Tag Archives: Corvette

Barrett-Jackson Auction in Florida

57 Chevy at Barrett JacksonBarrett-Jackson Auctions comes to Palm Beach, Florida this weekend for car sales on April 11-13, 2014, just before Easter.  They have a variety of cars for sale and provide live coverage from Fox Sports 1 and National Geographic for over twenty hours.

Barrett-Jackson is a great auction house and runs a well organized operation.  Their cars are well presented and the action is brisk.  It is a great show and definitely not one to miss.

Preview

We had the chance to preview some cars at a recent Goodguys event and here are some of our picks.

This 1971 Oldsmobile 442 is a numbers matching convertible.  The OLDS 445 engine links to a manual four speed and comes with factory optioned air conditioning, power steering, power lift top for the convertible and power front disk brakes.  The black paint is flawless and is coming from NASCAR’s Rick Hendrick.

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Corvette

You can’t go wrong buying or selling a Corvette at Barrett-Jackson and this silver beauty looks great.  It too has a four speed, naturally, matched up to a 427 Chevy engine.  It has lots of documentation and awards but the coupe would be a neat drive even without all the restoration efforts.DSCN3359

1957 Chevy Bel Air

Finally, readers know we like 57 Chevy’s here at Route 66 PubCo and this white convertible looks great.  It is one of eight 1957 Chevy Bel Air’s selling this weekend at Barrett-Jackson.  The 283 engine is updated to fuel injection, which is a sure way to bump up the fun and the price of these classics.  It comes with a correct red and silver interior.DSCN3364

Check out the auction and let us know your favorite.

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Barrett-Jackson’s Five Highest Selling Cars

top-5-at-barrett-jackson-bannerAt the Barrett-Jackson auction held this month in Scottsdale, Arizona the top five highest selling cars were just awesome.  Whether you had a chance to see them on TV, in person during the eight days of the show or before all the ropes were in place (like us), you just knew these were drop dead perfect cars.

The cars were all awesome vehicles and had the right history and look to become stars.   Now what will become of these cars and how often the public might chance to see them again is anybody’s guess.

Remember the prices reported here include the buyer’s commission of 10%.  So when you heard the auctioneer gaveling the car sold at $3.5 million dollars, Craig Jackson collected a quick $350,000 in addition from the new buyer.  Plus from the selling price he collects a similar ten percent from the seller, so he grossed a commission of $700,000 on one sale.  Nice gig, huh?

Number Five

top-5-at-barrett-jackson-shelby-2

The fifth highest selling car was this 1963 Shelby Cooper Monaco King Cobra, sold for $1,650,000.  While “Cobra” is in the name, it ain’t a Shelby Cobra.  This was a purpose built sports race car, one of six, that Carroll Shelby developed off the English Cooper Monaco for SCCA’s Fall Series (later known as Can Am).  Ironically these cars were only competitive for the first year, before others figured out tricks to outpower the Cooper.  This unit is claimed to be the only original surviving factory team car in existence

Number Four

top-5-at-barrett-jackson-f300

The fourth highest selling car was the 1998 Ferrari F300 which went for $ 1,870,000.  It brings over 750 horsepower from a nearly 3 liter V10 engine, seven speed paddle shifter, and four wheel disc brakes.  Ironically this car never raced in F1 competition.  It was Ferrari’s test car.  Hence why it is so expensive to have a racing team/s in any series.  Still it is a beautiful and rare car.

Number Three

top-5-at-barrett-jackson-gullwing-3

The third highest selling car was 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Gullwing which went for $2,090,000.  Dang, we love all variations of gull wings!  It has a 3 liter inline six cylinder and historic direct port fuel injection.  The design speaks for itself and is timeless.

Number Two

top-5-at-barrett-jackson-rebel

The second highest selling car was the Corvette, “Rebel” selling for a cool $2,860,000.  This was one of four made by Chevrolet with the racing specs.  After a great history of racing it was scrapped in 1972 and disappeared before Kevin Mackay, a well known restorer, found it.  It came with a L88 engine with open chamber heads, a rock crusher Muncie M22 4 speed and a dual disk clutch

Number One

top-5-at-barrett-jackson-67-l88-2

And the highest selling car at the Barrett-Jackson Auction w as the 1967 Corvette L88 that sold for $3,850,000.  For the limited production freaks, there were only TWENTY L88’s made in 1967 and this was the only red on red model.  Perhaps more surprising is, the odometer is only showing 11,800 miles on the odometer!  The seller is a well known name in Corvette circles and he certainly brought a real award winner to Barrett-Jackson.

