Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Columns
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Tariffs Really Taxing the Auto Industry
As I write this, President Trump’s executive order that imposes 25% tariffs on imported cars has just gone into effect, and the stock market has tumbled. There is no doubt that, by the time you read this, something more will have happened. The tariffs may be changed, or even abandoned, or the automotive industry may…
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Wheel of Misfortune
This whole thing started like many of my adventures, behind the wheel of an Alfa. As my stroke-weakened left leg responds to physical therapy, I have begun to be able to drive a manual-shift car again, though in a limited fashion. I took our 1965 Giulia Spider Veloce around the block a couple of times.…
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1957 Chevrolet Corvette SS
In early October 1956, following approvals from GM’s top brass, Ed Cole, then General Manager of the Chevrolet Motor Division, assigned Zora Arkus-Duntov with the task of building a Chevrolet race car that would be known internally as Project XP-64, later officially named the Corvette SS (Super Sport). Zora Arkus-Duntov hand-picked a talented team of…
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1938 Peugeot 402 Darl’mat Special Sport Coupe
The Peugeot Darl’mat Special Sport was a remarkable achievement in the world of 1930s coachbuilt automobiles. Émile Darl’mat, a Peugeot dealer with a deep passion for performance and innovation, harnessed some of the greatest talents of the era to create a truly great machine. Darl’mat hired Marcel Pourtout and Georges Paulin for coachbuilding and design,…
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1989 RUF CTR “Yellowbird”
The RUF CTR has become recognized the world over as the prime example of the pursuit for automotive excellence. The example presented here, chassis 026, is arguably the finest CTR and air-cooled RUF extant. As its chassis number suggests, this was the 26th CTR built at RUF’s workshop in Pfaffenhausen. One of just nine “Yellowbirds”…
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1983 Lamborghini Countach 5000 S
The quintessential dream car of its era, the Lamborghini Countach defined an entire generation of automotive enthusiasm and forever recast what a supercar could and should be. It fully embraced the radical thinking and spirit of revolution that defined its forebearer, the inimitable Miura, but rejected the familiar sculpted and curvaceous styling in favor of…
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1964 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS
Completed on February 27, 1964, this Porsche 904 Carrera GTS, chassis 904028, was delivered to German racer Gerhard Koch. Koch, a seasoned driver with a win over Jim Clark at Zandvoort and class wins at the Targa Florio and Nürburgring, excelled with the car, winning the Rheinland-Pfalz Trophy at the Nürburgring and placing 2nd overall…
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Cars vs. Cash
We live in changing times. Which makes the passing of classic cars from one generation to the next a complicated issue. One of my children wants my Lotus Elise; the other, the narrow-body Porsche 911S. As a 1975 model, the 911 is already a classic, while the 19-year-old Elise is well on its way. Neither…
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Your Own Garage Mahal
We’ve all learned that car collections quickly become storage problems. It is easy to fall into the spiral of having bought so many cars that more space is needed. So a new garage is constructed, but that leads to buying more cars, which makes it necessary to build an even bigger garage. And on and…
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Sleuthing the Paper Trail
I recently took a drive with a friend who works as a mechanic at a high-end shop in Southern California. He told me a cautionary tale about a customer who bought an older Ferrari with a sheaf of maintenance receipts, including a recent major service at another specialist in the area. The customer brought the car…