The only airworthy and road-worthy vintage flying car on the continent will cross the block at Barrett-Jacksons January 2020 sale in Scottsdale, Arizona, where its expected to fetch close to a million dollars.The vehicle was hand-built in 1954 by the Taylor Aerocar company. Designed in 1949 by engineer Moulton Taylor, there were actually more than a few of them built.Doing double-duty driving the wheels and supplying thrust-in-air is a Lycoming 0-320, a 320-cubic-inch four-cylinder boxer engine. It sends power to the front wheels via a three-speed manual transmission, or to the rear-mounted prop.While most flying cars are really just planes with engines that turn the wheels, this one actually leans a little more on the car side all the plane parts can be removed, in fact, and you can choose to tow them behind you, or not. If you were to just drive it around like a regular car, you could do that. Want to take it out for a day of flying? Just hook up your little trailer of wings and things and youre good to go.When the vehicle is in car mode, its actually quite stylish. Being from the 1950s, it has a neat European look to it. Of course, theres nothing as stylish as falling in style that is, flying. Amazingly, this is not the first flying car auctioned at Barrett-Jackson. The firms previously sent across the block a 2004 Panoz Esperante converted into an airplane by none other than fabricator Jesse James.This particular Aerocar was up until recently on display at an air museum in Minnesota, and previously listed for US$895,000. Barrett-Jackson is offering the vehicle with no reserve. it is fully FAA-certified and has flown 781 hours since
Origin: America’s only airworthy vintage flying car heads to Barrett-Jackson
heads
Screen-used ‘Ferris Bueller’ Ferrari replica heads to auction
A replica of a Ferrari 250 California GT Spyder used in the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is coming up for auction.According to Hemmings, the vehicles used on-screen were made by a small company in California called Modena Design, from which John Hughes, the director of the film, requested three vehicles.Since the company was just a small upstart at the time, they had to lend the production a customer car, as well as two more cars which were said to be incomplete when delivered, to be finished by the staff at Paramount.The current owner of the car for sale says this is not the one that fell out of the back of the garage in the infamous scene, but could possibly be the one used in the Star Wars jump scene, due to reports it came with a crushed exhaust and some body damage. It is impossible to tell, though, because the vehicles were mostly used interchangeably for the film.The vehicle sits on a custom tube frame and sports a fibreglass body, plus an aluminum nose (so it would look more real when it gets kicked in by the Cameron character in the film). Under the hood, there isn’t a 3.0-litre Ferrari Colombo V12, but there is a 351 Ford Windsor V8. The previous owner intended to daily-drive the car, so he had the Windsor engine stroked to 427 cubic inches, and added a Tremec five-speed in place of the automatic. It now makes 564 horsepower, a serious bump over the 280 horsepower of the real deal.A few other changes were made to improve the handling, including the addition of a front coilover suspension, front and rear disc brakes and larger 16-inch wheels with lower-profile tires.The vehicle is expected to bring between US$300,000 and $400,000 at the Mecum auction in California on August
Origin: Screen-used ‘Ferris Bueller’ Ferrari replica heads to auction
News Roundup: A US$4-mil ‘67 Corvette heads to auction, a gender reveal burnout ends in flames and more top stories
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.What might be the most expensive Corvette ever is going up for saleWhen it comes to Corvettes, none is more coveted than the L88. So when this, the first 1967 Corvette L88 to ever be produced according to Hagerty, goes up for sale at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale, it’s expected to break sales records. The rare V8-powered car comes with a pedigree including a few SCCA race wins with Tony DeLorenzo behind the wheel, and is expected to fetch upwards of US$4 million at the classic car auction. Rear-end photos of the next-gen Corvette leak days before official revealIt’s mere days before GM is set to officially reveal the new Chevrolet Corvette, but just like a spoiled 9-year-old one day before his birthday party, we just can’t help sneaking a peek through the wrapping paper. An image posted on corvetteforum.com and reposted to Instagram appears to show the back side of the mid-engined Chevy, revealing tail lights that remind some of the Camaro. Take a look-see if you’re into spoilers, or hold off just a few more days until July 18.Hyundai says the Santa Cruz-inspired pickup truck is coming very soonHyundai is hoping to generate a “whole new class of buyers” with its first pickup truck, which it says should be on the way shortly. Details and specs haven’t been revealed just yet, so we’re still imagining something close to the five-seat