ClassicCarHunter » American

Lightweight: 1964 Chevrolet Corvette “Sting Ray”

admin — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:26:04 +0000

In our opinion, this is the more European looking version of the famous Chevy Corvette. That’s why we quite like it and why it drew our attention skimming through the ebay advertisements. That and the price. Because it seems like a bit of a bargain to be had for someone …

The car has been stripped of everything unnecessary. A lightweight shell by Dale Edmonds Racecar Composites has been fitted on a 1971 chassis. The panels are bonded-in steel, with doors and inner wings in aluminium. It has all new joints, bearings and bushes and has been fitted with a Vansteel handling kit. Everything needed for braking has been rebuilt or fitted brand new. Steve Woolhouse from All American Spares has worked his magic on the transmission and engine. The tranny has been fitted with a Centre Force clutch. Shifting happens with a Hurst Indy shifter and the limited slip diff has been rebuilt.

The engine is a 283ci unit, with forged crank, forged pistons, power pack head, Crane solid lifter cam, Holley high rise, 4 barrel Holley and a ZR1 radiator. This would have been an original engine towards the end of the 50s. This V8 delivers around 220bhp standard. Don’t know if the owner had the car rolling road tested.

It still needs a couple of little things fixing like the rev counter needs connecting, speedo needs wiring up. The cooling system needs a bit of work. But this will be quite a bargain for someone. Not sure why the engine choice, maybe one of you can enlighten us? The car is for sale out of Hertfordshire, through an Ebay advertisement, not an auction. The seller wants GBP12000 for it.

Safety buy: 1974 Bricklin SV-1

admin — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:25:04 +0000

Over the years, there have always been wealthy businessmen who had a go at starting their own car manufacturing. Malcolm Bricklin was a millionaire who made his money from plumbing and from importing Subaru into the US. His factory though was never able to produce cars fast enough to keep the company going. Only about 2,800 cars were built and about 1,000 are believed to survive. This white one has come up for sale in Holland.

The SV stands for “Safety Vehicle” and a lot of the design incorporated safety features. It had an integrated rollcage, impact bumpers and side lights. A cigarette lighter has been omitted for safety reasons. The body is fiberglass and the car has gullwing doors that open up at the touch of a button.

This particular one is an ex-museum car and is still on its original tyres. The first cars came with an AMC 360 V8 engine, but after supply problems the cars were fitted with a Ford 351 V8 Windsor (5.8 liters). This one comes with the Ford engine and it has done only 25,000 miles. You can find it for sale here on marktplaats.nl in Holland for a very reasonable EUR14,950.

Veedub killer: 1968 Dodge A100 Camper 5.2 V8

admin — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:24:29 +0000

Update 27/7: No bids at all on the camper.

This 1968 Dodge A100 Camper conversion seems in very good nick. On countless occasions we have overtaken snail-paced older VW campervans on our way to the beach but with an engine swap like this Chrysler 5.2-liter V8 that might be a thing of the past.

We really like the Torq Thrust wheels, they look good on a lot of American cars. As we are not a big fan of the painted bumper, it will probably be resprayed into a different colour. The seller admits it will need a new set of tyres. The campervan is available here on ebay.

In the animated film Cars, the character “Rusty Rust-Eze” is a heavily rusted A100.