Oh by the way.  Think Craig Jackson doesn’t know his cars and the market?  Four of these five cars were among the cars featured on the inside pages next to the front and rear cover of the Salon Collection catalog!

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Corvettes at Barrett-Jackson Auctions

Corvettes Rule

The number one manufacturer offered for sale at Barrett-Jackson?  Consistently, year after year – Chevrolet.  The number one model – no contest – the Corvette!

The Barrett-Jackson Auction starts on Tuesday, January 14th, and over the six days of car sales , with over 1400 vehicles offered up for sale – 136 will be Corvettes!  Hands down the Corvette will be the number one model sold.  Of course it doesn’t hurt that the Corvette, covering seven generations (or model changes), has been around since 1953.  But this is still a huge tribute to the American sports car.

Here are just a few pictures to whet your appetite – enjoy the sneak preview and let us know which is your favorite.

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Corvette’s Jake Logo Revised

With the introduction of a new generation Corvette, the C7, it figures that a new Jake design would be in order.

Jake is the logo for Corvette Racing and featured a modernized skull with the corvette crossed flags as the eyes.

jake-c6r

Image 1 of 1

Jake Updated

The C7.R (the full on racing version of the Corvette) will make its track debut at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January, 2014.  This is the day after its unveiling at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Jan. 25, 2014. When the C7.R takes to the track, it will sport an all-new Jake logo, which has become the unofficial mascot of Corvette Racing.

corvette-c7r-jake-mascot

Image 1 of 1

Jake logo Black and White

The History of Jake


Jake first appeared in the early 2000s, when the Corvette Racing team was gaining momentum and winning multiple ALMS championships and the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring. The team began uniting behind a rally cry of “Take No Prisoners” and a flaming skull logo that represented its unrelenting drive for victories.

It wasn’t until after the C5.R completed the final 24 Hours of Le Mans that the unofficial logo was born. Urban lore claims that the sketch started on a cocktail napkin as a skull with crossed flags for the eyes and was named after Jake, Jim Belushi’s character from The Blues Brothers.

Jake Concept Edition

Jake even was honored with Chevrolet concept car that was shown at SEMA in 2010.  It was based on a Grand Sport edition and was liberally covered with sedate Jake logos.

The new Jake, with the seventh-generation Crossed Flag logo for eyes, is more modern and more aggressive just like the C7.R will hope to be.

Artwork courtesy of © General Motors

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Bridjit Curbs to the Rescue

Many low slung sports cars face a suburban threat – driveways.bridjit-driveway-2

 

It seems that many residential driveways have too sharp of an incline to allow for low profile cars to enter without scraping the side effects or body panels.

bridjit3 I have even experienced  a Toyota Camry scrape a driveway when “loaded” down with four adults!  But Bridjit has come to our rescue.

bridjit-installed

These folks at Bridjit have engineered a heavy-duty rubber curb that helps minimize the drop off on many curbs and driveways.  It is made out of recycled tires, so you can even get an environmental thumbs up!  We first ran across this item at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas.

Bridjit to the test

Our test vehicle was stock 2003 Corvette.  Regardless of the angle of the approach, the car always scraped the front air dam.  Now Chevrolet did design this to be a flexible item, but eventually this air dam is bound to tear off or worse.

With the Bridjit in place the Corvette has a much easier time traversing the driveway.

Bridjit installs easily

The typical set up consists of a main portion of straight curbing and two tapered end pieces.  They bolt together with galvanized nuts and bolts.

bridjit-backsideIf necessary you could order additional sections of the main straight piece for longer drives.  These babies are tough and durable.  Ours has been exposed to the harsh Arizona sun for years now with no deterioration.

Bridjit is safe

Bridjit curbs are also rain and street sweeper safe.  There is a circular channel built into the underside so water can run underneath the curbing.  And the city street sweepers just steer around it when they come down our street, just like a parked car or similar obstruction.

