Tag Archives: GM

Hennessey Venom GT Selling at Barrett-Jackson

January 11, 2017 Route 66 Pub Co Leave a comment

Steven Tyler’s 2012 Hennessey Venom GT convertible is selling next week at the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, AZ. Tyler, from American Idol and Aerosmith fame, bought the first convertible that Hennessey built and is donating the proceeds to a child abuse group- Janie’s Fund which he created.

Hennessey Venom GT Spyder

The Hennessey VENOM GT convertible holds the top speed record for convertibles at 270.49 mph, set in 2014 at the Houston Space Center. 0-60 times is a scorching 2.7 seconds while the 0-200 mph time is a “sedate” 14.5 seconds. Hennessey Venom GT Front View

Hennessey Specs

How did Hennessey created such a speed demon? Take a 7 liter V-8 (Gm’s 427 ci LSX engine) and add twin turbos to created 1244 horsepower. Craft the mid-engine convertible out of carbon fiber, sitting on a composite/aluminum monocoque frame so it weighs in at 2,743 pounds. It is actually based on the Lotus Exige.

The car has a Ricardo 6 speed manual transmission, Brembo six piston brakes, electric assisted rack and pinion steering and adjustable coil overs. The car even has a JL Audio system. Hennessey Venom GT Rear view

It’ll be interesting to see what this supercar sells for at Friday’s auction spot. What’s your guess for the hammer price on this Hennessey Venom GT?

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Car show, Uncategorized

Wes Rydell’s 1940 Oldsmobile “Agnes”

October 29, 2016 Route 66 Pub Co Leave a comment

Wes and Vivian Rydell have commissioned some great classic cars over the years. Earlier this year at the Del Mar Goodguy’s show, their 1940 Oldsmobile “Agnes” was selected for the 2016 Street Rod d’Elegance Award.

1940 Oldsmobile

This rod had languished for a spell before finally being completed by Rad Rides by Troy. We took these shots when they displayed it in Scottsdale, AZ at the Spring National Goodguy’s Show. They have won this award twice before, including in 2014 with their controversial 1935 Chevy Phaeton.

Madame X

Now we can’t wait for the 2016 SEMA Show, where they will be unveiling “Madame X”, a 1939 Cadillac coupe. It is a takeoff on a concept design based on a 1935 Cadillac 60 Special Sedan originally designed by GM stylist Art Ross. So this car was never built until Chip Foose opted to take on the build.

SEMA 2016

Of all the unveilings scheduled during the SEMA Show, this is the most anticipated with some sneak peeks offered recently. Can’t wait to see it in person on Tuesday!

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Classic Car- Drive it or Store it?

June 30, 2016 Route 66 Pub Co Leave a comment

It is a continuing dilemma for the classic car market. You run across a collectible car with ridiculously low mileage. The car owner may even be asking for a premium for such a low mileage beauty. The car probably comes with every artifact that came from the factory. But here is the dilemma. Do you buy the car and continue to keep it in storage and keep the odometer from rolling up? Or do you say the car was meant to be driven and keep the pedal to the metal, as the numbers on the odometer tick up?

There is an adage in collector car circles, that a car can only be original once. Similarly the car can only have that low odometer reading once too. Some fans will argue that to appreciate the car it needs to be driven and enjoyed. But they acknowledge that by doing so, the value will tank. Others will argue it can be enjoyed while staying intact in the garage. What to do?

This 2003 Corvette is a perfect example of this conundrum. The first owner appears to have taken exceptional care of this stored classic. He says he started the car every couple of months to circulate the fluids and moved the car every 4-6 months, to avoid flat spotting the tires. He has all the marketing materials and even kept the interior lined in the factory plastic protective wrap. His “Buy It Now” price of $44,900 certainly is a premium to other models that sell with loads more miles showing.

The 2003 Corvette marked the 50th anniversary of the iconic nameplate and was highly sought after. There is even a registry just for these cars. List price was probably over $56,000 and some dealers were aggressive in marking up these 50th Anniversary Editions. 11,632 of these Anniversary Red metallic C-5’s were made and occasionally you can find one with less than 20,000 miles; but this convertible has only 57 original miles!

So do you buy it and start driving it? After all the posting does say – “Drive it home if you want. It’s ready to go.” Or maintain it as is, and keep the low miles?

