Archives
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Scottsdale Muscle Still Buffed
I fully expected Scottsdale to result in a dismal showing for muscle car prices. I couldn’t have been more wrong Last year’s Arizona auctions proved that we were indeed due for a well deserved and most predictable “adjustment” in many segments of the muscle car market. As such, 2007 brought us more headlines about the…
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Crunching Ferrari’s Global Numbers
Decades ago, when negotiating with bankers for our first seven-figure credit line, I was asked, “What is the annual global Ferrari market, in both dollars and cars?” While I’ve long since forgotten the figures for that period, it was an interesting exercise to calculate then, as it is today. We start by breaking Ferrari sales…
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Healey Prices on Cruise Control
Many cars sell for $60,000 to $75,000-about the cost to restore a solid original car, if you know what you’re doing With only one “Gee whiz, what-was-he-thinking? over-six-figures” Austin-Healey sale price in Scottsdale in January and one fairly respectable car that sold for less than $25,000, some folks are asking whether the recent run-up in…
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Grokking the Porsche Collector’s Gestalt
Buy what you like and you can’t do that well unless you buy what makes you happy. It’s a blend of emotion and rational thought Not everyone can make it as a successful Porsche collector. It takes a blend of emotion, knowledge, and temperament to put together the right cars at the right time to…
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Elfi Duntov’s 1955 Roadster
Inspiration for the introduction of the 1953 Chevrolet Corvette was attributable to a flood of young Americans arriving home after World War II who craved nimble, athletic sports cars. A team of General Motors engineers, under the leadership of Harley Earl, set about creating a car bodied in fiberglass, with enough appeal to compete with…
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1963 Corvette “Rondine” Concept
The one and only 1963 Chevrolet Corvette “Rondine” coupe was built for the Paris Auto Show by renowned design house Pininfarina for Chevrolet. The car features a 327-ci, 360-hp fuel-injected V8 with 4-speed and power brakes. This historically significant prototype has been stored and preserved at the Pininfarina Museum since new and is being offered…
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1971 ZR2 454/425 Coupe
The C3 arrived in 1968, sporting the Corvette’s first major restyling since ’63. Obviously based on the Mako Shark II show car, the new ’Vette had an aero front end with hidden headlights and disappearing wipers. Except for fender air vents and chrome on the rocker panels, the undulating body sides were plain. The blunt,…
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1995 Guldstrand Nassau Roadster
Nineteen eighty-three marked the introduction of Chevrolet’s fourth-generation Corvette, which until the mid-1990s would be improved and modified by a variety of in-house and aftermarket specialists. Of the various aftermarket tuners, one of the most impressive was Guldstrand Specialty Automobiles (GSA) out of California. Company founder Dick Guldstrand had developed a formidable reputation in the…
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2000/1962 Corvette C5/C1
Classic Reflection Coachworks’s 1962/C5 Conversion transforms a C5 Corvette into a spectacular modern version of a Corvette legend. Titled as a 1962 Chevrolet Special, the car uses a 2000 Corvette chassis with a carbon fiber body. The car combines advanced computer technology and a composite material of carbon fiber and E-glass layers—the same as Aston…
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The Million-Dollar ZR1 Bargain
Chevrolet presented the very “First Retailable Unit Built” Corvette ZR1 for auction at Barrett-Jackson on Saturday, January 19, 2008, with all proceeds from the auction to benefit the United Way. The VIN was publicly declared to be number “001” in a unique series within the U.S. DOT standard 17-digit VIN format. The car presented on…