Autoblog

Driving around the streets of Los Angeles, it is easy to spot a plethora of Honda Civics attempting to achieve the appearance of the world's fastest economy car. Huge shopping cart wings, monster tachometers and racing stripes often highlight the package. Legitimate world record speed isn't achieved on any city street, however, and not with any aerodynamic packages reminiscent of shopping. It is achieved on the Bonneville Salt Flats in northwestern Utah. The latest records indicate that there is only one car with the claim to the title of World's Fastest Honda Civic. That car happens to belong to automotive writer Richard Holdener and it is currently available for sale on eBay.

Richard's Lucas Oil sponsored 1999 Honda Civic Si ran a top speed of 227.7 mph back in August of this year. Despite the Civic's ability to produce 728 hp at 29 psi of boost, the record was achieved with only 15.2 psi. Inherently weak stock Honda CV joints were apparently the hold-up in laying down the full power band. It certainly wasn't due to any failure of the engine components, since the parts list reads like a roll call of some of the best names in the American Honda tuning game. Any small-displacement four cylinder engine tuned to output in excess of 700 ponies has to be stocked to the gills with improvements. The cost to own this piece of history, and the potential to make some of your own, starts at $21,777.77. The car's located in Las Vegas, Nevada, so those must be some lucky 7's in the price.

Thanks for the tip Srihari!


[Source: eBay Motors]

One of the rarest of (relatively) modern BMWs is the M1. Back in the mid-1970s, the gang in Munich were tired of Porsche getting all the glory in sports car racing with its 911-based 934 and 935. BMW decided to design a car specifically to compete in Group 4 and 5 racing against those Porsches, and because Group 4 required that a minimum of 400 road going cars be built for homologation, BMW designed the race car and then changed only what was necessary to make the car acceptable for the street. Unfortunately, by the time they got the 400 cars built, competition was already moving on and few M1s were ever raced.

BMW did build a small run of cars based on the Group 4 spec car for an all-steer all-star series called ProCar that was ran in conjunction with some F1 races, and the 3.5L twin-cam 24-valve inline-six eventually found a home in the first generation M5 and M6. Some of the 456 road cars were later converted to replicas of the ProCar machines, including one that has popped up on eBay this week. As of this writing, the bidding is at $140,000 and the Buy it Now price is a mere $189,000. Thanks for the tip, Michael!


[Source: eBay]

While sharing our nightmares around the Autoblog virtual water cooler, we've discovered that it's common for interweb auto scribes to wake with a start in the middle of the night, cold sweat trickling down our brows. The common terror? Frankenstein cars. The dreaded dreams are usually brought on by late night eBay surfing, and this vehicle may haunt our slumber tonight. If you've ever thought to yourself "Gosh, I wonder what a Type I Beetle coughing up a Subaru GL would look like," here's your ride. It's got a Subaru dash and door panels, while the seats are VW, so the seam is somewhere up there. It's being sold as a gas-saver, likely because both of the flat-four powertrains - there are two - are relative fuel sippers. We can't discern whether the engines are synchronized to run at the same time, or if it's a one at a time type thing with the other motor and transmission serving as 500 pounds of extra mass to haul around when not in use. Like our nightmares, the seller of this vehicle is definitely dreaming with a $20,000 starting bid. Check out more awkward angles of this monstrosity in our gallery below, but don't blame us when the Boogey Man begins driving it in your dreams. Thanks for the tip, Raoul!


[Source: eBay Motors]

Click on image above for his-res gallery of the SRT8

As expected, the entire first-year production run of 6,400 Dodge Challenger SRT8 models has sold out. The purchase slots for 2008 models were in short supply two months ago when we reported that more than 10,000 orders had been placed for the 425-hp muscle car. You can still give your dealer all the coins in your piggy bank, but the money goes on the hood of 2009 model, scheduled to arrive this fall.

If the thought of missing out on one of these rare 2008-model HEMI-powered beasts is keeping you up at night and you just can't wait for next year, there's always eBay. Although Chrysler tried to dissuade dealers from gouging, more than two dozen of the $37,995 (base MSRP) cars have been put on the auction site -- mostly by speculating dealers with prices in the mid-$50,000 range. Ah, the joys of a free market...

[Source: KickingTires]

When you need to escape a pack of damn dirty apes, what could be better than a Corvette? Charlton Heston's Corvette, that's what. It's a virtually stock 1999 C5, looking sharp in black with chrome wheels. The current owner has added new taillights, the C6 style rims, and a Borla exhaust. The current bid of $20,600 is a fair price for that vintage 'Vette showing under 20,000 miles, though the reserve has yet to be met. We wonder what type of unrealistic hollywood-connection premium the seller is wishing for. C'mon, it doesn't matter who once owned it, really. Maybe if it were more rare, maybe if it were a Callaway sleeper, then it would be worth forking over more dough. Of course, we'd expect nothing less than someone trying to cash in off the back of a recently passed movie star. Despite the charming manifesto on the listing, this car is no more a collector's item than any other clean C5. Besides, we'd at least expect it to at least have a pistol-grip shifter, and it doesn't. Thanks for the tip, nevermind!

