what is the rarest car you have come across

i saw a 29 packard club coupe, convertible i think, at the grocery store a year ago. the guy has been restoring it since the mid 70s off and on. the old guy said it was pretty rare and only a few hundred built of that model. rare for a grocery store parking lot anyway.

 

My neighbor is crew chief for a Vintage Can Am team. Lola T170 and T310.. Other get brought over in enclosed $$$ transporters..
Tuning nights are awesome..

 

I worked on a 540k Mercedes for Southwards Car Museum.One of only 2 built with a hardtop.Also it was built during WW2 with a miles an hour speedo and right hand drive.Also worked on a Grosser mercedes staff car for them.Suposedly only about 10 in existence.This week I have been upholstering a Heron,only 29 made

 

I have seen the ex Nazi car,it's a 770 Grosser . I used to have a pic of my Ex wife standing next to it in the late 70's ,she only came up to the top of the headlights...

 

a retired friend of mine has found a car in a barn complete right down to the tatty leather interior.its called an earl or earle .its a phaeton and has two sets of wheels (wire and timber) 4cyl motor .he thinks it is a 29 but he knows nothing about these cars can anyone help or point me in the right direction in regards to information on the earl.dont know of any in australia yet dave

 

oops .it turns out it is currently on ebay.please disregard the last post .boy you gotta be quick

 

Here are pics of the LAST Spaulding car known to exist. And this is all that's left. No bodywork, just a complete chassis w/drivetrain. It will be placed in the Iowa Transportation Museum in Grinnell, Iowa upon completion.

I think it's a 1913.


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Probably this 1911 Olds Limited. One of 3 known to exist, and the only unrestored one, sold last year for $1,650,000 plus a 10% buyer's premium. It's a huge car, 138" wheelbase, 707 cubic inch engine, and rolls on 43" diameter tires. Look how tall it looks by the normal sized fellow behind it, and it's sitting on the rims.


The rarest of all would be one of one, right? We think we know where the second car is but haven't seen it yet. It's a Carroll car, built in 1912 in Strasburg PA by Carroll Aument, a car dealer who also wanted to build his own cars. This is the only one built. During WWII it was stripped of it's brass for the scrap drives and dumped in a farmer's ravine for fill along with dozens of similar cars. We know where the ravine was, and are seeking permission to dig it up but don't have it yet. We do have a piece of original sales literature that fell into my hands by pure chance. This photo came from family members we found living in Florida. If we can find it and salvage at least one original peice from the car and rebuild the rest, AACA will allow it to be shown as a 'real' Carroll. It was an assembled car, as were many of that era, and used driveline parts that can be found from other cars, and most of the lamps and body hardware can be found too, so it's not an impossible project. We just need to get it out...

 

i have a 32 ford roadster pickup with the square bodys pickup bed, never heard anything about it

 

Here is photo of my 61 Dodge Lancer wagon. only 9500 wagons were made in 61. not terribly rare but interesting

 

Lister was a big time Jag tuning company. Last efforts were twin turbo XJS's.
Lister circuit cars are in $1 million range.


Not to be confused with the Lister Diesel and stationary engine company

 

Saw a 1909 electric powered T the other day. Also an old I don't know what year Sears and Robucks motor cycle. Didn't even know they made 'em

 

Nice car...Sean.

Wouldja believe: 1967 Mazda Luce 1500 Deluxe, South African manufacture. They built 50 for testing but never went into production. Certainly the only one left

 

My first new car, a Fiat 128, was purchased at an import car dealer in Waukegan, IL. The dealer's son had just acquired a Ferrari SWB 250 coupe, former factory test car / mule for LeMans. He only paid 35K for it. He drove the crap out of it in vintage races on treadded, street type Dunlops with wire wheels that had a zillion spokes. Imagine what it is worth now! Gary

 

Photos from Barrett-Jackson '09...

 

1950 Chevrolet pickup sitting on an s-10 frame with a chopped top. I know it's not that rare, but good luck finding another one where I'm at.

 

The early Sears bikes were built by The Excelsior Supply Co. and badged as Sears motorcycles. Later in the 50s and 60s they sold Puchs, again, re badged as Allstates and later on, Sears. There were also Sears highwheeler cars and, later, Henry Js with Allstate badging

Sears never built anything of their own.

