Rare Old's 88 Corvette Killer

[rellick]

How about this car for the ultimate dream toad? Definatley would need an enclosed trailor!!
Here's what the Corvette Oldsmobile Division wanted, but never had. This experimental sports car would have been in direct competition wîth the Chevrolet Corvette. While debating the matter, GM built three Olds F-88 showcars, each one slightly different, all wîth concealed folding tops. It is powered by a 324-cid 'Rocket V8' producing 250 bhp. Brought out of GM styling in pieces, and owned briefly by financier and luxury auto magnate, E.L. Cord (CEO of Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg). One version was gifted to Harley Earl upon his retirement. The only surviving F-88 was sold at auction in 2005 for $3.2 million.

The XP-20 project, commonly known as F-88 was a pet project of Harley Earl (working wîth him was Bill Mitchell, Ken Pickering, Zora Duntov etc.). Four cars came out of the project, but only styling order #2265 (this car) survived. It was sold or given to E.L. Cord (Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg owner) in 1955. Hundreds of internal GM documents and original blue prints are still wîth this sole survivor.

[Neweller]

That is a really cool ride. Is this supposed to be a real one? It's like the 1963 Corvette Grand Sport with only 5 being ever built. I believe they all went to lead people at General Motors. But with the '63 Grand Sport you can round up a replica for a whole lot less dinero. Valued at a cool $6-8 million.



Oh, another cool Vette would have been the Mark IV gull wing. Any of these would be ultra cool behind a classic!

[jWolfe]

Is it appropriate for me to ?

[86loco]

Thanks for teasing us guys. I'm with you Jay about the drooling factor. Chevy ought to make one of these as a modern retro-production.

[rellick]

This is a real one of three produced hence the 3.2 mil auction price tag. I wonder if anyone has made a replica? Nice lines I thought!! I do like the gull wing vette too!! And the grand sport!!lol

[JetHot]

This is a rich mans high. Don't know if any of you has ever seen a kit called a Sterling it has similarities to the gull wing vette. Wonder who borrowed from who, not sure but I believe the Sterling came out in the 70's too.

[Neweller]

AMG, I agree. Regarding the Sterling, I believe it had a couple of roof designs, but I'm thinking it's the Cimbria version that came with gull wing style doors. Back in the 80's I wanted to build one of those, but never did. In fact I go back to when I almost had my hotrod granny talked into letting me build a Aztec 7 kitcar on a VW pan. But almost wasn't good enough and off to the service I went.

Check out this sweet post by a member over at the LS1 Tech forum. This member did a fantastic job building a 1963 Corvette Grand Sport replica with LS2/T56 Engine and Trans. It's a more complicated build than many might want to take on. It would be a pretty fun build though.

Be prepared to be wowed, here's the link: 1963 Corvette Grand Sport LS2/T56 Build(Lots of Pics!) - LS1TECH[TABLE]
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[Wheeler]

I like it all but the gull wing is sweeeeet sauce!

[Neweller]

I was just thinking that Olds 88 has some rear styling cues from a Nomad wagon. Obvious the same designer was on board.

[prairieschooner]

Yes guys this was on the desk at the same time as the corvette. Too bad the corvette won out but history has proven that it was a great idea. The last one of these at auction went for crazy money! Glad I still have my '55 Bird!

Originally Posted by rellick

How about this car for the ultimate dream toad? Definatley would need an enclosed trailor!!
Here's what the Corvette Oldsmobile Division wanted, but never had. This experimental sports car would have been in direct competition wîth the Chevrolet Corvette. While debating the matter, GM built three Olds F-88 showcars, each one slightly different, all wîth concealed folding tops. It is powered by a 324-cid 'Rocket V8' producing 250 bhp. Brought out of GM styling in pieces, and owned briefly by financier and luxury auto magnate, E.L. Cord (CEO of Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg). One version was gifted to Harley Earl upon his retirement. The only surviving F-88 was sold at auction in 2005 for $3.2 million.

