Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Columns
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1963 Aston Martin DB4GT
It was the last standard-bodied DB4GT produced-cool beans. The first or last always generates more buzz and is a nice fact for collectors Introduced in September 1959 as a higher-performance version of the DB4, the DB4GT took the already-powerful (240 hp) DB4 engine, added twin ignition from two distributors/coils and twelve small (10 mm) spark…
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1972 Lancia Stratos H.F.
It’s one of the most successful rally cars ever built, wicked and unforgiving to drive, a spaceship for the road Lancia was struggling when Sandro Fiorio, the company’s director of public relations, and his son Cesare, head of Lancia’s rally team, spied the Fulvia-based “Stratos” concept on the Bertone stand at the 1970 Turin Motor…
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When AMC Got the Point
Mechanically, the Javelin is closer to a catapult than a javelin-heavy duty and pretty much unbreakable Some people claim that AMC invented the muscle car with the Rambler Rebel of 1957. Even if we give them that, they certainly came late to the pony car craze of the mid-1960s. Plymouth and Ford were first with…
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1958 Isetta 600-BMW’s “Eggsecutive” Limo
Germans in the 1950s weren’t concerned with having “the ultimate driving machine,” they were just happy not to be walking or pedaling. With a limited market for cars like the spectacular and expensive 507 roadster, BMW needed a volume model to survive. They understood the needs of the post-war European market and decided the best…
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1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake
While a top speed test was not performed, the Road & Track crew estimated 182 mph was possible Originally built as the “Cobra to end all Cobras,” CSX 3015 represents the high water mark in the horsepower race of the ’60s. Carroll Shelby built it for no other reason than to see how fast it…
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1961 Porsche RS 61 Sports Racing Spyder
The factory figured on 120 man-hours to create one of these engines. Setting the cam timing took between eight and 15 hours. Porsche’s giant-killer Spyder series of four-cylinder, four-cam sports racing cars ruled small bore international racing for a full decade, beginning in the early 1950s. Since a powerful multi-cylinder engine was not available, Porsche’s…
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1969 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Spyder Conversion
People who buy a “cut” Daytona don’t plan to show it; most shows won’t allow it on the field. The appeal is that it can be driven Ferrari’s fabulous V12 front-engined sports car, the 365 GTB/4, debuted at the Paris Salon in 1968, soon gaining the unofficial name “Daytona” in honor of the 1-2-3 finish…
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1958 Austin-Healey “Bugeye” Sprite
In careful hands a Sprite could return 40 mpg-but not many did. Healthy survivors are scarce The meticulous restoration of the 1958 “Bugeye” Sprite offered here has been the subject of newspaper and magazine articles in the U.S. and the U.K. “Here’s a new twist to a timeless tale. A group of high school students…
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1936 Delahaye Type 135 Special
Delahaye had an enviable competition record, though most successes came either when the Germans didn’t show up or when they broke Emile Delahaye built his first automobile in 1895 and in 1896 drove one of his cars to sixth place in the Paris-Marseilles-Paris race. Sporting ambition lurked in the background as his truck business was…
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Fiat’s Coupe de Grace
If your build is more simian than hominid, you’ll enjoy the angled wheel and long arms/short legs driving position One of the most engaging things about being an automotive bottom-feeder is figuring out where to target one’s attention when the object of first choice has appreciated beyond one’s immediate grasp. Previously in this column, I…