At every car club meeting, gray-haired elders debate the future of car collecting. They wonder if the current generation will wean itself from texting and playing World of Warcraft long enough to learn to use a Uni-Syn to balance their SU carburetors, or feeler gauges to measure valve clearances. They […]
The 3.2 Carrera is revered as the ultimate development of the original 911 that first appeared in 1963, before being replaced by the more complicated 964 series. These final cars were the most flexible and usable of Butzi Porsche’s original design. The all-alloy flat-6 engine, which had been fuel injected […]
In 1962, Henry Ford II, keen to add some racing luster to his company, started negotiations to buy Ferrari. The deal never happened, so Ford decided to build his own race-bred car. That car was the incomparable icon GT40, created in England in 1964 and capable of over 200 mph. […]
Recipe: Take a good 3-liter Red Label Bentley chassis, mix in a good 4½-liter engine, gearbox, and transmission and add a light body with accessories to taste. The result is a motorcar which, while still retaining a good vintage flavor, possesses a performance equaled by few other machines even of […]
The Ferrari 166 Inter was the road version of the 166 MM racing model, and 37 were produced between 1948 and 1950. The “166” referred to the displacement of a single cylinder in cubic centimeters, and twelve cylinders equaled 1,992 cc. The Colombo-designed and Lampredi-developed engines had twin distributors and […]
Scotsman Alexander Govan obtained financial backing from Warren Smith of the National Telegraph Company in 1899 and designed and built his first voiturette using De Dion and MMC engines. A vertical, single-cylinder engine was forward mounted, driving through a 3-speed gearbox with shaft drive to a live rear axle. A […]
ATS, or Automobili Turismo e Sport SpA, was an Italian carmaker and racing team that operated briefly between February 1962 and 1965. The nucleus of the new company was comprised of Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini, who were both involved in the development of the Ferrari GTO and, as refugees […]
Maybe, if you have a valid out-of-state title for a modern kit car and can get an SB 100 “free pass”-but don’t try it with a “Born-Again” post-1967 Mini Legal Files” was recently contacted by an SCM subscriber who thought the current economic climate made this the right time to […]
One of the side effects of the worst economic downturn in many decades has been a weak U.S. dollar. As the dollar has declined over the last 18 months, the asking prices of American-based collector cars suddenly look like bargains, at least when compared to asking prices in Europe. There […]
A look at the photos of the rusty 1953 Lancia Aurelia GT, sold by Bonhams at Olympia, in London, on December 7, 2009, for $26,082, sent a rush of emotions through my head. The first was admiration for the brave soul who would commit to such an ambitious project. Let’s […]
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