Welcome to Must Read, where we single out the best stories from around the automotive universe and beyond. Today we've got reports from Downshift Autos, Automobile, and States Of Motion.
I'm not sure if this is a critique or a compliment, but there are few people in the business of writing about cars I agree with more frequently than Jamie Kitman. It's happened more than once that a batch of my loosely connected neurons will be trying to monkey-with-typewriter out a thought when I find Kitman's already worked it all out. Here's his take on old car ownership, and why you shouldn't feel bad about taking a loan to buy an old car.
One can't emphasize enough the need to buy good old cars, the kind someone else will want to own. Danger lurks, but purchasing an older vehicle needn't be tantamount to throwing away one's money. While it's certainly possible to make a poor investment, investing — or borrowing — money to buy a carefully selected old car, something of fairly certain value, is not extraordinarily risky, differing hardly from many other more socially acceptable forms of investment. Market fluctuations may smart, but real estate and stocks can burn you, too. And you get to drive old cars when you buy them, which, if you've gotten this far, you'll know is its own reward.
Our old friend Patrick Frawley was around for our 2014 Nissan GT-R review and, just as Travis suggested, changed his tune once he got to experience it. Sort of.
I must start with something of an apology for what I wrote about the GT-R several months ago. At the time I considered it a well-researched and well-considered opinion; in retrospect its credibility was deeply flawed by my lack of direct experience with your creation. Although my expressions reflected a sincere point of view, they were inadequately informed and should not have been stated so publicly. Thankfully I was granted the good fortune to spend a long afternoon as a driver and passenger in a GT-R during this past weekend, and I believe it appropriate to relate to you my impressions of the experience.
Did I mention that we did not like the JCW Mini Paceman?
No car manufacturer on Earth suffers from such a severe case of mistaken identity as Mini. The BMW-backed revival of the classic British coupe exploded back onto the international scene in 2001, and has undergone few changes since. A revised edition was introduced in 2007, and one year later, the first Mini Cooper variant debuted as the Clubman. The car is little more than a stretched Cooper with a small second door on the passenger side and a split hatch that opens horizontally. It was born to breathe new life into the brand, and helped Mini achieve greater economies of scale by riding on the same platform as the Cooper and offering the same engine and transmission choices. While it did revitalize Mini, it also set off a chain of events that led to the potentially brand-damaging critical failures of the Countryman, Coupe, Roadster, and Paceman.
Warning: There Are People Who Will Give You Money To Buy Old Cars