Blogs
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Jim’s Blog: Be in ACC
The ACC team is putting together our 27th issue this month — May/June 2016 — and in this issue, we’re adding a few new interactive features. The first is a brand-new ACC Reader’s Forum, where we’ll consult with both our readership and industry experts to answer your burning car questions. Want to know…
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Is the Tiptronic 911 Turbo Really Just a Cayenne?
Since it first arrived in January of 2015, the SCM 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo has seen almost nonstop action. Alexandra confiscated the car as soon as it was unloaded from the trailer that brought it up from Los Angeles, and I didn’t see it for a month. Then Bradley and I took it on a 400-mile trip to…
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Trade the Porsche for a Lotus?
This stuff always seems to happen by accident. I had just finished driving the 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo to a lunch meeting in Wilsonville, OR – a suburb 19 miles south of SCM World Headquarters. I hadn’t put many miles on the car recently. My trip log showed the last time I’d filled it with gas…
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Jim’s Blog: Time to Sell My K10?
Yesterday, on my way into work at ACC HQ, I saw a near-accident. The car in the lane next to me — a Chevy Tahoe hybrid — was tooling along at about 45 mph. I was more-or-less keeping up in my Charger and watching the road in front of me. The Tahoe driver didn’t…
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The Alfa Barfmobile
We’ve talked a lot about ways to get and keep young people involved with classic cars. I believe you have to get them used to old cars while they are children, and one good way to do this is to include them in your old-car activities. Both my children, Alexandra (now 24) and Bradley (8),…
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Alfa Super Saves Porsche 911
It’s driving time again. My rotator-cuff surgery is healing well, and the surgeon has given me the okay to drive stick-shift cars. So I’ve been driving the Giulia Super for the past couple of weeks and thinking about how much I appreciate vintage cars, the mastery they require and how intuitive they are to service.…
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Jim’s Blog: Five Steps to Wake Your Classic
February is here, and that means spring isn’t far away. If you put your car away for the winter months, it’s time to start thinking about getting it ready for the road again. That sunny Saturday will come sooner than you think — and when you’re out driving your old car in the crisp, early…
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Driving the Alfa Super on Super Sunday
SCM Legal Files author John Draneas and his wife Carlyn hosted a Super Bowl party on Sunday at their home, about 20 miles away in Wilsonville, OR. The weather was glorious, and it was the perfect opportunity to exercise SCM’s 1967 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super. I pulled the Super out of long-term storage and went through my routine. I checked the…
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Cobra vs. Saleen in Scottsdale
Who wouldn’t like driving a Saleen S7 or a 289 Cobra? I had the chance to get behind the wheel of 15 top-flight collector cars during the last two weeks while I evaluated them for “What’s My Car Worth?” on Velocity. Normally during Arizona Car Week, I spend as much time wandering from auction to auction as I…
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Jim’s Blog: On to Arizona
Every January, nearly 3,000 collector cars ship out to sunny Arizona, where they cross high-profile auction blocks in six different locations in the Scottsdale area. The cars draw in thousands of bidders and spectators, and they typically bring in some hefty sales totals. These sales have become a great barometer of the new year’s…