Let us know what you would do if you were the new owner.

Please note images in this post is NOT the car for sale

Car show, Uncategorized

Power Wagon 1949 Four Wheel Drive Beast

January 2, 2016 Route 66 Pub Co Leave a comment

Power Wagon’s were produced by Dodge and were popular heavy duty, four wheel drives, before every truck line was offered as a 4X4. They were popular after WWII, as our GI’s came back and wanted a domestic version of their military masters. So Dodge “civilized’ their military monsters and offered up the Power Wagon.

Jay Leno’s Garage recently took a look at a 1942 Dodge Power Wagon that was modified into a six wheel drive monster. That reminded us of a similar FOUR wheel drive Power Wagon that we saw last year at the SEMA Show.

1949 Power Wagon

It’s a 1949 Dodge Power Wagon Four Door or Crew Cab. This baby was heavily modified and pounded on to make it look this beautiful.

Chevy Powered for the Power Wagon

It is powered by a reliable Chevy LS3 engine with a 6.2 liter displacement, producing 430 horses and 424 foot pounds of torque for this bad boy. It also kept it in the family with a GM transmission; a 4L85E along with an Atlas transfer case.

They used a Dana 60 front axle, a Corp 14 bolt rear end with locking differentials and Warn locking hubs. They are using Bilstein shocks to smooth out the ride. Creature comforts included not only power windows and door locks, but power running boards plus Vintage Air Conditioning.

Can’t expect either ride to get any “Arizona pin striping” soon, but they are sure beautiful brutes.

What do you think?

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Car show

Hot Rod Industry Alliance (HRIA) Shows Off at SEMA

December 20, 2015 Route 66 Pub Co Leave a comment

The Hot Rod Industry Alliance (HRIA) holds an evening reception during the SEMA Show. And while I enjoy meeting up with old buddies and making new friends, I also enjoy checking out the cars that were handpicked to be displayed at the reception.

A total of six cars and trucks were highlighted this year, so let’s take a look at these beauties.

HRIA – 55 T-Bird

From NASCAR’s” hometown” Mooresville, NC came this 55 Thunderbird in silver hues. A tube chassis mated up to a stock floor pan. It has a Ford Coyote 5.0 L 302 under the hood and Tremec six speed, with Vintage Air Conditioning and nice Halibrand knock off wheels.

HRIA – 63 Corvette

This convertible Corvette is powered by a Chevy small block 355 with a five speed Tremec. A slick set of Inglese side draft carburetors looked mean and it borrowed some C4 chassis components and a C5’s brake set up. The blue color was an added touch.

HRIA – 55 Ford

Another Texas build, this one used an Art Morrison chassis and a 528 Boss engine with a TKO 600 transmission. Knock of wheels looked nice with that stance and Gabe’s Interiors did the upholstery.

HRIA – 59 Rambler

I never get tired looking at this beauty. It was a Great Eight finalist for the Ridler Award in Detroit. The 2 door wagon features a LS small block with Hemi heads and a supercharger. Gabe’s did this interior as well and a Mesa, AZ shop did the work, including over 30 body modifications.

HRIA – 70 Challenger

This blue beauty hailed from Mooresville, NC as well and used a 4L60E transmission with an Edelbrock EFI set up. Lots of custom work went into shaping those bumpers and changing the rocker panels by lowering them.

HRIA- 69 Chevy C-10

In acknowledgement that trucks can be hot rods and the C-10 is a hot model, out rolled this nice 1969 Chevy. It has a LSX engine (461 ci) with a supercharger and a Tremec six speed. The Roadster Shop supplied the chassis and the owner claims 1000 horsepower with this set up.

So a nice collection of vehicles helped make for a great evening with the Hot Rodders. They gave out some nice awards and acknowledgements. Can’t wait to meet up with them next year.

So what vehicle struck your heart?

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Car show, Manufacturer news, Uncategorized

Laid Back Hauler

November 19, 2015 Route 66 Pub Co Leave a comment

When I first saw this COE set up as a hauler at SEMA at the Laid Back USA clothing booth I was blown away. And the more I looked and drooled, the more I liked!

Laid Back Hauler

The 47 GMC COE is a real deal patina featured hauler. The owner of Laid Back USA has a couple of woodies he uses as part of the promotional display but felt like he needed something authentic to haul the classics around in.

