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AN ULTRA-rare 1970s TVR Vixen is set to go under the hammer for just £65,000.

The eye-catching model has just undergone an £150,000 restoration and is just one of a handful of the S4 Vixen 1300 built on the M-Series chassis.

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A 1972 TVR S4 Vixen 1300 will go under the hammer next month[/caption]

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The model has undergone a restoration worth £150k[/caption]

The motor’s exterior is finished with an elegant black with chrome detailing over a black interior.

The two-litre Pinto engine was ripped out and replaced with a 289ci V8 engine and boasts an array of impressive features.

These include a fresh steel crank and rods, forged pistons, big-valve alloy heads, sports cam and alloy water pump.

This car will be auctioned on February 22 at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry, by Iconic Auctioneers.

“Project Heaven has confirmed that the current cost to replicate this amazing TVR would be over £150K,” reads the listing.

“The odometer shows that the car has barely covered 66 miles as of date.

“The car been upgraded with light flywheel, new alloy radiator, new Super T10 gearbox, rebuilt Salisbury 4HU diff, new Bailey Morris upgraded driveshafts, new rear uprights, new coil-overs all round, new vented brake discs and calipers operated by twin adjustable-bias master cylinders.

“It was also fitted with custom-made roll-cage, Sparco competition seats and Sabelt harnesses, GPS speedo, new wiring loom, and Turrino polished alloy-rim tubeless wire wheels.

“The car is a perfect companion for the open roads as well as out on the circuit.”

This comes as another Escort Cosworth with just over 2,000 miles on the clock sold for a record-breaking £200,000 at an auction in November.

The retro motor was one of the standout sales at the Classic Motor Show at the NEC, Birmingham – with over 100 cars changing hands for eye-watering sums of money that weekend.

At the time, the Ford was described by auction house Iconic Auctioneers as “unlikely to be surpassed in terms of its originality”.

While this Escort was exchanging hands for an eye-watering sum of money, we were lucky enough to meet Ford superfan Stuart – whose Ford Capri was one of the highlights of the entire show.

Indeed, Stuart’s owned 12 different Capris over the years, with his current Mk3 a particular cracker.

Speaking to Sun Motors, he said: “I’ve had three Mk1’s, two Mk2’s, and many Mk3’s, and I’ve got this one.

“Cut me in half, I’m Ford. I’m Ford all over. I’ve always liked Capri. I’ve always loved them.”

Elsewhere, an ultra-rare McLaren Senna XP, just one of ten in existence, is up for auction.

The powerful motor has just 47 miles on the clock and carries a 4.0L twin-turbo V8.

Plus, a glam 1950s supercar complete with a blistering V8 engine and futuristic magnesium bodywork has been listed on auction for £5.5million.

Images show the aerodynamic 1957 Chevrolet Corvette Super Sport or SS, in a stunning blue and white livery in pristine condition.

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It is one-of-only-six examples of the S4 Vixen 1300 built on the M-Series chassis[/caption]

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Petrol heads can put their bids in when the vehicle is auctioned off on February 22[/caption]

OUR much-loved astrologer Meg sadly died in March 2023 but her column will be kept alive by her friend and protégée Maggie Innes.

Read on to see what’s written in the stars for you today. 

ARIES

March 21 to April 20

The moon helps secrets to surface, linked to feelings, ambitions – or both.

They could come as a surprise, but the moment you commit, changes can begin.

Venus helps you turn back time in established love, and increase the heat.

If you start the day single, long-distance passion isn’t an easy option, but it can work.

 TAURUS

April 21 to May 21

You have a chart of sun-warmed ambitions, and decisive actions, that make a difference.

So make this a day of planning – in passion, career family, and setting ­manageable goals.

Later,  a casual ­collection of names can regroup into something so exciting, in terms of prizes or personal challenges.

Get all the latest Taurus horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions

GEMINI

May 22 to June 21

Deep down, you know where you want to go – but how you get there is up to you.

