It’s pretty sad to hear that Christies is leaving the automobile auction scene.
Having been around since the mid-60s and conducted the Uber auction of the Bugatti Royale that has been a benchmark in auctions, Christies is closing its doors. And surely, if you cannot be number one or number two, then get out of business.
We’ll miss you.
A favorite website of mine is Wheels Of Italy. It focuses on my types of automobiles. I was also happy to stumble on this section, The Search Info By Marque.
Yup, you guessed it from the spelling, it is a British website.
Check out Zagato’s beautiful pages on Maseratis where you will see what I consider the most beautiful racer of the 50, an A6.
I found on another great website I religiously read, Veloce Today a picture of the quintessential 50′s car and in my eyes the most desirable one, the A6GC 2000.
Thought you would enjoy.
It occurred to me many younger people have no idea who Fangio is, what old races were like and that Maserati was the car to beat when Ferrari was just a fledging racer.
Maserati was THE F1 car of the early fifties. The Germans went against it, Ferrari went against, Alfa Romeo was destroyed by the WWII and pretty much nothing could touch the beautiful Maserati 250F.
Fangio is considered the best, if not most well know F1 driver in history. This Argentinian gentleman had a knack for racing, understanding his cars but was also a brilliant strategist. His greatest race happened about 50 years ago in August on the Nurburgring track where he set an amazing record. Reading about it makes you excited. Its the kind of excitement we just don’t get in today’s high powered, big money races where drivers are seperated by fractions of second and millions of dollars.
This was another era. This was the era of gentlemen drivers and racing heroes.
Fangio won the most beautiful race in history 50 years ago this month, on 4th August 1957. He was 46! Gives me hope at 42 
So what was the big deal? He had lost time during a pit stop when a wheel nut ended up under his car – made up more than 40 seconds in seven laps on Hawthorn’s and Collins’ Ferraris. Where do you see this anymore?
Well, you can see it again, at least in a very beautiful and elegant flash presentation on Maserati’s site.
If you have time, I recommend seeing all races but if time is of the essence, please about Monaco and of course, the Nurburgring. These two races have marked history.
Driving a convertible in Long Beach is about as close to heaven as you can get. There are not too many cars you can drive around town that are light, fuel efficient and fun while you gaze at our beautiful homes.
I bought this one in 2004 after someone smashed our parked first spider. Thankfully, the young girl left her information on the car. This one needed some repairs, a new bell housing and I redid the syncros on it. After two years and going through two segment rings, I faced the task of getting a trade in engine or dropping my friend’s ex-race one. The choice was clear, the spider needed to get to its European specifications.
Sporting dual 40 DCOE Webbers, high-compression pistons, larger valves and a Sperry head, the car healthy produced 130 hp at the wheels. It only needs an electronic distribution system, installing an electric fan and we’re in business for another 10 to 15 hp. On a 2220 lbs | 1007 kg, it is a lot of fun.
Besides being quick and agile, the car is ideal for driving around town. I go to work with it pretty much every day, alternating once in a while with the Milano. It also has no problem getting on the highway where I surprise quite a few when I need to get into the car pool lane.
On of the things I love most about Alfas from this era is that the gear shift is conveniently positions next to my right hand in a normal steering holding position. It means I never have to search for it above or, as in most cars, below. It’s perfect.
For a convertible the car is surprisingly tight with a normal amount of roll which could easily be corrected with tougher suspensions, roll bar and an eventual stiffening cross bars, but why? This is a good compromise perfect for city and highways.
The joy of driving an Alfa are part of their quirks and happy revving engines. Those who do not know Alfa engines are really missing out. That little four cylinder, all aluminum, dual over-head cam is a happy rever. I can honestly say, I saw it go past 7,000 rpm.
Top Gear said, you cannot count yourself as a petrol head until you’ve owned an Alfa. I concur.
You can say I had an interesting weekend filled with cars and a bit of Americana I was not aware. Southern California has a rich car culture history and it is well kept alive thanks to a few who haven’t sold out the dream.
Let’s see, it started with Cars & Coffee, where I met up with Jim Barrett, my good friend from the Alfa Romeo club. The show was nice, and Ford’s GT was the highlight with no less than 200 cars! My what a turn out. Unfortunately, not one single real GT40. I know they are rare but I was hoping for one. Talking to Tony Adamowicz at our Alfa Romeo club party yesterday was interesting. He remembered the original, smaller GT40s having more space than the modern version. You could bring along some in the small car. He mentioned the new GTs had zero space. Interesting considering how much bigger the new one is. Oh and please, go and check out Tony’s website. Tony is a great guy and very friendly. Get him started on those golden years and he won’t stop, to the delight of my ears.
I brought along for the second time a new gearhead friend, John Bertone. What I didn’t know was that John holds the art rights to Ed Roth and is involved in creating new t-shirts and more. What I didn’t know either was that Jim is a fan of Ed Roth. What I didn’t know was who was Ed Roth. Shock and gasp!
