Tuesday

STEVE McQUEEN FERRARI


A Ferrari once driven and raced by "King of Cool" Steve McQueen is being tipped to fetch more than 1 million dollars later this year when it goes under the hammer.

The 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso is to be auctioned at Christie's International Motor Cars auction in Monterey, California on August 16, and is estimated to go for between 800,000 to 1.2 million dollars.

The Ferrari was given to him by his first wife in 1963. McQueen is pictured above in 1963 with the car.

McQueen, who died in 1980 aged 50, traded the car in 1973 before it ended up in the hands of a restorer.

How much money can you save between now and August 16th.

Sunday

PIECES OF EIGHT

1952 AMERICA ALUMINUM BODIED ROADSTER

1954 PROTOTYPE SPEEDSTER

1958 PROTOTYPE CONVERTIBLE D

A total of eight Porsche Speedsters for sale in one lump. An unrestored aluminum 1952 America Roadster with only 9,800 miles, chassis number 12317. 1954 Speedster Prototype chassis number 12223. Three hand-built pre-series 1954 Speedsters with chassis numbers 80002, 80003 and 80004. The first 1958 Convertible D, chassis number 85501. The only "RS" Carrera Speedster, chassis number 80820 and a 'Spyder' 4-cam under chassis number 80665.

A ready made collection as it is only sold as a set.

Sales agent: Paul Schiemer
Telephone: +1-407-739-0066
E-mail: paulschiemer@mac.com
Website: http://web.mac.com./paulschiemer/iWeb/PrivateSite/

Website is case sensitive.

PETER McMANUS COLLECTION

1955 VINCENT RAPIDE D

1965 TRIUMPH T120 BONNEVILLE

Next Sunday, July 1st, Bonhams of London will be auctioning off the Peter McManus Collection. Featuring 150 motorcycles mostly from the 20's to the 70's. This is a NO RESERVE auction.

For information as to the location, etc. check this out:

www.bonhams.com/motorcycles

1958 BSA

INDYCAR AT IOWA


Dario Franchitti has won in Iowa. An accident filled race that was won by the 500 winner.

CHAMPCAR IN CLEVELAND


Hard driving Paul Tracy wins in Cleveland. Followed by Robert Doornbos in second and Neel Jani in third.

Saturday

THE JACK HOGAN COLLECTION OF FORD MOTORCARS

1932 FORD

1934 FORD

A FORD day to remember. June 30th in Aurora, Oregon at the Aurora Jet Center belonging to Jack Hogan. Mostly 30's and 40's, both regular and commercial.

Mark Osborne
+1 (415) 391 4000
mark.osborne@bonhams.com

Andrew Reilly
+1 (415) 503 3285
andrew.reilly@bonhams.com

1935 FORD

1941 FORD

Monday

MOSTLY SMILING


Still doing a fantastic job, Lewis Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix leaving his team mate to come in second. It will be interesting to see how Hamilton does through the other 2/3 of the season. He is setting records.

Overall winners of the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hour Race. Pirro, Biela and Werner driving an Audi R10 Diesel. Yes, folks, a diesel again. Parts of the race were done in the rain. It seems to me like it always rains there. That probably isn't true, it is just that I remember it that way.

How did my personal picks do? Let's have a look. In the LMP1 class Team Peugeot Total with the car piloted by Nicolas Minassian, Jacques Villeneuve and Marc Gene. A diesel powered 5.5 litre V-12 turbo had to drop out after a great effort running very close to the front and completing almost the whole race....338 laps.

LMP2 class entry by Barazi-Epsilon/Zytec Engineering and driven by Adrian Fernandez, Haruki Kurosawa and Robbie Kerr. 3.4 litre V-8 came in second place for the class.

GT1, I picked Corvette Racing with a Chevy 7 litre V-8. Driven by Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Max Papis. While their other team car came in 6th overall this car didn't do so well. Out of the picture after 22 laps.

GT2, I picked either car from Team LNT. One was 23rd overall and the other was out after 60 laps.

Friday

CRUISIN' GRATIOT



America loves it's hot rods. I never got into that scene because I always felt that the old cars should be restored to their former beauty. The hot rod scene is huge and has been for 60 years. The big cities have streets that are miles long and lend themselves to what is called cruising. Years ago it went on every weekend, but now is just done once a year on different streets. Woodward Avenue in Detroit was known worldwide and hosts a Dream Cruise in August with thousands of cars and people. Here are a couple of pictures from Cruisin' Gratiot on Gratiot Avenue in Detroit this weekend.

ON YOUR WAY HOME

1967 MGB

1962 DAIMLER SP250


On your way home from the Le Mans 24 Hour take a stop at the Pavilion Gardens in Buxton, England. On the 19th and 20th H&H Auctions will be auctiioning off 80 automobiles and 300 pieces of automobilia. Pictured are a couple of the cars that will be on auction.

