The restored Blue Devil prototype on display at SEMA. Photo by author.

It took just six weeks for the team of craftsmen at the GM Heritage Center to transform the sinkhole-damaged 2009 ZR-1 Blue Devil prototype from an as-recovered to an as-delivered state, and the restored Corvette was prominently displayed in Chevrolet’s booth at the 2014 SEMA Show. Following the show’s wrap-up last Friday, the Blue Devil has become the first of the sinkhole-damaged Corvettes to return to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The Blue Devil being pulled from the sinkhole in early March. Photo courtesy National Corvette Museum.

As one of the last cars to fall into the sinkhole, the Blue Devil was among the least damaged in the incident. In the interest of safety, teams approached the recovery of the car with caution, and it took three weeks before the ZR-1 prototype was lifted by crane from the top of the rubble to the floor of the damaged Skydome. Despite suffering a 30-foot fall in the collapse of the Skydome’s floor, the Corvette started without difficulty and was driven out of the building under its own power.

Inspecting the damage at the GM Heritage Center. Photo courtesy General Motors.

That’s not to say the car was undamaged, and an oil leak served as evidence that repairs would be more than just cosmetic. Upon its return to the GM Heritage Center, a full accounting of damage was compiled to serve as a starting point for the car’s restoration. The oil leak was traced to a cracked line from the car’s dry-sump oiling system, and a further inspection of the car’s underside revealed bent rear control arms on the left side. Remarkably, this was the extent of the mechanical damage to the car, but the cosmetic damage was somewhat more extensive. The passenger side rocker panel had been punctured by debris, and much of the car’s carbon-fiber ground effects package had been cracked. The windshield was cracked, as was the hood glass and passenger headlamp; cracks in the bodywork were discovered on the passenger front fender and both doors. Parts were repaired, replaced and repainted as needed, but every effort was made to preserve as much of the original car as possible, as the prototype was one of two cars constructed to debut the ultra high-performance Corvette ZR-1 in January of 2008.

Undergoing restoration. Photos courtesy General Motors.

A month and a half after its September delivery to GM, the restored Blue Devil was driven out of the Heritage Center and loaded on a truck bound for SEMA. On display at the show, the Blue Devil prototype once again looked pristine, and even a trained eye would have had a difficult time spotting the repaired and repainted panels. Returned to the National Corvette Museum on Tuesday, November 11, the Blue Devil prototype became the first of the sinkhole-damaged Corvettes to complete its journey, and in the next eight months the car will be joined by the 1962 Corvette and the 1992 convertible that was the 1,000,000^th Corvette built. The 1992 Corvette will be restored by the staff at GM’s Heritage Center, while the repair of the 1962 Corvette will be handled by a shop chosen by the National Corvette Museum.

Given that Centerline, Michigan, isn’t that big and therefore doesn’t have too many roads as wide as the one seen in the above photo that we came across on Annualmobiles, it didn’t take too long to use the street number at the top of the Used Cars sign to narrow down the location to  the corner of 53 and 10 Mile Road, which nowadays looks nothing like the above – even the water tower’s gone. But there was plenty of carspotting to be had with the cars on the street and in the Studebaker-slash-used car dealership. What do you see here?

Far be it from anybody to tell the seller or buyer of this 1960 Imperial Custom Southampton four-door hardtop for sale on Hemmings.com what to do with the car—after all, it’s a solid and complete unrestored car in need of nothing and probably capable of driving anywhere—but a big flashy luxury car like this could benefit from a full restoration to return it to its once glitzy glamorous state. Would you invest the resources to restore it or leave it as is? From the seller’s description:

finished in Alaskan White. Its finish has a nice luster that is further accentuated by an abundance of chrome and bright work that is in very good condition. Much of the exterior chrome has been refinished or polished in recent years. Other exterior “eye candy” includes new wide white wall tires and wire wheels.

The blue interior of this car is equally impressive. Its commanding dashboard features a full array of instrumentation and gauges, as well as a push button automatic transmission. The seats, door panels, and headliner were redone in recent years, and you’ll also appreciate the addition of a Kenwood AM/FM stereo with CD player for all your favorite tunes. Other comfort and convenience features include the following: Power windows, Six-way power seat, Power steering, Power brakes, Remote control mirror, Air conditioning. With the exception of the clock, all power options work as they should, including the air conditioning.

Under the hood you will find a 413 CID V-8 engine which generates an impressive 350 horsepower. The engine is mated to a TorqueFlite three speed automatic transmission. The transmission was just completely rebuilt on this 82,000 original mile car. Other recent mechanical updates include new brakes, a new power steering pump and battery. The car runs and drives as well as it looks.

