John practices law in the Portland, OR, suburb of Lake Oswego, where he focuses on tax and estate planning, business organizations and transactions, and representation of collector-car owners. He is a past president of the Oregon region of the Porsche Club of America and served as the chairman of the PCA’s 2006 parade. His collection includes two Porsches, a Ferrari, an Alfa, a Lotus, a BMW daily driver, a John Deere tractor — and one increasingly famous Jaguar E-type. This month’s “You Write, We Read” on p. 20 is full of SCMer advice on whether Draneas should restore his Jag.
James Fowler, an Orlando, FL, attorney, drove his yellow 2014 Ferrari Italia Spider to a lawyers’ meeting at the Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort & Golf Club — a Marriott property in Florida.
He parked the Ferrari and left the keys with the valet, an employee of the parking lot operator, Seven One Seven Parking Enterprises Inc., who agreed to keep the Ferrari parked in front of the hotel. Fowler then checked into the hotel and attended the meeting.
As Read More
The Republican Party’s Christmas present to all of us was a new tax law. It made good on several promises, the most notable being President Trump’s promise to get it done before Christmas.
Ballyhooed as the most significant tax reform measure since 1986 — that it definitely is, although reasonable minds can differ about whether that is a good thing or not — it became law without a single Democrat voting for it.
There are many publications that explain the Read More
Ford just started delivering its brand-new supercar: the Ford GT.
The car makes 647 horsepower — the most ever out of a V6 engine — yet it still carries Ford’s EcoBoost label. Built entirely out of carbon fiber, this spectacular supercar weighs in at 3,054 pounds, a lightweight by today’s standards. With an estimated 216 mph top speed, it should immediately vault Ford into the major leagues of automotive performance.
Perhaps the only thing faster than the new Ford GT’s Read More
A lot of people will be surprised to learn that a dealer body shop’s shoddy repair work resulted in a $42m negligence verdict. And it wasn’t even the shop’s customer who sued, but a downstream purchaser of the car.
Matthew and Marcia Seebachan purchased a used 2010 Honda Fit from a Texas Kia dealer in August 2013. They told the salesperson that they were looking for a low-mile, high-condition, accident-free car. With a clean CARFAX report, the Seebachans were confident Read More
Houston attorney Tony Buzbee found himself in a war of words with his Homeowners Association — the River Oaks Property Owners. For some reason, the HOA isn’t very keen on his authentic World War II Sherman tank.
In Buzbee’s words, “This particular tank landed at Normandy, it liberated Paris… and ultimately went all the way to Berlin. This is a piece of American history. But for this type of vehicle, we would not have won the war.”
Buzbee purchased the Read More
I’m a racer, but I’m not a historic — or vintage — racer. My observations are definitely unscientific, but it does appear to me that historic racing has grown more crash-prone than before.
It seems that historic racers have grown more competitive, take more risks, and suffer greater damage to their and others’ cars than before.
We all know that European historic racers have always raced hard — with less regard for bringing straight sheet metal home. They have seemed Read More
We’ve all been here before. You’ve just bought a new collector car — one you’ve wanted for some time.
You write the check, sign the paperwork, shake the seller’s hand, jump in the car and take off for some immediate fun.
Unfortunately, most of us don’t stop to think that we might be in a risky situation.
At the end of July, a British enthusiast took delivery of a new Ferrari F430 Scuderia and gleefully left the Read More
As we work with many car collectors, our firm has run across a lot of errors on titles and registrations.
They run the gamut: incorrect VINs, incorrect models, incorrect model years, engine numbers shown as the chassis numbers, incorrect manufacturers and so on.
Almost everything on the registration can be a product of a mistake. And just when you think you’ve seen them all, a new error surprises you.
It’s a great idea to take a look at your ownership Read More
“Bob” was pretty excited about showing his car at a concours. His 1967 Alfa Duetto Spider Veloce was in exceptional condition. Never wrecked, it still sported the shiny, original red lacquer paint with no significant flaws from the car’s 120,000-mile life. It was highly original — all the way down to the hose clamps and the Dunlop disc brakes.
Bob staged the Alfa on the field the night before. Concours organizers told him they would have security overnight and that Read More
Mark Oberholtzer is the owner of a successful Texas plumbing company: Mark-1 Plumbing. One of the company’s plumbing trucks, a 2005 Ford F-250 pickup, had reached the end of its useful life. So Oberholtzer took it to the nearby AutoNation Ford Gulf Freeway dealership and traded it in on a new 2012 Ford F-250 pickup.
Fourteen months later, Oberholtzer was traveling when he received a frantic call from his secretary. She reported that the company’s old 2005 F-250 truck was Read More
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