Enter this GMC truck that was converted into a car hauler in five short months, just ready for a premiere at our friends at Hot Rod’s Power Tour. I especially likedthe innards were modified to be reliable but the exterior was kept “as is” essentially.

Laid Back Clothing

And since Laid Back USA makes a line of classic car themed shirts, you just knew they had to make a shirt for their hauler right?

Here’s a link to the full article from eBay Motors.

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Car show, Manufacturer news, Uncategorized

Krypton Green 2016 Camaro Is Hypnotic

November 14, 2015 Route 66 Pub Co Leave a comment

SEMA Show has plenty of amazing new and improved products. But the one display that kept the crowds baffled was Chevrolet’s floor display of a 2016 Camaro – labeled Krypton Green. What kept the crowds mystified was a pulsating display of bow ties on the front quarters.

The display was hypnotic as the bow ties came on and off. Crowds kept looking for a light source or a projector beam but could not find one. Lots of smart guys put their hand in front of the body panel thinking they would block the “light”.

Lumilor Paint

But the bow ties were actually layers of paint – LumiLor paint to be specific that glowed as an electric current was applied to the body panel.

This is a neat look but at $80,000 for the effect, might be out of the budget for most folks. But a great display of undying American ingenuity from Darkside Scientific.

Click here for more details from the eBay Motors blog.

What do you think? Would you do it if you could afford it?

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Car show, Uncategorized

Jimmie Johnson’s 1971 Corvette

October 30, 2015 Route 66 Pub Co Leave a comment

Jimmie Johnson’s resto-modded 1971 Corvette was featured in the first episode of Jay Leno’s Garage series. The Corvette is awesome and features some modern technology to back up those classic styling lines of a 71 Corvette. But we had a chance to see it first at last year’s SEMA Show and the Chevy Media Preview Show.

Jimmie Johnson at SEMA

Jimmie Johnson was present to discuss his modified Corvette in person and it spent the balance of the week as a highlight of the Chevy display at SEMA.

Corvette LT1 Engine

The engine is a stock crate LT1 engine that puts out 460 horsepower and an even more astounding 465 foot pounds of torque. It was backed up to a 6 speed Super magnum transmission.

The 71 Corvette rides on 18″ rally wheels and is slowed down by C6 Z06 brakes; six pistons up front and four pistons in the rear. The interior included black leather and gray suede bucket seats and a three spoke steering wheel.

Enjoy the pictures! Wonder what the folks from Chevy will bring out to the SEMA show this week/ Look for an update here after SEMA.

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Manufacturer news, Uncategorized

Lingenfelter Car Collection

September 9, 2015 Route 66 Pub Co Leave a comment

The Lingenfelter Company is known for hopping up the Corvettes to boost their power and handling. As if a C7 Corvette needed anything more?

Next week on the Velocity Channel starting on Monday September 14, 2015 the car show Car Crazy hosted by Barry Meguiar of the car care business fame will look at the Lingenfelter Collection with Ken Lingfelter.

As a recent press release noted, the show will feature an in-depth look at one of the most outstanding car collections in the world and explore the unique story of the man responsible for this dream garage.

Lingenfelter Collection

The Lingenfelter Collection, assembled and curated by Ken Lingenfelter, owner of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, is a 40,000-square-foot building filled with over 200 unique and historically significant American muscle cars, Corvettes and late-model exotics, including a Bugatti Veyron, a Lamborghini Reventon and eight Ferraris, including a 2015 LaFerrari.

The Collection’s diversity comes from Lingenfelter’s wide-ranging automotive interests and cars he likes. Corvettes, both old and new, are of course featured in the Collection which includes a ’53 Supercharged Corvette, the first supercharged Corvette, (one of two ever produced and the only one believed to still be in existence); the ’54 Duntov Test Mule, which is considered the first true high performance Corvette as well as Lingenfelter Performance Engineering’s new Level One and Level Two tuned C7 Z06s.

This amazing private collection is not only a showcase of some of the coolest cars ever, but it is also serves a noble purpose – helping others. Lingenfelter uses the Collection as a unique venue for public tours and special events to generate financial support for charitable organizations through The Lingenfelter Foundation. Over the years, Collection events have raised funds for breast cancer, juvenile diabetes, youth organizations and other worthwhile causes.