One item of note is that the finish and exterior bright work exhibit some minor imperfections that do not detract from the overall appearance of the car. In addition, the interior does show some wear, but generally presents well.

See more Imperials and Imperials for sale on Hemmings.com.

1955 VW 23-window Samba Microbus Deluxe. Photos courtesy Auctionata.

Volkswagen’s Type 2 microbus enjoys a worldwide following, and among the most revered models is the 23-window Samba bus. In June of 2011, a 1963 23-window Samba sold at auction for a record-setting hammer price of $198,000 ($217,800, including buyer’s fees), but now a German auction firm believes it will shatter this benchmark with a 1955 Volkswagen 23-window Samba Microbus Deluxe, set to cross the stage in Berlin on November 28.

The Samba to be offered was built in February of 1955 and sold new through Autohaus Retter in Innsbruck, Austria. As a Deluxe model, it came equipped with chrome hubcaps, a polished VW emblem, two-tone paint (split by chrome trim) and an upgraded interior. In addition to its plentiful side and roof windows, the bus featured a folding cloth sunroof, which further improved ventilation for its nine passengers. As the most luxurious offering from Volkswagen in period, the Samba Microbus Deluxe was even used by European airlines to shuttle passengers to and from the airport, at a time when flying was generally reserved for the most affluent travelers.

The “barndoor” nickname comes from the oversize engine hatch door.

The Sealing Wax Red and Chestnut Brown bus remained in Austria until 1990, when it was sold to a new owner in England who opted for a repaint in the original colors. Aside from this bit of upkeep, Auctionata describes the Samba as “mostly original,” including the lighting, glass, reflectors, wheel trim and even the wraparound Plexiglas rear windows. Over the course of its 59-year life Since the restorative work was performed in the UK, the Samba has reportedly accumulated just 10,305 kilometers (just over 6,400 miles), and is being sold with complete documentation dating to the original owner. There’s also a certificate of authenticity from the Volkswagen Foundation Auto Museum, and the auction firm is claiming that this is one of 11 “Barndoor” Sambas (named for the oversize engine compartment door) remaining from the 1955 model year.

That population claim may be difficult to prove or disprove, but there’s no doubt that 23-window Samba buses are both rare and desirable. Since the record-setting Samba sold in 2011, prices for pristine examples in the United States have dropped, but remain firmly in the six-figure range. In January of 2012, a 1963 23-window Samba, complete with a 1971 Eriba Puck camper, sold for $128,000 in Scottsdale, and in April of 2013, another 1963 example sold for $126,500 in Palm Beach. Last August, a slightly less desirable 21-window microbus from 1966 sold for $110,000 in Monterey, so it appears the market for these Type 2 buses has leveled off in the United States.

That may not be the case in Europe, and the example to be offered at the end of the month in Berlin appears to offer a unique combination of low mileage, extensive documentation and a large percentage of original parts. Auctionata’s opening bid will be €120,000 ($149,725), and its published pre-auction estimate has the bus selling for a record-setting €240,000 ($299,450). Should the bus reach this figure, it may well spark an increase in Type 2 pricing on these shores, too, and it will certainly increase the number of VW buses crossing the stage in Scottsdale next January.

The Auctionata Classic Cars sale takes place in Berlin, Germany, on Friday, November 28. For additional information, visit Auctionata.com.

The 63 candidates for the 2014 People’s Choice Demo Day at the Simeone Museum. Photo courtesy Simeone Museum.

Philadelphia’s Simeone Museum is known for its extensive collection of both prewar and postwar racing and sports cars, and during the museum’s “Demo Days,” visitors get to see selected cars in action on the facility’s three-acre back lot. Demo Days typically have a theme that unites the cars to be exercised, as chosen by the museum’s staff, but for the final Demo Day of the year (scheduled for Saturday, November 29), the museum is letting its visitors choose the three cars to be driven.

The list of 63 candidates covers over six decades, stretching from a 1912 National Model 40 Semi-Racing Roadster to a 1975 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 TT 12. Choices include a 1929 Stutz Supercharged Le Mans and a 1967 Ford GT40 Mk IV, both raced at Le Mans; a 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, entered into the National Historic Vehicle Registry and used by Craig Breedlove to set speed and endurance records at Bonneville; a 1953 Hudson Hornet Twin H-Power sedan with a history of hillclimb victories and a nickname of “the Satan;” a 1970 Porsche 917 LH with an instantly recognizable purple and green psychedelic livery; a 1913 Mercer Raceabout, believed to be the last surviving example with a competition history; a 1963 Corvette Grand Sport roadster; a 1958 Aston Martin DBR1 once raced by Jim Clark during his “Border Reivers” racing days; and a 1956 Jaguar D-Type, with a history of competition at tracks like Sebring, Watkins Glen and Silverstone.