Rebel Uranus encourages you to stop playing safe but to play to win – and claim chances for yourself rather than giving them away to others.

In passion terms, your moon energy finds new heights for relationships, at every level.

Get all the latest Gemini horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions

CANCER

June 22 to July 22

Any doubts about the direction a personal plan is taking need to be addressed.

Keep your approach light, but don’t delay, or dodge the heavier aspects.

Pluto offers support to your deepest inner self and this also helps you make waves at work.

The same six names in a different order can be a luck-link.

Get all the latest Cancer horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions

LEO

July 23 to August 23

A transforming emotional moon lights up your day in such sexy ways.

You are physically in tune with your feelings and express them well, so both partners can be clear where passion is going next.

­Single? A keen gardener or grower can be a blossoming match.

An “M” month is a key factor of a new Leo deal.

Get all the latest Leo horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions

VIRGO

August 24 to September 22

You have steady Mercury strength that other people in your life appreciate – and today you add Uranus unpredictability that opens up exciting new directions.

You could invest skills in a health-based business,  or inspire others with fitness or diet success.

Matching pairs, maybe twins, can be a luck hotline.

Get all the latest Virgo horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions

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An “M” month is a key factor of a new Leo deal[/caption]

LIBRA

September 23 to October 23

Get ready to be a trailblazer, as the sun boosts creative inspiration while the moon helps break into hard-to-enter groups or business areas.

All day, you need to do you – resist copying, or clinging to, other people.

Close to home, a document or signature that’s been delayed can get moving again, so be prepared.

Get all the latest Libra horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions

SCORPIO

October 24 to November 22

Are you going along with a plan, or partnership, for a quiet life?

Then your chart today shows it’s time to rethink the future you need, not the one you are given.

An existing relationship could be a forever bond, but partners need to talk about everything, not just the easy parts.

Single? Choose substance over style.

Get all the latest Scorpio horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions

SAGITTARIUS

November 23 to December 21

Friends, family and colleagues may see you as a soft touch and stretch your kindness too far.

This is your moment to establish a system of give and take that is fairer to everyone, especially yourself.   In love, too, equality matters, and needs your attention.

Single? Your fate mate orders the same meal as you.

Get all the latest Sagittarius horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions

CAPRICORN

December 22 to January 20

Confidence begins with self-belief – today you can create this for yourself, rather than wait for another to.

Ideas may be unusual but you can make them real when you take them seriously.

Mercury’s gift is translating everyday skills into cash – maybe in a plan crossing generations. Luck links to an “E” TV star.

Get all the latest Capricorn horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions

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Mercury’s gift is translating everyday skills into cash[/caption]

AQUARIUS

January 21 to February 18

Saturn helps you try on a tougher cash face – and yes, you can push through some payment changes.

Not everyone might like these at first, but your zodiac gift is Mercury ability to adapt.

In love terms expect passion fireworks tonight – and a long-overdue reply to a message or a question. Luck circles “D” locations.

Get all the latest Aquarius horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions

PISCES

February 19 to March 20

Perhaps a group has always done things one way – but it’s time to try your way.

Start with no-pressure suggestions and demonstrate how understanding you can be – and the most rigid habits can soften.

Moon insight turns a love “no” to “yes”. Lucky voices have a link to the North, and an “S” dream has a new shape.

Get all the latest Pisces horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions

WILL SMITH is launching a major music comeback with his first album in 20 years – and he’s shot a big-budget Matrix-inspired video to kick it off.

The A-list actor, whose new single Beautiful Scars with rapper Big Sean is out today, turned down the chance to star as Neo in 1999’s The Matrix, with the role instead going to Keanu Reeves.

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But now Will gets his chance to look the part as both he and Big Sean star in the video for the song.

The return to music comes three years after he hit the headlines for slapping Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars – and that is referenced in the opening scene of the video.