We were originally concerned that the Bridjit might “disappear” at the hands of a midnight thief so our name was painted on the underside.  But truth be known, at twelve feet and 75 pounds, these are a bit unwieldy, after assembly, so doubt if theft is a big issue.

What will be an issue is curiosity from passerby’s.  We have had more than one car back up and peer again at the Bridjit and look it over. Nice that Bridjit inscribed their name and toll-free phone number (877 522-6611) on the curbing.  Good marketing and free advertising!

bridjit8

Purchase the Bridjit

Several car shops carry the Bridjit curbs but I’d suggest ordering straight from the website and checking in with the friendly owners if you have any specific questions.

 

Chevy Cranks Up for SEMA

At the world’s largest convention of automotive aftermarket parts and accessories, the SEMA Show –Specialty Equipment Market Association – one of the highlights is the Chevrolet display; and the chance for a sneak preview at the Media Party held on Monday night before SEMA opens.

Besides catching up with various executives and seeing some great cars, Chevrolet brings in a few celebrities to spice up the night.  Fortunately these celebrities have straight connections to the cars featured at this press event.

This year NASCAR racers Ricky Carmichael (and AMA racer and X Games champ) and Jeff Gordon were there to delight the crowds. Some of the featured cars were:

Ricky Carmichael’s Chevy All-Activity Sonic concept

The All-Activity Sonic concept was introduced by Carmichael and had a cold air induction, a lowered suspension and enhanced braking.Spark EV Tech Performance concept

Sonic Chevy
Ricky Carmichael’s Sonic

Chevy Spark EV Tech Performance concept

Chevy “powered up” this all-electric tire smoking mini-car, the Spark, with an instant on 400 lb-ft of torque –http://route66pubco.com/wp-admin/post-new.php more than the classic 1969 Camaro SS muscle car with a 350 V-8 – for exhilarating acceleration. It can go from 0 to 60 mph in only 7.5 seconds.

Electric car
Amped up Chevy Spark

2014 Chevy COPO

It seems that Chevrolet always has a new version of the legendary COPO drag cars for SEMA, and they didn’t disappoint this year with a light blue version.  Very well designed and ready for the drag strip as is.  This year will feature new front and rear fascia and be limited to the fabled 69 cars.

Light Blue drag car
2014 COPO Camaro

Gran Turismo C7 Corvette Stingray

A flat blue Corvette that will be featured in the latest version of Playstation’s Gran Turismo was promoted.  All week at the Chevy display show goers will be able to play an advanced version of the game.

blue Corvette
Corvette Stingray from Gran Turismo

Restored 1978 pick up

This truck was a restored beauty and featured a new crate engine package from Chevy.  The E ROD 5.3 L package is a plug and play emissions compliant powertrain.

Black truck
Restored Chevy Pickup with E ROD power

Jeff Gordon’s SS

His SS came with a red satin (flat) finish was an awesome car with subtle power touches.  A LS3 engine and a 6 speed automatic transmission were the power plant for the SS.

Red SS
Red Satin SS from Jeff Gordon

2014 Camaro Z28

The road worthy Z/28 in all black was released at this event.  Featuring Brembo brakes, less weight and a LS7 engine helps make this track car a worthy competitor and lives up to its namesake.

Black camaro
Black Z/28

Transformers 4

Three cars from the 2014 Transformer movie were on hand to be admired; a new Bumble Bee Camaro, a Sonic and bright Green Corvette Stingray

 

Green Corvette
Green Transformer Staingray
Yellow Camaro
Transformer 4 Bumble Bee Camaro
white Sonic
Chevy Sonic from Transformer 4

Good times, good cars, good people.  SEMA cranks up in full power mode in a few hour son Tuesday November 5th.  More details at Chevy Performance.

 

 

Predictions for SEMA Show 2013

SEMA Signage
SEMA

SEMA – the Specialty Equipment Market Association – show starts officially on Tuesday November 5, 2013 in Las Vegas.  Car Nirvana is spread over 2 million square feet of interior space and even more cars are positioned outside.  I figured if Hot Rod Magazine can prediction what the SEMA 2013 will highlight, I can predict too.

Predictions for SEMA

I’ll be more modest and only give you five trends to be spotted at SEMA this year.

