Caterham Cars Founder perishes

Although I know very little about the English make affectionately known as Caterham Cars, sadly I was informed of the news that its company founder Graham Nearn has passed away at the age of 76 this past Saturday. (October 24th, 2009)

Yet there seems to be an outpouring of fondness for the late Mr. Nearn, the “Godfather” of the Caterham Super 7, who I had the privilege of meeting once some half dozen years ago, albeit I had no idea of the man’s stature in the zany world of Automobile Manufactures, nor any inkling that a half century ago he’d started Caterham as a Lotus Agent for Colin Chapman’s lightweight (Fenders) Sports Car known then as the Lotus 7.

Nor do I know anything about a long forgotten British Television Show called: The Prisoner, which apparently was originally aired back in the mid 1960’s before spawning a whole new generation of fans with its rebroadcasting on Britain’s Channel 4 (BBC?) in the early 1980’s. (Circa 1983) Only learning about said TV show whilst searching for news upon Graham’s untimely death and having found an interesting interview.

The Vanishing point – Not a number

Thus further learning that Graham had ultimately built a Prisoner Replica nearly two decades ago, having tracked down Patrick McGoohan and hashed out a deal over breakfast in LA, as Nearn and McGoohan unveiled the Caterham Prisoner Edition 7 in October 1990 for the Birmingham Motor Show. As Graham had ambitious plans of a limited production run of 500 for the Prisoner replica which apparently peaked at the modest number of 47 when sales orders dried up.

And there’s a photograph (the photograph?) of Prisoner star McGoohan and Graham Nearn in the brief article titled: Steward of the 7, as the above interview mentions how Graham had been an “Extra” in the TV show and telling the producers he wasn’t really worried about the daily wages, he just really wanted a photo of him alongside McGoohan, which he’d use to promote sales of the Lotus 7, having just been granted a Concessioner’s deal in 1966, before ultimately taking over the automobiles manufacturing in 1973.

Yet, even today, this most iconic English Sports Car in varying forms of build and now known as the Caterham (Super) 7 is still in production a half century later and revered by many motoring enthusiasts around the world…

Making steam

Why does that title make me think of the Princess, eh? For some strange reason, this article caught my eye… As those wacky “Brits” are at it once again, trying to make the ultimate tea pot, Err the world’s fastest Tea Kettle, as those BLOODY LIMEY’S will do ANYTHING for their morning tea ‘N Crumpets, eh?

And thus a dedicated team of Brit’s have recently been cavorting about the dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base hoping to break a very strange record that’s understandably stood for over a century now… As the current steam powered automobile record was set prior to the completion of the famed Brickyard!

Thus, while the Bonneville Speed Weeks was wrapping up, the team set to work to make their attempts on the Roger’s dry lake bed at Edwards AFB, where after many teething problems, technical issues and inclement weather, the team was finally successful with a new FIA World Record average speed of 139.843mph, breaking Fred Marriott’s 1906 Record of 127mph aboard his Stanley Steamer, with a top velocity of 151mph being reached…

Success! British steam supercar smashes 100-year-old land-speed record

Uhm? One lump or two in your tea sir?

Wienermobile follies

I wish I was an Oscar Meyer wiener…

Holy Wienermobile Batman! As Y’all (painfully) know by now, my Confuzer has been outta action the past several weeks, which may be was due to the carelessness of a Rookie Wienermobile Piloto, eh?

Wienermobile crashes into Wisconsin home

And I certainly hope that the fine folks at Oscar Meyer didn’t call the errant Tow Truck Operator who just managed to crash his way into somebody’s Swimming pool after playing pinball with another Motorist while too busy talking on one cell phone while texting on another…

Tow Truck driver crashes into pool while texting

Now what was that tag line about They Plump when yuhs Cooks ‘dem? Somebody stops me now… Can it be the HEAT?

LeMay Automobile Museum update

As Y’all know, the Global Economy AIN’T exactly in the best ‘O shape at the moment... As the Global Credit crunch continues to tighten its grip around the world’s financial markets, etc.

Thus, as always, in dire times many “Sundry” items such as entertainment, are slashed from everyone’s budgets, as just look at the new Yankee’s “Bazillion’s” Stadium’s premiere seats being vacant, not to mention the much over-lamented downturn of RASSCAR attendance as well as The Arts being dramatically effected on a daily basis.

And thus, with the demise of the Seattle Post Intelligencer, which has become a former shell of itself in its pathetic Online version, I’ve regrettably switched over to The Seattle Times, albeit I prefer the Post Intelligencer’s reporting, but I digress.

Thus I found it somewhat alarming, although not surprising that the LeMay Automobile Museum is currently struggling for financing of its most excellent Museum to be built in Tacoma, WA as the director of the Museum has noted that Donations have simply dried up...

LeMay Automobile Museum $7m Short

Recall, that “Lonestar JR” has been added to the LeMay’s Board of Directors and this project, not to mention the collection of Automobilia is simply too great to let slip by and thus I’d expect as the Mayor of Tacoma seems confident of, funding will indeed go forward for the project, of which I hole heartily agree with and hope this magnificent project reaches its full potential, as its truly an amazing collection and Pacific Northwest treasure!

LeMay Museum

2009 Camaro Pace Car spied

In an effort to distract us from the news that CEO Rick Wagoner has been fired, General Motors has released the very first pic’s of this years IMS Pace Car, with a GM Spokesperson claiming they’d gone for a “Retro” look, having found that the majority of their 40-something target audience really liked the original Z28 styling... And the folks over at Mattel will be able to dust off their old tooling, while Tommy Kendall will be this year’s honorary pilot, as the Californian has always wanted to drive at Indy...

Two Green thumbs?

“The Bluest skies you’ve ever seen are in Seattle.”
(Perry Como; Seattle, 1969)

Whale, not really!
So does this mean a change of scenery is immanent? As in years past, I recall making calendars to count down the days until the first Grand Prix of the new season would begin... While wading thru the bleakness of the Winter Olympics, better known as Winter testing, which the FIA has dastardly cut proportionally over the past several years, although the in season testing ban should theoretically cause the drivers to log more track time on Friday’s this year.

Thus having waited with great abandon for this weekend’s season opening Formula 1 race Down Under, instead I partook in two days attendance at Seattle’s 2nd Annual Green Festival, which I must say was overly packed and very well attended... Something to do with us Northwest “Tree Huggers?” And thus I set the commands of my shiny new Comcast Box to record the week’s drama in Albert Park to my trusty ‘Ol VCR... Which is much easier to program then today’s DVR’s for Mwah, but that’s a whole ‘nother conversation, eh?

Saturday evening Mary Ellen & I attended the Electric Vehicles 101 presentation hosted by two very entertaining gentlemen of the Seattle Electric Vehicles Association.(SEVA) As the main speaker Daniel Davids, being 65 years old has spent 29yrs living, breathing, eating, dreaming Electric vehicles, while his “junior” partner Steve Lough (54yrs) has a 40 year history with Electric vehicles... Including numerous drag racing victories, while Davids is featured in the 2 SCREAM to 60 Youtube video; yet, it was interesting to hear Lough actually suggest that one wait 3-5yrs to purchase an Electric vehicle as opposed to running out and buying one today, as there’ll seemingly be an explosion of these vehicles being produced by our major Automobile manufacturers then... Since if you wish to convert a vehicle today it’ll potentially set you back somewhere between $12-15,000 and there’s NO guarantee you’ll end up with a good conversion. Although I found it interesting how they scoffed at GM’s much ballyhooed Volt... Because it’s NOT a true 100% Electric vehicle? Ironically I found this a most enjoyable lecture, although it seemingly contradicts my interest in Formula 1 and IndyCars...

On Sunday, we attended four speakers hour long presentations, which were most dynamic, inspiring and devoid of the mainstream “fluff” that we’re subjugated to 24/7, as we listened to Amy Goodman, John Perkins, Clifford Pichot III and Laura Flanders respectively.

Amy Goodman touched upon the fact that this weekend marked the 20th Anniversary of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound, of which the Herring have never returned too... And of the initial 22,000 plaintiffs who filed against the world’s largest Petroleum Company, 6,000 have died while Exxon has kept these lawsuits in litigation...

John Perkins spoke upon what would happen if we refocused our Corporate priorities, while Pichot divulged his “Happo-Damno” philosophy; which is the measuring of Happiness vs. Damage environmentally... And Laura Flanders spoke to the demise of our legacy Newspaper industry as the loss of these jobs like most, once lost will never come back and how this is a travesty for each cities morale fiber... Noting how a two time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist of our just castrated Seattle Post Intelligencer has suddenly found himself unemployed! As perhaps (if you’re still reading this) you’ve guessed by now that the Green Festival is geared towards the world’s future Sustainability...

