Desande V8 Roadster

I hate cars like these. Awful, absolutely awful. I mean what sort of car name is that? Desande. I would say that '...only people with really bad taste would buy a car like this..', but I'd be wrong. The chap also owns the Packard Caribbean. So he definitely doesn't have a taste bypass. So what's the deal? It looks like a Duesenberg viewed through a Smirnoff bottle.

It's beguiling, but there is, and always has been, a market for cars of more antiquated look and feel. Lenham Healey, Panther, Forum and Stimula are but some of the marques that have come and gone, because, certainly it's not a volume arena.

Desande was one such make, started by a Belgian, Danny G Vandesande, that in the early seventies, made these extravagant beasts that aimed to affect another era. English manufacturing and a Chrysler V8 engine come together in a package that offers a modern interpretation of the Mercedes-Benz SSK.