Referring to the slap and his decision not to play Neo, Big Sean, tells him: “Look, you’ve made some awesome career choices your whole life. There’s only one you truly regret. Well maybe two, but we’re not going to focus on that one.”

The rap song, with brilliant production, touches on mistakes and the pitfalls of fame, and will appear on Will’s album Based On A True Story which is due for release in March – two decades after his fourth album Lost And Found.

He topped the singles charts in 1997 with Men In Black and scored a total of ten Top Ten songs, including Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It, Miami, Wild Wild West and Will 2K.

Before that he had a string of other hits as The Fresh Prince with DJ Jazzy Jeff, such as Summertime and Boom! Shake The Room, which reached No1 in 1993.

We know he can act, but I’m more excited to see what he does in music this time around.

Bella loves freeze frame

EVEN supermodels it seems can pack the wrong holiday gear.

But Bella Hadid was more than happy to pose in the sub-zero temperatures of US ski resort Aspen in Colorado in her tiny red bikini and a pair of cowboy boots.

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Bella Hadid was more than happy to pose in the sub-zero temperatures of US ski resort Aspen in Colorado[/caption]

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Bella posed in her tiny red bikini and a pair of cowboy boots[/caption]

Alongside the snaps, she wrote on Instagram: “Wrap yourself in nature and love, no matter where you wander this winter.”

That’s all well and good, but I still hope she packed some thermals.

JEFF TUNE WITH FILM STAR PAL

SCARLETT JOHANSSON is also returning to music, with a guest appearance on Jeff Goldblum’s new album.

Actor Jeff has announced his fourth record Still Blooming, which features an array of guests he’s met while making movies.

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Scarlett Johansson is also returning to music, with a guest appearance on Jeff Goldblum’s new album[/caption]

His version of Frank Sinatra’s The Best Is Yet To Come featuring Scarlett is out today ahead of the album’s release on April 25.

And following his stint as The Wizard in Wicked, he has teamed up with co-stars Ariana Grande on I Don’t Know Why (I Just Do) and Cynthia Erivo on We’ll Meet Again.

Bryan Ferry has also just announced a new album called Loose Talk, out on March 28.

Meanwhile Irish singer-songwriter Allie Sherlock has released her new track Ex-Friend today as well as announcing a string of shows.

And Lo Lauren has dropped her song Born To Run.

TEDDY’S IN SWIM FOR BRITS

TEDDY SWIMS is among the first five acts to be confirmed for the Brit Awards, as excitement builds with a month to go.

The American star, who has had hits including Lose Control and The Door, will play at the ceremony at London’s O2 Arena on March 1 before embarking on his nationwide tour.

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Teddy Swims is among the first five acts to be confirmed for the Brit Awards, as excitement builds with a month to go[/caption]

Current Rising Star award winner Myles Smith and last year’s recipient The Last Dinner Party have been added to the line-up, as has A Bar Song (Tipsy) singer Shaboozey.

He said: “This past year has been huge for me with my records getting love from all over the world and now I can celebrate with my friends and fans in London.”

Rounding out the announcement is confirmation that former Little Mix star Jade will perform at the bash, after we revealed this week she had been drafted in to the line-up after Charli XCX decided not to perform.

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SIMPLY RED kicked off their 40th anniversary celebrations last night with a huge slot on hit US chatshow The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

The band’s tour starts later this month in Latin America before heading to the UK in the autumn for 14 huge shows across the country starting in Belfast on September 23.

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Rita Ora will headline CarFest 2025 at Laverstoke Park Farm, Hampshire, during the August Bank Holiday weekend.

This year’s star-studded line-up also includes Travis, Tom Walker and Seasick Steve.

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Tom’s boxing clever

TOM GRENNAN has every right to be pleased as punch after new single Shadowboxing dropped today and he also revealed an accompanying album and tour.

The 11 shows, starting in Bournemouth on September 3, will be his biggest UK arena tour.

