Turtle Soup*: Aston Martin 1st Half 2022 Results
*Please see AML's Q1 Results for an explanation of the Turtle reference Aston Martin Lagonda (AML) released its first half 2022 results on Friday, July 29th but no longer posts a webcast of the analyst Q&A call on the investors site. During the £653m Equity Raise announcement two weeks ago, AML did give a 1st half trading update that hinted…
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Aston Martin’s £653m Equity Raise & Trading Update
“Let me be crystal-clear, black-and-white: we do not need money.” – Lawrence Stroll Feb 2022 "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" - William Shakespeare 1602 I wasn’t planning on writing another article on Aston Martin (AML) until they released their 1st half results at the end of July. Last Friday’s announcement of the £653m Equity Raise and Trading Update…
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Supercar Market Insights & Analysis – July 2022
I’ve refrained from doing a market update for the past couple of quarters as a lot of what was happening in the supercar market overall just didn’t make a lot of sense. Back in September 2021, I summarized the situation in the market (Supercar Market Update Sept 2021) as follows: In summary, right now we have a sport & supercar…
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A Few Suggestions For The New McLaren CEO
McLaren Automotive’s new CEO, Michael Leiters, officially starts today (July 1). Leiters most recently was Ferrari’s Chief Technology Officer for the last 7 years. While at Ferrari, Leiters was heavily involved in the development and production of a range of models including the first hybrid V8 SF90 Stradale, first V6 hybrid 296 GTB, F8 Tributo and the soon to be…
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Aston Martin: The Stroll Era – How Does it End?
This past week Aston Martin Lagonda’s stock price dropped to a new all-time low of 466p. This is down 78% from its latest 52 week high, making AML stock only a slightly better investment than Dogecoin (-81%) over the past year. While its stock price isn’t sinking quite as fast as the Titanic did, I’m not sure AML will have…
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Turtle Soup*: Aston Martin 1st Half 2022 Results
*Please see AML's Q1 Results for an explanation of the Turtle reference Aston Martin Lagonda (AML) released its first half 2022 results on Friday, July 29th but no longer posts a webcast of the analyst Q&A call on the investors site. During the £653m Equity Raise announcement two weeks ago, AML did give a 1st half trading update that hinted…
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Aston Martin’s £653m Equity Raise & Trading Update
“Let me be crystal-clear, black-and-white: we do not need money.” – Lawrence Stroll Feb 2022 "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" - William Shakespeare 1602 I wasn’t planning on writing another article on Aston Martin (AML) until they released their 1st half results at the end of July. Last Friday’s announcement of the £653m Equity Raise and Trading Update…
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Aston Martin: The Stroll Era – How Does it End?
This past week Aston Martin Lagonda’s stock price dropped to a new all-time low of 466p. This is down 78% from its latest 52 week high, making AML stock only a slightly better investment than Dogecoin (-81%) over the past year. While its stock price isn’t sinking quite as fast as the Titanic did, I’m not sure AML will have…
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The Turtle: Aston Martin Q1 2022 Results
The Turtle reference is a gift from the Red Bull F1 Driver Max Verstappen who made the following statement in regards to the Aston Martin Vantage F1 safety car in Melbourne: “It was like a turtle. Unbelievable. With that car, to drive 140km/h on the back straight where that was not a damaged car anymore, I don’t understand why we…
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Analysis & Insights on Aston Martin’s 2021 Results
Aston Martin reported their full year 2021 results this past Wednesday. According to the Executive Chairman, Lawrence Stroll. “we delivered as promised on all our core numbers.” This rather neatly ignores the 2021 earnings warning Aston Martin issued on Jan 7th (see: Earnings Warning). While the 2021 Earnings Presentation, Press Release, and Analyst Call all tried to present both Aston…
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Thoughts: Ferrari SUV, Aston Martin, SCG, GMA & More
I thought I would share a few thoughts and observations on a number of things that have recently caught my attention in the auto universe. None of these has enough depth for a full blog in their own right but thought they were still worthy of sharing. What the future will look like in six months is anyone’s guess but…
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Monterey Car Week Report 2019
This was our first time at Monterey Car Week. I would probably best describe Car Week as combination of the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival spread out over multiple stunning locations and then supersized in the best American tradition. We arrived on Wednesday late afternoon and departed the following Monday morning (see: McLaren 675LT Spider Road Trip). In between, it was…
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Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible
Weekend With A Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible Courtesy of Park Place, our local supercar dealer, we recently spent a few days living with a Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible. Bentley is a brand that has been slowly growing on me over the last couple of months. This transformation started with the Mulsanne short termer we had last autumn. While…
