A Jaguar E-Type, a Nobel Playwright, and Kevin Durant

In today's episode, I attempt to answer a question I often get: "do you drive all your cars regularly?". The answer is yes, I try to rotate through them on a daily basis to keep them all exercised. Not every day is an epic drive, but usually something fun comes out of it.

So yesterday I took the 1969 E-type Roadster out on another sunny November afternoon. I had worked around the house all day, so I went for aa short drive before going to a basketball game with some friends (more on that in a sec). 

Ever since I put in a smaller Moto-Lita steering wheel (14" diameter vs 16" OEM), the Jaguar is much easier to get in and out of. And with the new Bell large-bore exhaust and recent tune up, the car is just a pleasure to tool around in. Just driving around our little town of Danville today, but the late afternoon sun was wonderful in the hills west of me. 







I ended up at the historic "Tao House", which was built by Eugene O'Neill in 1936. Eugene O'Neill is America's only Nobel-prize wining playwright, and he used his Nobel Prize money to build the Tao House right here in our little town of Danville, CA. It is now a National Historic site. At this home between 1937 and 1944, O'Neill wrote his last plays including "The Iceman Cometh" and "Long Day's Journey Into Night", for which he won a Pulitzer prize (one of 4 he received). I drove around the area and snapped a couple other photos along the way, and made myself a promise to come do teh full tour here at my first opportunity! O’Neill turns out to be a fascinating guy, a son of Irish immigrant actors, born literally in Times Square, NY, who went on to change the face of American playwriting. 











I put the car away as the sun descended and jumped into a Lyft (being anti-Uber today), and headed down to Oracle Arena to join some friends at the Golden State Warriors game. They have courtside season tickets, which gets you very close to the action, as well as access to the "BMW Club" for dinner and drinks pre-game. Being a few feet away from people like Kevin Durant makes me recall that I'm damned short (5'-9"). Steph gets all the love, but Durant has to be one of the best-ever acquisitions in the history of basketball. 









Also, the prices are so high for pro-sports tickets these days that the crowd is clearly "corporate", and it makes me sad for the average fan. Yet it was a super-fun evening, only my third time I’ve attended a Warriors game. The Memphis Grizzlies played hard the first half to break at halftime in a tie. But as often happens, they got tired by staying on pace with the Warriors’ deep bench and the Warriors pulled away by 20 in the 3rd quarter, giving the Warriors Dancers a reason to celebrate.



So that is how you tie together a Jag, a playwright, and a seven-foot millionaire.

A Shelby GT350R, a racetrack incident, and a Cabernet

So in today’s episode of “what to do in Northern California in November”, we took a trip to Sonoma Raceway and Napa Valley. 

The Shelby GT350R was the car of choice today. I've had it for a few months now, and I have had it out to Sonoma Raceway for a few track sessions, then to Thunderhill Raceway at a slightly higher level of "push", and finally again to Sonoma Raceway to almost take it to its limits (more accurately, to MY self-imposed limits). So now with 1,000 miles on it, the tires are already toast...

The outside edge of the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s are subject to lots of wearing in stock format, even just while street driving, due to a lack of negative camber, so they look pretty worn on the outside edges after just 1000 miles and a few track days. Darrell Anderson at AV8 Supercars will be installing camber plates so that we can dial in a bit more negative camber for better turn-in and less outer edge wear. So we drove the "Orange-a-Stang" (nickname credit to my friend Robin) to Darrell's shop at Sonoma Raceway. A short 40 minute drive from home to the track took us across the bird-full marshland along Highway 37. 







We watched some local track action as I dropped the car off. While there, I got to inspect the damage my friend just did to his blue GT350R. This is what happens when you get on the power just a tiny-bit too abruptly in turn 8 at Sonoma. No bueno. Keep in mind, this is a driver who is accustomed to a GT3RS and a Formula Mazda, so he knows how to drive. The Shelby R is a beast, but demands respect. 





We moved into the family sedan and headed out to pick up wine at a few wine clubs we belong to. First stop at Walt in Sonoma Square. In addition to a few little tastes, we got fed and picked up our latest wine club allocation. A magnum of Walt “Bob’s Ranch” Pinot Noir would be perfect for thanksgiving turkey, but we already have enough Pinot Noir!





