Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
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The Case of the “Contraband” Corvette
Richard Martinez always wanted a Corvette, and he finally found one he liked. The car was a 1959, finished in Roman Red with an Ermine White cove, with a red vinyl interior and a hard top, an older restoration that was wearing well. The car was for sale at Jabaay Motors in Indiana, where Martinez…
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Secrets of Online Auction Sellers
“Buying and selling online has fundamentally changed the dynamics of the collector-car market. Presentation plays an essential role in this. Comprehensive photo galleries, videos that range from simple to truly inspirational, and the ease of being able to provide more photos and footage moments after a commenter’s request give buyers all the confidence necessary to…
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Hot Hatch Fever
It takes some guts to walk away from everything that made your car company great, but that’s what Volkswagen did in the early 1970s. The 1974 Rabbit (or Golf, depending on your continent) was the replacement for the antiquated air-cooled Beetle. The all-new A1 platform was a complete departure for Wolfsburg, abandoning everything about the…
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1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 RSR IROC
In 1973, Roger Penske created a racing series called the International Race of Champions, or IROC. Equally ambitious and unique in concept, the IROC series aimed to place the world’s best racing drivers in identical cars to compete against each other over several rounds at leading U.S. venues. To compete in his special racing series,…
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2020 McLaren Speedtail
Drawing on the spirit of the F1, and incorporating everything the Woking, England-based automaker has learned in the intervening decades, the 2020 McLaren Speedtail once again pushes the automotive envelope. Limited to just 106 units, the same as its predecessor the F1, the futuristic Speedtail is an exclusive offering on the cutting edge of 21st-century…
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1955 Porsche Type 550 RS 1500 Spyder
Offered directly from 50 years of devoted custodianship by a renowned Porsche collector and enthusiast, this 550 Spyder, chassis no. 5500036, benefits from an exciting period racing career at major European outings, and fastidiously well-documented history and provenance. According to copies of the original factory build sheet and letters between Porsche in Stuttgart and the…
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1976 Ferrari 308 GTB “Vetroresina”
Ferrari historian Marcel Massini notes that as few as 712 fiberglass-bodied 308 GTBs were produced. Just 100 examples were sent to North America. These early fiberglass cars were nearly 330 pounds lighter than the steel-bodied 308s that followed, allowing drivers to take full advantage of the model’s transverse mid-mounted 2.9-liter V8 for optimal handling. This…
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1937 Talbot-Lago T150C SS Teardrop Coupe
The Talbot-Lago T150C SS presented here, chassis 90107, is widely regarded as the most beautiful and unique of the Figoni-bodied Teardrops. Of the precious few Figoni et Falaschi Teardrops built, 90107 is the only original-bodied example of the definitive Modéle New York design with fully enveloping front fenders. A prizewinner at the 1938 Concours d’Elegance…
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1954 Jaguar XK 120 SE Coupé
Arguably the most famous of all the rebodied Jaguar XK 120s, this solitary example by Carrozzeria Pinin Farina was dispatched new as a standard SE roadster to Max Hoffman (Jaguar’s U.S. East Coast distributor) in New York in May 1954. The accompanying Jaguar Heritage Trust certificate reveals that the car left the Browns Lane factory…
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1951 “Hirohata” Mercury Custom Coupe
Uniquely American in many ways, the custom-car craze truly found its calling in the late 1940s, blossoming throughout popular culture in the following decade. For many owners, the restyled early post-war Mercury coupes have been the way to go for these changes, and the 1949–51 cars quickly became an open canvas for custom “lead sled”…