Thursday, August 31, 2017

Star Exhibits at the Warren Classic and Supercar Show

1955 Ferrari 250GT Europa. 34 250 GT Europas were built. It was the first Ferrari road car to use the Columbo V12 engine, starting a dynasty that included the Tour De France, SWB, GTO, and Lusso.
1942 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Touring CoupĂ©. Built by Touring of Milan, this is the ‘The Count Trossi Alfa’, owned by the famous ‘30s and ‘40s racer who won the 1947 Italian Grand Prix and the 1948 Swiss Grand Prix in an Alfa Romeo Tipo 158.
1951 Ferrari 212 Monoposto. The model was one of Ferrari 's single-seater cars in 1951 to try to counter Alfa Romeo. The maximum power delivered was 200 hp at 7500 rpm through a manual five-speed transmission.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Top American Muscle cars

The 1964 Pontiac GTO was considered the pioneer in muscle cars. "GTO" stood for Gran Turismo Omologato.
The name GTO was coined by Pontiac’s Chief Engineer John DeLorean, who was motivated by Ferrari 250 GTO.
1967 Pontiac GTO. 1967 marked the first availability of ram air through a hood scoop on the GTO. It was a 400-cubic-inch V-8, delivering 360 horsepower and 438 lb·ft.
1968 Plymouth Road Runner Hemi was pure brawn with a 425-horsepower, 426-cubic-inch Hemi V-8 engine.
Plymouth licensed the Road Runner name and likeness from Warner Brothers. It went a step further by developing a horn sound imitating the cartoon bird's "beep-beep,"
1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429. Fewer than 1,400 were built between 1969 and 1970. Its 429-cubic-inch V-8 engine delivered 375-horsepower. It was basically hand-built. Ford farmed out its assembly to Kar Kraft. Very little distinguished the Boss 429 other than a hood scoop and trunk-mounted spoiler.
1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. With fewer than 70 ever built, the '69 ZL1 had the most powerful Chevrolet engine offered to the public for decades. It's the rarest production car Chevrolet ever made.

Based on Chevrolet's iconic 427 V-8 engine, the ZL power plant had an aluminum block.
1970 Buick GSX Stage 1 Of the 687 GSXs built, 488 were ordered with the Stage 1 upgrade. By 1970, a 455-cubic-inch V-8 engine powered the Gran Sport.
1970 Plymouth Barracuda the big dog, was armed with the dual-carburetor, 426-cubic-inch Hemi with 425 hp. The Hemi 'Cuda could go toe to toe with the era's top-tier muscle cars.
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454. Chevrolet offered two versions of the 454-cubic-inch V-8. The LS5 generated 360 horsepower, while the LS6 punched out 450.

It's the LS6 version, with its Holley four-barrel carburetor, that put the SS 454 on the map. No other muscle car would ever equal the wallop of the 1970 SS 454.



Tuesday, August 29, 2017

McLaren F1; 25 years old and going strong

It has been 25 years since the debut of the legendary McLaren F1, a car which not only stood as the world's fastest car for years, but which also was converted to race trim and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Over a period of six years, including race cars, only 106 McLaren F1s were ever built. That rarity and iconic status mean they command a king's ransom.
In 2015, a McLaren F1 belonging to comedian Rowan Atkinson sold for $12 million even though it had been destroyed and rebuilt twice. Later, a converted LM spec F1 sold for $13.7 million at auction. The price tag was $810,000 in 1992.
Today, classic F1s are worth something around $9m.
Power for the F1 came from a naturally aspirated 6.1-liter BMW V12. In the standard road car, the engine produced 627 horsepower. In 1998, a five-year-old McLaren F1 prototype reached 243 mph, becoming the fastest car in the world.

The record would stand for a decade.


A 1995 McLaren F1 changed hands at Monterey this year for a record $15,620,000. The original owner of the very first 1995 McLaren F1 in the United States parted with his icon.

$15.62m is the most anyone has ever paid for a McLaren with the previous record belonging to a 1998 F1 LM-Specification that sold for $13.75 million in Monterey in 2015.

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Wheels up: when supercars take flight

Have you ever been on holiday and felt like something was ­missing? For an increasing number of well heeled passengers from the Gulf, they have found the perfect travelling companion: their supercar.
Earlier this year, a mystery “Gulf billionaire” is ­reported to have paid £20 million for an underground car park on Kensington Road, to house his collection of 80 supercars. The actual cost of shipping your car depends on a number of factors, including the technical specifications of the car, whether it has to travel on a freight aircraft or ­whether it can travel in the belly of a passenger aircraft – the latter being cheaper.

Emirates SkyCargo can transport cars to anywhere on its network of 155 destinations around the world.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Ferrari found after 40 years in a Japanese barn will sell for £1.5m, easy

Not only was it once the fastest car in the world, this legendary ferrari is the only one ever made with an aluminium body. The Daytona was capable of 174mph when it went on sale in 1969. Around 1,200 standard Daytonas were built over a four-year period along with five competition cars for endurance racing. Under the hood of the Daytona is a 4.4-litre V12 engine which developed around 350bhp when it left the factory in 1969.

Ferrari also commissioned just one street version of the Daytona with an aluminium body – and very few people are aware of its existence. But it has now emerged after being left to gather dust and dirt in a lock-up in Japan for over 40 years.
Ferrari historian Marcel Massini confirmed its identity. “What a super scarce Daytona barn find, the only remaining aluminium-bodied production GTB/4, sold new to Luciano Conti, a friend of Enzo Ferrari.”
The Daytona has now been shipped back to its birthplace, Maranello, Italy, where it will be sold at auction.
The one-off Ferrari, once a bright red sports car, is a tired-looking classic now but it is set to create a storm among collectors.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

RM Sotheby’s Auction: Monterey 2017


2014 Pagani Huayra Tempesta. $2,400,000
RM Sotheby’s is the global leader in the collector car industry. They offer the world's finest cars to the most discerning collectors. The sale was 18-19 August 2017.
1969 Ferrari 365 GTS by Pininfarina $2,722,500

1937 Bugatti Type 57 Cabriolet $572,000

1955 Ferrari 121 LM Spider by Scaglietti $5,700,000

1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 by Scaglietti $3,025,000

1959 Aston Martin DB4GT Prototype $6,765,000

1956 Aston Martin DBR1 $22,550,000

1966 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 4.2-Litre Roadster $253,000

1960 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster $1,485,000

1950 Jaguar XK 120 Alloy Roadster $330,000

1936 Packard Twelve Sport Phaeton $ 407,000

1930 Bentley 6½-Litre Speed Six Sportsman’s Saloon by Corsica $3,410,000

2015 Ferrari LaFerrari $3,410,000

2006 Aston Martin DBR9 $616,000

2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 $418,000

1935 Aston Martin Ulster Competition Sports $2,172,500