Tag Archives: sports cars

Callaway C12

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1997 Callaway C12

Offered by Mecum | Dallas, Texas | September 8, 2012

If you don’t know, or can’t tell, this car is based around a Chevrolet Corvette. 1997 was the first year for the C5 and the first year for the Callaway C12 – and this is the very first C12 built.

Callaway was founded in Connecticut in 1977 by Reeves Callaway. They began tuning Corvettes in 1987 and have dabbled in aftermarket tuning of other cars over the years, including Range Rovers and Alfa Romeos. But it’s mostly been Corvettes with the occasional Camaro thrown in for good measure. And it was mostly engine and performance modifications. That is, until 1993 when they introduced the Callaway C7, a GT1 racecar produced for the 24 Hours of Daytona.

The C12 was a continuation of that ultimately doomed attempt at building a successful racing car. Reeves Callaway wanted his cars to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And he got his wish – they scored a pole in the GT2 class in 2001, the final year for C12 production. In order to compete, the company needed to homologate the car for the road and 20 examples were built.

Callaway reworked every part of the Corvette except the roof and greenhouse. Everything else was modified, so it’s essentially its own car. The 5.7-liter V-8 underhood makes 440 horsepower, allowing the car to sprint to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds on its way to a top speed in excess of 190 mph. Originally, these cars were supposed to cost $140,000 – but they were built to an exacting standard for high-profile customers who would have likely paid more if asked. The cars were also built under license in Germany as the IVM C12 from 1998 through 2003 and these were available as a coupe, hardtop or cabriolet.

With only 20 built, getting your hands on one won’t be easy. Here’s a good opportunity. For more information, click here. And for the rest of Mecum’s Dallas lineup, click here.

Update: Not sold.

Viper GTS-R GT2

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1998 Dodge Viper GTS-R

Offered by Mecum Auctions | Dallas, Texas | September 6, 2012

The second-generation Dodge Viper was introduced in 1996. It was the first time the car could be had in two-door hardtop coupe form. Generation one cars were only available as a roadster. Stylistically, the cars were unlike anything else on the road – especially at their price point.

Chrysler took the Viper racing in 1997. It competed in the FIA Championship in GT2 guise. The Viper won the GT2 Championship in 1997 with the French Oreca team. The team’s colors were white with blue stripes (they would adopt the famous red with white stripes for 2000). Vipers would also win their class at Le Mans in 1998 and a few more GT Championships over the years.

To celebrate and commemorate their 1997 FIA GT2 Championship, Chrysler released a special edition of the Viper road car for 1998. It was called the GTS-R (sometimes referred to as the GT2). They came only in Stone White with twin Viper Blue stripes. The cars had the racing aerodynamic package with the big spoiler out back, BBS-style wheels and some small giveaway graphics. Power was increased by 10 horsepower to 460 over stock in the 8.0-liter V10.

This one has had one owner its whole life and has covered only 3,600 miles. There aren’t too terribly many special edition Vipers that have been built and this is the coolest, most well-known of the handful. And it’s legitimately rare – although there are some imitations out there. If I were to own a Viper, it would be this one (or a Ketchup and Mustard Roadster).

For the complete lot description, click here. And for more from Mecum in Dallas, click here.

Update: Sold $83,000.

Russo & Steele Monterey Highlights 2012

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Russo & Steele’s Monterey Auction is the last of the Pebble Beach sales we’ve got to cover. Neither of our feature cars, the Fiat Stanguellini Bertone and the Apollo 5000 GT, sold. Top sale went to a 1965 Shelby Cobra 289 for $781,000.

1965 Shelby Cobra 289

Other interesting sales included a pair of Devins. First, the 1959 Devin SS for $165,000.

1959 Devin SS

Then there was this 1957 Devin Triumph S “Gary Special” for $66,000.

Another special-like car was this 1962 Allard L-390 CC hillclimb car. The car is one of a few dozen Allard hillclimb specials built and it was actually built in 1948. But it was not registered until 1962, which is why it is listed as such. The competition car (CC) bodywork was added around this time. It sold for $66,000.

1962 Allard L-390 CC

Two other cars of note are both rather recent. First is this 1999 Acura NSX Alex Zanardi Edition. If you want to own an NSX, this is the one to get because it is named after one of the greatest, most entertaining open-wheel drivers you will ever have had the chance to seeing. Only 50 were ever built and it sold for $64,900.

1999 Acura NSX Alex Zanardi Edition

And finally this 2010 Superlite SLC Coupe is hand-built one-off supercar with a 632 horsepower LS7. It sold for $105,600.

For complete results, click here.

