Mel Nichols

‘Bidding started at €50m, immediately eclipsing the previous auction record, €41m ($48.4m) paid in 2018 for a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO.’ In 2022, Simon Kidston bought the legendary Mercedes ‘Uhlenhaut Coupé’ for a client. It cost €135m. He tells Mel Nichols how it happened. ⬇️

@theintercoolerx Digging out this 1972 BMW 2002 pic to accompany today's @theintercoolerx's Neue Klasse story evoked fond memories. I had a fabulous day belting it through a mountain range. It was all it was cracked up to be. Nice to see it getting air time again as the 2026 Neue Klasse cars loom

‘The Neue Klasse will soon occupy far more bandwidth than the creators of the original could possibly have imagined 65 years ago.’ @Mel_Nichols on the car that saved BMW – and inspired the new i3 unveiled yesterday. Non-subscribers can read for free via the link below. ⬇️

For years, car makers faffed about failing to make cupholders that worked. Then the R&D chief of a cup company decided enough was enough. With these drawings, he showed them what to do. Who, how, why and when in @theintercoolerx’s story here: the-intercooler.com/library/featur…

This is the patent Alabaman woman Mary Anderson took out in 1903 for windscreen wipers. How did she get the idea, and did she make a fortune? It’s one of the stories behind so many of the things that made cars more liveable, told by @theintercoolerx here: the-intercooler.com/library/featur…

@theintercoolerx Audi’s clever idea incorporated an expanding sack that stopped wet skis fouling the 100’s cabin. Was it the brainwave of an inventive engineer who cut his own ski hatch before it was picked up for production?

‘Spy photographers prowling winter sports regions were intrigued that Audi prototypes were never seen toting ski racks.’ @Mel_Nichols tells the story of the ski hatch – and other convenience features that helped transform life on the road. New today on The Intercooler. ⬇️

@TheBishF1 @TheOneTrueGKS @f1speedreader @MauriceHamilton Thank you Matt. Privileged to be in such company!

@TheOneTrueGKS Here are 4 recommendations from my shelves, 2 about driving & 2 about racing, all of them written by friends of mine: Gerald Donaldson, Mel Nichols, Maurice Hamilton & the late Phil Llewellin. They’re all different & they’re all great.

Iconic pic taken by David Phipps at Fuji #OnThisDay in ’76: James Hunt had finished 3rd, thereby scoring points enough to win the #F1 world championship but, after a late pit stop, he didn’t know it. McLaren boss Teddy Mayer resorted to sign language to get the message across!

@theintercoolerx @Andrew_Frankel One of the finest automotive stories ever written.

‘And at once I am that starstruck little boy again, gawping at the sight of those wings, drinking in the sound of that engine.’ @Andrew_Frankel goes for a nostalgic and very emotional drive in his father’s Ferrari Dino. Today from the Ti Library. ⬇️

@SteveFowler @carblah_ Good one Steve. Hope it goes brilliantly.

Today is a big day for me: the launch of @carblah_ It's like Tripadvisor for cars; the first car site dedicated to owner reviews and the realisation of a long ambition to do something different. Take a look, leave a review and let me know what you think carblah.com

Magical stuff from @Andrew_Frankel on @theintercoolerx: ‘The ride smooths as the rear wheel leaves the ground and I can literally feel the pressure leaving the struts under the wings as the thrust and lift finally overwhelm mass and drag. We are in a Spitfire, and we are flying.’

@Mel_Nichols That’s a wrap on 10 Questions with Ben Oliver. Thanks for reading and thanks to @thebenoliver for taking the time to answer our questions. Read his stories now on the app or website.

@AutoPap @renaultgroup design boss Laurens van den Acker explains the Renault and Dacia revolution in this @theintercoolerx article: The transformer king the-intercooler.com/library/featur…

If this is real, Dacia have got themselves yet another sales hit. Renault really are leaving other European brands behind.

