American
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1967 Chevrolet Corvette 427/435 Convertible-The “Survivor Platform Car”
In recent years the word “survivor” has gradually entered the collector car lexicon as a way of describing a well-preserved, original, unrestored vehicle. “Survivor,” in context, is also a trademark registered to Bloomington Gold founder David Burroughs. And in 1989, this Marlboro Maroon 1967 427 convertible became Burroughs’s benchmark for establishing standards for the Bloomington…
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1954 Mercury XM-800 Dream Car
In the 1950s, concept cars-often referred to as Dream Machines-were built to test new ideas. For 1954, Ford Motor Company fielded two new entries in the show circuit: a sporty little two-seater called the Thunderbird and a full-size two-door hard top produced under the Mercury banner and called the XM-800. Ford’s head of design, George…
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2005 Ford GT Coupe
In 1962, Henry Ford II, keen to add some racing luster to his company, started negotiations to buy Ferrari. The deal never happened, so Ford decided to build his own race-bred car. That car was the incomparable icon GT40, created in England in 1964 and capable of over 200 mph. Victory followed four times in…
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1970 Pontiac GTO Judge Ram Air IV Convertible
Pontiac’s 1970 Ram Air IV GTO Judge convertibles are so rare that, for any genuine Pontiac enthusiast, seeing one today is an event in itself. Only 17 were built, twelve are known to exist today, and only six were optioned with a 400 Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission. The L76 Ram Air IV engine, which became available…
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1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 LS6 Convertible
Big changes at GM for 1970 included the end of the corporate edict forbidding engines larger than 400 cubic inches in its intermediate models. Chevrolet’s “big-block” V8 was enlarged to 454 ci and formed the basis of the LS6 option, intended to help Chevrolet wrest control of Super Stock drag racing from Chrysler. The redesigned…
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1932 Ford Khougaz Lakes Roadster
Ford’s classic 1932 roadster, better known as “the Deuce,” is the quintessential hot rod. Great-looking, with timeless lines, light weight, especially when shorn of its fenders, equipped with a souped-up Ford flathead developing three to four times its original output, and transmitting that power through a 3-speed top-loader with a Lincoln-Zephyr close-ratio cluster, this historic…
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1965 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe
In 1963, Shelby’s new Cobra had established its supremacy on the short road courses of America, but Shelby and Ford shared a more ambitious goal-to beat Ferrari to the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) World Manufacturer’s Championship for GT cars. After victories at Le Mans and Goodwood, Shelby narrowly missed the 1964 championship, vowing to…
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1936 Lincoln Model K “Howard Hughes” Boattail Speedster
This Lincoln Model K speedster started out as Howard Hughes’s personal 1936 Lincoln K model V12 Limousine, until he converted the car into his idea of a Boattail Speedster. It was originally shipped to Long Beach, California, in January of 1936 and apparently special ordered with only one foot rest in the rear. Other documents…
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1969 Dodge Charger Daytona vs. 1970 Plymouth Hemi Superbird
In 2007, these cars would have cost nearly twice as much, but they are still priced above five years ago. Hemi magic still outweighs Daytona’s rarity It’s a long time since any Dodge Daytona or Plymouth Superbird raced on the high banks in NASCAR competition, but they routinely fly across auction blocks these days. There’s…
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1965 Chevrolet Chevelle Z16 Prototype
It’s quite possible the Z16 was the first Chevrolet product to be powered by the legendary big-block, beating its counterparts by a few weeks The early success of other GM division big-block cars pushed Chevrolet to pump up the power in its 1965 Chevelle in a big way, stuffing the smallish mid-sized mainstay with the…