Voting runs through Monday, November 24 at 5:00 p.m., and the three cars chosen by popular vote will be announced on Tuesday, November 25. The final Simeone Museum Demo Day of 2014 will take place on Saturday, November 29, with activities beginning at noon, and if history is any indication, expect the “People’s Choice Demo Day” to be among the museum’s most popular events.

For additional information, or to vote on the cars to be driven, visit SimeoneMuseum.org.

The 1959 Cadillac Cyclone concept. Photos courtesy General Motors.

Here’s a press photo that was lurking in our cabinet of a nice concept, the 1959 Cadillac Cyclone. This Jetson-like bubble-topped show car made its debut at the inaugural Daytona 500, and looks to have borrowed a few design ideas from NASA.

Designers Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell gave the Cyclone a flip-top canopy that was fully powered and would disappear in the trunk, resting on an airbag, when not needed. The top was also coated in vaporized silver to deflect the sun’s rays, and the sliding doors would jut out at the push of a button, allowing easy opening and easier entry. The rectangle in the door was a compartment to allow outside interaction without flipping the top, and external speakers ensured that the driver’s voice would be heard.

The black points on the leading edge of the front fenders hid a radar-based guidance system meant to interact with future “smart roads,” and the concept even boasted an untested proximity warning system that would relay an alert to the driver of oncoming obstacles.

Powered by Cadillac’s 390-cu.in., 325-hp V-8, the Cyclone appeared at various car shows after the Daytona 500 and was a part of GM’s popular Motoramas, which operated until 1961. It would undergo several styling changes (including a 1960 fin-ectomy, which reduced the size of the tailfins seen here) before its ultimate retirement.

Photography by the author.

If you answered “yes” to this question, then you’ve got it bad, my friend. And as you may have guessed, I wouldn’t have asked had I not done it myself—more times than I care to admit.

Some vintage parts are so imaginatively designed that I like to have them just for display, which is good because they don’t have to work. Even if they are primarily used as paperweights on my desk (remember when we actually used paper?) or are placed on a shelf, I still get to look at them on a daily basis and appreciate their craftsmanship. I call them UFOCPs: Unidentified Fascinating Old Car Parts.

My favorites include factory gauges. As some of you know from reading my past articles in HMN I have an affinity for vacuum/economy gauges, regardless of the year or model in which they were factory installed. Tachs and clocks are also fun to have and stare at, but the former have grown especially expensive.

In the past, I collected factory Hurst His/Hers shifters from GTOs, 4-4-2s and Hurst Olds when I could find them cheap. I even have one from a late 1970s application that I have yet to Identify. Unfortunately, the collector prices asked for these shifters nowadays has halted further exploration for them as well.

I do, however, still find some gauges, clocks and compasses from time to time. They all have two things in common, they are interesting enough to be display items, and they are cheap. I may be sick but I’m not stupid. My family, home and project-car bills require enough financial attention as it is, so I can’t justify paying top dollar for parts to simply ogle, so I don’t.

To that end, my latest find came just this past weekend at a “fleatique” about 40 minutes from home, which was primarily for random antiques, vintage household items and stuff that was just plain old and musty. My kids and I walked in and this clock was literally the first item that I locked eyes on in a room that held about 50 vendors and thousands of items. That’s never happened before. I’ve never found a UFOCP that quickly at a sale.

This clock appears to have been removed from the dash of a vintage vehicle and was marked $6—I got it for $5. How could any car guy, regardless of era or marque preference pass up a $5 dash clock from a 1930-40-something vehicle? I certainly couldn’t. I photographed it for this blog in as-purchased condition—I still have to clean it up a bit.

Admittedly, 1960s and 1970s cars are more in my wheelhouse, so I don’t know what year or make vehicle this clock came from. It’s stamped “Geo. W. Borg Corp. Chicago USA” on the back. If any of you recognize it and know of its original application, please respond to this blog. Even if I don’t find out, however, it’s okay, as I won’t like it any more or any less based on its pedigree.

Referring back to the question that initiated this blog, please share your stories of low-buck UFOCPs you’ve purchased over the years simply because you thought that they were intriguing.

