Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Columns
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The Allure of the Automobile
Portland, Oregon is a quaint town. Bicyclists swarm in their own lanes, groups of runners go clomping by like gazelles or hippos—depending on their body mass—and there always seem to be a few happy people in line at the medicinal marijuana dispensaries. Given its tree-hugging reputation, it comes as a surprise to some that the…
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Sea Change in Scottsdale
By now the Scottsdale numbers are familiar: $160m in total sales, very close to the record $167m set in 2007. 2,221 cars sold. Attendance up at every event, and strong individual prices across the board. But the biggest news to come from Scottsdale could be found in a press release issued on February 14, 2011—23…
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Ferraris and Bidding Wars in the Desert
If several well-heeled buyers want the same car on the same day, a very high price can be the result For classic car lovers escaping the winter snows, it doesn’t get any better than this year’s Scottsdale auctions, with collectors spending $159.6m to buy about 2,300 cars. As always, Barrett-Jackson was the big player with…
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1964 Porsche 904 Carrera
This was the last Porsche racer you could collect at the factory and drive home This Porsche, 904017, was one of 31 examples destined for American shores. Originally finished in silver with a blue velour interior, the 904 was sold to local Porsche dealer and successful racer Don Wester of Monterey, CA. It was fitted…
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Plan Ahead Before Bidding
You may avoid paying sales tax if you ship the car by common carrier to a non-sales-tax state “Legal Files” had a great time at the Scottsdale, AZ, kick-start to the 2011 auction season. Auctions are a popular place to buy your collector car. But to ensure that you are as happy when you get…
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1949 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta
The car had been undergoing Classiche certification, but the process was not complete at the time of the auction The Ferrari 166 MM is the definitive 1950s sports car configuration, with its smooth envelope body, long flowing hood and short tail. Named for the Mille Miglia race, it was created by Carrozzeria Touring in Milan,…
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1953 Fiat 8V Ghia Supersonic
This car is a stunning styling statement, a jet-age objet d’art very much of its time that has also proven timeless One of Ghia’s most famous designs, the Supersonic was not merely a brilliant fashion statement; it was, in many ways, the result of economic necessity. The two-seat sports car featured stylized, streamlined forms, subtle…
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1967 Jaguar E-type Series 1 Roadster Race Car
This month’s column is a tale with both tragic and cautionary threads for those who play in the vintage racing car hobby This Series 1 E-type roadster was purchased from its second owner in 2005 after being discovered in a garage where it had remained since the mid-1980s. The car was immediately sent to the…
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1968 Mercury Cougar GT-E 427 Coupe
This rare cat—the last Ford car equipped with the 427-ci engine—brought enough money to shake a few more of its kind onto the market Coming off winning Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award in 1967 with the Cougar, Mercury designers wanted to create something in 1968 that would set the automotive world on its…
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A Well-Sorted MGB is a Great Start to Collecting
Much like Morgan fans remain to this day, the MG faithful of the 1950s were committed masochists. Fans of the T-Series cars were positively aghast when the envelope-bodied MGA replaced the TF. When the inevitable wheel of progress hit Abingdon-on-Thames once again in 1962, the faithful were horrified to find that the new MGB came…