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…

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…