Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Blogs
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Keels & Wheels – Stutzes, Bugattis and a Pontiac Solstice
I’ve just returned from the 20th annual Keels & Wheels Concours d’Elegance. It’s held in Seabrook, Texas which is about an hour’s drive southeast of Houston. It was a busy weekend in Texas, as just 260 miles north in Fort Worth, RM Sotheby’s sold the 78-lot Andrews Collection for a staggering $54m with 100% of lots hammered…
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Help SCM Buy a Japanese Car
It’s time for SCM to consider adding a Next Gen Japanese car to its collection. Japanese cars from the ’80s and ’90s have been popping up on my collector-car radar screen for the past couple of years. When I go to an auction and post pictures of the cars on offer to Facebook, the ones…
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Jim’s Blog: Hubcap Hunting at the Portland Swapmeet
I love swapmeets. All it takes is a little time and a little walking to find just about anything you’re looking for at a bargain-basement price. And even if you don’t know what you’re looking for, chances are you’ll end up buying something anyway. Ever since I bought a set of steel 15×8 wheels for…
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Perfect Sunday — 291 Miles in a 50-Year-Old Alfa
Sometimes all the pieces just fit together. Each year, the Alfa Romeo Owners of Oregon (AROO) begin the spring touring season with the “The Old Spider Tour.” The event originated as a tribute to club founder and longtime newsletter editor Bob McGill and his wife Margaret, and it always takes place around April 19 —…
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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…