Jim’s Blog
-
Jim’s Blog: How Old is Too Old for a Daily Driver?
ACC is all about getting out and driving our cars. I drive my ’72 Chevy truck quite a bit. Last week my SRT Charger was down for a few days because of a fuel tank recall, and whenever something like that happens, I press the truck into duty and don’t think twice about it. …
-
Jim’s Blog: Time to Buy or Time to Sell?
Scottsdale 2015 is in the books, and with $291.3m in sales out of this year’s six auctions, it was a record-breaker. We’ll have complete results in the next issue of ACC, which were working on building right now. In general, more cars came to auction, and those cars brought bigger overall totals in Arizona this…
-
Jim’s Blog: Firing Up a New Year
The auction year rumbles to life this week, with Barrett-Jackson, Russo and Steele, RM, Gooding, Bonhams, and Silver all hosting auctions in sunny Arizona. The Arizona stats speak for themselves. Typically, we see about 2,800 cars cross the auction blocks in the Grand Canyon State, and last year, 2,300 of them sold for a combined…
-
Jim’s Blog: The Best Buys of 2014
The new year is here, and before we get caught up in the whirlwind of Arizona auctions that starts in just a few days, it’s time to take a look back at some of the best deals of 2014. If you’ve spent any time reading ACC’s market reports, I’m sure you’ve found a car or…
-
Jim’s Blog: What’s The Best Christmas Gift for a Car Guy?
Christmas is almost here, and with it comes the gifts of socks, sweaters, gloves, and probably more desserts than you should really be eating. Consider going beyond the traditional presents and send a birthday cookie to your loved one. But if you’re a car guy, you’re probably not that interested in those socks, sweaters, or…
-
Jim’s Blog: What’s Your Worst Automotive Missed Connection?
Live anywhere long enough and eventually you find car guy landmarks. For me, they consist of interesting cars and where they are around my neighborhood. There’s the ’67 Malibu that sits outside near my parents’ place, and the mossy ’66 4×4 Chevy truck that’s about two blocks from my house. There’s a ’55 Chevy with…
-
Jim’s Blog: How Do You Hunt for Parts?
If you’ve ever taken on a project car, then you know that the job of bringing it back to life is never really complete. Wear items wear out, and other things like wheels or performance parts tend to get swapped out as owners’ interests change. Most car people also have a list of things they’d…
-
Jim’s Blog: Knowing When to Say No
How do you determine when a DIY car project is just too much to handle? That’s what I’ve been wrestling with this week. About three years ago I sold my daily driver 2001 Camaro SS and bought a 2006 Charger SRT8. I’d just had a kid, and I needed something with four doors. The Charger…
-
Jim’s Blog: What do you call Collectible?
I’m working on hunting down our profile cars for ACC #19 right now, and one of the things I’ve noticed from combing through recent auction sales is a lot more later-model cars offered at collector car auctions in recent months. Don’t get me wrong — buyers have been turned on to performance cars of the…
-
Jim’s Blog: Show Us Your Favorite Junkyard!
Every car guy has a go-to parts place — the junkyard with a row of ’55 Chevys, or ’68 Chevelles, or ’69 Roadrunners. ACC ran a feature on our favorite junkyards in some of our early issues, and I think it’s time we do it again. Back when I was building my ’66 Caprice, I…