 

 

 

Schuppan 962CR Prototype

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1992 Schuppan 962CR Prototype

For Sale at Coys | Richmond, U.K.

A couple of weeks ago (or perhaps months ago, the days have been flying by) we featured a Dauer 962 Le Mans, a road car variant of the dominant race car, the Porsche 962. This is a similar idea, although the two cars look quite different – and they should, as they were designed by two different people.

Vern Schuppan, an Australian race car driver who has competed in the Indianapolis 500 and Formula One, designed this car as a tribute to his 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans winning 962. The engine is a 3.3-liter twin turbo flat-6 pushing out about 600 horsepower – basically lifted straight from the race car.

It’s a serious supercar. Sixty miles per hour comes in 3.5 seconds on the way to 230 mph. The chassis and body were designed and built by Schuppan (unlike the Dauer, which were 962s converted for road use). The price when new was $1.5 million. This was the first one built, chassis number one. Funding for the project was pulled shortly after this was built and only five or six were built in total.

This is an extremely rare opportunity to purchase an extremely rare car with unbelievable performance that still holds up against even the most modern of supercars. You’ll never pass another one on the road. To see/read more, click here. Unfortunately, Coys isn’t listing an asking price.

Mercedes CLK GTR

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1998 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR

Offered by RM Auctions | Monterey, California | August 17, 2012

The FIA GT1 Championship in the late 1990s netted supercar fans some amazing machines. But instead of basing their race cars on road-going models, constructors were building race cars and then hastily re-arranging things so that they could be driven on the street. The result were some very rare, very outrageous road cars. This is one of them.

The CLK GTR, while it shares its name with the CLK-Class, was created from scratch by AMG, Mercedes’ performance tuning arm. With the 1997 season ready to go, AMG had built one road car (a good faith sign that the required 25 homologation models were on their way, and the minimum they had to do to get the race version legally on the track). For 1998 Mercedes used an altered version of the GTR called the CLK LM. And for 1999 it was scrapped altogether in favor of the spectacularly doomed CLR.

The FIA GT1 Championship was shelved for 1999 due to lack of constructor interest. There had been enough demand by ultra-rich customers that Mercedes decided to fulfill its homologation obligation and built 25 road-going versions of the CLK GTR. This was number one. Twenty were coupes and there were at least five roadsters (an additional roadster may have been built, bumping it to 26 road-going cars). The engine was a 6.9-liter V12 making 604 horsepower. At the time of its release, the car held the world record for the World’s Most Expensive “Production” Car, with a price tag of over $1 million in 1998.

Enter H.W.A., which was founded in 1998 as an offshoot of AMG. The company now runs the Mercedes-Benz DTM effort but one of the first things it did in its existence was modify two CLK GTRs to “SuperSport” specification. Gone was the 6.9-liter V12. In its place was a 720 horsepower 7.3-liter V12, making this the ultimate Mercedes-Benz supercar of all time, bar none.

The pre-sale estimate is $1,250,000-$1,500,000. For more information and the complete lot description, click here. And for more from RM in Monterey, click here.

Update: Sold $1,100,000.

Apollo 5000 GT

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1964 Apollo 5000 GT

Offered by Russo & Steele | Monterey, California | August 16-18, 2012

Well the countdown to Monterey is underway and the level of incredible cars is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Russo & Steele were the first to get their complete catalog online, so they get featured first. And no, this is not a Ferrari 330, as much as it may resemble one.

It’s an Apollo – a short-lived American marque based in Oakland, California – not necessarily the first place that comes to mind when you see a stylish Italian automobile. But Italian it was – at least partly. Intermeccanica of Italy produced the bodies, which were mounted to fresh Buick Skylark chassis. The engine was also from Buick, a 4.9-liter V8 making 225 horsepower. There was also an Apollo 3500 GT model with a 3.5-liter Buick V8.

This car has neither engine. It’s a 5000 GT, but the engine under hood is actually a Chevy 327. When Apollo had the cars shipped from Italy with the bodies, they were to go to Oakland for installation of their powertrain. They did – except for seven of them which were sold before they ever made it back to the Oakland shop. The owners took it upon themselves to finish the cars. Five got Chevy engines, one got a Ford… and one disappeared. The man who bought this car took it to a shed in San Francisco to complete it, but then disappeared. The car was rediscovered in 2004, when the current owner acquired it and completed it using the Chevy engine.

Only 66 Apollo coupes were built and this is #43. This is a rare car and it is quite nice, having only covered about 3,600 miles. The fact that it was completed only a few years ago makes it essentially a new Apollo. No estimate is available, but a 5000 GT in similar condition was recently for sale with an asking price of about $125,000. For more information, click here. And for more from Russo & Steele in Monterey, click here.

