Archives
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What’s the best investment and most usable Corvette for $100,000?
What’s the best investment and most usable Corvette you can buy for $100,000? Think you know the answer? Check out what Todd Fitzerman, Edward Foss, Jerry Heasley, Kevin Mackay, Dana Mecum, and Roy Sinor (nationally known restorers, collectors, dealers, auctioneers and Corvette judges) told CM. Jerry Heasley Automotive writer and photographer No six-figure ’Vette is…
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Trans Am: The Beat Goes On
These homologation specials are among the most enjoyable muscle cars- they can actually dance, rather than just run fast {vsig}2008-6_2181{/vsig} From humble beginnings, by the late 1960s, the Trans-American Sedan Championship Series grew into one of the most popular events in SCCA history. Conceived as a sedan racing class for production-based cars with a minimum…
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Lazenby Lotus 17 Special
Jim Clark’s future mechanic had to design and build a suitable frame and scavenge everything else he needed. That appears to be what he did Having created his first special while training as a mechanic with the RAF, it was perhaps inevitable that David Lazenby would embark upon a similar project once he began working…
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Convertible Assets Indeed
Throughout the week of March 12-17, the demise of Bear Stearns sent a shudder through the world’s economy. If, like me, you consider The Economist fun reading, and you survived the 1974 and 1979 gas crisis and the 1980-85, 1990-95, and NASDAQ 2000 recessions, it’s been all-too-predictable. The U.S. economy went wrong again. So what,…
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Bad Dog, Rover
At the end of the day, the Rover P6 counts as a “nice try.” It’s the equivalent of a brainy kid who’s always sick Some of you may find this hard to believe, but I’m the last person to argue that all old British cars-regardless of how quirky or unusual-are collectible. There, I’ve said it.…
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The Time-Traveling Investor
To earn 8% over 30 years, that $12,000 “concours” Speedster from 1977 would have to bring $224,000 in 2008 What if you could go back 30 years and buy any Porsche you’d like? What a way to make a killing. With what we know now, we’d know exactly what to buy and hold for today’s…
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The Lost Generation
Pontiac Firebird SD, Buick Grand National GNX, Mustang 5.0-highlights of the muscle flexed in ’70s and ’80s Detroit {vsig}2008-5_2168{/vsig} The American collectible car contingent has long argued over when the “real” cars stopped rolling out of Detroit. Collectible prices indicate Detroit’s muscle atrophied with astonishing speed after 1971. What followed was a period of wheezy…
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What Emerging Markets?
The flow of Ferraris to the U.S. began in October 1948 with Tommy Lee’s purchase of 166 MM Barchetta s/n 0002M at the Turin Auto Show, quickly followed by Briggs Cunningham’s purchase of 166 Spyder Corsa s/n 016 that November. For the next 60 years, Ferraris have gone back and forth between Europe and the…
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The Mystery of Morgan Prices
Big Healeys that cost $25,000 in 2000 are selling for $50,000 today; even pristine MG As, TR4s and TR6s cost more than Morgans {vsig}2008-5_2169{/vsig} In January 2000, a “good, clean example” of a 1966 Morgan Plus 4 sold for $26,620, and the SCM commentator remarked “Sold for quite good money. Is this the signal for…
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Ten Rules for Porsche Flippers
Never fix anything. A true flippopath will risk his newly acquired bounty and even his life to make a flip Last month, this column offered ten rules for Porsche collectors, people who are much better at buying than at selling, and who plan to keep their cars forever. Or at least until another one they…