Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Blogs
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The 911 Makes a $2,500 Visit to the Mechanic
A few issues cropped up on SCM’s 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo after the 1,000-mile Northwest Passage tour this summer. The airbag warning light came on, and a few days later the PSM/ABS light joined it. Then I began to hear a low whirring sound from the engine. And now the car is back from its…
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The Méhari Out-Climbs a Land Rover
We were sitting in the SCM Citroën Méhari, watching a Land Rover Discovery make several attempts to climb a wet, grassy hill. The Rover would get halfway up, its wheels would lose traction and back down it would come. “Watch this!” said Bill Lonseth, caretaker of the Méhari. He revved up the mighty 600-cc twin-cylinder,…
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Jim’s Blog: When is it Time to Sell?
When it comes to your pride and joy, most of us think of the term “sell” as a four-letter word. But it’s a reality many of us face, and while the decision may not always be an easy one, sometimes it’s a necessary one. So how do you decide when it’s the right time? …
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Winter and the SCM Fleet
Our unseasonably long, hot summer is finally coming to an end. The temperatures today are in the 60s with overcast skies and a light drizzle. While this would be considered summer weather in my native San Francisco, here in Portland it’s time to start prepping for winter. I’ve begun shuffling the SCM fleet around, in…
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The Viper and the Alfa – Two Different Types of Snakes
As I’m still recovering from rotator-cuff surgery, I’ve become a passenger in the cars in the SCM collection. This weekend I rode in two of them: the 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce and the 2000 Dodge Viper GTS ACR. Aside from the snakes they each have in their logos, they have little in common…
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Is the Age of the Original Beater at Hand?
Editor’s Note: A buyer paid a record $583,000 for a very neglected 1958 Porsche 356A Speedster at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach Auction. Did the sale — the highest-ever auction price for a 356A Speedster — signal a shift in values? Are non-restored cars now more valuable than restored cars? Miles Collier and Donald Osborne…
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Jim’s Blog: Cruising That Smartphone
Here at ACC, we spend a lot of time talking about the next generation, and for good reason: our kids are the future of our old car hobby. But the one thing that always seems to come up when older car guys start talking about kids is, frankly, something I’m tired of hearing about: the smartphone.…
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The Best First Sports Car
This is a question that comes up all the time. Sometimes I’m asked, “What’s the best first Alfa Romeo or Ferrari?” Other times it is just, “I’m thinking of getting into vintage sports cars. Which one would I have the most fun with?” There are many layers to these types of questions. My first answer…
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Bidding and Touring With One Good Arm
Mitch Silver was ready for me last Saturday at the Portland Expo Center. I asked if I could have a left-arm bidder’s paddle, and he said yes. Tuesday I’d had rotator-cuff surgery, and my right arm was in a sling. That wasn’t going to stop me from seeing if the collector car of my dreams…
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Jim’s Blog: First Car or Best Car?
My ’66 Caprice is ready to go whenever I want to use it. Trouble is, the realities of everyday life with a small kid, a job on the other side of town, and the finicky nature of a snarling carbureted big block limit how much I can use the car. So it sits in my…
