The Ferrari Testarossa is a ridiculous car from a ridiculous era. And now the most ridiculous example of the species could be yours. This 1986 beast driven by Crockett & Tubbs originally sold for $85,000 and was placed in storage following the merciful cancellation of Miami Vice in 1989. It has 16,124 miles on the odometer and recently received an engine-out service at a cost of $8,000.
Brand new, the Testarossa developed 390 bhp from a 4.9 L twelve-cylinder power plant mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. It comes with all the mod cons you'd expect in 1986 -- a built-in car phone, beige leather, power windows and locks, cruise control and air conditioning.
Here's a sobering thought. Had you invested the $85,000 instead and received the S&P 500 index return of 10.055% for the last 30 years, you'd have a cool $1,503,558.51 in your brokerage account. Enough to buy six shiny new Ferrari 458s.
The Miami Vice car will be auctioned on August 15th, 2015 (my birthday, conveniently) at Mecum's Daytime Auction in Monterey, California. And, yes, it has been authenticated by Ferrari North America and Ferrari Classiche. Pastel Armani suits not included.
Robin Lee writes, "A heavily-customised Oldsmobile said to be the first officially-licenced Batmobile will go to auction later in December. Created in 1963, three years before the infamously camp Batman TV show hit the airwaves, DC Comics allowed a US chap named Forrest Robinson to build a Batmobile."
I love the swooping look of this prehistoric Batmobile and I'm somewhat sad it didn't have the opportunity to star in its own series. Preferably in black & white. With gangsters. The minimum bid price is $112,500, but the auction house is expecting the final price to be significantly higher.
From Heritage Auctions: "What is believed to be the world's first car that became an officially licensed Batmobile was conceived and customized starting in 1960 by 23-year-old Forrest Robinson. After finishing the design, Robinson and a young friend, Len Perham, begun building the car in the Robinson family barn. Robinson completed the car in 1963-two years before the George Barris customization of the TV Batmobile was started. The '63 Batmobile is the earliest known car in existence that was sanctioned by a DC Comics licensee.
Although many people associate the Batmobile with the cars seen in recent Batman movies or the late-60s Batman TV show, Robinson's earlier car is instantly recognizable as 'more authentic' by comic book lovers. It has features seen in DC's Batman Comics from the 1940s and '50s, including the prominent front-end bat-nose and rear-end single fin.
The '63 Batmobile was custom-built from the ground up. Starting with a 1956 Oldsmobile 88 frame and the famous 324 Rocket engine -- a predecessor of 1960s muscle cars -- Robinson replaced the Oldsmobile body with his custom-designed body, measuring 17 feet by 83 inches, sporting the Batmobile's iconic dorsal fin, bat-nose front end and pocket sliding doors."
In the mid 80s, toy company Kransco debuted Power Wheels, a series of ride-on replica cars and trucks for kids. The expensive battery-powered motorized vehicles were a hit with kids almost immediately, with sales reaching a million/year by 1990. I can think of some real car companies that would love those sorts of sales.
Eventually Mattel bought the line, and soon after we had Barbie and Hot Wheels tie-ins that have kept the line going for so long. Newer models have refinements such as FM radios, doors, power lock brakes... can an iPod dock be far behind?
Since Power Wheels have been around for a frankly astonishing thirty years, there are plenty of adults now who grew up with the toys themselves. A healthy hacking community has grown up around the all-plastic vehicles. Simple fixes like upgrading the rechargable battery, swapping out the original motor for a stronger one from a cordness drill, to complete retrofits. Then there's the next logical step... grown-ass men racing these little pink plastic cars.
The video clip here documents an annual event - Extreme Barbie Jeep Racing. This is among the easiest "hacks" - simply pull out the drive train, and freewheel down a muddy hill. This clip is a couple of years old, but is no less hilarious. The sheer number of times drivers lose a blow-molded plastic wheel (and it's not that big of a deal) gets a bellow out of me every time.
Then there are more serious hackers who replace every part of the vehicle, essentially using the outer shell. The guys at Make Labs esentially built a little metal framed car that you simply drop the plastic shell over. Fun, I suppose... but I think it flies in the face of the insanity of an adult driving the little plastic car. Plus theirs is built a little too well to throw a wheel - and what fun is that?