Boasting everything from a DeLorean to a talking Austin Maestro, it might look like an attempt to gather some of the world’s least likely cars in one location, but in fact this was no more than the annual get together of Ti Contributors. Though some were unable to make it due to unavoidable working commitments - Karun Chandhok did ask for the Dutch Grand Prix to be moved to another weekend so he could be there but to no avail - the vast majority of those who make up the best writing team in motoring journalism were in attendance to gaze at each other’s cars, raise a glass or two and talk about the present and future of The Intercooler. They included Andrew Frankel, Dan Prosser, Richard Porter, Joana Fidalgo, Gavin Green, Mel Nichols, Colin Goodwin, Helen Wakerley, Richard Bremner, Lewis Kingston, Julian Thomson, Gez Medinger and Ben Oliver. Being a hands-on bunch of guys and girls, we even ended up making our own dinner, hand-rolling our own pizza bases with results ranging from actually quite passable to an outtake from The Generation Game. We gave them the same good news we now pass on to you: sales continue to grow, we’re still recruiting the very best writers in the business - Jonny Smith joining the Ti crew only this week - and retention for annual subscribers holding steady at an astonishing 96 per cent. This in a year when our subscribers have come to enjoy not only the best team of car writers on the planet, posting new stories every day of the working week, but now a subscriber-only ‘Ask The Intercooler’ podcast, ad-free listening to our regular podcast, most importantly, every new story we post coming in both written and audio form too as its own little podcast, almost all narrated not by computer programme but one of Dan, Andrew or the story’s original author. So if you’ve heard of us, been kind enough to follow us, but not yet checked us out, give the link in our bio a click and find out what it’s all about. And for little more than 30p per story when you subscribe annually, all this, and more, can be yours.

@theintercoolerx today reveals how Luca de Meo made @Renault hot, notably via design. Design boss Laurens van den Acker says this Filante concept, being readied to attack EV distance records, shows how LdM ‘let us chase our dreams and make cars from the bottom drawer a reality’.

Four years ago @Andrew_Frankel & @TheDanProsser asked me to write for @theintercoolerx. Today, my 40th Ti story went up. Delighted & honoured to be part of a modern media success story, among distinguished writers working for discerning readers.the-intercooler.com/library/featur…

@Andrew_Frankel @RichardLimb8 Mine was faultless at 110,000 miles. Brilliant motorway cruiser as well as handling all kinds of country jobs. Non-Ulez so regretfully had to go when we moved back to London

@RichardLimb8 Except the bloke who owns this one has done 140,000 miles in it and is desperate for something to go wrong so he has an excuse to chop it in for something less familiar. Not so much as blown a bulb.

Fans of the two car garage game, I raise you the Disco 4 and 911 S/T.

@theintercoolerx Andrew noted the GT6's Herald-derived swing-axle rear suspension was 'potentially hazardous'. Certainly was, as proved by these pix from a reader I published in an Aussie mag back when. The driver was doing 'a provoked weaving test'. In a Herald! Lucky to walk away.

‘We’re aiming at getting a couple of hundred miles on the clock before handing it to someone sympathetic with triple Weber setups to improve the little car’s manners.’ Andrew English tells the story of the Triumph GT6 at Le Mans, and of getting his own car back on the road. ⬇️

@Andrew_Frankel Those lashes are a daily sight for me: this photo (by ace b/w snapper Philip Sayer) is on my office wall. Can’t wait to read your Miura story on @theintercoolerx @Andrew_Frankel!

Been on the lash.

@Andrew_Frankel And what a tale it is: storytelling at its best.

What can I say about the Riva Tritone? One of the the most beautiful man-made things I have ever encountered. And no less gorgeous to drive thanks to twin 5.7-litre V8 motors generating 600hp. Full story on the Ti website and app now: the-Intercooler.com

An extract from today’s beautifully crafted and argued story about young drivers. But these are not the words of some grizzled old hack, but our new young writer, 19 year old Max Taylor. He’s an extraordinary talent. More here: the-Intercooler.com

@dngrfld @stuartg917 Yes, it is.

@stuartg917 I think I have all the issues of Supercar Classics. Is that the Stratos Ian bought in Germany and wrote about in the Magazine? It was a publication that stood out from the rest.

RIP Ian Fraser. Many will have read his work or been absorbed by one of his publications (CAR or Supercar Classics most likely), others owe their careers in this industry to him. Under his ownership CAR inspired, entertained and educated so many of us. A true publishing pioneer.