When someone is set to splash north of a hundred grand on a car collection, it would be logically assumed at least one of the vehicles in the purchase would be able to move under its own power.Not this time. A collector in Virginia is parting with their entire fleet for US$125,000 and theres not a runner among them.Oh, yeah, did we mention its a Hot Wheels collection?An enormous Hot Wheels collection, to be precise. With the seller asserting there are no duplicates, nearly 25,000 of the toy cars are on offer. Like all good car ads, it contains the holy trinity of classified prose: bad grammar, a claim stating they know what they have, and assurances theyre definitely not parting it out.Spotted on a Hot Wheels collector page on Facebook by the gearheads at Hagerty, the ad contains twenty-six pictures of a mammoth Hot Wheels collection. The toy cars line walls, are neatly stacked on shelves and are displayed on a large dining room table. Asking price is in the US$125,000 ballpark according to the seller, though that sum was tossed out in the ads comment section and not in the advertisement copy itself.Everything looks to be meticulously organized and catalogued, with many of the models bearing a colored sticker dot on their box and others methodically arranged by year hung on enormous pegboards. Its a delightfully psychotic attention to detail.While $125,000 is certainly a lot of cheddar, it seems like a veritable bargain when one considers that collector Bruce Pascal once shelled out over $70,000 for a pre-production prototype Volkswagen Beach Bomb Surf Bus in hot pink. That toys current valuation? About double that amount.Included in the asking price are all the displays, so at least youll have a spot to park all these non-running
Origin: This 25,000-piece Hot Wheels collection is for sale for six figures
collection
21 cars from Paul Walker’s collection heading to auction
Actor Paul Walker tragically passed away in a car accident in 2013 at the age of 40, but his legacy has lived on in multiple ways. The Fast and Furious film franchise marches on – it’s been at least six weeks since the last one was released, so the next sequel is due any day now – and there are charitable organizations like Reach Out Worldwide, which Walker founded himself in 2010 in order to help bring first responders to disaster areas; plus the Paul Walker Foundation, which was founded posthumously by his family and is dedicated to gathering resources and attention for issues like climate change. Another strong reminder of the man who brought Brian O’Conner to life on the big screen is the impressive collection of cars he amassed in his lifetime, most of which are now set to be auctioned off by Barrett-Jackson in its upcoming 2020 Scottsdale auction. The Paul Walker Collection is made up of 21 cars, trucks and bikes, including a vintage Ford Bronco, a 2009 Nissan 370Z used in the making of Fast Five, and seven BMW M3s. Of the seven M3s, five are from the 1995 run of Lightweights, which included just 125 cars total. “Paul Walker’s collection spanned five decades of automotive excellence and truly reflected his personal taste,” said Steve Davis, president of Barrett-Jackson. “Paul’s passion for performance was especially expressed in the cars he loved. This group of vehicles also represents the evolution of the hobby, as collectors are clearly broadening their horizons and diversifying their collections.”Here’s the full roster of wheels as listed on B-J. 1963 Chevrolet Nova Wagon 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle Wagon 1967 Chevrolet II Nova 1988 BMW M3 E30 1989 Nissan R32 Skyline Race Car 1991 BMW M3 E30 Coupe 1995 BMW M3 E36 Lightweight 1995 BMW M3 E36 Lightweight 1995 BMW M3 E36 Lightweight 1995 BMW M3 E36 Lightweight 1995 BMW M3 E36 Lightweight – Factory LTW wing and race-livery delete 1995 Ford Bronco SUV 2000 Audi S4 2003 Ford F250 Pickup 2004 GMC Sierra 1500 Pickup 2005 Harley-Davidson RS Motorcycle 2006 Toyota Tundra Pickup 2008 Suzuki Motorcycle 2009 Nissan 370Z 2011 BMW Motorcycle 2013 Ford Mustang Boss 302S Race Car The Paul Walker collection will go under the hammer at Barrett-Jackson’s annual Scottsdale auction in January 2020.
