The pundits didn’t wait for the Monterey Car Week auctions to end before weighing in with banshee-like wails of market distress. “Saturday night auctions fail to meet 2015 levels” The Los Angeles Times headlined before the Gooding auction on Sunday. Bloomberg weighed in on Monday, “Monterey Auctions Continue to Slide […]
For more than 20 years, enthusiast Ken Ivey and his wife Bernice have hosted an informal gathering of car fanatics at their home in Aurora, Oregon, just south of Portland. Ken, a long-time 289 Cobra owner, recently exchanged his car for a Ferrari 246 GTS — and a completely different […]
The French just do things differently. This is my third year as a judge at the Richard Mille Chantilly Arts & Elegance Concours d’Elegance, and it is a delight to be back. By now I have my routine. Fly overnight from Portland on Wednesday, and arrive at Charles De Gaulle […]
Among Alfista, the 4-door Giulia Super sedan has cult status. With the same race-bred suspension a the 105 Series coupes and spiders, the Super was advertised as “The Family Car that Wins Races.” Earlier this year, I took the SCM Super on an Alfa Romeo Owners of Oregon tour, and […]
This is coming to you from San Francisco International Airport, where I’m waiting to board my direct flight back to SCM World Headquarters in Portland. My ride from Monterey to SFO was a 2017 Chevrolet Volt, and driving this high-tech hybrid was a vehicular sorbet — a refreshing and relaxing […]
It’s a good thing I like cars. Monterey Car Week is just about the busiest time of my year, and each day is saturated with cars. This will be my 29th year of attending the festivities on the Monterey Peninsula. I missed one year, 1991, as Alexandra was born that […]
Each year, this issue falls in the lull just before the great Super Bowl contest that is Monterey Car Week. Each of the auction companies on the Peninsula has its lineups set. All the seven- and eight-figure, market-defining cars have been extensively promoted and the potential bidders courted. Within a […]
We’re coming up on Monterey Car Week, and the great vintage car festival known as the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. As entertaining as the races will be, we should ask ourselves if some of these vintage cars really belong on the track. BMW is the featured marque, meaning at the […]
28 years ago, Sports Car Market (then the Alfa Romeo Market Letter) was a sponsor of the first Monte Shelton Northwest Classic Rally. Along with magazine co-founder Cindy Banzer, I drove a 1965 Giulia Sprint Speciale. We completed the 600-plus mile route without breaking down — and didn’t finish last, […]
While driving with Miles Collier in the Northwest Passage tour, we had a discussion about 4-cylinder Alfas versus Porsche 356s. Miles felt that a well-sorted 356C would be every bit as delightful as one of the 105-series Alfas (1967 GTV, Duetto and Super) we were driving. I’ve driven a […]
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