And Tom’s new single is the first track off fourth album Everywhere I Went Led Me To Where I Didn’t Want To Be, which is due for release on August 15.

Tom said: “The song about my fight with a side of me I have a lot of trouble with.

“But I’ve learned how to fight all these demons and I’m mentally and physically prepared now.”

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WHEN two savvy Southerners hooked up with two West Midlands wild men, it was a case of light the blue touch paper and stand well back.

As legend has it, they were supposed to go down like “a lead balloon”.

Dick Barnatt (Getty Images)

But, in 1968, they formed the most explosive and arguably most successful band in rock ’n’ roll history — Led Zeppelin.

Representing the suburbs of London were Jimmy Page (guitars) and John Paul Jones (bass and keyboards).

From the outskirts of Birmingham came Robert Plant (vocals and harmonica) and John “Bonzo” Bonham (drums).

When the four played together, it was — as their incendiary Immigrant Song implied — like hearing the “hammer of the gods”.

By incorporating grinding blues, sultry R&B and delicate folk music into their sound, they offered so much more than the “hard rock” and “heavy metal” labels they came to be saddled with.

Plant once told me: “In the middle of all our madness, we had a Zeppelin style. You could feel it and you could hear it.”

Next week sees the arrival in UK cinemas of the first band-authorised film about their roots, their formation and their meteoric rise, Becoming Led Zeppelin.

The two-hour documentary was written, directed and meticulously researched by Bernard MacMahon in tandem with screenwriter and producer Allison McGourty.

The pair had previously masterminded the mammoth, acclaimed American Epic project, exploring the impact of pioneering 1920s recordings by the likes of Mississippi John Hurt, The Carter Family and Lead Belly through film, soundtracks and a book.

In Becoming Led Zeppelin, MacMahon and McGourty trace the musical journey of each band member from their childhoods in post-war Britain . . . cue for cute family album snaps.

They paint a detailed picture of four characters with contrasting personalities who were ALL music obsessives from an early age.

They provide a blizzard of ­footage of the band’s influences — Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Richard, James Brown and two fired-up acts from this side of the Atlantic, Lonnie Donegan and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.

We see Page and Jones becoming ace session men while startl­ingly young. Both backed Shirley Bassey on her immortal 1964 Bond theme Goldfinger, for instance.

We witness Plant and Bonham, buddies as teenagers, plough their way through a tangle of bands in the West Midlands with no money and a “whole lotta” passion.

Yeah, we were very lucky, for a period of time, Jimmy and I were made for each other

Robert Plant on Jimmy Page

To cap it all, the four musicians collide, the sparks fly and they become world beaters — fast. The film serves as a mesmerising collage of loud, unvarnished live performance, telling insights from Page, Plant and Jones as well as evocative archive audio from the late Bonham.

The release of Becoming Led Zeppelin, after years in the works, inspired me to revisit interviews I conducted for expanded editions of the band’s back catalogue — eight studio albums released between 1969 and 1979 and their 1982 compilation, Coda.

In the first of four illuminating encounters with Page, I remember joining him beside a roaring log fire at a swish boutique hotel, just round the corner from London’s Royal Albert Hall.

By then, with his swept-back white hair, the six and 12-string maestro — the “Pontiff Of Power Riffing” if you will — bore the air of rock royalty.

Like chalk and cheese

Over coffee, he talked with immense pride and encyclopaedic knowledge about the formation of the band, the glory years and its untimely demise following the death of Bonham in 1980.

Ninety minutes later, in stark contrast, I found myself sitting at a scrubbed pine table, having a pint with Plant in an upstairs room at his Primrose Hill local.

With his shaggy mane and easy manner, the singer with the spectacular holler roamed freely between Led Zep, his latest solo album and his beloved football team, Wolverhampton Wanderers.

His first words to me were, “Have you done Jim Bob?” followed by a mischievous, “Laugh a minute?”