Origin: 21 cars from Paul Walker’s collection heading to auction
Collection of Corvettes hiding underneath Manhattan to be raffled off
A collection of 36 Corvettes hidden away under a Manhattan parking garage for decades will be raffled off for charity.The cars have a very storied and somewhat bizarre past connected with psychedelic pop artist Peter Max, recounts Hagerty.Max sold the cars in 2014 to the co-owner of the Gotham Comedy Club, Chris Mazzilli, and two New York City real estate families, the Hellers and the Spindlers.But prior to that, they sat for nearly 30 years, unused, covered in all of New Yorks filth in an old parking garage. Max had picked up the cars from a Long Island carpenter who had won the lot in a VH1 call-in contest in 1988. Maxs original plan was to use the cars as an art project, which probably entailed painting them some awful way.However, Max not long afterward got into some trouble with the Internal Revenue Service, and the sports cars were left alone, over time earning the nickname the Lost Corvettes.The cars in the collection span the first 36 years of the models production, and theyre pretty consistent, options-wise; most have automatic transmissions, and a lot are convertibles, as well. Basically, good cruising Corvettes. The cars will sit in filth no longer, as this new organization, “Corvette Heroes,” started by Mazzilli, the Hellers and the Spindlers, plans to give away each vehicle one-by-one in a national sweepstakes to benefit charity.Some of the cars have suffered a bit of damage in the wake of some careless movers who didnt understand what exactly they were moving, but most have now been restored, requiring only light work to return them to their original
Origin: Collection of Corvettes hiding underneath Manhattan to be raffled off
Ontario classic car collection auction full of trucks and Studebakers
A 1937 Studebaker Coupe Express from the Rier Collection.Supplied / Sheldon Rier A Cambridge, Ontario-based collection of classic cars and trucks is being trimmed down via a massive auction July 6 numbering some 150 lots, most of them of rare cars, trucks and motorcycles dating back to 1927.Sheldon Rier and his father John have been acquiring obscure classic cars for many years, with one of their focuses on Studebaker models and trucks.Dad had a 1936 Studebaker back in the mid-70s, and all these years later we have this flock of them, says the younger Rier about the collection.The sheer size of it is getting to be a lot for the pair to store and maintain, so the plan is to shed the bulk of the cars via this sale.Its a pretty big change for us but its a good time for others to be caretakers of some of these cars that we have had so much fun with, Sheldon Rier said. Highlights from the sale include a concours-shown 1937 Studebaker Dictator Business Coupe; a 1927 Ford Model T pickup; a 1932 Auburn Brougham; a 1941 Willys pickup; and dozens of cars and trucks in project condition.Aside from the classic cars up for sale, the auction will see some of the Riers motorcycles, automobilia, and old literature, brochure and parts trade hands, too.The auction preview is July 5, with the actual auction going down the next day; bidding can be done in person, online or by
Origin: Ontario classic car collection auction full of trucks and Studebakers
Collection of perfect ’90s-era Chevrolets destroyed by fire on film set
Some 27 pristine Chevrolet vehicles from the late ’80s and early 1990s were destroyed in a fire May 9, while parked together on a film set in New York. According to The Poughkeepsie Journal, the vehicles were in, or out front of, a mock Chevrolet dealership, constructed for an upcoming HBO series set in the 1990s. The stand-in structure, the 613 Automotive Group dealership building located in Ellenville, New York, caught fire in the middle of the night at almost 1:00am on Thursday morning; the flames weren’t put out until 10:00am. Nobody was injured during the blaze, but the vehicles were all destroyed. The collection included mint-condition Corvettes, Camaros, a pristine C1500 pickup, a 454 SS pickup and a replica of a 1990 Beretta Indy pace car. All of the vehicles were provided by a company owned by Automobile New York bureau chief Jamie Kitman, who wrote about the incident for Automobile. Fortunately, everyone is insured by the production and they will be made whole, financially. And no one was injured—or worse, Kitman said. Still, there is no amount of money and nothing you can say about a total loss of a motor vehicle that makes it right, although everyone I called took comfort in the fact that no people were injured. While fire inspectors, police, and insurance claims adjusters poke through the ashes, the cars that can still move leave the site, while others sit, charred and grim as could be. Obviously, filming for the TV series has been suspended, but Kitman says once it’s back on, he will recreate the 1990s dealership once
Origin: Collection of perfect ’90s-era Chevrolets destroyed by fire on film set
The world’s largest private VW collection is now completely for sale
