Classic.Retro.Modern. Magazine January 2023 Back Issue

We’re aware that not everybody is enjoying the World Cup, but we couldn’t let the festival of football pass without celebrating our favourite special edition. Gavin is the only member of the editorial team to love football – he supports Brentford, because someone has to – so it was his idea to stick a Fiat Panda Italia ’90 on the cover. Doesn’t it look great, Clive? At the end of the day, Jeff, he’s 110% happy to see the famous wheel trims gracing the front of our very acceptable classic car mag. You can read his ode to the car and Richard Heseltine’s driving impressions.

We’re not saying that Mr Heseltine didn’t enjoy driving the Panda, but we suspect he’d prefer to spend more time behind the wheel of the Mazda Cosmo. Some residents of Royal Tunbridge Wells might prefer it if he took the car elsewhere. “To be fair, ‘our’ Mazda Cosmo is a bit (very) smoky around town. It isn’t happy being shunted along during the school run, but the Bond-esque smoke screen isn’t its only party trick.” Ordinarily, the extraordinary Cosmo would have been on the cover, but Gavin wouldn’t shut up about football, football, football.

Elsewhere, Rich Duisberg introduces us to his Lotus Elise Sport 135, a car he describes as “a mass of contradictions”. You can also read about Rich’s participation in the 24 Hours of Lemons, where the paddock is “Burning Man meets Wicker Man”. Needless to say, he didn’t take part in the Elise.

There’s a double helping of Japanese nostalgia, with Skorj charting the history of the Nissan Skyline and Richard Dredge doing the same with kei cars.

Better still, why not treat yourself to a BMW Z3? Richard’s Ultimate Guide to the Bavarian roadster tells you everything you need to know to ensure you buy the right one. If the thought of buying a sports car in December fills you with dread, you can read about the Land Rover Freelander and the original Honda CR-V,