Green Festival – Seattle

And thus I found it ironic that while attending the Green Festival this weekend, which also happens to coincide with the 10th Anniversary of the WTO Demonstrations in Seattle... Two of the world’s largest Automobile manufacturers chief executive officers were being sacked... As Rick Wagner, General Motors Head Honcho resigned from his post in the wake of further Government assistance, as under Wagner’s stewardship, GM’s United States market share has declined from 33.2% to 18.8%, while the company’s stock price has devalued over $50.00 per share.

Meanwhile, Christian Streiff, the embattled leader of PSA Peugeot-Citroen,, was fired from his post, as one of France’s “Big Two:” Peugeot and Renault SA struggle to survive in the Global economy on the back of a $7.5 billion Euro ($9.8b USD) 5yr (Rescue plan) Economic aide package, as Peugeot, France’s largest car maker has suffered a $343 million Euro net loss for 2008.

Meanwhile, as in previous rants about the intrusion of electronic media... I am currently unable to scour le internets or newspapers, open my email or listen to my voicemail in fear of having the results of the Australian Grand Prix divulged prior to my rewinding of the Memorex and watching Qualifying and the BLOODY RACE! As I found it even more ironic that all of the Fosters which was apparently on sale this weekend had disappeared off of the shelves of my local grocery store... Crikey’s Mates!

So, will Nico secure his first Formula 1 pole position? Or will the newly reconstituted Brawn GP do the unthinkable and lockout the front row? Or perhaps either Jarno Trulli or Timo Glock score Toyota’s long awaited inaugural Grand Prix victory? SHEISA! I’d better go watch the tape, eh?

Porsche legend hits milestone

One of Porsche’s most legendary racing cars of all time has just celebrated its 40th birthday... As the Porsche 917 simply reeked terror during its brief reign as the Terminator of International Sports Car racing between 1970-72, not to mention the unbeatable Can Am 917/10 & 917/30 monstrosities raced by George Folmer and Mark Donohue for Roger Penske...

And these Porsche’s are simply astounding, as I’ve been lucky enough to see the L & M and Sunoco (amongst several others) Can Am behemoths whooshing by at the Monterey Historics, along with watching some ex-CART triple champion named Bobby Rahal lightly toss around Bruce McCaw’s #2 Gulf/Wyer vehicle at Pacific Raceway... Although I suppose the car will always be remembered most fondly for its role with Steve McQueen in the epic movie Le Mans...

Porsche 917 turns 40

Barrett-Jackson ’09 (Con’t)

1948 Ford Cab-over truck (PBM)

After having spent an considerable amount of time perusing the upcoming vehicles for sale to the highest bidder, during the second Preview day (Monday) I was most curious to see the results via the Telescreen, and thus decided to drop-in both Friday & Saturday nights for extended viewing periods. (3.5+ Hours each night) Thus here’s what I jotted down as SPEED gave us an extra 30mins of coverage both nights, with the emphasis upon “Super Saturday” when all of the Really-really-Really Big sales occur, hence my notes are primarily from Saturday night...

Super Saturday’s Top 5 Sellers
No. Vehicle Price
1. 1929 Ford Tri-Motor Aeroplane $1.1m
2. 1955 Ford Thunderbird $600,000
3. 1970 Dodge Superbird $501,000
4. 2006 #24 Chevrolet racecar $500,000
5. 1996 Buick Blackhawk $475,000

NOTE:
The top two vehicles were sold to Arizona House builder Magnate Ron Pratt, while the ’70 Superbird was a re-creation built off of a Dodge Satellite body and finished in Richard Petty blue; selling for the extra $1k in order to beat Jeffery “Pretty Boy’s” Gordon’s race car, as both were sold for charity. The Dodge also garnered an additional $175,000 large in additional donations...


Friday; Jan. 16, 2009
My very loosely scribbled notes start off with one of my personal favourites, a 1969 BOSS 302 Mustang; Lot #979 which fell for a hammer price of $97,000. Then a 1959 Corvette “Fuelie;” (Fuel Injected) Lot #1019 was sold for a staggering $200,000!

Saturday; Jan. 17, 2009
Lot #1248, a beautifully restored Brittany Blue 1968 Shelby GT500KR was hammered away for the sum of $150,000, while Lot #1251, a 1929 Rolls Royce paled in comparison, rolling off stage for the tune of $87k,

Then there was the Dodge Superbird re-creation in “Petty Blue” and driven onstage by “The King” (Richard Petty) no less… And this was the first of several auctions which began to piss me off! As they kept stopping lead auctioneer Spanky in order to stall for time to stroke the bid higher… As now hold on Spanky, we’re even gonna throw in a Richard Petty “signature” hat; Blah-Blah-Blah! While Ron Pratt was quick to throw in an extra $100k large, as this rusted out ’70 Dodge Satellite was transformed into the killer Superbird stuffed with Ray Evernham power train and body massaged by Year One, finally rolling off stage for the amazing price of $501,000…

Next, Ron Pratt took center stage by laying down a staggering sum of $600,000 to obtain a very unique “Baby Bird.” As the Ford Thunderbird he won was the very first production 1955 T-Bird with serial #005. (The very first production Thunderbird created in late 1954)

A very small sampling of racing celebs in the house included “The R “N R Indy Car Bros.” Ryan “The Dude” Hunter-Reay and Ryan Dalziel; Err, better make that Sports Car drivers, since both are racing in the Daytona 24hrs… Hmm? Was Hunter-Reay hoping to find an Indy Car ride at the show, or simply commiserating with Buddy “Hot Rod” Rice over their potential Indy Car seats going up in smoke?

Also spotted were Gas Rhonda and John Force, as the two NHRA pilots actually raced each other for the honors of driving a Ford Mustang Comp Car on stage.

Then again, perhaps “The Dude” was checkin’ out Lot #1302, a late 1980’s Corvette, which had actually been built as a rolling test lab/prototype, featuring a built-in roll cage for high speed testing at the GM Proving Grounds, as the 1989 Corvette ZR1 “Snake skinner II” fetched a hammer price of $67,000.

A most interesting show car was up next, as Lot #1303 featured the 1996 Buick Blackhawk specifically created by GM to recognize Buick’s Centennial in 2003. And the Blackhawk went for big money, as the #5 top seller of the show at a whopping $475k! Has anybody driven a Buick lately?

Lot #1304 was a most unique automobile, as it was a rare 1947 Allard Hill Climb Special, which was the ’09 Barrett-Jackson auction catalog’s cover car, (Which will only set you back a mere $15...) Adding provenance to this eclectic vehicle was the fact that it was built specifically for Sidney Allard himself and featured “Dually” style rear wheels in order to gain extra traction, along with an Austrian built air cooled V-8. The Allard netted $185,000.

Then next up was a true modern Super car… A true beast, as this 2005 Saleen S7 was the only street (legal) car version of 15 racecars built along with 50 turbos for Homologation and this beast was a Narly 1,000bhp twin turbocharged version of the plain Jane “stock” 560bhp S7! This freakish Saleen boasts a 0-60mph time of 2.5 seconds along with a top speed of 250mph… Lot #1305 hammered away for $375,000.

And the hits just kept on rollin’ as Lot #1306.2 featured a ’67 Plymouth Barracuda, selling for charity and included lunch with some cat named Indiana Jones. (Harrison Ford)

And then the Barrett-Jackson show stopper, Lot #1307 wasn’t an automobile, nor in the building… As the pristine 1929 Ford Tri-motor Aeroplane replete with Pearl Harbor bullet holed parts was sold for $1.1m to you guessed it! Ron Pratt… And I thought the Housing bubble had burst?

Lot #1316 was another unique item, as GM was hoping to cause a stir by selling the number one production 2010 Camaro with the caveat of the winning bidder getting to deck out the car however they wished from the GM catalog. So it shouldn’t be surprising that “Mega” GM dealer Rick Hendrick won the bid with a price of $360,000 large.

Continuing with the re-creation/clone theme, Lot #1317 was a Shelby Eleanor Mustang, but not just any ‘Ol Eleanor ‘Stang. Nope this was 1 of 3 remaining Automatic Eleanor’s from the actual movie Gone in 60 Seconds, while it’s believed that a fleet of 11 Eleanor clones were produced for the movie. The ’67 Mustang Fastback sold for $97k.

Lot #1319 was the first 1969 BOSS 429 that I managed to notice crossing the block. As the SPEED talking heads duly noted, this BOSSes price was visibly lower then previous years, netting a paltry $190k.

Then for something different, a ’94 Porsche 911 Speedster entered the building. (Lot #1321) But this Porsche happened to formerly belong to someone by the name of Seinfeld, as in Jerry Seinfeld, who’s reportedly a hardcore Porsche-aphyle… And not content with the stock motor had Andial install a European RS-spec 911 lump in it. Also apparently Jerry didn’t have much time to drive his Porsche’s as the Speedster’s odometer noted only 9,800 miles upon it, as the ex-Seinfeld Porsche was sold for $98,000.

And it’s always funny how Barrett-Jackson gets the bulk of attention, with its massive 40hrs of live SPEED coverage, which portrays it as the ONLY auction going on... While there were three other auction companies in town: Russo & Steele, RN Auctions and Gooding & Company, with the latter selling two pristine exoticar’s for a staggering sum of $8.5 million...