Prediction #1

Car of the Year – Has to be the Corvette Stingray.  This is the after-market convention after all and there has been no more pent-up demand, than seeing the Corvette C7 hit the streets.

prediction corvette is SEMA's car of the year
Corvette Stingray

Prediction #2

Flat is back.  We’ve seen variations of flat paint jobs in the past, and that trend is going to explode.  Both from the mainstream manufacturers but also the specialty shops.  And contrary to some opinions, it takes as much prep work on a car body to spray it flat as it does for the shiny clear coats.

Prediction #3

Step up the transmissions.  Used to be standard to row through four speeds, but not that Detroit is issuing out sheet metal with 7 speed transmissions to help up the EPA gas mileage, so will the aftermarket.

Silver truck
Sweet Trucker

Prediction #4

Truck of the year?  Got to be the Chevrolet Silverado.  Demand is back up for trucks, that’s where the money is and that’s where General Motors has hit a home run.  It might be apolitical to have two winners from the same manufacturer, but the Silverado deserves it!

Prediction #5

Retro is back with a passion.  Clothing, accessories, and cars will all be showing an old fashioned look.  Woodies, rat rods, salt wagons will all be highly visible.???????????????????????????????

Stayed tuned and we’ll see how many of these predictions you might agree with after Friday and the show wraps up.

 

 

Harley Earl’s 1963 Corvette Sold Again

The Mecum Auction concluded their Chicago area auction last week, with the big seller being a 1963 Corvette originally gifted by General Motors to their famed car stylist Harley Earl.

Harley Earl

Portrait of Harley Earl
Harley J. Earl

Harley J. Earl spent thirty years with General Motors and retired as the Vice President of Design.  He left a lasting mark during this iconic era, including working on the special Motorama era cars, concept cars, stylish sports coupes (hardtops) and two toned paint jobs with outrageous fins.  His 1938 Buick Y Job is actually considered the first “concept” car produced from Detroit.

1938 Buick concept car
1938 Buick Y-Job concept car

A little known fact is that the Daytona 500 NASCAR trophy is named the Harley J. Earl Trophy; showing the impact this designer had in automotive circles.

1963 Corvette

While titled as a 1963, it has several touches from the 1965, like 4 wheel disc brakes,  and many one-off designs including a set of custom gauges in the passenger pod.  The exhaust pipes coming out the side cove is also a unique touch.  It has a 327 power plant and the requisite four speed. It generally is suspected to be a mule (or test car) and hence even rarer and more valuable.  The car was originally destined for the Chicago Car Show. but then re-deployed as well deserved thanks to an automotive icon.Harley Earl Interior

Past Sales

This Corvette doesn’t seem to stay in one collection for long.  Mecum sold it in 2010 for $925,000, and previously  in 2009 for $985,000 and it was also sold by Barrett-Jackson in 1999 for $145,000 (all prices are listed without buyer’s premium).

Mecum Auction results for Chicago

During the three days of car selling frenzy, covered by Velocity TV, 965 cars were offered up for sale with 615 hammered sold (that is nearly a 65% selling rate) with over $18 million in sales.  Like most auctions many cars are offered on “reserve” meaning if the bid doesn’t reach a certain set amount, the car is not sold.

So what do you think?  Did the buyer get a deal?

 

Photos courtesy of Mecum Auctions and Barrett-Jackson Auction

Harley J. Earl photos © General Motors

Lambrecht Chevrolet Classic Car Auction

This past weekend the Lambrecht Chevrolet auction was held in Pierce Nebraska by VanDerBrink Auctions.  If you hadn’t heard about this nearly 500 car auction in advance, you missed out on a surely once in our lifetime event.  It seems the mom and pop owners of Lambrecht Chevrolet had a history of keeping both new cars that just didn’t seem to move off their lot; or some cars that they took in as trade ins.

Some of these cars were kept in fields, some were stored in warehouses until literally the roof fell in and some were kept at the Lambrecht dealership showroom.    Well the cars weathered and finally the surrounding trees were chopped down and the cars were offered up for sale this past weekend (September 28-29, 2013).  Even the History Channel got in the act and offered coverage from the farm fields.

