Shifting Gears
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People, Places and Things
Forty years ago, when I lived in a gritty section of New York City near Canal Street and Avenue of the Americas, I was happy when the cockroaches didn’t dance on my toothbrush at night. My space was so small that the refrigerator doubled as the headboard of my bed. I couldn’t have imagined that…
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Something Lost, Something Gained
My 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider Veloce, s/n 390290, left the factory in Arese, Italy, on January 28, 1965. It was one of 1,096 Giulia Veloces built. It was painted the unusual and highly attractive color of Grigio Mare, with a lipstick red/orange interior. It was just a nice used car when I bought it…
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From Wide-Eyed to Bugeye
Being a part of the collector car world offers a multitude of experiences, from the grand to the familiar. During the past month, I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of the absolute high end of the collector car world, which included watching the car-as-art Maserati Boomerang sell as a part of the Chantilly…
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New Players on the Peninsula
A new set of players ran onto the Monterey Peninsula this August. They were young, cocky, and didn’t give a rip about what we baby boomers thought they should buy or what they should spend. These guys in their 30s and their 40s reminded me of confident baseball players during their first season in the…
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If I Were King of a Concours
One of the magnificent spectacles in the collector car world occurs as the morning mists lift off a concours field. Dozens of rare and important machines that trace the history of the automobile are revealed. From diminutive Hupmobile roadsters to imposing Cadillac phaetons, our love affair with cars is on display. But like all aspects…
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A Supercar for the Ages
During the 900 miles I drove a McLaren 650S Spider, my heart only stopped twice. Once was at a gas station at Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde near the Oregon coast. When you come to a halt in the McLaren, it takes the transmission a couple of seconds to realize you really are stopped,…
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Modena Cento Ore 2015
It was 6 p.m., and we were driving towards Perugia, the capital city of Umbria, in central Italy. It was 100 degrees, and we were in the thick of rush-hour traffic. Our day had started in Rome, and we had completed four laps at the Vallelunga track as well as three timed hillclimbs on closed…
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Bad Driving Is Here to Stay
Cars are safer than ever. The fatality rate per million miles traveled in 2013, the most recent year for which data are available, was 1.1 — a nearly 25% decline since 2004, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Not only do cars handle and brake better than ever before, they are also loaded…
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What Were You Thinking?
Having me co-host a television show about cars sold at collector-car auctions is like turning a chocoholic loose in the Hershey factory. When evaluating cars for “What’s My Car Worth?” a TV show I co-host on the Velocity channel, I find myself slipping from the objective to the subjective. “This ’67 Healey BJ8 drives…
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When Cars Become Immortal
The market has redefined itself over the past decade. We’ve watched it happen from the SCM crow’s nest. From multi-million-dollar catalog auction sales to text-only postings on Craigslist, we keep a finger on the ever-changing pulse of the market. Prices have soared in the category we follow most closely — sports cars from the…