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2016 Ferrari LaFerrari
Perhaps more than any other automaker, Ferrari has a tradition of building limited-production supercars that push the envelope of performance and design, while enriching the manufacturer’s cachet. From the competition-intended 288 GTO of the mid-1980s through the 40th anniversary F40 model, the F50 and the Enzo, these cars have served heritage commemorative purposes while reinforcing…
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1968 Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA 1300 Junior
At the beginning of the 1960s, Alfa Romeo was enjoying a return to success in motorsport. Having retired from competition in the preceding decade to focus on industrial production, the famous marque from Milan reignited its competitive streak with victories for the Giulia Sprint GTA and 1750 GTAm in the European Touring Car Championship, reserved…
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2017 Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato
Aston Martin and Zagato have enjoyed a long but fitful association. They first collaborated in 1960, when the British carmaker asked the Italian coachbuilder to reinvent its DB4GT competition model for the following season. Despite its success, but no doubt on account of the small number of cars built, it would be another 25 years…
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1912 Kissel Kar Model D-11 Semi-Racer
One of several businesses created in the early 1900s under the ownership of the entrepreneurial Kissel family of Hartford, WI, was the Kissel Motor Car Company. The first Kissel Kar was manufactured in 1905, a 4-cylinder runabout with shaft drive. The earliest cars were bodied by a sleigh manufacturer and were powered by Beaver engines,…
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Pomp and Circumstance
If all goes as expected, I will be a full-time student at Portland State University next quarter. I will need to complete 45 credits, or about one year, to be awarded a degree. My plan is to enter the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. According to the PSU website, it is the nation’s…
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Is It Time to Sell?
As most SCMers know, the collector-car market is way up, we are likely in a transition period for taxes, and we are getting older. All things end. Is it becoming the time to consider how we phase out of car collecting? Let’s consider the various forces that may or may not be affecting that decision.…
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Fake It Till You Make It
I am obsessed with the Mille Miglia, so when I was pondering my next collector car, I set my sights on a ’50s-era Italian sports car. Immediately, I ran into a chicane: The top-tier cars were far north of my $150,000 budget. My search downshifted and I began chasing a few Stanguellinis, Bandinis and other…
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Stung by a Scorpion
With regard to cars, I’m a sucker for two things: Italian sports cars and a perceived good deal. I scraped my knuckles on Fiat X1/9s, 124s and 850s. I’ve owned not one, but two Alfa Romeo Milanos. As a friend likes to joke, I provide food and shelter to the most needy, unloved, misunderstood and…
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2008 Oreca Dodge Viper GT3
Originally built in 2008, this Viper GT3 was initially raced in the British GT by Aaron Scott and Craig Wilkins. It was subsequently repurposed for the 2011–14 Dutch Supercar series and appeared in the U.K. again in 2018 to contest the GT Cup in the hands of David Krayem and Speedtec Motorsport. Under the bonnet…
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1994 Bugatti EB110 Super Sport
Forty years after Ettore Bugatti’s death in 1947, the once-legendary but moribund marque, one of the most renowned in automotive history, was acquired by ambitious Italian businessman Romano Artioli. His aim was nothing less than a resurrection of Bugatti in the form of a state-of-the-art supercar. Artioli chose Modena, home to Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati,…