The Winnebago RVs of the late 1960s were boxy, lumbering beasts. Their metal facades were usually festooned with olive green, orange or yellow striping. They were the road-borne equivalent of vintage Kenmore kitchen appliances -- practical but definitely not likely to turn the heads of Porsche aficionados.
The 2015 Winnebago Brave looks almost as if a vintage motorhome from the seventies was abducted by aliens, spiffed up with all the latest mod-cons and dropped back onto the roads of the American midwest four decades later.
With a nod to the original (above), it's available with a satisfying streak of crimson, yellow, olive green or woodstock brown on the outside, and the tasteful interior will remind you of the cheeriest parts of the 1970s. The iconic flying W is still there, and the front has the eyebrow look of the original. In other words, this is modernization done right (if one can make such a claim about a luxury camper).
The Brave is built on a Ford F53 chassis, with a 362-hp 6.8L 3-valve Triton V10 SEFI engine and 5-speed automatic transmission to haul the 30-ish foot long frame. Inside, you'll find modern LED lighting, sleeping space for up to six (including a rather cool studio loft), flat screen TV, a fully equipped galley with 3-burner stove, 2-door refrigerator/freezer and microwave, a sophisticated climate control system, and a compact but serviceable bathroom.
All in all, the modern Brave pays homage to the $4,000 original while offering luxurious accommodation that would have been unimaginable back in the early 1970s. It's not cheap, with prices starting at $96,424, but if you'd like to try life on the road this is definitely a great way to do it in style.
When somebody says "VW camper," I envision an elderly VW Micro Bus with a hand-painted peace sign below the front grill. This 1964 Beetle with pop-up camper is something else entirely.
Among James Bond's many gadgets, his fabulous cars are remembered with the most fondness. Fans still go back and forth whether the best is his classic Aston Martin DB5 or the Lotus Esprit from 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me. The Esprit's radical look was one of the first angular "folded paper" designs from Giorgetto Giugiaro (who would go on to design the DeLorean DMC-12). In James Bond's world, Q Branch added a few options to the car not yet available from most Lotus dealers. 007's car transforms into a cozy two person submarine that fires sea-to-air missiles. Natch.
The prop submarine car is going on the auction block this September. To create the effect of the car converting into a mini sub, the film's producers used several full sized props (not miniatures!) at various stages of the transformation. The vehicle on auction is the fully functional mini submarine nicknamed "Wet Nellie" that was used in all of the underwater scenes showing the vehicle in operation. Surprisingly the vehicle was found a few years ago as part of a blind auction to buy the contents of a New York storage locker. Imagine the new owner's surprise when they pulled back the tarp and found out they'd bought an important part of Bond movie history.
It's difficult to predict what a famous prop car might go for on the auction block. Bond's Aston Martin DB5 used in Goldfinger and Thunderball got 4.3 million dollars at auction just a few years ago. The Lotus isn't quite the icon of the film series that the DB5 is, but I still think they'll do okay auctioning the world's most famous functional submarine car. After all, this submersible Lotus was expensive to start with. Perry Oceanographic in Florida made the Lotus seaworthy at a cost if $100,000 - about a half million in today's money.
So if you're a well-heeled Bond fan, you can find out first hand which is the best Bond car - though moisture may be a problem. This submersible prop isn't in fact watertight, nor does it feature much of an interior. The driver was a retired US Navy SEAL named Don Griffin who had to have full scuba gear on while operating the vehicle. Yes, you'll be cruising the coolest (non) wheels in the ocean, but it's not going back up on land like in the movie. Don't expect to make any points with the bikini ladies when you roll up on the beach and hand a kid a fish.
There is a funny bit of an emotional hiccup in the movie. Right as the car is about to plunge into the water, Roger Moore douchequips "Can you swim?" as the lovely Russian agent played by Barbara Bach panics. Underwater the spy-ette continues to worry, until a few scenes later she is completely laid back and admits to having stolen the plans for the sub two years before. Clearly being a sexy cold-war era Russian secret agent is a real emotional roller coaster.
If you like grasshoppers, you'll love the 2CV. Despite its prehistoric styling, it was famed as the Citroen that seemed destined to live forever. The original 2CV appeared in 1948 and remained on the market in various forms until 1991.
