Collecting Thoughts

Age of Discovery

Luftgekühlt is a one-day car show — of sorts — only for air-cooled Porsches. From afar, it appears as an “in-crowd, secret-handshake” event meant only for the most socially well-connected Porsche owners. The 2021 edition was held nearby in Indianapolis, IN, in September. My son Max got the bug to […]

Earning Their Place

The 2021 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance played host to a special class of Porsche 917 race cars. That this gathering — 50 years after the 917’s overall win at Le Mans in 1971 — would occur there, rather than in the paddock of some storied racing circuit, is significant. We […]

Fake It Till You Make It

I am obsessed with the Mille Miglia, so when I was pondering my next collector car, I set my sights on a ’50s-era Italian sports car. Immediately, I ran into a chicane: The top-tier cars were far north of my $150,000 budget. My search downshifted and I began chasing a […]

Set the WABAC

If you’re of the age when new 1960s sports cars were on your bedroom posters, you surely remember Mr. Peabody. A Saturday morning cartoon favorite, this polymath dog and his pet boy, Sherman, used a time-traveling machine called the WABAC to go on entertaining and educational adventures. Because I’m a […]

A Capital Idea

The collector-car world is experiencing a metamorphosis. Over the past six years, we have witnessed the maturation of the industry. The transition began in earnest when RM Auctions announced a strategic partnership with publicly traded Sotheby’s in 2015. Next, in 2020, media giant Hearst acquired Bring a Trailer for an […]

Tragic Transmission

One of the more jaw-dropping automotive transactions to occur in 2021 has to be the sale of James Dean’s Porsche 550 transaxle for $387,000 (including buyer’s premium) on Bring a Trailer. While the James Dean Porsche 550 story is well known in automobile collecting circles, a bit of background may […]

You Meet the Nicest People by Accident

As I sat on the pre-race grid, I did the same thing I’ve done for 42 years while waiting for the race to start. I cinched up my helmet strap, tightened the seat belts and checked my mirrors. And worried about how the race might unfold. My 1964 Corvette was […]

Podium or Pebble?

I have vintage-raced for nearly half my life, judged at concours events from Lime Rock Park to Amelia Island, and restored more than 50 cars, including some fairly significant old race cars. I have also worked with vintage-race-car shops in most of the U.S. states as well is in Europe. […]

Twins Peak

We were recently witness to an amazing confluence of events, where two Corsica-bodied Bugatti Type 57S cars were auctioned within a month of each other. That both of these cars should come up for auction — and sell — is a strange twist of fate indeed. The first example offered […]

My Dream Come True? Or Was it a Nightmare?

My “poster car” growing up was a silver 2002 Porsche 996. It was actually on a calendar on my bedroom wall. I remember hitting that month and never flipping to the next. Perhaps it was because my dad is a Porsche enthusiast, or maybe that car was just special. In […]