Columns
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Who Pays When a Mechanic Crashes your Car?
It’s not a good day when your mechanic calls and says, “Uh, I’m not sure how to say this, but I had a little accident with your car.” It’s even worse when your car is a 2006 Ford GT Heritage that had been modified to a “Twin Turbo.” (On the Internet, some claim the value…
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When is a Bentley Speed Six Not a Speed Six?
The High Court in London has recently given judgment in the case of Brewer vs. Stanley Mann, Fortis Lease UK Limited and Stanley Mann Racing Limited. The judgment emphasizes the importance of accuracy when giving sale descriptions of collector cars. The judge’s finding, heavily in favor of the private buyer and against the seller, raises…
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James Bond’s Car of the 1970s
Some companies can lock one label into the consumer’s mind. This is especially true in the auto industry. Volvos are safe, Subarus are sensible, Saabs are odd and Lotuses are lightweights. Lotus mastermind Colin Chapman’s philosophy seemed to consist of omitting, thinning and paring—until the car collapsed on itself—and then put back the last thing…
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1963 Porsche Diesel Standard Model 217 Tractor
Granted, rallies and track days are pretty much out of the question, but you can still have a field day with a Porsche-Diesel—literally Dr. Ferdinand Porsche’s wide-ranging interests in all things mechanical—and practical—led him to include designs for farm tractors in his project portfolio beginning in the 1930s. As with all things from Dr. Porsche’s…
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1955 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible
Seemingly every salvageable one was dragged out of fields, barns, and garages and restored, which made supply exceed demand This example is one of the best 1955 Bel Airs extant. This 1955 factory convertible just saw completion of a body-off, no-expense-spared three-year restoration of a 100% numbers-matching car with one mile since. Every part on…
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1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza
I know a number of extremely knowledgeable individuals who simply state that if they could own only one collector car, it would be an 8C 2300 In the early 1930s, Italian road racing, and motor sport in general, relied on various tiers of competitors to fill the grids: factory entries, successful privateers, loosely organized regional…
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1951 Ferrari 340 America Spyder
SCM’s Thor Thorson once reported that one 340 owner refused to take his car on a vintage rally, as driving it was just too awful Some of the most fascinating Ferrari automobiles originate from the earliest years of the company, a time when Enzo Ferrari was still in the process of developing a recognizable identity…
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1962 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk II Rally Car
The last surviving 1962 team car has rally provenance in abundance, but it doesn’t have an original chassis The Big Healey’s first major success was in 1960, when Pat Moss and Ann Wisdom made history by winning the grueling Liège-Rome-Liège (Marathon de la Route) event outright. It was the first occasion that a woman had…
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1970 Maserati Ghibli Coupe
The styling of the Daytona, while certainly attractive, has not achieved the timeless elegance of the Ghibli A strong contender for the “Most Handsome Car of the 1960s” title, Maserati’s Ghibli debuted at the Turin Motor Show in November of 1966. Styled at Ghia by Giorgetto Giugiaro, the Ghibli rivaled the Ferrari Daytona for straight-line…
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Yelberton and the Duesenberg
When I was growing up in San Francisco, my grandparents and I watched the ’49ers play in Kezar Stadium. Or, more correctly, we drove to our weekend farm in nearby Novato, which was just outside the 30-mile blackout range of the broadcasts, to watch the games on television. I remember the sometimes-heated discussions that occurred…