’09 Gooding & Company Auction notes

One sold, one returned

Previously I scribbled about the fates of two different “Rare Byrds,” two valuable classic cars... As the 1937 Bugatti Type 57 has just been sold in Gay Paree... While the second vehicle awaits a hoped for similar fate, now that the current Seattle owner has agreed to ship the 1919 Turcat-Mery roadster back to France, since its Government had declared it a national treasure back in 1991.

As part of the settlement reached, Mr. Charles Morse (70yrs old) has agreed to ship the Turcat-Mery to France where he will either store the car permanently or hopefully sell it to another buyer under the condition that it remains in France, as Morse is hoping to recoup his $1m investment...

Barrett-Jackson ‘09

Otay Race Fans! Bear with me just a little bit longer as I try to exorcise the 2009 Barrett-Jackson festiva outta my psyche... (And try to load this MONSTER file onto my "BLOB!")

But first...
Stealing the phrase out of the Saint Louis Rams playbook, I’m certain that the Barrett-Jackson folks would take kindly to being called “The Greatest Automobile Auction on Turf!”

After having seen the Auction via the Telescreen over the past several years, in which I scribbled about in Fast Cars, along with my Blogmeister Miguel having attended last year’s show... I told him; “I WANNA GO!” And thus, this was my excuse for going to Arizona this January, in order to finally see in person what all of the fuss was about.

Arriving mid-morning Monday, Miguel & I boarded the Greyhound like shuttle bus from the nearby parking lots of 10 soccer fields, which drove us towards the show after being instructed to remember; “You’re in the Offsite Red parking lot.” Offside-red light, Offside-red light, Offside-red light I repeated out loud.

Presenting our tickets we immediately entered the beginning of the massive vendor display tent, which stretches on for miles ‘N miles, as the very first display was an awesome gathering of six 2010 Ford Shelby GT500 Mustangs parked three abreast at 45 degree angles. And these are some BAD ASS looking mother’s! All adorned with the traditional twin stripes treatment, as a few were convertibles, with the rest being coupes. (Suggested retail price of $46,000 MINUS Dealer Mark-up!) And I even got to sit behind the wheel of one convertible...

Tomaso’s New Ride! (PBM)
But even wilder yet was the two Shelby Mustang’s on roller’s set up for a Mano E Mano (Stoplight) drag race... As the two participants both chirped the tires in their first trial run. Then it was time to rumble as the lights went green and more rubber could be heard being laid down as the winner from New York made a quarter mile pass of 13.86 seconds @ 101mph, while the loser cut a slow time of 16.20 seconds.

While I hung out briefly next to the Black Shelby nearest the racing stage, the traditional Odor ‘du burnt rubber wafted past me inside the tent as smartly the door was locked upon the black “Stang; DAMN! So, my day was totally made and we hadn’t even looked at a single car yet. Aye Carumba! This is gonna be fun as we made our way past the Ford booth and into a long cavernous room filled with even more automobiles, not to mention boats, planes and helicopters... As I was simply blown away by the staggering display of Hennessey Performance Vehicles, with a few showroom Beasts on deck! A Narly 1,000bhp Dodge Viper, a Killer twin turbocharged Ford GT with a top speed of 240mph, a Corvette ZR1, a Freakish 2010 Camaro with ZR1 power plant and a bad ass Nissan GTR. Opposite of this was a Koenigsegg CCX from Sweden and a bright yellow 2006 Gumpert Apollo, of which I’ve never heard of... As it looks more like a race car then street car, being extremely low and wide, thus I had to marvel at myself as I pronounced how extraordinarily “Plain” the bone stock rosso Ferrari parked in the middle of the aisle looked. Crikey’s when has a Ferrari ever looked dull?
Past that poor plain Jane Ferrari was the Chevrolet display, which I’d have to say that the brand new Corvette ZR1 looks Awesome, while alongside was the 2010 Camaro. Hmm? And I thought we were in a recession? So are we now paying for the “Big 3’s” R & D costs? Thus, after marveling over the new Camaro, (Can you say 21st Century Pony car Wars?) we elected to skip the rest of the never ending vendor tent and instead go look at some of the auction-mobiles outside

Koenigsegg CCX
We passed thru a row of Newell custom coaches and semi’s for sale, before running into the Roush/Superformance display booth. This was sweet, as a brace of Ford GT40 Replicar’s grabbed our attention. As not one but two Gulf Oil #6 winning 24 Heurs du Mans chassis stood parked, ready to race. As we got chatted up by a salesman trying to interest us in a Cobra replicar, I didn’t even notice the black #2 Ford GT40, as I was focusing upon the #98 Cobra Daytona Coupe re-creation with another cobra roadster parked alongside it.

There were five massive tents with four rows of cars parked underneath them... As it seemed quite funny that the 150-200 vehicles approx. per tent were parked upon either grass or dirt, with some owners trying to wipe away all of the dust particulates from their respective vehicles, most notably the owner of a custom 1973 De Tomaso Pantera with a gold plated 4 cam Mustang mod motor behind the firewall... Yeah, that’s right, solid gold plated! Not to mention the paintwork.

Superformance Daytona Coupe (PBM)
The first two tents up for perusal, were numbers 4 & 5, as we began with tent #4 which appeared to be a “Chevy-esqe” affair as the nearest row to the outside of the tent featured a plethora of past racing cars, with the very first two sightings being past IndyCars... These two bright Pennzoil yellow No. 4 chassis turned out to both be old Panther racing cars with one adorning the name of some past Indy 500 winner... Sam Hornish Jr. While the second vehicle sported both Hornish and Tomas “Rockem Sockem” Scheckter and sporting a large American flag decal on the engine cowling, as these IRL chassis both turned out to be ex-Show cars propelled by Chevrolet V-8 lumps.

Another really cool racecar was the Cadillac ALMS Prototype which was, you guessed it! Extremely low to the ground, as Miguel noted the 2-3 inch ground clearance of the front splitter... Looking quite striking in its silver body colour, while a third IRL Indy Car was parked alongside. This was a most interesting chassis as it claimed to be a cut-away car, although completely assembled and painted white/red/black... Hmm? That reminds me of an old Honda CART paint scheme; possibly Parker Johnstone/Mike Groff? (Woah Nellie! Way back machine, eh?) As this chassis didn’t sport any car number, etc. yet, the sidepod was resplendent with the word Oldsmobile... Thus I’m assuming this racer was powered by an Oldsmobile Aurora V-8 lump. (As we never did spot the second IRL Cut-away chassis up for grabs)

There was then a small smattering of ex-Trans Am, IMSA and Off Road racecar’s for sale, including a duo of Larry Raglan Desert vehicles... And this doesn’t even include the production based cars in the tent, as the hour of high-noon fast approached we decided it was lunchtime...

(Having received my ’09 Barrett-Jackson catalog from AZ Bureau Chief Mary Jane; it finally provided me with the clues towards the unnumbered Indy Cars up for auction...)

Cadillac LMP1 (PBM)
After some high priced sandwiches, no tenderloins here bubbah; as in “Where’s the Beef?” We set off for the final three tents which held a staggering number of “Muskel-carzs.” Actually the word stimulus overload (NO! NOT Stimulus package, eh?) came to both of our lips quite frequently, as I’d say about 60/70% of all vehicles up for auction fit this genre., intertwined with a heavy dosage of 1950’s Detroit Iron... Hey look, there’s another Corvette, Mustang, GTO, ‘Cuda, etc. But don’t get me wrong, the majority were the crème of their respective marque’s past offerings and many would once again obtain six figure prices, although I just DON’T get it!

24k Gold plated Ford “Mod: motor (PBM)
Some rarities included a small smattering of Porsche’s and Ferrari’s, although I’d guess that the Ferrari Mondial didn’t garner large dinero, while there was a beautiful 930 slant nose, along with another re-creation and a 928 on the grounds... Yet I was most entranced by a solitary 1948 Ford cab over pick-up stuffed with a 429 big block and a Boyd Coddington Quarter Midget on its flatbed. This gem would go for $75,000 on Friday night.

Then we stumbled upon the Park Place Motors Ltd booths which held sentimental value to me, since I’ve been in their store before which is located in Bellevue, WA. Walking inside the miniature showroom, a beautiful Lotus 211 was holding station alongside a trio of Spyker’s, which were all retailing for $235,000+. Outside a duo of Porsche Speedster replicar’s sat with a second Park Place display housing several top flight auto’s including another Spyker and beautiful metallic silver ’95 Ferrari 355 spider (Lot #1239.2) which sold for $88k on Saturday.

