A 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda for $1,705,000.00

The story behind the sale
The 1970 Hemi 'Cuda convertible has been the Holy Grail of muscle car collectibles for quite some time. With only fourteen built in total, nine of which were automatics, there has never been an oversupply of then on the market. that is, of course, until the great muscle cars price collapsed of a few years ago.

Proceeding the current recession, muscle cars had exploded in value. Reported prices for '70 Hemi 'Cuda convertibles handily exceeded $2 million, and '71 models approached $4 million. At that point the music stopped and a number of people who thought that values would go up forever learned a very hard lesson.

Muscle cars in general have been beaten down, in some cases to the point they have become bargains. No one will call this Cuda a deal at $1,705,000, but for a lot less dough that what these cars were "worth" a few years ago, some collectors and investors must think it's time to jump back in.

Unlike many collectors cars that have a worldwide following, this cars fan base lives almost exclusively in North America.

SN BS27ROB363502
White with black top over red vinyl 425-hp, 426 cubic-inch V-8, automatic Paint loks quite similar to factory quality, wich is to say lackadaisically applied. Excellent bright-work. The interior appears to have been expertly replaced with correct materials. A full rotisserie restoration of an extremely rare and desirable model

Auctioned at Scottsdale, January 21-22,2011 by Gooding & CO.

from automobilemag.com

James Dean possessed more than a little racing ability.

Just months before dying in a horrendous on-road accident, a handsome young James Dean drove his Porsche Speedster in the SCCA/Cal Club/Long Beach MG Club Palm Springs Road in the desert just east of Los Angeles. Dean competed in the under 1500cc F-Production category. Even tough it was ostensibly an amateur meet, there were many big-game pros driving that weekend, in a interesting variety of stock class and purpose built race hardware. Dean, listed in the program as "Joseph Dean" in a vain attempt to maintain anonymity_ or at least not to attract so much attention_ acquitted himself well that weekend, driving his white Speedster to a second-in-class finish.

Interestingly enough, Steve McQueen launched his racing career at an SCCA meet in Santa Barbara in a nearly identical machine, except McQueen car was black.

By early 1955, Dean already was established as an up-and-coming young actor and a racer of some ability. He sold this car to purchase the Porsche 550 Spyder _as a racing machine, it was a step up from the Speedster_ in which he would die in Central California on September 30, 1955. Another connection in between Dean and McQueen is that they both use to street race at night on legendary Mulholland drive trough the Hollywood Hills. The late singer and actress Eartha Kitt was one of the Dean's friends and often accompanied on those midnight rides. Shortly after his untimely passing, his third and final major film, "Giant", hit the silver screen, forever ensuring his cult status.

original article from motortrend.com

2011 Desert Classic - Concours d'Elegance

Paul and Holly Merrigan, founders of the Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance, presented the 4th issue of this first major car event, on Sunday, 02/27/2011.
The first event of the year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500.

The show took place at the La Quinta Resort and Club, a majestic set surrounded by the Santa Rosa Mountains.
This year the Desert Classic, besides the historic Indy cars, presented a showcasing of rarely-seen extraordinary and classic automobiles.
We were pleased to look and enjoy those rolling examples of creativity which have been created in the last on hundred years.

An gathering of an outstanding class of Indianapolis cars dating from the pre-World War I era to modern times were displayed.

The most revered historic artifact on the field was Ann Bothwell's 1914 Peugeot L45. This car features a 4.5 liter, four cylinder engine that has an early version of a head with dual overhead crankshafts, and hemisferical combustion chambers, an architecture that has endured in high performance cars up to this day. It began life on the European Grand Prix circuit, and came to America, when the World War I temporarily ended racing in Europe. Alphonse Kaufman, the Peugeot importer who brought the car here, also engaged Dario Resta, an Italian-born driver who was raised in England. Using the Bothwell car, Resta finished second at the 1915 Indianapolis 500, and won the event in 1916. He also won the U.S. National Championship in 1916.

The rare 1954 Corvette " bublle top"



















Some of the classic Indy cars in exibition.