With the passing of Carroll Shelby there are probably thousands of stories that could be told about the man himself or his cars but one story stands uniquely as a testament to his impact on the automotive world and that is the story of his Prototype Shelby Daytona Coupe.   The Daytona Coupe (there were 6 total prototypes) was successfully raced around the world from 1964-1965 and it won numerous races, championships and even set 23 national and international speed records with driver Craig Breedlove.  Once the 1965 season was over the cars were retired from service and sold to various collectors and individuals for street use but truthfully excellent race cars do not always make excellent street cars.  One car in particular, CSX2287 was sold to Jim Russell...

Just like Apple Pie and Baseball the American Astronaut and the Corvette are about as American as you can get so when a Classic 1967 Corvette that was owned by America’s most famous Astronaut goes up for sale it is important to take note that a piece of American history is up for sale.  This past Sunday an auction for a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette once owned by Neil Armstrong ended with a high bid of $250,090 but apparently didn’t meet the reserve price.  Many of you already know that Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon in 1969 but you may not know that Chevrolet had a program with Astronauts to lease them a brand new Corvette for $1 per year and they would be eligible to exchange the car every year for a new one.  When the lease...

It's not very common to just find a motorcycle let alone a Harley Davidson just abandoned on a beach but finding one that traveled from Japan to Canada is beyond belief.  But that is exactly what happened to one Peter Mark from British Columbia Canada when he was riding his ATV on Graham Island and found a Harley that had drifted out to sea after last years Japanese Tsunami and just landed on the other side of the Pacific Ocean!  All I ever find is sea shells. Click the link to read the whole story! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/...

A few months ago we reported on a story in Jalopnik that purported to show what the 2014 Corvette C7 will look like when released (Read Here).  According to the story someone had actually seen the new Vette and had drawn a rendition of the car based upon some photos that had been taken of the car but almost as soon as the story was released the official word from Chevrolet was that the information Jalopnik had was wrong and that the rendition was wrong too.  Jalopnik stood by their rendition and dismissed the statements from Chevy and now it looks as if they may have been right all along.  Today we see some images posted on automobilemag that have a rendition of the Corvette C7 that they are offering and it looks almost identical to the original renditions that...

Evos Concept As we get closer and closer to the 50th anniversary of the Ford Mustang we begin to see a picture of what this next generation of Stang will look and drive like.  With the recent release of the 2013 Viper we begin to see a slight transformation from a time where the American cars looked distinctly different from European cars to the future where they will begin to look a bit more similar as noted with the Viper. Evos Concept From what information Ford has released the “Retro Look” Mustang will be dropped for a completely new design that is supposedly very similar to the Ford Evos concept that was launched at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show.  The Evos is strikingly similar to the Aston Martin as noted in this Wall Street Journal article. ...

Yes you read the headline correctly, not only is Bubba Watson a new owner of a Green Jacket from the Masters he won last weekend but he is also a “good ol’ boy” who owns the original General Lee #1 that was used for the famous jump scene in the opening credits of The Dukes of Hazzard.  A few months ago we reported that General Lee #1 was going to be up for sale in Scottsdale at the Barrett-Jackson Auction this past January and although it is one of the most iconic cars ever it sold for a paltry sum of $110,000. General Lee #1 did sustain major damage in the only scene it was ever used in so it was never used in an actual episode, just the opening credits.  After sitting in a field for the last 30 years a General Lee aficionado bought the rotting...

Since Dodge rolled off the last Viper a couple of years ago automotive enthusiasts have been drooling over the prospects of a new generation of Viper, something that would have all of the performance that it is known for but with the international appeal that would not only sell cars in the U.S.A. but around the world, and here it is!  The all-new 2013 Viper was released today at the New York Auto Show and appears to be exactly what most enthusiasts wanted.  One of the main issues with driving a Viper was actually driving a Viper.  With a beefy V10 engine and long wheelbase they were notoriously difficult to handle by the average driver so they essentially became a car that was best owned by someone who had experience in a high performance car.  This new...

