Archives
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2003 Avelate Fifty Three Convertible
This rare 2003 Avelate Corvette convertible pays homage to the 1953 Corvette. It is the first of only two built by the Avelate Automotive Co. in 2003 to pay tribute to 50 years of Corvette styling. Avelate masterfully crafted some subtle but distinctive ’53 cues into a new 2003 Anniversary Corvette chassis and drivetrain. The…
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Cautious Buyers Raising the Bar
As readers of SCM know, my day job is finding new homes for old Ferraris. Over the many years I’ve been involved with the market, I’ve seen it undergo several permutations. Now, the digital revolution has really hit the market full force, and it’s changing the ways cars are marketed-not just for me, but for…
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The New Reality
The inspiration for this column occurred in March, when I returned from lunch to find an email from a Lusso owner who wanted us to sell his car and net himself $700,000-about $200,000 over the retail price for his Lusso in today’s market. The very next email was from a client who had been web…
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Ferrari: The Myth of Low Miles
Columns beget further columns, and my June story, “When 25 Miles Doesn’t Matter,” which dealt with an Enzo that had crossed the magic 1,000-mile mark, resulted in a flurry of emails regarding the desirability vs. the perils of ultra-low-mile Ferraris. I’m amazed at how many would-be Ferrari buyers have an odometer fetish, a Freudian pursuit…
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1961 283/315 Big-Brake Fuelie
At first it seemed like the big changes for Corvette in 1961 were the body, particularly at the rear, with a sharp beltline cutoff and near-Kamm-style tail with exhaust tips dropped below the body. With it, Corvette introduced the four-taillight arrangement that established an identifying feature that is still seen on Corvettes nearly five…
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1966 427/425 Coupe
At first glance, one might think this is just another nicely restored big-block Corvette. But that perspective is to be significantly altered with the realization that this is a 15,000-mile original car that wears its original paint and interior. Chip Miller was, and still is, widely considered one of the most influential innovators of…
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1968 Scuderia Filipinetti L88 Coupe
The Greder Corvette, s/n 410300, holds a unique place in Le Mans history, not only as one of the most successful, and well-traveled, Corvette race cars in the world, but also as the survivor of one of Chevrolet’s “back door” racing programs, managed and implemented by Zora Arkus-Duntov. The central figure is Henri Greder.…
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1988 Corvette Challenge Race Car
Chevrolet went racing with the Corvette in 1988, producing 56 cars for the inaugural season of the Powell Development America-inspired SCCA Corvette Challenge Series. The white coupe offered here is one of those original 56. The Challenge cars were identically outfitted with standard equipment, including the 245-hp cross-fire fuel injection engine, Doug Nash 4+3 manual…
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2003 Z06 Hard Top
When Chevrolet revisited its past to introduce a new Z06 two-door hard top in 2001, it also added $7,000 to the base car’s $40,475 sticker price. The new Z06 offered a new, more powerful engine, the 386-hp LS6. The LS6 had a new block, new intake and exhaust manifolds, new cylinder heads, unique camshaft profile,…
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The Lambo Dealer, the $12m Swindle, the Slammer
In early November 2008, I received multiple early morning phone calls and emails telling me that Lamborghini of Orange County had just closed its doors. My first thought was how could the largest Lamborghini dealership in the world possibly go broke? My second thought was, why had it taken so long? We begin with a…