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No Longer Hidden in Plain Sight
Like a surface vein of gold in the Sierra Nevada of California in 1848, Lancias have suddenly been discovered by the larger collector car world. Long hidden in plain sight, these superbly over-engineered, pioneering and championship-winning cars are leaving behind their reputation for being woefully undervalued. Lancias are setting new auction records, and prices…
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1962 Porsche 356B T-6 Super 90 Cabriolet
In September of 1959, Porsche revealed their fully updated 356 known as the 356B. This had a completely revised body that was more suitable for the American market. The 356B used the new T-5 body style, which raised the front and rear bumpers nearly four inches. Furthermore, the headlights were also repositioned higher to meet…
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1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA
Introduced in 1965, the GTA — the A stood for Alleggerita (lightened) — was the official competition version of the Giulia Sprint GT, and it was produced in both road and race variants. The latter, as usual, was the responsibility of the factory’s Autodelta competitions department, which had been founded in 1961 as an independent…
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1972 Ferrari 365 GTC/4 Coupe
At the 1971 Geneva Salon de L’Automobile exhibition, Ferrari launched another new model. This was the GTC/4 as offered here, which was presented as a more sober and discreet alternative to the blisteringly high-performance Daytona. But the GTC/4 was really more closely related to the 365 GT 2+2, which it had replaced on the Pininfarina…
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1970 Land Rover Range Rover
The original Spen King-designed Range Rover was one of the British motor industry’s proudest success stories. When it went out of production at the end of 1996, it still looked as fresh and forward-thinking as it did back in 1970, when one was chosen for an exhibit in the Louvre as an example of modern…
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1905 Fiat 60 HP 5-Passenger Tourer
According to the Registro Storico Fiat, chassis 3003 was accepted on June 7, 1905, by Fiat’s sole American importer, Hollander and Tangeman of New York City. It was the third of only 20 examples of the 4-cylinder 60 HP built on the 2,985-millimeter wheelbase chassis (the shorter of two offerings for the model), and it…
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Barrett-Jackson is the Pebble Beach of Arizona
Our collector car world has four epicenters, and each has its own anchor event. The vintage car calendar starts with Monterey in August, followed by Arizona in January, Paris in February and Amelia Island in March. The signature event for the Monterey Classic Car Week is the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. It follows the auctions,…
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The Frankenstein Mercedes-Benz 280SL
George felt his time was coming. He was through with his studies and was just getting established in his career. Unburdened by a wife or kids, he had been able to save up some money and he was ready to have some fun with it. His interest in collector cars beckoned, and he was quite…
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The Best Kadett of All
Ask any American to name an Opel product, and they’re overwhelmingly likely to name the GT — often known as the “Baby Corvette” that arrived in America in 1969. But few could tell you that General Motors bought most of Opel in 1929 — and took complete ownership in 1931. By the end of the…
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1963 Chevrolet Corvette “711” racer
Harry Mann Chevrolet was the largest Corvette dealer in America when the new 1963 Sting Ray Z06 made its race debut at the October 1962 Times Grand Prix in Riverside, CA. However, driver Gary Pickens was relegated to the sidelines, as Chevrolet had released only six RPO Z06 competition Corvettes and none would be available…