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Bentley Bentayga
Weekend With A Bentley Bentayga We recently spent 36 hours living with a Bentley Bentayga. Our loaner car was a pearly white and instantly earned the nickname “Beluga”. Going in, it was a car I wanted to hate. It represents just about everything I try to avoid when choosing a preferred mode of transportation. It is huge, heavy, and about…
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Supercar Market Insights & Analysis – July 2022
I’ve refrained from doing a market update for the past couple of quarters as a lot of what was happening in the supercar market overall just didn’t make a lot of sense. Back in September 2021, I summarized the situation in the market (Supercar Market Update Sept 2021) as follows: In summary, right now we have a sport & supercar…
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The Horse: Insights on Ferrari’s Q1 2022 Results
Ferrari had an outstanding year in 2021 and has followed that up with a great start to 2022. Every single key financial indicator in Q1 2022 was double digit positive and Ferrari’s guidance for the full year points to another year of expected strong results. The CEO transition to Benedetto Vigna has been flawless and Ferrari has done a superior…
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A Few Thoughts: Horsepower, McLaren & Chasity, Hypercar Manufacturers
I thought I would share a few thoughts and observations on a number of things that have recently caught my attention in the auto universe. The include the last several decades of horsepower increases, McLaren's current portfolio, and new news on a number of smaller hypercar manufacturers. None of these has enough depth for a full blog but thought they…
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Analysis & Insights on Ferrari’s 2021 Results
Ferrari had an outstanding year in 2021. Every single key financial indicator is now headed in the right direction. They beat their guidance on every single metric and with a broad and fresh product portfolio, they are poised to deliver outstanding growth in the years to come. Ferrari enjoys an overflowing order book and seems to be navigating the move…
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Are there any Supercar Bargains left?
I’ve refrained from doing a market update for the past several months as a lot of what is happening in the car market overall still doesn’t make a lot of sense. Porsche Carrera GTs suddenly jumping up $1 mil. in value and 1-2 year old V12 Ferraris, which normally have the financial buoyancy of the Hindenburg next to a lite…
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Planning Our 1st Epic Drive of 2021
I have hope that things will get better this year with the roll out of the Covid-19 vaccines and that by September or October a road trip will be possible. In great anticipation, I reached out to a group of friends with whom we have been doing road trips for over a decade now to gauge interest. It’s a great…
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Porsche Carrera GT to a Beneteau Oceanis 51.1
A Porsche Carrera GT has been near the top of my bucket list for quite a few years now. This year, for the first time in a while, the stars all started to align, and it looked like it might actually happen. Then Covid-19 hit, lockdowns were imposed, social distancing became the in trend for 2020, and the Carrera GT…
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To Cork or Not to Cork?
Editor’s Note: The following article was written by my brother, the Wine Collector (his wine cellar is probably worth more than my garage). The Wine Collector is a bit of a car enthusiast himself and he has owned a Ferrari 430 Spider for many years. Do screw cap wines and supercars go together? You don’t buy a Ferrari or a…
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Supercar Road Trip: Part 3
We recently moved from Texas back to near where I grew up in New England. As part of the move, Mrs. SSO and I decided to drive the Maserati Granturismo Cabrio and the McLaren 650S Spider respectively the 1,800 miles northeast. This would be the first time Mrs. SSO and I had done a road trip driving in tandem. As…
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Supercar Road Trip: Part 1
We recently moved from Texas back to near where I grew up in New England. As part of the move, Mrs. SSO and I decided to drive the Maserati Granturismo Cabrio and the McLaren 650S Spider respectively the 1,800 miles northeast. This would be the first time Mrs. SSO and I had done a road trip driving in tandem. As…
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The Use Case Rule of Car Collecting
Earlier this year I met a wise experienced car connoisseur over zoom (it is 2020). This gentleman has owned a number of cars that have also passed through our garage over the years (including a Ferrari F50, 16M, McLaren 675LT) along with at least one that I can only dream of (McLaren F1). He introduced me to the “Use Case…
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Our Other Sports Cars
Almost all of the articles I’ve written have been on the supercars we have owned over the years. Both before and alongside these cars, we have also owned a number of other sports cars over the years that have remained anonymous. I thought I would do a bit of a trip down memory lane on the rather eclectic group of…
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Ferrari F50 to the Jaguar XJR-15
Car Collecting Journey: Ferrari F50 to the Jaguar XJR-15 Recently I wrote an article on our experience owning a Ferrari F50 (The Ferrari F50). Looking back today, owning the F50 was a watershed experience in our car collecting journey. It both changed the direction, and has heavily influenced, all our car buying since. The F50 firmly cemented several critical attributes we look for in…
