
On a rainy fall day in 2006, a friend and I went to a local, rinky dink car show held in a tiny courtyard in downtown Springfield, MA. That's where I saw my first Shelby Series 1. It's still the only one I have ever seen. I still attend all the big important New England car shows and I have yet to see a Series 1 at any of them. Go figure.
This is a significant car for several reasons. It's the first car designed from the ground up by Shelby. It also used a GM engine, something, to the best of my knowledge, Shelby had never done before. The engine is an Oldsmobile 4.0 liter DOHC V8 with a supercharger. It moved the car to 60 MPH in just 4.4 seconds. Top speed was somewhere around 170 MPH.
I have to admit that I was a bit underwhelmed by the one I saw. (Granted, I didn't get to drive it). It doesn't have the presence of a Cobra. It looks good, it looks modern, but I wasn't in awe of it like I am every time I see a Cobra.
Only 249 of these cars were built, making it an extremely rare car. Series 1 cars sold for around $175,000 when new and these days sell in the $100,000.00 range.
Located in N. Royalton, OH, click here to see the eBay listing.

This is essentially a shrunken 1955 / 1956 Thunderbird. The coupe, like this one, has a different roof line than the T-bird, but everything else is pure T-bird. I don't think a car company could get away with this type of copying today.
I could write a few paragraphs about this car and it's history, but the person offering this car on eBay has already done a great job of that.
Located in Richmond, BC, Canada, click here to see the eBay listing.

Did someone create this as a joke? Was it built as some sort of promotional vehicle? Did someone seriously want a Fiat 500 Limo? I'd love to know the history of this car.
The seller says he purchased it through some sort of lien sale. It's parked in a lot with some interesting cars around it. There's a Morgan to its left and another Fiat 500 on its right. Off to the far left you can see the roofline of a large older car, possibly something British. There's a newer Jaguar in another picture. I wonder what is to become of those cars? Another sale?
Located in Chula Vista, CA, click here to see the eBay listing.
3 comments:
Is that the original Fiat engine? Pulling all that extra weight, I am surprised it would even move! The lack of air filter might be a much needed performance upgrade :)
That Morgan next to it also looks like its in a sorry state, should be a crime to let a Morgan look that bad!
Honest to god, Herve Villechaize aka Fantasy Island, used/owned this Fiat 500 limo, it was autioned off either by the studio or by the estate of Mr.Villechaize many years ago, after he commited suicide with a rather large hand gun. The car was last seen in Norco,CA in the 1990s era. I have a color picture of what it looked like when I saw it in Norco, resplendid with gold plated hub caps no less - how do I post a picture?
Anon - Send the picture to contactATjustacargeek.com. (Use @ in place of "AT", obviously.) I'll write a follow up post and include the picture.
Dave
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