Blogs

• Keith Martin

  

  Unrestored in Costa Rica

  The crappier the car the better. That seems to be the mantra of some collectors these days.

  Instead of trying to restore cars to better-than-new condition, they look for the most original vehicle they can find. The more bedraggled the better. You can even find people who will “un-restore your car” and make it look old and nasty.

  Finding original, unrestored cars is becoming more difficult.

  However, I came across a perfect “preservation” example a few days ago in Costa Read More

• Jim Pickering

  

  Movie Cars Matter

  The 1980s brought us a lot of things, but for a certain generation of car people, the most important of those things was the VCR.

  When the VCR became commonplace in the American household, kids could all of a sudden watch movies or recorded TV over and over again — and that’s exactly what we did. For a lot of us, interest in and availability of content turned minor fascination into full-on obsession.

  Those household VCRs were where a lot Read More

• Chad Tyson

  

  Mecum’s Portland Auction brings Muscle and 4-Wheel Drive Temptation

  Mecum Auctions is returning to the City of Roses for the second year in a row — and they’re bringing some special Shelby and muscle cars.

  This year’s auction is on June 16-17 at the Portland Expo Center, just a short drive from SCM World Headquarters.

  Last year Mecum sold 297 of 478 cars (62%), totaling $9,316,726.

  A 1965 Shelby GT350 sold for $335,500 for the high sale. Mecum will no doubt look to improve those numbers this time around.

  Read More

• Nick Jaynes

  

  The smell of gasoline

  I don’t think I’ll ever get the smell out of gasoline out of my head.

  I don’t mean my mind, as in my thoughts or memories (though it’s been seared into those, too). Rather, I mean my cranium, my skull, my head cavities.

  That’s because last weekend I took it upon myself to remove the leaky gas tank on my 1971 MGB Mk II – and I went about it in mostly all the wrong ways.

  While it’s a small Read More