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What I Have Learned In 20 Years of Collecting Supercars
Recently I exchanged a few messages with a gentleman who was looking for a bit of advice on plans for his car collection. I quite enjoyed the exchange and hope I was able to provide at least a modicum of useful insights. I found the experience fascinating as it forced me to reflect back on our car collecting experiences over the last…
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Supercars We Have Sold
Supercar Ghosts With the McLaren Senna arriving shortly, I have been reflecting back on the different supercars I have owned over the years. They basically fall into three groups; missed and would like it back, enjoyed owning but it was time to move on, and thank god it’s gone. For the sake of brevity, I will only touch upon my…
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Supercar Market Insights & Analysis – July 2022
I’ve refrained from doing a market update for the past couple of quarters as a lot of what was happening in the supercar market overall just didn’t make a lot of sense. Back in September 2021, I summarized the situation in the market (Supercar Market Update Sept 2021) as follows: In summary, right now we have a sport & supercar…
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A Few Suggestions For The New McLaren CEO
McLaren Automotive’s new CEO, Michael Leiters, officially starts today (July 1). Leiters most recently was Ferrari’s Chief Technology Officer for the last 7 years. While at Ferrari, Leiters was heavily involved in the development and production of a range of models including the first hybrid V8 SF90 Stradale, first V6 hybrid 296 GTB, F8 Tributo and the soon to be…
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Limited Edition M840 Powered McLarens: 765LT Spider, Elva, & the Senna
At the heart of every 2nd generation McLaren super or hypercar sits the 4 liter twin turbo V8 M840 engine. To date, there have been four limited edition, 2nd generation M840 powered McLarens. I have been fortunate to both own two and have had the pleasure of driving three out of the four. The only one I haven’t spent any…
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1st Impressions: McLaren 765LT Spider
Almost 5 years to the day that I put my order in for what was to become the 765LT Spider, ours arrived on the driveway. In April 2017 we attended the 720S launch event in Dallas. Mrs. SSO was very impressed with the 720S from the moment it was unveiled and quite enthusiastically shared her point of view with the…
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A Few Thoughts: Horsepower, McLaren & Chasity, Hypercar Manufacturers
I thought I would share a few thoughts and observations on a number of things that have recently caught my attention in the auto universe. The include the last several decades of horsepower increases, McLaren's current portfolio, and new news on a number of smaller hypercar manufacturers. None of these has enough depth for a full blog but thought they…
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New Supercar Definitions
I have spent most of the last week flat on my tush with COVID (I am double vaccinated and double boosted). After that rather unpleasant experience, like a bad case of man-flu, something a bit lighter was what the Doctor ordered. The following is meant to be taken with at least a grain of salt. Definitions With not a lot…
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A Few Thoughts: Horsepower, McLaren & Chasity, Hypercar Manufacturers
I thought I would share a few thoughts and observations on a number of things that have recently caught my attention in the auto universe. The include the last several decades of horsepower increases, McLaren's current portfolio, and new news on a number of smaller hypercar manufacturers. None of these has enough depth for a full blog but thought they…
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Will Audi Buy McLaren? & a Brief Update on the Aston Martin Saga
Since last November, there have been multiple rumors that Audi (technically it would be the Volkswagen Group which owns Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, and a number of other brands) is about to buy McLaren. McLaren, via Zak Brown CEO of McLaren Racing, has publicly admitted talks have taken place but no agreement has been reached. The reality is these sort of…
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The SSO Awards: 2021
In this final article of 2021, what has been another unprecedented year, I’ve put together my annual SSO Awards list covering the automotive universe in general. In putting this year’s awards list together, I would like to first acknowledge that I have no real basis to be doing this (that’s better left up to the professional journalists and those that…
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Boutique Hypercar Manufacturers: Outlook 2021
Back in October 2019 I posted an article on the saturation of the Hypercar Market (Too Much of a Good Thing). In that article I mentioned that a number of micro manufacturers had jumped into the hypercar market including De Tomaso, Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG), Brabham, and Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA). Since then, Delage and Czinger have also joined this rather…
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Supercar Market Insights & Analysis – July 2022
I’ve refrained from doing a market update for the past couple of quarters as a lot of what was happening in the supercar market overall just didn’t make a lot of sense. Back in September 2021, I summarized the situation in the market (Supercar Market Update Sept 2021) as follows: In summary, right now we have a sport & supercar…
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Are there any Supercar Bargains left?
