Tag Archives: Stingray

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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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.

 

 

Hug a tree and buy a Corvette Stingray

 

I can hear it now, “But honey buying a new Corvette will save us money and help the environment!”

As if anybody needed any more inducements to buy the new 2014 Corvette, the first year for the seventh generation of the iconic American sports car, now you can add great gas mileage!

General Motors recently announced that the 2 seater Stingray, with a powerful 455 horsepower V8 LT1 engine mated with a manual transmission, will have an EPA sticker estimate for gas mileage of 29 miles per gallon on the highway, and 17 miles in the city.  And yet the car will still go 0-60 MPH in under 4 seconds.  All this with a LT1 engine that is delivering 6% more horsepower than the 2013 model.

Now surprisingly Corvettes have been saddled with the misconception that muscle cars are gas hogs.  Even today some current offerings from Detroit are not known as miserly fuel users.  But Corvettes for years have been able to provide their happy owners with some great gas mileage.

General Motors was able to obtain the highway estimate by two tricks; the standard test was in “tour” mode and improved upon by using the “eco” mode – Active Fuel Management.  Under ideal situations, with eco mode the engine turns off fuel to four of the cylinders without significant changes in performance.  I have that same system on a six banger Impala and when it switches off three cylinders, I wouldn’t notice it without the dashboard indicator.

The second trick is the manual transmission involves SEVEN gears.  This allows drivers to get a big right bicep while swapping gears and optimizing performance.

It’ll be interesting to see how the automatic fares under the EPA rules.  The automatic will also use Active Fuel management to conserve fuel.

So now you can have a car with both performance and economy!  Thanks GM

 

 

2014 Corvette Stingray will be shod with Michelin’s

For the recent past, Corvettes came out of Detroit with Goodyear Run Flats.  The stiff sidewall helped carry the tire in the event of no air pressure but also contributed to a stiff ride.  many owners derisively referred to them as run craps.

Many owners actually used regular speed rated tires and risked a flat tire or carried a small portable compressor and a patch kit.  Some switched to Michelin’s version of the run flats – the ZP – Zero Pressure

For 2014 the Corvette Stingray (the C7 generation) will sport Michelin’s Pilot Super Sport ZP.  These tires will have the same size but should offer a smoother ride.  It’ll be interesting to see what the new owners say, and why Goodyear was dropped.