I’m a believer in “value in use” with old cars. In other words, take them out as often as possible. The more they are used, the better they run. Plus, you get the simple satisfaction of being behind the wheel of your personal time machine.

Of course, each time you take a car out in public you run the risk of something happening to it.

Our poor 1991 Alfa Romeo Spider S4 is a case in point. Last year we were sitting in line in a parking lot waiting for an Alfa tour to begin. Without warning, a brain-dead driver in a BMW X3 backed up 20 feet directly into our door.

While the outer skin was dented, the power windows weren’t affected, and the door fit was not altered. Magician sheetmetal worker Tom Black made the car almost as good as new. But I admit to some sadness that what was once a never-hit, never-painted car was no longer a virgin.

Continuing its indignities, I managed to spill a 16-ounce latte into the carpeted interior of the car. I didn’t have a way to soak up the mess at the time. I paid the price, as three days later I could smell the sour milk from 10 feet away. It was disgusting.

A quick call to Matt Crandall at Avant Garde Collection and it was soon in the hands of his shop manager, Tom Floyd. A week and $375 later, the Alfa was back, carpets removed and steam cleaned. The real test will come this summer when the car sits in the hot sun all day and we find out whether the odors were completely vanquished. It was pure stupidity on my part that caused this, but that didn’t stop me from again ordering a latte the next time I had the car out.

Shortly thereafter, my son Bradley was shuffling cars, taking the S4 to the SCM Batcave and bringing the 1982 Corvette back to our condo. He took a turn too tight and ran the edge of the right-front wheel against the curb.

While I was not as calm and collected as I might have wished when I saw how hard the wheel had been curbed, Bradley was properly apologetic. I doubt this will happen again. It also gave us a chance to talk about the risks you take when you take a car out on the road. It just goes with the turf. If you are not prepared to suffer the consequences, you should leave your trailer queen under a cover in the corner of the garage.

This was no minor scrape, and I was told it was cheaper to buy a replacement Rota “Panasport-style” wheel for $140 than have it refinished. To Bradley’s credit he had the money deposited into my bank account the next morning. He understands he will be responsible for arranging for the mounting and balancing.

In some ways, the S4 is the “least collectible” of our cars. It is neither rare nor particularly old, and good ones are not difficult to find. But simply because we decided to “use the car,” it has now had a door repaired, the carpets cleaned and a wheel replaced.

None of the above are going to keep me from grabbing the keys when the next Alfa tour comes around. There’s no reason to own a car like this if you’re afraid to drive it.

The post Keith’s Blog: Break It and Buy It appeared first on Sports Car Market.

It was ten in the morning on Friday when we boarded the streetcar to head to the Portland Swap Meet. We were not in a hurry.

Accompanying me were SCM Editor-In-Chief Jeff Sabatini and my son Bradley (fresh from scoring a 1:24 Avanti toy at the previous weekend’s Hot Rod and Custom Show). We planned to meet up with SCMer and NCRS Senior Judge Michael Pierce to wander the aisles.

Founded in 1964, the meet is billed as the largest indoor/outdoor automotive swap meet west of the Mississippi River. There was an era when it was the epicenter of the old car world in Portland. We kept time by it: “Only three months until the swap meet.”

We also bought cars and parts in preparation for selling them at the swap meet. We all had our trick ways to get to the good stuff first.

Load-in is on Thursday, and every experienced swap-meet goer knew that all the best deals are done then. I would always have at least two cars for sale, which meant that I could drive them in on Thursday. One year I had a 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner, a 383 with a 4-speed, Hurst shifter and bucket seats, along with an MG-TD that was perhaps the worst driving car I ever owned.

I recall the easy strolls I took from one building to the next, alert for a hidden treasure.

One year I found bucket seats and a dash with a tachometer for the 1963 “shoebox” Chevy II Nova wagon I was restoring. Another time I came across a set of three Stromberg carburetors plus a manifold to fit to the Devin sports car I had. (Sadly, it wasn’t an SS, but rather a homebuilt special mounted on an MGA chassis. With a built 283 Chevy V8, it was a wild ride, indeed.) I once bought an Isetta and drove it home.

The lack of efficiency in my search was one of the best parts of the weekend.

But times have changed. This year the swap meet, while still huge and taking up five buildings and the entire parking lot of the Portland Expo Center, was the smallest in memory. There were empty vendor slots in nearly every building, and the aisles were not crowded.

