Columns
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No Resuscitation for CPR Classic
Collector car dealers who sell customers’ cars and never pay them their money is not a new subject for SCM readers. But it was a whole new experience for Hans Claassen of Montrose, CO. NBC 7 San Diego recently reported that Claassen is one of many clients who claims he is owed money from CPR…
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Selling All the Way
The collector car hobby has witnessed sweeping changes and staggering growth over the past decade. Once a cottage industry, the collector car market has transitioned into a legitimate global business. Many smaller companies have enjoyed rapid growth and have garnered the attention and admiration of much larger publicly listed and private equity-backed global firms. The…
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Hitting the Sweet Spot
When you’ve owned a significant number of cars, there will be some that stand out in your memory, the special ones that appealed to you in a way that others did not. Like Goldilocks and her choice of porridge, they weren’t too hot or too cold, they were just right. That’s what we call the…
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1966 Shelby GT350 H
In the fall of 1965, Peyton Cramer, the general manager of Shelby American, came up with a crazy idea: Put these high-performance automobiles into the hands of rental-car customers. Cramer approached the Hertz Corporation with this idea, and they bought it. There would be a few modifications from those Shelby models sold to the general…
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1965 Abarth-Simca 2000 GT
The first of these Abarths had short-nose, roundtail bodies and either 1,300-cc or 2,000-cc Abarth engines, but during the next three years the body changed to the much more modern and attractive ducktail design and, eventually, from the end of 1964, the more-aerodynamic long-nose cars. It is estimated that only some 15 of the latter…
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1928 Lancia Lambda
This car is the only known survivor of the nine cars that Lancia prepared for the 1928 Mille Miglia. According to the consignor, it retains its original body, engine and special Mille Miglia features; it also has a continuous history from new. The special features include a cut-down driver’s door; long, flowing wings; high running…
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1998 Porsche 911 Turbo
Claus Vanderborg took delivery of his unique Turbo — the last Type 993 to leave the factory in-period — on September 5, 1998, from Porsche Centre Altötting. Twenty years later, Porsche would make the “Project Gold” 993 Turbo from OEM parts, but that one-off was built for a charity auction and could not be road-registered,…
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1933 MG Magnette K3 Supercharged
Here we offer this highly significant and important example of the MG K3 breed, the 1,100-cc supercharged cars from Abingdon-on-Thames, which did so much to enhance the prestige of the British motor industry. The K3 offered here spent many years on display in the Fremantle and York Motor Museums, Western Australia. It is considered from…
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A Meditation on Preservation
Some winners are easier to pick than others. At the Kentucky Derby, it’s the nose of the horse that crosses the finish line first. At the Super Bowl, the team with the most points when the clock expires is the champion. The first team to take four games in the World Series is the victor.…
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The Case of the Runaway Rolls
Memory Lane Motors has been a collector car fixture in Portland, OR, for over 40 years, dealing largely in mid-range American and European classic cars. Manager Elan Davis says that in all that time, it has never sold a car at auction. To his regret, he made his first attempt early this year. The dealership…