Mid-life: ’73 Porsche 914 2.0

We understand that these are not cherished Porsches. The 1.8 liter cars weren’t so hot but the 2.0 liter cars were better. Not hugely better but better. Of course, the 914-6 is a whole other enchilada. The stats of a 914 are pretty impressive. Nice mid-engine chassis, German build quality, roomy interior, great brakes, precise steering and balanced handling all add up to a nifty little sports car. The styling was a bit odd, we’ll give you that. Read More

Pop the cork: ’65 Porsche 356SC Coupe

We can understand how seller’s, primarily dealers, run out of ways to describe the car they are trying to sell. We like these guys in California. They always come up with nice cars but this is kind of funny. They begin to describe today’s Champagne Yellow SC as very original and proceed to tell you all of the new things the car has going for it, like an entire interior. It is nice that it has a new interior particularly if it is done right but that does not make an original car very original. The SC is the last of a long line of 356s. It is prized among collectors because it has a lot of good things going for it like disc brakes and a powerful 95 hp engine. Read More

More Amelia Island

We’ve been enjoying our ride back to Connecticut in our new project car – a ’94 M-B SL500. It has performed flawlessly so far attaining 23.75 mpg on the last tank. Not too shabby for a 335 hp V8. Its old news now but the winner of the Amelia Island Concours is a Horch 853 owned by Bob & Anne Brockton Lee from Sparks, Nevada. The Concours de Sport Award went to one of our favorites, a ’58 Scarab owned by Miles Collier. Click on the McLaren image above to see the last of our photos including an image of the winners by Neil Rashba.

Disneyland: ’62 Mercedes-Benz 220S

The Mercedes-Benz Fintail sedan is not a thing of beauty. But they are rugged and impeccably built and just right for customization. A fully restored to original Finnie may be considered a little boring but a hot rally car, like ours, BaT’s and Classic Motorsports Finnie, are really fun. This one is being sold at a good price, $4,900, and can probably be had for less. The body looks solid as a California car should (it is 5 miles from Disneyland) but the interior is pretty much toast. The Classic Motorsports car was afflicted in the same way and they just bought a donor parts car with a better interior and swapped it out. You will be one step ahead of theirs (maybe more) because their car had some serious rust issues. It already has the Stage 1 Rally Tune-up (no wheel covers). Read More

Hot Rod: ’66 Mini Cooper “S”

The “S” is in quotes because this isn’t a real “S” but one heck of Mini regardless. It is a ’66 Austin Mini MK II with a huge personality transformation. It is equipped with a hot 1275cc motor coupled to a ’85 4-speed. The suspension was converted to dry from wet and is fully adjustable. The brakes were upgraded with an S booster and “the best components”. Everything got some attention including the headlights and horn. The interior has racing buckets and they look pretty good to us. Read More

Police Package: ’65 Ford Country Squire

We happen to think the ’65 Fords were one of the most upscale looking Fords of the period. We seem to remember commercials comparing the interior cabin noise to be lower than that of a Rolls-Royce. Perhaps it wasn’t a Rolls but it was something expensive. They had very simple elegant design with stacked headlamps that were popular back then. The top sedan was the LTD and the top wagon was, and always will be, the Country Squire. This one is very special and probably one-of-one. Read More

Politically correct: ’63 MG Midget MK I

The first version of the MG Midget was essentially a slightly more expensive  version of the Austin Healey Sprite MKII. Although not as charming as the original Bug Eye Sprite, the Mark II Sprite and the Midget were very cool, capable little sports cars. MK I Midgets are simple cars with a rear suspension that retained the quarter-elliptic sprung rear axle from the original Sprite. The early Midget’s engine was a 948 cc with twin SUs producing 46 hp at 5500 rpm. Brakes were 7-inch drums all round.  In October ’62 the engine was increased to 1098cc, raising the output to 56 hp at 5500 rpm, and disc brakes replaced the drums at the front. That extra 10 hp makes for more spirited driving in such a little car so the disc brake addition is a nice feature. The seller says they only built 9,601 1098cc Midgets and if they are correct, that isn’t very many. Read More

