AUTOS: Welcome To Weird Wednesday

The Leata Caballero, a disco-era attempt to mate a Chevy Chevette with a pickup truck. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson)

One of the many cool things about the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event in Scottsdale is the eclectic selection of vehicles offered. In fact, today’s docket selections could be dubbed, “Weird Wednesday.” And I mean that in a good way.

Today’s auction, which will be televised live in HD on SPEED from 7 p.m. to midnight ET, features motorcycles, tractors, a golf cart, a bunch of covered wagons, a Winnebago and a Honda Zoe, if you can imagine that.

Sure, there will be plenty of primo muscle cars, classics and restomods throughout the evening, but there will also be a few truly out-there vehicles.

Here are five of the most unique offerings going on the block at Barrett-Jackson on Wednesday:

The very lightweight Viking Roadster should be plenty quick with its RX7 rotary engine. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson)

Lot 315.1: Leata Caballero — In case you don’t have your Spanish-English dictionary handy, “Leata Caballero” means “Chevette pickup truck” in English. Steinbaugh Manufacturing made fewer of 100 of these from 1975 to 1977 and one look will tell you why. This one was built in July 1977 “with every available option and fully documented with original window sticker, sales brochure and sales invoice.” Comes with GM 4-cylinder engine, automatic transmission, air conditioning, power windows, power driver’s seat, AM/FM/8-Track, CB, cruise control, alloy wheels, special paint and leather upholstery pushing the window sticker to just over $10,000 in disco-era dollars.

Lot 316: Viking Roadster — The Viking is an open-air roadster, built in western Washington and featuring a handcrafted fiberglass body to minimize weight. The custom built body and square tube frame utilize Mazda's RX7 engine and running gear. The engine is an 1,146cc, 12a rotary producing just over 100 horsepower, which is connected to a 5-speed manual transmission. Claimed to offer “the best of both worlds, vintage styling with modern and reliable sports car running gear.” And, oh yeah, it’s titled as a 1979 Mazda.

VetRod takes a miniature, hand-built hot rod and stuffs it with Corvette power. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson)

Lot 339: Vettrod — Unique hot rod or the answer to a question no one asked? You decide. Built in 1999, Vettrod is a custom, hand-built steel bodied roadster with the undercarriage and running gear of a 1973 Corvette. The engine is a built 350-cubic-inch Chevy producing 450 horsepower, with a GM automatic transmission. Driver and passenger seats are Recaros. The Vettrod has been driven just 5,500 miles since it was built. It is said to be mechanically and cosmetically excellent and ready for the open road or track.

Lot 403: 1957 Panhard Dyna Z — Can you have a huge collector-car auction without at least one utterly bizarre French car on the block? Signs point to “no.” The seller states that Panhard and Levassor of Paris was one of the two oldest manufacturers of automobiles in the world. The Dyna Z was aluminum, tipping the scales at a flyweight 1,630 pounds. “There were very few cars that had the combination of interior room, trunk space, styling, and most importantly a powerplant that was performance based,” the seller states. “Being a light car and having a 50-horsepower, two-cylinder engine gave enough power along with plenty of fuel economy to make this unique front-wheel-drive car desirable to the American market.” How’d that work out?

So French, the aluminum Panhard Dyna sedan is lightweight and packed with two-cylinder power. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson)

Lot 443 - 1957 Goggomobil Recreation Roadster — Is it just me, or does the phrase “Goggomobile Recreation” sound like “imitation Miracle Whip” or “faux polyester” to you, too? At any rate, this is a stylistic homage to the late and unlamented Goggomobile Dart, which was made in Australia in the late 1950s, using components from Hans Glas GmbH of Dingolfing in Bavaria. Guaranteed, the winning bidder will have the only one at his or her local cruise night. Want to know more? Just Google Goggomobil. Better yet, try to say “Google Goggomobil” three times fast.

Source  http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/autos-welcome-to-weird-wednesday/

From top to bottom, 2010 generated weird, embarrassing stories

Feel a chill in the air?

Is that frost on the windowsill?

That means only one thing. Old Man Winter is here, and NV Energy has shut off your power for nonpayment.

In a year of high unemployment, high foreclosure rates and high bankruptcy filings, if it weren't for gallows humor we might have no laughs at all.

The only certainty is that 2011 will be better than 2010. (I can't exactly support that statement with facts, but I prefer to play the optimist at this time of year.)

For my money, nothing warms the cynical heart like a good laugh at others' misfortunes, and that means it's time for my Bottom 10 weirdest and most embarrassing stories of the year. Just a short dozen months ago, U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-No-Tell Motel, edged out the hapless UNLV Rebels football team for most mortifying public display. Ensign's affair with former Senate staffer Cindy Hampton was followed by revelations that his parents had paid $96,000 to Hampton and her husband.

We'll see where Ensign ranks on the 21st annual Bottom 10, but first I have to pull myself over and show you my license and registration.

No. 10: CONGRATULATIONS, MR. SMITH. You're under arrest. Columnist celebrates victory at the Nevada Press Association awards banquet with shiny bracelets after being stopped for DUI. Charge is pending, but humiliation is instantaneous.

No. 9: TILTIN' HILTON. Party princess Paris Hilton "banned" from Wynn Resorts properties by the big man himself after she is stopped and found with a small amount of cocaine in her purse. Her driver was booked for DUI -- don't blame me, I was home that night -- but Hilton initially denies the handbag is hers.

What's more embarrassing, Hilton's tall tale or Wynn's decision to banish her for doing precisely what she's well paid to do: party like an air-guitar rock star?

No. 8: SHEFF WHIFFS. Chris Sheff looks like a sure winner when he is hired to guide the College of Southern Nevada program, but his coaching career is cut short when it's discovered he has committed rule violations before the team's first practice.

No. 7: BAIL 'MONEY.' Las Vegas boxing champ Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. continues to prove the only one capable of knocking him out is the man in the mirror. Mayweather's run-ins with the law escalate, and 2011 threatens to find him spending big money to remain out of jail.

No. 6: CHICKEN DANCE. Sue Lowden looks like a sure thing as the Republican U.S. Senate nominee against incumbent Harry Reid. Then she tells an audience that what American health care reform really needs is good old-fashioned bartering, including trading chickens for medical care.

By the time Reid's attack team finishes deep-frying Lowden, her campaign is as scorched as a bucket of KFC extra crispy.

No. 5: HORREBEL FOOTBALL. New UNLV coach Bobby Hauck leads the Rebels to one of its worst records in a history of really bad seasons. Does UNLV really need a football program this much?

No. 4: SIEGFRIED & JOHN. Ensign magically escapes criminal prosecution and Senate sanction for the Hampton affair and cover-up. Now Ensign plans to run for re-election.

No. 3: ANGLE'S 'ASIANS.' Sharron Angle prevails in the Republican Senate primary, then runs one of the worst campaigns on record. Along the way, she says members of a group of Hispanic high school students look "Asian" to her.

No. 2: BEWARE THE DEATH RAY! As if CityCenter didn't have enough trouble opening in a recession, a lawsuit alleges the reflection from its shimmering windows creates a beam hot enough to sizzle hairdos at poolside.

No. 1: MEDAL OF DISHONOR. David Perelman gets caught lying about winning a Purple Heart in a scheme to gain $180,000 in veterans benefits.

Meanwhile, local veterans volunteer to give Perelman fresh wounds to brag about.

Source http://www.lvrj.com/news/from-top-to-bottom-2010-generated-weird-embarrassing-stories-112768179.html?ref=179