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DD Classics: Kew applause

Despite being open for little more than a year, DD Classics’ London showroom not only houses an eclectic range of collector cars, but also more than 40 years of market experience in the form of owner Daniel Donovan…

The spacious, Art Deco-style showroom in the fashionable Kew district of the Capital is in an ideal location for the more discreet buyer. More often than not, it’ll be Donovan himself who welcomes you; his experience in the industry ranges from owning Straight Eight (the Bentley and Rolls-Royce specialist) for 30 years, to helping set up the Hexagon Classics operation more recently.

Diverse disposition

Donovan’s wide knowledge of the industry is reflected in the diversity of the cars in his showroom. During our visit, a cute yellow Vignale Gamine is towered over by a late-shape Phantom, while a Renault 5 Turbo rubs door handles with a thoroughly convincing Testa Rossa recreation. There's even a unique pre-War Jaguar prototype which we can’t help but admire in close detail.

Alongside car sales, DD Classics also has plenty of on-site space to take care of mechanical repairs and paintwork restoration.

Photos by Jan Baedeker

You can find the current stock of DD Classics in the Classic Driver Market.

St James’s Concours of Elegance 2013: “All 60 vehicles are winners”

That’s how the programme describes the priceless rarities gracing the lawns of Marlborough House. And how could there be a ‘winner’ in a concours entry that included a Ferrari GTO, a ‘Blower’ Bentley, the Roberto Rossellini Ferrari 375 MM and so many Pebble Beach-level, pre-War one-offs?

Oh, and let’s not forget the red-with-white-stripes 1970 Porsche 917, the very car that gave Porsche its first overall victory at Le Mans. Or the pair of limited-edition Ferraris inspired by demand in the USA for a convertible – with race-track performance: the blue 1961 250 GT California Spider and the silver 1967 275 GTB/4 N.A.R.T. Spyder.

Enough of the listing. Browse through our gallery of photos and admire the coachbuilder’s art, marvelling at the organising committee’s skill at enticing so many wonderful cars to London, just 12 months after its first event at Windsor Palace. 

Photos: Steve Wakefield/Joe Breeze

For further information, visit the St James’s Concours of Elegance website, where a full listing of entries can be viewed, and where the winners' names will be posted.

DEFMoto’s Dominator Tracker

DEFMoto’s second build could very well belong to one of you by the time this story is posted up, as it’s on sale on eBay UK at a stupidly low price as I type. Honda NX650 Dominator based trackers have been surfacing on the scene quite a lot recently – in a trend arguably started by Andrew Greenland a couple of years ago. The air-cooled Honda single is pokey and reliable, and while the chassis and components are 1990 quality they are pure 80s in design, allowing builders to create timeless scramblers that have modern manners. And can you think of a better second bike?

“This build all started around that lime green CB200 tank. I actually bought it for the first bike but fell in love with the colour and the patina and needed to build a bike around it . The seat unit was basically finished before I bought the donor bike which was definitely going to be a BMW boxer…Once I’d found the Honda Dominator (I know, can you see a pattern emerging?) I set to work.”

“I started with removing the rear end and replacing with the monocoque seat, mounts for the new tank, powder coat, rebuilding the wheels in-house – changing the front to 17″, and the custom side exit exhaust silencer which also acts as a stiffener for the seat stays and a mud shield for the air filter. I’m quite proud to say that apart from powder coat and the seat upholstery everything was done in house.”

My favourite aspect of this build was the silencer. It came about when I was trying to integrate a mud shield to cover the silencers that were going to be fitted in this area. It was all starting to look a little messy when I thought hang on?…. And threw everything away and built this, it’s sounds really nice!”

“This bike is up for sale at the moment to fund the 3rd and final “do what I want “build to raise the profile of the company. It’s going to be another low budget build with lots of time intensive fab to hopefully show part of what DEFMoto is about, taking the ugly ducklings, the bikes with little to no cult status and up-cycling them into reasonable budget but cool retro rides….”

“I’d also if i could like thank CRC restoration services for the top job on the carbs, and all their advice and help, my good mate Craig Hunter at Galaxy for the seat upholstery on both builds, and Jeff at KB wheels in Bolton for the stainless spokes and wheel building advice, oh and you should see the Silk 700 he’s rebuilding!”

You gotta love Paul’s way of working. Start with a Honda tank because you love the scratches on it, decide to build a BMW boxer with it, and end up building a rule-breaking 90′s Dominator based tracker. It’s a bit of a marmite bike for many, but for us it smacks of pure genius with a clever (if unusual-looking) rear-end that’s about a lot more than just the design, and a custom bike that is as practical as it is original. A proper stand-out bike in a world of me-toos. Has anyone bought it yet? Please bring it to our October Event so we can see it in the flesh.

See more from Paul and DEFMoto on their Facebook pages. I suspect they’re one to watch.

from the bike shed