Anyone got a spare $9,000,000?

Posted on July 25, 2012 by KG

From the Sherman M. Wolf Collection
1960 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione

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63 Responses to Anyone got a spare $9,000,000?

  1. D.T. says:
    July 25, 2012 at 09:53

    Sorry…..but I really don’t understand why people would waste money on a glorified Fiat.The same with Porsche ( a glorified Volkswagen ). Each to their own and all but I just don’t get it……
    D.T.

    • KG says:
      July 25, 2012 at 10:51

      You don’t get it if you’ve never driven a Ferrari, D.T. And to some people, that price tag is little more than petty cash.
      Do you have the faintest idea of the craftsmanship that goes into that hand-made alloy body?
      As for the “glorified” Fiat and Volkswagen comment…..I guess you see the Parthenon as merely a glorified brick outhouse?

  2. Katie says:
    July 25, 2012 at 10:47

    I’ll lend you a buck fifty.

  3. Darin says:
    July 25, 2012 at 11:04

    If you want a little red convertible that will scare you plenty for a lot less,try this Sunbeam Tiger-

    http://youtu.be/fFkOQDGQ5Os

  4. KG says:
    July 25, 2012 at 11:27

    But I wouldn’t give a damn if I could afford something like that and it became worth little more than scrap next day–it’s just a very beautiful thing.

  5. KG says:
    July 25, 2012 at 11:54

    DeLorean……isn’t that a brand of cake mixer or something?

    • Ciaron says:
      July 25, 2012 at 12:04

      I hear they make stuff out of Al-you-mini-um, so maybe aircraft? :popcorn

    • Darin says:
      July 25, 2012 at 12:06

      It’s an Irish built stainless steel body,Peugeot powered abomination,mainly because of the Peugeot/Renault engine as if the French know anything about engine building :roll

      You can still buy a new one :razz:
      http://delorean.com/

      • KG says:
        July 25, 2012 at 12:44

        Does it come with a free psychiatric consult?

        • Darin says:
          July 25, 2012 at 13:15

          We had a neighbor back in the 90’s who owned one.He said despite everything else the car was amazingly easy to drive,probably because it was a rear-engine design putting more or less equal weight on each corner.

          One feature of note is the unique stainless steel torsion bar suspension in the gull-wing doors.Two cryogenically set stainless steel torsion bars provided the lifting power for the doors as opposed to hydraulic pumps and gas springs on other gull-wing designs.The Delorean doors had the advantage of not leaking hydraulic oil on the occupants and needing a stick to prop them up :mrgreen:

          • KG says:
            July 25, 2012 at 13:25

            If the Brits had built it, the thing would have had torsion bars in the doors and still leaked oil on the occupants. :roll:

            • Darin says:
              July 25, 2012 at 14:14

              Yep,everything British leaks,according to Joseph Lucas the electrical systems tend to leak smoke :grin:

      • Ciaron says:
        July 25, 2012 at 13:33

        Easy Tiger… I’m not really a frog fan but lets take a squizz at the numbers…
        looking at a series with reasonably diverse engine suppliers, F1.
        Championships by engine:
        Ferrari;16 (1961, 64, 75-77, 79, 82-83, 99-2004, 07-08)
        Renault; 10 (1992-97, 2005-06, 10-11)
        Ford; 10 (1968-74, 78, 80-81)

        ole Detriot’s lookin’ like a spent force… :popcorn

        linky thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Formula_One_World_Constructors%27_Champions

  6. KG says:
    July 25, 2012 at 13:39

    Some “spent force” :mrgreen:
    http://www.roadandtrack.com/tests/car/2012-ford-mustang-boss-302-laguna-seca
    Out in the real (road) world, away from the F1 circus Detroit is very far from spent.

  7. KG says:
    July 25, 2012 at 13:41

    When did anybody ever turn their head to watch a Renault go by–or rob a bank to buy one?

    • Ciaron says:
      July 25, 2012 at 13:42

      Dammit, it’s about the engineering man! :rant

      Be honest; what other form of motorsport come close to F1 in terms of engineering? (Don’t say rally, because the froggies have been dominating there too.)

      • KG says:
        July 25, 2012 at 13:57

        Of course F1 is the pinnacle of squeezing a quart out of a pint pot. Nobody here would dispute it, since cretinous commenters tend to be rare.
        But what we were talking about is road cars and presence. Desirability. Performance allied with art. Not necessarily the engineering at all.
        And the name “Renault” isn’t one to set pulses racing or inspire passion and desire. :popcorn

        • Darin says:
          July 25, 2012 at 14:02

          F1 engineering -vs- Cup engineering with suprising results-

          http://www.epi-eng.com/piston_engine_technology/comparison_of_cup_to_f1.htm

          Remember these are flat tappet push rod v-8’s and they are squeezing almost 90 more HP and TWICE the torque from an engine that is held to much tighter restrictions.

        • Ciaron says:
          July 25, 2012 at 15:35

          But what we were talking about is road cars and presence. Desirability. Performance allied with art. Not necessarily the engineering at all.

          My bad, I was too slow responding to Darin’s comment:
          ,mainly because of the Peugeot/Renault engine as if the French know anything about engine building

          again, not that I’m into much that comes out of France, just pointing out that the frogs have had some significant recent success at the pinnacle of the sport.

          They must have some krauts behind the scenes :lol:

  8. KG says:
    July 25, 2012 at 14:15

    Fascinating stuff. I’ve saved it for some closer reading. Something that caught my eye:
    “a tensile load on the piston pin bore of the conrod (table line 41) of 10622 g x 0.295 kg = 3133 kg (6894 lb),”
    :shock:

    • Darin says:
      July 25, 2012 at 14:38

      American engineers have a tendency to push performance out until the the cost-return curve gets too steep and then abandon further development until either new materials arrive or new technology replaces the old.

