Back in 1953 the first Corvettes were being sold through Chevrolet dealerships across America and only a small 300 were sold that first year. Corvettes number #001 and #002 were not sold so the first Corvette EVER sold to the public was #003.
Corvette #003 was sold at auction about 6 years ago and fetched an astonishing $1,080,000 and while that is a tidy sum of cash in context it was the FIRST Corvette ever sold to the public so for Corvette collectors that it truly the beginning of an American Icon.
Now at the end of January 2012 we will see Corvette #005 which was the 3rd Corvette ever sold to the public up for auction at the RM Auction in Arizona and is expected to bring in roughly $500,000. The typical MINT condition 1953 Vette is valued at $250,000 but since this is the 3rd Corvette ever sold it is expected to double the typical value.
Back in 1954 two automobile manufacturers combined to create the largest corporate merger in U.S. history at the time. The Hudson and Nash Kelvinator merger created the American Motor Corporation an automobile manufacturer who was expected to fare better against the big three(GM, Ford, Chrysler) as both Nash and Husdon were struggling against the more popular and established manufacturers.
After initially designing compact cars, AMC decided to enter into a more performance oriented automotive segment which began with the 1966 Auto Show Circuit. The AMX which stands for American Motors eXperimental was originally designed in 1965 by Richard A. Teague who is also known for designing the Oldsmobile Rocket, and the Jeep Cherokee (XJ). After taking the AMX on the 1966 Auto Show Circuit to a huge and positive response the executives at AMC decided it was necessary to put the AMX into production quickly. The AMX became the first 2 seat American steel bodied car since the 1957 Thunderbird and immediately became a direct competitor to the Chevrolet Corvette which had a 1” longer wheelbase. In early 1968 the car was introduced with a price tag of $3,245 which was 25% less than the Corvette.
To get the project off on the right start AMC created two specially prepared AMX’s for track time at Goodyears track in Texas and brought World Land Speed Record holder Craig Breedlove to put the AMX to the test. These highly modified cars were able to set 106 Speed and Endurance records which also helped to boost sales. The specially prepared cars were also taken to the Bonneville Salt Flats where Breedlove managed to take the AMX to an official speed of 189 MPH in a sanctioned run and even hit 200 MPH in an unofficial run.
The 1969 and 1970 AMX were awarded the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) “Best Engineered Car of the Year”. The AMX was the first car to offer some of the safety feature that no other manufacturer used at the time like, injection molded one piece dashboards, chemically hardened windshields developed by Corning to give under impact and crumble as opposed to break into larger more dangerous pieces and new windshield sealing technology.
During the time that the AMX was manufactured it had extensive performance and racing success on drag strips where the AMX was a regular contender or even in SCCA where it took second in the 1969 National Championship behind the Chevrolet Corvette.
In the three years of AMX production under 20,000 models were produced and only a handful of the variations like the “GO” package were ever produced making the AMX a highly collectible car for both muscle car and sports car enthusiasts. In recent years it has become a HIGHLY sought after car and many of the collector and auction organizations have bestowed high accolades for the AMX. In 2007 Hemmings listed it as one of the “21 Hottest cars that collectors want now and will want in the future”.
Once again up for sale is one of the RAREST Pontiacs ever made, the Banshee Prototype. Originally created in 1964 the Pontiac looks like someone at the Pontiac design team put an Opel GT and Corvette into a blender and this concept car was created. As a little side note this car was originally proposed by then Pontiac Head John DeLorean who was also the creator of the DeLorean DMC-12 car from back to the future.
This car was supposedly shelved because it looked too much like the Corvette and they didn’t want the Banshee to take away sales from the Corvette. Also according to legend this car was supposed to be destroyed as was the case with many prototype cars but the design team was completely against this car being destroyed so they supposedly hid the car until it could be sold to an employee who kept the car until 2006. In 2006 the car was sold to a Pontiac collector who is the current owner.
For whatever reason the current owner has sought on several occasions to sell the car but has been unable to find a buyer willing to pay his asking price of $750,000. None the less this amazing and ONE OF A KIND Pontiac is back up for sale and looking for a new owner.
We are all familiar with the edict “there is no replacement for displacement” and while that is not always the case there is certainly a time and a place for a huge engine. Way back in 1967 a Chevrolet dealership in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania was trying to sell the new Camaro and found that there was some stiff competition against the Ford Mustang and several other models that were fitted with V8 engines that were larger than the Camaro’s 400ci/ 6.6L engine. During that time there was a Chevrolet corporate requirement that the Camaro could not carry an engine larger than 6.6L so the owner of Yenko Chevrolet, Don Yenko, decided he would find a way around this requirement by ordering 7.0L Corvette engines and replacing the stock motor with the Corvette motor at his dealership and with that the Yenko Camaro was born. Not only did Yenko change the motor but they also upgraded the rear differential, suspension and added a fiberglass hood.