Gallery: Charlton Heston's Corvette

[Source: eBay]

For the automotive collector looking for something truly unique, here it is; a rolling staph infection. This car is a convergence of worst-ofs compounded by a customization apparently overseen by Huggy Bear. 1980s front-drive Cadillacs might be charitably described as bargains, though the first repair bill for the grenade masquerading as an engine called the HT4100 will change the adjective to worthless. How much would you pay for a cast-off Caddy with a hot tub in back, a beak cribbed from an '80 Grand Prix, and a bleak future in terms of appreciation? The reserve has yet to be met at $2500, and we wonder what unrealistic number the seller's decided upon. Why would you even do this? It reminds us of a Steak-Ums commercial from the late '80s or early '90s with a separated at birth premise, but we doubt this car has any showbiz history. Likely, it's just a curiosity, possibly the result of a coked-up customizer without any good cars to use. Hey, it was the '80s, what more can you say? Thanks for the tip, Josh!


[Source: eBay]

Click on the Mirthmobile to view more pictures

This eBay auction seeks to find out if there are any set of circumstances under which an AMC Pacer is worth the Buy-It-Now price of $8 grand. So far, the answer is no, but there's still a day left. For fans of the movie Wayne's World, this vehicle could offer a unique opportunity to grab a piece of movie magic, as it was built by Paramount Studios as a prop for the Paramount Kings Island theme-park ride, Hurler, based on the Wayne's World series of movies. Wondering how you could be sure that this is legit? Worry not, it comes with a signed letter of authenticity from Volo Museum and the hood is signed by none other than George Barris himself.

No word on whether or not the "SHA WING" Ohio license plate is included in the asking price. We do have it on good authority, though, that the car has never been spewed in. Thanks for the tip, Stu!


[Source: eBay]

When offering an item for sale, a fuzzy key selling point like "may be legal in some states already" might not be the deal clincher you'd hoped. On today's episode of "Fun With Centers of Gravity" we have the delightful union of the neuter-car PT Cruiser with the greasy unmentionables of a 29 year old Chevy Blazer. It may very well be legal in some states, but it'll still be unholy everywhere it goes. Build quality appears on par with a dollar store habachi – are those pop rivets on the fender liners? The battery sitting on a folded back seat is the crowning feature of the interior and there's also no heat or air conditioning, making this a fun year-round ride. The zip-ties and extra-fun spark plug wire routing in the engine bay dress up the 350, and the seller believes so much in this powertrain that there's a warranty to sweeten the pot. Let's ignore the fact that the nearly $10,000 Buy It Now price would buy a used Jeep Wrangler with a suspension lift, because the seller is being truthful when stating that this is a true one of a kind.


[Source: eBay via Winding Road]

Click image to enlarge

The first Challenger fetched $400,000 at Barrett-Jackson, and now #43 has managed to sell on eBay for a whopping $228,143.43. Of course #43 is no run-of-the-mill Challenger, as it's the only one (or, the only '08 model, at least) finished in B5 Blue paint, in a nod to "The King," Richard Petty, whose Mopar racers all wore a similar color. Unique paint isn't the only differentiator either, as it also comes with a commemorative plaque, a decal package (the winner can choose whether or not it's applied ot the car), and a meet-and-greet with Kyle Petty in addition to a VIP Package to the Dodge Challenger 500 NASCAR race at Darlington. All proceeds from the auction go to the Victory Junction Gang Camp, which works to better the lives of kids afflicted with serious diseases. Thanks for the tip, Johnny!



[Source: eBay]

Though it hasn't been determined yet whether or not the final bid is an honest one, the eBay Motors auction for John Schneider's 1969 Dodge Charger that was originally used on his hit TV show, The Dukes of Hazzard, was a wild ride that ended last Friday with a winning bid of $9,900,500. As we reported then, if the sale goes through, that would make the General the second most expensive car ever auctioned behind a rare Bugatti that went for over $11 million at Christie's about 20 years ago.

If you've ever auctioned an item on eBay, you know the last few minutes can be exciting, agonizing and, hopefully, profitable. Such was the case for Schneider, and his pals had a handycam trained on him for the last five minutes of the auction. Check out the video after the jump to see a surfer-looking Schneider watching the most bizarre car auction ever in its waning moments. Perhaps the best part is when our man reads the note on his auction that states "Your reserve price of $1,000,000 has been met."

We've also learned that Schneider has likely already driven his General Lee for the last time. Before he had decided to sell the car, Schneider agreed to give a ride to a child with cancer whose wish it was to "hit the road in the General Lee," and the two apparently did just that last Saturday.

[Source: Carscoop, Post Chronicle]