Columns


  • 1970 Aston Martin DBS Sports Saloon

    1970 Aston Martin DBS Sports Saloon

    This famous Aston Martin DBS was manufactured in the spring of 1970, complete with special modifications for its role in the British television series “The Persuaders!” in which star Roger Moore drove it in almost all of the 24 one-hour episodes. Moore had expressed an interest in the Aston Martin, which he felt would be…

  • 1993 Bugatti EB110 GT

    1993 Bugatti EB110 GT

    Italian Ferrari dealer Romano Artioli dreamed of resurrecting one of the most storied marques in automotive history: Bugatti. Artioli’s Bugatti Automobile SpA was established in October 1987, and construction of a new, state-of-the-art factory in Campogalliano, Italy, began the following year. When it was ready, the EB110 — Ettore Bugatti 110, honoring the great man’s…

  • The Perfect Pairing

    The Perfect Pairing

    As the SCM fleet continues to grow, I am beginning to wonder just why we need so many old cars. We currently have eight collector vehicles, ranging from a 1958 Giulietta Sprint Veloce to a 2000 Viper GTS ACR. That means eight insurance bills, eight parking stalls, eight sets of maintenance records, eight battery chargers…

  • Finding Fakes, Stolen Cars  and Corvette Lawsuits

    Finding Fakes, Stolen Cars and Corvette Lawsuits

      Last month’s Legal Files suggested that there are epidemic proportions of “matching-numbers” Corvettes (and other cars) that really aren’t matching-numbers cars. That attracted a lot of attention and comments, but what people say is not as important as what they don’t say. No one said the suggestion was sometimes wrong. First, let’s put “matching…

  • The Long-Lived, Never-Loved Porsche

    The Long-Lived, Never-Loved Porsche

    The 928 occupies a peculiar place in Porsche history. Conceived as a replacement for the venerable 911, the factory soon discovered that their customers would never prize a front-engined, water-cooled alternative — even if it did make more power than the company’s bread-and-butter sports car. Maybe the 928, with its upward-staring headlights, was too strange-looking…

  • 2001 BMW Z8 Roadster

    2001 BMW Z8 Roadster

    The Z8 is BMW’s spiritual successor to the 1950s 507 roadster. Both have a long hood with short deck design, which creates a powerful and sporty appearance. This limited-production roadster with optional hard top is equipped with a 4.9-liter DOHC V8 as used in the M5, mated to a proper 6-speed manual gearbox and producing…

  • 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition

    2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition

    Inspired by the all-conquering GT40 race cars that beat Ferrari at Le Mans and won the famed 24-hour race four years in a row, the Ford GT was much more than a mere design resemblance when it was launched. It was a supercar the likes of which Detroit had never before produced. On top speed…

  • 1968 Porsche 907 LH “Longtail”

    1968 Porsche 907 LH “Longtail”

    Today, Porsche remains the uncontested champion of more endurance races than any other manufacturer, having amassed the most outright wins at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring. Yet in the early 1960s, Porsche remained an unconventional, small-displacement manufacturer only capable of winning class victories. At the onset of the prototype era, however, Porsche’s strategy on motorsports…

  • 1994 Ferrari 512 TR

    1994 Ferrari 512 TR

    The replacement for Ferrari’s Testarossa, the 512 TR, was introduced for the 1992 model year as a response to the launch of Lamborghini’s Diablo in 1990. The car was well acclaimed by the motoring press right from its introduction. The legendary Phil Hill wrote in Road & Track that “lurking under that bodywork is about…

  • 1981 Lotus Esprit Turbo

    1981 Lotus Esprit Turbo

    The Lotus Esprit was built between 1976 and 2004, and a future release is forthcoming in 2014. The silver Italdesign concept that eventually became the Esprit was unveiled at the Turin Motor Show in 1972, and it was a development of a stretched Lotus Europa chassis. It was among the first of designer Giorgetto Giugiaro’s…