The blame, of course, rests on the internet. For parts and literature, the advent of eBay and the like created a 24/7 global market.

There used to be one vendor I would wait all year to visit, to comb through the magazine advertisements of Alfa Romeos from the ’50s through the ’70s he had clipped. Today, I just do a quick eBay search to find what I want.

Regardless, most everyone at the swap meet seemed to be having a good time. There were more than a few people carting around treasures piled into wagons or rolling on furniture dollies.

We stopped by to chat with SCM book reviewer Logan Gray at his booth. It was stocked for the weekend with an impressive selection of books, many on hot rods and American cars that catered to the swap meet crowd.

We also visited with SCMer Bob Ames. A retired bank president and car collector, Ames reminded me that 36 years ago he authorized the $10,000 line of credit we used to launch the Alfa Romeo Market Letter. I told him we still had the line of credit and had always made our payments on time.

There weren’t many fun cars in the “for sale” section. A Flame Red MGB GT at $16,500 peaked Jeff’s interest but not in any seriousness. We did have fun looking over a “Ferrari 246 Dino” that was just wrong in very possible way. That’s what happens when there’s a Pontiac Fiero lurking underneath. The $63,000 asking price seemed optimistic.

One of the nicest cars for sale was an Alfa Romeo Milano Verde with an ambitious asking price of $23,000. It was offered by old friend Gary Blodgett, who used to race Alfas in SCCA before they were vintage.

Will I return next year? Of course. But not with the intent of actually looking for anything to bring home. For me the swap meet has really become a social occasion, a chance to admire rows of rebuilt carburetors and chrome-plated alternators rather than a place to actually find something specific.

More important is that Bradley enjoys himself, wandering and ogling to his heart’s content. This year he bought a pair of coveralls, which seems like an important gearhead rite of passage.

Will there be a swap meet in 10 years? Yes, but it will continue to be smaller and with fewer unique and interesting finds.

If you haven’t been to a big automotive swap meet, I encourage you to go. It’s like visiting the “The Land That Time Forgot” and seeing rooms full of automotive fossils.

The post Keith’s Blog: The Portland Swap Meet: A Living Museum appeared first on Sports Car Market.

Our 1972 Mercedes 250C is done. After tucking another $2,000 bill for repairs and upgrades in the bulging RO (repair orders) folder, I took the car for a 200-mile shakedown cruise.

Like so many cars from the 1970s, the Mercedes had only an outside mirror on the driver’s side door, and none on the passenger side. SCMer Matti Bohm in Germany found a correct passenger side mirror. Our local technician Chip Starr located a gasket for it in New York and installed it.

Now that the mirror is there, it’s as if it has always been there. The only time I noticed there wasn’t one before was when I wanted there to be one. This was at complicated times like merging on freeways or lane changing. Each time I realized I didn’t have a mirror, I was reminded that I was driving an old car.

With the mirror now installed, the 250C seems more like a “new car” than ever before. There’s now one less reminder that I am driving a 52-year-old car.

As I was cruising down the freeway enjoying my newfound lack of blind spots, I thought about the fundamental differences between a well set up classic car and a new car.

With the Mercedes W114 (the internal code for the 250) you’re starting with good bones. The brakes and suspension worked very well compared to other sedans of the era. Freshening all the wearable parts and tweaking things a little made it even better.

I was keeping up with traffic at 80 mph. The rear end from the 300D we installed makes a huge difference on the freeway. It lets the car cruise at lower revs, more like a modern car.

I have learned how to adjust the seven (yes, seven!) different levers to get the A/C just right on hot days. The HVAC is not as good as our 2021 Hyundai Sonata’s climate control but it’s awfully close.

Leaving aside obvious safety equipment like airbags or convenience features like navigation, I found myself wondering if all the improvements I have made to the 250C have in fact taken away some of its period “character.”

When we “improve” our old cars to make them work better, are we just correcting the flaws that give them character? Does this make them feel less like vintage cars and more like a vanilla-bland modern car?

Maybe we should just leave them alone and enjoy their deficiencies.

What do you think?

The post Keith’s Blog: Does Improving A Car Make it Less Vintage? appeared first on Sports Car Market.

Erratic. Nonsensical. Devoid of any appearance of logic.

That’s how my friends have described my approach to collecting over the past few years.

