Blogs
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Sea Lions and SLs: The 11th Annual La Jolla Concours d’Elegance
I take part in many concours and car shows around the world each year, and the La Jolla Concours d’Elegance continues to stand out. This past weekend I returned for my fifth year as emcee. The setting is wonderful, right on the ocean at Ellen Browning Scripps Park. Sea lions bask in the sun at a nearby cove,…
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Jim’s Blog: Crate Motor or Not
Buying an engine is a lot like buying a whole collector car: it’s almost always cheaper to buy one already done. But you never really know what problems might pop up on a project you didn’t complete yourself. About five years ago, I tore the 350 out of my Chevy truck and took it apart.…
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Planning Out My Old-Car Year
I just got a call from Nasko, our local Alfa guru here in Portland, telling me that my late-model differential has arrived from Berkeley. Jon Norman of Alfa Parts did the build. It is going into the 1958 Sprint Veloce. The diff that’s in the car now is noisy, and although it will probably last forever, it makes…
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When Numbers-Matching Matters
I’ve just returned from Auctions America in Fort Lauderdale, FL. I was shooting episodes of “What’s My Car Worth?” While there, I looked at the 400 cars on offer, and I read their descriptions. (To see my FB photo album with over 150 pictures from the Ft. Lauderdale Auction, click here. You do not have to…
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Jim’s Blog: King of Engine Swaps — Radial Engine Truck
My three-year-old daughter Katie grabbed my ears and pointed my head at the car she wanted to see. We were at the 59th Annual Portland Roadster Show this past weekend. The long-running show brings in a couple-hundred cool cars from all over the U.S. and Canada. I’ve been going for years — it’s one of the…
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Selling a Needy BMW 318i — and Buying an MGA Twin-Cam or Datsun 2000?
After more than a half-decade of use, the 1995 BMW 318i’s time with us is done. The car served as Alex’s daily driver, and she put more than 50,000 miles on it. It’s a four-door with 5-speed. I recently spent over $2,000 replacing a computer board in the car, and I thought we were good…
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Twelve Days in Florida — The Revs Symposium and Amelia
Over the past 12 days, I’ve traveled thousands of miles, seen hundreds of classic cars and shared the joy with countless gearhead enthusiasts. My trip started with the 8th Biennial Symposium on Connoisseurship and the Collectible Car presented by the Revs Institute. It took place at the Revs Institute for Automotive Research in Naples, FL.…
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Jim’s Blog: How do you make old cars safer?
A few weeks ago, I blogged about my ’72 K10 pickup as a daily driver, and since gas has been cheap, I’ve been using it more. It’s a decent regular commuter save for one important thing: safety. Some of your comments on that blog post focused on suspension and brake upgrades, both of which…
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Why Road Trips Matter
I was looking at my motoring schedule for the next few months, and I got to thinking about why I go through all the effort to prepare my cars for these events. I was reminded once again that it’s not really the cars that make these excursions so satisfying and enjoyable – it’s the great people…
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Upgrade Your Classic With a 5-Speed?
Should you upgrade the transmission on your vintage car? That’s one of the debates in today’s collector car world. The discussions revolve around “as built” correctness versus upgrades for driveability. Most of the small-displacement, under-2,000-cc vintage cars from the ’50s and ’60s handle, stop and start reasonably well. You simply adjust your driving style to…