Most of the reports that come across our desks are fairly straight-forward. This company or that one is planning to buy that one or build something new, some new technology stands to improve the motoring experience, someone's hired and someone's fired. But once in a while something comes along that gives pause for thought. Like this report from Jalopnik. The automotive lifestyle blog is projecting that in a couple of decades from now, the Ferrari California could become a real collectors' item.

Why? Because of an outmoded technology that Ferrari is ditching. In its constant drive to improve its exotic supercars, Ferrari is about to ditch the manual transmission altogether. The F12, FF and 458 all employ dual-clutch transmissions exclusively, but the California can still be had with a traditional three-pedal stick-shift. At least it will until year end, when it will be phased out. Since it began offering them in 2010, Ferrari has sold only two Californias with manual transmissions. And Jalopnik figures those two will command serious premiums as the last stick-shift Ferraris by the time the California reaches classic-car status in 20 or 30 years from now.