Not only can you buy a classic car at Russo and Steele’s annual January auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., but you can learn a lot about the hobby as well through seminars the auction stages each year.
In previous years, topics have included buying and selling advice from experts and even how to deal with your collection as you near the end of your ability to be the active custodian of your collector cars.
Two seminars will be offered at Russo and Steele in January, one on vintage racing and the other on the art of vehicle restoration.
“Vintage Racing: Putting the Pedal to the Medal” will be offered Jan. 16 at 9 a.m. and will feature:
- Lyn St. James, the first woman to win rookie of the year honors in the Indianapolis 500 and a four-time driver in recent years in the vintage racing car reunions at Goodwood in England;
- Cris Vandagriff, whose grandfather was the riding mechanic for Barney Olfield at Indy and whose father was a pioneer in post-war sports car racing. Cris, who turned Hollywood Sports Car into the largest Ferrari dealership in North America, has competed in vintage racing cars since 1989 and later left his dealership to become full-time general manager of VARA — the Vintage Auto Racing Association — and later bought the Historic Motor Sports Association;
- D. Randy Riggs, editor of Vintage Motorsports magazine with lots of seat time in a long list of vintage racing cars;
- Brian Ferrin, who races the historic Bud Moore/George Foreman Trans-Am Mustang;
- Mike McGovern, chief instructor at the Bob Bondurant School of High-Performance Driving School;
- Chris Hines, a racer whose ArrowLanes LLC prepares and maintains late model stock cars and vintage racing sports cars.
On Friday, Jan. 17, the Russo and Steele seminar subject will be “The Art of Vintage Restoration” with a panel that includes:
- Lance Coren, an auto appraiser who specializes in Ferraris, Shelbys and other exotics cars;
- Bob Smith, whose Coachworks Inc. restoration shop has sent dozens of cars to the show field at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance;
- Alan Taylor, whose Alan Taylor Co., specializes in the restoration of pre-war American and European automobiles, many of which have gone from his shop to Pebble Beach.