But thanks to a recent temptation, my unfocused and somewhat frantic searching may be nearing an end.

An adequately powered sports car that handles well on skinny tires and weighs around 2,500 pounds is my Holy Grail. That’s an apt description of a classic 1950s-to-1960s Alfa Romeo. At the zenith of my Alfa collecting, I had seven of them.

When, due to my stroke, I was no longer able to drive a manual-shift car, my search parameters changed. As I have little interest in digital-era cars that do too many things for you, I started looking for classic cars with auto and semi-automatic transmissions that could be made to handle well. It’s a sparse field.

Fairly rapidly I cycled through a Porsche 928 S4 automatic, a Citroën DS21 with its semiautomatic Citromatic gearbox, and an automatic Volvo 122S. The Porsche was too heavy and dark inside. The DS21 was a lovely car but more suited for a weekend in Paris than a long-term relationship. Although we made the Volvo handle very, very well, its archaic BorgWarner 3-speed coupled to an anemic engine left much to be desired.

Just right

I have also made some surprising and enjoyable discoveries. Our 29,000-mile 1971 Jaguar E-type V12 coupe continues to be a delight. The suspension was freshened by Ed Grayson of Consolidated Auto Works and we have driven it on three SCM 1000 tours. It’s a keeper.

We happened across a 24,000-mile automatic 1991 Alfa Romeo Spider S4. What the Alfa has going for it is its styling, still striking after all these years. It proclaims loudly that it is “not-a-Miata” and people respond. While heavy and wheezy compared to my old Duetto, the car is still peppy off the line, and with its skinny tires you don’t have to go very fast to have fun and scare yourself.

Most recently, our 48,000-mile 1975 Porsche 911S Sportomatic has come into regular use after having been fixed and fettled by Al Blanchard and his wizards at A&P Specialties. If I wanted the narcotic of shifting a vintage air-cooled 911, a Sporto was my only choice. It’s one I am glad I made, as the car is simply a delight to drive. The three widely spaced gears give you plenty of opportunity to wind the car up in the rev range, and there’s nothing like the view over the hood of a classic 911. Plus, the steering is light and direct. As with any 911, you become one with the car the more you ask of it. It’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

The final member of our “core” collection is the 1972 Mercedes-Benz 250C. A tasty one-owner car (with 225k miles), it has needed the most done to it to meet the SCM standard for fun to drive. Chip Starr has been our “250 whisperer,” as he rebuilt and modified the suspension, and added Weber carburetors and a high-speed rear end. While its handling will never be confused with that of an Alfa Giulia Super, it’s well planted in turns and cruises easily at 80 mph. It’s a perfect family touring car.

Enter Raymond Loewy

I don’t recall how it started, but suddenly one day I found myself surrounded by Studebaker Avanti fanatics. While I have always admired the striking looks of these cars, I have never driven one. Or even sat in one, for that matter.

Soon enough, a likely prospect at an affordable price showed up. I had a hot flash of the sort that is usually the harbinger of needing to find more room in the garage.

Then Editor-In-Chief Jeff Sabatini took me behind the woodshed. “Don’t forget that the Avanti is a rebodied Studebaker Lark. It’s never going to handle like a European sports car,” he said. “Why don’t you enjoy the cars you have?”

He has a point. Even with “only” these four cars, I don’t drive them regularly enough. And I have already invested thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to get them just the way I want them. In short, the spritely handling automatic analog sports car of my dreams may already be in my garage.

So instead of trying to make an Avanti into something it’s not, I’ll be spending more time driving the Jaguar or 911. I’m taking a leave of absence from my Great Slushbox Search and going to spend some quality time with the cars that I already have. They are all tuned, on good tires, with suspensions rebuilt and modified to make them just a little better.

My goal is to take a different one out each week and simply immerse myself in the joys of driving a classic, analog car.

Will the cars of this new collection offer the same type of enraptured fun that my Alfas did? No. But life moves on, and there is no sense spending time wishing for something that isn’t going to be.

I do believe this. Just as I’ve moved to a different phase in my life, I’ve found different cars that can make me happy now. I want to extract every bit of pleasure they have to offer. But to do that I’ll need to take the time I have been wasting chasing more cars and use it to plan out opportunities to use the cars I have.

Road trip, anyone?

The post Love the One You Have appeared first on Sports Car Market.

