I’ve written many times that old cars are not safe in modern traffic.
It’s one thing to type that out. It’s another to experience it.
Sunday I took the SCM Volvo out for a drive, through Portland, onto the freeway and back.
As old cars go, the Volvo is relatively safe. I have installed inertia-reel shoulder belts for all four seats. It has front disc brakes. With the handling kit I had installed by Swedish Relics, it still has pathetic Read More
When the SCM 1965 Volvo 122S automatic arrived last week, SCMer Dean Koehler arrived to inspect the car.
Dean is the founder and the self-appointed Volvocrat of the PDX Round Fender Volvo Club. He’s also the iron-fisted content arbiter of the PDX Volvos FB page.
As he walked around “ELF” (my powder-blue 122S) he immediately and emphatically said, “Just don’t touch anything on the car. Leave it alone. Don’t modify it like you always do. It runs fine now.”
Dean Read More
Mark your calendars.
The third annual Caravan to Concorso will leave Portland on Saturday, August 8.
With the addition of the Volvo 122 Automatic to the SCM fleet, I’ve got a ride even if my clutch leg isn’t completely up to snuff.
Any pre-1975 car is welcome. Aside from providing a route and cities for overnight stops, we will be on our own. We’ll just head south on I-5, cut over to the coast near Eugene, then follow 101 South.
The 1961 Alfa Sprint Speciale is finally coming back to life. Nasko has built an all-new gearbox for it, using the original small-bushing tailpiece but with updated synchros inside. It’s been road-tested and is ready to go.
The gray and red leather upholstery and gray carpets that Matt Jones had made in Bologna is being shipped to Guy’s Interior Restorations as we speak. He figures a couple of weeks to get in installed.
My asking price of $120,000 seems to Read More
I’m just back from five days in the Sonoran desert.
My time there was a whirlwind of visiting auctions, receptions, participating in seminars and reconnecting with friends old and new.
This week reinforced my belief that the primary secret sauce of land auctions is the social opportunities they provide. They are a car-collector magnet, bringing people with common interests from all walks of life and from locations around the world.
An online auction offers other advantages, but it can never Read More
I’m looking forward to seeing you in Scottsdale.
Last year, I missed the desert action for the first time in three decades.
But not this year.
I’ll see you first at the SCM Insider’s Seminar on Thursday morning, at 9:30 am in the Gooding & Company Auction Tent. “Priced to Sell, Determining Value in an Uncertain Market” is the topic. Donald Osborne, Steve Serio, Carl Bomstead and I will be there to share our thoughts and answer your questions.
Register Read More
This January, if the weather allows, block out an afternoon to get behind the wheel of one of your vintage cars and just go driving. Having some friends join you in their old cars would make it even better.
Pick a destination that requires driving on some interesting roads. Even better, have a nice place to eat with a decent view as the destination.
Reflect on each of the steps below – things that you may do automatically. Don’t take Read More
I hope that you all get a chance to take a collector car out of the garage for a spin sometime today or tomorrow.
If the weather gives you a shot to air out your favorite car, turn off the bowl games and celebrate the New Year with a short drive — even if it is just to the supermarket for more dips and chips.
Here’s to a Car-Happy 2020!
I just wanted to drop you a quick note to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.
I hope your holiday is full of family, friends and, perhaps, a special car in the driveway.
I’m sitting in the observation suite on board the Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas.
A 15-deck Freedom-class cruise ship, it is 1,112 feet long (almost four football fields) and displaces 155,889 tons.
I thought a Caribbean cruise would be a total escape from cars for me and my son, Bradley, but there was a modern Morgan on display in the three-story central promenade. We didn’t try to buy it.
Bradley and I enjoy cruises. They are trips where I Read More
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