Gumpert Apollo (PBM)
Having finally looked at all five tents, we’d still not seen any of the top dollar “Super Saturday” cars, which I’m assuming were housed in the Showcase Pavilion, which houses a further 200 vehicles, that we never did manage to get too. Although we encountered a consignment tent while scouring the grounds for the Showcase Pavilion, where I’m still assuming the blue ribbon BOSS Mustang’s, Shelby’s, Cobra’s, Camaro’s, etc were hidden in... Yet, we managed to spot our very first Lambo, a Lamborghini Diablo VT roadster, while off in the distance was Robosaurus... But, while trying to work our way towards the Showcase Pavilion, we were told we couldn’t enter the tent... Why’s that? Because it’s a quarter to four! And the show closes in 15mins. Yikes! A full five hours had passed us by... And you already know about the rent-a-cop NAZI’S at the exit!

2009 Barrett Jackson Auction-Part 2

All photos courtesy of Blogmeister Miguel (Minus Koenigsegg CCX)
Kudos Miguel!

Pace Cars walk the plank

2008 Corvette Pace Car-Emerson Fittipaldi/IMS logo (Photo's courtesy of Miguel)

Just one small slice of the numerous activities at Barrett Jackson revolved around the considerable amount of past Indianapolis Motor Speedway Pace Cars on hand for this year’s auction held at Scottsdale, AZ. (Jan. 11-18) Yet, we only managed to spot two of the many up for grabs under the numerous tents filled with vehicles: A 2008 Emerson Fittipaldi Corvette and a 1969 Camaro...

Indy Pace Cars at Barrett-Jackson

Rare Bugatti fetches big bucks

As I previously scribbled about in Rare “Byrd’s” different fates; the 1937 Bugatti Type 57 with Atalante coachwork was hammered away over the weekend at Bonhams' Retromobile car show in Paris for approximately $4.4m to an unnamed European collector, as the Bugatti has previously been stationary in a garage for 50 years, was 1 of 17 built and previously owned by noted racer Earl Howe...

The missing Daytona

This is a story I stumbled upon a very long time ago, but still rather amusing, as it pertains to the discovery of one of the BADDEST American racing cars ever produced!

Missing Daytona Coupe Found!
In case you haven't heard, the missing Daytona Coupe was recently discovered in Southern California. As far as Shelby cars and history, this is unquestionably the most significant discovery ever. The car appears to be completely intact and untouched for over 20 years!
This Coupe (CSX2287) was the prototype car and the only Coupe constructed in the USA. The other 5 Coupes were shipped to Italy where the bodies were built by hand and installed on modified 289 roadster chassis. CSX2287 was raced many times in Europe as a Shelby team car during the 1964 and 1965 seasons. In its final competition appearance it set several land speed records at Bonneville Salt Flats with Craig Breedlove behind the wheel.
After changing hands a few times, CSX2287 landed in the custody of a reclusive woman in the mid-1970's. At that point the woman and the Coupe vanished and became the object of many futile searches by Shelby fanatics......until now.
Scott Hirose
(Source: NVSAAC: Nevada Shelby American Auto Club)

The long lost Daytona Coupe

The 50 Worst Cars?

NO Comments from the peanut gallery... As for some strange reason, I’ve always liked this car... Perhaps because it’s Italian, much unloved and lambasted by the motoring press? Hmm? In that case, I’m assuming that there’s plenty ‘O space for FIAT here, eh? What did that stand for once again? Oh Yeah! Fix It Again Tony...

1984 Maserati Biturbo
"Biturbo" is, of course, Italian for "expensive junk." At least, it is now, after Maserati tried to pass off this bitter heartbreak-on-wheels as a proper grand touring sedan. The Biturbo was the product of a desperate, under-funded company circling the drain of bankruptcy, and it shows. Everything that could leak, burn, snap or rupture did so with the regularity of the Anvil Chorus. The collected service advisories would look like the Gutenberg Bible. The only greater ignominy was the early 1990s Maserati TC, a version of the Chrysler Le Baron (a flaccid, front-drive, four-cylinder loser-mobile) with the proud Mazzer Trident on the nose. Finally, sir, have you no shame?”

Then again, its hard to believe that its almost a quarter of a century now, that this much maligned chariot first arrived, since its also the same year as one of my all time favourite Ferrari’s was launched... Better known as the 288 GTO!

Thus, while hunting for trivia upon the source of this story, i.e.; the Maserati Biturbo, I ran across the following link, which I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether or not this list is all it’s kracked-up to be?

50 Worst Cars of All Time

UPDATE
WOW! Even some hot shot whipper snapper named Tanner Foust has just been seen on a re-run of SPEED’s Supercars Exposed throwin’ down on the much maligned Mauser Biturbo; calling it Maserati’s ugliest car and then making fun of it, as a warmed over Rosso Biturbo is seen first being crushed and then grinded up into tiny recyclable bits at a junkyard. OUCH!

Who is Tanner Foust?

Ugly Duckling

“HOW many workers did it take to build a Trabant?
Two — one to fold and one to paste.”

“How do you double the value of a Trabant?
Fill its gas tank.”

“How do you measure a Trabant’s acceleration?
With a diary.”

So, these are just a few of the jokes that have apparently floated around in regards to the much unloved Trabant over the years. And I’m not sure which is worse? The Yugo or the Trabant, as I’ll leave it up to you to make the call! As for some odd reason, recently the New York Times published a bevy of articles upon the most maligned former Eastern Bloc “People’s Car,” As the Trabant seemingly is a icon of the mostly forgotten Eastern Bloc society, before some ‘Ol Coot demanded that some great wall be torn down...

Where have they gone?

Red Menace

Rare “Byrd’s” different fates

With the now traditional frenzy of New Year car auctions in the Valley of the Sun just around the corner, as SPEED will soon be beaming 437hrs of “live,” riveting and spellbinding coverage of the 38th annual Barret-Jackson auction, in which your humble scribe is off to spectate. Alas, it seems only fitting that a few tales ‘O lore regarding lost classic timepieces are making the headlines...

France wants le Automobile returned
Interestingly, a local Seattle Classic Car collector seemingly has found himself in somewhat “Hot water” with the French Government upon the discovery that he’d absconded with one of their nation’s prized possessions... As the 1919 Turcat-Mery wound up in the hands of Charles Morse.

Apparently the Turcat-Mery was once the pride ‘N joy of a descendant of the royal Bourbon dynasty and thus has been deemed a national treasure of France, although it mysteriously made its way to the Netherlands before coming to Seattle and only its public showings at the Pebble Beach’s Concours de Elegance helped bring the vehicles whereabouts to the French governments attention, as Mr. Morse is willing to return it to France as long as he’s reimbursed his $927,500 He’s shelled out for this classic automobile...

Seattle classic-car buff losing prize to France

Rare 1937 Bugatti found
Amazingly, I had two people tell me about the same automobile discovery this past Saturday whilst attending a family gathering, as it indeed is most rare to hear of another extraordinary “Barn-find,” as perhaps you’ve caught wind of the exceedingly rare 1937 Bugatti just unearthed in a British garage...

And although its whereabouts were reportedly known, the Bugatti Type 57 with Atalante coachwork has sat idle for some 45+ years, with its owner having parked the vehicle in the early 1960’s.

Making the Bugatti Atalante, of which only 17 were ever produced even more valuable is its impeccable history, having originally been owned by Earl Howe, a prominent British race car driver whom won the 1931 24 Heurs du Mans along with being co-founder of the British Racing Drivers Club and is virtually intact in its original condition with all of its original equipment...

More on rare Bugatti Barn Find

Is corn King?

Whale, I do have to say that the Indy Car Series decision to go with Brazilian ethanol in favour of our own Mid-western bread basket’s variety is seemingly just one more slap in the face in regards to the current economy... (I mean, couldn’t the IRL have given those farmers a bailout?)

Now obviously, I’m NOT privy to the inner sanctum of 16th & Georgetown; nor what ‘lil Napoleon, a.k.a. Tony George is thinking(?) so, I found it most bemusing that the IRL dispatched Terry Angstadt to the Autosport Radio show recently to try and explain their reason’s for cutting a deal with Brazil instead of its current American Ethanol producers.

But after having listened to Mr. Angstadt’s (woeful) explanation of how they tried to do everything(?) in their power to continue their association with EPIC and American Ethanol... Hmm? That party line sounds awfully similar to the Oz race cancellation, eh?

It seems to me that the IRL simply saw an opportunity to get into (bed) with a partner who’s a bigger market, along with another case of Outsourcing, as Brazil reportedly has a giant Indy Car fan base and TV rating shares of 4.0 – 4.5, to which Terry said wryly; I’d like to have those here... Thus, I think the IRL simply saw an opportunity and took it!

Even more ironic is that one of Donald Kay’s show sponsors is EPIC: the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council...

And while I’m all in favour of alternative energy sources, I’m not exactly sure what to think about Ethanol, having heard conflicting reports over its production vs. benefits.

Yet, I’m obviously in favour of slashing our dependency on foreign oil, i.e.; Saudi Arabia, although it’s a bit funny that actually the United States No. 1 importer comes from our neighbors Up North, Eh? “Oh-Kan-ah-duh!”

