Affordable Classics
-
Did You See That ’58 Aston Martin DB Mark III?
Is there such a thing as an affordable classic or a good deal during Monterey auction week? Watching collectors and enthusiasts flock to the numerous auctions searching for a special, once-in-a-lifetime deal is like watching a professional goat rodeo. If you are a chaos junkie, this is for you, but making sense of this madness…
-
Doing the 105 Series Alfa Axle Hop
The 105 Series Alfa Romeos are the cars most non-Alfisti think of when you say “Alfa.” And that’s not surprising, as all of them — coupe (GTV), convertible (Spider) or sedan (Berlina) — offer a level of mechanical sophistication, build quality and pure driving fun which is hard to beat in their price ranges. In…
-
Is the TR8 Lemon Due for Some Sugar?
The last volume-produced traditional British roadster was the Triumph TR6. Even in 1969 when it was introduced, it was obsolete. Magazines such as Road & Track clamored for better, newer sports cars with modern engines, chassis and unibody construction—cars that would finally dispense with antiquated features like lever-action shocks and feeble heaters. In early 1975,…
-
A Truck Stuck in the 1946 Wayback Machine
By 1940, military planners all but knew that the United States was eventually going to end up embroiled in World War II. Specifications were drawn up for military-specific truck configurations, and Dodge was at the forefront. Contracts were let initially for a series of half-ton trucks based on the new-for-1940 Dodge civilian trucks with several…
-
The Angry Catfish May be a Keeper
Daimler of the U.K. (no relation to Daimler-Benz) was mainly a purveyor of ultra-stodgy sedans, hearses and limousines to British nobility and the royal family. They were as unlikely an entrant into the sports car market as Kaiser and Nash had been a few years early with the Kaiser-Darrin and the Nash-Healey. Nevertheless, the moribund…
-
The Safety Car that Didn’t Sell
By 1973, things looked very bad indeed for the types of cars that most of us care about. Fuel shortages, insurance rates, nutty safety and bumper regulations—plus a hearty helping of general gloom and malaise—all but killed performance cars. Subaru importer Malcolm Bricklin thought he could exploit a niche for a sports car that nearly…
-
A Well-Sorted MGB is a Great Start to Collecting
Much like Morgan fans remain to this day, the MG faithful of the 1950s were committed masochists. Fans of the T-Series cars were positively aghast when the envelope-bodied MGA replaced the TF. When the inevitable wheel of progress hit Abingdon-on-Thames once again in 1962, the faithful were horrified to find that the new MGB came…
-
A Fiat or a Ferrari?
The foibles of “production” car racing and homologation rules have given rise to some rather interesting machinery over the years. Nutty Plymouth Superbirds and road-going Ford GT40s are at one end of the spectrum, and Ferrari’s first V6 engine is at the other. Alfredo “Dino” Ferrari envisioned the V6 as an ideal Formula 2 engine…
-
James Bond’s Car of the 1970s
Some companies can lock one label into the consumer’s mind. This is especially true in the auto industry. Volvos are safe, Subarus are sensible, Saabs are odd and Lotuses are lightweights. Lotus mastermind Colin Chapman’s philosophy seemed to consist of omitting, thinning and paring—until the car collapsed on itself—and then put back the last thing…
-
Monterey’s $2.3m Bargain
These cars, which are at home on the road or track, are very affordable in relation to Ferrari racers from the same era Normally my life revolves around cars that “ran when parked.” Volvo 122s with hardly any rust, Fiat 850 Spiders that are mostly complete, and even BMW 2002s that have potential to be…