As a quintessential “car guy”, Lingenfelter has a deep appreciation for stylish, high-performance automobiles, and he puts that passion into his work as the owner of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, a leading automotive performance engineering brand with a worldwide reputation for creating performance-tuned GM vehicles, engines and aftermarket components.

Velocity Channel

As usual check your Velocity cable listings for dates and times in your location. Let us know what you think and if you set up the DVR!

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Auctions, Car show, Uncategorized

Gas Monkey Garage at Barrett-Jackson Results

January 30, 2015 Route 66 Pub Co Leave a comment

Gas Monkey Garage came out in force at the Barrett-Jackson Car Auction this year. Richard Rawlings and Aaron Kaufman, the stars of Discovery Channel’s Fast N’ Loud, brought out seven vehicles that they have been part of at their Dallas, TX garage, in some way.

We have been fans of their antics since the first season and profiled one of their cars that was sold at Barrett-Jackson before their garage became so well known.

Spoiler alert

One of the cars is so new it has not even been seen on the show yet. So proceed only if you want to see all of Gas Monkey’s vehicles that sold at auction.

Prices

The prices listed include a 10% buyer’s commission. So if the winning bid was for $35,000 the buyer actually shells out $38,500 to Barrett-Jackson, which is what we list. And Barrett-Jackson typically takes a similar cut from the seller, so from a winning bid of $35,000 the seller would net $31,500.

66 Volkswagen “Shorty”

This bus must have been left outside in the Texas rain and shrunk. Interesting twist on the usual VW bus and hard to miss. Richard bought it for $2K and intended on putting $7,500 more into it. Sue charged him $3K to install the kit alone, so suspect he invested way more than $7,500. This was the only Gas Monkey garage vehicle sold on Wednesday. It sold for $38,500.

69 Ford Truck

The shop truck with a definite tinge of patina sold solo on Thursday. This has definitely seen some wear and there are even some minor holes in the bed so we know it has been put to work. It sold for $42,900.

68 Chevy Impala

This is brand new to the TV viewers, since it hasn’t been aired yet. It did not even meet the print deadline to be in the humongous Barrett-Jackson catalog! Green with a black vinyl top. Equipped with a crate ZZ5 engine and a two speed Powerglide transmission. Ride Tech suspension and Wilwood brakes with nice Intro wheels. Rumor has it the winning bidder can return to Dallas and be in the show, since he bid $50,600.

68 Shelby Mustang Convertible.

This baby even came with an AM radio/eight track player. But Rawlings’ crew couldn’t locate an eight track to test it out. It’s been repainted Lime Gold and uses a 302 V8 and a three speed. Ironically the catalog fails to mention any connection to Gas Monkey Garage but it still sold for $106,700.

86 Porsche 930 Renspeed

This baby is Rawlings’ friend Dennis Collins’ sale and is one of twelve built. The red color looks nice and there is only 9,000 miles on this baby. Nearly 30 years old and only 9,000 miles – go figure. It sold new for $168,000 and was last serviced in 2011. Dennis sold it for $165,000

64 Corvette

Another late entry that missed the catalog deadline. It is fuel injection with a 327 and a four speed and is a numbers matching car. It sports original Kelsey Hayes knock offs for a nice authentic look. The price went up to $77,000.

1971 Chevrolet Kingswood Station Wagon

This was used to help promote “Ugly Kid”. It has a crate 454 engine and a 400 automatic with a supercharger (hence the hood alteration). On the show Richard sold it for $42,000 but later took it back from Ugly Kid. Love the Cragars wheels and the “wood” trim but honestly it is showing some age but still sold for $36,300.

Finally we saved the best for last

76 Chevy C-10

This truck was donated to a local Dallas charity and Dennis Collins stepped up to the plate on TV and bought it for $85,000. Now he flipped it at Barrett-Jackson and sold it for only $45,100. It uses a LS7 engine for power and has a 4L85E automatic .

Many folks on Rawlings’ “interweb” question the build but it looks solid; but Dennis should have had somebody tweak the hood better. The alignment is terrible.Driver’s Side Hood Alignment

Passenger Side Hood Alignment

Now I’d be guessing that Richard didn’t have to pay the full 10% seller’s commission, but that’s between him and Craig Jackson. So do you think Richard flipped out okay on these cars?

Enjoy all the pictures of the cars and trucks from Gas Monkey Garage