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In the Hot Seat with ...
Esmond Tearle

What was your first car?

My very first car was a 1970 Vauxhall Viva SL. In it's day I suppose it was quite a decent car for a seventeen-year-old to own. I bought it from my parents when it was almost four years old. All of my mates were running Ford Anglias, beaten up Minis or bangers, so I felt a bit special as my car actually had shiny paintwork. I kept that car for five years and sold it to a lad in the village. He drove it into a wall after just one week.

What is your daily driver?

I have an ageing but rather nice BMW 525i which I have owned for years now. There is also a Peugeot 106 Diesel, which tends to be used as a run around as it is so ridiculously economical.

What classic(s) do you currently have?

I have a pair of Daimler V8's, or should be a brace of Daimler V8's? I'm not sure if there is a collective term for these things. I suppose there could be a "gaggle" of Gogomobiles, a "school" of Skodas, a "pride"of Aston Martins or a "rot" of Allegros. Anyway, the first is a rather lovely 1964 2 ½ litre V8 Auto, like the Jaguar Mk2 in shape for anyone unfamiliar with them. I just love that curvaceous shape, and all that leather and walnut trim. Three cows and half a forest went to make it so luxurious. It's like sitting in a well worn comfortable chair in a gentleman's club. That coupled with the wonderful Edward Turner designed V8 engine and you have something a bit special. My second Daimler V8 is the Dart, or SP250 to give it the correct title. Currently being restored as you will read on this website.

What made you choose the classic(s) you own?

I previously had a Dart for ten years and loved it. I sold that car as it was too small for a growing family to pile into for days out etc. I then bought the V8 saloon. The kids lost interest, so I bought another Dart. It's something to do with a mid life crisis. The other option was a mistress, and I suppose that would have been cheaper.

Have you ever missed buying a particular classic and lived to regret it?

Yes, a few times. I missed an Aston Martin V8 years back, and on reflection, maybe I should have been a bit braver. There was also a Mini Copper years ago. It was simply sensational. Wood and Pickett, Radford, all the things a Mini needs. It looked like something you would see parked outside a music studio in the sixties. In the end it was shipped out to the Middle East for it's new owner. It was just outside my price range and I wish now that I had bought it. That car would have been very serious fun.

What would be your dream car?

Now that is a difficult one. I suppose an Aston Martin DB5 or DB6. They were made in my hometown so there is a connection. I reckon that an Aston has to be the ultimate in class and quality. I have always wanted an E-type, but now I have the Dart, my lusting after one has declined a bit. A few years ago I would have sold my soul for an E-type.

What car do you regret parting company with?

My beautiful red 1962 Daimler Dart. I realised as soon as the new owner drove it off the driveway that I had made a huge mistake in letting that car go. Still, when finished, the current Dart will be even nicer.

What is your favourite run in a classic car?

These days, it would be a drive out to the Cotswolds as it's an area that I love. A really pretty part of this little island we live on. In the past I used to do the Norwich Union RAC Classic runs and they were great. Those got me drives around places like Silverstone, Donnington, Prescott Hill climb, Cornbury Sprint, the MIRA Proving Ground, Millbrook with its banked circuit. All these places you couldn't normal experience. I used to enjoy going up to North Norfolk to the Wiveton Bell annual classic car meet. That was brilliant. My dear old mate Charles Clark owned the pub and he organised a great weekend which started with a run around the coast, and then met with a big get together and loads of fun. Charles is sadly no longer with us, and I have happy memories of those days and some excellent times together.

How much work on your car(s) do you carry out yourself?

I am not very mechanically minded. I suppose it's a combination of a lack of confidence and also the knowledge that if something works, I could easily break it. I can do the basics, like a simple service. Clean or change the plugs, change the points, that sort of thing. Anything above those things I leave to a mate who is a mechanic. Bodywork is something I enjoy and am reasonably good at. I enjoy polishing, titivating, and making things look nice. I would never let anyone else clean or polish my cars as they would never get them as good as I can.

What do you carry with you when out in your classic?

I always carry a basic tool kit, spare bulbs, some water just in case. A bottle of the additive I use to add to that weak green stuff they now sell instead of 4 star. I also carry a couple of blankets in the boot. Just in case I had to change a wheel I wouldn't get too messed up. It's all fairly basic stuff really. I suppose that if I owned an Allegro (or similar) I would also carry emergency supplies like packet soup, drinking water, a primus stove and Kendal Mint cake. Obviously a box of matches as well. Not to set fire to the car, but to light the primus stove when the car broke down and left me stranded.

Do you get involved in the club scene and why?

