Should You Buy a Cosworth Vega?

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Chad Taylor

1975 Chevrolet Cosworth Vega Coupe
Sold at $13,750
Mecum, Phoenix, AZ, March 15, 2019, Lot F91
VIN: 1V77E5U215244

American car manufacturers applied the “no replacement for displacement” mantra when designing cars up until the 1970s, when the growing demand for fuel efficiency and government-required emission standards all but ended the life big-horsepower, big-displacement V8s.

Chevrolet adapted by releasing the uninspiring 80-ish hp Vega in 1971 — a low point in Chevy history that remained until 1975 with Read More

Turbo-Boosted Investment

Posted on September 10, 2019 by Jim Pickering

1982 Pontiac Trans Am KITT
Sold at $66,000
Mecum Auctions, Harrisburg, PA, August 2–4, Lot S139

A few years back, I was reviewing cars at an auction for Sports Car Market with a couple of older friends when we happened upon a Knight Rider KITT conversion. Everyone else in my group laughed at it. I secretly wanted it.

Why? Because I was a kid in the 1980s, when David Hasselhoff was Michael Knight, and his jet-black Read More

A Collectible Crossover?

Posted on September 3, 2019September 3, 2019 by Chad Taylor

1984 AMC Eagle sedan
Sold at $3,850
Mecum Auctions, Chicago, IL, Oct. 25–27, 2018, Lot T35
VIN: 1FAFP42X1YF206398

People want cars that do it all. Part sedan, wagon, SUV and minivan. But with all those requirements, we have ended up with the endless amount of crossover-types clogging up our roads. They have it all, yet do nothing well — and most of them look like jelly beans left out in the sun.

When editor Pickering sent me Read More

Great First Classic: Basic Plymouth Valiant

Posted on July 30, 2019July 30, 2019 by Jim Pickering

1966 Plymouth Valiant Signet convertible
Sold at $8,960
Bonhams, Greenwich, CT, June 3, 2018, Lot 213
VIN: VH27B62594626

A few years back, the classic car world fired up with excitement over a brand-new 1957 Plymouth that had been buried in a concrete vault in Tulsa, OK. Opened in 2007, a time-capsule finned wonder was to emerge, educate the future on the past, and be handed over to one lucky drawing winner.

Hindsight may Read More

Appreciating Asset: 1974 Ford LTD Wagon?

Posted on July 23, 2019July 23, 2019 by Chad Taylor

1974 Ford LTD Country Squire wagon
Sold at $45,920
Gooding & Company, Amelia Island. FL, Mar. 8, 2019, Lot 85
VIN: 4J76S162122

Utility was the strength of a 1970s wagon. Beautiful? No. Fast? No. Good at hauling the family around town? Now we’re talking.

At just under 19 feet long, over 6.5 feet wide and weighing 5,004 pounds, the Country Squire was like a 2001 Ford Excursion SUV before its time. Instead of a 7.3-L Power Stroke Read More

Pick Your Stick: Automatic or Manual?

Posted on July 16, 2019 by Chad Tyson

Will automatic-transmission cars eventually be worth more than the manually shifted ones?

It’s a sort of bigger-picture question that needs to look at shifting demographics and project them into the future.

How many of us have a teenager or 20-something who can shift? How common is the joke that a manual is the new theft-prevention device? Let’s also account for how few manually shifted cars are rolling out of factories around the world, and Read More

Too Many Trucks

Posted on April 18, 2018 by Elana Scherr

We have a lot of trucks. In our household of two people, there’s a good seven haulers on the property. One for every day of the week.

It’s a well-known fact that everyone needs a truck, and people who deny needing a truck are just a yard project or a moving-day away from being a great annoyance to their truck-owning friends.

Truck ownership is even more crucial if you own a classic car, because there comes a day (perhaps long Read More

Goodguys 29th Pacific Northwest Nationals

Posted on February 21, 2017February 22, 2017 by American Car Collector

By Jack Tockston

The Goodguys’ 29^th Pacific Northwest Nationals enjoyed perfect weather at the Washington State Fairgrounds in Puyallup, WA, from July 29-31, 2016. Over 2,700 rods, customs, muscle cars, trucks, and collectables filled the 160 acres. Spectators’ cars from eleven states and two Canadian provinces overflowed both gigantic (free) lots.

This marks my 25^th year attending this gathering. Goodguys promotes twenty such events across the country, and this one has historically been well attended. Part of the success here has to Read More

Kicking Tires with Jay Leno

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Jim Pickering

In a sprawling multi-warehouse complex backed up to a runway at the Burbank airport, Jay Leno’s collection of cars and motorcycles sits at the ready, fueled and charged for a cruise at a moment’s notice. After 22 years as host of The Tonight Show, Leno is in the unique position of being a car guy with it all – space, resources, and the drive to buy, restore, and use interesting pieces of automotive history. ACC recently sat down with Jay Read More