Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
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You Can Never Have Too Many Rotors
The SCM E-type has come and gone, but its brief time with us was memorable.White with black leather, it was a 1967 4.2-liter Series I coupe. My co-conspirator in this latest adventure was Dave Stewart, of Aurora, OR, whom I met when he attended an SCM Insider’s Seminar at Barrett-Jackson some years ago. (At that…
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1967-1969 Saab Sonett II
Above 3,000 rpm driving a Sonett II is like hanging onto an out-of-control chainsaw The words “Swedish” and “sports car” seem entirely uncomfortable bedfellows. But back in the 1950s, before Saab and Volvo had acquired the safe-and-sane reputations that still accompany their current American parents, both companies set off to create their version of a…
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2002 Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG
Electronic gadgetry in late-model Mercedes has recently taken its toll-the latest J.D. Power numbers finds Mercedes lagging behind such stalwart marques as Hyundai and Mercury {vsig}2004-10_1445{/vsig} When Mercedes-Benz set out to build the finest sports coupe in the world they came up with the CL500 and its V12-powered sibling, the CL600. Beautifully designed, meticulously constructed,…
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1937 Cord 812 Westchester Street Rod
Purists cry out in despair when custom cars are made from desirable models, but in this case the builder told me he had found four Cord Westchester bodies in a Texas wrecking yard and used “the worst of the four” {vsig}2004-10_1423{/vsig} This all-steel, all-real 1937 Cord Westchester 812 started life as a four-door sedan but…
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1960 Austin-Healey 3000 Sports Works Rally Car
Few race cars have made such a serious strike for female equality-Pat Moss and Ann Wisdom took an overall victory in the most difficult rally of the time in this Healey {vsig}2004-10_1447{/vsig} British Motor Corporation’s Austin-Healey marque introduced the new 3000 model in 1959 as an improved version of the 100-Six, with the well-proven, pushrod…
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1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TI
Although collectible 1960s Alfas are known primarily as sleek spiders and elegant coupes, those in the know will tell you the blandly styled “square-rigged” sedans are the most fun to drive {vsig}2004-10_1414{/vsig} As described by the seller on eBay Motors: This ’65 Alfa Romeo Giulia TI is very original and unmolested. For a 40-year-old car,…
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1952 Ferrari 212 Inter Berlinetta
Once described in a magazine as the world’s most beautiful Ferrari, the 212 was somewhat unfairly known in my neck of the woods as the world’s ugliest {vsig}2004-10_1443{/vsig} Whatever the chosen medium, artists’ earliest works are always among their most desired and sought after. Artist-in-metal Enzo Ferrari is a case in point, all the more…
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1968 Riley Elf Mk III
The Elf was designed to appeal to older “Buick and Oldsmobile” customers, with a miniature vertical grille, leather interior and a strange projecting trunk that pretty much ruined the Mini’s perfectly cute lines A luxury Mini blessed with marginally greater trunk space and an improved interior, the Riley Elf (along with its Wolseley Hornet stablemate)…
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1948 Cisitalia 202 Cabriolet
Cisitalias are one of those odd exceptions to the “top goes down, price goes up” rule, and in this case the coupe is actually the preferred model {vsig}2004-10_1440{/vsig} A talented “gentleman driver” and owner of the sports equipment concern Consorzio Industriale Sportiva Italia-or Cisitalia, as it was known-Piero Dusio recognized that post-war Italy would have…
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Forever Young
Austin-Healey was really a one-trick pony, a company that produced a single design and a few variations on that theme. From the first svelte, unadorned 100-4, with its graunchy three-speed gearbox and fold-down windshield, to the final ornate and luxurious BJ8, all the models we now call Big Healeys shared the same basic look. But…