what is the rarest car you have come across

About 3 years ago I sold a 1955 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe Town & Country Hemi station wagon here on the HAMB. One of 9 known to exist. Solid Florida car with everything still in tact. Perfect restoration candidate with low miles. Sold it for $5500 I think. Thought I was the smartest guy in the room at the time on that deal.

Yes, I AM an idiot.

 

Well, without seeing Eddie's roadster you can't see the difference in the lines of the side view or that Eddie's car did not have a tubular frame. The frame on Eddies is made from sheet metal formed like a regular rectangular metal frame. As mentioned earlier, the trans was a series of planetary gears operated by solenoids.
Ron, I can see where you think they look similar, but they are different.

 

Go to the AACA forums website and find sleeve valve Willys-Knight folks.

 

I once had the privilege of restoring a Ferrari 500 super fast. I believe it was 1 of 25 left in the world.

 

I love when someone says, "it's one of _____ left in the world". Unless you are talking about well documented, low production cars such as Tuckers or Duesenbergs or something similar (not that anything is similar to a Duesenberg), there will never be a way to tell "how many are left" in the world. There may be one or two of the same model lurking where they have been forgotten. We find examples of this daily.

 

Only 25 superfasts were built initially, there were 11 more built in 1967. Of these cars 10 have been totaled and destroyed, this is why I stated that there are only 25 left. It's amazing to me how fast some people swoop in to ridicule a person on a post.

 

Maybe a little OT, but maybe not too much - I ran across a '55 Mercedes pickup here in NM - in a shed. They look like an early (maybe 36) Ford front end, with an independent rear end, etc. Pretty cool.

 

In 1958 I was 16 years old working a summer job at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard in Hawaii. I owned a 1930 model A coupe. I found out that a man's friend at the yard had an overhead valve conversion that I could buy for $125.00.
A week or so later when I had the 125.00, this fellow took me to an area in old downtown Honolulu where a garage was located. The owner's name was Tim Chuk Young.
In the garage was a Cord (maybe 37) and an Italian Pegaso (unknown year). Possibly the best looking car I have ever seen. Never seen another.

 

About 10 years ago I was in between hot rods; went to a mans property in south Texas that at one time had over 200 Studebakers.He was called away on a family emergency and my friend and I met with his "ranch foreman". I looked at a nice Studebaker Golden Hawk for$2500 but it just wasn't for me.There was a small garage adjoining the property and the back of a 57 Ford ranch wagon caught my eye. He let us go look at it and inside the same garage was a 69/70 Ford Torino that had an extended nose(Fords answer to the Daytona Superbird by Chrysler) and different tail and was called Torino King Cobra with a 429 and four speed and one 1 of less than 5 cars made by Ford(did not perform well in the wind tunnel testing and racing was drawing to a close so Ford abandoned project) This was to be a Ford racecar that never made it to the track and we opened the hood,doors,etc and were in awe of a very rare car by Ford Motor Co.

 

Wow, it would be fun to hot rod one of these!

 

A case in point: In 1965 an older pal who had been one of my mentors at North American Aviation telephoned to tell me about a 1950 Cunningham C2R that he was attempting to sell for the mother of a friend of his who had recently died in a road accident in the mother's Cadillac. My pal had recalled a lunch-time conversation from several years previous when I told him about my fascination with the C2R. The car was in his garage in Montecito, California, just south of Santa Barbara. I wasn't in the market for another car; I had four at the time, a '58 Chevy Impala coupe, a '58 Alfa-Romeo spyder, a 1957 Jaguar DHC that I was refurbishing, and a '40 Ford pickup stuffed with a '49 Olds 303-cid V8 and a ginormous Hydramatic transmission. If that wasn't enough rollingstock to keep me occupied, I had a new '65 Bultaco trials bike.

No matter, I just had to see the Cunningham up close and personal, so new bride and I headed north from the SFV to Montecito on a Saturday morning for lunch and a visit with my old pal -- and a test drive in the C2R. The late owner had been restoring the car for several years when he lost his life. He had been a very competent "wrench," an engineer who was involved in sportscar racing as an enthusiastic participant. At the time I saw and drove the C2R it was mechanically new; the 331 Hemi which was purchased from Chrysler as a "crate motor" in 1950 had been completely rebuilt to the Cunningham performance specs. The Jaguar four-speed trans was also freshened, as was the De Dion IRS rearend. The cockpit was freshly and correctly retrimmed, the electrics, including the harnesses, were all redone. Only minor tweaks to the aluminum body and new paint remained to be done.

This car and its four stablemates -- there were only five C2Rs built -- is a true bespoke race car. It has a tube chassis with IFS. The De Dion IRS was fitted with inboard brakes in the interest of keeping unsprung weight as low as possible. The road wheels contributed to this goal -- Borrani knockoff wire wheels with magnesium hubs and rims.

Prior to calling me about the car, my pal contacted the Cunningham museum in Costa Mesa, California, to see if they would be interested in acquiring the car for their collection. He was told that he did not have an actual C2R, they were all accounted for in private hands, and one had been destroyed in a garage fire. They simply weren't interested in what was probably a '50s kit car that had been touted as a true Cunningham. All very polite but firm in their accounting of the C2Rs. Thanks but no thanks.

There was no mistaking the C2R for the real deal. I shot a roll of Tri-X before we took it out onto the narrow suburban lanes of Montecito. What a wonderful beast it was! The chubby Hemi probably produced something above 250 hp in a car that tipped the scales at around 2500 pounds. It was a wonderful rascal, racecar rough-edged and noisy yet rather sophisticated for its time. The asking price was $3000 -- it had been offered to the Cunningham museum and others for $3500. It was tempting but I just didn't need nor did I have room for another car.