Next stop, Del Dotto historic wine caves on Atlas Peak. The fires last year came very close to this great facility. Picked up some limited member-only Zinfandel and Sangiovese. Go here, folks. Tour the wine caves. 







Then we headed up north along the Silverado Trail... the best route through Napa Valley, IMHO. The grape leaves are turning yellow post-harvest. Great time to be up here. 



Twenty minutes later, we arrived at one of my favorite tasting venues... Duckhorn Vineyards. 



Today was Winter member pick-up, and we were grabbing some Howell Mountain Cabernet and Stout Vineyard Cabernet. Both excellent, but hard to beat the 2011 “Discussion” Cabernet they poured us...and the “Ten Degree” Pinot Noir from their sister winery Goldeneye. A good day at Duckhorn. A must-stop if you come here to Napa. 









After walking off my few tastings, and having a fantastic plate of pasta carbonara at Pizzeria Tra Vigne in St. Helena, we headed home. As the sun slowly descended on this magical valley, we vowed to be back soon. If the weather is right, next time we will bring a drop-top. 

The value of a 1967 Corvette Roadster vs a 2011 Corvette ZR1 Coupe in 25 years. Which one wins?

I have posed this question to a number of my car friends, so I am putting it here for everyone's consideration.

I currently own a 1967 ("C2") Corvette convertible with the 350HP 327cid small-block, a 4-speed manual transmission, Marina Blue exterior and White/Blue interior with White top. It is in excellent condition, with a complete nuts-and-bolts restoration having been completed in 2008 (I bought the car after that, in 2009).  In today's market, I'd say the car is worth approximately $60,000 - $65,000.

Meanwhile, a used 2009-2013 era ("C6") Corvette ZR1 goes for about the same price or a bit more, around $70,000. Keep in mind, this was a car that sold for over $110,000 new and was the flagship supercar for GM during the period before the newer C7 Corvette Z06 came into being. This was a no-holds-barred shot by Corvette at all the world's top performance brands and it was a pivotal point in Chevrolet's strategy to really bring the best of automotive technology to the Corvette, which was seen as a bit "plastic" and cheap compared to some rival supercars. It ushered in the next wave of upgrades which became more standard on the redesigned "C7" Corvette Stingray in 2014.

I have considered selling my 1967 and purchasing a C6 ZR1, possibly a 2011 model, assuming it would be close to an even trade in value. I could keep both, but space becomes a little tighter if I do.

So the question is this: in 25 years, which will be worth more?

Arguments for the 1967: the 1967 Vette is a classic sports car, the best in the U.S. in it's time. It may always be seen as a hallmark of design and performance for that era. Muscle cars from the 60's will always have a strong following because they are of an iconic age that will always be important and because they are easy to maintain, relative to the complex machinery of today. The design if the 1967, as the last of the mid-year Corvette C2s, remains as beautiful today as it was then.  Everyone who sees the car loves it, just as they do iconic cars like a 1961 Jaguar E-type convertible.

Arguments against the 1967: The buyers for those cars have typically been men who lived in that era and who have the disposable income in their 50's and 60's today to go back and collect that dream car from their youth. In 30 more years, those buyers are dead or out of their car buying period. The most collectable cars will always be the big-block 427s, and this car I have is a nicely optioned small-block, but there are too many of them that have now been restored relative to the number of buyers.  Every car auction seems to have an endless supply of C2 Corvettes for sale, and eventually the market will have been satisfied. If we look at the market for cars from the 1940's and 1950's, maybe there is a lesson there for the 1960's cars. Just a couple examples would be the 1953 Packard Caribbean or the 1955 Chevry Bel Air.  Both were considered highly desirable as collector cars, but in the last 5 years values have been flat to down. The people who lusted after them are just no longer driving the market.  About all they seem to benefit from now is general inflation. This is just my opinion and I would love to be proven wrong here. Highly specialized cars from the 1950's still do well (Ferrari, Aston Martin, Continental Mark II, early Corvettes), but I can't necessarily claim that my 1967 327 convertible fits that description.

