You wouldn’t ride a horse down Main Street, and soon you won’t drive a collector car down your town’s main drag.
Twenty years ago, I wrote that in the future we would treat our old cars like horses. Our cars would be trailered to roads that were appropriate for them, we would use them there — and then trailer them home.
That future is now.
Increasingly, our old cars are simply unsuited for the mix of everyday traffic.
A few Read More
I’m learning that just as car restorations have their own progressions, so does physical rehabilitation.
This week I made some decisions about the restorations on my cars, and I made some steps forward with my own rehab.
I’ve decided not to proceed with the full-bore, glass-and-headliner- out interior restoration of our 1961 Giulietta Sprint Speciale.
While the body is dry and with great panel fit (partly from 30 years of indoors storage in the Cayman Islands Motor Museum), the paint Read More
In preparation for the Revs Institute Symposium on Collecting, founder Miles Collier sent out a list of questions for participants to consider. Since not all of us can make it to Naples, FL, I will share some of the questions and my responses in the next few newsletters. I also invite you to submit your own questions as well.
Miles Collier: Does every restoration have to be to the highest possible level, involving a complete disassembly and reassembly of Read More
Dear SCM Friends,
It’s been a month since my stroke, and I wanted to touch base. I continue to make progress. A full recovery seems likely, but there are still months of hard work ahead.
Doctors have found no underlying cause for my stroke. My blood pressure was 120/80 and I ran 3 miles the day before. Genetics? Bad luck?
No one knows.
I was alone in my condo when it happened, and I could easily have died.
I didn’t Read More
Editor’s note: Mark Wigginton is taking over this space for a few weeks while Publisher Martin grinds away at his stroke rehabilitation. A bunch of us from SCM World Headquarters visited him a few days ago, and he’s making amazing progress at regaining mobility on his left side. The man is even playing the piano! We’re sure he will be back very soon. In the meantime, welcome to the car-addled world of Mark Wigginton:
It’s pretty easy to read about Read More
I have a little bit of news to share with all of you. Last week, I was in my Portland condo and suddenly found my legs getting weaker and weaker.
I was in the shower at the time, so I got out, shaved and brushed my teeth. Why I did this, I don’t know.
A few minutes later, I couldn’t stand up. It suddenly dawned on me that I might be in trouble. I used my right leg to push Read More
SCM’s 30th Anniversary year is now complete.
And we are well on our way to celebrate our 31st year.
At the end of the year, I like to reflect on how fortunate we are to be able to have old cars in our lives.
More important than the cars and the tours and the events are the people.
The enthusiasts I have met over the past three decades have enriched my life immeasurably.
Old car fanatics have a great sense Read More
SCM Executive Editor is taking over my blog for the Christmas holiday. He’s sharing a memory of his mother — and a sensational Matchbox garbage truck — from Christmas 1967:
I carry 57 years of Christmas memories around in my head — including the first time I ever kissed a girl — but the one I remember best is the oldest.
It was 1967, and I was a 6-year-old with a horrible allergy to grass pollen. We lived in the Read More
As the year comes to a close, this is a good time to survey the SCM fleet.
Compared to years past, there is very little heavy lifting going on.
The only car sidelined with engine issues is our 1996 Autozam AZ-1. We blew the head gasket on the Autozam on the way to Monterey. It appears that the speed governor (set to about 60 mph) was removed from it, and that the engine boost had been turned up. I’ve learned Read More
Fun with an element of danger — that’s a forest run in a vintage Land Rover.
On Saturday afternoon, I got separated from the other 20 Rovers in my Caravan. I came to a fork in the road and had to make a decision. I made the wrong one.
Every year, the Pacific Coast Rover Club hosts a Christmas tour in Tillamook Forest. We meet in Banks, which is 25 miles west of Portland, OR, on State Highway 6.
It’s Read More
Sign up for a free weekly insider's report on the collector car market — and get a free gift.
