Ever hankered after an original Shelby Daytona Coupe, but have been put off by the simply massive prices commanded by such ultra-rare classics?
Now is your chance to grab a Shelby-produced Daytona Coupe, as the company is building 50 cars from the original blueprints to celebrate the 50th anniversary of it winning the FIA World Sportscar Championship.
This may be the first time a manufacturer has built more cars to celebrate an anniversary than they built of the originals (only six Daytona Coupes were made). Shelby says it was inundated with requests for a new Daytona following a limited run of 50th anniversary big-block Cobras last year.
The Daytona will be available as an aluminium-body version (above left) that remains faithful to the original, and also as a fibreglass-bodied version (right) that gets modern luxuries such as air conditioning, electric windows, power steering and independent rear suspension.
The fibreglass car starts at US$179,995 ($273,363), and the aluminium car lands at a hefty US$349,995 ($531,547). That price doesn’t include an engine. Shelby will happily sell you one, or you are free to find your own.
Although you might expect a car costing half a million should really include an engine, just remember that the last original Daytona Coupe sold at auction for US$7.25 million ($11,010,790) in 2009.
We are the world
■Ever complain about how much you pay for parking? Well, this may make you reconsider.
A parking space has just gone up for sale in London for £390,000 ($917,683), meaning that parking space would cost more than the vast majority of cars on sale today. It is a fairly impressive space in an “exclusive” underground development. It also includes valet service and 24-hour security.
■Ever been surprised by something you have seen on the road? Probably not as surprised as motorists in New Jersey when a small skydiving plane was forced to make an emergency landing on the freeway after its engine failed. The plane swerved around oncoming traffic and came to a halt on the grass median. No one was injured except a skydiving instructor who cut his arm.
Fiat’s leather goes inside out
Words fail us to describe Fiat’s new 500.
Fiat uses the word “new” every time they talk about almost imperceptible changes to the next-generation 500 (it’s shorter than saying “the one that looks identical to the last one, but has slightly squintier headlights”). There is another word used to describe the one-off produced with “Umbrian master craftsman” Stefano Conticelli for charity. That word is “unique”.
The Good Oil can think of quite a few other words to describe the first “new” 500 to roll off the production line, but “unique” is probably the only one that is printable.
Most limited edition cars that feature unique leatherwork put it on the inside, but Fiat has chosen to slather the 500’s exterior with the bits of a cow that used to hold its insides in.
Conticelli has trimmed the exterior with calfskin highlights on the wheel arches, grille, tail light clusters and around the headlights. A picnic basket (also made of calfskin) is attached to the rear, while door mirrors are capped with mahogany.
Fiat says the leather is “specially treated to withstand the elements”, which seems odd, because we have never heard a cow complain that its insides were getting wet ...
Anyway, this horribly misguided piece of awfulness was auctioned off at the “I Defend Gala 2015” with the proceeds going to the “Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Europe” charity.
Mustang shoots for Moon
While that Fiat 500 was a good exercise in how to NOT produce a special one-off model for charity, this Ford Mustang is an example of how to do it very right.
Made to be auctioned at the EAA AirVenture to raise money for its youth aviation education programmes, the Apollo Edition Mustang features a unique black and white paint job, some not-so-subtle US flag decals, an enormous carbon-fibre front splitter, a rear wing and diffuser, 21-inch wheels and — rather brilliantly — orange underbody lighting to “symbolise atmospheric re-entry”.
We’ll let the complete, over-the-top awesomeness of that sink in for a bit ...
Not content with cosmetic changes, Ford has jammed a supercharger on to the 5-litre V8, as well as a Ford Performance shifter kit, an X-pipe with side and rear exhausts, sports suspension and six-piston Brembo brakes.
The supercharged V8 is good for 467kW of power and 732Nm of torque, meaning the Apollo Edition Mustang is a car that screams “USA!”. Quite loudly.
Number Crunching
7 OTHER MODELS
The number of other Lotus models that use the Elise platform
9 OTHER MAKES
The number of other manufacturers that use the Elise platform
4 ELECTRIC VERSIONS
of the Elise platform, including the original Tesla Roadster
2450 ROADSTERS
Teslas sold, almost certainly more than all other makers (except Lotus) combined