After selling around 50 Yenko Camaro’s in 1967 Don decided to continue selling his Yanko Camaro and made only slight modifications to the 1968 model year. For 1969 Yenko had begun to catch the attention of Chevrolet who he negotiated with to have the engine installed at the factory as well as adding Disc Brakes, a 4.10 Positraction rear end, front stabilizer and a heavy duty aluminum radiator. Also offered was the choice of a 4 speed manual transmission or an automatic transmission, of which only 30 of the 200 Yenko’s sold in 1969 had the automatic transmission.
Fast forward 44 years to today where Chevrolet has released its 5th generation of the famed Camaro, a Camaro that was modeled after the body style of the original 1st generation car that was used for the Yenko. The 5th generation has been outselling almost every muscle car currently on the market but as it was in 1967 there is certainly room for MORE POWER so this time Chevrolet took the opportunity to do what they should have done in 1967 and for 2012 will be offering a Camaro ZL1 with the Corvette engine direct from the factory. Unfortunately for us Don Yenko died tragically in 1987 when an airplane he was piloting crashed in South Carolina but his legendary demand for more power lives on with a new generation of Camaro’s that now produce 580HP from the factory. So when you see a 2012 Camaro ZL1 driving down the road you can thank Yenko for his demand for MORE POWER.
For many Americans the name Mille Miglia means nothing, it’s not much more than some Italian words. For automotive enthusiasts Mille Miglia is a storied race of true grit and determination. For 30 years the Mille Miglia (which means 1000 miles) was a true test of car and driver particularly in a time when the car was still a relatively new invention with none of the bells and whistles we expect in any of today’s cars. Many of the original Mille Miglia cars were convertible roadsters with little to no protection from the elements and many of the cars that started the race would never see the finish line. Some of the most famous names in classic racing like Sir Stirling Moss drove for nearly 11 hours straight through Italian cities on cobble stone roads in an attempt to earn the coveted first place. If you think that 11 hours of nonstop driving is tough imagine that the winner of the first Mille Miglia in 1927 Giuseppe Morandi took over 20 hours to reach the finish line which by todays racing standards is almost unbelievable.
Since the demise of the original Mille Miglia in 1957 due in part to a consistent death toll from this extremely dangerous race for both the drivers and the spectators the race was discontinued. But since 1977 the Mille Miglia has lived on in a less competitive version that spans several days and still only permits cars from the era of the original race into what is called the “Storica” version. Many famous car enthusiasts like Rowan Atkinson have raced in the Storica. While still very popular in Italy the Mille Miglia has sought to expand the race to other countries and this year was the first ever Mille Miglia North American Tribute which was a 1000 mile race from Santa Barbara, California to San Francisco then back to Santa Barbara. Rides.com was in attendance for the beginning of this event and had the pleasure of seeing some of the nicest classic roadsters in North America. While the event had less cars than anticipated the event was a success and Rides.com looks forward to future events.
Check out all of the photos of this exclusive event ClickHERE
The origins of the Coupe Utility trace their roots back to the 1930’s when an Australian farm wife asked Ford Australia’s lead designer Lew Bandt for a vehicle that would take her to church on Sunday and then take the pigs to the market on Monday. Shortly after receiving her letter Bandt created what we now know as the Coupe Utility. Although the coupe utility was created in Australia in the 1930’s we in the states didn’t get on board until 1957 when Ford released the Ranchero. From 1957 to 1987 Americans saw a lot of choices for a Coupe Utility with the Ford Ranchero, Chevrolet El Camino, Plymouth Scamp, VW Rabbit and the Subaru Brat but today’s options for a coupe utility in the U.S.A. are gone with the Subaru Baja being discontinued in 2006.
The Death
While in America it may seem the coupe utility is dead around the globe there are many companies that still produce and sell a lot of them. Without a doubt the most popular and bestselling coupe utility is the Holden Ute. The Ute is short for sport utility and Australia they sell a lot of Utes. For those of you that don’t know Holden is a subsidiary of General Motors and since 2000 they have continued the storied tradition of the coupe utility. The Ute is so popular that Holden began exporting them to South Africa. And we Americans came VERY close to having another coupe utility back in 2009 when Pontiac announced that they would begin offering the Pontiac G8 ST (Sport Truck) but as we all know Pontiac was killed off due to the financial crisis and subsequent restructuring of GM.
The Rebirth?
