eBay Find of the Day: 1991 Dodge Stealth is the Indy 500 Pace Car that never was

Zach Bowman — Fri, 21 May 2010 09:29:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Classics, Coupe, Performance, Auctions, Chrysler, Dodge, Mitsubishi

1991 Dodge Stealth Indianapolis 500 Official Car - Click above for image gallery

Way back in 1991, Chrysler was charged with providing a pace car for the 75th running of the Indianapolis 500. At the time, the company was blood brothers with Mitsubishi, and the automakers had decided it would be worth everyone's while to rebadge the popular 3000GT as a Stealth and sell it under the Dodge banner. Chrysler was thrilled to have something resembling a sports car on its dealer lots and wanted to get the word out by handing pace car duties to its newest creation. Only there was a problem. Once the public got wind that Chrysler wanted to run a Japanese-built car out front of the red, white and blue Indianapolis 500, near riots ensued, with the United Auto Workers among the most critical parties.

Chrysler pulled a 180 and decided to roll out a Viper prototype for the race, but not before it built a Stealth for pace duty. The car was dipped in some very visible yellow paint, and safety equipment like a roll cage, racing harnesses and a communication system was installed. The car was never called to pace at the Brickyard, however, having been relegated to the duty of an official festival car. Thereafter, it spent its years parked in the Walter P. Chrysler Museum instead.

Now, that very would-be pace car is up for auction on eBay. With just 8,000 miles on the clock and an opening bid of $25,000, the car is someone's chance to own one very odd piece of Detroit history - the Indy 500 pace car that never was. Check out the auction here.

Gallery: 1991 Dodge Stealth Indy 500 Pace Car

[Source: eBay Motors]

eBay Find of the Day: 1991 Dodge Stealth is the Indy 500 Pace Car that never was originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 21 May 2010 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Barrett-Jackson 2009: The Pace Cars

Drew Phillips — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:01:00 EST

Filed under: Auctions, Chevrolet

Click above for a high-res gallery of pace cars from Barrett-Jackson

There was a plethora of pace cars this year at Barrett-Jackson, mostly coming from General Motor's Heritage Collection. Some of them we would love to have in the garage, like the 2007 Corvette Indy pace car pictured above or a 2003 Corvette that paced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and we'd even sport the 1996 Chevrolet Camaro Brickyard pace car. On the other side of the spectrum is a 1998 Pontiac Grand Am M&M pace car covered in confetti or a 2001 Oldsmobile Bravada pace truck. In the "so uncool that it's cool" category is the 1977 Oldsmobile Delta 88 that paced Indy and a 1990 Beretta that was the only Chevy concept car to pace the Indy 500.

Gallery: Barrett-Jackson 2009: The Pace Cars

Barrett-Jackson 2009: The Pace Cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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