Thus, I found the following article very interesting, as it disputes the virtues of Ethanol, in favour of a little known alternative substance known as; Butanol. Of course this is from a biased source, but nevertheless it does make for an interesting thought, as now the head of DuPont has just urged the Big Three to form an alliance to produce a 75mpg vehicle that would run upon, you guessed it! Butanol.

Perhaps the switch to sugar cane based foreign Ethanol, hydrogen, corn based Ethanol, Butanol, Cellulosic based Ethanol, Bio Diesel, hybrid’s and plug-in’s will indeed enable us to solve our dependency of fossil fuels.

Then again, it’s hard to believe that the Oil Barons will be willing to let go of their monopoly, eh? I mean, have you ever noticed how many 18 wheeler’s dot the countryside? Then again, it cannot hurt us to try something different...

What’s hot in Quebec

This was a fairly entertaining article about the plight of the current economy Up North, Eh? As guess what’s the hottest item in Quebec? No, it’s not the Looney, nor the Tooney, Euro, or even duh greenback...

Nope, apparently, would-be thieves have been targeting snow tires... Yep, you read that correctly, as the Government has enacted a law making approved traction devices, i.e.; snow tires mandatory in the province this December 15th.

Ho-Ho-Ho! It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

What’s Hot in Quebec? Stolen Snow Tires

What Economic crisis?

While Wall $treet has been routinely loosing 700+ points and BURNING thru One TRILLION Daily! There seemed to be little concern in “Los Wage$,” (Las Vegas, NV) during the inaugural Barrett Jackson auction, held at the Mandalay Bay casino, over the weekend of October 16-18; of which I decided to watch after lamenting those immortal Bruce Springsteen words; “57 channels and NOTHING on!” So, thus indeed, I decided to watch a few hours of the final night’s action, with it being Saturday night and NOT a BLOODY thing on the tellie...

And just like buying a car, a cursory look of the dreaded paperwork denotes the following;

“Hammer” prices do NOT include the mandatory Barrett Jackson commission fees: Seller, 8%; buyer, 10%. State/local taxes extra. (Prices include buyer’s commission fee/total auction price)

And being especially particular to Blue Oval products, my notes primarily jotted down the quick facts of various Ford Motor Co. sales, although typically the entire “Muscle Car” segment seemed to be still commanding top dollar, as a total of 40 vehicles were hammered for over $100,000.

Lot #798
1968 Shelby GT 500 Mustang
Hammer bid: $140,000 ($154,000)

Lot #801
1938 Packard
Hammer bid: $190,000 ($209,000)
This was a very nice restored two door Victoria convertible...

Lot #803.1
1969 Ford BOSS 429 Mustang
Hammer bid: $195,000 ($214,500)
First of two BAD ASS BOSSES to cross the stage, still bringing good money, but value has dropped...

Lot #804.1
1967 Shelby GT 500 “E Super Snake” Mustang
Hammer bid: $170,000 ($187,000)
These cars always amaze me, since the “E” suffix means that it’s an Eleanor re-creation, as in the movie; Gone in 60 Seconds (II) yet, I’m not sure what’s up with the “Super Snake” moniker, as perhaps this car had an all aluminum motor shoehorned inside it? Nevertheless, I’d rather plunk down that sorta dinero on a Ferrari, instead of a six cylinder donar Mustang...

Lot 805
1992 Jaguar XK220
Hammer bid: $137,000 ($150,700)
Car #91/280 built. These were amazing cars that simply got lost in the Supercar market downturn...

Lot #805.1
2003 Saleen S7
Hammer bid: $237,000 ($260,700)
This was fairly entertaining, as chief auctioneer Spanky was trying to bump the price up to $250k, a bidder said: “I DON’T care! $242,500!” To which apparently Spanky wasn’t to be pushed around and the car was gaveled for $237K instead...

Lot #806
1973 De Tomaso Pantera
Hammer bid: $100,000 ($110,000)
I’d have to guess this is a record hammer price for a Pantera? As this ’73 “plain Jane” De Tomaso, was rejuvenated by the styling cues of its original designer; Tom Tjaarda, who’d created brand new front & rear carbon fibre composite facia’s for it, also redesigning the interior, along with the requisite “bigger is better” aftermarket alloy wheels. But, I’d definitely have to say the car looked great, along with Mr. Tjaarda, who at 74 year’s young looked quite dapper...

Lot # Unknown
1966 Cobra 427 “E” (Replica)
Hammer bid: $100,000 ($110,000)
This car was being sold by a museum and has a somewhat interesting, albeit tarnished past, as the car was originally passed off as the real macoy. Only problem with this was that the original Cobra later surfaced and hence this car had to be re-licensed as a replica...

Lot #816
1970 Ford BOSS 429 Mustang
Hammer bid: $187,000 ($205,700)
Second of two BAD ASS BOSSES to cross the stage, which are still bringing good money, but below the hammer price listed on Barrett-Jackson’s website for BOSSES: with four cars being sold for a low of $245,000, (2) $300k & $325k at Scottsdale, AZ this past January, which pales in comparison to the “record” hammer price of $550,000 garnered in Scottsdale in 2007! (Which I’m guessing Ron Pratt was the bidder?)

Lot #817
1957 Ford Thunderbird
Hammer bid: $145,000 ($159,500)
This was SPEED TV’s final Fantasy bid car, which was a pretty cool T-bird. Setting the ’57 Thunderbird apart from the rest, was the fact that it was a rare “F” code; 1 of 211 supercharged chassis. Even better yet, was the fact that it was Robert McCulloch’s personal car. As in McCulloch/Paxton Supercharger’s, who made the cars blower...

Lot #819
1949 MG TC
Hammer bid: $285,000 ($313,500)
And while awaiting the start of the featured car’s auction, the telephone rang...

Alas, I didn’t get to see what Shelby’s racing car went for... Which seems a bit of a stretch, since although Carroll did indeed capture his very first victory in Norman, Oklahoma, in this very car back in 1952, when ‘Ol Shel’s good friend Ed Wilkins loaned it to him; but it’s a BLOODY MG after all!

Thus, I had to scoure the internets to learn that Carroll Shelby’s very first race car, a 1949 MG TC, was hammered for $285,000, minus the 10% commission fee.

Yet, this wasn’t to be the auction’s #1 high bid of the weekend, as a car that I missed seeing on the telescreen; a 2006 Ford Mustang GT customized by some cat named Funkmaster Flex pipped Shelby’s MG by a scant $15 grand. (With apparently no commission fees applied)

As seven cars were sold for various charities, totaling over $655,000, including $150,000 for the 2008 Barrett-Jackson Limited Edition Shelby GT; others included a 2006 Ford Mustang modified on the television show Car Wars with Funkmaster Flex that sold for $300,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and a 2007 Dodge Charger raced by Kurt Busch for $85,000...

For a recap of the inaugural Los Wage$ spectacle, see; 2008 Barrett-Jackson las Vegas review.

And to check out all of the over-hyped, over-priced, showmanship, you may wish to check out the official website, (if you can stomach the long winded self promoting video, which has thankfully been shut off!) see; barret-Jacson.

Bond-mobile for sale

On the eve of the latest bond, James Bond *007( spy-thriller action packed adventure release, I’ve stumbled upon the news that Roger Moore’s aquatic, ocean going white Lotus Esprit is to go on the auction block next month. To read more, see; Bond Lotus Esprit for sale.

New Open Wheel Racing teams

This past Tuesday evening’s Autosport Radio Show was fairly entertaining, as it featured key members of the latest two Open Wheel Racing teams to be announced.

First up, was guest Greg Beck, current owner of Beck Motorsports and now part owner of the newly formed Indy Car operation, Team 3G; which stands for: 3 Guys. As many may already know, Beck has inked stuntman and Nationwide series competitor Stanton Barrett as his full time Indy Car driver for the 2009 season, with hopes of a possible second car to be added. Beck is also hopeful of running an Firestone Indy Lights team, being close to having at least a partial season deal for an initial car and further hopes of a second car, which could see Greg ultimately fielding four race cars after struggling to just run a lone Indy Car previously.

When asked how much it takes to run a single Indy Car effort for a full season and does the $1.3 million incentive doled out by Tony George factor in? Greg said yes, we definitely factor the money in and I’d say you can probably get away with a NO Frills, bare bones single car entry for $3.5 million for an entire season, although $5.5-6.0m would probably be more realistic a number in order to do the season correctly.

Stanton Barrett did all of the stunt work for the three Spiderman films and has a long list of credits, along with being the son of Stan Barrett, who was part of the original stunt team for Burt Reynolds Smokey and the Bandit along with Hal Needham. And I believe that Stan also did multiple work as Paul Newman’s stunt-double.

Interestingly, Greg threw out the tidbit that Stan had also been the pilot behind the controls of the Budweiser Rocket car, that controversially tried to become the first vehicle to break the sound barrier nearly three decades ago, while its top speed of 739mph was never officially recognized!