Even among collectors, it is perhaps unusual to own the exact same car twice, with 40 long years separating the two experiences. I first bought this Pontiac GTO in 1981, after discovering it with a scattered clutch in a Sierra Nevada meadow. After torturing it for a summer, I sold it on, only to rediscover it four decades later and 1,500 miles away. Naturally, I reacquired it.

In my 20s, a ragtop Goat with a 4-speed was cooler than hell. It never bothered me that the GTO lacked power steering and brakes and offered little sound insulation, no air conditioning, and relatively few safety, comfort or convenience features. The top went down, the revs went up, and it projected all the attitude. That was good enough.

After reacquiring the car in 2021, however, I discovered with a start that I’ve… evolved? So much time has gone by that I struggle to comprehend having been young in this car. It is familiar and yet unfamiliar, and moreover, usable but useless.

What happened?

Although the GTO was restored in between my ownership stints, it’s still fundamentally as before. While it hasn’t really changed, the world sure has, and so have my feelings about it. What once seemed a brutally fast car is now just mildly satisfying. It will still smoke the rear tires, but the modern radials hook up vastly better than the old bias-plys, so the car is no longer tail-waggingly frisky.

The big engine’s free-breathing dual exhausts, coupled with the uninsulated ragtop, are taxing. Was this car as loud back in the day? I didn’t used to think twice about driving 500 miles with the top up or down. But these days, I wear a hat, sunscreen and sunglasses, maybe even earplugs to keep the sound pressure from haunting my already hammered ears.

Fronting a Muncie gearbox and 3.55 axle, the 400-ci V8 turns nearly 3,300 rpm at 70 mph. I dislike the idea of those coffee-can-sized pistons flailing away at these high speeds for miles and miles, so I slow down. How embarrassing, then, is it to relegate oneself to the right lanes in a Masters of the Universe car like this? Plenty. 

Yet that’s typically where I find myself. We seldom drove so fast back in the day, due to 55-mph speed limits and the prevalence of lightly trafficked two-lane roads. Surrounding traffic wasn’t that rapid, either. But today, it seems like everything from a Kia Soul to a Ford F-250 SuperCab to a Tesla Model S goes much, much faster. It makes me hesitate to take the GTO on the interstate.

A plan comes together

So what am I doing with this car, then? That’s a good question. Currently, I’m pondering how to evolve the old Goat from being good in my past life to great in my present and future lives — and I’m separating sentimentality from reality.

My biggest step will be doing something to drop the cruising revs below 3,000. This can be accomplished via an OE-spec 3:08 axle “upgrade,” by installing a Tremec 5- or 6-speed gearbox, or by hitching up a Gear Vendors planetary-gearset overdrive. That will make the biggest potential improvement in noise, vibration and harshness. 

At this point, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that I’ll install a Vintage Air system, along with a supplemental electric fan for the aluminum radiator. 

A previous owner rebuilt the engine to Pontiac’s period Ram Air specs, so it is cammy and brash and doesn’t want to be hampered by more-restrictive mufflers. Therefore, an infusion of Dynamat inside the floors and doors is in order to help quiet things down. Unfortunately, little can be done about the thin canvas top. This is, after all, a commodity American car that’s over 50 years old.

Collectively, these mostly bolt-on mods should meaningfully widen the GTO’s dynamic bandwidth, improve comfort and confidence, and enable extended trips in hot weather. But they won’t really address the gap between the actual experience of the car and my memory of its idealized past. 

It’s disquieting to consider how a terrific car from my youth now presents in an entirely different light. Half a lifespan later, it is uncomfortable, inconvenient and impractical. But there is a remedy, and that is simply to accept that the world has changed and it has changed me. I’m going to do what I can so that I can drive my car joyously into our next chapter together, the GTO’s shortcomings serving as an ever-present reminder to keep moving forward, adapting and adjusting en route. ©

The post Old Goat, New Guy appeared first on Sports Car Market.

Airbnb and Vrbo have become household names for vacation rentals, widely popularizing the idea of a “sharing economy.” A number of similar car-sharing services have also popped up in the past few years, all with a similar pitch: If you own a car, you can make extra money by renting it out through their app or website. On the other hand, if you are looking for a rental car, you can use these services to rent one directly from the owner, which opens up more interesting car choices and potentially saves money.

