Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Columns
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1963 Pontiac Super Duty LeMans Coupe
Imagine if an unknown Van Gogh was discovered on eBay. In the musclecar community, the discovery of this Super Duty is no less stunning {vsig}2009-3_2280{/vsig} By the late 1950s, the horsepower race was on, and stock-bodied racing was the perfect place for Detroit to display its latest engineering feats. Pontiac was the car to beat,…
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1955 Ferrari 121 LM Spyder Corsa
Though beautiful, the 6-cylinder, 121 LMs were overpowered, under-braked, evil-handling, notoriously unreliable, and historically unsuccessful {vsig}2009-3_2302{/vsig} This magnificent sports prototype Ferrari was the fifth and last of the select batch of 6-cylinder big-engined projectiles that provided the absolute spearhead of the factory Ferrari’s endurance racing campaign for 1955. These gorgeously aggressive and exquisitely proportioned cars…
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1998 Ferrari F355 Challenge
Preparation and support of the cars was to be done by local Ferrari dealers, but drivers soon discovered that all dealers were not equal {vsig}2009-3_2300{/vsig} The 1998 Ferrari F355 Challenge described here has been in the same ownership in Spain since new. It was last campaigned during the 1998-99 season, when it competed in the…
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1976 Lotus Esprit S1
Even if the “real”-or “other,” if you prefer-Lotus appeared in most of the action shots, we can fairly say this car has Bond film provenance {vsig}2009-3_2298{/vsig} The Lotus Esprit was unveiled as the Silver Car concept at the Turin Motor Show in November 1972. Based on a Europa twin-cam chassis, it was developed into the…
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1977 Maserati Merak SS
The Merak gives an air of confidence and power, which is quintessentially Italian. But if you like the looks, why not get the power and buy a Bora instead? {vsig}2009-3_2299{/vsig} In the world of auto design, the Italians are the acknowledged masters, and Giorgetto Giugiaro will always be at the top of the list. In…
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How to Avoid Sales Tax-Legally
Five states do not levy sales taxes-Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. Oregon is the winner here Ever feel like you’re being taxed to death? Everyone feels that way on April 15, but another way to feel the pinch is to buy a collector car and stop by your local DMV to get it…
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How Many Ferraris?
In my two previous columns, I divided Ferraris into the Enzo-era cars (1947-73), the Fiat-era cars (1973-91), and the Montezemolo-era cars (1991-present), and I outlined how each generation fared differently in the current economy. But I didn’t go into how many Ferraris exist and where they are, which elicited a request from Chris Current, Chief…
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THE One in a 100
The Austin-Healey 100S is undoubtedly the most prized model of the marque, with prices far exceeding any other model. While Healey prices have risen significantly in the past few years, the 100S remains clearly in the lead. The 100S was the result of a project undertaken by the Donald Healey Motor Company with financing from…
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The Last Real Jaguar Sedan
The DOHC six was proven technology, and even the collection of boobs and Marxists assembling cars for British Leyland in the 1970s couldn’t screw it up In the opinion of many, the Series I E-type of 1961-67 was the high-water mark for Jaguar. Thereafter, the company irretrievably jumped the shark in 1968 with the Series…
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“As on a Darkling Plain.”
If ever we needed a respite from being pummeled by bad news, it is now. Scarcely a day goes by without a headline about an investment firm failing, a newspaper declaring bankruptcy, or a car company down to its last few billion dollars. The Dow continues to swing unpredictably like the needle of a magnet…