Overdrive

Other interesting cars we've been driving

- Mark Dixon

IN MORE THAN 20 years of writing for Octane, one of the cars I remember most covetously was not a Ferrari, a Lamborghini or even a Jaguar (although a D-type is a good contender). No, it was a comparatively humble 'step-front' Alfa Romeo 1600 GT Veloce, a beautifully original car in understated battleship grey, which I drove to Geneva for a feature in issue 31.

The car was owned by Philip Kantor, then Bonhams' man in Europe and now with Broad Arrow, who kept it in the UK, which is why it wore a Brighton 'CD' registration - something Philip appreciated since Continental police assumed it was a diplomatic plate and he was therefore immune from parking tickets! It was such a lovely thing that it inspired me to buy my own 1967 Alfa GT Junior a few months later, equally original in Pino Verde dark green but with the 1300 rather than the 1600 engine.