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You’re going to love it when somebody gets
around to making a new Matra-Simca Rancho
a
AI:ME concept:
inspired by A2 and
Matt Prior (maybe)
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Autocar, meet China
4 October 1975
TE STE R ’ S N OTE S
Matt Prior
Thankfully not ‘Lifeboaty McLifeboatface’
X
ESTABLISHED 1895
90 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 24 APRIL 2 019
rumpet-blow of the week:
I ’ v e b e e n ble at i n g on for
lon ge r t h a n i s s t r ic t l yhealthy about how the
Audi A2 was a car ahead of its time.
S o w he n t he e d it or w a nt e d t o r u n
a feature a few months ago about
c a r s t h at shou ld b e r e b or n , a ne w A 2
was the obvious choice for me (12/19
December 2018). Any new A2 would
have to be on the VW Group’s new
MEB all-electric platform, I reckoned
at the time, but there’d be a lot to like
about a small, spacious, posh Audi.
We h a d s ome i ndu s t r y e x p e r t s
assess our wares. “We think selling
it would be the problem,” they said.
To say I was ‘crushed’ hardly does my
feelings justice.
But this week, what’s this from the
Shanghai motor show? It’s only the
f lipping AI:ME concept: a compact,
spacious, posh Audi based on the
MEB all-electric platform – so
perhaps other industry experts don’t
think it’s such a bad idea after all.
Our correspondent asked about
one year to 85,000 the next. So arm
yourself with questions, raise alarm
bells or reassure yourself – and waste
less time and money either way.
Just head to check-mot.service.
gov.uk and sling in a reg number.
■ Four years ago, a man called
Richard Colton bequeathed the
proceeds of his two Ferraris – a 1960
250 GT SWB and a 1967 275 GTB/4 –
to the RNLI. At auction, the two cars
were sold for £8.5 million, making
them the most valuable items ever
left to the life-saving charity.
I mention it now because a new
Shannon class lifeboat, the £2.2m
boat that was the subject of Autocar’s
Christmas road test (12/19 December
2018), will be named the Richard and
C a r ol i ne C olt on t h i s w e e k e nd , at it s
lifeboat station in Hastings.
Of all the Christmas roadtests I’ve been involved with, the
Shannon lifeboat is one of the
most extraordinary in terms of its
performance and capability. That the
£400,000-plus a day it takes to run
the RNLI is all found charitably is
even more remarkable.
WITH THIS TALK of progress in the
automotive industry of the second-
biggest global economy, we’ve dug
out our first taste of a vehicle from
China. This was the Hongqi CA770,
a limo designed to transport – to
paraphrase Orwell – those Chinese
citizens more equal than others.
The Hongqi (Red Flag) was built
from 1963 in Changchun. Based on
the ’55 Imperial, it used Chrysler’s
5.6-litre V8 – claimed at 220bhp
but feeling like 160bhp – and a
two-speed auto. Indeed, none of its
mechanicals were unconventional.
It seemed “built very much like
a tank” but was undeniably regal,
having “huge leg space”, air-conand “carpet and seat covers of the
most luxurious quality”. Passive
safety was notably absent, mind.
“China certainly has a long way
to go to catch up with car makers in
th e m o r e a d va n ce d We st ,” we s a i d.
visual and engineering similarities
to the A2. “If there are parts of our
heritage like this, it’s not bad, because
it makes it recognisable,” he was told,
but he was assured that really the
AI:ME’s similarity of ethos to the A2
was “a coincidence”.
I say you heard it here first.
A nd i f my pr e mon it ion s k e e p goi n g
well, you’re going to love it when
s ome b o d y ge t s a r ou nd t o m a k i n g a
new Matra-Simca Rancho.
■ Spring, surely, is the biggest season
of the year for browsing classified
car adverts. And if you are doing so
online, it’s worth knowing about
a service that has been around for
a while, but is, I think, less known
than it should be.
A s w e l l a s c he c k i n g a c a r ’s t a xstatus, you can now also check its
MOT history since 2005 – and not
ju s t w he t he r it pa s s e d or f a i le d , but
the reasons for failing, or what the
advisories were when it passed.
Which, I think, can give you some
k i nd of i nd ic at ion of how t he ow ne r
has treated a car. Early Porsche
Boxsters strike me as quite tempting,
but I’d worry about one that keeps
t u r n i n g up t o a n MO T on ba ld t y r e s.
The check shows the respective
mileage, too. One Range Rover I
lo ok e d at w e nt f r om 210, 0 0 0 m i le s
T