For example, I located the owner of a 2017 Porsche 911 Turbo in nearby Seattle through the Turo website. The fully optioned gray Cabriolet looks to be in excellent condition, and the 33 renters have given it and the owner a perfect 5.0 score. It was listed for an entirely reasonable fee of $434 per day.

Sure, you can drive a Toyota Corolla from any of the big-name rental agencies for a lot less, but what fun is that?

What could go wrong?

A Portland, OR, couple thought car sharing would be a great way to earn a few extra bucks and offset the ownership cost of their Mercedes-AMG GT S “Edition 1.” With a twin-turbocharged V8 that makes 503 horsepower, it does 0–60 mph in 3.5 seconds. About 350 examples of this limited-edition model were built in 2016, and they carried a window sticker north of $140k.

The couple have several friends who have been renting out their cars and were making good money without any hassles. Feeling confident due to such recommendations, they listed the Mercedes-AMG on Turo. This is the largest of the car-sharing players, at least by size, with rentals available in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France and the U.K. They soon got their first booking from a renter that satisfied their requirements: at least 30 years old, with a valid driver’s license and insurance, and a willingness to commit to their mileage limits.

All looked great until they got a late-night call from the police. Their car had been crashed and badly damaged and the police needed to know what to do with the wreck.

It turned out that their renter had given the car to her 21-year-old son, which was, of course, forbidden under the rental agreement. He reportedly took the car to an area near the airport where kids were regularly street racing, lost control of the car while speeding, and crashed into a Jeep on the side of the road. With extensive damage to the rear of the car, the Mercedes-AMG was thought to be totaled.

The other shoe drops

The real shock came the next day when the owners started looking into what they could do about the crash damage. They contacted Turo, and were told not to worry, that the car would be covered under its insurance policy and perhaps under their own policy. However, they were warned that they could not bring any claims against the renter, as they had agreed to waive any such rights in the listing agreement. If they did take legal action against the renter, they would be subject to the $5,500 liquidated-damages provision in the contract.

We all know that insurance policies are not all the same. How broad will the coverage provided by Turo be? Let’s consider some possible implications of the situation.

Deductible. The deductible is $2,500 — not a huge amount in this case, but high relative to most auto insurance policies.

Determination of loss. In the event of a total loss, the policy pays the actual cash value of the car, which is based upon its condition and what it would cost to buy an equivalent replacement car. Of course, actual-cash-value policies can result in huge differences of opinion between the insured and the insurance company about the value of the car, particularly when the car is special. This is why we always recommend agreed-value policies for collector cars.

Repair standards. If the car is capable of being repaired, what standards are going to be applied? Will the insurance adjuster pay for specialty-shop rates or insist on lower consumer-shop rates? Will the insurance company be able to use aftermarket parts for the repair? Will the entire car get repainted if the paint cannot be matched properly?

Promptness. Will the insurance company adjust the claim and process the repairs quickly? After all, you aren’t really their customer.

Loaners. Will the insurance company provide a loaner car while the repairs are being made?

Diminished value. In this case, the properly repaired Mercedes-AMG will likely be worth about 25% less than it was before the damage, which is called diminished value. Will this real loss be covered?

Even giving Turo’s insurer the benefit of the doubt here, there are a lot of questions raised. We can only hope they will be answered to the satisfaction of the owners.

They can make a claim against their own insurance policy, but that may not be a satisfactory solution. Their carrier will likely look at the Turo policy as being the primary coverage, meaning that the owners’ policy will only pay what the other policy doesn’t cover. It stands to reason that the owners’ carrier will want to wait and see what happens, meaning that there won’t be any quick action. The primary nature of that coverage probably means that, as a practical matter, the repair standards of the Turo policy will prevail.

The owners’ policy might also deny coverage, based upon the Mercedes-AMG having been rented to a third party. Most auto insurance policies are limited to personal-use vehicles. The rental may be considered a business use that could exclude it from coverage altogether. Coverage could also be denied under the racing exclusion that is found in most all auto insurance policies. The final concern is that if the owners’ policy is required to provide coverage, their insurance company may choose to cancel the policy after the claim is paid.

Mechanical damage

If this crash damage situation seems bad enough, consider what would happen if the car had merely suffered some sort of mechanical damage — say, a blown engine or fried transmission. There isn’t any insurance available to cover that.