2012 Marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most iconic and successful cars ever created.  The Shelby Cobra is such a successful car that it is still one of the most copied and sought after cars in the history of the 4 wheels and an engine.  The history of how the Cobra came to be is almost as interesting as the car itself.   Way back in the early 1960’s Carroll Shelby was a Texas chicken farmer who was a former military pilot who had some experience as a race car driver and like many Americans of the time he was filled with the entrepreneurial spirit.  His initial dream was to put a big block Chevy engine into an Austin-Healey chassis from the U.K.  After being denied engines from Chevrolet and chassis from Austin-Healey Shelby continued...

It was announced today that Shelby American will begin offering a new car called the Shelby 1000.  This new model will be offered in two options with a street version producing about 950 Horsepower and the “Offroad Version” producing about 1100 Horsepower on race fuel.  This new Shelby will be built on a 2012 Mustang GT500 5.4L (which you provide) and Shelby will take the engine completely apart and install the necessary internal components to withstand the additional horsepower as well as extensive machine work to the heads.  Finally they add a supercharger to the car and change the exterior of the car slightly by adding some new wheels and slight body modifications.  This new Shelby will set you back $150,000 plus the cost of the donor GT500...

The highly anticipated delivery of the 2012 Camaro ZL1 may be delayed a bit longer and may even result in a very small number of 2012 models being produced as GM has stopped taking orders and deliveries while the work on an undisclosed problem with the mega horsepower car.  According to several reports GM halted production and recalled all 2012 Camaro ZL1’s from dealers and even 1 from a customer who accidently received theirs, so they can fix a problem that they won’t disclose at the moment.  GM says the delay will only result in a few weeks, not months and that there are already several hundred cars built so the “minor” fix should have these 6.2 Liter Camaros on the road soon.   Despite GM’s claim that the cars will be...

This week Ford announced the price for the 2013 Mustang GT500 and at a price of $55,000 we see the Mustang as a bargain based on cost per horsepower.  Let’s do the math.  With the $55K GT500 coming in at 650 Horsepower that equates to about $85 Per Horsepower.  By contrast the equally as exciting Camaro ZL1 comes in at the exact same price but has 70 fewer horses under the hood so that equates to about $95 Per Horsepower.  Now we all know that not all things are equal and while the Mustang has more HP we love the fact that the ZL1 has Magnetic Suspension and that to us is worth the difference in Horsepower but let’s check into cost per horsepower in OTHER rides.    The BMW M3 is a very capable car with 414 HP and a starting price of $60K...

3.0L Twin Turbo Back in 2009 there were two signs that GM was going to begin to move away from the V8 as its big horsepower standard bearer and begin to offer high powered V6 engines.  Number one was an announcement by GM that they were developing a 3.0L Twin Turbo V6 and number two was that Jay Leno showed up at the SEMA show with a Camaro 5 that had a 3.6L Twin Turbo engine.  Well, according to some insiders at GMinsidenews.com there are reports that GM is currently building a 3.6L Twin Turbo engine that would produce nearly 425 HP while offering V6 fuel economy when you are not smashing the pedal to the floor.  Does this spell the death of the V8?  No not at all and there will be a direct injection V generation V8 BUT it does mean that we will see less and...

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so the Bugatti Veyron must be flattered as there have been a slew of Veyron lookalikes over the last few months.  With a base model Veyron costing over 1.5 Million dollars the demand for kits and replicas will continue to be the only way some fans will ever get to pretend they own a Veyron.   Veyron replicas have been built from Porsche Boxster, BMW 6 Series, Mercury Cougars, Tube Chassis, and even Honda Civics!  So far the majority of the Veyron kits appear to have been 1 of a kind although there is a body kit designed for the Honda Civic platform for sale in EBAY.  Some of the replicas have been built on nice platforms like the BMW 6 series or the Porsche Boxster whereas others have been built on less...

