Columns
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1952 Jaguar C-type Roadster
Jaguar’s chief engineer William Heynes said that until he went to the 1950 Le Mans race, he had “never seriously contemplated designing a car for racing.” Then he watched Leslie Johnson push his more or less standard XK 120 as high as 3rd until the clutch failed. William Lyons watched the race with Heynes, and…
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1938 Bugatti Type 57C Special Coupe
With so many spectacular Bugattis, it takes a special car to stand out. It’s safe to say that this one-of-a-kind Type 57C Special coupe is one of the most intriguing Bugattis ever constructed. In June 1938, this car was built at the Bugatti factory in Molsheim. The frame, no. 278, was equipped with a blown…
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The Long-Distance Purchase and the Lawsuit
The court ruled the buyer had opportunities to inspect the car before buying it and to call the seller to ask about the car, and chose to do neither Suppose you have a not-so-nice collector car you want to sell for big bucks. Your best shot might be to list it on eBay or some…
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Defining the Pre-Purchase Inspection
Last month’s column detailed a threatened $182,000 lawsuit against a Ferrari shop because of decades-old damage to a 37-year-old car, which was discovered but not mentioned to the would-be buyer during a $300 pre-purchase inspection. The many lawyers I spoke with all declared that any claim against the shop would focus on whether there was…
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When X1/9 Marked the Spot
By the early 1970s, some were predicting the demise of the inexpensive sports car. Modern small sedans like the Audi Fox and VW Rabbit were threatening to render sports cars redundant. It didn’t help that the standard-bearers for the under-$4,000 sports car class were the MG Midget and Triumph Spitfire. Both were ancient in comparison…
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Assisted Suicide, Clunker Style
Over the next few months, nearly 750,000 clunkers are going to be scrapped. Not dismantled, mind you, but smashed and melted into their base, formative materials. Whether or not this is good government policy we’ll leave to our friends at The Economist. And others can debate the relative environmental effects; for instance, some claim the…
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1961 Messerschmitt KR 200 Microcar
The plastic dome permits excellent visibility, but hot, sunny weather turns it into a sauna The roots of the Messerschmitt “Kabinenroller” (cab scooter) go back to post-WWII when Fritz Fend designed a car that wheelchair-bound vets returning from WWII could drive. Two major features made the design work for disabled people: The canopy swung open…
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1936 Lincoln Model K “Howard Hughes” Boattail Speedster
This Lincoln Model K speedster started out as Howard Hughes’s personal 1936 Lincoln K model V12 Limousine, until he converted the car into his idea of a Boattail Speedster. It was originally shipped to Long Beach, California, in January of 1936 and apparently special ordered with only one foot rest in the rear. Other documents…
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1922 Sunbeam 2-Liter Grand Prix
An 87-year-old car is like an older person; you certainly don’t expect them to run and jump with the young folks, but they can be fascinating to be around {vsig}2009-10_2376{/vsig} For 1922 and the following three seasons, the Automobile Club of France elected to limit engine capacity to two liters for cars competing in Grand…
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1990 Ferrari 348 tb
The 348 has good performance, is fun to drive, comfortable, and has eye-catching styling. The service issues have proven to be more myth than reality The Ferrari 348 had the unenviable task of following up Maranello’s best-selling 308/328 duo. A truly innovative design, it was the first Ferrari to be based on a robot-welded monocoque.…