OK, blame it on my European roots but I don’t know nearly as much about Americana history. Quiz me on European rally races, sport prototypes and I can hold up a conversation. And thus, I was introduced to the late 50s and early 60s rebel generation of Southern California, hot rodders and more. Ed Roth, famously infamous creator of the Rat Fink was a key part of the whole revolution against established goody goody America. It was a plain rejection of corporate America telling the mass what they liked. Detroit was not pushing their tastes on him. He took cars, chopped them up and added or removed whatever he didn’t like. Much like Van Dutch, they never lost their appeal in capturing a bored generation with what was offered to their.
Unfortunately, I grew up elsewhere and when I came back to the States in the late 90s, Van Dutch was just a designer t-shirt and jeans, as far as I was concerned. It’s sad to see a whole generation wearing Van Dutch t-shirts and low waste paints not suspecting who and what the man was. Ed Roth didn’t lose its edge and I believe John Bertone will carry that spirit well into the future.
So I learned another chapter of Southern California car culture I was unaware. It was interesting to see how fed up people were back then. Geez Louise, what happened? Did we fall asleep again?
There are many replicas of the original Shelby AC Cobra but not all are built with top quality in mind. The Kirkham brothers pulled an incredible challenge by being faithful to the original design while redesigning the chassis as well as using modern technology. What few people know is that Cobras were welded together with little quality control. Most replicas use the original blueprint, with the original flaws. The Kirkham brothers decided it was time to go one step beyond. After realizing nothing fitted perfectly or formed perfect angles, they took the original blueprints and redesigned the car with perfection in mind. Everything would fit, everything would all come together at last and the driving would reflect it.
The result is a great looking car that keeps the originality intact but handles as it should have. The great quality of the welding of the chassis, as well as its redesigning to reflect a better quality, down to the door hinges which makes it in a class of its own. With modern suspensions and modern breaks, the car is civilized enough for normal driving with plenty of horse power to have fun on a track. In fact, I felt I was going to have to see my Chyropractor after testing it!
I guess the choice boils down to what you are looking for. When it comes to Cobras, they come in at cheap and expensive. Cheap replicas are easy to find. Unfortunately, no matter how much money you spend on it, it won’t have the quality a top notch replica will have. Also, it will never appreciate as well. Then, comes the real AC Cobras but they are in a league of their own. With climbing prices for the original ones, those good quality ones are starting to look more and more interesting.
By far, the best muscle car fun I have been in to date. By far, the best quality Cobra replica I have ever seen, hands down!
Click here for more.
Now that we’ve talked a little bit more about the theory of being careful when investing in cars, let’s look at an actual case.
Over-Confidence
Many people feel sure that they cannot be duped. I’ve seen so many over-confident car collector, it makes you shiver.
The Duped
John O’Quinn is one of the most prominent plaintiff lawyers in the U.S.. Regardless, he was duped. I don’t know whether he was over-confident or not, what matters is the mistakes he made and how to avoid it.
The Setting
O’Quinn trusted a smart young man to manage his growing car collection. He knew the young man had run into trouble but he thought he was over it. O’Quinn having no children treated this young man as if he was his son. These were the two mistakes he made and both are passion motivated. The first mistake is trusting someone you know little of to manage your passion. You need to be a little bit more hands on. Second, having no children, trusting a stranger to be treated like the son you never had.
The story is sad and reminds me a little bit of Catch Me If You Can where a world con artist gets away all the time. this time, this one got caught. You can read the Forbes article here.
What to Avoid
My heart goes out to O’Quinn. It must be painful to have been betrayed like this and losing so much. It’s hard to know people. You need to not only rely on your gut feeling but on sound judging. Ask people around. Listen to the negative as much as the positive. Ask people who are very different from you, especially the ones who reason differently. I always ask my wife for her point of view because she reasons very differently than I do. The rest, build the relationship slowly, whether it’s buying cars or real estate.
Find out how ethical someone is. Give a little and see the reaction. If the person accepts everything and anything, that’s not a good sign. If the person wants more, run away.
Rome wasn’t built overnight!
It always brings a smile to my face when people ask me what I think about the real estate or the collector car market. Frankly said, more than once I feel like asking the true question: “What are you looking for, investments or pleasing yourself?”
Know yourself. Understand what you are looking for and be honest about it. If you want to invest in real estate, fine. Do you just want to have a Spanish Revival because you love the style? Great. Once you are fully aware of your hidden motivation, you can start to look in the right direction and be better prepared. You would like an old collectible car? Great. Why? Is it for investment, for pleasure, emotional value? You have to answer these questions before you make the leap.
It is not a bad thing to want to invest and make money. It is a normal. Are you a gatherer or a hunter? Do you like to own or look for things more than own them? The costly mistakes happen when people get blinded by not fully recognizing their motivations.
If you want to invest, study the market. Ask professionals, look online for trends. Don’t just study what happened the last three months or a year, go back as far back as you can. In this market, whether you are talking about real estate or cars, it is hard to define the value of anything. Value is emotional, it’s also how much the same property or automobile sold for in a somewhat same condition. But remember, conditions are never the same. No home is ever the same. No two old car (not mass manufactured) was ever built the same.
