Looking for a new sleigh? Mecum’s Live Tomorrow at 4/3c!

12/05/2012

It’s a Wonderful Life Just aired a few days ago and there is the famous line, “Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets their wings!”  Well, if that quaint little bit of cinema history is true, I guess a lot of angels will be getting their wings in the middle of the Mecum Auction that starts tomorrow at 4/3c!

There is nothing like a Mecum Auction any time of year to get us excited – but the bells, whistles and all that red seem to be very festive in December. How can you not watch? And each time you hear a bell or a gong (and just so it’s an extra special holiday we’ll revise the bell legend to include bangs of the gavel and shouting too). We can’t have too many angels – especially those looking over beautiful cars.

Plus there’s the fact that some of those cars might be gifts for someone. Can you imagine a classic car with a big red bow on top sitting in someone’s driveway (or garage for those of us with the non-friendly weather)?  Even if it is someone’s gift to themselves after years of saving it warms the heart.

Even Santa might want a new pair of wheels...like this 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge Ram Air IV   Photo: Mecum

Then there are the cars. 750 beauts should be rolling over the block over the next few days and we hope you’ll be with us for every special dream machine.  

So be sure to stick with us starting tomorrow at 4/3c. The auction runs through Saturday, so just our schedule for when the action is live. Plus after the auction ends, we’ll be posting a list of the top ten sellers so you can see which cars were the hot properties.

Chrysler Letter Cars and One Fast ’56 Bel Air

11/07/2012

This Friday at 9/8c,, Million Dollar Collections returns with Keith Martin from Sports Car Market Magazine on another adventure. This time he’s touring John Staluppi’s collection of 1950’s and 60’s American cars at Florida’s renowned “Cars of Dreams Museum” and shows us Staluppi’s complete collection of Chrysler 300 “letter cars” and a ’56 Bel Air with a Toyota NASCAR engine under the hood.

 Never heard of a Chrysler “letter car?” These were high-end, high performance cars built by Chrysler in the U.S. from 1955-1965. They used a new letter of the alphabet as a suffix (though skipping the “i”), reaching 300L by 1965, when the model would be dropped.

The 300 series really started out as racecars aimed at the start up NASCAR circuit with a 331 cu in FirePower “Hemi” V* under the hood. It was offered up to limited numbers of non-racing types who were looking for the power and luxury of these special cars. Because of their unique styling from Virgil Exner and the wicked engine under the hood many people consider them to be the ancestors of muscles cars as they evolved with each year.

Speaking of speed, of course you want to know about a 1956 Bel Air with a Toyota NASCAR engine. Well, the first Toyota race engines started with four engineers working on production engines; they released their first race engine in 1968 – a 3000cc V8, 2 valve. And the rest, as they say is history.

You’ll have to tune in Friday night at 10p e/p to find out just what kind of engine ends up in a ’56 Bel Air and what that means for performance from a vehicle that size.

Video: Toyota Tuner Challenge Cars Head to SEMA

10/29/2012

Since we’ll be doing a lot of laps around the track on tonight’s episodes of Fifth Gear starting at 8p e/p, I thought I’d get us in the mood with a look at what could be tearing up tracks in the future – straight from SEMA with Toyota’s Eighth Annual Tuner Challenge.

The challenge gives each builder a stock 2012 Scion FRS, $15,000 to use and three months to get from concept to build. This is a true tuners challenge so the sky’s the limit on the modifications they can perform – and it’s pretty interesting to see how three tuners really turn out three completely different cars.

For some it’s about the looks and others it’s about how it performs on the track. Whoever the lucky winner is gets $10K to take home. Not bad.

Have a look at the tuners and their cars that are headed to SEMA and let us know which ones you like. Then, tune in to Fifth Gear tonight as we’ve got everything from Porsche 911 Carrera trying a new fueling technique to try and break the world record for distance travelled in an hour to track testing of the convertible Mercedes SLS AMG supercar against an Aston Martin, Jaguar and a Bentley all starting tonight at 8p e/p.

  

 

Did Somebody Call for The Pizza Man?

10/24/2012

Yes they did! The Mecum Auction at the Fall Premier in St. Charles, IL, has the world famous 1954 Chevrolet Corvette that was a three time NHRA World Champion – all while proudly bearing the logo “The Pizza Man.” For the right price someone will be getting this pizza delivered.

Tune in live this Friday, October 26 @ 4p E/P and Saturday, October 27 @ 2p E/P | Photo: Mecum.com

So what’s the story behind this winning car with the quirky name? The owner and driver of this roadster was one Earl Britt, proprietor of Earl’s Pizza Palace in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Britt was smart enough to brand his little Corvette as The Pizza Man as the car went on to be seen by thousands at drag strips and at national events.

Drag strips you say?  Now that’s more interesting than just a get-around-town car. The Pizza Man was not just interesting it was legendary. It started as just serial number 99 in the ’54 run of 3,640 roadsters. It ended up earning the title of “World’s Fastest Six Cylinder Corvette,” set nine World Record’s in the NHRA’s Modified Production class. It’s actually believed to have won more points in three consecutive years (1967-1969) than any other car in Street Eliminator history or any other Division – and a notable win over Dick Landy and Dodge’s factory team at the ’68 Winternationals at Pomona.

How did the Pizza Man do it? It had a modified 292 CI GMC inline-6 engine fed by triple sidedraft Weber 2-barrel carburetors and driving a Positraction third member through a custom-built B&M Turbo Hydra-Matic 3-speed transmission. All that power took it to some consistent and speedy off the line numbers.

The person who is lucky enough to take delivery of the Pizza Man will get the car in as-raced condition – that means it still has the Pizza Man logo and its original Polo White paint. There’s plenty more bling to talk about including the tires, but wouldn’t you rather see it roll across the auction block live?

Look for it Saturday afternoon, but be sure to watch all the action as some sizzling muscle cars and some crazy classics will all be in the mix. We’ll have Mecum live this Friday, October 26 @ 4p E/P and Saturday, October 27 @ 2p E/P.

 

The Ariel Atom vs. The Radical. Which Would Speed Racer Choose?

10/10/2012

The Fifth Gear team are putting two specialty racers to the test at Anglesey – the Ariel Atom vs. The Radical. I’m going to be straight with you and admit these were two cars I didn’t even know existed, but when I look at them both I can’t help but think of Speed Racer going head to head with Racer X.