Back when Barack Obama was still vying for the official Democratic presidential nod, the now President-elect made a well-publicized switch from a HEMI-powered Chrysler 300C to a Ford Escape Hybrid. The issue, of course, was that the HEMI is seen as a gas swiller (15 mpg city / 23 highway) and an obvious target for those looking to point a finger at the junior senator's green credentials. So, out went the 300C and in came the defacto mode of transportation for image conscious politicians: a Ford Escape Hybrid. The trade made headlines a while before everybody moved on to more important issues. Or have they? Obama's old 300C is back in the news and currently up for auction on eBay Motors. Just how much would it cost to park Obama's old whip in your driveway? We'll know for sure in about a week, but the opening bid is a rather staggering $100,000. Even a low mileage 2005 300C (this one has racked up just 20,000 miles) isn't worth more than about $17,000 or so on the open market. Is it really worth an extra $80,000 (and probably much more) to drive the next President's ex-car? If so, the bidding is now open.
That treasure trove of appalling autodom described in the most gnarled English imaginable, otherwise known as eBay Motors, serves up today's flavorful morsel of weird and wonderful. Why wait for the upcoming Rolls-Royce RR4 when you can just throw $50K at this heavily customized Chrysler 300C? It's got the ostentatious grille, the suicide doors, the RR embroidered headrests, but most importantly, a HEMI V8 underhood. HEMI, apparently now transmuted to mean "multi-displacement system," will save you fuel as you rent the car out for the dreamy rate of $750 per day as the seller suggests. At least with a Chrysler lurking underneath all that nasty, you can be assured that repair costs will be nominal compared to the real thing.
While sharing our nightmares around the Autoblog virtual water cooler, we've discovered that it's common for interweb auto scribes to wake with a start in the middle of the night, cold sweat trickling down our brows. The common terror? Frankenstein cars. The dreaded dreams are usually brought on by late night eBay surfing, and this vehicle may haunt our slumber tonight. If you've ever thought to yourself "Gosh, I wonder what a Type I Beetle coughing up a Subaru GL would look like," here's your ride. It's got a Subaru dash and door panels, while the seats are VW, so the seam is somewhere up there. It's being sold as a gas-saver, likely because both of the flat-four powertrains - there are two - are relative fuel sippers. We can't discern whether the engines are synchronized to run at the same time, or if it's a one at a time type thing with the other motor and transmission serving as 500 pounds of extra mass to haul around when not in use. Like our nightmares, the seller of this vehicle is definitely dreaming with a $20,000 starting bid. Check out more awkward angles of this monstrosity in our gallery below, but don't blame us when the Boogey Man begins driving it in your dreams.
When is a 1996 Lincoln Town Car with 114,000 miles on the clock worth $15,098? The correct answer should be never. In this case, however, the answer is when someone supposedly drops $45,000 worth of work into one to make a fake Bentley Arnage. The result is what you see above; add a couple of fender-mounted chandeliers and it could score a role as The Duke's car in Escape From New York. That giant C-pillar is more Rolls than Bentley and those chrome dubs are more bad than good. The biggest disaster comes into view when you open the door and look inside. That interior reportedly cost $10,000. You'd think that amount would buy more than quilted leather, a passel of winged-B emblems that aren't fooling anybody, and that stock instrument panel, but apparently... no. Anyway, somebody liked it enough to buy it, so what do we know. We're sure it'll look great in their garage. You know – right next to the Fierarri.
Here's your chance to own a piece of history. Sorta. This unique car was created for an unnamed Bond movie in the late 1970's but was ultimately rejected before filming. It's based on a modified 1972 Jaguar XKE, outfitted with custom bodywork and a Cobra 289-cubic-inch V8. Part of the...um, unique bodywork includes a trunk lid that can be swapped out for an alternate, apparently crafted so that Bond could escape a chasing vehicle without being noticed. Hard to understand why they didn't use this one. Who knows, maybe it could have replaced the Aston DBS in the upcoming Quantum of Solace. But since it didn't, bidding starts at $13,000.