What was once the largest private collection of Volkswagens is now being put up for sale in Puerto Rico, and we’re not saying you need to buy all of them, but you should definitely buy some of them. According to The Drive, the collection is owned by Dr. Norman Gonzalez, and features over 170 vehicles from VW’s long and illustrious history. Gonzalez collected the vehicles over the span of about 60 years; roughly 99 per cent of the collection is made up of air-cooled cars. There are too many cool cars to list, and it would be physically impossible to pick our favourite. There are military vehicles, fire trucks, passenger cars, movie cars, race cars and even Porsche 914 track cars. The amount of flower-power in the Type 2 section could power all of Puerto Rico, and that’s without the sunshine-sharing glass panes in the multiple 21- and 23-window Buses, themselves worth a pretty penny or two. So why break up the collection now? The cost of the effort required to keep them all in good shape is starting to rise, and taking its toll on the good Doctor, now in his old age. Helping him sell the collection is Randy Carlson, host of the Discovery show Sticker Shock, who he met through a few past car sales. So far we have sold about 10 cars, and that is on the first day of official sales, Carlson said. There are dozens more that are being battled for right now and we haven’t even finished loading all the photos on the website yet. If you want one or two or 10 rare and interesting Volkswagens, check out
Origin: The world’s largest private VW collection is now completely for sale
News Roundup: The proper way to hit a moose, Keanu Reeve’s bike collection and more super Canadian news
Moose on the shores of a river in Alberta.Vince Crichton Welcome to our weekly round-up of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam. Here’s what you missed while you were away. A guide to hitting animals with your car to avoid injury Crash victim Michelle Higgins’ car is seen May 23, 2012, at the local bodyshop in Gander, Newfoundland, following a visit to the crash site where she hit a moose. Doctors told Higgins she went into shock, explaining why she continued to drive to work oblivious of the damage. Victoria Higgins / Supplied In Canada, motorists don’t just share the road with other drivers, but also often with wildlife. Obviously precaution is the best strategy here, but when a collision is inevitable, there are some things you can do to improve your chances of avoiding injury. Considering some 236 Canadians were killed following collisions with moose between 2000 and 2014, it’s probably worth taking the crash course, no pun intended. Tips include limiting speed, avoiding swerving and releasing the brakes at the last second. Can you be a distracted driver if your phone is dead? This week the Driving staff got into a heated but always civil debate over a recent conviction of a B.C. man who was booked for distracted driving because he had earphones in that were connected to a dead iPhone. Now, it’s not illegal to drive with two earphones in in B.C. like it is in the rest of Canada, but according to the justice deciding the case, the phone was “in a position in which it may be used.” A real puzzler, mainly because, as Lorraine Sommerfeld points out, “Why would anyone have two earbuds in to listen to nothing?” These are Canada’s new federal EV incentives An EV electric vehicle charging parking spot in a parking lot at UBC, Vancouver, February 20 2019. Gerry Kahrmann / Postmedia It’s no secret that the Canadian government wants people to think about the environment when choosing what car to buy. This week, the feds outlined the details of its EV perks plan, including a list of 27 models and trims that qualify for the $2,500 incentive for “shorter-range plug-in hybrid vehicles” or the $5,000 incentive for “battery electric, hydrogen fuel cell, or longer range plug-in hybrid vehicles.” The update comes as the federal government moves toward its goal of having 100 per cent of new vehicle sales to be zero-emission cars by 2040. Ontario’s licence plates get a new look A new look and a new catchphrase! “A Place to Grow.” That’s the slogan that will appear on the new Ontario license plates slated to arrive once existing stock runs out. The plates feature the line from the old Canadian tune written to celebrate Ontario at the ‘67 Expo, with flattened white lettering on a blue background, and the crown in the corner. Commercial vehicle plates will also be updated to read “Open for Business,” a phrase borrowed from the Ford government’s favourites. Why you need to be careful when fuelling up your classic A detailed view of the rear gas cap on a Austin Healey 100M during the 40th Antwerp Classic Salon on March 3, 2017 in Antwerpen, Belgium. Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images Owning and caring for a vintage vehicle is a big responsibility. Often special care is needed, sometimes even at the pump. Because as Jil McIntosh details, modern fuel can be hard on old vehicles. Potential issues include the presence of the corrosive, rubber-eating chemical ethanol in modern fuel, and the absence of lead, which helped raise octane levels and protected valve seats. Take a read and make sure you’re parking at the right pump next time you’re out with your classic. Chevrolet finally put a date on the mid-engined Corvette Chevrolet has announced that its much anticipated mid-engined C8 Corvette will debut on July 18th and will head for production later this year. We’re still learning more, but the engine that’s to sit in the middle of the new ‘Vette is expected to be a version of the outgoing model’s 6.2-litre V8, tweaked to the tune of about 500 horsepower. Chevy is expected to introduce it in Stingray format and then follow that up with a Z06, ZR1 and some 1,000-horsepower line-topping trim allegedly named Zora. Basically all good news except that there’s no option for a manual transmission. Keanu Reeves give GQ a tour of his bikes At 54 years old, Keanu Reeves is aging like a fine wine. He’s still rocking the same haircut and t-shirt-suit-jacket combo he had in the ’90s, but it somehow looks super-stylish and current on the John Wick-era Keanu, as it did the Bill and Ted-era Keanu. Speaking of stylish, the man owns some seriously sweet bikes, which he showed off to GQ in this recent YouTube video. There’s the Matrix Ducati special, a 1973 Norton Commando 850 MK2A (the second bike he ever owned) and a selection from his own company Arch Motorcycles. Keanu takes