Next up, was Louis “Butch” Meyer III, who’s decided to leave his post as Firestone Indy Lights technical director after six years and form an alliance with Jim Guthrie, as the new co-owner of Guthrie/Meyer Racing. This Indy Lights team has been raiding the workforce of current champions Sam Schmidt Motorsports and features an impressive line-up of its four cars chief mechanics, which includes Mike “Groovy Baby” Meyer, son of Butch; while Butch is the grandson of the late, legendary Louis Meyer, the first driver to win the Indy 500 three times...

World’s Fastest Mustang?

“Dag-nab it! Can it already be a month since another Labour Day weekend Done blown by?”

As I’d hoped to scribble about this prior to frolicking about the Seattle Center grounds, see: Bumbershoot, which was once home of the Seattle Supersonics for an amazing 41 seasons... Yet, may Clay Bennett & Howard Schulz both LOSE considerable coin over the massive bungling regarding ownership of our be-LUV-ed NBA Franchise, but once again I digress...

As several weeks ago on Wind Tunnel, Dave Despain interviewed Danny Thompson, son of the late Mickey Thompson, who was a true pioneer and icon of Motorsports... And I’m not even gonna try to list all of his accomplishments! Yet, recall that it was Mickey Thompson who entered a tall, lanky Californian rookie racecar driver by the name of Dan Gurney at Indianapolis...

Danny Thompson, with the impetus of a collector owning one of the three 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1’s used for setting nearly 300 land speed records at Bonneville in 1968, wanted to do a special 40th Anniversary retrospective, with Danny simply being lucky enough to get the call for chauffeuring duties of the trick 2008 production based ‘Stang.

Danny claimed on Wind Tunnel that they’d done a “Out the Back Door” pass of 254mph and that the Pony car was running on E85 and that they didn’t even know which class to put him in, since there’s currently no class for Ethanol vehicles, eventually placing him in the Nitro-class. And Danny’s ultimate goal is to recapture the top speed record of “Piston” driven vehicles by going 500mph, as his father had once gone over 400mph in his Challenger 1 slipstreamer, powered by four Oldsmobile V-8’s and constructed in a garage, outlined in chalk on the concrete floor!

Chevrolet turns 100

Today marks the 100th Birthday of Chevrolet, as on September 16, 1908 incorporation papers were filed and the company quickly rose to become the world’s Number 1 Auto Manufacturer...

Yet, like its remaining two adversaries of Detroit’s crumbling “Big Three;” Ford and Chrysler, Chevy has fallen on hard times after riding a long wave of credibility due to its dependence upon SUV’s and Pickup trucks, along with artificially controlled oil prices and a total unwillingness to reinvest and modernize its Corporate infrastructure, instead simply trying to sell its same staid products in new overseas markets...

Thus, although Chevy will finally roll out its much hyped Volt EV automobile today, don’t expect too much celebrating from the company that’s lost $57.5 Billion in the last 18 months and is trying feverishly to grease the skids for a $25 Billion handout which will cost the US Taxpayer and additional $7.5b in interest...

More Roush trivia

So did anyone besides Marc figure out Jack Roush’s connection to Unlimited Hydroplanes?

And doesn’t March seem like a long time ago?: As somehow I stumbled into another riveting hour ‘O “Barute-Jacksoon HYPER-Auction...” Better known as the 409 hours of Barrett-Jackson Auction coverage Live on SPEED, whom must be getting a sizeable retainer to host the show, eh?

And thus, with somewhat peak-ed (NO Danicker jokes here...) curiosity, I had to watch the frenzied(?) action of a specialty prepared “Feurd” product, as it was a Ford Mustang on the block. But this weren’t NO plain Jane garden variety ‘Stang, NO! It was a limited edition Jack Roush P-51A Mustang...

Here’s my notes from the frenzied bidding’ way back when...

Barrett-Jackson; Palm Beach, Florida
March 29, 2008
2008 Roush P-51A Mustang: No. 151 of 151

I hadn’t even heard of these limited edition Mustang’s, of which Ford and Jack Roush teamed up to produce a very limited production of 151 copies. And I don’t know what the bidding started at, but the bidding Stalled at $110,000...

And then for good humour, the price vaulted to $111k,, to which chief Barrett-Jackson Auctioneer “Spanky” said; “CHEAPSKATE!” To the current high bidder, yet the bidding wasn’t quite over, as the Ford Motor Company and Jack Roush were teaming up to auction the very special Mustang for charity and bidding was enticed with the following caveat. We’re gonna throw in the opportunity to be the Grand Marshal and wave the Green Flag at this year’s Nationwide Cup race at Homestead this November, announced Ford VP Mark Field. To which a bid of $120,000 was quickly made and Spanky retorted: Now that’s NO Cheapskate!

Yet, the bidding continued upwards, as Spanky decreed; ““For 135 (large) I’ll call you whatever you like!” Grand Marshall, etc, while trying to entice a new high bidder, while in a final last minute effort, a la past Carroll Shelby shenanigan’s, Jack Roush throws in the hat off his head, trying to entice bidding to rise to $140,000 from $135k.

Of which Jack Roush had also thrown in a very special ride aboard his personal two seater P-51D vintage WWII Mustang war bird...

Also noted; “The Cat in the Hat” currently has P-51A chassis number 51 in his possession...

Yet, the bidding finally flamed out as Spanky dropped the hammer at a final auction price of $136,000, NOT including the 10% bidders fee, of which I believe went to mega-millionaire house builder Ron Pratte of Arizona, which was mere pocket change for him!

Trivia answer

Oh yeah, Y’all are probably still ponderin’ the answer to what’s “The Cat in the Hat’s” relation to Unlimited Hydro’s? As Marc threw this question out in my Seafair Sunday post awhile ago... Whale, Y’all just have to read ‘O Salt (Seaman 1st Class) Marc’s story to find out!

Jack Roush’s Hobbies

Hot Air?

Upon hearing the news that the Indy Car World Series has announced the plans to return to forced induction (turbocharger’s) for the 2011 season, I scoured the newswires to see exactly what the pundits were saying; as apparently the switch from the 3.5 liter normally aspirated Honda V-8’s is between the choice of four or six cylinders... Which I cannot say I’m overly crazy about, but I guess I should have seen this coming, since Formula 1 lopped off two cylinders two years ago in attempts to reduce horsepower... But, the IRL is actually seeking to add an extra 100bhp to today’s reputed 650bhp output... Hmm? Can you say “Power to Pass?” A la Champ Car...

And although a second manufacturer’s round table will be double top secret and held behind closed doors, Brian “Braveheart” hopes to have 3-4 interested parties on hand including Honda, which if memory serves me correctly, had some fairly stout Formula 1 six cylinder winning turbo lumps a few decades ago...

And I’d suppose it shouldn’t be to difficult to extract the amount of horsepower outta a V-6 power plant, since I’ve just learned that those beautiful 1979-81 BMW M1 Procar’s 3.5 liter twin cam straight six’s unleashed 470bhp without forced induction, before developing a beastly 3.2 liter 850bhp fire breathing twin turbocharged unit...

And doesn’t Ford have a new line of V-6 “Eco-tec” blown thumpers coming’ down the pipeline? Or perhaps these could be passed off as Mazda’s with a little badge engineering, eh?

Yet, Inquiring minds wanna know if Formula 1 Engine Manufacturers will join the fold?

Portland in 2010?
Yet, even better and MORE important to me then the announcement of the return to turbo’s, was this tiny little blurb I found in Kurt Cabin’s IndyStar article last Saturday;

Etc.
“Angstadt led a group of IRL officials on a visit to Portland International Raceway this week. If a deal can be reached, the circuit would be added to the 2010 schedule, he said. . . .”

While I’ll continue holding my breath; Its encouraging to think that perhaps my biased bashing over Portland being left out of the mix and the copy of my story regarding this that I mailed to the IMS may have been worth the effort after all?

ENZO Revived

Just received news that the Ferrari ENZO that Comedian (SIC!) Eddie “I CANNOT DRIVE!” Griffin cratered into a wall during this deliberate hyping of the blockbuster film “Redline 6000” of which I previously wrote about in Redlining an ENZO has been resuscitated... And is now once again upon the Auction block, see; ENZO repaired and up for auction

The ultimate oil change

Talk about the ULTIMATE MONEY $QUEEZE! As the various Governments around the world continuously MANIPULATE the prices of EVERYTHING! Including ‘dat thar Black Gold! (And everyone will sing Halleluiah when the price of Oil dips below $100 per barrel, $HEISTERS!!! And do NOT even get me started upon the magnificent Oil Companies...)

Now comes word of just how the colour ‘O money truly works, as an unidentified Arab Oil Sheik has just THROWN AWAY some where’s in the region of Fifty “large” to simply have his Lamborghini’s oil changed... To read more, see; Sheik ships Lamborghini to London for Oil Change

Somebody CAN’T drive 55

This was recently sent to me by AZ Bureau Chief Mary Jane… And if you thought that Louise “Jaguar” Hamilton’s poppa had trouble driving his son’s borrowed Porsche GT; But son, I just wanna take your Mum for a quick spin…

Then you may wish to check out the story of some wanna-be Grand Prix Piloto who managed to wrap his Ferrari F360 Spyder around a pole Down Under!

