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.

Porsche 918 RSR

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is continuing to extend its performance and high efficiency competence via intensive development work in the field of hybrid technology. With the Porsche 918 RSR, the manufacturer of sporty premium vehicles is presenting a high-end synthesis of 2010's successful hybrid concepts. The two-seater mid-engine coupé 918 RSR clearly reveals what happens when the technology fitted in the 911 GT3 R hybrid and the design of the 918 Spyder are transferred to a modern, innovative super sports car.

With its highly-efficient flywheel accumulator, the 911 GT3 R hybrid racing car proved to be an attention magnet during competition racing on the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit, during the American Le Mans Series races (ALMS) in Road Atlanta/USA and the ILMC run in China's Zhuhai. It demonstrated its massive performance potential under realistic motor racing conditions against top competitors. The 911 GT3 R Hybrid, referred to internally as the "Race Lab" actually surpassed the high expectations of Porsche Motorsport. Competitiveness, high reliability and exemplary fuel efficiency combined with top performance underscored the Porsche technicians' basic idea of generating additional power in an intelligent manner. The 911 GT3 R Hybrid obtains its additional power from its own vehicle dynamics when braking. Porsche is now transplanting this technology into the mid-engine coupé 918 RSR, the motor sports version of the 918 Spyder concept car.
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1960 Square Bird - Strikingly Stylish

If ever there was a car that represented all that was great about mid-century Detroit styling, the Thunderbird is it.

The country was aghast when the new for '58 Thunderbird was stretched into a four-seater. Everyone, it seemed, loved the cute, cozy styling of the small T-Birds that preceded it. For the era, they where sensacional looking cars - they still are today - but not everyone who lusted after a 1955 - '57 Thunderbird could justify buying one due to their limited seating capacity. And so, many didn't.

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Base Jumping - Wing suit

The Need 4 Speed: The Art of Flight

A collection of shots from flights made during the 2009-2010 season by the talented group of wingsuit basejumpers, while flying the V3, Hybrid LD2/Trango rigs and testing several new V-series wingsuit prototypes around Europe.
read more @ www.adrenalinbase.com/

1955 Porsche Silver Bullett Hot Rod

I Love the Concept...The "Porscheophiles" Are Gonna Hate it.

This car is a stunning and totally unique one-off that subscribes loosely to the 356 Outlaw philosophy. Based on a 914-6 chassis, this car has been fitted with a mid-mounted 3-litre 911 engine with Weber carburetors, as well as a 915 5-speed gearbox. It was built by Australian Jeff Dutton in 1992. The body is based on a 356 Continental from 1955, and is recognizably such up to the B-pillar. The roof has been chopped several inches, as is fairly standard for an `Outlaw`, but thanks to the mid engine placement and 914-6 chassis, the wheelbase is longer than that of a 356. Consequently, the car displays a dramatic and striking `fastback` rear treatment, which is beautifully set off by a number of very neat and extraordinary details. The philosophy throughout the car is one of lightness and strength, and much of the car is structurally composed of a tube frame. There is an integral roll bar, which is in keeping with the general interior aesthetic of Spartan functionality.
read more @ www.fantasyjunction.com

F1 On The Beach!

Cruelty at its worst : The Unforgivable Brutal Murder.

Believe It:
This happens in developed countries such as: Denmark and Japan. Every single year.

You would think that the first world countries in Europe such as Denmark would never succumbed itself to i killing dolphins and whales just because its a tradition? How barbaric are these people? Well lets just say that upon my research of this infamous tradition, I stumbled upon tons of sites that tackles this horrible massacre of the whales and dolphins, and take note “WITH PICTURES” (Read: horrible graphics). When I first saw the pics I thought it was a hoax but upon reading articles about it on credible news sites, I can’t believe my eyes that this barbarism is happening in another country, which is far more progressive compared to ours. I, one time shed a tear upon looking at the pics because it was really horrible. The people look on, saying nothing, as if it was some kind of entertainment or a circus to behold on to. The worst, there were children everywhere. I previously wrote about a series here in Brother Sun, Sister Moon which featured extinct animals caused by mans’ slaughtering and hunting. Well I guess it won’t be long till the pilot whales of Faroe Island would be seen only in pages of books.



The fishermen in villages like Taiji, go out in small boats to known dolphin migratory routes. Positioning their boats strategically, they space out to form a line and wait for the dolphins. When the dolphins arrive, the fishermen drop long metal pipes into the water, and by banging on the pipes they create a wall of sound. The sound interferes with the dolphins' ability to navigate - it disorients and panics them. The dolphins swim away from the sound, and the fisherman maneuver their boats herding them into a small shallow bay. Once in the bay, nets are drawn across the mouth of the bay to keep them penned in.
The fishermen usually injure a few of the captive dolphins with a spear thrust or a knife slash - dolphins will not abandon these wounded family members.

Trapped in the shallow water, the dolphins mill about trying to stay as far from land as possible until the next morning. In the morning, the fishermen draw the nets in, forcing the dolphins closer to shore where they kill them by stabbing and slashing them with knives and hooks. The dolphins thrash about for as long as six minutes each as they slowly bleed to death, turning the sea literally red with their blood.

After the massacre, the bodies of the dolphins are taken to a slaughter house to be butchered. The meat is severely contaminated but is sold without warnings in supermarkets in Japan - supermarkets often owned by US and European chains.

Information taken from SEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY

sources:
http://bluepanjeet.net
www.squidoo.com
http://www.fondationbrigittebardot.fr

1917 Haull-Scott, The Four