No I don't. I was a member of the Daimler and Lanchester Owners Club and also the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club. Quite simply, I didn't bother to renew my subscriptions to either. I find clubs generally charge their members a lot of money for second rate monthly magazine that hold nothing much of interest for people like myself. Not good value in my view. I also find that so often dinosaurs who resent fresh blood and new ideas run them. Change is not something they are keen to see happening. I suppose the fact that I drive a "Jag in drag" and a "plastic Daimler" doesn't help. Not the proper thing don't ya know! So, there you are, in a nutshell, I don't do the club scene.

Do you take an interest in motor sport, and if so where is your favourite venue(s)/club meetings?

I love motor sport. I really enjoy Silverstone and like to get to as many Vintage Sports Car Club or Historic Sports Car Club race days as I can. I also greatly enjoy all the smaller clubmans meetings, as it's good to see normal guys out there having fun and racing on a tight budget. It makes for some very exciting and competitive motor sport. A huge favourite venue is Prescott Speed Hill Climb not far from Cheltenham. A truly magical place!

What is your worst memory involving a classic?

It has to be the day I was driving a Triumph Mayflower back from Oxfordshire for a mate. He had bought the car, and was towing it with me in the driving seat. We were going through a village called Deddington, and the road at this particular spot was rather narrow with buildings either side. He obviously forgot I was behind him, and was going too quick. I braked hard to slow us both down, the seat broke and I ended up going backwards with my legs in the air. How we never hit anything I will never know. I was prepared to walk the twenty odd miles home rather than get back in that damned car.

What is your funniest memory involving a classic car?

Probably the time when we took the kids strawberry picking and got collared by the most boring pair of people in the world who own what I would call a classic joke. That's a story in itself. This pair are the self-confessed classic car authority for this area, if not the world. I'm sorry, but I can't tolerate idiots. Anyway, they are just so boring, and eventually, when I did managed to get away from them, I looked back and they had spent ages fitting their Crooklock to the steering wheel and then wandered off and left the door wide open! It amused me anyway.

What is your most enjoyable moment involving a classic car?

There were many when I was young free and single, but I suppose the cars I had then were not regarded as classics in their day, although they would be now. Most involved nocturnal activities which are perhaps best not mentioned. Oh sorry!, that's not what you meant is it? My greatest moment was taking my first Daimler Dart up Prescott Hill and getting the crowd to their feet as I got it sideways. I was in perfect control of the situation, even though it didn't look that way at the time.

If you won a competition to have the unlimited and unrestricted use of any classic car for a week, what would you choose and why?

That is a hard one to answer! Maybe a nice early Jaguar E-type roadster and I would like to try to drive around the entire coastline of mainland Britain to raise money for charity. It is something I have always wanted to do, and is probably something I will never get around to doing off my own back.

How do you define a classic?

Another hard question John. I don't think there is any hard or fast ruling as to what is a classic and what isn't a classic. It's not like a veteran or vintage car where they fall into specific dates. To me, I suppose a classic car is something that someone, somewhere wants to save and collect. Maybe because it holds important links with the past. Silly things like granny used to have one, or I had one as my first ever car. Dad used to drop me at the school gates in one years ago. Things like that. To me, it simply means that it's a car that many people wish they owned. Size, value, power, speed etc don't matter. It's just something that could be classed as collectable or just simply regarded as rare and different. It's all a matter of personal taste. I once met a Morris Minor owner who claimed to have been conceived in one. Everyone has their own reasons I guess. I think that some newer cars will soon take on classic status, either because they are very different or there won't be many made.

What in your opinion is the worst car regarded as a classic and why?

This is where I will no doubt upset people. How anyone can ever regard things like Austin Allegros, Marinas, Hillman Avengers, Volvo 240's or stuff like that as classic cars beats me! I could give you a long list, but I would probably have a price put on my head by a bunch of fanatical nutters owning errrrrrr, I'll stop there I think. I'm sorry, but how anyone can spend money restoring a car to its former glory when it started life as a bloody awful thing defies belief.

So what in your view will be a future classic?

Have you seen the new little Smart Car sports job? There's one for sure. Hardly any produced yet but they are just so different and they look mean. Like a Jack Russell crossed with a Pit Bull on steroids. I think the Lotus Elise will be a future classic, as will the Renault Megane in years to come because of its unusual rump. If you think about it, anything that didn't sell when it was a current model because it looked so radical has in later years developed a following.

What question would you like to ask and to whom?

I think I would like to ask the man who designed the Allegro "What were you on?" The bloke at a concours show who polished his car with a sanitary towel as he claimed it was softer than a cloth; I would like to ask him "How did you first realise that?" The man who designed the sensuous curves of the E-type and created the most beautiful thing ever crafted in steel, well I would like to ask him "who is the car based upon was she as hot as she looked".

John, it's been wonderful chatting to you, any chance I could now have the other half of lager that you promised me?

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