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USE THAT LINK AND GO SEE WHAT YOU CAN FIND !

      
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           The Chevy Corvair - Ahead of the times

The Corvair was originally inspired by these design concepts from GM in the early 50's& 60's...which were offshoots from the Corvette, ( the first "Corvair" concept was made in 1954) & loosely based upon the Mako Shark concept car & Firebird show cars. They were intended to compete with Porsche & VW, and actually were Very Well designed & constructed as a independent suspension mid / rear engine automobile.

The problem resulting was that American drivers at the time the Corvair was brought to market were not adept at driving such a nimble & small car, as most all the stuff at that time was RWD, V8, solid axle, steel frame, beasts !

The other problem was that the "bean counters" got in the way of the production design, and underpowered the car & cheapened the resulting product. This WAS resolved in the 64 - 67 Corvair...which are really awesome cars, the Monza Spyder is still a great looking design & a excellent drive.

It is a Real SHAME that the Corvair was so badly maligned as it did NOT Deserve the critics judgment, Ralf Nader was (& still is) a complete Idiot, who actually undermined the development of small cars in America by his biased & unjustified opinion against the Corvair. Had the Corvair continued, the flood of "import cars" to the USA would have had some Very Stiff competition.

There was even a completely "electric car" concept developed in 1966 from a actual production Corvair, the entire line was apparently way ahead of the times. But, as you can see, had it continued, the results may have been spectacular.

Attached Thumbnails

LIVE from Palm Beach !!...Barrett Jackson Auctions !!!
      
       ^ click above for live sales stream on all cars !!!

^ WANT TO DO A BIT OF COMPETITIVE BIDDING ?...
click above for a direct link to Barret Jackson auctions


^ scroll below for the GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED !

       

Much to the dismay of his wife, actress Joanne Woodward, that changed after 1969's Winning, a movie centered on the life of a racecar driver.

"She has been patient beyond almost anything," Newman told USA TODAY in a 2006 interview. "She married an actor. She had no idea he'd spend his weekends at racetracks." Newman then leaned forward and showed off a gift from Woodward: a Rolex with the words "Drive slowly" inscribed on the back. He joked that Woodward had threatened to divorce him if he continued to race, but he continued to turn laps in sports car until he was too ill from cancer.

"Many people felt that if Paul started at a younger age, he could have gone as far as wanted to go in the sport," says veteran Indy and sports car driver Scott Sharp, who was teammate a of Newman's 17 years ago. "He was going around in his late 50s and early 60s mixing it up with some of the best road racers in the country, guys who were 20 years younger than him."

Newman's first victory came in 1972 in Thompson, Conn., and winning became habitual. He won his first of four Sports Car Club of America national championships in 1976. Newman, who was still Oscar-less at the time, was awarded President's Cup that same year by the SCCA, the highest honor given by the racing organization to an amateur.

"He began racing against guys with 10 or 20 years of experience and he was keeping up with them," says longtime friend Bob Sharp, who helped Newman early in his sports-car-racing career. "He was a perfectionist and wanted to do everything the right way. It only took him a couple of years to become a winner."

He competed in as many as 20 events per year after turning pro in 1977, about the same time his workload as an actor began to taper off. His pro career was highlighted by winning the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona, the USA's most prestigious endurance race.

Newman said that racing didn't exactly fill a void. Racing and acting "were in parallel for a long time, and one just kind of disappeared."

Newman's love of racing wasn't confined to driving. He teamed up with Chicago businessman Carl Haas to form the team now known as Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. They secured Mario Andretti, one of the top drivers in racing history, and he netted its first Indy car victory after just six races. The team has won eight titles and 107 victories, the most by any open-wheel racing team at the time.

Cars even played a part in Newman's last movie role. Newman voiced Doc Hudson, vintage racecar with vivid blue eyes and a gruff disposition, in 2006's animated Cars.

"I figured (Doc) was Southern and he was old — I dove right in," Newman said.

THE TVR SAGA CONTINUES...

TVR...THE MOST UNIQUE SPECIALTY SPORTS CARS !!!

FOUNDED BY TREVOR WILKINSON IN 1948 AFTER HE BUILT HIS FIRST SPORTS CAR RACER...PICTURED BELOW IN 1947 !!

TVR ENGINEERING HAS PRODUCED SOME OF THE WORLD'S MOST AMAZING AND UNIQUE STREET & RACE CARS EVER !!!

TVR CARS ARE BUILT UPON A TUBE FRAME "BIRDCAGE" CHASSIS, AND FIBERGLASS BODY WORK WHICH IS POWERED BY V6 & V8 ENGINES !!!

THESE ARE AMAZING CARS TO DRIVE !...FAST, NIMBLE, LIGHTWEIGHT.. AND DID I SAY FAST !!!!...OH, YEAH VERY FAST !@!...