Origin: News Roundup: The proper way to hit a moose, Keanu Reeve’s bike collection and more super Canadian news
Watch Keanu Reeves show off his motorcycle collection
Is Keanu Reeves getting cooler? Is that even possible? Rocking a beard, shoulder-length hair parted in the middle and a blue blazer over a t-shirt, the heartthrob-cum-action-star recently got together with GQ magazine to showcase his affinity for motorcycles and remind the world that, yes, he’s still got it, just in case it had forgotten since the last John Wick instalment. In a 12-minute video published on the storied men’s magazine’s YouTube channel, the Toronto-raised actor speaks candidly about how he got into the bike scene; all the bikes he’s loved (and some he’s collected) over the years; and what’s going on at his shop, Arch Motorcycles. It’s always fun to hear about big international celebs’ Canadian connections. Reeves, who was born in Beirut, Lebanon but raised primarily in Toronto and holds a Canadian citizenship, traces his love for the two-wheeled machines back to his youth. “Where I grew up in Toronto, every summer motorcycle gangs would come into a place called Yorkville,” he says. “Those bikes, those people, those pirates, I think touched that 10-year-old kid in a way.” It wasn’t until he was working in the film industry that he would get onto a bike himself, learning on an enduro in Europe and returning to L.A. and buying his first bike in the mid-late ’80s. He still owns the second bike he bought, a 1973 Norton Commando 850 MK2A. “It’s got a nice sound. It smells good when it heats up, the oil. And I got a lot of miles on that motorcycle.” He would go on to use his knowledge of the British-made bike when a role in the 1991 film My Own Private Idaho had him climbing aboard another Norton product. When the trainer came out to explain how to operate the machine, Reeves remembers laughing and saying “I got it.” Today, as co-founder of Arch Motorcycle Company, a Hawthorne, California-based bike shop, he’s involved in the conceptualization and “dream” of the company, but leaves the building to the pros. “I can’t assemble a motorcycle and you don’t want me to fix it,” he says. “I can test ride it and I can tell you what’s wrong we kind of work with that.” In the video, he tours a few of the bikes on the Arch premises, including the 2004 Ducati 998 Matrix Reloaded Edition that Carrie-Anne Moss rode in The Matrix Reloaded; the 2019 Arch KRGT-1, a “performance cruiser”; the 2019 Arch1S “performance cruiser sport,” with a lower riding position and sportier bodywork; and the new Arch prototype product, the Method 143, a futuristic cruiser with sleek, overlaid materials like aluminum and carbon fibre. The video concludes with the 54-year-old star’s advice to those looking to get onto a motorcycle for the first time. “Be comfortable on it, don’t get too much power that can overwhelm you too quickly, and, uh, have fun.” Yup, still cool.
Origin: Watch Keanu Reeves show off his motorcycle collection
Gas explosion kills one, damages large Porsche collection
The Ingram Collection of PorschesPorsche One person died and more than two dozen were injured when a gas explosion tore apart a building in Durham, North Carolina this week. According to Automotive News, the explosion occurred inside an old Studebaker Dealership. The building was almost totally destroyed, and the explosion damaged a number of vintage Porsches that were stored in a nearby warehouse. The vehicles were part of one of the largest collection of Porsches in the world, over 80 vehicles owned by Bob Ingram. The Ingram Collection was profiled by Porsche itself in a piece about love stories with the brand, and called it “a breathtaking review of automotive design history.” Ingram declined to comment when contacted by local news station Spectrum News, which aired a few minutes of overhead footage of the carnage. THEN/NOW:UPDATES ➡️ https://t.co/Z6BbFkH4lxTRAFFIC ➡️ https://t.co/beCrNjPpbGHISTORY OF THE BUILDING ➡️ https://t.co/Hig1papnILHOW YOU CAN HELP ➡️ https://t.co/Z6BbFkH4lx(Image Courtesy: Google/AP) pic.twitter.com/ucIgnCCaYN Spectrum News RDU (@SpecNewsRDU) April 11, 2019 Information has not been released about what models of cars were damaged, or how many, but from the aerial footage, we can see a 550 Spyder and a few modern Porsches among the wreckage. The Studebaker dealership was built in 1928 but closed in 1930 after just two years. Since then it has gone through many owners and housed an abundance of businesses, including a few auto repair shops, restaurants and office space. The Ingram Collection, which has been praised as one of the largest collections of #vintage Porsches in the world, was being stored in a warehouse connected to the building that exploded in Durham this morning. Aerial footage shows the collection sustained severe damage. #Porsche pic.twitter.com/1gSA0Z0XEh Spectrum News RDU (@SpecNewsRDU) April 10, 2019 A coffee shop called Kaffeinate was located in the building where the explosion happened, and the owner, Kong Lee, was unfortunately killed. All other employees have reported they were not injured. According to Durham Mayor Steve Schewel, the explosion happened on the city’s 150th
Origin: Gas explosion kills one, damages large Porsche collection
All about car 