Columns
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Leno and a Duesie of a Lawsuit
State laws commonly give powerful protection to mechanics who work on cars and garage keepers who store them, recognizing that they often need special powers to help them get paid. Typically, these laws entitle them to retain possession of the car until they have been paid in full. If not paid after a specified minimum…
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60 Years and Three Ages of Ferrari
Over the last 60 years, Ferraris have evolved through three distinctive eras: the Enzo Ferrari era, the mass-market Fiat years, and the present high-volume exotics from Luca di Montezemolo. The Enzo era began modestly enough in 1947 with a pair of 125 Barchettas, s/ns 01C and 02C. Powered by a diminutive 1,497-cc V12, putting out…
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When Buick Went South
In GS form, with two four-barrel Carter carburetors, the Riviera put out a mighty 360 hp and generated an equally hefty 475 ft-lb of torque Legend has it that the 1963 Riviera (originally supposed to be a revival of the LaSalle marque) was the result of a trip that Bill Mitchell took to Europe in…
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1962 Resto-Mod
This 1962 Corvette resto-mod is powered by a 5.4-liter, 300-hp, chromed-out small-block crate engine with two four-barrel Edelbrock carbs mated to a standard four-speed transmission and nine-inch Ford differential, and is cooled by a Be Cool aluminum radiator and fans. The car features a modified Art Morrison chassis No. 2 with Corvette C4 front suspension,…
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1963 Grand Sport Roadster #002
The culmination of the Corvette’s early development came in 1963 with the five Grand Sports. These were emblematic of the Corvette’s potential and fired public imagination that a production-based sports car could hold its own with European marques at Le Mans, Daytona, the Targa Florio, Sebring, and Monza. The first hint of ambitions came with…
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1963 327/360 Z06 Yenko Coupe “Gulf One”
When the new Corvette Sting Ray was introduced in late 1962, the Corvette was almost a perennial national champion in SCCA racing, but Corvette Chief Engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov took the game to a new level by slipping an obscurely labeled Regular Production Option (RPO) into the Corvette option list—Z06. Equipment included large heavy-duty drum brakes…
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1971 350/330 LT-1 Coupe
The C3 Corvette LT-1 has become synonymous with the idea of a high-output small-block V8, and it carried the added bonus of an almost perfect 50/50 weight distribution. First appearing in 1970, the LT-1 offered 370-horsepower and 380 ft-lb of torque in a solid-lifter 350-ci small-block, along with an 11:1 compression ratio and a 0–100…
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GM Heritage Fleet: C4 Dreams and C5 Mules
General Motors captured the spotlight at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction from January 11–18, 2009, when it released 252 cars from its Heritage Fleet for no-reserve sale. (The Heritage Fleet must be differentiated from GM’s Heritage Collection; the former are surplus or less important cars, the latter are the milestone cars that represent GM’s 100 years…
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1998 Callaway C12 Coupe
Callaway has built a firm reputation for producing some of the most sophisticated and advanced Corvette-based automobiles ever to hit the road. Callaway’s C12, introduced in 1998, continued this legacy. Designed, developed, and constructed with the assistance of German engineering and development company IVM, the C12 was created from the outset to be a bespoke,…
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Global Economics and Local Tomfoolery
The headlines have been relentless. “Dow plunges another 600 points.” “Consumer confidence slips again.” “Banks in every country facing liquidation.” Those of us who have been around the collector car market for a while can’t help but think of the crash of 1987, which started the flow of funds into the collector car market. The…