Lambrecht Chevrolet

These Lambrecht Chevrolet vehicles were generally what I would call rough, survivor cars.  They were stored outside, after all, and exposed to Mother Nature.  Even the better vehicles were bound to need some work.  You can’t ignore a vehicle for fifty plus years and expect the radiator, belts, brakes and even engine to be road worthy.

VanDerBrink Auctions

VanDerBrink auctions seemed to have a good handle on this auction. Bearing in mind that they are not a usual purveyor of high-end collector cars, they had things well in hand.  This wasn’t their first rodeo!  Parking was available nearby and while probably high by Pierce, Nebraska local standards, $20 seems a fair deal given the circumstances.  Their website stayed up and had generally accurate descriptions and pictures of the cars.  They had plans for temporary storage of the cars, since most had no functional tires!

MSO’s

Most of the low mileage “new” cars were offered with Manufacturer Statement of Origin (MSO), meaning that the cars never were sold and titled in the state.  A few cars were noted as being issued a Nebraska title, which I took to mean the MSO wasn’t located.  And the balance of the nearly 500 cars were used vehicles, generally with 50,000+ miles on the odometers.  It indicates the organizational skills maintained by a small dealership like Lambrecht had, to locate MSO’s from sixty years ago!  I know some owners with one classic car that can’t find their titles!

The value in these cars was the low mileage status of them.  They are survivors and few and far between.  To quote the pundits, “they are only original once.”  But many buyers  were quoted as indicating they had plans of fixing up the cars and driving them.  But once you start putting miles on these cars, their provenance drops.

1978 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe – Anniversary Edition

1978 Corvette Pace car sold from Lambrecht Collection by VanDerBrink Auctions
1978 Corvette Pace car Edition

As an example a 1978 Corvette was sold with only 4 miles on the odometer and sold for $80,000.  This was the 25th anniversary model and is a pretty eye-catching model.  Being a Corvette, you would expect a few well-heeled buyers and sure enough it was sold for $80,000.  VanDerBrink charged a 5% buyers premium on site and a web buyers premium of 8-10%

As a comparison, the Barrett-Jackson auction has sold three low mileage similar Corvettes.  In 2011, they sold a 1978 with only 48 miles for $45,100.  More recently in January 2013 Barrett-Jackson sold one with 158 miles for $44,000 and in Spring, 2013 at Palm Beach a coupe with 928 miles sold for $33,000.  So the Lambrecht version had probably a $40,000 premium for those four miles.

The best news is that nearly 500 cars have found new homes and were saved from the metal shredders.  And for that we all should be grateful!

Photo © GM

Woodward vs. Pebble Beach – Car Shows – Auctions

Classic Cruiser
Classic Cruiser

Decisions abound on this weekend.  In Michigan you can choose from two unique car events – Woodward Dream Cruise and the Back to the Bricks car show; while in California you have an abundance of car shows and auctions concluding with the famed Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Woodward Dream Cruise

Woodward Dream Cruise resurrects a moving car cruise along 16 miles of Woodward Avenue.  a million folks line the highway as FOURTY thousand of American muscle cars go out for the a cruise through eight communities.  Surrounding towns have held impromptu shows in the days leading up to this Saturday.  Detroit manufacturers bring out concept cars, historical cars and lots of steel eye candy.  And if you are not up for exhaust fumes and a few tires chirping and burning  you can truck over to Flint, Michigan.

Back to the Bricks

Back to the Bricks takes over the streets of Downtown Flint and allows for a car show of classic American iron.  And inside the Bricks show is a sub set of cars, the Corvette Reunion.  With upwards of 700 Corvettes there alone, there is plenty for all to see.  Plus in the days leading up to Saturday there were a variety of car related shows and cruises.

Pebble Beach and Monterrey, California

On the left coast along Monterrey, California classic cars of all calibers are out in force, cruising and selling.  Five separate auction houses hold unique auctions this week.  The familiar names of Mecum and Russo Steele are joined by Bonhams , RM and Gooding to offer twelve days of classic car auctions.  This are too offers a variety of downtown car shows and cruises plus the Rolex Monterrey Motorsports Reunion of historical race cars and the famous Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.  The price for admission to the Pebble beach show?  A hefty $250 in advance, yes that is per person!  I think I’ll watch in on the web instead.

This is clearly a weekend I wish I could be in two (or more) places at once.