November 2025
-
Keith’s Blog: Putting Rubber Bumpers to Work
Our 1975 Porsche 911 S is known as a “narrow body” or an “impact bumper” car. On the front, it has a narrow strip of rubber across the front bumper. On the rear bumper, there are two big four-inch rubber blocks. Some say these are to prevent body damage upon impact. Others say they are…
-
Keith’s Blog: The Sporto Hits the Road
A long journey has come to an end. A Porsche 911 with a Sportomatic transmission had a near-mythical status in my ongoing survey of classic sports cars with two pedals. It had an actual gearshift, and you had to select the gears yourself — no automatic shifting here. Three years ago, we located and purchased…
-
Hard Lessons in the BaT Game
A friend recently sold his 2000 Ferrari 360 Modena. In classic red over black, with 31k miles, it was a driver, but it had the desirable gated 6-speed manual. The CARFAX was clean and a recent belt and fluid service meant it was ready to use. This was his third try selling the car at online…
-
Back to Basics
The 2002 of the 1960s–70s introduced a legion of enthusiasts to fun-to-drive BMWs, but as time went on, the Bavarian brand’s models grew in size. BMW struggled to strike the right balance with “compact” versions of both the E36 and E46 3 Series but finally struck the right balance with the 1 Series coupe and…
-
Once More Unto the Breach
I know this is a bad idea. I understand this is not the smart thing to do when buying an old car. SCM’s John Draneas, in his many excellent “Legal Files” columns, warns us. I have read those words and completely agree. Yet here we are, doing something I know is wrong. This is not…
-
Rock the Nismo
Mark Bahna is a big fan of JDM cars and currently owns a Nissan Skyline R34 GTR Spec II Nür and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV. But his pride and joy has been his 1994 Nissan Nismo 270R. It is one of only 30 made, numbers matching, and has its original paint and decals. It…
-
Keith’s Blog: Could You Really Love an Automatic?
The odometer on our 1991 Alfa Romeo Spider S4 just turned 28,000 (original) miles. I purchased the car on January 16, 2022, from an eBay auction. I’ll always remember hitting the “buy it now” button, as that happened at the exact same time our 1971 Citroën DS21 (which had broken down on Interstate 84 as…
-
Keith’s Blog: At What Point Does Safety Matter?
We were driving our 1971 Jaguar E-type home from a cruise-in at Portland International Speedway. It was rush hour and we were moving along at 5 mph. It was about a 15-minute trip. Suddenly a car cut across a lane and squeezed in front of me. To avoid a collision, I had to lock up…