I’ve refrained from doing a market update for the past several months as a lot of what is happening in the car market overall still doesn’t make a lot of sense. Porsche Carrera GTs suddenly jumping up $1 mil. in value and 1-2 year old V12 Ferraris, which normally have the financial buoyancy of the Hindenburg next to a lite…
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Race Cars for the Road: Senna & 911 GT3 RS
With the arrival of the Porsche 911 (997.2) GT3 RS on the east coast, I’ve found that the two sets of keys I been reaching for most frequently in the past couple of weekends have been those of the white red eared beast, and the ice blue land shark. While the 911 GT3 RS and the McLaren Senna share a…
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Supercar Market Insights & Analysis – Sept 2021
I’ve refrained from doing a market update for the past several months as a lot of what was happening in the car market overall just didn’t make a lot of sense. I’m not sure it still does but post the Monterey Auctions, there is a bit more data to at least wade through. Back in January 2021, I summarized the…
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The Ones That Got Away: F1, Enzo, & a Carrera GT
When I was writing the article on the Ferrari 288GTO, F40, F50, Enzo, & LaFerrari recently, it got me thinking not just about the wonderful cars we have been fortunate enough to own over the years, but also about a few that got away. Of the many acquisitions we have made, there have probably been as many that didn’t happen…
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The Bayside Restaurant: Home of New England’s Best Lobster Roll
This is actually the first standalone restaurant review we have ever done. All the prior one’s have been included in road trip reports. However when a restaurant consistently makes the best lobster roll in New England, it has earned the right to have its own review. The Bayside does, and it certainly has, for the two years since we first…
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To Cork or Not to Cork?
Editor’s Note: The following article was written by my brother, the Wine Collector (his wine cellar is probably worth more than my garage). The Wine Collector is a bit of a car enthusiast himself and he has owned a Ferrari 430 Spider for many years. Do screw cap wines and supercars go together? You don’t buy a Ferrari or a…
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Supercar Road Trip: Part 2
We recently moved from Texas back to near where I grew up in New England. As part of the move, Mrs. SSO and I decided to drive the Maserati Granturismo Cabrio and the McLaren 650S Spider respectively the 1,800 miles northeast. This would be the first time Mrs. SSO and I had done a road trip driving in tandem. As…
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Supercar Road Trip: Part 1
We recently moved from Texas back to near where I grew up in New England. As part of the move, Mrs. SSO and I decided to drive the Maserati Granturismo Cabrio and the McLaren 650S Spider respectively the 1,800 miles northeast. This would be the first time Mrs. SSO and I had done a road trip driving in tandem. As…
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Chicago
Chicago: A Great American City By Mrs. SSO While I normally write about Hotels, that was just a functional aspect of a recent trip to Chicago with Mr. SSO. Chicago is right up there with other great International Cities. It is so much more than being home to the Chicago Bears Football Team or the Chicago Cubs Baseball Team (although when you…
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SCG 004S Test Drive & First Impressions
Guest Article By “Zombie Physicist” I recently pulled the trigger to order a Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG) 004S and thought I would do a review after having a test drive. This review is a bit long, but broken into two parts: Part 1: observations on the car itself, and Part 2: driving impressions. The two parts are further broken down…
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A Few Thoughts: Horsepower, McLaren & Chasity, Hypercar Manufacturers
I thought I would share a few thoughts and observations on a number of things that have recently caught my attention in the auto universe. The include the last several decades of horsepower increases, McLaren's current portfolio, and new news on a number of smaller hypercar manufacturers. None of these has enough depth for a full blog but thought they…
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SSO’s Supercar Plans for 2022
Sitting here on a cold sunny Saturday morning in January watching the colors of dawn poking through the forest, got me thinking about what 2022 will bring in terms of both already planned new arrivals in the garage, another addition I am seriously considering (it’s been submitted for Use Case testing), and a few other cars I would like to…
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The SSO Awards: 2021
In this final article of 2021, what has been another unprecedented year, I’ve put together my annual SSO Awards list covering the automotive universe in general. In putting this year’s awards list together, I would like to first acknowledge that I have no real basis to be doing this (that’s better left up to the professional journalists and those that…
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Anticipation Grows – The SCG 004S
It’s been about six months since I last posted an update on the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG) 004s’ development (1st Impressions, the SCG004S). I had just had the chance to visit the new SCG factory in Danbury, Connecticut and see a couple of the 004S development mules. I was very fortunate to have Jim Glickenhaus provide a personal tour and…
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