Author: Colin Comer

Colin is the founder of Colin’s Classic Automobiles in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as SCM’s resident American car expert. His fascination with cars began at an early age, and according to him, he never grew out of it—nor does he wish to. Colin regularly appears on television, and he is the author of the books: “Million-Dollar Muscle Cars” and the “Complete Book of Shelby Automobiles.” A hands-on guy, Comer maintains an impressive collection of his own and is an avid vintage racer. He is a regular contributor to both Sports Car Market and American Car Collector magazines.

Planning is Overrated

Sometimes I don’t always plan as far ahead as I should. Some may call it procrastinating, but I’m not ready to cop to that. Rather, I see planning for things at the 11th hour as a sign of extreme flexibility and a way to make every day a new adventure. […]

Living the Half Life

Half-life” (denoted in scientific equations as t½) is the principle typically used to measure how long radioactive decay takes to reduce something to half of its initial value. Scientists, of which I am certainly not one, seem to think t½ is constant. I, perhaps due to the previously mentioned lack […]

Beater Days

Ijust bought a 1966 Chrysler New Yorker. Why? Pure, blind nostalgia. I purchased my first “winter beater” when I was in high school. Yep, it was a 1966 New Yorker. Mine was a Town Sedan — the bottom-of-the-line 6-window, 4-door post car. It was your typical Midwestern Mopar, its white […]

1979 Aston Martin V8 Vantage “Oscar India” Coupe

The true Vantage “supercar” version of Aston Martin’s standard-bearer V8 was never sold new in the United States due to emissions regulations; the fire-breathing “4×2” Weber carburetors and low-restriction exhaust were simply not compliant. So this first-generation V8 Vantage was rare then, and this now-federal-emissions-exempt example is one of only […]

History Calling

A few months ago, I wrote about my decision to sell one of the two 1965 Shelby GT350s I owned, also known as my Noah’s Ark problem, and tried to explain it as being more than a coin flip. In the end, I kept the one I had a lot […]

Garage is Where the Heart is

I’ve never had a decent garage. That isn’t to say I haven’t had good shop space to keep cars in over the years, because I certainly have, but that is different. Of course I’m thankful for that ability, but I’ve always wanted a garage to keep cars in at home. […]

Letting Go

I returned from Car Week in Monterey with a bad case of seller’s remorse. Why? Because I sold two cars I had never planned to sell. First, a little background. I’ll admit I’ve always been a lot better at finding stuff I “have to have” then I’ve been at realizing […]

1962 Shelby Cobra CSX2000

This very first Cobra, CSX2000, arrived in the United States in February 1962. It was personally picked up at the Los Angeles airport by Carroll Shelby and Dean Moon before being brought back to Moon’s shop, where they installed the 260-ci V8 Ford engine with a Ford gearbox in a […]

Requiem for the Car Club?

I like to think I’m not getting old, but unless I stop looking in mirrors (and change my diet to 100% Ibuprofen), I can’t help but face the fact that I am. Along with that, I suppose, comes the responsibility to bitch about how much better it was in “the old […]

Pay Less, Get More?

All of us are guilty of it. We buy an old car or truck but secretly wish it didn’t perform like one. It is like adopting a stray pit bull and hoping it won’t bite your toddler, or drinking a case of beer and thinking you won’t have a hangover. […]