Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
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1954 Lancia Aurelia B20 Series 4
This rare Nardi converted and meticulously restored Lancia Aurelia B20GT Series IV was imported into the Netherlands from Nice (France) approximately 20 years ago. Its last known owner in France was Mr. Jean Pierre Cornu, who acquired the car in the early 1970s. The present owner, a well known collector of thoroughbred Italian sports and…
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Who Gets the Car – or Boat?
Holding onto the certificate of title until you get paid is no legal protection. Once the buyer pays the broker, that certificate of title is worthless The Oregon Court of Appeals recently decided a case of interest to car collectors. The case involved a 29-foot Sea Ray boat, but the legal principles apply equally to…
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Ann Landers on Ferraris
Thanks to well over 17 years of monthly columns for Sports Car Market, I’ve slowly become the Ann Landers or “Dear Abby” of the Ferrari world, and with an average of 200 emails a day, there is never a lack of questions. This month’s “reply” started with the following email, “I’m a first-time Ferrari buyer.…
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1950-1967 Volkswagen Microbus
During the 1950s, the people charged with the task of selling imported cars were often more in tune with what the market wanted than the manufacturers. Witness the string of successes that U.S.-based BMW and Porsche importer Max Hoffman had with the Porsche Speedster, BMW 2002 and Bavaria. In the case of the VW Microbus,…
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Happy Days are Here Again
On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11. A direct consequence of that was the collapse of the collector car market. For instance, Daytonas, the poster children of the Ferrari market, fell almost overnight from their August 2008 heights in Monterey of $350k, to a more earthly $225k. Alfa TZ-1s stopped changing hands…
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1956 Mercedes-Benz 300c Station Wagon by Binz
In 1956, Mrs. Caroline Foulke enjoyed a tri-city life with homes in Paris, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida, and that year, she walked into the New York City Mercedes-Benz dealership with a most unusual request-a new station wagon. While this is a commonplace order today, no such car was available in the Mercedes-Benz lineup…
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1999 Shelby Series 1 Roadster Prototype
The Shelby Series 1 was a high-performance roadster manufactured by Shelby American from 1996 to 2002. Only 249 Shelby Series 1s were built, and this was the first running car, as well as the “pre-production” #1 Series 1, which was featured on the cover of Motor Trend. With a carbon fiber body, sophisticated chassis, and…
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1979 Williams FW07 Formula One
Williams F1, one of the world’s leading Formula One motor racing teams, was founded in 1977 by Frank Williams and Patrick Head. One of the few independent F1 teams, it has won 16 FIA F1 World Championships and seven Driver’s Championships. The FW07 was a groundbreaking car regarded by many as the most innovative of…
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1965 Ferrari 500 Superfast Coupe
At the 1964 Geneva Auto Salon, Ferrari debuted the latest evolution of its traditional, top-of-the-range grand touring car-the 500 Superfast. The Superfast was designed to criss-cross continents with great speed, comfort, and style-a deluxe GT with the soul and character of the firm’s racing cars. The Pininfarina design was an enhancement of the earlier 400…
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1961 Lotus Elite Series II Coupe
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. The Elite was, nevertheless, conceived with competition in mind, as Chapman had his sights set on class wins at Le Mans and the…