The daily drama of selling older Ferraris provides a constant supply of material for this column, as the same set of problems endlessly repeat themselves in slightly varying scenarios. Rather than continually go through the same explanations, it’s often easier simply to tell people, “Stand by, and I’ll email you […]
Columns
Sunbeam Style over Substance
Grace Kelly reached into her picnic basket and asked Cary Grant, innocently enough, “Do you want a leg or a breast?” {vsig}2008-1_2116{/vsig} Before the 1960s Sunbeam Alpine that we all remember as the basis for the Tiger, there was another Alpine, made from 1953 to 1955. For my money, the […]
Decoding Early 911 Values
Contrary to myth, 1965-68 SWB cars are not rare, with 44,943 units made-that’s 40% of production from 1965 to 1973 This chart of 911 data has never been seen before. This is because the Porsche records are a mess, there are several massive typographical errors in the published data, and […]
Morgan Brings a Sword to a Knife Fight
The Plus 8 offers something in the Allard J2 vein, with way too much power for its antediluvian chassis, but with a dash of British style {vsig}2008-1_2113{/vsig} If Scotchman William “Braveheart” Wallace had been alive in the late 20th century, he probably couldn’t have resisted the broadsword of sports cars, […]
1957 283/283 Race Car
Although Chevrolet introduced the Corvette to great acclaim at the 1953 Motorama, few realized it would, in time, become America’s iconic sports car. The sporting transformation didn’t come until 1956, a year after Chief Engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov inserted a 265-ci V8 into the previously sluggish 6-cylinder-powered fiberglass two-seater. For […]
1963 327/360 4-Speed “Fuelie” Convertible
The 1963 Corvette was a dramatic, exciting breakthrough in American automobile design, engineering and specifications. Its four-wheel independent suspension was as good as any European exotic, and it should have ruled the road courses of the time—and would have, except for Carroll Shelby’s Cobra. But the Cobra was gone in […]
1968 L88 Coupe
The L88 Corvette burst onto the scene with victories at Daytona and Sebring in 1966 and continued at the Le Mans Trials in April 1967, where, in near-stock trim, an L88 clocked 171.5 mph on the Mulsanne Straight. That same car led the GT class in the 1967 24 […]
1990 ZR-1 Coupe
The Corvette is an American icon. It is the only true American sports car that has lasted from the ’50s when the sports car market emigrated from Europe to this country, and numerous manufacturers on this side of the pond dabbled in making fun two-seaters. The styling of Corvettes […]
When Salvaged C5s Go Slumming
Call me an auction junkie, but on one of the few Saturdays that I wasn’t covering a collector car sale, I went to Princeton, Minnesota, for a truck and heavy equipment auction. Along with trucks, tractors, front-end loaders, construction equipment, and other hardcore guy stuff, Wayne Pike Auction Company also […]
1986–96 Chevrolet Corvette C4 Convertible
Nineteen eighty-three was the model year without a Corvette. The C4, which debuted as a 1984 model, was the first all-new Corvette since 1963, and like the first-year C3 in 1968, there were problems aplenty. The digital dash was failure-prone, the ride was punishing, and the carried-over-from 1982 twin throttle-body […]