There once was a time when the automotive calendar went quiet after Monterey Car Week. Not so any longer. In the months of August, September and October, we now have several top-flight but very different events to look forward to and attend. I’ve recently returned from my second time at […]
We enjoyed attending the 2021 Concorso Italiano on August 14 and were honored to present several SCM awards to Alfa Romeo owners at the show this year with cooperation from the Alfa Romeo Owners Club. The SCM judging team was organized by chief judge Michael Wiliams to include Chris Bright, […]
The oil crisis of the 1970s frowned heavily on Mazda’s gas-guzzling rotary engines. Under constant development since licensure from NSU in 1961, the enormously expensive rotary-engine program had placed Mazda on the brink of financial ruin. The future looked bleak when Mazda’s largest creditor, Sumitomo Bank, inserted its own corporate […]
There once was a time when the automotive calendar went quiet after Monterey Car Week. Not so any longer. In the months of August, September and October, we now have several top-flight but very different events to look forward to and attend. I’ve recently returned from my second time at […]
1984 Mazda RX-7 #55358. S/N JM1FB331XE0801486. 17k miles. “1.1-liter 12A rotary, 5-speed manual transmission, Tender Blue Metallic, brown leather upholstery, aftermarket body kit and spoiler, sunroof, AM/FM cassette stereo, air conditioning, dual Weber carburetors, Racing Beat header and exhaust system, 15-inch Weds wheels, Tokico shocks, Eibach springs.” Condition: 1. SOLD […]
My love affair with Citroëns started 50 years ago in San Francisco. I was 20 years old and in between studying intellectual history at Reed College in Portland and dance at The Juilliard School in New York City. I had decided to spend a few months with my grandmother, Dorel, […]
Bonhams sold Ferrari 250 GTO #3851GT at its 2014 Quail Lodge auction for $38,115,000, including buyer’s premium. It was a world-record sale — the highest price ever obtained at an auction. One would expect Bonhams’ staff and the seller to be high-fiving after the hammer fell. Instead, the seller sued […]
If you’re of the age when new 1960s sports cars were on your bedroom posters, you surely remember Mr. Peabody. A Saturday morning cartoon favorite, this polymath dog and his pet boy, Sherman, used a time-traveling machine called the WABAC to go on entertaining and educational adventures. Because I’m a […]
The oil crisis of the 1970s frowned heavily on Mazda’s gas-guzzling rotary engines. Under constant development since licensure from NSU in 1961, the enormously expensive rotary-engine program had placed Mazda on the brink of financial ruin. The future looked bleak when Mazda’s largest creditor, Sumitomo Bank, inserted its own corporate […]
The SCM 2006 Lotus Elise had not seen much action recently. It had been moved about in the storage garage to make more room for other cars and driven short distances, but it had been a few years since it had been truly exercised. The letter from the State of […]
Part of the chatter that surrounds online auctions is the ability of non-certified viewers (“trolls”) to make authoritative comments. I was selling a Mercedes 220 Ponton online one time, and bidding was going along nicely. Suddenly a troll opined, “Do you know the heater boxes on those are lined with […]
I hadn’t driven our 2004 Mercedes SL 55 AMG since last June. Saturday was a clear, sunny, 70-degree day in the Columbia Gorge. I decided to take the SL out. I pressed the key fob remote with anticipation and nothing happened. I looked at the fob and a little red […]
Long before BMW offered a four-door 3-Series and Mercedes, the C-class, Alfa Romeo was selling “The Family Sedan That Wins Races.” It was the Giulia Super. More than 475,000 Giulia sedans were produced from 1962-78. While they came in a bewildering array of configurations (see http://www.berlinaregister.com/gul.htm), the only model officially […]
My love affair with Citroëns started 50 years ago in San Francisco. I was 20 years old and in between studying intellectual history at Reed College in Portland and dance at The Juilliard School in New York City. I had decided to spend a few months with my grandmother, Dorel, […]
Bonhams sold Ferrari 250 GTO #3851GT at its 2014 Quail Lodge auction for $38,115,000, including buyer’s premium. It was a world-record sale — the highest price ever obtained at an auction. One would expect Bonhams’ staff and the seller to be high-fiving after the hammer fell. Instead, the seller sued […]
A 1929 Duesenberg J-218 Town Limousine from the Palm Beach, FL, Lehrman Collection won Best in Show Concours d’ Elegance at the 25th Annual Amelia Island Concours on March 8. A 1973 Porsche 917/30 Can-Am Spyder from won Best in Show Sport. Rob Kauffman, of Charlotte, N.C., owns the car. […]
SCM contributors Lowell Paddock, former GM senior executive, and Philip Richter, founder of Turtle Garage, discuss some great cars that have are missing in action and rarely seen in the marketplace. The 1970-1978 Ford-Mercury Capri, 1985-1989 Merkur XR4Ti, 1987-1989 Merkur Scorpio, 1982-1985 Renault Fuego, 1983-1990 Isuzu Impulse, 1997-2001 Isuzu VehiCross, […]
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