If the damage was caused by the renter, the owners should be able to bring a claim against them. But the problem is going to be proof. The renter is undoubtedly going to insist that they were driving normally when the car just broke on its own, the breakdown simply being the result of cumulative wear and tear that reached the tipping point. The owner is going to insist that the car was fine, and the renter was driving inappropriately and caused the damage. How does that debate get sorted out?

Turo, for example, requires that all disputes be resolved through arbitration using an online arbitration service named “FairClaims.” If you have opted out of arbitration, you are required to conduct your litigation in Arizona. It is unclear if these provisions apply only to claims against Turo, or if they also apply to claims against the renter. I would expect other car-sharing apps to approach these matters the same way.

What is clear is that the car-sharing companies have no responsibility in this regard. Your claims against a renter who abused your car must be brought against the renter, and your chances of collection of any damage award are uncertain. Plus, you will have to pay your attorney fees and likely cannot recover them from the renter.

Lesson learned

If you are thinking about renting your car through one of these services, and you want to know how best to protect yourself, the best one-word answer is, “Don’t!” At least not with any car that you actually care about or that is not easily replaced. While the rental rates may seem attractive, there are inherent risks of handing over your keys to a stranger, with limited ways to protect yourself.

John Draneas is an attorney in Oregon and has been SCM’s “Legal Files” columnist since 2003. His recently published book The Best of Legal Files can be purchased on our website. John can be contacted at john@draneaslaw.com. His comments are general in nature and are not intended to substitute for consultation with an attorney.

The post Sharing the Pain appeared first on Sports Car Market.

In 2005, Pontiac brought forth what would be its last sporty car. The 2006 Solstice was an attractive — even rakish — convertible 2-seater with excellent balance and handling. The Pontiac’s introduction was followed up later in 2006 with a badge-engineered döppelganger called the Saturn Sky and Europeans got the same model as a revived Opel GT.

The first-year Solstice received a naturally aspirated 2.4-liter 4-cylinder rated at 177 horsepower and 166 lb-ft of torque. That wasn’t bad compared to the benchmark Mazda MX-5 Miata, but woefully less than the upscale Honda S2000. Transmission choices included a 5-speed Aisin manual or a 5-speed GM automatic. However, the base-engine Solstice delivers lackluster performance, and that GM automatic just sucks the joy straight out of your heart. Simply put, those cars have a hard time getting out of their own way.

Get the GXP

This was all remedied with the debut of the Solstice GXP (and the corresponding Saturn Sky Redline). Introduced for the second model year, it boasts a 2.0-liter Ecotec four with a twin-scroll turbocharger producing 260 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque. The new engine made the Solstice into the sports car that it always should have been. 

The direct-injected 2.0-liter has the distinction of having the highest output of any GM engine ever made, at 2.1 horsepower per cubic inch. Even better, because the Solstice GXP was born in the OBD-II era, a dealer-applied reflash of the engine-management system could boost output to a heady 290 horsepower and 340 lb-ft. 

On top of the more-powerful engine, the Solstice GXP received GM’s latest Stabilitrak electronic traction control, a torque-sensing limited-slip differential and anti-lock brakes. With the stock engine tune and the 5-speed gearbox, you could expect to see 60 mph in a little more than five seconds, and you could pull 0.87g on the skidpad. You’d get all that for $25,995. By comparison, a base-trim 2007 Corvette sold for $44,250.

Solstice sales were initially strong. GM made 21,273 for 2006, and 24,018 for 2007, besting Mazda’s new third-generation MX-5 Miata in the same years. That was before sales fell off a cliff during the 2008 financial crisis. Of course GM then axed Pontiac as part of its 2009 bankruptcy.

Warts and all

The Solstice has its weak points. The convertible top is a legendary “what were they thinking?” design. To erect the top, you have to pop open a hatch, pull the top up and latch it, put down the hatch, and then pin down its two flying-buttress ends on the rear deck. The benefit is that the top totally disappears when not in use, but it’s a fiddly process compared to the Miata’s simple actuation that can be done from the driver’s seat.

The other flaw is the trunk. Somehow GM thought it was okay to have a giant lump in the middle of the trunk, with just a U-shaped channel around it. Forget packing your golf clubs or more than a backpack or soft-sided duffel. Finally, GM’s tone-deafness extended to the interior, where the cup holder is back where the driver’s right elbow wants to be. It’s inconvenient no matter what you do.

