Barrett-Jackson tv at 9:00 tonight

[Guest EDBS0]

Get yee to Speed TV.

Tv coverage Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

[Guest imported_Flash]

This has just been amazing. Can't quite fit in 18 hours viewing time, but what I've seen is phenonemal. Where do these folk's get this kind of money???? Being a working stiff, I must have really missed the boat somewhere.

But I've got something that they don't have....a 1988, one owner, all original (with documentation) - REATTA. 'Course its only worth about 3,000 dollars, but its my car.

Today is the Classics....and the Jags look beautiful.

Did you see the '67 corvette go for 135K last night. Amazing.

[Roadster90]

Flash,

Last year a Jaguar XKS (i think that is proper designation...street version of a D Jag...only a few/rare)went for 1 million...

[padgett]

XKSS - only 16 built before a factory fire halted production. But then some D-types were converted to XKSSs and verse da vice. Have always been a very few roadgoing cars built from racing chassis and whenever you combine "sporty", "big engine", and "very low production" you get a few "more money than..." people bidding for the one or two that come up each year. Prices have no relation to reality.

Bet the 67 Vette was an L88 (20 built). 1969 ZL1 was faster.

Keep in mide that "rare" does not always equate "valuable", the lowest production Pontiac was a 1966 Bonneville 4-door 4-speed (1 built). Last I heard of (about 10 years ago) it was rusting quietly in Lakeland. In 1966 the CX-99 (commercial version of B-36) was a chicken coop in San Antonio.

Have owned several very low production cars that no-one cared about. Would still like either a Facel Vega HK-500 or a Studillac. Unlikely to happen. And so it goes.

[Guest EDBS0]

I can't think when I enjoyed TV more. I'll have to attend some year soon. I have attended the Kruse auction in Auburn and was completely blown away by that and Barrett-Jackson is sever times better.

What went for the big bucks?

Rare one of cars,

Convertibles,

Muscle car mega stock HP HEMI,

Matching numbers,

Build sheets,

Red or two tone paint,

Celebrity pedigree,

less than 10,000 miles are some of the hot buttons

Custom steel hotrods (sell for big bucks but usuall a lot less than what the owner has in them). Unless it was a Lincolr street rod and two people have to have it, then you get $400,000 http://www.barrett-jackson.com/images/carjpg/2004bjcca/2/682/2004BJCCA2_682_Spc.jpg

I am deleting the immage and leaving the link for those interested.

[Guest Greg Ross]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> the lowest production Pontiac was a 1966 Bonneville 4-door 4-speed </div></div>

Close friends' Dad ordered new, with some influence from his two teen aged sons;

1967 Paresienne (the Canadian Bonneville)4-dr. hard top, 327/ 300 hp, Muncie 4-Spd. Neat Street Car, and my pal used to get it on weekends. Another mate had a new 67' 327/ 300 horse 4-Spd. Camero. With a gear change it was a stormer! The Sixties were very good years!

[Guest C.F.Massie]

I watched the auction Friday and Saturday and I must say I'm still not amused. I went to the B.J. auction in Scottsdale two different years and was always hopeful that more car lovers would show up rather than car flakes. I call them that because most of the bidders have way too much money on their hands and just by cars that someone else has restored or built and then they consider themselves experts or collectors. I respect people like Jay Leno, at least he works on his cars and drives the darn things no matter how rare they are.

Ok, so much for bitching about that yuppie auction, I saw the 68 Shelby GT500 convertible go and it never ceases to amaze me about the price people will pay for vehicles. I have been offered upwards of 85k for my 68 Shelby GT 500 convertible and I turn people down everytime. I collect only what I bought originally new or what I have a nostalgic attachment for, and then only to drive it and enjoy it. Most so called collectors just buy them, show them and then sell them, and in very short order too. Yes I go to a lot of car shows because I love cars, but I also enjoy talking to fellow car nuts and swap stories and ideas. It's the association with these people that I like most, the cars are just the string that ties us all together.

