Friday, November 14, 2008

1963 LeMans Tempest sells for $226,521


The eBay auction for this 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest started out innocently enough. Obtained after owner died. Appears to have original interior but no motor, no transmission. Body has a little rust and some dents. There's stuff in the trunk, but no key to open it. Opening bid nine days ago was a mere $500. After one week, eBay seller 123ecklin will pocket $226,521 before auction fees. What happened between Day 1 and Day 9 is an amazing story.

The car's plexiglass windows, unusual suspension setup and a dash plate bearing the name of a racetrack tipped the owner to its racing history. But what he didn't know is that the car is one of only six 1963 Pontiac LeMans Tempest Super Duty coupes ever made. Hemmings recently did a story on the rare cars in which they listed all ever built. This one looks to have been driven by Stan Antlocer and was the fastest drag car in 1963 before disappearing.

Reading through the questions on the auction gives us reason to believe the seller truly didn't know the car's provenance. In his answers, he seems both surprised by the car's potential value as well as overwhelmed by the attention. He turned down an offer of $160,000 to end the auction early because he feared getting negative eBay feedback. That decision paid off. With only seven minutes remaining, the highest offer was $95,000. When the virtual gavel fell, eBayer ccsi2000 had bought a very rare, if a little rusty, LeMans for $226,521.



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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Hennessey twin turbo Ford GT


Hennessey is perhaps more closely associated with Dodge Vipers to most people, but they also do work on Ford's late, great supercar, the Ford GT, too. What Hennessey does with the GT is sort of up to you. One option they can do is a swap, wherein the factory supercharger is removed and a pair of turbos are fitted. With additional modifications, that car can reach more than 235 mph.

If it strikes you as a sacrilegious thing to do to a rare factory-supercharged car, you can keep your blower and simply add the twin turbos as well. They call that one the Ford GT1000 for the metric tonne of horsepower it produces. It can squirt from 0-60 in 2.6 seconds and cover the quarter in 10.6 on its way past 240 mph. The company had one of each on hand at SEMA this year in front of the duPont Registry trailer.



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Tenth and final weekly teaser pic of the 2010 Mustang


What a long, strange trip it's been. For way too many weeks now, we've been tortured with little snippets of the new 2010 Mustang. Now we've reached the grand finale with the tenth and final picture revealing the rear quarter view of the car.

We really like what we see, especially the rear spoiler which now has a ducktail design instead of being raised from the rear decklid. The taillights maintain their classic three-pillar design, although they now have a more tailored look that flows along the line of the rear bumper.

According to Ford, there will also be an option for a rear-view camera, although we don't know exactly where the camera will be placed. We'll bring you all the details and plenty of photos next week from the LA Auto Show, when we will finally get a complete unveiling of the car.



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