the valve cover, wrong SU carbs, wrong front suspension blah blah. So either you bought a pig in a poke, doubtful someone would be so ignorant, or your just a liar with a meaningless vjdeo