Rachael from moneysupermarket.com dropped us a mail with some great advice on classic car insurance, which is a necessary evil for us all, so we'd thought we'd share it with you.

For many classic car owners, keeping their pride and joy safe is of utmost importance.  Many vintage car enthusiasts have dreamt of owning one since they were a child, so insuring your car is very important.  Car insurance can cost an arm and a leg at the best of times, but it's important to differentiate between insuring car for everyday use and a classic car.  Classic cars are likely to be cheaper to insure because owners are more likely to be more cautious with the car and will be better cared for, for example, stored in a garage and be driven for less miles/km throughout the year.  Regardless, classic car owners will still want to get a good deal.  Here are a few hints and tips on how to get the best deal…

Get your car valued by a professional.  This may cost a little money, but it's important to know how much your classic/vintage car is worth so you know how much to insure it for.  This will be the amount you will be able to claim for if you car gets stolen or written off. If your car is very rare you may need to get the valuation in a document so you have proof that you've had it valued by someone who is qualified to do so.

Make sure that your insurer will account for the valuation to increase over time.  The older the car, the more it will be worth in the future.  Point this fact out to your insurer before committing to a policy.  Vintage and classic cars can become worth more year on year so each time you renew your classic car policy you may need an up-to-date valuation. 

Remember that your classic car will be driven less than an every day car.  Some people never drive their car, meaning that their insurance could be significantly reduced.  You can choose a 'limited mileage' policy on your car if you only drive it occasionally.  Estimate how much (in miles/km) that you've driven your car in the past year and then tell your insurer that you won't do any more than this.  You can always adjust this limit throughout the year if need be.  This may save you a considerable amount on your policy.

Shop around.  Not all insurance providers will cover classic or vintage cars, so it's best to find a company who specializes in it.  They will then be able to guide you through your quote and tell you why they need to know certain information.  By shopping around you will also get a good idea of what the car insurance market has to offer and be more likely to find a policy that fits your classic car needs as well as your wallet. 

Inform your insurer if you make any changes to your car.  An example of this would be if you made changes to the engine and make it more powerful.  You would then need to make your insurer aware of the changes so they can incorporate it into your policy.  If you don't tell your insurer this may affect your chances of claiming any money should you ever need to make claim.  Insurers love honesty, so even if you make the smallest changes to either the engine or the aesthetics of the car, inform your insurance company as soon as possible.

Hopefully this will save you some money and some time with your next insurance purchase for you car.

We always like to recieve product news here at RSM, it is even better when it is a new film, particularly about a car sub culture that is difficult for us to see first hand in it's native habitat.  So we were very happy to get information sent to us about Dustin Volo's "Volo : The Cars, The Culture & The Camera".
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If you've bought an issue of Octane magazine(link) you may well have seen the excellent illustrations for Felix Petrol, these excellent cartoons are drawn by Guy Allen.
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As regular readers will be aware, we love magazines here at RSM and have a fairly broad taste when it comes to our paper based reading.  Our individual collections cover a wide variety of subjects and countries, but there is one area of automotive magazine that has remained beyond reach, the trade mag.  Until now.
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When I first caught sight of the cover of this DVD I wasn't sure what to expect, sure the title implied it was about the last 50 years of Mini, but the cover prominently showed two new minis with an original mini tucked behind one of them.  However we're not ones to judge anything by its cover, so into the player the DVD went.  After the Duke video ident we got to a modest menu whereby we could view the whole film, select individual chapters or check out the extras, nothing scary or unusual here, but easy to use and get what we wanted.
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It is difficult to justify just taking your car out for a drive some times, particularly in the current financial climate with the relatively high price of petrol.  So when you do take it out for a drive you have to make sure it is a good one.  Even better is if you can make the journey a meaningful one, travelling to a show, heading across the continent, having a destination in mind and getting their without touching a motorway.

These kind of journeys can make for some of the best memories and should be on your list of things to do, so it is always great to see a book that may inspire you to get planning.  It is easy to say 'one day', but how many of us have said that and so far not done it?  Well hopefully Classic Motorsport Routes will push us out of our indecision and give us something to aim for.

The book consists of 224 pages of maps and stories of some of the world’s greatest circuits, tracks and road routes, including the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio.  It isn't limited to Europe either, it also takes in some fantastic routes in North America, perfect for a fly drive for those of us on this side of the Atlantic.  Taking your car out for a journey along the route of the Mille Miglia must rank pretty high in most petrol heads dreams, this book will take you one step closer to realising it.  Pretty soon you'll find you've run out of excuses not to do it!

Whilst not the cheapest book on earth it makes for an ideal present, and if it is going to fuel your dreams for a while then it will be worth every penny.

