While the car is not my kind of car, I can appreciate it. I am 58, the car was long gone by the time I was old enough to be car crazy. I have seen it in old mags. I think the crowd that can/will step up to buy it is pretty small. They will be older than me and smarter than me. Most will want the car but realize that it will take a good portion of their retirement fund to restore it. They will not buy it. It will be bought by somebody that has the ability and vision to make money with it. It will not be the average Mecum buyer, they want either a solid investment automobile or something with the latest buzz words, ie, LS with a turbo or 25 inch wheels. They are mostly my age or younger so they will have no buying interest in that car. The car is offered at "no reserve" I really doubt it will bring much more then $100,000. I have my guess in. Moriarity said over $400k in another thread, I believe. We will see.
I think a lot of us forget how much we have been influenced by old show cars. Hell a lot of us first became enamored with cars be it rod or custom by show cars. Maybe none of us will build a clone of this one or that but the styling cues end up in our cars anyway. Drop axles, grafted on quarter panels, frenched lights wild pipes all come from someplace, we sure didn't invent it.
San Jose Autorama...around '59? Not sure...long ago. I remember Barris's "Air Car". George had some Golden Sahara similarities in the "Air Car"...(it looked like a flying saucer) but actually rose off the ground about 18". All hand-controlled 'remotely'...from outside the vehicle. Oh, the doors opened and closed, it had a simulated 'voice' recording that told about 'itself'...Some onlookers gaped like it was magic. I appreciated the 'work' that went into it, hell...I had built my own crystal set! But that was years before. Me: bored immediately succeeding the 'flight'. Anybody remember the 'Air Car'? George was also assisted by his wife, then still attractive Shirley. I always liked her, she never forgot you once she met you. (I met her in '54, when I was 12. It was akin to meeting a movie star!) I talked with her for a few minutes, then strolled over to the Satan's Angels corral to inspect Leroy Gulart's '50 Ford 'shoebox' and Sonny's Blue Mirage Merc. (Sonny was an electrician, and was showing me the conduit (new electrical metal tubing!) that he had presented to Joe Bailon. Evidently, Joe loved it.) Now, here were some Customs worth glomming onto! If the Golden Sahara ll had been there, I wouldn't have wasted precious Autorama time looking. They had a strict closing time, and everybody had to be out by midnight. If Norm's T had been there with its gaudy red-and-white 'New Rags', high back buckets and upsweeps I would have been...less than 'ecstatic'...even if Watson was the one that did it. 'Restyles' like that are what make kids throw rocks at cars. 'Opinion'? More than that. Take the way the car was just before Norm sold it. Now run the red-and-white 'STREET ROD' up next to it. LOL 'Street Rod'. That's what Jim should have dubbed it.
You guys seem to forget that this sprung out of the time that Harley Earl was creating the Firebird I, II and III. The future was dazzling. That Jim did it as a private individual is incredible. It is as out there as any of the wildest ideas of the 20th C. Imagine what they will think in another 200 years. That car is priceless not only for what it is , but also for the era it defines and the optimism it represents.
Neither car is anything I care for, but I really dig the story. I also don’t get why guys hated on Street for all those years. What we all forget is we are free to do whatever we want with our stuff. And those were his. So what if he didn’t want to show them, sell them, do anything with them. Nobody cared about them for a million years. At least he kept them inside and they weren’t cut up and scrapped. I don’t think the GS will sell for that much. I think the restoration would scare most people. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The37Kid, post: "None of this will have any effect on any ongoing HAMB builds. Bob" OK. Lets look at that. There are those building customs on here and this was a benchmark custom. Cues from it are still being adapted to customs today. Ongoing HAMB builds. I would venture a statement that most every build on here is a tribute to what has already been done.Hence the term traditional hot rod.References to builders from the 1940's up to the early 60's are in comments here daily.Whole threads are devoted to a car built way back when such as the Doan Spencer car.The wheel is not being reinvented in many cases just refined or tweaked to a current builders specifications.The past influences today. Same applies to this car.I would also hazzard a comment that there are builders/constructors either pro or backyard Joes who will look at the GS and find something they would like to incorporate in their build.
showed this car to students today, they loved it they want to use some of the features on our caddy build they like the steering wheel and stick steering we are definitely planning on a vintage TV we started thinking about how we could put the side markers in the wheels who knows what this may lead to
How it sits now is the second Jim Street version. This is how it should be returned to, the Kookie T with Watson paint. To be honest if it is returned to how Norm built it the T would be lost in a sea of Kookie T clones.
It wouldn't be allowed here but I'm sure someone is feverishly working on it. Some of the GNRS builds are pretty packed full of tech stuff but I think its different. It has lost a vintage connection...not all but enough for most here to walk on by.
not a 50/60s style car but a current car, and definitely not hamb friendly imagine customizing a current/late model car as innovative as the GS was when built what futuristic gizmos would it have?
The Sahara gizmos are just coming to the forefront now...some have been realized a while ago but some are still evolving...what I do find funny or should I say ironic is naysayers laughing or non believing and pow look what has unfolded...
Thats a big reason that custom is so special as it is a physical connection to past future invention, innovation and direction. Barris and Street had their own little design studio amoungst the big guys. They were watching...and they didn't stop there...
Aww come on Mark, you got it made!! Better register to bid nust in case Sent from my SM-G935V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Dr dave. I think you hit it right on the head. A man builds his dream ,it becomes his pride and joy and as she ages and less and less people care about it the more protective he becomes over the memories it provided. I would hope whoever buys it treats it and Mr Street with respect, and does not turn it into a carnival side show. Restore it ! Than show the dream it once was! I know I am ranting again. Larry
I'd be a little embarrassed to be seen driving the Sahara. It is nothing I'd want to be seen stepping into and driving off. But I like it! So one could say it is sort of like a whore house. A whore house on wheels for that matter. My favorite part is the back fenders. I'm 67 yo but don't remember this car, possibly because it was too far out for my tastes at the time (and I lived in the sticks and car magazines were a rarity). It really captures the time it was built. We should have a contest to see what it sells for at auction. I'd say $250,000. That may seem high but a lot of people seem to have very big money burning holes in their pockets, just waiting for something crazy to come along at auction. Hey, a quarter million is many times less than a Ferrari of that era. I'll be interested to see whether the buyer keeps it in "as found" condition or reconditions it to original. Anyway, a great article and comments. Thanks!!!
This is and was equal to any on the concept cars Detroit was producing in the 50s. Personally I see it going as high as $500,000. Restored it could sell in the range GM concept cars have sold for Millions. The out there styling will put off some potential buyers but there will be those that realise its significance.
Someone right now is penciling down their top bid based on what the thing will bring in, in advertising a certain product, shows, commercial's, magazine ink, endorsement's, etc. I could see it now in a remake of James Bond Gold Finger ll, staring Barris of course................
This is BIG news at least to me.. and probably a bazzilion others. I hope it doesnt get hidden away again.
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