Phone: 0044 (0)1925 730630

Website: www.classic-auctions.co.uk

1956 JAGUAR XK140 DROPHEAD COUPE

1935 BENTLEY 3.5 LITRE

ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN


In 1999 Mercedes had an unual accident of the kind that sticks in ones memory. Take a look at the video above....if it only had wings. Driver Mark Webber, who is floating around in Formula One these days, had his Mercedes flip both in qualifying and in the warm-up lap. Then during the race itself another Mercedes took a leap which is the one on the video. The video at the very bottom is a Porsche doing the very same thing. Ouch!

Back in 1955 when I was first getting interest in race cars, sportcars, classic cars there was very bad accident at Le Mans. A driver by the name of Pierre Levegh lost control of his car and it flew into a crowd of people killing him and 82 other people. That day changed the face of racing forever. Witness below.

24 HOURS OF LE MANS

PEUGEOT 908

Tomorrow afternoon, zoom-zoom, marks the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. They are celebrating the 75th anniversary of its start. The cars to watch are the five diesel powered cars fielded by Audi, three from them, and Peugeot. The drivers come from all over the racing spectrum. I do have some personal favorites in different classes. Let me share them:

In the LMP1 class I am looking for Team Peugeot Total with the car piloted by Nicolas Minassian, Jacques Villeneuve and Marc Gene. A diesel powered 5.5 litre V-12 turbo.

LMP2 class goes to the entry by Barazi-Epsilon/Zytec Engineering and driven by Adrian Fernandez, Haruki Kurosawa and Robbie Kerr. 3.4 litre V-8.

GT1 is Corvette Racing with a Chevy 7 litre V-8. Driven by Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Max Papis.

GT2 could be either car from Team LNT. All picks are purely personal and anything can happen in a 24 hour race. You can watch it on your computer at:

www.worldsportlive.com

AUDI R10

Tuesday

PORSCHE PULLS THE PLUG ON DETROIT


I see that Porsche is pulling out of Detroit's North American International Auto Show. Because Detroit is so depressed I hope that this doesn't snowball in having many auto makers pull away. Porsche has taken the step so it wouldn't take much for others to follow.

With the way Michigan economics have been who can afford these cars. Yet you can't have an Auto Show that caters to the bottom of the line. The show has always billed itself as the best, but I have heard from newspaper people, sales people and manufacturing people that it really hasn't done it for years. These people have other shows that they like better...not all the same and not all in the United States.

Porsche says that they only sold 290 vehicles in Michigan last year. Which is no return on their 'show' money. California sold 8,827, Florida did 4,177 and New York sold 2,174.

Let's hope it doesn't start a trend.

FORD IS STILL SPINNING OFF PRODUCTS


Ford could soon sell Jaguar and Land Rover after the American car manufacture appointed banks to examine a sale. The expected sale of the brands comes after Ford sold Aston Martin for £450 million to a venture capital consortium led by the racing driver David Richards. The two will be sold together because Ford has integrated them with the same components and production lines.

Ford just never did it for me once they took over Jaguar. I was just never that fond of them again and Land Rover became another 'also ran'. Of course, I liked the fact that they supported a Formula One racing team.

It seemed to me that they did a much better job with Aston Martin in the time span that they had it. Even its sales were increasing which is more than I can say for Jaguar.

Hopefully they will get sold properly so that the names and what is behind them doesn't go away. Personally I can't think of who would be interested. Hope that they don't get stripped like a stolen car.

CHAMPCARS IN PORTLAND, OREGON


Sebastien Bourdais in the center was the winner on Sunday for the ChampCar series in Portland, Oregon. Followed by Justin Wilson and Robert Doornbos. ChampCars were the replacement for the C.A.R.T. Cars that had a series that lasted 20 years.

Bourdais is leading the championship with 105 points and this race leaves Wilson in 5th with 69 and Doornbos in 3rd with 87. Doornbos is another rookie that can fly. The courses that they are using this year are better than some that were used under the C.A.R.T. series and they are racing in some other countries. To give it somewhat of a Formula One flavor they will be in Belgium, Holland, Australia, China, Mexico and Canada. Only 12 races left.

Monday

TWO VERY LUCKY MEN


So Lewis Hamilton final did it. At the Canadian Grand Prix yesterday he showed them how it is done. Canada was only his sixth Formula One race and he has been in the top three in every race. He is now the leader in points for the championship, but there are 11 races left. Anything can happen.

Below is the video of the second lucky man at the race. Actually, he was the luckiest man there. Robert Kubica (Poland's Proud Son) took a half off the ground leap straight into a wall and then rolled and slid to a stop against another wall. It really didn't look good as usually when someone hits the wall head-on at that speed it is all over. 180 miles per hour. He was lucky enough to only suffer a concussion and a sprained ankle.

SATURDAY - INDYCARS - TEXAS


Sam Hornish was the winner at Texas Motor Speedway on the 9th. In the point standings he is in fifth place with 226 points. Series leader is Dario Franchitti with 253 points. This was the Bombardier Learjet 550K, 341.754 miles for those counting. There are 10 races left.

Sunday

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

Here in Cyprus oil is all the rage. The government feels that is is the answer to there 'money pit' problem. They intent to start offshore drilling as soon as possible while the real answer lies all around the island. Water! Salt water! Maybe the salt isn't dense enough, but they could try something with this guy and make waves.

