Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/618165
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 20 DECEMBER 2015 Motoring VII Toyota Malta For more information contact: Michael Debono Limited 0GLQD5RDGĽHEEXã 7HO VDOHV#WR\RWDFRPPW ZZZWR\RWDFRPPW Toyota Gozo Showroom 0ãDUU5RDG ;HZNLMD;:.*R]R 7HO JJV#WR\RWDFRPPW 5 year WARRANTY DEBONO F I N A N C E ONLY 5.5% VARIABLE RATE OVER 6 YEARS 102-mile Austin Maestro for sale again – for more than double last year's price AN Austin Maestro with just 102 miles on the clock has gone up for sale on auction site eBay – for more than dou- ble what it sold for last year. The Maestro, a Cashmere Gold HLE model which was discovered in a garage due to be torn down in 2014, still has the carpet protectors and dealer stickers emblazoned with the logo of the original selling dealer, Henlys. It was put up for auction at the Barons' British Heritage Sale at Sandown Park in September 2014, where it sold for £3,260 – a figure which, at the time, was reported to be more than double the car's value according to price guides. However, the car is now back up for sale with the same quoted mileage, suggesting it has been stored ever since – and the current seller is asking £7,750, which works out at a 138 per cent increase in price in just 15 months. The rise in price will be seen by some as evidence of the rapid rise in values of classic cars in the last two years, and proof that the increases are affecting even cars which were once deemed ordinary. The Maestro's first registered keeper, a Mrs Doreen Gee, lived on the now-demolished Heygate Estate in south-east London, where it's thought the car was discovered. The reason for its long-term storage remains unclear, but what is known is that the car was registered to Mrs Gee until its discovery in 2014, when, according to the current vendor, it was acquired by one of the builders tasked with the demo- lition, before being auctioned off. Unique 2 millionth Land Rover Defender sold at auction for £400,000 THE two millionth Land Rover Defender to be built has sold for £400,000 at auction. The famous 4x4 has been in production in one form or another since 1948, with this particular example assem- bled earlier this year with the help of 33 Land Rover brand ambassadors and enthusiasts – and a few journalists. Among those involved were the adventurer Bear Grylls and the founder of the Born Free Founda- tion Virginia McKenna OBE. Proceeds of the sale, which took place at Bonhams auction house in London, will be donated to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Born Free, which helps rescue animals held captive in poor conditions around the world and promotes wildlife conservation. The "Defender 2,000,000", as Land Rover calls the special mod- el, features a plethora of distinc- tive touches alongside badging identifying its significance. A map of Red Wharf Bay in Anglesey – where the design of the original Land Rover was first drawn in the sand by Rover's engineering director Maurice Wilkes – is engraved into alu- minium plates positioned between the front wheel arches and door openings. What's more, the leather seats feature the same Red Wharf Bay graphic, and the car has the registration S90 HUE, which references the first pre-production Land Rover's registration of HUE 166. Prior to the auction, British- based Land Rover enthusiast Brian Reynolds launched a crowd-funding project in an effort to save the two millionth Defender for the Britishnation, but it is un- derstood to have gone to a bidder in Qatar. Ralph Speth, chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover, said: "The auction of this milestone vehicle is a suitable way to celebrate the role that the Defender has played in supporting our humanitarian aid and conservation partners over the decades." McKenna added: "Land Rover has been in my life since 1964, when my husband Bill and I went to Kenya to film Born Free. Each day we went out in it with a lion; out on to the plains for our early morning walk. We are delighted that the money raised will help Born Free's work with wildlife in the Meru area of Kenya." Production of the Defender is scheduled to end in February 2016, although Land Rover will replace it with an all-new model in 2018.