      The current pinnacle in piston engine design are the top fuel dragster engines.Getting 8,000hp out of a 500 CID engine is a bit tricky.One of my all time favorite drivers in the sport is John Force.He was one of the first to break the sub 4.0 second 1/4mile mark.One of his runs his new engine produced so much torque and down force on the frame the car broke in half,laid over on it’s side and caught fire.
      As the safety crews raced over to put him and the car out,the first thing he did was jump out from the cockpit and ask “what’s my time?what’s my time?”He ran a 3.67 second 1/4 and beat his competitor by two car lengths :grin:
      http://youtu.be/9eUssjUNXMg

    • Ciaron says:
      July 26, 2012 at 09:07

      I have to find time to read that, and do some numbers :shock:

  9. D.T. says:
    July 25, 2012 at 17:33

    Fair enough.
    I’m not slagging Italian or German cars ( I work for a German car manufacturer that has M-B in it’s name )….I just don’t drool over them like most people.We have a Lamborghini Gallardo at work getting its wheels repaired and every one adores it…….except me .I expect that I’m the one with the problem as every one else seems to adore supercars.
    D.T.

  10. WebWrat says:
    July 25, 2012 at 22:08

    What’s wrong with a 1986 double cab Hi Lux?

    I’d like to see you get 6 dogs, saddle and swag in one of those pieces of crap :!: :mrgreen:

    • KG says:
      July 25, 2012 at 22:12

      Heh! I drive a 2005 double cab Hilux. Wrat and it’s a good car. But not half as beautiful as the Ferrari. (which is NOT a “piece of crap, sir!)

      • Darin says:
        July 25, 2012 at 22:52

        Crowbar that V-12 out of the Ferrari and shoe horn it into the Hilux-problem solved :whoop

      • WebWrat says:
        July 26, 2012 at 05:44

        1969 I worked at a foundry in Crow’s Nest, Sydney. One day I was wandering up Williams Street toward Kings Cross and I spied an ‘E’ type Jag in a dealers window and it had me riveted, drooling. One day, I thought, I’m going to have six and a half grand and I’m going to buy one of those!

        Still want a ’68/’69 ‘E’ type!

        Don’t think $6,500 would do the trick but!

        Sorry to offend KG ( :raspberry )

        • The Gantt Guy says:
          July 26, 2012 at 07:07

          Cheapest ’69 on carsales.com.au is $58k. Although there’s a nice ’66 there for $55, if you’re after a bargain.

          Cheapest ’69 on trademe.co.nz is $62,5, although again there’s a ’66 for $60.

          Which is about $6,500 in 1969 money. :popcorn

          • KG says:
            July 26, 2012 at 08:15

            I haven’t forgotten that scene in the original “Gumball Rally” movie….where they can’t get the E-type to start (all through the movie) and somebody suggests it may be due to the damp weather.
            “Damp weather? This car comes from a place where it’s always raining!”
            Sums up my experience with Brit cars. :grin:

            • James Stephenson says:
              July 26, 2012 at 08:38

              Funnily enough, my abiding memory of that film, is the rearview mirror being ripped off the Ferrari with the words “First rule of Italian driving, whats-a behind you, is not important!”

              • KG says:
                July 26, 2012 at 08:59

                :mrgreen: Yes! It was full of brilliant little jokes like that, James.
                I tried to watch a later rip-off of the movie, but just like the later version of “Vanishing Point”, the damn thing was unwatchable.

  11. Seneca III says:
    July 26, 2012 at 04:54

    Commas, Wabbit, commas!

  12. KG says:
    July 26, 2012 at 06:44

    Sorry, Seneca. :sad: Damn commas aren’t what they used to be. No discipline.

  13. Darin says:
    July 26, 2012 at 10:54

    For anybody interested in the black art of engine design have a look at this page on radial aircraft engine development.
    http://www.pilotfriend.com/aero_engines/aero_eng_dvmt.htm

    The section on Turbo compounding is particularly interesting :popcorn

    • Ciaron says:
      July 26, 2012 at 13:20

      I was just having a quick read of that engine comparison you linked to, fascinating stuff.

      I was having a wee think about the different rule parameters and to borrow from the sailing parlance it seems that “Cup” is what could be called a one-design rule with very tight restrictions, evenly matched fields and a series where the best driver would usually win.

      F1 is what we would term a “box-rule” or open class where you can do whatever you want within key parameters. This kind of rule leads to more development, but the better car tends to win.

      Entirely subjective as to whether one values the pursuit of refinement as superior to the pursuit of developing new solutions, so lets raise a glass to the smart buggers who get to do both for a living :cheers

      • Darin says:
        July 26, 2012 at 14:52

        Yes,some very crafty folks indeed :cheers

        I quit following NASCAR about 15 years ago when they added Restrictor plates to the engines.Even inside the rules there were a whole back of tricks that could be pulled and experimented with by the individual crews to get just a few more pounds of torque or conserve a few gallons of fuel over a course.It used to be guys like Carol Shelby and Smokey Yunick spent days working out one detail or problem often times changing the entire sport.To me that’s what racing is all about and restrictor plates did away with that,they made Cup racing almost politically correct.

        There is one stark difference between F1 and Cup cars.If you take F1 technology and apply it to a street legal car what you have is a Ford GT1000 or a Veron or a Ferrari.Unless your rich,and these days very rich you simply cannot own one.
        Cup cars on the other hand when applied to the street legal car you get the Ford Mustang GT or the Camaro.They still cost a penny or two,but are still within reach of a guy with a degree or a successful business.

  14. KG says:
    July 26, 2012 at 14:24

    Aye. :cheers