My stable of cars is at a standstill for now because of space and of course money. I do have an attachment for each of them, it stands at;

1964 GTO (bought new)

1968 AMX (bought new)

1968 Shelby GT500 Conv. (bought new)

1967 Sunbeam Tiger (second owner)

1963 Studebaker Avanti (second owner)

1962 Corvette (third owner)

1989 Reatta (bought new)

And I drive them all, not a hangar queen or static display among them.

[Roadster90]

Impressive collection...Sunbeam Tiger...awesome. I don't know the history or how it happened, but if I remember correctly, it is an Alpine with a 289 under the bonnet. I had the embarrasing opportunity of rat racing one when I thought I was hot stuff in my teen years...blew me away in a blink of the eye .

[padgett]

Sunbeam was part of the Rootes group at the time and had a long history of sporting cars (See the Sunbeam-Talbots of the '50s). In the mid-60s everyone was a bit envious of Shelby's success of with the previously lacaluster AC Ace (the hottest local version, the AC-Bristol was notoriously fragile).

At the same time, the idea of stuffing a big, slow revving american engine into something sporting also went way back to the '30s with probably the most famous at the time being the Cad-Allards. Europeans had a taxation system based on displacement (actually usually bore which was even stranger) that discouraged development of anything over 3 1/2 liters and then only for large chassis.

So in 1965, Sunbeam stuffed (literally, to change the rear spark plugs there are access holes in the passenger compartment) a 289 (actually a 260) into the Alpine with one difference: unlike the Cobra, Sunbeam used mild versions of the Ford with 2bbl carbs and no room for decent sized tires.

Now what is really strange is that Rootes was by that time a subsidiary of Chrysler but Chryler in 1963-64 did not has a small V-8 and the slant six would not fit so we have a Chrysler with a Ford engine.

This was corrected in 1967 when the Tiger got the new small block Plymouth engine but by the the market was fading fast.

The easiest way to tell the year of an Alpine/Tiger is the height of the tailfins which were very '57 Plymouth like when the Alpine wasintroduced and became progressively smaller every year thereafter.

[Roadster90]

Thanks...very interesting as well as educational reading Padgett...Ever since that "DAY" I was kind of curious as to the origin or history of the car. Have only seen one other and couldn't run it down (going opposite direction)to talk to the owner.

[Guest C.F.Massie]

Padgett is correct about the history of the Tiger, in addition it was the Rootes U.S. west coast regional director that went to Rootes and talked them into putting a V8 in the Tiger to help with slumping sales and to try and capture some of the Cobra craze folks who couldn't afford a Cobra. Also Padgett, Chrysler did put in their 273 CI V8 into approximately 50 Tigers the last year of production, they were embarassed about selling a vehicle with a Ford engine and not one of their own, but it was too late to save the Sunbeam line. My Tiger has 24k original miles and is in fantastic shape for a 37 year old sports car. The only restoration I had to do was a new paint job (BRG of course), new carpeting and I had the woodgrain dash refinished. It will stay stock, I don't want to modify it any way like stuffing a 4 bbl carb on it or 2 bbl Webers and a modified hood. You are correct though it would have been nice if they widened the wheel wells to accommodate larger wheels and tires, it doesn't take much to break loose the rear with so little tread on the ground.

By the way if I can talk my better half into letting me acquire another vehicle this spring or summer I will be looking for a 1964 Lotus Elan, if anyone has a line on one. For those who don't know what that is, if you are old enough to remember the TV show 'The Avengers' it was the sports car that Emma Peale drove. I used to race one in SCCA races at the Lake Afton Gran Prix here in Wichita, Kansas back in the 60's.

[Guest EDBS0]

FYI

[Guest]

You guys are making me crazy. I was fortunate enough to get a 66 GT350 while still in college in the late 70s. Then after graduation I bought my wife a 69 GT500. After totaling the '66, I replaced it with a Tiger with a 289, and then moved on to a '64 Elan. The Shelbys are the best for getting looks but the Tiger was by far faster and quicker. The Lotus is simply the best handling car you can ever drive. I ran SCCA Solo II with all four but alas now they are all gone due to family and garage considerations.

