Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Columns
-
The End of No Reserve
At times, being at the epicenter of a collector car weekend is like sitting in a command bunker. In Scottsdale, SCM’s boots-on-the-ground team included nearly 20 market analysts, staff, and support crew. During the weekend, they fanned out to all the events, notebooks and cameras in hand, and began submitting their reports back to HQ.…
-
1955 Mercedes-Benz 190SL Convertible
The M121 4-cylinder engine produced a modest 105 hp and it desperately needed another 50-even 30 would have done the trick Available from May 1955, the 190SL convertible shared styling cues with its grander brother, the 300SL. It was a sports tourer, robustly built and designed for customers who preferred refinement over performance. Well-designed and…
-
1941 Chrysler Town & Country Barrel Back Estate Wagon
Built for a limited time, the Town & Country remains arguably the rarest, most desirable pre-war Woody produced {vsig}2008-4_2154{/vsig} Conceived in 1939, the Town & Country Estate wagon represented Chrysler’s desire to create an entirely new car that was both luxurious and dramatic. It had to be elegant enough for city driving and chauffeur…
-
1952 Glöckler-Porsche Roadster
I will argue that the Glöckler-Porsches were early flickers, puffs of smoke in the weeds, and the tinder didn’t really catch fire until the 550 came along {vsig}2008-4_2163{/vsig} Walter Glöckler occupies an honored place among Porsche owners. Not only was he one of the first to race a Porsche, he was also one of the…
-
Scottsdale Muscle Still Buffed
I fully expected Scottsdale to result in a dismal showing for muscle car prices. I couldn’t have been more wrong Last year’s Arizona auctions proved that we were indeed due for a well deserved and most predictable “adjustment” in many segments of the muscle car market. As such, 2007 brought us more headlines about the…
-
1963 Ferrari 400 Superamerica
5029 SA is to me the most beautiful Superamerica, a Coupé Aerodynamico with covered headlights {vsig}2008-4_2159{/vsig} The 400 Superamerica was launched in 1959. It featured a Colombo V12 displacing 3,967 cc and also boasted disc brakes, a first for Ferrari’s road cars. Over the course of a five-year “production” run, only 47 cars in two…
-
1929 Bentley 4½-Liter Tourer by Vanden Plas
I’d put this price down to the mystique of an auction and congratulate the owner on courage worthy of a Bentley Boy {vsig}2008-4_2157{/vsig} Walter Owen Bentley’s automotive efforts were directed from the outset toward sporting motor cars, and the initial 4-cylinder, 3-liter models proved lively until burdened with saloon bodies. Bentley’s solution was to double…
-
1959 Fiat Abarth 750 Double Bubble
Values have been rising steadily for the least expensive coachbuilt Italian racing car with a decent history {vsig}2008-4_2158{/vsig} Abarth was an Italian tuning company founded in 1950 by engineer and designer Carlo Abarth. His 750 Zagato was designed to be equally at home on the track as on the street. The cars were built on…
-
When Title Tricks Won’t Wash
California extradited the Titles Unlimited president from Alabama. He was convicted and spent a year in jail Say you hit the proverbial collector car lottery and find a 1957 Porsche Speedster that has been sitting in a barn for 40 years. The only problem is that the farmer lost the title 38 years ago. Like…
-
Crunching Ferrari’s Global Numbers
Decades ago, when negotiating with bankers for our first seven-figure credit line, I was asked, “What is the annual global Ferrari market, in both dollars and cars?” While I’ve long since forgotten the figures for that period, it was an interesting exercise to calculate then, as it is today. We start by breaking Ferrari sales…