 

When we were sitting around our (virtual) table brainstorming ideas for our official tuner/tuning houses week the usual supects were mentioned along with some lesser known names - AMG, Alpina, Schnitzer, RUF, Janspeed, Cobb, Irmscher etc but one name kept coming into my head - a company that takes a pile of Porsche bits and stuffs the lot under VW Transporters - TH Automotive.

Here's the deal: Tou take a new or nearly new T5 Transporter to the company's Berlin HQ and they break out the tape measure, grinder and welder and give you it back with a lot more attitude and some Porsche DNA in the form of a whole load of Porsche 996/997 Turbo goodies as well as your choice of extras including TV, DVD, Fax and a phone.

From the outside the stance, rims and shortened tailgate are the only indication that something is different, to the untrained eye the van does very little to give away it's 160mph+ potential.

The TH3 is their stretched version of the T5 crew cab which features a 50cm longer bed. Why? To carry a CG Quadster. A combination which should please any petrolhead.



Price? €145,000 for the basic model if you supply the van...I'm off to buy a lottery ticket.

 

PDF Brochure: http://www.thautomobile.de/Sonderausstattungsliste.pdf

Website: www.thautomobile.de

Bizarre four-wheeled bike thing: http://www.gg-technik.ch/

 

It will tell you everything you need to know about this DVD if I say that I was suppose to write this review days ago, but have in fact spent my time watching and rewatching it.  I guess I could justify it under the guise of research, but really I knew within the first 30 minutes that this DVD was top notch. The rest just confirmed that.

Can Am : A Speed Odyssey charts the rise and rise of the Can Am race series in the US and Canada, from 1963 through to 1973 where it hit its peak.  The footage is first class having been located from many different sources it is put together to give you a complete picture of what each years racing season was like, who the dominant forces were and where the innovations were coming from.  The footage of crowds, pits and paddock really add to the atmosphere of the time.

The whole DVD is feels like it was done in period, I don't know if this was a conscious choice but it really feels like something you could have picked up at the end of the 1973 season to commemorate 10 years of Can Am.

Narration by Sam Posey and Jim Hill adds polish and insight in equal measures to the racing that is going on in front of you, as well as sections on workshop visits with the likes of Maclaren and period interviews with the drivers.  This is racing from a time when drivers would be piloting a Formula 1 car one week and then in a Can Am car the next.

Without a doubt this is a film that also has a great sound track, the music is kept to a minimum and the cars allowed to speak for themselves and boy do they speak!

If there is a downside to this DVD it is that it gives me even more of an interest in seeing more footage, but I suspect there isn't much to be found.  One thing worth thinking about is the cost £22 is a lot to spend on a single DVD ... However I believe it to be worth this, just to sit in a darkened room, with the volume right up and the incredible sight of the cars and noise of the engines filling your world with motorsport at its very best!

Get the DVD from Driven And Ridden

Check out the trailer here : http://www.canamfilm.com/

Okay so I was going write up a big "Christmas List" in order to maybe make some cash money from Amazon referrals in order to finance either a) My Aston martin or (more likely) b) a Christmas present for myself, a book or a DVD maybe.  However whilst going through things I realised that I'd rather spread this stuff through the year and highlight maybe one book or DVD every so often.  What prompted this decision was this awesome book : 

The blurb : "The love of fast cars has exploded - from a rebellious underground pastime to become a huge worldwide cult - spawning its own sub cultures in music, art and fashion. Ten years in the making "Speedseekers" is the ultimate book on the world of Hot rods and Kustom Kulture. Author Alexandra Lier has spent a decade at the epicenter of the scene from the drag strips of Bakersfield to the Bonneville Salt Flats to Los Angeles' most devotional garages, revving engines and burning rubber with the world's foremost mechanics, racers and adrenaline junkies. Not just for gear heads! Peek under hoods and into interiors and meet the fascinating characters that have devoted their lives to the pursuit of the ultimate rush. The book features full color photographs and graphics throughout. It is more exciting than a nitro burning supercharged Hemi."

That right there is present I would like to see under my Christmas tree come December 25th.

We've mentioned before our love of shoes and our obvious love of all things lowrider, so we're always pleased when our interests collide.  With it coming up to Christmas we've come over all capitalist consumers and gone on the hunt for suitable footwear.

First up we've got C1rca's range of Low Rider shoes.  Part of their al50 range you've got a choice of two, firstly black with lowrider details :

C1rca also have a range of accessories with suitable lowrider detail on them as well.

Next up we have the aptly named Lowrider shoes, instead of having cars and wotnot printed on them they have lowrider style graphics and artwork.  The best selection we've found is at Sears or you can try ebay as they come up occasionally.

Of course if you are feeling creative, get yourself some plain white shoes and get going with your own custom art work.  Custom gasser shoes anyone?