Friday

THE McMULLEN COLLECTION



Also on Saturday the 9th in my former home-state Michigan The McMullen Collection is on auction. John McMullen, a Michigan/Florida car dealer, started collecting cars in 1988. Now, twenty years later, he has 130 beautiful cars from all eras of automotive history. Which he houses in seven large garages at his home in Michigan. I would just like to have one of the garages. John had as many as 7 dealerships and it looks to me like business was good.

The State of Michigan is economicly depressed right now and I think McMullen takes a big risk doing a 'NO RESERVE' auction. He is planning to sell 85 of his cars. Can you imagine the hand wringing while he was trying to decide what stays and what goes.

The auction is being put on by RM Auctions out of Canada who can be reached at:

1-800-211-4371

And the auction will be held at:

2103 E. Newark Road
Lapeer, Michigan 48446


STUDEBAKER HONORED AT HILDENE SHOW




If you are around the beautiful State of Vermont on Saturday the 9th you should head to Manchester to see the Hildene Auto Show. The show, in its 21st year of running, is going to honor the Studebaker. Studebaker has a very interesting automotive history that you should look up some day when you are relaxing. Above are a couple of different body styles they had over the years and below is my personal favorite.

While I am not into NASCAR racing the ledgendary driver Junior Johnson will help host the festivities. He made a name for himself in his day. Information can be had at:

1-800-362-4144 or www.manchestervermont.net

If you find yourself still in Vermont on Monday you should take the 22 mile drive to Hemmings Motor News. They love to have visitors. They have 25 cars on display, a store, a cafe and an old fashioned Sunoco gas station. Check them at:

1-802-447-9527

Sunday

TWO OF THE MANY UP FOR GRABS AT BROOKLANDS

1975 ARGYLL GT TURBO 2+2

Most students of automotive history will be familiar with the name ‘Argyll’. This manufacturer built motor vehicles of good quality in Glasgow until 1928, having been founded during 1899. During a period immediately prior to the Great War they were in fact one of Britain’s five largest car manufacturers with an extensive factory close to Loch Lomond. What many will be unaware of, however, is the Argyll GT of which just a handful were built between 1978 and 1990. Argyll used what was referred to as the ‘total strength unit’ – a myriad of tube and box sections forming a chassis and roll-cage unit – whilst power units were either V8 Rover or Saab turbo. However, in the case of the vehicle on offer here, said to be the original prototype, Argyll fitted a Lancia unit and modified it extensively using their Argyll/Minnow fish turbo charging system.

Strikingly finished in red with blue trim, this fascinating motor car is reported to have covered just 4,057 miles having spent most of its life in storage. As would be expected with such a small amount of miles covered, it is reported to be in excellent mechanical order and is now offered for sale due to the owner’s lack of space.

Information sheets and correspondence from Argyll Cars are provided, together with an insurance valuation plus various photographs, etc. An extremely rare and stylish GT motor car which typifies its era, it is also offered for a sale with a V5 registration document and MOT certificate valid until 6th September 2007.

1933 TALBOT 65 SALOON

Clement-Talbot was founded during 1902 and despite the French-sounding name it was in fact an English company, the name being taken from two of its directors, the Earl of Shrewsbury & Talbot and the French car manufacturer, Adolph Clement. Within a few years, the company had established a sound reputation for high quality touring cars and immediately after the Great War was acquired by the French-based Darracq company which was under British ownership. This company was also to acquire Sunbeam during 1925. The company’s chief designer was Georges Roesch, a gifted engineer who had joined the organisation in 1916. His 14/45 model, introduced in 1926, met with immediate acclaim, being one of the finest touring cars of its size at that time. Powered by a 6-cylinder, OHV engine with an ingenious system of valve actuation using wedge-shaped rockers, the 14/45 boasted a massive cross-braced chassis frame and was available with a variety of attractive styles of coachwork.

The development of this model was the 65, which was introduced in 1932, and it is one such example offered here, an AX Series saloon with attractive D-back, 6-light coachwork by Darracq. In the care of its current owner for the past fourteen years, the car has undergone a ground-up restoration and is of attractive appearance in black over green. Reported as being in good mechanical order in all departments, the pre-selector gearbox has had the bearings replaced, as has the rear axle, and a new exhaust system was fitted approximately 200 miles ago. The rear axle has been uprated with a Talbot 75 CWP, making for more relaxed cruising – it is said to run at 55mph very happily. The green interior trim remains original and the car is offered for sale due to the vendor trimming down his stable and we are also advised that his wife is requiring the house to be extended!

A V5 registration document is included, as is a VE60 logbook attesting to the original West Lothian registration number, and an MOT certificate valid until May next year is also provided.

These two, along with about 70 others, will be on auction at the Brooklands Museum on Thursday June 7th. You can view what is for sale at:

http://www.british-car-auctions.co.uk

or call:

+44 1252 877317 or +44 1252 743329

Saturday

MOTORCYCLE OR CAR?


The Carver looks like an interesting item for the road. Check out the video link:


Top Gear: The Carver