After a couple of months of indecision, Al Blanchard at A&P Specialties here in Portland has decided on a path forward for our 1975 Porsche 911S Sportomatic. We’ve known from the start that its 2.7-liter engine had some broken studs. However, the compression was excellent and we were advised to […]

I’ve sold two cars in the past few weeks. Should you be thinking about thinning your nest this holiday season? I didn’t dislike either car, but it was time for them to go. I had learned everything the 2004 Mercedes SL55 AMG had to teach me, so there was no […]

My son Bradley and I are looking for a classic four-door manual as a run-around car for him. I mentioned this to SCMer Brad Miller, and from his vacation home in Paris he started sending me links of possible choices. One that caught our immediate attention was a 1990 Mercedes […]

I’ve found a car in Germany that interests me — a 1990s Mercedes. It is a nice driver, but not a concours example. It’s been decades since I bought a car from Europe, and I would like your advice. Millions of cars come to the U.S. each year ro-ro (roll-on, […]

At a certain point during my recovery from my stroke, I decided to look for classic cars with automatic transmissions. While universally loathed by enthusiasts — including me — I hoped that maybe I was just overlooking what might be a decent motoring experience. I bought two automatics. The first […]

Last week I asked you to pick four cars for a $500,000 collection. Your many and diverse answers can be seen below this blog. This week I’ll tell you what my three-car collection would be, and why. I’m not setting a price boundary for myself, as market value has nothing […]

We do this exercise every so often. I offer a target and you start throwing darts. We played the original version on an SCM tour bus headed to the vintage Monaco GP. I think our target then was $25,000. Times have changed. Here’s today’s challenge: Tell us your four-car collection […]

There’s been plenty of discussion about how Bring a Trailer has changed the world of collecting. The simplest example goes back to the early days of SCM. When we wrote about a Ferrari Dino selling at Barrett-Jackson, the magazine was the only place that sale would be covered in any […]

SCM Editor-In-Chief Jeff Sabatini recently took our 2006 Lotus Elise in for its every-two-years emission testing. We expected it would be routine, as it powered by a modern (by our standards) Toyota engine. It failed. But not because of emissions issues. On the printout we got from the Oregon Department […]