The Dream Cars class at the London Concours was a celebration of the cars that kids would have had posters of on their walls in the 80s, 90s and 00s.
We’ll start with the earliest, the Ferrari 512 BBi. The BB stands for Berlinetta Boxer as this car was equipped with a 4.9 litre flat 12 (5 (rounded up) and 12 denoting the number of cylinders). The ‘i’ was a feature on later cars – Bosch’s K-Jetronic fuel injection system. The Jetronic system was used by a lot of manufacturers over the years.
The 288 GTO was a beefed up version of the 308 GTB (one of which featured in the Ferrari V8 class which you can read about here: http://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2025/06/10/london-concours-2025-50-years-of-ferrari-v8/) It was meant to race in Group B rallying but the formula collapsed before the car got a chance to race. Only 272 examples were built between 1984 and 1986 making it an incredibly sought after collectors piece.
Porsche’s 959 was also destined for Group B but, again, the formula was cancelled before the car got a chance to race. Porsche had plans for the 959 outside of racing though – it was always meant to be the company’s halo car.
The 959 was the fastest production car on the planet and was considered to be the most technologically advanced car of the time. Porsche actually lost money on every one they made.
This particular car is one of seven prototypes and was originally used for electronics and hot weather testing.
Lamborghini’s Countach is a special car to me. Production started in 1974 with the LP400, but the later cars – from the LP400S to the 5000 Quattrovalve (as pictured) just scream 1980s excess. Driving one of these in the right location must make you feel like either a super successful stock broker or someone who moves questionable white powder out of Latin America.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to speak to my secretary about buying some shares in some technological start up called Microsoft.
The 930 Turbo S owned by YouTuber and motoring journalist Harry Metcalfe (of Evo and Harry’s Garage)
Jaguar’s XJ220 had a rough start. It was originally conceived to be all wheel drive and powered by a big V12 – however engineering, budget and emissions controls meant the production was rear wheel driven and was powered by a twin-turbo V6. Between that big drop in specification and an economic recession in the early 1990s, a lot of buyers pulled out and only 275 after 1500 deposits were taken.
It was still an absolute monster of a car though – the twin turbo V6 (based loosely on the V6 from the Metro 6R4 Group B rally car) made 542 bhp and the car weighed a mere 1500KG, which meant it would do 0-60 in 3.6 seconds and would go on to a whopping 212mph, making it the fastest production car of the time.
I for one am glad to see that they are getting the recognition and admiration that they so deserve.
This particular one was originally owned by Sir Elton John. He owned it for 9 years but only covered 900 miles in it.
Italian entrepreneur Romano Artioli purchased the Bugatti brand in 1987. In 1991 they released the EB110.
The EB110 featured all wheel drive and was powered by a quad turbo-charged V12. It was an incredible machine but was outperformed by the McLaren F1 and the aforementioned economic uncertainty of the early 1990s meant that only 139 were sold.
Bugatti under Artioli folded in 1995 and in 1998 the company was acquired by the VW group who have gone on to produce some absolutely phenomenal cars under the Bugatti name.
This car is chassis number 0001 and was originally sold to the Royal Family of Brunei.
The McLaren F1. Where does one even start with this thing?
Designed by ex Brabham Formula 1 designer (he designed all of their competition cars from 1973 up until 1986) the McLaren F1 was the first car to feature a fully carbon fibre monocoque chassis. Of note (to me) is the unusual three seat configuration where the driver sits in the centre and the passengers sit behind and to either flank of the driver. The doors were also inspired by the Toyota Sera which is a slightly more attainable dream car for me haha!
It did 0-60 in 3.2 seconds and would hit 240.1mph making it the world’s fastest production car in 1992.
I always find it incredible how small these are in real life. When I see pictures of them they always look like a big car.
The 911 GT1 is a homologation special based very loosely on the 996 generation 911 road car. 25 were produced between 1996 and 1999.
Throughout it’s career it struggled to keep pace with the McLaren F1 and Mercedes’ CLK GTR, but did win LeMans in 1998 which is the year that this car was built.
The Diablo 6.0VT was the final hurrah for the Diablo before…
The Murcielago came out. The Murcielago was the first Lamborghini to be released under Audi/VW ownership.
It featured a 6.5ltr V12 producing 631hp, all wheel drive and Lamborghini’s automated manual ‘e-gear’ paddle shift system.
Thanks for reading.
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By Richard Francis
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