Barrett-Jackson at Palm Beach......

[TimG]

Just got back from hauling the LS6 convertible out there. I flew to LA in 2001 to look at this car for a friend. It was real with a warranty plate and great owner history but had a terrible restoration. I was given the keys and told to have fun test driving the car, I did. It was purchased at a good price with the understanding that it needed a good restoration, not the local body shop kind that it had. The owner wanted to drive the car and hence the street restoration. The original M40 was with the car but had a horrible crack in the bellhousing from racing. As per Dave, it could not be put back in the car with this severe damage. The owner put a five speed manual in the car and told Dave to restore it for street use. He chose to put radial tires on the car and did not put a somg pump on it either. Dave did a nice job, but the owner did choose to put some repo parts on the car.
The car had the correct dated carb, heads, original block with numbers intact and good broach. The rear end was original and the damaged M40 was in the trailer with us for the new owner. The exhaust manifolds were correct part numbers, but dated late for the car, it ran headers for many years. I think that the changes that were made prevented this original LS6 convertible from reaching its potential. I'm not sure why the owner wanted to sell the car, he is a good friend and we do lots of car stuff together. He could not haul the car there last week and I thought it would be a fun trip, it also helped him out. My two sons were on spring break and we had a blast hauling the car and spending some time in Palm Springs. The gala was really a good time as was the auction and cars. The owner flew in on Friday and got the truck and empty trailer back, we flew back to Austin. Bottom line was that even with the cost of the car and restoration, he did fine on the car. No big profit, but he got his money out of it. The best thing is that I can say I drove the same LS6 convertible in California, Texas and Florida.

[427TJ]

The "Silver Bullet" GTX is either the original or a copy of a real street racer from the '60s. I think it was owned by a Chrysler tech engineer and it was used as an unofficial "development car" for Mopar high-perf stuff. I've read a story that tech engineers from the various manufacturers would street race cars like this at night around the Detroit area and at one time they used a new, nearly completed freeway as a track. There was also a '68 SS Camaro in this group that had a "Grump lump" hood and a tunnel-rammed Rat underneath. I wonder if this GTX is the same/original car?

[Jeff H]

[ QUOTE ]
Here is the next "Cross Ram" car. I spoke to the guy who is building them. They are not Offy redo's. The guy stated that He had a guy at a aluminum foundary make 10 of them. He will not attempt to get GM's blessing on the repop, how ever I think we can expect to see these continue to pop-up as long as people are willing to pay. Sign describing car is just sneaky enough to fool the greenhorns out there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Geez, they list this blue fake crossram Z28 as sold for $110,000. Something seems a little fishy that the yellow one sold for $112K in Jan with added JL8 brakes and now this one sells for $110K and they both have these repro crossrams. What's a real JL8 with a real GM crossram worth?

[rspanther]

aluminium foundry ? Interesting story , next time ask him for the name of foundry?
David

[70 copo]

Jeff and David,

Yes it is quite a story. From what I have observed at the previous B-J auctions I have attended is frequently the people spending the big money are seldom on the block with the car and often are buying the "looks" of the car.

Both the Yellow and Blue cars were well restored and both had some documentation. It would seem that a real X-ram car with real dated GM parts would be more desireable, particulary if documented with the sales parts and service instillation orders from the dealer.

I guess the problem that I had with both cars (1 at Scottsdale and this one) was the discription on the sign stating "Includes Rare Cross Ram Package" next to a picture of a real NOS X-Ram assembly, and a copy of a letter from Chevrolet engineering (below the photo) confirming that the X-Ram did exist as offered through HD Parts.

The bottom line here is that if you did not really know or pay attention you could be fooled into buying the car without really knowing that the X-Ram was a modern knock-off.

The redeaming thing here is when I pressed him he was upfront about the authenticity and the orgin of the X-Ram on this car.

What is it worth? That is easy. The Barrett-Jackson seemingly has "set the market" - at least on this type of car.

Phil

[Charley Lillard]

So it was the same dealer from Oregon that sold both the Yellow one at Scottsdale and the blue one in Florida ?

[70 copo]

Charlie,

Correct. Same Guy.

[Jeff H]

It's amazing that this guy can sell 2 cars that are not even close to what people think they are for so much money. I'm not taking anything away from a quality restoration(if it really was), but for $112K and $110K for plain old Z28's with rear discs added and repo crossrams is incredible. It sounds like his "presentation" is what really fooled people. But, if the bidders liked what they were bidding on, then originality doesn't mean a thing. I'm stunned!

[Charley Lillard]

He usually presents better than anbody even though he almost always has fake window stickers and Protecto plates. Bought the fake Gobi Beige LS6 convert at Barrett and it shows up at Reno as a fully restored #'s matching Astro Blue LS6 convert with Protecto plate etc....His cars always bring top dollar and the fake paperwork looks great to the novice.

[Racefan]

Again, I say....amazing. Are there that many people out there who are silly enough to fork over the kind of money we are talking about without doing homework?