Go back a few months, then a few years. See the spikes and lows. Recognize the trends. Go to the last bubble and burst. There are tell-tale signs. Life is cyclical but you can learn to recognize the trends. To have a more or less accurate idea of a market, take the last three months and see what is on the market currently, what is in escrow and what has closed. These three things will help you get the gist of it. What has closed is the actual price buyers were willing to part with in order to gain something. What is escrow is the very latest prices but beware, many things can fall out of escrow. What is on the market gives you an idea as to what to expect when dealing with sellers. Make your own statistics and ask a few Realtor. Don’t get blinded by dazzling numbers people throw at you.
If you want to acquire for emotional reasons, get to the core of it. What is motivating you to buy this home, this car? Is it the dream you had? The High School dream car you never had? Really dig down and be honest about it. Once you know, you will see that what you were originally willing to spend, you might go higher.
The bottom line is that a true investor doesn’t rely on yesterday’s prices and fluctuations. An investor doesn’t think about potential money and use it as a guideline. An investor looks at the current state of the market and fixes a guideline as to gains and losses. Take stock investments. The investors who come out on top of any situations are the careful ones. The look at an average, set a buy and sell percentage and no matter what, stick to it.
You could do the same with homes and cars. Look at the cycles, monthly, and decades. Try to spot the trends. If you are disciplined, you can make a gain. But remember, you can also lose. Nothing is full proof. The one place to start is to figure out who you really are. Are you an investor or are attracted to the emotional appeal?
I’ve briefly mentioned about scammers. They are everywhere and will try to take advantage of you and your car. Here are some tips.
Make sure it is a real email address. Email the person again and make sure that email is still functioning a week after they contacted you. Yahoo and Gmail usually close the account when they figure out it is a scammer.
Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions.
If it’s too good to be true, seriously walk away. The latest scam as we have witnessed in real estate is the: “I will give you more money as a kick back”. Yeah, right!
This one is happening right now. I am selling a 1999 Jaguar and this fellow, supposedly from London acting on behalf of this “investor” wants to buy the car and ship it out there. The first clue was, his overzealous use of polite English: “It is my pleasure to respond to your advert…” Something is wrong if someone approaches you like that on a car less than $20,000 and wants to ship it back to a country where you can find them easier, less the price of shipping.
Then, they will talk about how they are helping out this fellow who is traveling or has a heart attack, or any other sob story. Again, BEWARE.
Then comes the Doozy, they will want to send you more money then its worth. The Jaguar we are selling is a 1999 valued at around $12,500. They want to give us $18,500 so that we can ship it and get a commission. I can see how this would allure someone who is strapped for cash. They then ask you for your address to send you the “check”. Beware, even cashier checks can be faked and bank can get caught. You might be stuck there again.
At this point, you would want to give them your business address. No need to give a perfect stranger your home address. Then what happens is they eventually try to hook you into giving money to get more back. Believe it or not, some people fall prey.
One last thing, don’t have someone test drive your car in front of your house. Meet the buyers at a mall parking lot where many people can see you. Ask for credential. Get the driver’s license and any other important info.
Obviously, you need to make an extra effort to keep level headed when you are dealing with something you are passionate. Unscrupulous people have no feelings and can get away with a lot. The best thing to do is to ask for help. I have sold many cars over the last 15 years. Find a broker you can trust.
I wanted to write this article for everyone out there who wants to sell their prize collection but don’t know how to go about it.
Now there are two types of cars, the expensive collector cars, meaning anything above $250,000 and the rest of us. Chances are, if you are in the above bracket, you will know the buyers and they will know you. But if you are in the below bracket, finding the right owner is important. You need to protect yourself and you wouldn’t want to see your car in the wrong hands.
I am selling a few cars currently, all very unique and only two are not in the price range I am used to. Though I specialize in Italians, mainly from the 50s to 70s, if I am asked to sell a unique car I know little about but feel passionate about, the first thing I do is research, a lot of it.
This goes for buyers also. The first place is to go and “hang out” in the car club forum. There you can introduce yourself and find out who is interested, etc. The next thing is to have a trusted mechanics. Bring the car there and honestly make a list of what the car needs to be done. Break it down into three list, the must, the should and the it-would-be-nice. Be honest and tell it the way it is, it will avoid problems in the future.
Then comes the advertising. The first place to place an ad is in the car club. You will reach the right audience directly. BEWARE scammers roam around. I have had many, many scammers interested in my cars. The way to spot them out are through their over the top use of pseudo-proper English; advert, it is my pleasure to contact you… etc. Blah blah blah. More on that soon.
It doesn’t hurt to go place you ad on Craiglist also as well as the local newspaper and of course, Auto Trader. Be careful, Long Beach has an ordinance on leaving a For Sale sign in your car. So don’t do it.
I know it seems like a lot of work but if you don’t have time, you can always ask me directly.
