Author: Jay Harden

The 300K Blazer

One of the downsides of spending a lot of time scouring auction results is that the excitement born out of outrageous hammer prices begins to wane. The more you understand about how markets are influenced — and the more data you process that validates or disqualifies any assumptions you may […]

Bucking the Trend

Shakespeare may have melted the hearts of star-crossed lovers when he wrote, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet,” but he was clearly no marketing man. Take the name “Bronco,” for example. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for […]

Spotting the New Wave

Recently, Editor Pickering and I discussed a simple question that I think may have far-reaching market implications. We’re constantly scouring market results in an effort to create a high-level view of the American collector-car market as a whole, and we got on the topic of cars from the 1980s and […]

Counting in Car Years

I shared a house with three friends during my last couple years of college. One day I managed to push one of them too far. Maybe I left my dishes in the sink or hadn’t mowed the grass when it was my turn. My friend, who liked to consider himself the […]

Go Find a Carl

I was invited to participate in ACC’s Buyer’s Symposium at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale sale this January, and I had such a great time last year that there was no way I was going to miss it. Editor Pickering recalled last year’s crew, which consisted of the two of us, Carl Bomstead, […]

The Hot Rod Challenge

The Pacific Northwest isn’t exactly well known for being a hot-rod hot spot, but Portland International Raceway hosts what must be one of the best weekly cruise-ins in the country. From June to September, hundreds of classic and collectible cars converge at the racetrack every Wednesday evening for the Beaches […]

Emotional Investment

The process of writing for and contributing to the publication of a magazine can, at times, feel a bit like a long, lonely, one-way conversation. We report, we analyze, we predict, and we assess — all in an effort to create content that we hope you find engaging, thought-provoking and […]

Back to the Future

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting out of my first trip to the SEMA show in Las Vegas, but the event somehow ended up being both everything and nothing I thought it would be. Let me put it this way — I can say with some confidence that […]

Life in the Fast Lane

Ispent a LOT of my teenage hours nose-down between the pages of one hot-rod magazine or another. I read them cover to cover. Over time, I eventually grew weary of reading what seemed like the same feature article intro over and over. I’m sure you know the one — guy […]

1963 Dodge Dart Altered

This 1963 Dart was built by Steve Magnante in 2008 as a totally streetable tribute to Jack Sharkey’s Chicago-based “Rampage” Dart match racer. The all-steel California body is California-sourced with just the right amount of real patina and a Mazzolini Racing fiberglass Max Wedge hood scoop. The painted body graphics […]