Last October we reported on AEV (here) a company that offers conversions to transform your Jeep Wrangler into a truck and now we are reporting that Mopar will offer a factory direct kit to convert your Wrangler Unlimited into a 2 door truck with a hardtop for under $6,000.  This kit is designed to be installed by either your local Chrysler dealership or a competent do it yourself mechanic.  In the time lapsed video below you can see a crew of Mopar mechanics installing the kit in under one hour. The kit is called the JK-8 and comes with a steel bed, inner and outer bedsides, sport bar extensions, freedom panel assemblies, fiberglass hardtop and bulkhead.  This kit is shipped in a wooden crate that measures 7’x5’x3’ and comes with installation...

It was only just a few weeks ago that we reported that Ford will be releasing a Shelby GT500 Convertible and now we get to see it in it’s official release at the Chicago Auto Show.   The convertible 650 HP stang is expected to go head to head with the recently announced 2013 Camaro ZL1 Convertible. In case you forgot what this Mustang will be equipped with here ya go!  #1  Aluminum V-8 with 650 Horsepower #2  200 MPH Top Speed #3  600 lb-ft of Torque #4  3850 lb Curb Weight, which also means it will avoid the gas tax and almost 300lb lighter than ZL1 #5  Brembo (6 piston front/ 4 piston rear)Caliper w/ Cross drilled brakes #6  6 Speed Manual Transmission with special gearing and bearings #7  Dual Disc...

This year marks the 160th anniversary of the Studebaker brand name although the automotive manufacturing division closed way back in 1966. Despite the fact that Studebaker has not created a vehicle in almost 50 years the current owners of the Studebaker marquee (Arvada, Colorado) are attempting to revive the brand through a “Six Step Studebaker Plan”.   The six step plan begins with the creation of a scooter which would be similar to that of a Yamaha or Honda style scooter and culminates with step six which is the company going public and offering stock options. While the company currently has no products in production the design and development of the scooters and vehicles is underway and the company is offering renditions of the Lark as well as several...

This 1970 Plymouth Superbird which goes up for auction next month is known as “the car that killed the muscle car” as it was bought and owned by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) for emissions testing back in the 1970’s and early 80’s.  This Superbird was purchased in 1972 by the EPA and outfitted with special tools for the EPA to monitor emissions, brake dust, MPG and more.  This Superbird started out as a stock white car, and once is was acquired by the EPA it was painted ice blue, and had an A833 automatic transmission installed, as well as an additional alternator, 3 batteries, fuel cell, air shocks and testing equipment for sampling the exhaust of a jet engine. While many think this is the car that killed the muscle car many...

This past weekend was not a good one for the 1969 Dodge Charger we all know as “General Lee” which sold for a low $120,000 dollars which by most accounts was far less than expected for General Lee #001.  But this weekend was a great one for America’s wounded soldiers when a beautiful 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS sold at auction for $175,000 of which all proceeds of the sale will be donated to  Achilles Freedom Team which supports injured Veterans from all branches of military service.  The one of a kind tribute Camaro was painted by Mickey Harris who himself grew up living on military bases.  This special car traveled to 30 military installations across the U.S.A. and according to Harris even burned a little rubber inside the Pentagon....

A few months ago Jalopnik claimed they had accurate drawings of the Corvette C7 set to be released as a 2014 model in fall of 2013.  Claiming that you have accurate renditions of an American Icon a year before we will even see it in auto shows is a bold claim and one any Corvette fan wanted to confirm.  Recently a test mule of the C7 Vette was spotted at the GM proving grounds doing some cold weather testing.  In comparing the photos of the test mule and the renditions provided by jalopnik you have to come to the conclusion that the renditions are extremely similar to what the car will actually look like.  While GM denied that the renditions of the car were accurate it is suspected that this was something GM had to do after its flagship vehicle was leaked almost...

The very first test drives have been conducted on the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and while we have NOT had a chance to test drive one ourselves; we did want to share with you some of the reports that have been written about this exciting new car.  As you probably already know the new Camaro will be sporting the LSA engine (almost identical to the CTS-V) producing 580 Horsepower and 556 lb-ft of torque.  What many do not know is that even though the ZL1 Camaro looks almost identical to the standard and SS versions the ZL1 over 30% of the parts were unique to this ZL1 and were either created specifically for this car or redesigned to work with the ZL1. Here is what Car and Driver had to say about their first test drive:  “Midway down the main straight at Inde...