ABOUT 30,000 CARS HAVE BEEN BUILT OVER THE YEARS AND IF YOU CAN FIND ONE...BUY IT, AS IT WILL BE YOUR FAVORITE CAR TO DRIVE !
FOR A COMPLETE STORY ON TVR AUTOS CLICK THE PICTURE BELOW...:



       
       

"ONE OF THESE DAYS I AM GOING TO BUILD A SNAKEY SPORTS CAR THAT WILL BLOW YOU GRAND PRIX JOCKEYS RIGHT OUT OF THE SADDLE" -- CARROLL SHELBY

       

That was quite a claim coming from a guy who just a few years before was a chicken farmer turned race car driver, but Carroll Shelby always has a way of standing apart from the crowd. As a Driver, he raced sports cars starting professionally in 1954 and in an Aston Martin car he won the famed 24 Hours of LeMans race.

           

The name COBRA came to him in a dream, and the timing was right for him to create this now legendary automobile. The AC company in England had lost the engine supplier for thier cars, and Shelby made a deal with Ford Motor Company to get the 289 V-8 that they were putting into Falcons.
That was the start of the legend that is the COBRA today.

         

As the relationship with Ford developed, the Cobra grew from a fast sports car to a extremely powerful Muscle Car, when Shelby upped the engine to the Ford 428 V-8. More development work with Ford led to another LeMans victory, but we are getting ahead of the story, because first...

             

With the introduction of the Mustang, the same 289 engine was offered in that car, and it was an easy to have Shelby create a special edition model. These Mustangs became the GT 350, GT 500, and the Cobra editions.
First introduced in the late 1960's these cars became famous for the sheer muscle they delivered on the track & the street, Ford still produces the Cobra edition to this day.


    

Following in the succsess of the Cobra & Mustang cars, Shelby was also asked by Ford to help to develop the Cobra, and as it came to be the awesome GT 40, that again brought Victory at LeMans for Carroll.

      

As Carroll Shelby's reputation continued to grow so did his company, and when Chrysler needed to create some new perfromance models they turned to Shelby.
At first they modified standard production cars & after some tinkering around they let the Master loose to lead them to design an entirely new Sports Car, The Viper.

               

Never content to sit on his butt, Carroll Shelby is again back into the design of his entirely new Shelby series  sports cars, true to the original concept this new car promises to become as lengendary as the man himself !

        

                           JOHN SAMSEN....
        AUTO DESIGNER OF THE '55 FORD THUNDERBIRD
       & CHRYSLER MUSCLE CARS...TO PURCHASE ANY OF THE ARTWORKS YOU SEE HERE JUST CLICK THE IMAGE:
          

THE ARTWORK OF JOHN SAMSEN, AUTO DESIGNER FOR CHRYSLER (BARRACUDA & MOPAR MUSCLE CARS) & FORD MOTOR COMPANY (THUNDERBIRD) ...
                                             YOU WILL WANT TO BUY HIS COLLECTIBLE ARTWORKS :

          

HERE ARE MORE JOHN SAMSEN DRAWINGS, PRINTS, DVD's & RENDERS AS WELL AS FURTHER INFORMATION ON HIS AMAZING DESIGNS !!!....
JOHN SAMSEN'S LONG HISTORY IN AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN HAS BROUGHT FORTH SOME OF THE MOST MEMORABLE CAR DESIGNS EVER...FROM THE ORIGINAL FORD THUNDERBIRD DESIGNS...TO THE CUDA....AND THE MOPAR MUSCLE CARS...
BUY YOUR FAVORITE PRINTS FROM THE FOLLOWING,
JUST CLICK ON EACH PICTURE FOR THE CAR ART PAGE OR THE CAR ART STORE AND SELECT WHAT YOU WANT:
     
      ^ 'CUDA CONCEPT
    This is a concept drawing for the 'Cuda  ...done by John in 1968 !!!

                  
           ^ DESOTO
These 2 designs (above & below) were proposed as Desoto sport models in the late 50's...you can see New Chrysler look in both !!

                     


                     
                 ^ SPORTS CAR
      You can see the coming Barracuda design in this one for Desoto !!!

                     
                 ^ '55 T-BIRD
  The classic 1955 Thunderbird...done by John on the 50th Anniversary !

                     
                ^ T-BIRD # 1.
   One of the very first drawings for the Thunderbird done in 1954 !!!


^ The 1971 Road Runner, one of the best from John !!
Buy your collection of prints, just click BUY NOW !!!...


^ the Original Challenger T/A...get yours from the man who designed these amazing Muscle Cars !!!...


^ The 1970 AAR 'Cuda,... this was a true Muscle car !!!


^ Did you ever wonder what the next CUDA may look like ? This was done in 1959 !