 

i found in the hamptons a 1938 packard super 8 all orig except paint someone spray right over the orig black with out primer and the paint reacted against each other and tore the paint up bad so the owner stuck it in the barn forever pissed off
i scored it for $4000 after long time negotiation and will start restoring it when im done building my project car
this car is huge and all im missing is the rear luggage rack and trunk

 

This car used to show up at Leon's Drive-in on the south side of Milwaukee in the 70's. Its a Stout Scarab. Love art deco!!!

 

Pictures of my Barnfind Bizzarrini, pulled out of several storage units in San Diego in January '09. Under restoration except with an LS7/six-speed, C6 derived frt. susp./ 9" rear with watts linkage, big brakes, cage, fuel cell.

 

A 1955 Alfa-Romeo 1900 SS with a one-off body by Touring.
The engine literaly broke in half when the innards left by the side door.

Circa 1967 Mazda Cosmo, never imported, don't know what it was doing over here, but it looked like a cross between that Alfa and a spaceship.


I owned the very last 3-cylinder Saab Sonnet, #258. Parked in front of my house when some young lady shortened it by 2 ft.

 

This Austin Mini "Nimrod" is for sale in the local craigslist. Asking price is $11,500. I know a LOT of cars but I've never heard of or seen one before.

 

1965 Ford Galaxie 500, R code ( 427-425 horse) 2x4bbls, automatic (even rarer) with the Pyrex Headlight Covers-Intact. It was sitting in a truck wrecking yard, I gave 50.00 for it-I still have the title. Come-a-longed it up on the trailer, took it home. 5-6 years later, I sold it to a guy OK city for really nice profit in the early 80's, and found it is now in Canada finally being fixed...Sure wished I had kept it....

 

Black '57 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser convertible sitting in a salvage yard in Virginia.

 

i have 2 Humber Super Snipes a 59 and a 64 the 59 i think they made 3500 or so in two years and 64 6500 but thats international and saloons and wagons. Huppmodile century 6 in pieces my brother was going to buy it but forgot his check book and dad wouldnt front him the money even though he knew he was good for it. I have a Radiator Grill that is unknown to anyone. seen a 1936? plymouth sport coupe with a 1980's chevy 3/4 ton front clip, 1 inch of bondo "sculpted" roll pan and some pos seized engine in it. heavy rusted heavy gauge sheet metal floors. it sold for 3500 (i want to say 6500 but it was a few hundred sales ago) bucks couldnt believe it. we thought we could get it for 200 bucks and just use the body. It was my first rat experience. There is a Nash Rambler Station wagon in rocky mountain house for sale , it sure would be cool, just small enough to work on in your living room ( maybe still have a wife at the end of it for you married folks)

 

Bravo!!, What do think of the workmanship in the original Chassis?
Is it an alloy or glass body?
The original front ewnds were a mixture of Fiat 1500/2300 and Bizzarini with the back end using Bizzarini suspension with E type diff head.
Mind you I wouldn't have gone with a Ford 9" but a later Corvette with Independent . Bizzarini were known for the outstanding road holding and going back to the 1940's with a 9" and watts link etc is a bit too retro, even for me.

 

For a regular production model I would vote for the 1934 Oldsmobile Convertible Coupe, with side mounts and rumble, 377 where produced and 6 are known to exhist, Mine is a AACA Grand National Senior, very rare and very good looking. John

 

Herb Adams' personal 1973 Fire-Am

 

Not rare at all and there were thousands built .
In fact here is one outside my shop ,a rallye version which has to be rare.

 

It's a '66 GT America, glass body. It had been crashed in the '70's and had the back and driver's side repaired, then never went back together. The frame was sold in the mid '80's, and the rest in boxes and such had been in storage since '79 or '80. It's a really small car, (with a small block !) 43" tall! The track is only 56", where as a Vette is at 64" hub to hub. Trying to go that narrow would really be tough on the geometries. The 9" is way better for a street / track car, less issues, more fun time. The the watts linkage helps too with corner exit... I'm now using a DSE front clip with the C6 spindles,coilovers,rack and pinion, linked straight anti-roll bar, and will fit 10" wide wheels frt, 13" at the rear. (I had parts and a mangled back half of the frame and the De Dion susp.)