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1963 Pontiac Lemans Super Duty Factory Lightweight
This 1963 Pontiac Tempest LeMans 421 Super Duty Factory Experimental Lightweight is one of six examples produced and it is one of only two remaining. Built on December 12, 1962, at the Pontiac, MI, assembly plant, the purpose-built LeMans coupes were all painted white and given blue interiors with bucket seats. Pontiac Engineering fitted high-compression…
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1977 GMC C-15 Suburban Sierra Grande
• Believed to be just over 43,000 actual miles • Trailer special package • One Washington state owner since new • Air conditioning • Automatic transmission • Two-wheel drive • 75th anniversary for GMC in 1977 • Tilt steering column • Power steering • Roll-down rear window at tailgate • Factory luggage rack • Original…
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1971 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 Cabriolet
In 1959, Mercedes broke with tradition by introducing the angular “Heckflosse,” or “Finback,” sedan on the W-111/W-112 chassis — itself revolutionary in having the first-ever crumple zones and roll-over integrity to protect the occupants from injury in the event of collisions — to replace the bulbous “ponton” built on the W-128 chassis. Two years later,…
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1935 Auburn 851 Boattail Speedster
In 1949, this exceptional Auburn Boattail Speedster was discovered in an old garage in Omaha, NE. The Auburn required some refurbishing, so a restoration was undertaken in 1951, and it was decided to restore the car as a 1936 852, perhaps in an attempt to make the already rare Speedster seem even more desirable, as…
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1960 OSCA 750 S
After the company’s inception, OSCA quickly began to make a name for itself, as it started to notch up class and overall wins at race tracks all over the globe, with some of the best drivers and teams in the world behind these fantastic new racing machines from Italy. In what is considered to be…
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1967 Ferrari 330 GTS Barn Find
Soon after the 330 GTC was unveiled at the 1966 Geneva Auto Salon, Ferrari introduced its exclusive Spider variant, the GTS. The new 330 GTC, GTS, and the contemporary 275 GTB/4 featured the same mechanical layout of fully independent suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, a rigid torque-tube driveshaft, and a 5-speed, rear-mounted transaxle. Whereas the 275…
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1960 Lotus Elite Series II
With the Lotus 14 of 1959 — better known as the Elite — Colin Chapman demonstrated that his skills as a racing-car designer and constructor could just as easily be applied to production road cars. Just as innovative as Lotus’s outright competition cars, the Elite featured a fiberglass monocoque body tub, independent suspension all round…
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1931 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Supercharged Gran Sport Spider, Coachwork by Zagato
In the world of car collecting, there are four primary criteria that establish a vehicle’s worthiness: authenticity, provenance, aesthetics and engineering. The exceptional Alfa Romeo offered here resoundingly checks all of these boxes. The history of this incredible Alfa Romeo, chassis 10814356, begins in 1931. According to Angela Cherrett’s Tipo 6C book, 10814356 was completed…
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Cranking Up the Collector World
I love the way the collector-car year launches. Arizona in January is like Mardi Gras, with cars to be auctioned replacing floats. The procession of delectable automobiles is non-stop, with the six big auctions pulling out all the stops. For me, the action started earlier this year than usual. It included a quick trip…
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High Prices, High Taxes
The 2014 Scottsdale auctions showed that many collectors are taking advantage of the hot market and selling cars for record prices. But many of those collectors are also learning that we are in an era of high income tax rates. So, how can collectors minimize the tax costs? Basic tax principles Let’s start with some…