Editor’s note: Publisher Keith Martin is making steady, strong progress on his stroke rehab. In fact, he’s back to writing his weekly blog for the SCM Email Newsletter. That said, we’ve invited a few friends to fill in for Publisher Martin’s “Shifting Gears” column until he’s ready to return. This month, Donald Osborne is here to share his thoughts.
On January 17, I moderated SCM’s Sixth Annual Scottsdale Insider’s Seminar at Gooding & Company. Panelists Carl Bomstead; Mark Hyman, owner Read More
Alawsuit has been filed against Jerry Seinfeld, alleging that the 1958 Porsche Speedster he sold for $1,540,000 at the March 2016 Gooding & Company Amelia Island Auction is a fake.
Seinfeld politely and sensibly declined to comment on the litigation, as one would expect, so we have to rely upon the complaint filed in the lawsuit and reports in the press for the story.
Special car and occasion
The Speedster was one of 16 Read More
Any car is a rolling exercise in compromise: horsepower vs. economy, stability vs. agility, interior space vs. exterior volume, bilge capacity vs. sinkability.
Whoa. What?
That last is only a problem with the most glaring example of compromise in automotive design ever — the Amphicar 770.
It has been called the “fastest car on the water and the fastest boat on the road” and “a vehicle that promised to revolutionize drowning.” It has also been doing quite well as a Read More
Making its Indianapolis debut in 1948, this car failed to qualify.
George Connor was able to qualify the car in 6th position for the Indy 500 in 1949, finishing the race with an impressive 3rd overall. Bill Holland drove it at two subsequent AAA races that year at Trenton and Milwaukee. Connor drove the car in two more 500s, finishing 8th in 1950 and 30th in 1951. In 1952 and 1953, Charlie Marant entered the car at Indianapolis, but he Read More
- The 1992 and 1993 Geneva Motor Show car
- The only Vector WX-3 coupe prototype produced
- 1,000-hp twin-turbo V8 engine
- Retained by company founder Jerry Wiegert
The Avtech WX-3 prototype was first displayed in silver paint at the 1992 Geneva Motor Show. The WX-3 prototype owed its advanced composition to the Vector W8, including carbon fiber and Kevlar. Inside, the WX-3’s interior was far more refined, but it still shared its airplane-cockpit-control arrangement with the W8.
The hard top Read More
The Ferrari 250 SWB Berlinetta was unveiled at the Paris Auto Show in October of 1959. Besides its stunning new design and upgraded engine specification, the car featured other competition-bred refinements, including a wheelbase that was about nine inches shorter for sharper handling and increased corner speed.
Four-wheel disc brakes — a first for a Ferrari road car — were fitted to the production cars. Extremely effective in competition, the SWB Berlinetta’s high-profile results included a win and sweep of Read More
In 2001, chassis 57469 was sold to the current owner, a passionate enthusiast and longstanding member of the American Bugatti Club. Early in his ownership, it was finished in an appropriate two-tone dark blue and black paint scheme.
Although the car benefited from some cosmetic and mechanical attention, a concerted effort was made to preserve the many outstanding original details, particularly in the interior, which retains nearly all of its unrestored and beautifully patinated upholstery, trim and instrumentation.
Chassis 57469 Read More
This is the very first Ford Pilot Plant/Pre-production Mustang hard top.
This 1965 Mustang started the Pony Car revolution in American car building, resulting in the later creation of the Camaro and Firebird. It was hand-assembled at the Ford Pilot Plant and is one of three known existing Pilot Plant Mustangs to survive.
- One of just seven DB2/4 Bertone-bodied chassis — and the only coupe
- Bodied by Bertone for S.H. “Wacky” Arnolt
- Displayed by Bertone at the 1957 Torino Auto Show
- One-off 2-seat coupe coachwork; features quality older restoration
- Engine number corresponds to accompanying BMIHT Certificate
American industrialist and British car distributor Stanley H. “Wacky” Arnolt was a self-made millionaire, having parlayed patents he purchased in the 1930s into a manufacturing business for his Indiana-based factory during World War II.
This Read More