The rare ones

For 2009, Pontiac made a Solstice coupe with a removable targa-style panel. In an era when the rest of the industry was going to retractable hard tops, it was a bit of a throwback. The only problem was that the top panel was too big for the trunk, so drivers had to decide to go open or closed before leaving home. Pontiac’s solution was a temporary cloth top that would stow in the trunk. The coupe was available in the base or GXP trim, and a total of 1,266 were made.

For something even more out of the ordinary, there are the elusive 2010 models. GM shuttered Pontiac’s Wilmington, DE, factory that made the Solstice at the end of May in 2009. But before that happened, it made 30 cars to 2010-model-year specs. Those included 12 Solstice coupes, eight Solstice convertibles, eight of the Saturn version and two Opel GTs. The main changes for 2010 were remote keyless entry and some color options. A paint-and-stickers Solstice “Heritage Edition” was also available, of which two coupes and one convertible were made, all GXPs.

Strangely, after the pilot production run of 2010 models, the factory went back to producing 2009-model-year cars, with total sales in 2010 amounting to 7,409 cars, almost all 2009s. That means if you found the very last Solstice ever made, it’s a 2009, not a 2010.

Solstice-spotting

GM never published authoritative information breaking out GXP sales from total Solstice production, but the best guesses are that about 18,000 Pontiac Solstice GXPs (and another 15,812 Saturn Sky Redlines) were produced. So these will never be rare cars, unless you limit your search to a coupe or a 2010 model-year car.

The bright side to higher production volume is that the Solstice GXP is truly affordable. You can get a good manual-gearbox Solstice GXP for well under $15,000. Examples with automatic transmissions or higher mileage go for less. Expect to pay a little more for the Sky Redline. 

You can find a Solstice on a dealer lot or through local advertising, but the cream of the crop will be found in the online auctions. Prices are the $15k-$20k range for low-mileage cars, of which there seem to be no shortage, as many Solstices seem to have lived pampered lives as sunny-day-only toys. The high-water mark for the model is a 118-mile 2009 Solstice GXP coupe with an automatic transmission sold for $59,850 in March 2022 on Bring a Trailer. Yet we’ve more often seen GXP coupes selling in the lower $30k range.

The bottom line is that the Pontiac Solstice GXP really was the last great car to come from Pontiac. That alone should push the Solstice towards collectibility, but the excellent performance and throwback look of the Solstice GXP is what seals the deal on this affordable classic.

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1985 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE

S/N JM1FB3322F0899133. 4,800 miles. “1.3-L 13B rotary, 5-speed manual transmission, limited-slip differential, Royal Maroon Metallic paint, gray cloth upholstery, 14-inch alloy wheels, removable glass sunroof, factory cassette stereo with graphic equalizer, cruise control, A/C, power accessories.” Condition: 1. SOLD AT $35,700. Bring a Trailer, 3/21/24.

This might be the year for the first-generation RX-7. In the past few months, four first-gens have sold for over $20k. (The highest was an 860-mile car at $44k.) Is this the new normal? Maybe. For the past few years, most first-gens have sold in the $8k–$20k range. With nearly half a million built, the RX-7 will never be rare, but few have survived. Similar to other Japanese cars from the era, many were modified. Contributing to the growing scarcity of nice RX-7s, rotary engines don’t do well sitting in storage for extended periods. The apex seals dry up, making the first startup destructive if not lubricated with ATF beforehand. Fortunately, our subject car has a great video showing it has a strong-running engine. Other details like the original window sticker and paperwork made this a desirable survivor. A professional detail might have added a few grand to the price, but this car was still well sold.

1993 Autozam AZ-1

S/N PG6SA103142. 63k km (39k miles). “Turbocharged 657-cc inline-3, 5-speed manual transaxle, silver 13-inch, eight-spoke wheels, ‘Gullwing’ doors, A/C, Kenwood CD stereo, MOMO steering wheel, HKS boost pressure gauge.” Condition: 1-. SOLD AT $18,957. Bring a Trailer, 3/26/24.

Back in 2019, the SCM Autozam became one of the highest-selling examples here in the U.S. when it brought $20k on Bring a Trailer. Our car earned strong money then, partially due to a full refresh of the engine after it blew a head gasket on the Caravan to Concorso drive down the coast for Monterey Car Week. Over the past five years, more AZ-1s have been imported, and the top of the market is now around $30k. Mazdaspeed versions and ones with aftermarket body kits tend to sell on the higher end, but sometimes that doesn’t even matter. I think for most bidders it comes down to availability and appearance. Our subject car has been fully repainted from the original Classic Red and it also contains some ’90s-era tuner parts, such as GAB struts, the boost gauge, and the steering wheel. A market-correct sale.