It's main claim to fame is the hideously designed roll-back roof. Apart from that, it offered a two cylinder 602 cc engine that output a whopping 28 HP. The Deux Chevaux puttered along with so much retro charisma that people didn't seem to mind its turtle-ish ways. Over 5,100,000 of these weird and wonderful creatures were produced, and many are now in the hands of collectors.
Because automotive technology has advanced so much in recent decades, vintage cars are usually much more fun to admire than to drive. Vehicles of the 60s and 70s were often underpowered, awkwardly engineered and prone to rust and electrical failure.
With that in mind, it makes sense to choose vintage wheels that are quirky, simple and dirt cheap. The 2CV fits the bill -- nobody expects it to race off the start line, and there are precious few amenities in the cockpit that will need repair (like air conditioning power windows or ABS).
These images are from 2CVs R Us, who have been painstakingly restoring 2CVs in the USA for several decades. Their stunningly retro website features dozens of photos that document the rebuild process and final result. I want one as my daily driver.
Most cars today are designed in a wind tunnel to be as aerodynamic as style will permit. This was not the case for cars sold in between 1950 and 1972, the heyday of American cars. With gas as cheap as 25 cent a gallon, style, chrome, fins and size were the hallmarks. This design aesthetic looks as good today as it did 50 years ago.
One of the best places to see a variety of classic and retro cars outside car museums and car shows is the cultural phenomenon known as the cruise-in. In most towns and cities these days, a local car club or group will stage weekly to monthly gatherings of cars to simply show off what you own without competition or judging. It frequently is a family event, as owners drive their classic car to the show, family in tow, to mingle and look at a variety of cars, with the most common being Chevy Bel Airs from the 50s, Vettes and Mustangs of all ages, and a few hot rods built on old Ford or Chevy chassis.
As much as I enjoyed looking and photographing these cars, I kept coming back to a need for a new perspective. What struck me were the retro car angles. Long, thin and often chrome, I knew that exaggerating these lines could produce some interesting shots. From this came my new approach, Fisheye for the Car Guy. Utilizing a 180 degree perspective, I try and capture the unique beauty of these cars from a fisheye perspective.
My favorite shot is the front grille or bumper. The large, wide chrome grills come alive in the fisheye shots. I also like the C3 Corvettes, as their long hoods and curved fiberglass bodies look fantastic at 8mm. I am also proud of my plain jane Corvair, smiling in front of the camera. For more pictures, please visit my blog, Fisheye for the Car Guy.
Lisa from Collectors Weekly writes, "Tatra is the Czechoslovakian car maker whose rear-engine, air-cooled T-87 was the 'inspiration' for Hitler and Porsche's Volkswagen Beetle. Basically, the Nazis stole the design, and Tatra got 3-million Deutschmarks in compensation after the war. Justin Pinchot supplied the photos and a short video of his aerodynamic beauty. It looks like something out of Buck Rogers."
Justin's 1950 Czechoslovakian Tatra T-600 was discovered growing moss in a Canadian barn, but the air-cooled flat 4 engine had only 19,000 miles on it and the interior was "perfect."
If you look closely at the front doors, you'll see that the handle is at the front -- they're 'suicide doors' attached to the same pillar as the ones in the rear.
My favorite feature is the turn signal, a light-up semaphore mounted between the doors. I can imagine they'd cause incredible confusion as oncoming traffic tries to figure out what the glowing appendage sticking out of the side means.
[Update: As I remark in the comments, the Volkswagen was derived from the NSU Typ 32, created by Dr Porsche in 1932. Porsche left Daimler in 1929 and started work on the Volkswagen project in 1934, two years before the release of the Mercedes-Benz 170 H and the Tatra T-87. Tatra asserted that Porsche's design infringed on a number of their patents and Porsche was apparently going to reach a settlement with them, but Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938 put a halt to the legal action.]
Despite not being a car guy, this is a challenge even I'm interested in. The online show "Super Power Beat Down" brings together two Bat-fans for some gut-churningly nerdy smack talk (for example, when extolling the virtues of the '89 Batmobile, the guy talks about its armor shielding as a benefit, which was merely an optical effect *ahem*), followed by a race between the two cars.
The smack talking blurs between the reality of the two actual vehicles and their story elements a little too much (and the segment overall would benefit from a tighter edit - double *ahem*). Really what we're talking about is whether a chopped and converted Corvette from the 60s can take on a fiberglass encased Camaro-something-or-other chassis from 1989.
