Auto-biography: Callum Mullin on his favourite modern classic cars
TikTok’s favourite car wonk Callum Mullin shares a breakdown of his top rides
Words: Joseph Bullmore
Is there a hobbyist more unfairly maligned than the car geek? Even the trainspotter has enjoyed an affectionate, post-Francis Bourgeois renaissance, while metal detectorists are presumably comforted by all those ancient Roman gold deposits they seem to be constantly finding in Surrey.
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The petrolhead, however, has been stuck for decades in some perma-uncool, Top Gear rerun doom loop – Clarkson-grade blue jeans and lanyards signed by Nigel Mansell. Callum Mullin seems to represent a much livelier, jollier and less self-serious swathe of the car collector community.
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A model and style influencer as well as a car lover, his funny, surreal reels and videos have earned him many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media – a series of pleasing, impromptu, silly-but-stylish little moments that see him eat a Big Mac in a rally-grade Porsche one day, or stare longingly at Pookie, his beloved 968 Sport, while eating a bowl of spaghetti the next. (“It’s an Alfa Romeo wearing your wife’s clothes type summer,” reads a representative recent caption.)
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Here, Mullin chooses five of his favourite modern classics for Gentleman’s Journal. The car geek is dead. Long live the car geek.
SAAB 900
The cool architects’ car that’s only better with age!If you want a car that will mildly hold its value and isn’t a BMW then this is the one for you. It comes with a robust engine and, if you can get over the fact it has a front-wheel drive, it’s quite the ride – especially if you get the turbo variants.
PORSCHE 924S
Ah, the Porsche that ‘isn’t a real Porsche’. Thank you to all the people who have slagged off this car because it means people like me can buy one for a fraction of the retail price. Expect to be able to get a great one for as little as £9,000. It’s an extremely engaging drive with great weight balance, a fun body roll and a fully Porsche-engineered engine with a sprinkling of 1980s quirk.
MAZDA MX5 MK1
The most bang for your buck you can get from a modern classic car. You can get cheap ones for as little as £1,500 with the top end being around £9,000. Spending £5,000 will get you a lovely little car.It was my first classic car and I’m never selling it. It’s cute and makes people smile. It’s light, nippy and small, meaning it’s the ideal city car.
PEUGEOT 106/CITROEN SAXO/RENAULT CLIO(1998-2003)
The cheapest and most fun car you can get that’s ULEZ exempt (if you get a later one). You can get a low-mileage car that’s been owned by a grandma for as little as £1,500 and it’ll be a reliable daily driver for years to come. Get one of these for the Sainsbury’s journey and save your nice car for the weekend.
JAGUAR XJS
A seriously cool and cheap British grand tourer that, when it’s going right, will feel like a million dollars.The Jaguar XJS looks good anywhere, whether in its birthplace of Coventry or Monaco. Make sure you get one with a good service history because things can go wrong, but if everything’s kept on top of, this can be an extremely reliable ride.
This feature was taken from our Summer 2024 issue. Read more about it here.
Want more from the issue? We spend time with actor Ben Hardy
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