Autoblog

Retrofitting Corvettes with bespoke Italian sheetmetal is a cherished trade in the coachbuilding industry, revived recently by cars like the Spada Codatronca and Castagna Aznom. But these rare machines owe their lineage to customs like this one: the 1963 Pininfarina Rondine Corvette.

The one-of-a-kind coachbuilt sportscar was shown at the '63 Paris auto show, and has remained in Pininfarina's collection since, recently re-appearing at the Concorso at Villa d'Este in 2005 in celebration of the famous design house's 75th birthday. Now it's headed for the auction block, scheduled to go under the hammer at the upcoming Barret-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Calling the classic "an American in an Italian suit", the organizers at Barret-Jackson haven't disclosed the estimated value, but it's sure to fetch a pretty penny or two.

[Source: Corvette Blogger]

click here to view more pics of John Schneider's General Lee

Actor John Schneider's second attempt to sell the one-of-a-kind 1969 Dodge Charger "General Lee" from his Dukes of Hazzard TV show and other acting roles has failed... again. The first attempt to sell the General Lee on eBay resulted in a winning bid of nearly $10 million, which later fell through. The winning bidder, William Fisher, claimed to CNN in an email that his eBay account had been hacked and the exhoribitant bid was placed without his knowledge, though eBay claims there is no evidence his account was illegally accessed.The second auction on eBay required that bidders be heavily screened before making a bid, which resulted in only one legitimate bid of $100,000 that failed meet Schneider's reserve price.

Perhaps realizing that eBay Motors isn't the most appropriate place to sell his iconic car, CNN is reporting that Schneider will now put the car up for auction on the biggest block in the world at the 2008 Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona next January. We'll be in Scottsdale like we were this year, though we're starting to wonder if the General Lee will ever find a new home.

Thanks for the tip, Peter!

[Source: CNN]

It seems like the recent rumblings out of Westworld are failing to die down. A high profile ejection of a respected collector car expert, rumors of shill bidding on company-owned muscle cars, and cars not getting their fair amount of stage time have all generated headlines from this year's biggest auction event, the Barrett-Jackson auction at Scottsdale, and those don't even address the biggest gripe most people seem to have – the seemingly insane high bids. For years people have commented on the super high prices muscle cars have been bringing at the Arizona auctions every January. Some have speculated that there might be something shady behind these gavel values, while others have simply been amazed.

We've vacillated over individual vehicles that don't seem to be "worth" six (or seven!) figures, but in the end understand that "worth" is determined by the buyer. At this year's auction we had a lot of fun getting caught up in the show and seeing some of our favorite vehicles throughout history, up close and in the flesh. It was a very exciting week of muscle cars, race cars, classics and customs, with a bit of drama thrown in for good measure. You might recall the story about Keith Martin, the editor of Sports Car Market, who was allegedly ejected from the Barrett-Jackson media center and the premises for his reported sleight of the proceedings and of company President, Craig Jackson. Not one to pass judgment or take sides, we decided to stay out of it. But this story seems to have legs. Follow the jump to find out why.

[Source: The Four Wheel Drift]

Click on the image above for a high-res gallery of photos of these fun Fords

Here's a consolidation post on four fabulous and funky Fords we found at Russo and Steele. There's a catalog description of each after the jump. The main pic above is what happens when somebody falls in love with a concept car that doesn't make it to production. It is a 1996 Ford Mustang Mach 3 Concept Recreation. Pretty well done, but never our favorite Mustang show car.

[Source: Russo and Steele]

click above image to view high-res preview gallery from the Barrett-Jackson Auction

Wow, what a day we had yesterday. Got into town and headed straight to Westworld to check in at the Barrett-Jackson auction. We arrived kind of late and it actually worked in our favor because nobody was around to stop us from parking where we wanted or to get in our way while trying to photograph some of the featured cars. We'll be bringing you as many of these featured cars as we can each day we're here and hopefully a good gallery of high-res pics of each to keep you sated.

Have to say that my first impression is that no matter how big you expect this place to be, it's bigger. The grounds are enormous but once you enter the big top, you have to make it past the GM and Ford displays (mostly a repeat of the SEMA vehicles), past the vendor booths hawking scale models, T-shirts, gas pumps, artwork, beds... practically anything you can think of that has an automotive theme, and a lot of stuff that doesn't too. After making it through that portion of the tent, you enter the arena. Huge bleacher sections at either end, the stage to one side and skyboxes facing it. It's like walking into the Coliseum.

Once you cross that cavernous tent area, you reach the featured car section. We immediately spotted some of the cars we were most looking forward to seeing: The Firearrows, Carroll Shelby's personal Cobra, the Warrior One CNN Hummer, the Tupolev amphibious vehicle, the 12 pairs of vehicles, and a whole lot of rare and raw muscle cars. COPOs, Hemis, Bosses, ZL-1s, Shelbys and the like. Enjoy this quick teaser galley of shots from Drew Phillips of Fast-Autos.net who will be working with us this week. Today we'll be getting down to business to start getting you in-depth profiles of some of the stars of the show, along with individual galleries for each. Hope you enjoy.