Judge Spotlight: Honoring the People Behind the Awards, by Mike Thies

I believe my Blog provides an excellent platform to recognize the dedicated, long-term judges who support the car hobby and events throughout the country. Some have contributed decades of service while judging several major events every year. Their knowledge, fairness and willingness to share what they have learned help preserve the integrity of concours judging. I invite…

A Bite of the Market -Collector Car Trends for the Next Six Months by Mike Thies

As I am appraising vehicles, many folks ask me what the future holds. I tell here what I tell them. So often I am too close to the "real metal" to have much of a crystal ball and it's not my strength, anyway. However, when I stand back and do the research, sometimes a cloudy picture does come through. It seems to me that the last…

JUDGING THE OPEN CAR SHOW

A Practical Guide for Judges at Local Three-to-Four-Hour Community Car Shows

Prepared by Mike Thies

Certified Vehicle Appraiser, I-VAN #04152019

Global Automotive Services LLC, Dacula, Georgia

Copyright November 2011, August…

A Bite of History by Mike Thies

1947 Daimler 2.5 Liter Sedan - Picnic Table Trunk, Hand Built Coach

I've spent a good part of my life around American iron, so when a car crosses my desk that was built an ocean away by a company that was outfitting British royalty before Ford ever built a Model T, it gets my attention in a different way. The Daimler 2.5 Litre, known in period as the DB18, is exactly that kind of car. Daimler had already spent…

A Bite of History by Mike Thies

Maserati & Chrysler

I've always had a soft spot for stories where two companies that had no business working together somehow made it work anyway, and the Chrysler TC by Maserati is exactly that kind of tale. Lee Iacocca had a long friendship with Alejandro de Tomaso going back decades, and by the mid-1980s he wanted a personal luxury convertible that could carry some…

Classic Car Appraisals: What Determines Value by Mike Thies

Determining the value of a classic vehicle involves much more than consulting a price guide or looking at online advertisements. No two collector vehicles are exactly alike. Condition, authenticity, history, workmanship, documentation and current buyer demand can create substantial differences in value between vehicles that appear similar on…

When Concours Was About More Than the Car by Mike Thies

The Concours d’Elegance did not begin as a car show in the way most people think of one today. The idea goes back to Europe, where the word simply meant a “competition of elegance.” Long before automobiles, wealthy owners paraded fine carriages, fine horses, and fine clothes. When automobiles replaced carriages, the same idea carried over. The…

The Class Host at a Concours d’Elegance by Mike Thies

The Person Who Keeps the Field Working

A Concours d’Elegance may look simple from the outside: beautiful cars, polished chrome, fresh grass, well-dressed owners, judges with clipboards, and spectators enjoying the day. But anyone who has worked behind the scenes knows better. A…

A Bite of History - Marcos 

By Mike Thies

The Marcos was one of those wonderfully unconventional British sports car companies that could only have come from the postwar racing world. The company was founded in 1959 by Jem Marsh and aerodynamicist Frank Costin, with the name Marcos coming from Marsh and Costin. Costin brought serious aircraft and racing design experience to the project, and that influence showed up immediately in the cars: low frontal area, light weight,…

A Judge’s View from Pinehurst: Sandhills Motoring Expo 2026 by Mike Thies

The 2026 Sandhills Motoring Expo Concours in the Village was one of those days that reminds you why we do this. Held Sunday, May 24, in the historic Village of Pinehurst, the event brought together more than 130 judged automobiles representing over 40 manufacturers, and from this judge’s point of view, it was a first-class field, a well-run operation, and a genuinely enjoyable day with owners who were proud to…

Selecting the Cars: Building a Concours Field That Matters

by Mike Thies

There are so many aspects of a qulity Concours event, yet all would agree that the heart of any concours is the field itself. A concours succeeds when the vehicles tell a story worth walking through. The selection process should not be a random gathering of nice cars. It should be a deliberate effort to assemble vehicles that represent history, design, craftsmanship,…

A Bite of History- by Mike Thies

The Porsche 356 “Outlaw”

The term “Porsche 356 Outlaw” gets used a lot today, but at its core, it’s simple. An Outlaw is a Porsche 356 that deliberately walks away from factory-correct restoration in favor of performance,…

Pre-WWII Collector Car Market: A Shifting Landscape by Mike Thies

The market for pre-World War II collector cars has undergone a marked shift in recent years. Once considered untouchable crown jewels of the collector world, many pre-war classics are now experiencing declining values amid changing demand. A combination of shifting buyer demographics, broader economic pressures, and evolving tastes has reshaped this segment’s trajectory. This analysis summarizes the key…

A Bite of History  by Mike Thies

 The Jaguar XK120

There are moments in automotive history when a single car changes everything, when elegance, engineering, and audacity collide to create something that feels more like a declaration than a machine. We learn that the Jaguar XK120 was one of those moments. When it first appeared at the 1948 London Motor Show, no one…

A Bite of History – by Mike Thies

The 1948 Ford F-1 Pickup

The 1948 Ford F-1 wasn’t just a new truck, it was the start of something big. When Ford introduced it, they launched the very first F-Series, the truck line that would become America’s favorite for generations. This was the first Ford pickup built on a dedicated truck chassis rather than a car-based frame,…

A Bite of History – by Mike Thies

The “Car Guy’s Garage”

Step inside a place like this and you can almost hear the echoes of every wrench turned and every engine fired back to life. The light hums off the old signs, Route 66, Coca-Cola, Phillips 66, and the smell is that unmistakable mix of oil, leather, and stories. This isn’t just a garage. It’s a…

A Bite of History – by Mike Thies

The RestoMod

There’s a sweet spot between keeping a car original and making it your own, and that’s where the restomod lives. It’s the perfect handshake between yesterday’s design and today’s technology. You keep the classic lines, the chrome, and that unmistakable old-school personality, but you update what counts. Underneath…

A Bite of History – by Mike Thies

If the hot rod was about shine and polish, the rat rod was about grit and guts. These weren’t built for trophies or perfection, they were built to run, to rattle, and to raise a little dust. The idea came from guys who were tired of trailer queens and six-figure show cars. They dug through junkyards, swapped parts in driveways, and welded with whatever they had. A true rat rod looked like it might’ve been found behind an old barn,…

A Bite of History – by Mike Thies

The Hot Rod

There was a time, just after the war, when America’s roads were full of promise, and plenty of flathead Fords. Young men came home with a new sense of purpose and mechanical know-how, and they weren’t about to leave it all behind in the motor pool. They started tinkering in driveways and borrowed barns, stripping weight,…