Now that BMW's 1-series has a solid presence on dealer lots, enthusiasts of the Roundel can start with lusty customizations that pay homage to the great BMWs of the past. In the case of this 135, we can say that BMW started it with its Concept tii that made the rounds in late 2007. Classic BMW in Texas plucked a 135i out of its stock for Projekt 1. Many of the "upgrades" that have been applied to the car are largely unneeded cosmetic geegaws like mirror covers and bodykit accents. We're down with the matte stripe job on the hood, and the vaguely described "retrofit front suspension" and performance exhaust system offer some tangible benefits; the exhaust even proves its worth with dyno sheets. Basically, the exhaust and suspension are the only things on the list worth having, and those would cost about 5 grand, rather than the 12K price inflation this 135 is carrying. While we're sure Projekt 1 is a hoot to drive, we already have a hard time getting behind 1 Series pricing, no matter how brilliant the chassis is. Slapping a bunch of junk on it and bumping the price into the heady $50,000 neighborhood doesn't make it any more attractive. Still, if you want to have the most exclusive 135i on the social climber block, a Buy It Now of $55,372 will make it yours.
Back in the '90s, If the flashiest of Luminas – the Z34 – was too run-of-the-mill for you, there was always the Dale E. special. The checkered flag and signature motif, rendered in the finest early color palette of the Clinton era, is enough to elicit a "whooo-eee!" from a preacher.
While we think there's some future classic potential in the GM-10 despite what all you collectible car nitpickers will say, we don't think even the most pristine Dale E. Lumina is worth $39,000, even if it does have just 6,100 miles on its odometer and comes with an autographed bill of sale and owner's manual. eBay, the great white hope of anyone with overvalued junk, houses the auction for this hunk of awesomeness, and you've got more than two weeks to drum up funding if you need something park next to your Jeff Gordon edition Monte Carlo
Ah, the Eurosport, Chevrolet's well-executed package for classing up the '80s A-Body front-drivers. Catch a Eurosport in your peripheral vision quickly, and it'd be easy to mistake it for a Volvo 7-series, or even an Audi 5000 (G). What we have here is a time capsule in two ways. First, the Celebrity was GM's redemption from the X-Body's failure to deliver on its potential. The Celebrity is the vehicle where the General got its act together, fully years before the Taurus, too. Secondly, this particular Celebrity was swept up in the Pro Street craze that customizers glommed on to in the days when a guy could pull off a hot pink tank top. It's a period piece, built when the Simpsons were still on Tracey Ullman.
The excesses of the 1980s are perfectly embodied in the decadent Pro Street movement; the same ethos drove the popularity of hair metal. There was an edge to it, an underlying basis in the blues. Pro Street's blues were the grit and rocket fuel fumes of serious drag racing. Many cars we'd kill for today (unrusted late '60s MoPars, anyone?) suffered the fate of being cut up and tubbed, then fitted with teeny tiny front tires on horridly ubiquitous Centerline phone-dial rims. The end result is a car that handles as well as a T. Rex does preacher curls with its wimpy little arms. Handling's not the point, insane craftsmanship and over the top everything are. This car, definitely has that with its pro build worthy of magazine coverage, triple-blown big block, tube frame, massive Mickey Thompsons, and the requesite drag chute and smart aleck license plate. Rather than cry over another increasingly rare car being hacked up by a cokehead fabricator, nobody will care that a Celebrity went under the knife. In fact, they'll stop dead in their tracks and say "cool." Get your bids in now, or just end everyone's suspense and fork over the 50G's for the thing. You'll be a hit at the local choke and puke cruise night.
Volkswagen and Harley-Davidson are two motor companies with highly recognized images, but those images don't much overlap. That is, until now: someone has cooked up his own Harley edition Touareg. But while the special badging might look at home on a Ford F-150, it doesn't quite fit on a VW.
Aside from the emblems affixed to the wheels, grille, tailgate, sill plates and steering wheel, there's really nothing that makes this any different from any other 2004 model Touareg. It's got 42k miles on the odometer and a rich brown saddle leather interior, and with four days remaining 'till the digital hammer drops, bidding is up to $13,600. An actual Harley, and any measure of good taste, are not included.
For the automotive collector looking for something truly unique, here it is; a rolling staph infection. This car is a convergence of worst-ofs compounded by a customization apparently overseen by Huggy Bear. 1980s front-drive Cadillacs might be charitably described as bargains, though the first repair bill for the grenade masquerading as an engine called the HT4100 will change the adjective to worthless. How much would you pay for a cast-off Caddy with a hot tub in back, a beak cribbed from an '80 Grand Prix, and a bleak future in terms of appreciation? The reserve has yet to be met at $2500, and we wonder what unrealistic number the seller's decided upon. Why would you even do this? It reminds us of a Steak-Ums commercial from the late '80s or early '90s with a separated at birth premise, but we doubt this car has any showbiz history. Likely, it's just a curiosity, possibly the result of a coked-up customizer without any good cars to use. Hey, it was the '80s, what more can you say?
