I’ve known Keith Martin for more than 20 years and have been involved with SCM nearly from the start. In the earliest days, 1989-90, he was buying and selling Alfa Romeos like there was no tomorrow (read: like there was no 1991). I’ve watched with interest as he has gone on to build SCM, and have been pleased to be able to contribute my thoughts. At the same time, I have made the transition from having a fully staffed sales Read More
Archives
The Speedster Spell
Ferry Porsche considered Speedsters silly cars, but Europeans love them and have been buying them for a decade
Ferry Porsche considered Speedsters silly cars, but Europeans love them and have been buying them for a decade
What is it about the Speedster that has caused prices to rise to unheard-of levels? While other 356s and Porsches in general continue on a solid upward trend, Speedsters seem to be on a tear. What’s so special about these cars, and has the same magic spread to the 1989 and 1994 reprise of Read More
The Dandy Griffith
Unlike the environmentally conscious, fuel-sipping, ultra-low emissions, and utterly boring “hybrid” cars of today, a whole different group deserved that name in the 1960s.
They consisted of European sports cars that fell into the hands of cottage industry “manufacturers,” which took Italian and British sports car sophistication (or lack thereof) and shoehorned in American V8 lumps.
The period is the 1960s, so we are skipping cars built by men like Cunningham and Allard, though all these creations used American Read More
How One Little Car Brought Down An Empire
Conservatives bolstered Rootes fortunes in the ’50s, but Labor and the Hillman Imp doomed it in the ’60s
Conservatives bolstered Rootes fortunes in the ’50s, but Labor and the Hillman Imp doomed it in the ’60s
Of all the sad sagas told about the collapse of the British automotive industry, none is more depressing than that of the Rootes Group, and the once-respected marques it took down with it.
We all know about the demise of Rootes because of the death of the Sunbeam Tiger, when new owner Chrysler Read More
Sorry, You Can’t Get That Part Here
Much has been written-both positive and negative-about Ferrari Classiche, the arm of Ferrari set up as an official certifying organization for its cars. For decades, Ferrari had no interest in the older cars and only pricked up its ears (and its legal department’s pens) when the elusive William Favre began building and selling 250 GTO replicars in the early 1980s.
Enzo Ferrari was personally incensed, and Favre was soon out of business. Ferrari feared that if outsiders had access Read More
Putting a Price on Feelings
How anxious is the seller to sell? Is he emotional, ready to bail out? How anxious is the buyer? Has he just missed a similar car?
How anxious is the seller to sell? Is he emotional, ready to bail out? How anxious is the buyer? Has he just missed a similar car?
Various Porsche talk boards are buzzing with complaints about the usefulness of price guides for early 911S cars (1967-73). About how the prices are too low, the guides are silly, and the magazines that publish them are stupid. I’d like to say hang on just a Read More
Fangs for the Memories
The Shelby influence is very much evident on the Viper, and he is considered one of the car’s “four fathers”
The Shelby influence is very much evident on the Viper, and he is considered one of the car’s “four fathers”
{vsig}2008-7_2194{/vsig}
The discontinuation of several Chrysler models to help stop the corporation’s financial bleeding is no secret. Rumors abound about Dodge’s Viper being on this list, and numerous Dodge “insiders” claim the Viper will be discontinued after 2009.
Has the Viper been a resounding success, merely in danger of corporate Read More
The (Ever Increasing) Sum of its Parts
Thanks to feedback from readers, virtually every column inspires a follow-up column. In “Opening Pandora’s Black Box” (December, p. 48), I wrote that “the older Ferraris, from the 512 BB backwards, can be restored by an experienced shop, and virtually any part is or will continue to be available or can be made.” What I left out is the difficulty of finding and the cost of sourcing or making those parts.
Parts procurement comes in two levels of complication. Read More
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
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 great market. Right?
Noted below is every 356, 912, and 911 Porsche for sale from the September Read More
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
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 of four seats and engine displacement of between 2 liters and 5 liters, everything from Datsun Read More