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  • 1963 Grand Sport Roadster #002

    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…

  • 1963 327/360 Z06 Yenko Coupe “Gulf One”

    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…

  • 1971 350/330 LT-1 Coupe

    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…

  • GM Heritage Fleet: C4 Dreams and C5 Mules

    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…

  • 1998 Callaway C12 Coupe

    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,…

  • Global Economics and Local Tomfoolery

    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…

  • 1945 NSU Kettenkrad

    Considerable care is necessary on steep slopes. The driver is flanked by the tracks and sits ahead of the engine; he’s not likely to escape if the vehicle flips {vsig}2008-12_2262{/vsig} The Kettenkrad was typical of vehicles designed and manufactured for the German Wehrmacht during WWII-innovative, well made, and generally superior to equipment used by their…

  • 1937 Oldsmobile L37 Convertible Sedan

    This is the only Oldsmobile to have been recognized by the Classic Car Club of America as a Full Classic   {vsig}2008-12_2256{/vsig} There was a time when neither Ford nor Chevrolet were America’s leading automobile producers. You have to go back to the dawn of the auto industry, but from 1903 to 1905, Oldsmobile was…

  • 1964 Porsche 904 GTS Coupe

    If you want to do any serious competition, you’ll need a 2-liter, 4-cam four, and that’s a $100,000 project {vsig}2008-12_2265{/vsig} Having axed its expensive Formula One program at the end of 1962, Porsche turned once more to sports car racing as a means of improving and marketing its road cars. The Type 356-based Abarth-Carreras had…

  • Restoration 101

    I’ve seen $2,500 air filters, a $35,000 exhaust, $5,000 plug wires, $10,000 batteries, and $50,000 original tires {vsig}2008-12_2257{/vsig} It’s a common misconception that domestic cars are cheap and easy to restore. Unfortunately, many people have found out too late that this is not true. Let’s face facts: Most restorations are financial suicide. Unless you have…