According to Jeff at Vintage Las Vegas—who seems to know exactly when every establishment, large or small, opened and closed in Sin City—this photo of Fremont Street that he recently posted dates to sometime around 1960, and a quick review of the vehicles in the scenes seems to turn up nothing that would contradict that assessment. Can we narrow the date of the photo down any further by studying the ages of the cars (and truck) in the photo?

If old cars are meant to be driven, just as they were when new, then doesn’t it follow that old trucks like this 1949 Ford F-6 for sale on Hemmings.com are meant to be put to work in the field and on the farm and on the jobsite, just as they were when new? This one certainly seems up to the task, with a full restoration, some minor updating, and a heavy-duty chassis that still looks capable of some Herculean tasks. From the seller’s description:

recently restored to its original condition. All the sheet metal was striped down to the bear metal and some restoration was made due to some rust (fortunately not much); the body work was professionally done. The engine is a V8 Flat Head, 100 percent original and running great. The transmission is a 3 speed. The electrical system was changed from a 6 volt to a 12 volt.

All the brake shoes have been reconstructed, all wheel bearings replaced. The original rims (widow makers) have been replaced mainly for safety reasons.

The truck bed is solid wood with several coats of marine grade varnish, it has a beautiful spacious hand made wooden tool box also covered with marine grade varnish.

Finding a truck in this condition is extremely rare and next to imposible due to the fact that many of these trucks where left out in the fields to rust away.

See more Ford trucks for sale on Hemmings.com.

Photo courtesy Ed Pink.

Though largely known for his drag racing Hemis, the engines that Ed Pink built over the last 60-plus years have won races in a wide variety of motorsports, from midget racing all the way up to Indy car racing. That adaptability and Pink’s longetivity, not to mention his capability, this earned him a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Petersen Automotive Museum, presented at last week’s SEMA show.

Pink, who many call “The Old Master,” began building engines in 1948 under the tutelage of Lou Baney after attending trade school in Los Angeles. It was there that he first became proficient in building Chrysler’s Hemi V-8 for drag racing purposes. “We ran our own dragster, then we got some pretty good guys to drive for us, like Mike Snively, Tom McEwen, and Connie Swingle,” he told Jim Donnelly for a profile on him in Hemmings Muscle Machines #28. Because Hemis at the time were so prevalent, “we’d buy all the 392s we could, tear ‘em apart and have 30 to 40 blocks to sell.”

Ed Pink at the Edelbrock dyno in the early 1960s. Photo courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum.

Over the next decade, Pink would work for hot rodding legends Eddie Meyer and Vic Edelbrock, but in 1957 he decided to open his own shop. At first, he specialized in cylinder heads and ignition, but as the popularity of drag racing grew, so did his business and his reputation for building winning engines. During the drag racing heyday, he counted among his customers such drag racing superstars as Don Prudhomme, Don Garlits, Tommy Ivo and Shirley Muldowney. Complete Ed Pink-built Top Fuel engines went for as much as $7,500 in the early 1970s.

Then in about 1980, Pink focused his attention elsewhere after noticing that the top drag racers had started to hire their own in-house engine builders, funded by major sponsorship contracts. He remained in the engine building business, however, applying his talents to midgets, stock cars, and even to the Indy car efforts of racers such as Al Unser and Roger Mears. As Petrolicious noted in a look at the Ed Pink Racing Engine business last year, Pink also dabbled in building engines for IMSA and Le Mans prototype racing, and NASCAR drivers such as Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne have driven cars powered by his engines.

Ed Pink and A.J. Foyt at Indy. Photo courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum.

Pink continued to run his business until selling it to Tom Malloy in 2008 and these days runs Ed Pink’s Garage with Bob Brandt, a shop that, if anything, seems devoted to a wider range of projects, including restoration, street rod construction, and research and development work.

“Ed Pink rarely found a branch of motorsports that he was unable to excel in,” the press release announcing the award noted. “No matter the challenge, The Old Master rose to meet it, and it is because of that sense of determination, track record of success, and a legendary kind streak that Ed Pink was chosen as this year’s Robert E. Petersen Lifetime Achievement Award winner.”

Ed Pink with a Chrysler 426 Hemi built for funny car use. Photo courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum.

Pink had been inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2012.

Previous winners of the Petersen Lifetime Achievement Award include Carroll Shelby, George Barris, Andy Granatelli, The Ford Family, Vic Edelbrock, Jack Roush, Ed “Isky” Iskenderian, Bill “Speedy” Smith, Alex Xydias and Wally Parks.