[padgett]

Also I *think* (really dredging here), Maxwell Smart had a Tiger in the 2nd episode (went to an Alpine after).

To me the most absurd conversion was the TVR Griffith (not Griffin - that was later). Neither the engine nor the occupants would last long over 80F ambient.

[Roadster90]

I just looked on EBay...1 1991 Elan and that is it, and Auto Trader.com does not even have a make category for a Lotus.....

[Guest EDBS0]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I will be looking for a 1964 Lotus Elan, if anyone has a line on one. For those who don't know what that is, if you are old enough to remember the TV show 'The Avengers' it was the sports car that Emma Peale drove. I used to race one in SCCA races at the Lake Afton Gran Prix here in Wichita, Kansas back in the 60's. </div></div>

$23,500 and it is yours.

Nic and others you have got to ad http://www.collectorcartraderonline.com/ to your favorites.

[Guest]

If you are seriously looking for an Elan, go to hemmings.com or wirewheel.com Hemmings has nine '60s Elans listed and wirewheel has all sorts of desirable british sports cars - a really interesting dealer.

[Guest C.F.Massie]

Your right Padgett, Smart drove a Tiger in the series. Also he had an Alpine and an Opel GT during the series run. Yeah that TVR was a strange car, I knew a guy who had one and he crashed it only after 2 years.

floridamike sounds like you and I have definitely alot in common with our cars. The Tiger is fast and scary at times, the Shelby though sure gets the looks because it's a Shelby and it sounds mean. Of course that mean also means it sucks gas like crazy the meaner you make it roar but I love it anyway. Sorry to hear about your 66. Being a Shelby owner you know but for the others interested Carroll pretty much gave up on the Ford exec's after the 67 production run and just the first half of the 68 production Shelbys came from Carroll's facility, then they transferred the rest of the production back to the Ford factory in Michigan. From then to the end they were produced in Michigan by Ford. So mike you were lucky enough to have both versions of a Shelby Mustang at one time. Personally I like the 65-67's more sporty, better handling and the made better SCCA racers, 68 and on were too heavy and really were only good to go fast in a straight line. But they still said Shelby on them and that was the mistique.

[Rattaboy]

The results of the auction are now posted at barrett-jackson.com

[Roadster90]

61 Lotus Elite....sold for 42,000.00

[padgett]

Well sounds like two sombodies wanted a small coupe with a bitty engine. Don't forget that were are talking about the first type 14 Elite (1200 cc ? Really dredging)& not the later smogmobile - if going for mouse motors make mine a Fiat-Abarth Allemano Mille Miglia with the double bubble roof. Name was longer than the car.

Wanted a TR3 when growing up. Settled for an XK140MC and a gaggle of XK150Ss when growing up (was how I learned to work on cars). Had first E-type much later. Think I still have a hood-opening key. Have now grown accusomed to American iron but cannot keep eyes off of oil pressure guage for long.

Van had me worried, pressure at cruise had dropped one full division on dash over course of summer oddesy so just had to find out if sensor or engine. FSM says to use mechanical guage but they must have come up with the illustration on a dyno, no way you could see (or even mount) the Kent-Moore when in the TranSport.

So came up with something that could be assembled where reachable and could see from the wheel well (see att). Turned out to be 60 psi cold idle and was enough to calibrate the dash reading.

Is handy to have a number of brass fittings in 1/4 NPT around.

[Roadster90]

Sorry, do not have the talent that Robert possesses in being able to transfer pictures and articles, but I will relay some information printed in the February issue of GQ magazine on page 39:

"OBJECT OF DESIRE>>THE 2005 BUGATTI VEYRON>>$1.2 MILLION*"

Specification synopsis....7.9 liter, 16 cylinder powerplant, creating 1,001 horsepower, coupled with a formula one-type 7 speed gearbox, creating a supposed top speed of 252 mph. Order today ... only 300 slated to be produced

[padgett]

For more than you ever wanted to know Click Here.

[Roadster90]

You are right Padgett....When I initially read the article in GQ I was awe struck, but finding out it was a Volkswagen priced at a Million bucks, was a little more than I wanted (or needed) to know .