We have to point out that these cars are not the originals (for example the original Batmobile was a modified Ford prototype vehicle), but more recent reproductions. Nonetheless, you can guess whom we're rooting for.
The world's smallest mass-produced car is back in production. The UK's Peel P50 was born in 1962, had about enough room for a single driver and a shopping bag, and cost an unheard of £199 ( US $2200 in today's money). The ads joked that it was almost cheaper than walking. The company made 50 of the cars, 27 of which are still known to still be puttering today. In these fuel conscious times, a new company called Peel Engineering Ltd. is doing another production run of 50 units of the iconic little car.
Only 50? I feel like they're denying the next generation of Shriners their ride to work.
Before you run over to northern England with your checkbook, don't forget that there's no reverse gear - making conventional parking difficult. That's okay, just pick the car up by its rear handle and wheel it into place. It's also not quite as cheap as it was back in the 60s. You'll need to shell out upwards of $12,000 to get one today. I suppose that's cheap in the world of collectible oddball cars, but is also close to what you'd pay for a larger car with those other amenities like mirrors, a fourth wheel and a second headlight.
If you'd like to see one of the classics in action, here's a video where strapping "Top Gear" lad Jeremy Clarkson stacks his stocky 6' 5" frame into the diminutive auto.
It really does look like he's driving around in a snow blower. He takes the P50 on the road with BBC camera crew in tow. He points out in the video that their production vehicle is a hybrid SUV that actually measures in at friendlier to the environment than the Peel. Not only does Jeremy take the car to the office, he drives it around in the office! This is a great clip, even if you're not a huge car buff.
Wouldn't we all like to do that on our last Friday at a job? I'd love to strap a plow to the front of a little car like this and rearrange some cubicles someday. Let's see those vindictive clowns from H.R. just try and catch me... but I digress...
In those halcyon 80s summers, it was important to show all your neighbors how great your car stereo was. Wait... "great" isn't the word... Oh yeah: "Bowel-rattlingly loud" is what I meant to say. Not much has changed, I guess. The people in my neighborhood now welcome summertime by dropping the car windows and pumping out anti-social women-hating music (except the guy who blasts 70s Joni Mitchell - I still hope to meet that guy).
Back to suburban 80s Chicago, and showing off your car stereo. The sheer amplitude made it easy to notify the neighborhood that your car stereo could pump out some serious decibels. That's what bums me out about this amazing car stereo with a built-in 1" black & white CRT television. No one is going to know that you have the coolest car stereo ever unless they shove their head into your car and squint really hard to make out the picture.
I'm amazed at how nice this stereo looks. Back then, off-brand gear usually betrayed its cheaper pedigree by taking shortcuts in quality. Check out this interior shot to see just how the engineers at Yoko were able to cram in a fully functional tape deck and a mini CRT - they even thoughtfully included a magnifier for the tiny screen! I think it goes without saying that this would have always been an illegal device, but it would have been nice to be able to at least monitor the soundtrack of your favorite TV broadcasts (especially live local sports) while you drive.
If I had a car this could fit in, I'd absolutely rig it up and risk the wrath of the local police. Of course the analog tuner wouldn't get anything except our one remaining low power broadcast TV station. Not to worry - check out the jack marked "VCR" on the front. That's an aux in so you can plug in a portable video deck (oh, murder!), your camcorder, or how about a DTV converter (powered through you cigarette lighter, of course) with an antenna? Better still - hook up an old black and white Pong console, many of which ran off of batteries anyway.
Today it's easy to be unimpressed about car video. We've all seen a disturbing number of mini-vans outfitted with seat-back DVD players (just can't get those kids into reading a book, eh?), and of course anyone can whip out a phone or laptop to watch video on the go. The desire has always been there, it was just so much harder to achieve back in the 80s. There are probably a LOT of reasons this never became a standard car add-on.
Oh, and to close with possibly the retro-nerdiest thing I've ever said here, You know what I really wish? I wish that deck were compatible with the strange video format of Pixel Vision (the toy camera that recorded video on regular audio cassettes). The Fisher-Price lo-fi camera's grainy output would look pretty sweet on a 1" screen.
Thanks to the guys at the audiokarma.org forums for digging up these photos.
