On October 16, 1958, Chevrolet began to sell a car-truck hybrid that it called the El Camino. Inspired by the Ford Ranchero, which had already been on the market for two years, the El Camino was a combination sedan-pickup truck built on the Impala body, with the same “cat’s eye” taillights and dramatic rear fins. It was, ads trilled, “the most beautiful thing that ever shouldered a load!” “It rides and handles like a convertible,” Chevy said, “yet hauls and hustles like the workingest thing on wheels.”
On June 28, 1953, workers at a Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan, assembled the first Corvette, a two-seater sports car that would become an American icon. The first completed production car rolled off the assembly line two days later, one of just 300 Corvettes made that year.
The idea for the vehicle originated with General Motors’ pioneering designer Harley J. Earl, who in 1951 began developing plans for a
low-cost American sports car that could compete with Europe’s
MGs, Jaguars and Ferraris.
(FoxNews) – Sean Kiernan may get as much as $4 million for a piece of Hollywood history that his father, Bob, acquired for just $3,500 and refused to sell to Steve McQueen, the actor who drove it in the 1968 action film "Bullitt."
When the classic-car insurer Hagerty sent car expert Kevin Marti to authenticate the vehicle, he couldn’t believe his eyes, according to a New York Times report: “Ninety-eight percent of the original car is there,” Marti told Hagerty. “It’s an incredible artifact.”
Since ‘Bullitt’s’ release, the 1968 Highland Green Mustang has become one of the best-known vehicles shown on the big screen. McQueen himself even tracked down Bob Kiernan in 1977 and wrote him a letter asking to buy the muscle car back, according to the Times.
“I would like very much to keep it in the family, in its original condition as it was used in the film, rather than have it restored, which is simply personal with me," McQueen wrote in the missive detailed by the Times which reported that Bob Kiernan never wrote McQueen back.
Sean Kiernan of Nashville stands next to the Ford Mustang GT 390 driven by Steve McQueen in the cult classic film "Bullitt."
Steve McQueen, starring in the title role of "Bullitt," steps out of his car after a pursuit through the hilly streets of San Francisco.
(Fox News) – A World War II veteran’s musty old Bentley that was left sitting in a garage for three decades sold for $600,000 this week, much more than was expected. But the amount paid may have been more of a tribute to the owner than the car.
To be sure, the 1936 Bentley 4 1/2 Litre Vanden Plas Tourer is rare. It’s just 1 of 6 like it made, and the only one left with its original body. No one really cared much about that when retired Royal Air Force navigator and pilot Charles Blackham purchased it from its original owner in 1952, fixed it up and turned it into his daily driver.
Blackham had been a member of the squadron that bombed Hitler’s “Eagles Nest” retreat in April 1945, and he later made food drops in Europe after the fall of the Nazi regime.
He used the Bentley until 1988 when it became too much trouble to keep it running, and parked it in the garage at his home near Manchester, where it sat rotting away until his death in January at age 96.
Blackham, center, and members of his squadron in WWII. (H&H Classics)
Steve's PC Repair