Arguments for the 2011 ZR1: In 25 years, this car will likely be desired by those in their 50's that lusted after this car as a 20-year-old today when it came out in 2011. Note that there were just over 4600 ZR1s built during the 5-year production run, with about 400 built each of the last two years 2012 and 2013, so those are the more rare years.  People in 25 years may pay a premium for a nice example that hasn't been thrashed or tracked, something that will likely happen to many ZR1s today, because they have been pushed aside by the newer, shinier C7 Z06. The ZR1 is a limited production car, and although GM probably over-produced them for the current market, there will probably be more buyers than sellers in 25 years. Also by then, cars may be dominated by EV drivetrains, hybrids, or other alternates. Manual transmissions will be a thing of the past. Everything will be turbocharged for better fuel efficiency. And the next ZR1 in 2017 is rumored to be (gasp!) a mid-engined car!  So the 2011 ZR1 could represent the "pinnacle" of this second muscle era of the early 21st century. This type of naturally-aspirated V-8 with 638HP from an internal combustion engine will be like a long-forgotten dinosaur that may be worth much more money due to their place in auto history. 

Arguments against the 2011 ZR1: The 2011 car is a complex piece of technology that is not as easy to maintain as the 1967 and parts availability is unknown today. Repair and parts may become more expensive than the older car. The design was not considered revolutionary, although the car's overall performance was. 

Of course, with inflation over 25 years, if an average sedan will cost you more than double today's prices (say, $100,000), then it will be easy for both these cars to increase in value.

So, which one will be worth more in 25 years?  I'm actually starting to believe the answer will be the 2011 ZR1, if for no other reason that my arguments for and against above seemed to weigh in that direction.  But maybe one single argument is just looking at the cars... I mean, who doesn't love the 1967? 

So, there are 5 possible scenarios.

A. The 1967 will be worth more than the 2011 ZR1
B. The 2011 ZR1 will be worth more than the 1967
C. They will both be worth less than they are today, so either one is a bad "investment"
D. They will both be worth more than today, but will be close in value to each other
E. Impossible to tell, it depends on inflation

That is the multiple choice question to which I can't quite figure out the answer.  Maybe I just need to go for a drive to clear my head...

My favorite year for cars?

There are so many designs I like in the world of cars, and one could argue that right now, on the precipice of the year 2013, we are at a pinnacle of car design and engineering.  I wouldn't argue that point, but as I think back to various periods to consider if there was a "golden age" during my life (no...not the 1930's!), then I think my answer to the question posed in my title would have to be....

1967
I was five years old in 1967 and by many accounts it was a period of turmoil and growth in the world, and certainly in the United States. For cars, it was a fantastic year.  I won't come up with all the great aspects of 1967, but here are a few to consider...

* The Lamborghini Muria was born and some call it the first exotic "supercar"
* Porsche 911s were stunning, fast, and nimble
* Mercedes introduced the fun and sporty 2-seater 280SL
* Ferrari 275 GTB. 'Nuff said
* Last year of the Jaguar E-type before safety rules made the bumpers ugly, and the same goes for things like cool dashboard toggle switches that disappeared after 1967 from all kinds of sports cars
* Pinnacle year of the mid-year C2 Corvette body styles.  One option: a big block 427ci L88 with over 550HP!!
* all cars were unrestricted as it was still prior to the emissions rules of the early 1970s
* 1967 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake
* Datsun had the Roadster, aka Fairlady (pre-Z car)
* VW had perfected the beetle, increased HP, and moved to a 12-volt generator
* BMW had fun cars for track and street in the 1600ti and 2000cs
* Shelby came out with the GT-500 Cobra
* Mustang upgraded the pony car to a big block 390
* Chrysler had just introduced the 440 Magnum and the 426 Hemi
* GM's cars looked best in this period (GTO, Chevelle, etc) because they hadn't yet gone to the fastback styling of 1968+,
* Both the iconic Pontiac Firebird and Chevy Camaro were introduced.
* The stunning 1967 Ford GT-40: the U.S. answer to Ferrari racing dominance
* But wait: the 1967 Ferrari 330 P4 is still maybe the most beautiful race car ever made, and it won the 24 hours of Daytona that year...oh, and took 2nd and 3rd place, too.
* Porsche had an amazing car on the race circuits as well, with the 906E

 Um, yeah. I think I've made my case: 1967 was my favorite year for cars.