Fairlane 500 Sports Coupe

Late 70's Nova

How the once great Nova line ended up in 77-79. Sad. Concours Cabriolet? Really, not cool. Putting a couple French words on this Nova doesn't add anything to it's lack of appeal.

Buick Wildcat, had one of the best designed symbols, and rarely seen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_Wildcat
Interestingly, engine names referred to engine torque output rather than engine displacement. The "Wildcat 445" was a 401 CID V8 that produced a peak torque rating of 445 ft·lbf (603 N·m), while the "Wildcat 465" was a 425 CID V8 that produced 465-FT-LB of torque. The "dual quad" version of the Wildcat 465 was dubbed "Super Wildcat."
There was a guy in San Diego who took a dual quad 455 out of a Wildcat and stuffed it into his 71 Dodge Charger. When I asked him "Why?!" He responded that he was a tinkerer. aka goofball who had too much time on his hands, a rare engine, and a need for extra attention. You know the type.

What car rallies are going on in Australia, and around the world

http://www.classicrally.com.au/ "all significant motoring events and much more - local and around the world"

Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance 2006 Gallery

American underslung above, Ruxton below
http://steamingdownsouth.com/Amelia/Amelia.html in the Gallery are a '37 Cord, an '09 Stanley Steamer, a '25 Doble, '29 Benz SS, 1900 Locomobile steamer, '21 DuPont, a '11 Thomas Flyer, a '10 Amercian Underslung (Al Teague desired one of these and his wife found one and gave it to him as a wedding present if I remember correctly) and unlabeled but instantly recognizeable for its unique headlights... a Ruxton. Very cool designed headlights, they were chosen by the Blastolene Brothers to go on the B 702. http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/11/b-702-beautiful-design-by-blastolene.html

James Coburn Ferrari sets record auction price 10.9 million USD

Above image via: http://spiriteddrive.tumblr.com/

Above 3 images are from "Sumflow" who very nicely out of the blue emailed them to me to share with all of you

A 42 yr old British multimillionaire television and radio personality bought the 13th of 56 built '61 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder for $10,894,900, the highest price ever paid for a vintage car at auction, according to RM Auctions and Sotheby's, the companies that organized the sale.

Coburn (who died in '02) bought the car second-hand in 1964, shortly after completing "The Great Escape." Coburn had this car tuned up by Max Balchowsky at Hollywood Motors. Balchowsky was a successful racing driver famous for his homebuilt Old Yeller racing cars. His garage was a popular hangout for Hollywood’s “genuine car guys” as Steve McQueen, James Garner and Coburn. Throughout Coburn’s ownership, he repainted the vehicle three times, first in dark blue, followed by silver and finally burgundy. The car appeared on the auction block in its original Nero black.

It may well have been Steve McQueen’s influence that sparked Coburn’s interest in fast cars. McQueen already owned a 1958 Porsche Speedster 1600 Super and a 1957 Jaguar XK-SS. He would go on to own a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso and a stunning 275 GTS/4 NART Spyder.

Between 1959 and 1960 James Coburn co-starred with him in three episodes of “Wanted Dead or Alive” (they shared the same manager). The McQueen family and James Coburn would remain friends for life. They co-starred together in their first feature film, “The Magnificent Seven” in 1960 and another iconic picture “The Great Escape” in 1963 where they were joined by friend James Garner.

For a full gallery of photos: http://www.finecars.cc/en/detail/car/20670/index.html?no_cache=1&ret=20&request%5Bfilter%5D%5Boffset%5D=0&request%5Bfilter%5D%5Browcount%5D=6&request%5Bfilter%5D%5Border%5D=price&request%5Bfilter%5D%5Bdesc%5D=desc&request%5Bfilter%5D%5Bdealer%5D=1003

Via: http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/19/autos/record_ferrari_sale/index.htm?section=money_latest

and http://classiccars.about.com/b/2008/05/22/1961-ferrari-breaks-world-record-at-auction.htm

and http://www.rmauctions.com/AuctionResults.cfm?SaleCode=FF08&CFID=606105&CFTOKEN=17436374#

Click here ( 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder ) and then scroll down the list and click on it again for the interview with Scaglietti

427 AC Cobra trivia

According to http://www.ridelust.com/the-top-20-sports-cars-of-all-time/ the #2 best sports car of all time is the 427 AC Cobra... and they say it was made with a VW steering rack, Jaguar in-board disk brakes, and was responsible for the implementation of road speed limits in the United Kingdom.

