When I bought my first car in 1967 — a 1960 Bugeye — it was just 7 years old. I bought my first Alfa in 1968, a 1963 Giulia Spider Veloce. It was 5 years old.

By 1975, when it was 15 years old, the Bugeye was hopelessly archaic. The same was true for the Alfa in 1978.

By comparison, the 2003 Porsche 996 911 that entered the SCM fleet over a year ago seems as modern and up-to-date as Read More

This past Sunday marked my 7th year as emcee of the La Jolla Concours d’Elegance.

In the bright morning sunshine, I looked over the 135 cars on the lawn at Ellen Browning Scripps Park, which is right on beautiful La Jolla Cove. The setting, which overlooks the beautiful Pacific Ocean, of this concours rivals that of Pebble Beach.

That same Sunday, it was 45 degrees and raining in Portland, with gusts of wind reaching 40 mph. Clearly La Jolla Read More

On April 3, 1958 — 60 years ago —  our Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce rolled off the assembly line in Arese, Italy.

In the small-displacement GT category, it was one of the most sophisticated cars in the world.

The Sprint coupe was also the car that saved Alfa Romeo as it made a post-WWII transition from building large cars in small numbers to small ones in large numbers.

The SCM Sprint, s/n 1493E.06524 was sold to a dealer in Read More

The worst new car often performs better than the best old car.

To remind myself of that, I try to rent the most basic car possible when I’m on the road.

My ride for the past two weeks in Mexico has been a Hyundai Grand i10. This model doesn’t exist in the United States. The comparison tests I have found for it on the web list the Maruti Suzuki Swift as its main competitor. It is popular in Mexico, Read More

Just 10 days ago, I watched as a spectacular 1929 Duesenberg J/SJ convertible and a 1963 Ferrari 250/275P were crowned as the winners of the 2018 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.

One week later, I was climbing up the side of a 1,000-year-old Mayan pyramid in Yucatan, Mexico.

Earlier that day I had explored a cave in nearby Loltun, with a human and animal history that goes back 10,000 years. There were paint handprints on the walls that were 2,500 years Read More