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1961 AMC Metropolitan Convertible
At a time in automotive history when American manufacturers were consistently arguing that “bigger is better,” Nash dared to be different. After creating a well-received concept car called the NXI, Nash believed that a small, efficient car could be successful amongst the sea of large cars being offered by the Big Three: Ford, GM and…
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Raising the SCM Family
I’ve raised a family of three over the past 30 years. They include my daughter, Alexandra, 26, my son Bradley, 10, and Sports Car Market, which is nearly full-grown at 30. Just as I’ve watched Alex and Bradley mature and develop, I’ve seen SCM go from a little black-and-white newsletter that we printed on our…
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Shoddy Repair Costs Shop $42m
A lot of people will be surprised to learn that a dealer body shop’s shoddy repair work resulted in a $42m negligence verdict. And it wasn’t even the shop’s customer who sued, but a downstream purchaser of the car. Matthew and Marcia Seebachan purchased a used 2010 Honda Fit from a Texas Kia dealer in…
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Swingin’ Gullwing
If you were to think of a sports car that epitomized the mid-1970s, the Bricklin SV-1 would be the perfect choice. The car was the brainchild of Malcolm Bricklin, a somewhat eccentric auto-industry executive whose resumé includes bringing Subaru to North America. His idea was to build a much safer V8-powered sports car to compete…
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1963 Ford Galaxie 500
Here we offer the John Willment Automobiles Ltd. racing team’s Ford Galaxie 500 — the landmark car in which the late, great, hugely popular driver Jack Sears stood the racing record on its head and shattered those long years of Jaguar domination. The Galaxie was a 400-horsepower 7-liter “Lightweight,” built by NASCAR stock-car racing specialists…
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2011 BMW 1M Coupe
Developed by BMW Motorsport and announced in December 2010, the 1M coupe used a tuned version of the N54 twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six engine producing 335 hp, which was delivered to the road via a 6-speed manual gearbox and electronic limited-slip differential. With its front-engine/rear-drive layout, traditional sports-car handling and colossal amounts of low-down torque, the…
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1968 Mercedes-Benz 280SL
This 280SL was delivered new with the rare and desirable optional 5-speed ZF gearbox and fitted with the even rarer option of a limited-slip differential (Mercedes-Benz Datenkarte on file). It was sold new to Mr. Herman Kaiser in Duisburg, Germany on September 3, 1968, receiving the registration number DUAZ10. Then on January 21, 1972, the…
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1969 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Alloy Coupe
Over 1,200 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 “Daytonas” were produced. Five were lightweight Alloy competition cars, which dominated the 24 Hours of Daytona. Further to those, Ferrari commissioned two aluminum-body street versions of the Daytona, chassis 12547 and this car, 12653. Chassis 12547 existed for many years as a road car but has subsequently been converted to…
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1973 Alfa Romeo Montreal Coupe
Inspired by Bertone’s Alfa-based styling exercise penned by Marcello Gandini exhibited at the 1967 Montreal Expo, the two-seater Montreal coupe debuted at the Geneva Salon in 1970. Unlike the Expo prototype that used Alfa’s 1.6-liter 4-cylinder engine, the production Montreal used a “civilized” version of the T33 sports prototype’s four-cam V8. Designed with the classic…
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1962 Daimler SP250 “Police Spec” Convertible
This beautiful SP250 is one of 26 purchased by the Metropolitan Police, and details of its acquisition and service record are on file together with a charming photograph showing the Daimler on parade. For 13 seasons, 670 ELL was used as a course car at the Goodwood Revival Meeting, being driven around the circuit before…