More Weekend Quickies

1999 Shelby Series 1 - It took 7 years for me to see one of these in person. Year after year I'd go to all the "big" New England car shows, Lime Rock, Larz Anderson Museum of Transportation, etc., but I never saw a Shelby Series 1.

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.

1958 DKW / Auto Union 1000 SP Convertible (Honey, I Shrunk The T-Bird) - It's common for car companies to take design cues from other manufacturers and incorporate them in their own designs. It's not all that common for a company to take an entire body design and make it their own, but that's what DKW / Auto Union did.

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.

1967 Fiat 500 Limo - I don't know what to say about this. It's completely insane. Go to the eBay listing and look at the pictures. (There's very little text).

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.