1995 Nissan Cima Hearse

S/N FGNY32301382. 20k kilometers, (12k miles). “4.1-L V8, AWD, 4-speed automatic transmission, 15-inch wheels, fog lights, wood-look interior trim, cloth upholstery, power-adjustable seats, memory function for the driver, A/C, cassette player, CD player, cruise control.” Condition: 1. SOLD AT $5,852. Cars & Bids, 2/20/24.

This is a traditional “reikyusha,” Japanese for hearse. This specific style is called a “miyagata,” or “shrine-type,” which dates back to sometime before the 1940s. The wood is all handcrafted, with the design unique to the requests of the customer, and typically modeled after the architectural stylings of both Shinto and Buddhist religions. Originally, Western-built cars were used, since Japanese cars of the era weren’t powerful enough to carry all the additional weight. A little over a decade ago, Japan moved away from this style and the more-traditional Western-style hearses we are more familiar with are now used. In the past, there were over 1,000 of these in operation, which accounted for over 70% of all hearses in the country. These included both Japanese luxury-car conversions and American cars, such as Lincoln Town Cars. Older hearses like this in Japan sell between $10k–$20k and considering their size and weight, shipping probably cost at least $2k. So I have to ask, who is the market for one of these? I think we can understand why bidding didn’t take off here. Well bought, and the new owner will certainly stand out at Professional Car Society events. ©

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It’s an unintended miracle. At the exact same time that the weather is turning towards sunshine, nearly all our cars are in tip-top condition and ready to go.

After I reported on the errant speedometer in the 1972 250C during last week’s shakedown cruise, our technician reminded me that I actually already purchased the instrument cluster from a 300D. It’s only three nuts holding the speedometer, so soon enough we’ll have the right instrument, with the right internal gears, reading the right speed in that car.

That was the last thing on its list.

We also had a problem with the throttle sticking partway open on the 1971 V12 Jag. Bradley took the car to the Grayson’s Consolidated Autoworks, and after popping the bonnet, Ed spotted the problem immediately.

Somehow the rain shields had gotten slightly bent and were rubbing on the throttle shafts. If the throttle had stuck open on the freeway, especially with Bradley behind the wheel, it could have led to some interesting moments. As a parent, those are the types of things you worry about when you put a young person behind the wheel of a classic car. Brakes, steering and suspension can misbehave in ways that are inconceivable in a modern car, and you hope nothing like that happens.

Ed noted that the modern replacement shields are of a thicker gauge and less prone to deforming, so installed a pair.

The only way our cars will stay reliable is if they are driven on a regular basis. I have cars stored in three locations. Five are at my condo, three at Mike Chrisopher’s Pro-Tek Automotive and four more at the SCM Batcave. Those include the cars that get the least use, the 2006 Lotus Elise, the 1965 Alfa Giulia Spider Veloce and the 1967 Alfa Duetto. As I can’t drive a stick, I rely on the kindness of others when it comes to taking them out for a spin.

The three cars I would most like to have in service are the ‘71 V12 Jag, the ‘75 Porsche 911 and 1991 Alfa Spider S4. They all need to be kept at my condo during the good weather.

It’s not as simple as just starting them up and heading out. Ideally, you’d like to be on an organized event with other similar cars. With the Alfa and Porsche clubs, they have a variety of events that we can participate in. Mostly one day out-and-back, a great way to chat with people and exercise your car. Most of the Porsche events are for newer cars, so we hope our antique 1975 can keep up. We’ll certainly be the only one without air-conditioning in this modern era.

I’ve gone on a couple of Mercedes tours, and they are full of late-model four-door sedans, driven by people as old as I am! This lack of two-lane activity has put the 250C on the short list when it comes to reducing the size of the collection. Drop me a note if you have interest.

Our big challenge this summer is to aggressively pursue touring opportunities with likeminded people and cars. Going on these events won’t happen by itself. We have to stay in touch with the clubs, keep our calendars up to date, and be sure we have the right cars at our fingertips when the weekend arrives.

I assume all of you with a handful of cars are concerned about keeping them all exercised as well. I’d like to know how you go about it.

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