Worlds Rarest Automobile

[dougp]

Just received this email from a friend. Beautiful car and would make a great build project.

This is the car that in 1954 could have "killed" the Corvette.

So, Chevrolet, being GM's big sales and profit division,

campaigned to GM to "kill" this car.

When Chevy was coming out with its 6-cyl. sports car with its

2-speed "powerglide" transmission and side curtains,

here was a sports car from Olds with a big old V-8 and

power windows.

So, GM said no to Oldsmobile on building this car.

The world's rarest automobile: a 1954 Concept Old's Rocket

F88 - the only one in existence.

( The story)

John S. Hendricks, (Discovery Communications founder) paid

in excess of 3 million to acquire this 1954 Oldsmobile F-88

Convertible Concept Car .

After spending decades as a collection of parts stuffed into

wooden crates, the F-88 was reassembled.

In 1954, the F-88 was a Motorama Dream Car, and was one

of only two, or an unconfirmed possible three, ever created.

The F-88 seen here is literally the only car left of its kind,

and was sold to John and Maureen Hendricks at the

prestigious Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction in Scottsdale ,

Arizona , for an unbelievable $3,240,000.

This acquisition made automotive history, and is in the

cornerstone of the Gateway Colorado Automobile

Museum, in its own special room in a rotating display,

worthy of the F-88!

I apologize if this has been posted before.

[Harry P.]

There are quite a few "only one in existence" cars... so this one is no rarer than any of the other one-of-a-kinds.

[Dr. Cranky]

Excuse me while I pick up my eye balls off the floor and put them back into their sockets. Oh my, that's a gorgeous vehicle. I'm surprised Jay Leno doesn't own it!

[Sam Cates]

So, it is essentialy a Corvette with some Olds parts in and on it?

[Junkman]

Since there are countless one-offs, which are equally rare as the F-88 show car, the rarest car must not exist.

If that thing went for three-and-a-quarter Million, I don't even want to know what the Joe Bortz collection is worth.

[Rob Hall]

Surprised this one isn't in the Joe Bortz collection...I've heard of that museum, but never been there (was on the opposite side of the state from me, IIRC)...

[Harry P.]

So, it is essentialy a Corvette with some Olds parts in and on it?

Basically, yes. It's nothing more than a "customized" Corvette.

[Art Anderson]

I spotted that car at the Blackhawk Collection Collector Car Dealership at Blackhawk Center in Walnut Creek CA back in 1995 (hadda run to a store, replace my Canon EOS Rebel camera that I'd inadverdently left on an airliner when I deplaned at SFO on my way to NNL West that year!) to photograph it. Some of the story of this car:

Yes, it was done by GM Styling Division in 1954, one of 3 built. This car was a "runner" from day one--meaning it was fully driveable. Sometime after the 1954 GM Motorama circuit, GM Vice President Harley Earl gave the car (by then in pieces) to Erett Lobban Cord (he of Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg fame from the late 20's though 1937) in recognition of E L Cord's cooperation in using the display hall in LA (which Cord owned at the time) for the GM Motorama displays in the early 1950's).

The car as I saw and photographed it, was immaculately done, front to rear, side to side, top to bottom, and it is drop-dead gorgeous! At the Blackhawk (in the same upscale shopping center that featured the Behring Museum), the car was displayed in a showroom complete with a mirrored ceiling worthy of the finest "house of ill repute!), so the pics I got could include not only a full walkaround, but by aiming my camera at the ceiling, I was able to capture all the details of the interior!). I have the master that I started of that car for resin-casting, but due to my limited engineering capabiltities fof the time, it has yet to be finished, yet the unfinished masters still rest here in my apartment. One of these days!

Art

[sjordan2]

As dougp mentioned in his original post, the guy with the big bucks is John Hendricks, the founder of the Discovery Channel, who paid that amount in 2005. Wonder what it would go for seven years later.

Edited January 6, 2012 by sjordan2

[george 53]

So, it is essentialy a Corvette with some Olds parts in and on it?

That's EXACTLY what it is.

[Scale-Master]

Think of it as a precursor to the Cadillac XLR...

[Old Sprinter]

What ever it is, it's very interesting. Great story too. Thanks for posting this, Doug.

[Eshaver]

I too was very suprised when this car went to auction and Mr. Bortz didn't get it . I'm also suprised as to why the Pontiac Club de Mer clone , built by my friend Marty Martinio wasn'r snapped up by Joe also. The Club de Mer clone sold again recently for nearly three times what it auctioned for back in 2009. Maybe I really should hhave continued the work I was doing in building a clone of the L'Universalle van back in 1978..............

model - 125th scale of the 1955 G M C L' Universalle

Ed Shaver

[a/gass]

pontiac did one too back at the same time even a SW one and a PU.not sure but i belive they were all showen together as concept cars with the vette being the only one produced.warhoops junk yard used to have this car and maney other GM show cars in their yard.

just google 1950 buick wildcat 2 (this was befor all other versions including the vette)

1954 pontiac bonneville

Edited January 6, 2012 by a/gass

[brad4321]

And such an ugly color.

[jeffs396]

As dougp mentioned in his original post, the guy with the big bucks is John Hendricks, the founder of the Discovery Channel, who paid that amount in 2005. Wonder what it would go for seven years later.

Much less! Collector car prices peaked that year...remember the B-J records broken in '05? Those million $ Cudas would probably sell for half this year...

[Danno]

I've been to the Gateway Museum and the F-88 is a beautiful and remarkable car!

Actually, there were three F-88s constructed for the 1954 Motorama circuit plus one more body that was never built out.

There were also 3 Corvettes (2 show cars and 1 testing prototype) designated as 1953 models.

The F-88s and the other Corvette-based Motorama Dream Cars were designated as 1954 models, except one which was designated as a 1955 model.

The other Motorama Dream Cars based on the Corvette platform were the Corvairs (fastback Corvettes), the Waldorf Nomads (station wagon Corvettes), the hardtop Corvettes (just a rigid fiberglass top on a convertible), the Pontiac Bonnevilles, the Buick Wildcat II, and a "La Salle II" roadster, designated as a 1955 model.

There was only 1 La Salle II and only 1 Buick Wildcat II. There were two each of the Corvairs, Nomads, hardtop Corvettes, Bonnevilles.

Of course, there were many other Motorama cars and trucks, but the ones listed above were based on the Corvette platform.