For more pictures, see; Aussie wrecks his Ferrari

Can I have the keys to your Porsche?

Pardon me SON! Do you have any Grey Poupon? Err; can I borrow the keys to your Porsche Carrera GT? As the British Formula 1 Ace’s father and manager Anthony Hamilton wrecked (presumably) young Lewis’s German Supercar while trying to impress the Misses… For the full story, see; Hamilton wrecks Carrera GT.

As I’m NOT sure whose incident was worse this past weekend… Oh well, at least The Ronster’s picking up the bill for Lewis’s transgression in Montreal, but I suspect he’ll have to pick-up the tab for his father’s mistake…

California Spyder climbs to record price

This was recently sent to me by AZ Bureau Chief Mary Jane and all I can say is that it must be ROUGH! Eh? Holy California Spyders, Batman…

Ferrari Nets Record Price at Auction
By Peter Valdes-Dapena,
CNNMoney
Posted: 2008-05-20 12:04:46
Filed Under: Business News, World News

NEW YORK (May 19) -- A 1961 Ferrari California Spyder sold for $10,894,900 at an auction in Maranello, Italy, Saturday. It was the highest price ever paid for a vintage car at auction, according to RM Auctions and Sotheby's, the companies that organized the sale.

The Great Race

Well, I don’t know about Y’all out dare in Raceland… But, while although certainly entertaining, I’m NOT to certain about this year’s running of the Indianapolis 500 qualifying as the greatest Spectale in racing? (Yet Princess Danicker improved her patented STOMP as she got ready to rumble with Ryan “the Dude!” Briscoe…)

Thus, one must marvel at what could be considered one of The Greatest Races in history, the New York to Paris race, held a century ago…

Imagine having only a short 12 hours time span to prepare for an unexpected around the world journey, as that’s exactly what happened to eventual winner George Schuster, who was summoned to New York’s Times Square to participate. Although thirteen vehicles were entered in the competition, only six took the green flag before more than 250,000 applauding spectators cheered them on, with the vehicles reaching the breakneck speed of 30mph along Broadway Avenue on Lincoln’s birthday, February 12th, 1908…

At the time of this unprecedented motoring event, only nine men had ever driven across the United States and Schuster had merely been sent at the last moment to ride along and represent his employer, the E.R. Thomas Motor Company, out of Buffalo.

It was hoped that the competitors would reach the West Coast in 22 days, yet this turned out to be fairly optimistic as no one had ever attempted the cross country trek during the winter… As it would take 41 days for the Flyer to reach San Francisco! And while the main protagonist, the Protos had been built by a workforce of 600 for the Kaiser Wilhelm II, specifically for this event, the Thomas Flyer was primarily a “Stock” car, as that’s how the 1907 Model Flyer Roadster, 60 horsepower four cylinder automobile had come off the Thomas production line…

(As obviously the Thomas Flyer (Has to be one of my most favourite named vehicles, eh?)

Without Schuster’s perseverance and mechanical abilities, the vehicle WITHOUT Heater or Windscreen! (Consider how refined today’s racecars are) Would have never made it to the finish line… Being declared the victor when the Protos was given a one month penalty for such infractions as having skipped portions of the trip, like Seattle to Japan and having been transported by railroad from Idaho to Seattle!

Interestingly, my memory wishes to recall seeing said Thomas Flyer in the Reno Automobile Museum several years ago, when the city actually hosted an SCCA Pro Trans Am event…

On May 30th, there will begin a 100yr Anniversary re-enactment of this great race begun once again from Times Square(?) in the 2008 Edition of the New York to Paris race…

Indy’s newest Pace Car?

Hey, this is just an idea for next year’s Indianapolis 500 Pace Car… Although it certainly doesn’t outperform this year’s “Eithanol Chebbie” Corvette, nonetheless it’s suited for either land or sea duty and thus would fill in nicely during the inclement Month ‘O May!

Then again, NAH! WE DON’T WANT NO STINKIN’ Amphicar as the Pace Car, since we’ll be hoping for Sunshine and as a few of the local Amphicar owner’s noted towards their vehicles performance;

"In the water maybe 5 mph max," said Capron, an auto repair shop owner. "No water skiing." Added John "Capt. Jack" Hein, "I don't think these cars can go 70 without going out of control. We like to think of it as the fastest car on the water and fastest boat on the road."

Concours Seattle

Just a little story while tryin’ to play “Ketsup” from my latest holiday to Watkins Glen…

In what is becoming my new yearly Labor Day tradition, I once again attended my favourite local Italian car show, while being the fourth successive year the Italian Concours had a new venue.

Although I’d heard about the car show for several years, I’d always been unable to attend since I had traditionally trek north to Canada for the Molson Indy. Yet four years ago I finally went to my inaugural Concourso with my good friend Yutaka, as we attended the show on a post card perfect day in the idyllic setting of a Seattle “Indian Summer.”

Moving from my favourite locale of Pier 62-63. (Downtown Seattle) These waterfront piers have been deemed structurally unsound and have been undergoing renovation for the past few years.

Thus the venue moved to the end of South Lake Union in 2005, which I once again attended with Yutaka prior to his returning to Japan. Of course the setting wasn’t as enjoyable as the waterfront locale.

Last year’s new location was the Magnuson Athletic fields at Sand Point. (Unfortunately I’d billed this to friends as the “best kept secret” Italian car show in Seattle, which might have been a little too hard to swallow?) As I’m a pushover for Italian machinery... Ok, so it doesn’t compare to the real Concourso Italiano held each August in Monterey, CA. But Hey! That’s the granddaddy of all Concourso’s.

2006 Italian Concours
On a hot “scorcher” summer day, the “Dry ‘N Distant” expanses of Magnuson Park offered zero shade, dusty baseball infield and scattered vehicle displays. There was the usual smattering of vendor booths, (which I didn’t check out) with the spectator’s favourite vista being the covered eating area…

Once again there was a vast array of exotic Italian machinery for everyone to marvel over. Another large armada of Ferrari’s were present, along with excellent gatherings of Lamborghini’s, Maserati’s, Alfa Romeo’s, (Featured marquee) Pantera’s, Fiat’s an eclectic sampling of “scooter’s,” along with other “specialty” vehicles. The Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s were comprised of the “usual suspects.”

Ferrari’s:
308/308 Dino GT4, 328’s, 355’s (Spyder, Coupe) 360’s (Spyder, Coupe) F430’s, 456GT/GTA, early ‘60’s vintage Ferrari and one oddity: 250 GTO Replica. (Datsun Z-Car chassis)

Lamborghini’s:
Countaches, (LP400, 5000 Quattrovalve, 25th Anniversary) Diabloes, (Coupe, VT roadster) Jalpa, Espada, Miura.

There were several “Mauser’s” *Maserati) including Merak, Bora and two beautiful Ferrari “Daytona-esque” Ghibli…

Classic Italian styling flowed from the various Alfa’s on hand. A gorgeous “perrywinkle” blue Alfa grabbed my attention over the red GTV (Under 2 liter Trans Am class) parked alongside As well as a gorgeous Zagato bodied Alfa.

De Tomaso was well represented by an outstanding fleet of seven Pantera’s. Six cars were early models, (1971-74) along with a 1984 GT5. Contrary to the PA Announcer, not all Pantera 351 V-8 Cleveland’s are built “Down Under.”

I was very impressed by the black Pantera from Oregon which has been custom adapted with hand controls by its owner, who drove up from Portland…

I suppose Fiat’s are the “Rodney Dangerfield’s” of Italian cars: “Getting NO Respect, eh?” (Since I simply blew past them) I also paid little attention to the SUV and Cobra replicar. Although the Corvette Z06 was a bit out of place, it certainly garnered plenty of admiring looks.

There were several special chassis on hand including an OSCA, which I believe the name was derived from the 4 Maserati brother’s initial’s after the selling of Maserati. A pleasing Euro-spec Alfa Romeo diesel station wagon, along with a “one-off” custom Nardi.

Taking “Best of Show” was John Shirley’s 1938 8C 2900 Alfa. This absolutely stunning chassis was 1 of 5 touring coupe bodies produced. It was wonderful listening to the scrumptious harmonics of the straight-eight idling along with its supercharger’s awaiting input as the car made its departure upon receiving its award…

LeMay Museum

Recently I attended the 30th Anniversary of the Harold LeMay Car Show & Auction to which I’ve heard about for years, but have never been able to attend. So it seems like I picked a good year to attend for my very first outing, eh?