Not the earliest: ’65 Volvo 1800S

Many collectors and hobbyists prefer the earliest versions of their marque of choice. Jaguar lovers covet the flat-floor, Moss gearbox, outside latch E-Types even though the next generation is much more enjoyable and looks pretty much the same. We will elevate the Volvo 1800S in this analogy. The earliest cars were not known as “S” but simply P1800 because the bodies weren’t built in Sweden. They were built by Jensen and the quality was a little iffy. Volvo brought production to Sweden in 1963. The early cars have some interesting details and are very rare to find in unrestored, original condition. The most common early cars we see are like today’s ’65. Read More

Amelia Island Concours

We have attended and participated in Concours events before but only a recent attendance at Pebble Beach could prepare you for Amelia Island. In only its 19th Year, Bill Warner has led a talented and dedicated team to quickly become one of the premier events in the world. Quickly and 19 years doesn’t sound quite right but consider the competition from events around the globe and Pebble Beach has a 44 year head start. And Bill didn’t quit his day job either. Bill Warner is founder of The Amelia, chairman of the Amelia Foundation, and also serves as president of his own business, H. C. Warner, Inc., an industrial filtration company. He also owns and operates Bill Warner Racing. I’m tired just writing about him. Read More

Amelia Island: More Results

We will be on the road for the next few days trying to find a dry path up north to Mint’s home in Connecticut. Today’s stop is Asheville, North Carolina. Until we return, posts may get a bit spotty unless some of our readers sends us something really interesting.

The Gooding & Co. auction produced a lot of interesting results but here is one that reflects back to our early days – the ’69 Michelotti Fiat Shellette. Michelotti was asked to design and build a successor on the newer 850 platform for Philip Schell. Only 80 cars were built and we have no knowledge of how many survive. This pretty blue Shellette is a barn-find with 9,900 miles and is in excellent working and cosmetic order. We featured it in February 2013 for $58,000 without any takers. So the seller had the guts to give it to Gooding & Co with no reserve. The selling price of $55,000 includes buyers premium so they didn’t quite get what they wanted but they didn’t suffer too bad. The Ferrari 365 GTC4 at RM was another car of interest. We have one at Mint’s go-to shop/office. The owner may want to sell but no commitments yet. This 365 was impeccable, probably top of the food chain. It hammered at an eye-watering $335,500. Good for the seller and what a great car. The Iso Grifo is unique and may not be representative of the Iso Grifo market. Read More

RM Auctions, Amelia Island

RM Auctions gave us one heck of a ride on Saturday. Again, we’ll leave the analysis of the general trend of the market to experts. We’ll provide a more detailed review of the sales we were interested in when we get more time. Amelia Island presents an amazing opportunity to meet old friends and new people leaving little time for sitting at the computer. After the Concours today, we start driving back to Connecticut, dodging any snow or ice that may present itself along the way.

We were present for the star of the RM Auction – Malcolm Pray’s French Mistress. She is a 1937 Delahaye Competition Court Torpedo. Pray admired this Delahaye at an Auto Show as a teenager. He drew a little sketch of the car and pinned it on his wall proclaiming one day he will own that car. Well he did and for over 50 years. The family has decided to let her go in order to help fund the Pray Family Foundation. Malcolm’s little pencil sketch will go along with it. The Auction estimate was quickly surpassed, ending in an Amelia Island RM Auction record. You can watch the entire action unfold by clicking on the image below.

Saturday’s Cars & Coffee at Amelia Island Concours

We were blessed with a stunningly beautiful day yesterday…finally. The day began with an informal Cars & Coffee on the golf course at The Ritz-Carlton. Over 300 cars of all kinds were on display. Impressive is an understatement.