Shifting Gears

Leaving 1990 in the Dust

In my 20 years of writing about the market, I have never seen high-end cars accelerate in value like this For the first time in two decades, we’re considering pulling a tattered banner out of storage and hoisting it above SCM world headquarters. It bears the fabled words of Monterey […]

Mucking out the SCM Stable

We began to wonder if the BMW had had some conjugal visits with our failure-prone Fiat 2100 and been the recipient of its DNA You might think that with all the transactions we track, and all the conversations we have, the principals at SCM world headquarters would make nothing but […]

On the Road Again

If you’re reading SCM, chances are you’re an enthusiast. Your friends may uncork a vintage Barolo and marvel over the bouquet; you’d just as soon go out to the garage and inhale the gasoline and oil vapors that constantly seep out of a vintage car. This has been an exceptionally […]

Why Market-Driven Beauty is Only Skin Deep

Buckle your seatbelts and tighten your shoulder harnesses. Based on the results from Monterey, the collector car market is in the midst of a wild and woolly ride, with little way of predicting the crests and valleys in the year ahead. There are a few things we can all agree […]

Factory Fake or Certified Authentic?

The market continues to surge toward all-time highs and surpass the prices made 18 years ago as more and more people look to buy used cars at all levels. For those looking to buy, questions about authenticity and provenance continue to be one of their keys to valuation. As we […]

Time to Buy, Sell, or Hold?

It’s been nearly 25 years since we’ve seen prices like this in the sports and exotic market. As nearly everyone knows by now, RM came within just $500,000 of setting the record for the most expensive car ever to sell at auction at their Maranello sale, where the 330 TRI/LM, […]

Jurassic Swamp Meet

Fifty years from now the Petersen Museum may feature a diorama dedicated to the social gathering once known as an “automotive swap meet.” Young children will tug on their daddy’s shirtsleeves and ask, “Thousands of people just showed up and walked around for hours, hoping they might find something?” And […]

Old Car Tricks

“Push? We’re going to push the car?” It was a balmy day in the Pacific Northwest, so I had decided to take out our orange and black 1979 Triumph Spitfire. My 15-year-old daughter, Alex, was pleased with my choice, as the previous owner had put large speakers behind the seats, […]

A Six Pack of Sense and Sensibility

We at SCM have long maintained that a well-filled garage is like a well-stocked wine cellar. Just as different times of day, different events, and different meals call for different pourings, so, too, do different motoring adventures require different motoring choices. And just as each wine has its own trademark […]

Somebody Stop Me!

Perhaps SCM should be in the soft adventure business. But rather than offering a chance to parachute off mountaintops attached to a safety-line, or fly a Russian Mig with an instructor who will keep you from nosing into the ground, we have something even better. Last year, my former editor […]