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Re: Sports Car Market

To: Shop Talk <shop-talk@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Sports Car Market
From: Bill Rabel <brabel@dlux.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2001 09:42:07 -0700
> On another note the car mag I spoke about 'Sports Car Market' does have a
> web site - go figure - sportscarmarket.com
> The website is not that impresive but I would like to know if anyone else
> has a subscription to it and their opinion.

This magazine is published in Portland. I love reading the auction
reports -- especially the editor's comments. He can be brutal, such as
calling a car a "fright pig." I also remember a bit of advice in the
magazine: "Don't confuse rarity with desirability," meaning that if it's
a rarity, it was often because people didn't like them when they were
new, either.

The magazine is hugely entertaining. I enjoy reading reports from
auctions I have attended, such as Scottsdale or the RM auction last
weekend in Monterey. The magazine is really useful for collectors who
are trying to "invest" in a car that won't be driven. However, I won't
buy a "trailer queen" unless it's so cheap I can afford to drive it and
"use it up." I have a collection, but I'm not a collector -- I'm a driver.

You do get a good sense about which cars are worth restoring for
investment, and which should be driven. The magazine also publishes a
quarterly price guide called Cars of Particular Interest, or CPI, that
zeros in on the non-ordinary. SCM, together with Hemmings, AutoWeek, and
an N.A.D.A Blue Book can really give you insight into the car market.
Pricing is only the starting point. You also need to know which cars to
sink money into, and toward what end -- collecting or driving.

One caution: The publishers like to offer their current price guide as
an inducement to renewing your subscription. Be careful. I nearly
renewed for a couple of years that wouldn't have *begun* for three
years! Then there's Cosmopolitan Motors, one of their major advertisers,
but that's a whole 'nother discussion.

- Bill Rabel
  Wet Spot Garage
  Anacortes, WA

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