Pics of vintages I find/see on the net.

Yesterday, 8 Aug 2024, Nürburgring

246 Dino

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Owner: "Mr. Smith"

 

I know, the title is about pics seen on the web, but see them here:

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last one:

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2129 GT with its incorrectly repaired nose grille shape, as it has been since 1962, that has been so oft copied by the GTO Engineering SWB replicas. See here.

 

Peter Kumar is amazingly good at tracking down barn finds, be they Ferraris or other marques; hundreds on his scorecard.

 

Many dealers have secret warehouses with cars they only let out on the market at a trickle...because if they let them all out at the same time it would impact the market.

 

... and another reason why I've always been skeptical of some of their hammering "results" reporting without transparent outside verification. Too much smoke & mirrors, but apparently plenty of (gullible ?) people eat it up like candy.

 

There is that huuuge stash of Aston Martins from the middle east, a Sheik who had bought several thousand cars of which countless Astons...Bonhams has been selling them little by little.

 

And having observed all this through 4 or so decades, it's been relatively easy to see how "market" trends can & have been "manipulated" by "insiders" (for lack of better wording).

How else do different brands/models/types become all the rage for a year or two and then it's something else, i.e. Ferrari -> Porsche -> Muscle cars -> Pre-war "Classics" -> Volkswagen buses/vans -> Pickup trucks -> , etc ...

Obviously many of the magazines and/or other publications do their part pandering their sponsors, i.e. advertisers, by creating content to embellish the current/latest trend.

But that's how you play musical chairs for lemmings, posers & speculators, right ?

 

In 32 years of writing all my bio research test dive articles have been my own idea except one in 1997. That is about 0,001 percent of my articles.

It was 250gt tdf 0879 for Cavallino when Brooks, now Bonham's, was offering it at their Monaco spring auction.

They asked publisher John Barnes if he wanted to publish a test drive historical bio article and he chose me.

I was flown from Florida to Spa in February, the weather was predictably Belgian rainy, I drove it one afternoon then flew home. I then had just two or three days deadline to do research and write it, tight but I made it and the article came out in the April issue weeks before the auction.

The late Robert Brooks himself paid my Miami Brussels return flight and Brussels Hilton room. He did not however attach any strings to it. None.

It was a very moody day, I drove the old full 14km course and I enjoyed the fact that the car had had a very long restoration by one of my Swedish compatriots.

A Modenese collector bought the car at that auction.

 

Of course not.
I'd have to kill you.

 

Different stripe colors; blue white red on one, blue white blue on the other.

 

Oof!