High speed chase hitting over 150mph... a limo tries to escape the cops... with incredibly good reverse driving, for a little while at least

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMpHG5zvv-Q&eurl=http://www.ridelust.com/page/12/
Via http://www.ridelust.com/police_chase_videos/

the cars 50 celebrities drive, plus 6 cars in Jay Lenos Garage

19 pictures of the 50 celeb cars, but all 50 are listed... for what that's worth. I found it interesting that someone finally took photos while in Jay's garage. http://www.ridelust.com/50-celebrities-their-cars/

2005 Peugeot 20cup

http://www.widelec.org/peugeot_20cup,id,1902.html

Confirming its presence in high-level motor sport, Peugeot recently announced its new commitment to competition via the LMES (Le Mans Endurance Series) Championship
http://www.rsportscars.com/peugeot/2005-peugeot-20cup-concept/

Via Pizdaus and Shorpy, some good photos

Walking on water was the easy part, not being killed by the orange boat was a bit tricky... but he lived
Actess Grace Valentine in1920, a Packard roadster from the movie, "The Scarlet Runner".

Terrific scene, wish I knew where it was, or who the toy builder is.

When a magazine photo looks too cool to be real, it may be

Check the photo credit for "Motor Forecast". It's a company that uses photoshopping to make a visually realistic looking cgi for many magazines when the magazine is philosophizing about what might be. http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2006/12/2008-bmw-m3-update-on-cars-february.html

2000 Pontiac Firebird wagon

the Hurst Hauler, and info about it is all over the internet

Find a copy of American Rodder and look at pages 30-36 for this beautiful Mercury

http://americanrodder.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=AE61BCE2EFE94FB48E4DC360DD631B8F&tier=4&id=DCF29E8B3CF74E508A23C51C0BE15ABC&AudID=750A39EF7AE24569BDAEB63D697BB266

American Rodder Magazine, alomst everything is briefly touched on with their website that is in the magazine, but without the extensive photography. It really is worth the subscription price. http://americanrodder.com/ME2/Audiences/Default.asp?AudID=750A39EF7AE24569BDAEB63D697BB266

new turn key 33 Ford Cabriolet

http://www.redneckstreetrods.com/33_cabster_exclusive.html
Via American Rodder. May 2008 issue

Art Arfons...

When he was buried, last December, he was laid to rest with a spanner wrench in one hand, a J79 engine manual, and a jar of salt from Bonneville by his side. Now that is cool.

... June 2008 Octane magazine

http://octane-magazine.com/ is their website, but doen't have much from the monthly magazine. The June issue has a great look at the early land speed record cars, and the 1960's Bonneville racers

Bill Noon, Symbolic Motor Car Co. of LaJolla, San Diego

Featured in the June 2008 Octane magazine, page 152, Dealer Talk

For a look through the inventory for sale at Symbolic: http://www.finecars.cc/en/dealer-inventory/index.html?request[show]=1&request[filter][dealer]=1
Which today has:
1949 Alfa Romeo6C 2500 SS
1998 G-ForceFormula Nippon 2-seater
1964 Shelby289 Cobra
1973 Ferrari365 GTB /4 Daytona
1971 FerrariDino 246 GT Coupe
1929 Alfa Romeo6C 1750 Third Series Turismo
1972 Porsche911 S 2.4 ("R" Replica)
2008 BugattiVeyron W16.4
1994 McLarenF1
1961 Ferrari250 GT SWB California
1957 CooperT43
2002 Ferrari360 Modena N-GT
1969 ShelbyGT500 Fastback
2003 FerrariEnzo Ferrari
2007 Ferrari599 GTB Fiorano
and a 1998 Viper GTS-R

For a brief vidoe explaining the crushed Ferrari in Bill's office: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/01/story-behind-crushed-ferrari-at.html

Working on almost everything European

This is so uncool! What sicko put Nova SS hubcaps on this 67 Dart?

Comparing burnouts

I enjoyed all 3, the last guy gets my respect 'cause he's the only one who worked his legs off to bring us that show! That's a lot of serious exertion! Much applause!

1961 Ford Comet.... not a Mercury Comet, and I find that surprising, news to me, and cool!

170 cu in.

Comet keys are original
The radio has two significant features: it's the only place on the car the word Ford appears, and there are two small triangles along the bar (under the numbers) next to the 7 and the 12.... I've never heard of this, noticed them, etc etc, but the owner tells me that they are indicators of where to tune for emergency radio broadcasts, due to the car being made during the Korean War. Huh, how about that?! If true, that's some far out trivia!

It's a 2 speed, and when this was told to a friend of the owner, they responded with "2? Which ones? Forward and Reverse?" Yeah, some people have that little familiarity with cars.
This may be an original floor mat, but what is this crest?
This door is a replacement, and a direct one at that, from a 61 Falcon

the gas cap... I've never seen one like this before, and it's the original