"This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Chevrolet brand. Many models are being feted as part of the celebration, but one model that is often overlooked in the hoopla is the Chevrolet Corvair, the first and only air cooled, rear engined mass produced car made in America. Produced from 1960 to 1969, the Corvair was the subject, in part, of Ralph Nader's seminal work, Unsafe at Any Speed, which claimed that the original 1960 car was prone to violent unpredictable oversteer. While somewhat true, handling improved after 1960, and by 1965 in the guise of a second generation car, became one if the best handling cars made at the time (with a new corvette-based independent rear suspension).
Initially, the Corvair was sold in a plethora of models including coupe, sedan, wagon, and van, but most were abandoned by 1966 as sales dropped 50% due to the publication of Nader's Book and the introduction of the Mustang. GM carried on with the coupe and convertible until 1969, mostly to spite Nader, despite ever-declining sales.
The Corvair was GM's response to the small car import threat, especially from VW. Fuel economy was over 20 mpg, and due to the engine layout the interior was as roomy as many larger cars with a wide, flat floor and a folding rear seat for added luggage. Despite its economy car roots, the Corvair was soon adopted by.the sporting crowd as a poor man's Porsche. GM responded by up horsepower from 80 to 180 by turbocharging the car.
The engine was a unique design, a horizontally opposed six cylinder boxer engine with aluminum heads displacing 2.3 to 2.7 liters, supported by two or four one barrel carburettors producing 80 to 140 horsepower and a single side barrel carb feeding the dual intake turbo. Three and four speed manual transmission were available, along with a powerglide two speed autobox.
Since the Corvair was an economy car, it lacked power steering or brakes, but options included bucket seats, air conditioning, am-fm stereo and full gauges. Prices started in the low $2,000s up to a fully loaded model that barely topped $3,000. Two specialty versions were also available, the race-bred Yenko Stinger and the sport luxury Fitch Sprint, both of which are highly sought in the collector market.
Over nine years, GM sold 1.75 million Corvairs, but the stigma of being unsafe made the car less desirable than other 60's collectibles. Today the Corvair is part of a vibrant collector car community and has earned the title of the most affordable collectible. As a new owner of a 1966 Corvair coupe, I have found it to be easy to drive, easy to work on, with a ready supply of parts availability and online and local support. For those looking for a cheap fun collector car, the Corvair cannot be beat. -- Michael Posner"
The much maligned second generation Chevy Camaro just might be cool again. It was introduced in 1970 and remained in production for a bone-jarring 11 years. While some possessed angry 396 cubic inch V-8 big blocks, the Camaro's weight gradually increased over the years and its engine displacement shrank -- just like many of us.
As the 1980s wore on, old Camaros increasingly became the butt of jokes until they were handed over to a final generation of grunge kids before vanishing from the road at alarming speed. And now, 27 years since they ceased production, they're suddenly desirable again.
Mister Jalopy of Dinosaurs & Robots fame bought this particular 30 year-old car in 2007 with the intent of doing a little work and flipping it.
I can only imagine the looks of contempt this chunk of automotive history gets as it pulls up beside a foofy gas-sipping hybrid at a traffic light. And -- sadly -- it's probably the greener option, since the environmental damage done through its manufacture is long forgotten in the mists of time. Besides, I doubt they make fuzzy leopard skin print seat covers for a Prius (please don't prove me wrong, dear readers).
It makes me wonder. Thirty years from now, which of today's mass market cars will be sought after by nostalgic backyard mechanics?
It's been 15 years since the Lada Niva was last imported into the UK, but that's suddenly changed with the introduction of two new versions of this classic Russian 4x4. The first, a utilitarian van, sells for £8695 and features delightfully stark metal panels where the rear windows should be, while its fancier family friendly stablemate retails for £10,974 and actually has rear seats and portholes for your darling sprogs to gaze out of.
Both feature a 1.7L 4-cylinder engine -- now mercifully equipped with Bosch fuel injection -- and the same delightful rubber interior flooring that almost dares you to clean it with a garden hose. Apart from that, not much has changed.
With zero to 60 times in the 16 second range, this isn't the ideal motorway cruiser. But that's OK, because carrying on a conversation over the road noise would be a definite challenge at 70 mph, anyway. One last minor detail: they're all left-hand drive.
I know it's crazy, but I want one. In bright orange.
The vinyl resurgence shows no sign of slowing, so here's a great budget turntable for your newly thrifted LPs.
