Columns
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The Best Buys at Any Price
1972 Iso Grifo Series II Gooding & Company Lot 66, which sold for the “was everyone sleeping?” price of $511,500 Earlier this year, a good friend — and wonderfully overzealous lover of all things Iso — asked me if there was any chance this car could be worth $1 million, which was the owner’s dearest…
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Retro Looks, Modern Sound
Classic cars and music go hand-in-hand. What fun is driving your ’57 Chevy without Buddy Holly, or your ’65 Mustang without the Beach Boys, or your ’70 Charger without the Stones? Chances are your classic car still has its original AM radio. They just look right — better than a modern LED plastic piece that…
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I’ll Build it Someday
A few weeks ago, while on a walk with my daughter in my neighborhood, I caught a glimpse of a rounded metal roof peeking out from behind a fence. I stood up tall to look over and saw a ’56 Chevy 2-door post. Half-consumed by blackberry bushes, it sat with its ’70s-era white-letter radials sunk into…
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Requiem for the Car Club?
I like to think I’m not getting old, but unless I stop looking in mirrors (and change my diet to 100% Ibuprofen), I can’t help but face the fact that I am. Along with that, I suppose, comes the responsibility to bitch about how much better it was in “the old days.” Now, let me clarify,…
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Making It Personal
Custom vans defined the 1970s. You can chalk that movement up to a number of factors: withdrawal from the hippie movement or the disappearance of muscle cars, a market glut of used first- and second-generation American work vans, and a burgeoning interest in light-duty trucks despite the OPEC oil crisis. It all combined to create…
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Plastic Fantastic
For an English major, I sure did lousy in Ye Olde English Literature. Byron, Keats, Milton and the rest seemed unbearably stuffy compared to my favorite authors of the period — the editors of Hot Rod, Road & Track and Car and Driver — in particular, Brock Yates. But one poet did come up with…
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2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
638-hp supercharged LS9 engine 6-speed transmission, twin-disc clutch Selective Magnetic Ride Control Aluminum chassis, 3,324-lb curb weight Carbon-fiber hood, front fenders, roof panel, rocker moldings and front splitter Brembo four-wheel disc brakes Chrome 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels Blade Silver with black leather interior Bose seven-speaker sound system Keyless entry and remote start Heated…
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1968 Pontiac GTO Ram Air II
This 1968 GTO is the ultra-rare and desirable Ram Air II model from the private collection of Jim Mattison, founder of Pontiac Historical Services (PHS). It is one of only 199 4-speed Ram Air II GTOs built in 1968. This car still retains its born-with engine, transmission and rear-axle components. The car received a no-excuses,…
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1966 Shelby GT350 “Carry-Over”
This 1966 Shelby GT350’s early life was spent with Worcester, MA, dealer Harr Ford as a racer/demonstrator. In 1967 Francis “Fran” Grayson visited Harr to purchase a new high-performance car and opted for this GT350. Fran used it extensively both on the road and on the drag strip until parking it in 1976 in a…
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1966 Plymouth Satellite Hemi
426-ci 425-hp Hemi V8 engine Hurst console shift 4-speed manual transmission Frame-off rotisserie restoration in 2013 Owner states this car is one of 503 with this engine/transmission combination Two 4-barrel carburetors Dana 60 rear end with 3:55 gears Radio Bucket seats Spinner hubcaps on steel wheels Redline tires