Let’s just say that Page, who wrote most of the music, and Plant, who wrote most of the lyrics, are like chalk and cheese, the former an earnest soul, the latter a freewheeling spirit.

It’s well known that they haven’t always seen eye to eye but there can be no doubting their intuitive Led Zeppelin relationship which, of course, ties them for ever.

“Yeah, we were very lucky,” admitted Plant. “For a period of time, Jimmy and I were made for each other.”

Every musician dreams to be in a group like Led Zeppelin and I was really fortunate to have been a founder member

Jimmy Page

Then he added: “But it was also the four of us. Each of us slipped into a role where self-expression was never marred. There was always a free passage to take an idea to the extreme.

“Jimmy was obviously the boss in the beginning. He and Jonesy bankrolled the whole thing when we started playing.

“They were the luminaries but Bonzo and I carried a lot of excitement and raw crap from the Midlands, which in a way stayed with Zeppelin all the way through.

“We were fortunate because we had this thing called ‘chemistry’ — though I hate the term. It was a fantastic and fortuitous accident.”

It was Page who initially drove the band to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of The Yardbirds and he remains the chief keeper of the flame to this day.

He said to me: “Every musician dreams to be in a group like Led Zeppelin and I was really fortunate to have been a founder member.

“It wasn’t one superstar surrounded by other good musicians. Each and every one of us brought in so much. Whether it was all of us playing at the same time — or two, or three — there was this incredible alchemy.”

Filmmaker MacMahon echoed this comment when he told SFTW of his key take-out from piecing Becoming Led Zeppelin together.

He was amazed at “just how extra­ordinary the musicianship was”.

“When you’re actually living with that music over and over again, year after year, you marvel at how they put it together.”

Page gave me another reason why Led Zeppelin were so special.

“We all had substantial roots, we really did,” he affirmed. “John Bonham had been listening to jazz drummers as much as Little ­Richard’s drummer, who was absolutely wonderful.

“John Paul Jones had obviously been into jazz, too. He had extremely eclectic taste.

“Robert’s voice was clearly like another instrument. It was on a different level. And I was constantly listening to music. If it was six strings and it was a guitar, then I was paying great attention to it.”

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Led Zeppelin singer Plant performing with the Band of Joy in 2010[/caption]

As for Plant, he’d had a bumpier ride through the Sixties before Page and the band’s forceful manager Peter Grant invited him to be lead singer and his mate “Bonzo” to be drummer.

“From my angle, I was really aware that my dream had arrived,” Plant told me.

“I’d been in lots of bands and people had suggested that a career in accountancy wasn’t over yet. ‘You could still go back and have another pop at it,’ they said.

Sex, catastrophe and things blowing up

“So when this chemical and anatomical combination got together it was like, ‘Wow! So this is what it was all coming to.’”

Plant produced one of his wicked grins as he spoke of “over-singing everywhere” on a live recording from October 1969 at The Olympia theatre in Paris.

It first surfaced officially in 2014 as a companion disc with the expanded self-titled debut album, now commonly re- ferred to as Led Zep I.

“I was gibbering like an ape — but there’s nothing wrong with a good ape!” he exclaimed. “I was so excited and never ever thought I’d hear it again.”

I asked Plant to explain his almost supernatural vocal range.

He replied with a remarkable list: “It came from Steve Marriott [the Small Faces singer] and from Howlin’ Wolf. It came from a tarmac lane in the Black Country. It came from every misty mountain and every silly castle on the Welsh borders.

“It came from me going, ‘I really love what I do and I’m going to over-cook it baby, come on!’

“There were so many ‘ooh baby, babies’ everywhere.”

In turn, Page was keen to highlight Led Zeppelin’s prowess at jamming and improv­isation.

“I’d been used to it in The Yardbirds,” he said. “We’d be creating music one night that we hadn’t done the night before.

“I was very keen to keep that tradition going in Led Zeppelin and these musicians were of such a calibre we really could have a lot of fun.”