Since the demise of the Pontiac brand the chances of a coupe utility in the USA have diminished greatly with only used cars available for those who want a coupe utility. BUT recently there was a small glimmer of hope when a few chats on twitter between a Michael Knower and Joel Ewanick caught the attention of America’s Ute fans when Michael tweeted to Joel (who happens to be the Chief Marketing Officer of GM) “I want a new El Camino. Badly. Please!” to which Joel replied “well, we need you and 100,000 more of your best friends.” This set off a chain of events that had fans of car/trucks around the U.S. tweeting and posting comments in a vain effort to sway GM to actually build a coupe utility. A day later Ewanick tweeted that he “Wish it were that easy, we need to develop our fuel efficient vehicles first! Priorities!” so as quickly as it started the chances of a new El Camino were dashed away.
Will we get another coupe utility? Only time will tell, but there are certainly alot of Americans who will wait patiently until there chance to own a new one comes again.
Would you buy a NEW El Camino? Would you buy a Holden Ute?
If you have ever had access to a TV and love cars then you are probably all too familiar with the DeLorean Time Machine that Doc created on the Back to the Future series. As a kid growing up in the 80’s I constantly dreamed of driving the DeLorean and now someone will get a chance to OWN the actual car that was used in the 1990 film where Marty McFly travels to the 1885 to save Doc’s life.
According to Profiles in History this historic DeLorean will be sold in December to raise funds for the Michael J Fox Foundation which is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinsons Disease, which Michael J Fox himself suffers from. Supposedly there were 7 actual cars used in the filming of the 3 part series but only 3 are known to exist and of those 3 the other 2 cars are thought to be in need of a complete restoration. This car being sold in December has been owned by the current owner for around 8 years and during that time he has finished a complete restoration and the car is now ready for a new owner.
No telling how much the car will sell for but I was recently watching a TV show where a replica of the car from the first 2 movies was sold and reached a high bid of $75,000 so if a replica can sell for such a high number then we fully expect this original car to hit somewhere in the neighborhood of a half a million dollars.
One thing is certain, “When this baby hits 88 mph, you're gonna see some serious ****!”
The owner of this electric powered Mustang believes that this is the fastest electric drag car in North America. We tend to believe him. According to a forum post below the dyno wasn’t calibrated to take all of the torque that this car was putting to the ground but they expect somewhere in the range of 2000 lb-ft and around a 9 second ¼ mile, and for that we salute you! Read More
Over 30 years ago Edward Neely purchased the quintessential American hot rod, a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. By almost any measure the 69’ Camaro is “THE” classic American car, a car that is so sought after someone decided to just take Edward's!
It's Stolen!
It happened 16 years ago that Edward would find someone took his Camaro and left him without his “Chelsea Pearl”, a name he had given the car when he was just 18 years old. Even more amazing then being an 18 year old with a 69’ Camaro was the fact that while browsing for a new Camaro to buy over 15 years later, a wildly painted 69’ Camaro would catch his eye all the way from Utah. After some private detective work he would come to find that this Camaro for sale in Utah was in fact his “Chelsea Pearl”. You can call it pure luck but none of this would have happened if it weren’t for Edward’s brother who recently prompted him to attend a classic car show which in turn revived his passion for classic cars, a passion that was lost back in 1995 when his car was originally stolen.
Happy Ending?
Sounds like a happy ending for all? Well it’s not and unfortunately for Brent Dockery this whole situations sucks. Brent is the current owner of the car after he purchased it back in 2007 off of ebay from some folks in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to Brent when the car was purchased the VIN numbers checked out that the car was NOT stolen and therefore passed the Utah state inspection. He later found out the the VIN had been swapped. Additionally since buying the car Brent has dropped over $10,000 in upgrades to the car. Brent has agreed to return the car to Edward its rightful owner but they are currently negotiating a payment from Edward for all the parts that Brent added over the years.
What Next?
With the story now making its way around the internet one can only hope that the original thief’s are not only caught but beaten senseless, then thrown into jail. I don’t normally advocate violence but some things are too sacred, this wasn’t some run of the mill car. I think a proper justice would be similar to this bike thief in the Youtube video below. Just remember, “Don’t steal Camaros Bro”.
What are your thoughts on the whole ordeal? Anybody who comments below is entered to win our $25 Gas Card!
Here is my project 1987 BMW 325i Convertible. The car was purchased in March of 2011. Since getting the car I have changed the timing belt, water pump, oil, oil filter, coolant, rear shock mounts, rear shocks, painted the black trim with trim black, blacked out the grill and several other changes.
Some of the upcoming changes to the car include a new exhaust, wheel swap, cap, rotor, plugs and plug wires.
This car has been an awesome summer car.
*Update* I have installed a new exhaust on the car. It is a set of dual mufflers off of a Suzuki sv1000 MOTORCYCLE..... I know it sounds like a horrible idea but it is actually pretty nice sounding and looks great!
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