Classic Car Mart Magazine Vol.21 No.2 30 years of the yuppie favourite Back Issue

No apologies for having
something of an early
’80s theme to this issue,
which somehow seems
appropriate considering
the new year marks 30 years since the
Mk2 Golf GTi entered the UK price lists and
BMW launched its 325i, both emblems of
an era which produced some iconic cars as
fascinating in their own way as some of the
traditional classics of the ’50s or ’60s.
You’d think that the advances in
technology and rust protection would have
ensured that ’80s cars survived in greater
numbers than the older classics but as
we’ve discovered elsewhere in this issue,
many of the biggest-selling cars which have
dwindled to almost nothing were those
volume sellers from the mid ’80s.
The year 2005 also marks a full decade
since Rover’s longboat finally sunk beneath
the waves of inevitability, something which
has no doubt accelerated the acceptance
of its last-ever model as a modern classic.
Much like Jagaur’s XK8, the 75 seems to
have found its place among much older
cars and has an impressive enthusiast
following who are prepared to forgive the
car its German engineering content in view
of its significance to the British
motor industry in general. All of
which explains why we felt it was
time to delve into the finer points of
buying these cars which still make
for refined transport today but
which with their modern complexity
are a very different proposition
from a P6 or an SD1.
From a similar era comes
the thorny question of the head
gasket on the K-Series engine, so
often the cause of a premature
end for many a modern MG
and Rover but also the subject of much
misinformed debate. As you can see from
this month’s Service Shop feature, modern
updated parts mean the problem can be
solved for good – and it’s a DIY prospect
too, suddenly making all those cheap MGFs
out there look like tempting bargains.