crossover-style Santa Cruz concept truck Hyundai revealed over four years ago. The South Korean brand will likely build the trucks in the U.S. to avoid the 25-per-cent tariff on imports. We get behind the wheel of the 2020 Toyota GR Supra for the first timeIt’s been 21 years since the last Supra was produced, so when Toyota decided to bring it back for a 2020 model year, it only made sense to make it the brand’s sportiest production car ever. And the sportiest Toyota it is. Our experts can confirm it, having recently taken the car out for a first drive on Quebec’s Circuit Mont Tremblant. Sharing a platform with the BMW Z4, the Supra isn’t just a Bimmer dressed by Toyota. As Costa Mouzouris puts it, “the Supra looks and feels completely different, and returns a driving experience that is more visceral and more intense.”Gender reveal burnout goes wrong—congratulations, it’s an explosion!And just like that, with the ignition and explosion of an Australian muscle car, we’ve reached Peak Gender Reveal. Because instead of opting to cut into a blue or pink cake cloaked in white icing, or open a box full of pink or blue balloons, one Australian dad decided to announce the sex of his new child using the spinning rear tires of a V8 Holden Special Vehicles Senator. But before the blue smoke had stopped swirling, a fire broke out, resulting in an explosion and the destruction of the Australian muscle car. Nobody was hurt, but the driver was fined and the video of the incident is now being used as an educational tool by Australian police. Five reasons we can’t wait to drive the 2020 Shelby GT500People deal with excitement in various ways. Driving’s expert Alex Reid, for one, makes lists. This week, with the anticipation of the new 2020 Shelby GT500 becoming simply too much to bear, the auto journalist began documenting and organizing the reasons he’s excited to drive Ford’s new pony. First, at the heart of the matter is what the brand calls “the world’s most torque-dense V8,” making 760 horsepower and 625 lb.-ft. of torque. And then there’s the history, which dates back to Texas in 1965. Read the rest of the list to further benefit from our writer’s fastidious nervous twitch. GM recalls 500,000 trucks due to “hard” brakes and defrosters that could start firesA probe into faulty power braking systems in some GM trucks and SUVS has escalated into a full-blown recall of around 300,000 new GM trucks and SUVs across Canada. The fault lies in a deteriorating vacuum that assists the power brakes, which can lead to a hard brake pedal and less effective braking. A second recall is targeting nearly 160,000 trucks with potentially glitchy rear window defrosters that could overheat and possibly start a fire. Click the link above to see if you’re GM truck or SUV might be affected.
Origin: News Roundup: A US$4-mil ‘67 Corvette heads to auction, a gender reveal burnout ends in flames and more top stories
Lamborghini heads off-road with new Huracán Sterrato supercar
Betcha didn’t know you needed an off-road Lamborghini Huracán, right? Well, neither did we. Until now. Apparently, Lambo knows what gearheads want before we do. Called the Huracán Sterrato – a word which, loosely translated, refers to a type of pavement made of rough crushed granite – this concept is based on the V-10 Huracán, and draws on Lamborghini’s off-road expertise exemplified in the Itchy Urus super-SUV. It uses the same 5.2-litre naturally aspirated engine, belting out 640 horsepower and a good bit of Italian swagger. Here’s where things get interesting. The company says its all-wheel-drive system is calibrated for off-road driving, including “low-adherence surfaces.” Your author had plenty of experience with those in college, but none of them involved Lamborghinis. The system is also said to provoke oversteer in certain situations, placing this bad boy squarely at the corner of yee and haw. In addition to fiddling with the traction systems, Lambo went ahead and gave the thing a lift kit. Well, a lift kit of sorts, anyway. Ground clearance is heightened by 47 mm, with the car’s front approach sharpened by 1 per cent and the departure angle enhanced by 6.5 per cent. Your author never thought he’d use the words “departure angle” and “Huracán” in the same post but here we are. The wheel track is enhanced front and rear by 30 mm, with 20-inch wheels on tires set into new wide-body wheel arches featuring integrated air intakes. The Sterrato is fitted with underbody reinforcements and body protection, including a rear skid plate that acts as a diffuser. A specially-designed interior trim reflects the sporty off-road character of the Sterrato, featuring a new lightweight titanium roll cage, four-point seatbelts to the new carbon bi-shell sports seats and aluminum floor panels. Keep in mind that Lambo campaigned modified Jarama and Urraco models back in the ‘70s that were pressed into desert-going high-speed duty, so this isn’t the company’s first kick at this particularly outrageous can. In fact, we think it makes us love the absurdity of this Sterrato even
Origin: Lamborghini heads off-road with new Huracán Sterrato supercar