My pal continued to telephone me in the following weeks to see if I'd changed my mind; he was really eager that I should own the C2R. The price dropped with each 'phone call until in got down to $1700! The mother just wanted to car gone. Looking back years later I realize I should have bought the C2R. Money wasn't an issue and I probably could have found temporary quarters for it while the Jaguar was being finished. Yes, it's my greatest regret in my history of fun-car ownership.

I visited the Cunningham museum a couple years before it closed and met and talked to the collection's curator John Burgess, a delightful and super-knowledgeable gearhead and historian. When I asked him if he recalled being approached about acquiring the "non-existent" C2R. "Oh lord," he replied, adding "What a silly mistake that was!" He subsequently learned that the C2R was real and said that he regretted so much not acquiring it for $3500 which he reckoned was a token price; when I told him I had passed it up for $1700 he just smiled, saying "We seem to be fools together."

Here are some images of the Cunningham I shot in 1965 and one taken at the Monterrey Historics several yeas ago. The ugly external exhaust pipe on the car in 1965 had been added by the previous owner to be able to drive the car on the street. There wasn't much room underneath the car for mufflers.

Mike Bishop

 

Mike, do you remember my pranking you about finding one for you many years ago, and then sending you a "Hot Wheels" version. Caught hell from my wife , said it was just plain mean to pull such a stunt. Didn't Cunningham introduce the blue racing stripes later used on the Shelbys. U.S.A. international racing colors.

 

More pics of the Mercedes pickup.........

 

Sorry if I posted this before but old age does that to you. lol Before I moved to Thailand I sold my 1961 Pontiac Catalina flat top which was 1 of 49 made. Special ordered by the Georgia Sate Police to run down moonshiners. 389 303hp engine with solid lifters and 4 barrel, 3 speed on the tree, full heavy duty police package including 11 inch fined front rotors. Had the certified police speedometer. Great little car. I had it at Jim Wanger's 80th birthday party and it was seen by Pontiac magazine and they did a 4 page write up on the car.
Here's one of the pages. (The scoop was added later)

 

That's why I always say "......known to exist....."

 

Took me 28 years to get this one. Original one owner 1971 Monte carlo 402 / M21 4 Spd / 3:31 posi & every option available. 1 of 80. Special order GM corvette plant worker, spec'd out & used his discount for his brother. Ordered to "fly" under the high insurance rates at the time by not being a SS454, which couldn't be had with a 4 speed. All paperwork there too, build sheet, & a mountain of documentation. Bought new 2 miles from my house. He pulled out orig muncie shifter after 2 weeks of driving & put in this hurst, saving original & every single thing that ever came off car. Never give up, I finally got her! He said I think I'm ready & I seized the opportunity. Flux

 

While OT, my first car was a 1987 Camaro RS. It was 1 of 2500 made and only available in California.

 

CLEARLY you are not the one I was talking about. I was not ridiculing anyone, anyway. I am simply stating that with most PRODUCTION cars there is no way to tell how many are left. Don't get your knickers in a twist.

 

Cool

 

Yes, but known by who? Some guy may know of the other 9 and has 2 of them. So, in reality, there would be 11 known to exist by the owner of the other two.

 

How about a Isreali Sabra fiberglas sports car with a DOHC 4 cyl, made inIsreal? I have a picture somewhere......

 

I knew a guy from Illinois, Name was Brian Elmer. He was slumming here down south living in a Alabama border town, and he could come up with some rare stuff for a poor boy. The car that is Hambworthy, besides the DeSotos he scrounged up, was a 28 Essex.I'd never seen one before, and he was gonna rod it. He invited a skunk of a friend down to visit him, who stole his wife, (skunk, if your'e out there, well ____ you) Brian was smart in a lot of ways, coulda shoulda been something more than dead in his 30s. Dont know what happened to the Essex.He was extending the frame when the crap storm hit. Brian's "widow" and skunk friend sold every thing he had and that was that.

 

This one? Took this picture probably in the 70's in a garage in Waterloo or Cedar Falls, Iowa.

 

Approx 10 years ago in Midwest. 33' or 34' Nash 3W. I was not smart enough to try to talk Farmer out of it, and rent aTrailer one way. Not too smart I am !

 

How about a 66 nova SS with a 327-350 horse L-79 but it was a bench seat and three spd on the column. Doug Marion editor of super chevy said 4 built. This one was marina blue, blue interior. It would run the quarter in second gear.

 

In 1962/1963 I was walking over to my then girl friend's house, no driver's license yet. I spotted an old car sitting in a drive way with a for sale sign on it. It was 1941 Packard Darrin convertible and the guy wanted $90 for it. Being in high school at the time $90 was a lot of money. That's just one of many I have found over the years. Growing in SoCal in the 60's there were old cars all over the place, sitting in gas stations and back yards.

 

Friend of mine since a child had one converted (very well) into a pickup. It had been hit by a tree on the back. Turquoise with the shift out of the dash. That thing would haul ass!

 

One of the guys I work with has a 1940 ford 4 door convertible. Supposedly they only made 6 of them for the worlds fair in 1940 and only have record of 4 of them getting destroyed. I just recently saw an old pic of when they pulled it out of a barn, completely put together with all matching original paint.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

This has to be it! Edsel Fords 1932 owned by Jim Gombos on the HAMB. of TN. Found in CT. where Jim was from.