At a recent Alfa club meeting here in Portland, a member unveiled the prototipo Sprint Zagato, S/N 001. He had purchased it in Italy and had it flown to the U.S. He will be driving it in the upcoming SCM 1000 along with other events. The car is handsome in […]

Three guys, a teenager and a dog. That’s what the passenger manifest looked like as we pulled the SCM Citroën out of the garage. A U.S. model 1971 DS21 Pallas, we bought it last year from SCMer Greg Long. A Citroën fanatic, he drove his DS21 cabriolet with us on […]

I attended my first Barrett-Jackson auction 30 years ago, in 1992. There might have been one or two other people on the plane to Phoenix from Portland who were going to the auction. At that time, it was a relatively unknown event. When I arrived, I recall being stunned and […]

“Driving the Jaguar had to be one of the most unexpected experiences I’ve ever had. By unexpected I mean every time I thought the car was going to do something it managed to surprise me. Even by the time I thought I had mastered the car it managed to do […]

This past Saturday marked the 44th annual Old Spider Tour. Each year, the Alfa Romeo Owners of Oregon (AROO) celebrates the early Spiders by having a tour. The tour commemorates club founder Bob McGill’s purchase of his 1958 Giulietta Spider, new, from Rambo Motors in Portland. He traded in his […]

There’s been a trend in the market the past few years that leaves me totally confused. Owners are taking vintage cars and updated or backdating them to perform better than they did when new. These resto-mods are often selling for six figures. This can be more than a nicely kept […]

I’m trying to decide whether to convert my 1967 Alfa Romeo Duetto headlights to recessed Euro-spec or keep the U.S.-spec chrome trim under the plexi covers. While admittedly a first-world problem, I have been vexed by this question since I purchased my car in 2014. My car, S/N AR661909 (and […]

The Portland Swap Meet has been on hiatus for the past two years, for obvious reasons. It’s been a long and boring pandemic, so this year’s event was highly anticipated, at least by me. The swap happens at the Portland Expo Center, with five large buildings and the entire parking […]

Last week I described taking the 1971 SCM Citroën DS21 Pallas for a drive. My son Bradley accompanied me. He is gradually developing a tolerance – if not yet an affection – for the oddities the Citroën presents. After our morning drive, we topped the tank off with non-ethanol gas […]

Three things came together this weekend to let me exercise two SCM cars. First, the weather was perfect. Well, perfect for Oregon in March: Overcast, about 50 degrees and occasional light sprinkles in the forecast. Second, both the 1971 Jaguar V12 2+2 and the 1971 Citroën DS21 Pallas were in […]