Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
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1962 Daimler SP250 Dart Roadster
No less an authority on grace than Sir William Lyons was rumored to have tossed his scones on his first sight of a Dart {vsig}2005-1_1803{/vsig} Daimler of England startled the automotive world in 1959 with the Dart roadster, a swoopy sports car powered by an advanced 2.6-liter, hemi-head V8. With a chassis inspired by Triumph’s…
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1925 Amilcar 4 CGS
These lightweight, small-displacement sports cars provide a true pre-war motoring experience at a fraction of the cost of their more expensive French cousin from Molsheim {vsig}2005-1_1807{/vsig} Of all the small sports-racing cars that proliferated in France after World War One, the Amilcar was the most famous and most successful. Built at St. Denis from 1921…
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Getting Our Kicks
I’m going to blame this one on Ed Welburn, General Motors design chief. The two of us were kicking tires at the RM Amelia Island auction last March, and came across a 1966 Sting Ray coupe. Welburn mentioned that it was nearly exactly what he wanted, a car in driving condition with a small-block.“But it…
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1975-1980 AMC Pacer
“You only ride like a Pacer if you’re wide like a Pacer” If you’re among the many who laugh at AMC Pacers, let us introduce you to “Weird” Harrel Lamkin of Ruston, LA. He drag-raced a 550-hp Pacer from 1987 to 1996, turning 10-second quarter miles at 124 mph. As he said, “I wanted to…
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1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing
In the collector car world, there is no more immediately recognizable sight than a 300SL with its doors open. Introduced in 1954 as a coupe with signature “Gullwing” doors, the legendary 300SL was conceived as a high performance street machine that was really a thinly veiled racing car. It was fast, solid, and handled well,…
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1964 Buick Riviera
GM design chief Bill Mitchell’s “personal luxury” land yacht set sail as a sophisticated merger of Ferrari GT car style with Rolls-Royce luxury {vsig}2004-12_1536{/vsig} Although Buick was primarily a luxury line, in 1963 it issued a sports model, a beautiful coupe called the Riviera. It was America’s answer to the Ferrari GTs, a car for…
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1962 MGB Sebring
The U.S. MG distributors were hoping to put a gleam in the eye of the dentist from Columbus, who might imagine his car out there running with the Ferraris and Porsches {vsig}2004-12_1541{/vsig} Sebring in 1964 was one of the world’s top-tier endurance races, part of the FIA’s Challenge Mondiale and Prototypes Trophy, along with the…
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1984 Alfa Romeo GTV6
With a later 3.0-liter V6 from the high-performance “Verde” Milano, this GTV6 should be a fast, fun and affordable sports car {vsig}2004-12_1542{/vsig} As described by the seller on eBay Motors: A classic Alfa, mechanically sound, with a 5-speed manual transmission and a 3.0-liter V6 from a 1988 Milano (with approximately 90,000 miles). The car runs…
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1959 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder LWB
It lacks reasonable weatherproofing, rusts easily, and has a chassis that is way too flexible, but the California Spyder proves that people will always buy beauty and performance over practicality {vsig}2004-12_1539{/vsig} Convincing Enzo Ferrari to produce an open version of the highly successful competition 250 GT Berlinetta was an effort credited to the famous…
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1955 Triumph TR2 Roadster
Some early TR2s were immediately re-sprayed by their owners, changing effeminate colors like Olive Yellow and Geranium to more traditional ones like British Racing Green The post-war Standard-Triumph company, like most manufacturers of the period, found strong demand for its products. Exports were critical to the survival of the English auto industry and Triumph knew…