Blogs
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Jim’s Blog: Firing Up a New Year
The auction year rumbles to life this week, with Barrett-Jackson, Russo and Steele, RM, Gooding, Bonhams, and Silver all hosting auctions in sunny Arizona. The Arizona stats speak for themselves. Typically, we see about 2,800 cars cross the auction blocks in the Grand Canyon State, and last year, 2,300 of them sold for a combined…
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Scottsdale – Tales of a 540K, Corvette L88s and Frank Lloyd Wright
I’m sitting in Bruce Covill’s 1972 Ferrari 365 GTC/4. It’s my mobile office as I write this blog while on the Arizona Concours d’Elegance Tour. (Covill’s company Cyberitas Technologies, developed the mobile app for the concours, available here.) We’ve just finished a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West. This marathon began with shooting cars…
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Two Collector Car New Year’s Resolutions
2014 is winding down, and it’s been quite a 12 months for SCM and me. On the magazine side, our page count is up significantly over 2013. We have more subscribers, more advertisers and higher newsstand sales. We’re distributing in bookstores in England, Australia and other countries for the first time, and the results have…
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Jim’s Blog: The Best Buys of 2014
The new year is here, and before we get caught up in the whirlwind of Arizona auctions that starts in just a few days, it’s time to take a look back at some of the best deals of 2014. If you’ve spent any time reading ACC’s market reports, I’m sure you’ve found a car or…
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What My Cars Want for Christmas
I thought I had my key Christmas gifts all wrapped up. Seven-year-old Bradley is getting a Sphero 2.0 that he can race around the house. Alex will get a visit to trendy clothier Mario’s, with carte blanche in her selection, as long as it costs less than the overdrive rebuild on the 1964 Volvo 1800S.…
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Jim’s Blog: What’s The Best Christmas Gift for a Car Guy?
Christmas is almost here, and with it comes the gifts of socks, sweaters, gloves, and probably more desserts than you should really be eating. Consider going beyond the traditional presents and send a birthday cookie to your loved one. But if you’re a car guy, you’re probably not that interested in those socks, sweaters, or…
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Can You Just Leave It Alone?
I’m about to take our 1967 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super over to Guy’s Interior Restorations. The challenge is, how little can I have Guy do to the car? I just got the Super back from Dan Sommers’ Veloce Motors, with a fresh 2-liter engine installed, new tires, balanced driveshaft and more. The car runs very…
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When It’s Time To Drive a Boring Car
I was driving home from a holiday dinner last week on Sauvie’s Island, about 15 miles from downtown Portland. The country road I was on was unlit, two-lane and winding. It was raining, but not heavily. The road presented no challenges to the modern car I was driving. Cocooned by the touch-screen nav system, the…
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Artcurial Unveils Huge Barn-Find Collection for Rétromobile 2015 Auction
Includes Long-Lost Ferrari California Spyder A huge automotive archeological treasure trove — including a Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder — will star at Artcurial’s Rétromobile auction on February 6, 2015. Likened by some to the famed “reserve collection” of the brothers Schlumpf, this barn-find hoard includes cars ranging from humble Amilcars, Citroëns and an…
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Jim’s Blog: What’s Your Worst Automotive Missed Connection?
Live anywhere long enough and eventually you find car guy landmarks. For me, they consist of interesting cars and where they are around my neighborhood. There’s the ’67 Malibu that sits outside near my parents’ place, and the mossy ’66 4×4 Chevy truck that’s about two blocks from my house. There’s a ’55 Chevy with…