Blogs

Jim’s Blog – What’s Monterey Mean to the Rest of the Hobby?

Posted on by Jim Pickering

After a few days of recharging our batteries, the ACC crew is back in the office following the whirlwind of car events that make up Monterey car week. I couldn’t be happier with the performance of my Charger on the 1,600-mile drive – 80 mph, a/c on, and 22 mpg on average. Aside from a flying 4×8 sheet of plywood that scuffed up my front bumper and passenger rear quarter panel while we were passing through Redding, California, the trip Read More

Jim’s Blog – What’s the Strangest Thing You’ve Ever Found in a Car?

Posted on by Jim Pickering

As you read this, the ACC and SCM crews will be on the road to Monterey, California for the annual collector car auctions, Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca, and the Pebble Beach Concours, all of which take place this week.  

I spent this past weekend prepping my Charger SRT8 for the 1,600-mile round trip, which included a thorough cleaning inside and out. This is a pretty regular thing at my house, but a little surprise was waiting for Read More

Ten Tools You Need in Your Garage

Posted on by Jim Pickering

If you have an old car, you’d better have a few tools, too. Even if you’re not a shadetree mechanic, there will come a time that you’ll need to turn a wrench or two, even if it’s on something small like a loose belt or a flat tire. So you’ve finally bought that GTO or Road Runner. Now what tools do you absolutely need to have in your garage? 

I spent six years as a professional mechanic working on mostly Read More

Jim’s Blog – Five Cars to Buy Right Now

Posted on by Jim Pickering

When ACC’s staff isn’t out drag racing our cars or going to shows, we’re tracking the collector car market via auction sales. And probably the most frequent question we’re asked has to do with which cars are the new hot ticket in the market at large. What cars should you buy right now before prices move up? How much should you expect to spend?

Time to dust off the crystal ball – with that question in mind, here are five Read More

Jim’s Blog – Dropping the Hammer on ACC’s ’63 Dodge

Posted on by Jim Pickering

ACC has owned our Hemi-powered 1963 Dodge 440 2-dr Post for six months now. During that time, pretty much everyone on staff could be heard bench racing about it at one time or another, all of us wondering if it was really capable of 10-second runs as advertised. This past Friday night, I took it to the drag strip to find out.

I’ve been involved in drag racing since around 1999, but Read More

Shining Moments of Collector Car Stupidity

Posted on by Jim Pickering

For every race won or car show trophy earned, I’m sure there are a few less sparkly car moments you’d like to forget. Nobody here is immune. If you’ve been around cars long enough, you’ve done something silly or just plain stupid. From 100-mph-plus speeding tickets to accidentally starting an engine without oil, it’s time to own up.

I was an auto mechanic for six years at a small local Portland, OR shop that worked on classics, and Read More

The 5 Hottest Collectible Pickups

Posted on by Jim Pickering

The classic truck market has been gaining steam over the past few years, with good-condition original rigs now seeing some very high prices across the auction block. But that hasn’t made them all rise in value. While some trucks are up, others are still just old workhorses without collector interest. So if you’re in the market, which trucks should you be looking for? Here are five I’d watch:

Car Show Season is Here

Posted on by Jim Pickering

From the outside, Portland, OR may not seem like a big car town. What most people see here are a mass of bicycle commuters and greenies driving hybrids on the highway at under the posted speed limit. But all that changes when the annual spring rains let up. Nothing really rusts here, so there’s a large underground of classics, hot rods, and muscle cars in this town. And all it takes is a few days of Read More

Five Best Bet Late-Model Collectibles

Posted on by Jim Pickering

Which late-model fuel-injected performance cars are good investments? That’s a hard question to answer. There’s a sweet spot of low-production cars that actually saw some use from new, which has thinned their numbers and made them harder to find – especially in all-original condition. But in terms of investment potential, my money’s on super low-production cars and cars that were aimed at racing – all would need to be in very original condition with few miles. These are Read More

Springtime Wrenching on the ACC Fleet

Posted on by Jim Pickering

Early May is typically when Portland’s gray gloom comes to an end each year, and with sunny skies likely just around the corner, we spent some time this week getting ACC’s fleet of cars ready for the season.

First up – the ’63 Dodge 440. This car is basically turn-key ready, minus a set of collector plates that we still need to source. However, one little issue it’s had since we got it in January is an inoperative fuel Read More