Planning some seat time

I HAVE no idea where the last year has gone but it was a significant one in terms of the classic car fleet.

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Having relied on friends and family for too long to store my cars, I decided that my newly built garage was going to include the cars that we actually use. Between me and my other half, Sam Snow, who has recently left Octane for pastures new, we owned five classics and two modern cars. And that was simply too many.

Two cars in particular were just not being used. Sam bought her Triumph Herald 13/60 Convertible four years before we were married and, after we had it totally restored in 2003, we regularly used to strap our three kids in the back and go off on various adventures. However, between 2015 and 2025, we had driven it just 1500 miles. So with a heavy heart, after almost 40 years of ownership, we have found a buyer.

We sold two other cars in 2025: our 1989 Mercedes R107 300SL that had been stored for three years, and our 2011 BMW E91 M Sport. To replace the latter, we bought a BMW i3! I love it and it's pretty damn quick; life with an EV isn't all that bad if you find the right one.

We now have room for just two classic cars, which are going to be the 323i Baur Cabrio and the DB7. I finally got the Baur back from Radford Restorations after 18 months of major repairs that included renewing the floorpan. I then made the critical mistake of wanting Recaro seats instead of the standard seats that it had been fitted with new...