Update: Not sold.

Mecum Bloomington Gold 2012 Highlights

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Mecum’s Bloomington Gold all-Corvette sale was held on June 22-23, 2012. Because every car that sold was a Corvette (and so were those that didn’t), this recap will be pretty brief. You can always check out the complete results at Mecum’s website, here. Top sale was a 1967 Corvette Convertible with the 427/435 engine option. This one was has a white stinger over Goodwood Green paint and it looks immaculate. There were other cars that were bid to higher prices, but they failed to meet their reserves.

Our feature car, the 1995 Indy Pace Car Convertible, sold for $18,500. Two other cars I liked included this 1996 Grand Sport Coupe that sold for $28,000.

And finally, this 1963 327/340 Convertible. It’s nothing remarkable, but I love the wheels on this car. It sold for $27,500.

Reventón Roadster

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2009 Lamborghini Reventón Roadster

For sale at Lamborghini Porrentruy | Porrentruy, Switzerland

A few weeks ago we showcased a very rare (as in one of 20 built) Lamborghini Reventón. I was kind of critical of it, referring to it more or less as a Murciélago 1.5 – a styling exercise that served as a kind of mid-way model between the Murciélago and the Aventador, but with an astronomical price tag.

Well this car is even rarer – one of 15. Lamborghini denied the car’s existence when it was first built, more or less building them and shipping them to their most elite clientele – Ralph Lauren has one. Well now one has come up for public sale for you to get your hands on, if you’re feeling it.

Specifications mirror the “base” Reventón, which pretty much mirror the Murciélago. That is, it has a 6.5-liter V12 pumping out 631 horsepower. It will do 205 mph. The Aventador will do 217. I know, you’re probably thinking, “if you hate this car so much” (which I don’t) “then why are you featuring it?”

Solid question, but my main reason is: when is the next time you think you’ll see one for sale? Chances are, not any time soon (although this dealership has a coupe on the lot as well). The original Reventón was supposed to cost $2 million when new. This probably cost along similar lines, but now you can get it for a next-to-nothing $1,749,114 (it’s a more even amount in Swiss Francs). For more information, click here.

Lotus Etna

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1984 Lotus Etna V8 Berlinetta Concept

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, England | June 29, 2012

There are a few Lotus concept cars/styling models on offer at Bonhams’ Goodwood sale. I chose to feature this one because it of its somewhat sad 1980s-vision-of-the-future styling – which is both a plus and a minus. It’s only a minus because it looks so dated. But that’s part of what makes it cool. The instrument panel looks like it was taken from KITT from Night Rider or something. The exterior was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and is very 80s.

It is based on a Lotus Esprit and you can tell. There is a lot of Esprit in there – maybe because both were designed by Giugiaro. It has a 4.0-liter V8 putting out 335 horsepower. It was also to have futuristic things such as traction control, anti-lock brakes, self-leveling suspension and active noise cancelling. The concept car was a hit on the show circuit in 1984.

But then General Motors trundled along in 1986 and bought up Lotus. The Etna was sent to storage. Fortunately, it was sold to the public in 2001 and the then-owner got the car into running condition. So here is your chance to buy a fully-functional road-going, one-of-a-kind Lotus. The price? $140,000-$200,000. For more information, click here. To check out some of the other Lotus concepts, click here.

Update: Not sold.

1995 Indy Pace Car

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1995 Chevrolet Corvette Indy Pace Car

Offered by Mecum | St. Charles, Illinois | June 22-23, 2012

The Chevrolet Corvette has (of this writing, including the 2012 race) paced the Indianapolis 500 ten times, the first being in 1978. It was there for a second time in 1986 and 1995 marked the third time. This is one of 527 (actually it’s #46) of the special “Indy 500 Pace Car” optioned replicas sold for street use.

It was based on the C4, the fourth-generation Corvette, which was introduced for the 1984 model year, so it was 11 years old by this point – more than a little long in the tooth. The paint scheme is actually quite nice with Dark Purple Metallic over White. 1995 was in the midst of ZR-1 production but this car is not a ZR-1 – even though it sports ZR-1 wheels and brakes.

It has the LT1 under the hood, the 350 cubic inch (or 5.7-liter) V8 makes 300 horsepower and 340 lb-ft of torque. 1996 would be the final year for the C4, so this is one of the final special edition C4 Corvettes – and it’s a rare one. Get it, it won’t be too terribly expensive. For more information click here and to see the rest of Mecum’s Bloomington Gold Corvette Auction, click here.

Update: Sold $18,500.