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You Can Go Home Again
If knowledge is power, SCMers are about to become an even more formidable group of collectors. The information on all 40,000 cars in our database will soon be available to you 24/7, from anywhere in the world, via your handheld devices.Starting at the Scottsdale auctions in January, anyone with a Treo, Blackberry, or similar device…
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1966-67 Oldsmobile Toronado
How can muscle car collectors overlook anything this big? The 1966 Toronado was America’s first front-wheel drive car since the Cord 810, 30 years earlier. It was certainly Oldsmobile’s (and possibly GM’s) last stylistic tour de force. The post-1967 years became increasingly unfriendly to this type of individuality as committees, legislators, and focus groups took…
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1939 BMW 327 Cabriolet
Because this car is a 2+2 and a cabriolet it weighs several hundred pounds more than a 328, and acceleration will be leisurely {vsig}2006-1_1908{/vsig} BMW’s first six-cylinder engine was launched in 1934, and formed the backbone of the company’s racing legacy. A modified version of the new powerplant was developed by Rudolf Schleicher and would…
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1937 Cord 812 SC Convertible Coupe
E. L. Cord was a master salesman who acquired Auburn in 1928 after saving it from bankruptcy by unloading about 700 sedans languishing on the lot. He spiffed up the orphans with bright paint schemes and applied his considerable sales talent to move them. His reward was the company, which he revitalized. In 1929 he…
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1973 Datsun 240Z Race Car
Trailing throttle oversteer resulted in far more of them leaving the track backwards than ever drove off straight {vsig}2006-1_1909{/vsig} When Spike Anderson went trawling for a bottom-feeder race car in England, he started at a fish-and-chip shop.Anderson bought “LAL,” a four-year-old Datsun 240Z from a Greek fish-and-chip shop owner, a Mr. Michael. Stripped, prepared, and…
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2005 Enzo Ferrari
Prospective purchasers were selected based on their importance to the dealer; we assume the Pope was pre-qualified {vsig}2006-1_1907{/vsig} Chassis number: ZFFCZ56B000141920 Ferrari entered the third millennium during an incredible phase of competition. In fact, Formula One has never offered the company such a true laboratory for advanced research. I decided that this car, which embodies…
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2001 Lotus Esprit
An Esprit makes sense based on performance and price, but it falls short on craftsmanship and materials {vsig}2006-1_1905{/vsig} Although the wedge-shaped Lotus Esprit has been around long enough to be something of a 1970s retro car, it has gone through significant changes since it first appeared in 1976. To most people the Esprit conjures up…
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1963 Fiat 750/850 Abarth Berlina
Lack of records makes it very difficult to tell a factory Abarth from one built by Uncle Giorgio’s Garage (Note: In the auction catalog, there was an addendum that declared that this particular car was in fact a Fiat 750 rather than an 850. As its model year was appropriate for an 850, we can…
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Frommer, Zagat, and Me
What makes a car collectible? And what makes one car more desirable than another? We all might agree that a 1967 911S is more desirable that a 1977, but exactly why? At SCM, we have long felt there was a need for an evaluation and rating system for collectible cars that considered more than just…
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1961-1972 Volvo 1800
Enough pipe-smoking, record-keeping professors bought 1800s to assure a decent supply of well-maintained examples In 1961, Volvo was Swedish for “stodgy,” and a sports car from these practical folks in a cold climate seems about as likely as tailfins on a reindeer. But that’s what happened-right down to the fins.Volvo had attempted a sports car…