The event is held on two separate locations with Yellow School buses transporting us from six different parking lots, as well as transporting us between show venues. And although the comments were unanimous as we all was very well organized especially for a crowd estimated at over 10,000…

Folklore says that Nancy LeMay liked describing her house as a typical five bedroom bungalow with a 300 car garage! Her husband Harold’s collection is listed as the largest private collection in the world according to the Guinness book of World Records, peaking at 3,000+ vehicles, comprised of nearly every American made automobile, motorcycles, trucks and numerous memorabilia…

Harold made his fortune in the Refuse business beginning after World War II in Tacoma, WA. LeMay’s business expanded to comprise of several Garbage and Recycling companies, serving from Mount Rainier to the Pacific Ocean along with sales, towing and investing ventures. In the early 1980’s, Harold and Nancy purchased the former Maramont Military Academy which sits on an 80 acre parcel in Spanaway, WA.

Arriving at the LeMay homestead, (off limits) we notice that there’s a Merry-Go-Round in the yard. (Doesn’t everyone have a full size merry-go-round in their yard?) And there’s various farming machinery on display in the paved courtyard including a steam powered engine that blows its whistle…

Walking past the various farm implements, we enter what ultimately would be my favourite room: the tiny ‘lil garage of Limousine’s housing a mere 16 automobiles.

And what an impressive display it was (These should DEFINITELY) go into the New Museum!) with four mid to late 1930’s Rolls Royce’s parked side by side. Years included 1936, ‘38 and two ’39’s with the blue Rolls being my favourite.

Then shoehorned in against the far wall after the four Rolls, came my “Best of Show.” (Most Favourite) A stunning silver-blue 1952 Bentley R-Type which was simply an AMAZING automobile! In the center of the room was a 1983 Duesenberg to which I asked Mi Madre if that was correct? It must be a typo, since Duesenberg went out of business in the late ‘20’s. Turned out it was a very nicely done replica, which explained why it wasn’t roped off. And above the cars were shelves housing various “Pedal Cars,” assorted headlights and various other automotive related items.

Next we sauntered thru the Happy Days garage which was complete with ‘50’s music playing, vintage hub caps on the wall and various period correct automobiles including the actual Dodge Desoto used on the Happy Days show.

Next was a “small” garage with various automobilia setting the theme for the six Chrysler cars parked inside. I was impressed by the vintage neon Chrysler signage on the back wall. Then a quick walk thru another garage housing various large delivery trucks of various makes including a tow truck with a Austin Healy on its flatbed, a custom one-off Ford streamlined tractor truck, various Chevy’s, etc.

At this point Mary Jane & I took a quick break for a “Ball Park Frank” and enjoyed talking to a couple whom encouraged us to go over to the main collection at Maramont for which we squeezed into another “Yellow Yellow” School bus…

And I don’t think I can even come close to doing the Maramont facility justice as there were simply TOO MANY DAMN Vehicles to see, look at and properly review… As the School bus drove up the private entryway which was off limits to all vehicles, mi Madre exclaimed, Look at ALL of the Cars!

The grass lawns were filled with row after row of car show attendees personal mounts. Surprisingly we noticed that there was even room for a pair ‘O vintage Saab’s intermingled with the various pre-war automobiles, along with a mammoth Chrysler with a hint of what was to become the era of tail fins as this boat of a vehicle had smallish fins

And we noticed a beautifully unrestored “Green Hornet” sitting alone. As I believe that mi Madre’s favourite was this medium olive green all original 1952 Studebaker Commander, of which I’d never seen before.

Then MJ pointed out one of the wackiest vehicles on display, a “Death Trap Rail.” A custom built 1960-70’s jet turbine dragster. And we didn’t even attempt going thru all of the various buildings on the grounds… As it’s simply IMPOSSIBLE to visit everything in a single day!

We scurried past the “Scooters” display (Motorcycles) in favour of my wishing to view some more of the cars parked outside. Which upon sauntering thru a row of “Musc-cle Carzs,” I checked out a few plain Jane 1960’s Ford Mustangs.

Upon noticing a single low slung race car parked underneath its own canvas tent, I took a closer look as the famous hues of light blue and orange Gulf Oil livery called my name. I stopped dead in my tracks musing to myself “It CAN’T BE!” As the GT 40 staring’ back at me was a dead ringer for the 1968-69 24 Heurs du Mans winner.

So I stood listening to a few people chatting with what appeared to be the vehicles owner. Then I briefly had a chat with him asking about the GT 40’s chassis which is a very nicely done replica imported from Australia complete with your choice of small block Ford V8. The car was built by C & G Automotive out of Oregon.

Standing there I told him I knew it could NOT be the original chassis #1075, since it’s a priceless one of a kind chassis and he didn’t have any ropes around his vehicle which people were climbing in and out of.

Then we went inside a mammoth building that’s been converted into a warehouse completely jammed packed with vehicles of every make, style, shape, etc. from an early 1990’s Hemlegarn Indy Car, Chevy Nomad, Packard’s, Dodges, Fords, etc. Along with trucks, two WWII aircraft engines (Allison, Rolls Royce Merlin), a truck hauler with a Sherman WWII tank, a truck with two trucks piggy-backed on it, a truck with an early horse carriage, etc. My mind simply became overwhelmed by the enormity and eclectic range of the collection. We walked into another packed warehouse out the back side into a small offshoot, where mi Madre spotted another vehicle of interest to me. It was a bright red Bricklin, of which I’ve only ever read about before, as I believe it was one of only 2,000+ produced.

Then after walking thru another two huge warehouses, packed with cars and too many people, I overheard a young “lad” asking his father “where are all of the Porsches?” We had to take a break, briefly resting before giving up on the Military vehicles and automobiles still parked outside, deciding instead to return to the homestead and partake a few of the structures we’d missed.

Once there I was happy to visit the Bentley R Type twice more as well as briskly walking thru a two story building filled with vehicles on both floors, comprised mostly of vintage Fords on the second floor, before we finally gave up and called it a day.

This fantastic car show offered over 800 vehicles and is part of what will ultimately become America’s Museum, as the LeMay’s have graciously agreed to donate their prized vehicles to the “City of Destiny” for a state of the art museum hopefully opening in 2010. For more about the Harold E. Lemay museum visit: America’s Car Museum..

Redlining an ENZO (Part 2)

OK, even though its truly not racing news per say I couldn’t help but write about the blunderings of comedian Eddie Griffin writing off a Ferrari ENZO. And now a friend has sent me the following video link of the “accident.”

And I really hate to say this, but after watching the video twice, complete with COMMERCIAL… It totally appears to be a publicity stunt…

In what seemed like a surreal scene out of the Fast ‘N Furious Tokyo
Drift movie, Griffin casually says to the camera’s: “Should I go around again?”

And the cars owner seems a little too non-chalant about loosing an extremely RARE Ferrari! On top of this they managed to total two half million dollar Porsche Carrera GT’s in the making of the film. So that’s approx. $2.25 million dollars in destroyed vehicles just to make a movie…

To watch Griffin’s “cameo” DEMOLISHING of an ENZO, see: Griffin “Keeps Day Job!” CBS Video

To read more about Ferrari ENZO happenings, see: Redlining an ENZO

Redlining an ENZO

why do these stories about Ferrari ENZO’s being destroyed by novice drivers keep appearing in the mainstream media? (Something to do with the price of the vehicle. Or the lifestyles of the “Rich ‘N Famous?”)

First there was the “stolen” ENZO crashed while going airborne after hitting a bump in the road on Pacific Coast Hiway. Stefan Eriksson managed to impale the ENZO that he claimed to be a passenger in, into a telephone poll at approx. 162mph…

Turns out that the Eriksson couple had a shady past from Switzerland and both the ENZO and a Mercedes Benz SLR were actually owned by a Scotish bank with the SLR having been reported stolen. The SLR was recovered when Eriksson’s wife was stopped for a traffic infraction only days after the ENZO incident…

Awakening to the early morning news, I was chagrined to hear that another ENZO had bitten the dust. Apparently comedian Eddie Griffin DEMOLISHED an ENZO yesterday while practicing for an upcoming charity event, in part to promote his new movie “Redline.” Must be nice to be able to TOTAL somebody else’s ENZO…

And while the rare ENZO’s seem to be quickly disappearing from roadworthy condition, comes word that another mega-buck owner has decided to “customize” his 2003 ENZO. Spending upwards of $4 million to have Pininfarina craft it into a “one-off” modern day Ferrari P3/4.

Why would you do that to such a valuable automobile?

For more Automotive frivolities, see; Redlining an ENZO (Part 2)

Auto Union on the Block

Contrary to popular belief, Christies Auction house will attempt to set the record price for an automobile sold shortly. For some strange reason I’ve been telling everybody for years that Nick Mason of Pink Floyd paid $12m for a Ferrari 250 GTO during the feeding frenzy of the late 1980’s when car collectors were snapping up anything with 4 wheels. Apparently this is an urban legend…

Making the much over-hyped Barrett Jackson auctioneers look like small fry, Christie’s will sell one of two remaining Auto Union D-Type Grand Prix cars next year expecting to fetch a record $11.7 million…