The week the market told our story
First issue, so a word on why this exists: McComas Automotive is built on the idea that specialty cars reward the people who pay attention. This journal is the paying-attention, in public, once a week. And the car world obliged us with a debut week that captured the whole thesis in seven days: the industry retired more manual gearboxes, a numbered gullwing nearly doubled its own market record, and a dead EV brand's flagship sold for the price of a used Camry. Scarcity up, software down. Let's get into it.
Goodwood stacked the hill
The Festival of Speed (July 9–13) carried the week: Lexus showed a battery-electric LFA Concept chasing 0–62 in around two seconds, Ferrari gave the 1,050-PS 849 Testarossa its global dynamic debut, Honda teased the Prelude HRC, Alpine ran a mule of the electric A110 successor, and China's Yangwang U9 Xtreme turned up claiming 3,042 PS and 308 mph. The subtext for our corner of the market: the faster headline numbers get, the more the analog stuff underneath looks like the collectible.
Goodwood Road & Racing →McLaren numbers the end of its V8 era
The 788HS — 777 hp, 2,789 lb dry, 200 units split evenly between coupes and Spiders — is billed as the final evolution of McLaren's pure twin-turbo V8 line before electrified platforms take over. Factory-numbered send-offs of an engine era are exactly the cars that get collected on day one; this one will be studied in our limited-editions file.
CarBuzz →Toyota's V8 supercar runs the hill
While others retreat from combustion, the GR GT — front-mid 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 hybrid, 641 hp, Toyota's first aluminum space frame — made its UK dynamic debut ahead of 2027 production. A brand-new V8 flagship program from the world's largest automaker is the strongest counter-signal of the year.
Goodwood Road & Racing →$775,000 for a 251-mile SLS — and the wire cleared
A 2012 SLS AMG gullwing with 251 miles sold on Bring a Trailer for $775,000 — nearly double the previous non–Black Series SLS record of $401k, and above BaT's best Black Series result. Commenters called fat-finger; BaT confirmed the bid, and the selling dealer confirmed the money arrived. The lesson we keep re-learning: for genuine no-mile cars, comps are a floor, not a ceiling.
Carscoops →Blue chips clear high at RM Sotheby's best UK summer sale
£15.98M ($21.4M) total at Woodcote Park on July 8 — led by the Michelotto-touched F40 "Jean Sage" at $4.84M and a 10-kilometer 1993 911 Carrera RSR 3.8 Strassenversion (one of two) that beat estimate by over £1M at $4.69M. Selective market, yes — but ultra-rare and near-unused is still commanding aggressive money.
Old Cars Weekly →The orphan-EV warning shot: a $69k Fisker for $15,800
A 17k-mile Fisker Ocean One — the launch-edition flagship — hammered at $15,800 on BaT, down 77% in three years. When the maker dies, the software, parts and service die with it, and the market prices that risk without mercy. File under: why our future inventory thesis leans on cars that need mechanics, not servers.
Carscoops →Five more manuals head for the door
Autoblog's tally of confirmed casualties: Jetta GLI goes DSG-only for 2027, the next BMW M3 drops its manual, GR Supra and Z4 bow out with 2026 Final Editions, and the 668-hp Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing — the last manual V8 sedan on sale anywhere — ends production late this year. Every one of these announcements shrinks a fixed future supply. It's the entire reason our first market study is a 6-speed E92 M3, and why the manual premium in our tracker keeps behaving like a one-way ratchet.
Autoblog →Import-cost chessboard: circle July 20–24
A compressed window will reset what imported cars cost to land in the US: USMCA renegotiation Round 3 opens in Mexico City July 20, and the Section 122 surcharge is set to lapse July 24 — which would drop non-USMCA vehicle duties from 27.5% toward a 15% baseline if it expires cleanly. Anyone pricing gray-market or enthusiast imports should not quote a landed cost past next Friday without checking the news first.
GoodCarBadCar →The 2001 JDM class keeps graduating
2001-built Japanese performance cars roll into US 25-year import eligibility month by month through 2026 — Skylines, Evos, Silvias, STIs. Two operational details worth writing down: eligibility keys off the build month on the plate, not the model year, and import-legal doesn't automatically mean financeable. Verify the build plate and the title path before wiring anyone money.
Woodside Credit →Spa arrives with the title fight compressing
Into this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, Kimi Antonelli's championship lead over Mercedes teammate George Russell is down to 25 points (Hamilton 32 back) after reliability trouble erased a 66-point cushion in three races — while the paddock trades theories about Verstappen's 2027 seat. Announcements are expected around the Belgium–Hungary double-header.
Formula1.com →