Listening to the debut album today, 56 years on, you can’t help being impressed by the freshness and rawness of the sound.

It was housed in what became an iconic cover, displaying a bleached-out image of the Hindenburg zeppelin, pride of the Nazis, going down in flames in 1937.

 Despite printing a caustic review at odds with the positive public reaction, Rolling Stone did say: “The image did a pretty good job of encapsulating the music inside: sex, catastrophe and things blowing up.”

The opening blast of Good Times Bad Times sets the high-octane tone but it’s the sprawling workouts that impress the most . . . Dazed And Confused, You Shook Me, How Many More Times and Babe I’m Gonna Leave You.

It was brilliant to come back home with Bonzo living nearby. We used to have so much fun going, ‘Wow!

Robert Plant on John Bonham

Page said: “The first album was done in a matter of hours, across a few days when we got back from touring Scandinavia [where they were still calling themselves The New Yardbirds].”

He singled out one of those aforementioned tracks for its breadth of sounds, an early clue to Led Zeppelin’s mastery of loud/quiet dynamics and his guitar virtuosity.

“Babe I’m Gonna Leave You begins fragile and acoustic, it’s got these little flamenco licks and it’s got a bit of pedal steel here and there.

“It’s got a heavyweight middle section, then it comes back down to the fragility. A whole canvas was being prepared with light and shade to it.”

Plant recalled returning to the West Midlands with his wife Maureen, armed with the first Led Zeppelin album. (He and Maureen divorced in 1983 but are “still really good mates”.)

He said: “Her family all used to sit round the record player and go, ‘F***ing hell! Listen to that! That’s you!’ I’d say, ‘Yeah, I’ll make the tea’.

“It was brilliant to come back home with Bonzo living nearby. We used to have so much fun going, ‘Wow! We can’t let anybody know about this.’”

This brings us to album No.2 and THAT riff — the one that took the band to the next level of success. It also brings Becoming Led Zeppelin to a climactic close.

‘Depths of Mordor’

Reflecting on Led Zep II’s opening track, Page said: “It’s intense, it’s wonderful and the middle section is surreal.”

Plant acknowledged its significance: “The momentum was building all the time but the actual rhythm of Whole Lotta Love was the vehicle that allowed this opening up, this flourish.”

That “flourish” was evident in the wildly ambitious Ramble On which found Plant’s songwriting entering the realms of fantasy with its mentions of “the darkest depths of Mordor” and “Gollum, and the evil one” from Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings.

The singer said: “As far as construction and dynamism and colour, Ramble On was the beginning of something opening up for us that would become Stairway To Heaven or The Rain Song.

“Whereas Whole Lotta Love had THAT riff, the lilt and, of course, the trippy elements in the middle.”

In the middle of playing, he used to shout out, ‘Cannons!’ And I used to shout back, ‘F*** off!’ Then he’d say to me, ‘Well, you’re not a very good singer but just go out and look good

Robert Plant on John Bonham

When I met Page and Plant on the same morning in separate places, both were at pains to reflect on their beloved fallen comrade, John Bonham.

His untimely death on September 25, 1980, aged 32, signalled the end of the main Led Zeppelin journey (although the 2007 Celebration Day reunion at London’s O2 with Bonham’s son Jason on drums was momentous).

Page said: “I still marvel at John’s technique and his attitude. He’s way up there with the best drummers and his contribution to the band was unparalleled”

Plant, who praised Bonham for “laying down such sexy grooves”, signed off with a wonderful anecdote about his old, much-missed mucker.

“In the middle of playing, he used to shout out, ‘Cannons!’ And I used to shout back, ‘F*** off!’ Then he’d say to me, ‘Well, you’re not a very good singer but just go out and look good.’”

For more great insights, go and see Becoming Led Zeppelin, a riveting blast of documentary filmmaking at its best.

You’ll be dazed and enthused!

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Jimmy Page – the mastermind behind Led Zeppelin’s iconic sound and riffs[/caption]