The XP-20 project, commonly known as F-88 was a pet project of Harley Earl (working wîth him was Bill Mitchell, Ken Pickering, Zora Duntov etc.). Four cars came out of the project, but only styling order #2265 (this car) survived. It was sold or given to E.L. Cord (Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg owner) in 1955. Hundreds of internal GM documents and original blue prints are still wîth this sole survivor.

[rellick]

Wow talk about neglect!! check this out, quite the vette collection!!

Abandoned rare classic cars - YouTube

[Ron Skeen]

This car is in the Hendricks Collection, owned by Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks and his family, and the Gateway Colorado Automobile Museum. This is beautiful place to visit with a lot of nice cars.

[NEWELLWIZARD]

Originally Posted by rellick

Wow talk about neglect!! check this out, quite the vette collection!!

Man neglect is right.

[larryweikart]

I owned this car back in the late 70's to the early 80's. It was called a Sterling and was originally produced in England with a VW Chassis and a small Porsche engine. Weighed less than 2000#'s and was very quick but had no front end weight and would porpoise real bad on rainy roads. It was eventually bought by an American and the last I knew the molds were owned by a Company in Breman, In. Nice little car.

[Neweller]

Larry, that is pretty cool that you owned one of those too. You have owned a lot of very cool rides and such. My hat is off to you! After doing some research I found the company that owns the right to the Sterling and Cimbria's at the link Here:Sterling Sports Cars kit car VW replica

These guys offer a tube built pan replacement with Porsche suspension. Now were talking Larry!

Chassis and Engine Link Here: http://www.sterlingsportscars.com/Tu...id-engine.html

Chassis Link Here: http://www.sterlingsportscars.com/Sp...r_Chassis.html

Here is a Sterling build page: http://www.sterlingsportscars.com/The_Build.html The dash arrangement is pretty sweet.

[larryweikart]

Thanks for all the info and sites Ken. I had no idea that the Sterling was still being offered. Brought back some nice memories, like this one!

[Chester B. Stone, Jr.]

While I do not have a Vet, attached is a photo of a 1948 Lincoln Continental that I restored in the 1970's, photo of an Auburn Boat-tail I build in the 1970's and a photo of replica Mercedes 500K I built in 1990, which I still have.

[Neweller]

Chester, those are some nice rides for sure. You too have had hands on some sweet rides. That Auburn was really a sweetheart. I've too done my share of restoring but nothing like those. I used to go annually to the replica shows in Northern and Southern California and out in Carlisle. There are usually some nice Auburns and 500k's at those events. I've got some hands on experience in this realm as well. It was part of my full time gig for many years. I've had a good break now for a while that I've kind of worked up the itch again. Just not sure if I want to play with Newell's or build cars part of the time or both? Those darn colorful menu's anyway..........

[Chester B. Stone, Jr.]

Ken, I will share a few more details. The Lincoln was a two year project, but won three national firsts. Drove it often in the Class Car Club of America caravans in the Midwest. The Auburn is also a replica. An individual, whose name I cannot remember, bought out Auburn's inventory when they went bankrupt many years ago. He moved the parts to Broken Arrow, OK, and started reproducing the body parts as well as the chrome plated brass parts. It was a real challenge to put it all together. I purchased the Mercedes replica from Heritage Motors in Florida, which came in a box on 28,000 parts, including screws. Outstanding instructions made it a fun project. Today it is in storage in Mexico and has a total of 3,000 miles on it. Thanks for your interest. I am getting too old at 78 to build any more. Just pushing my Newell around the Western states.

[Neweller]

That is very interesting. Thanks very much for sharing, many of us are very intrigued with this kind of stuff. Glad you got to enjoy many of these great creations, there must be some fond memories for sure. It's also amazing how many replica or kit manufacturers that get bought out of bankruptcy and such, some more than once. Each time they become a greater bargain for the next owner and eventually they peak potential buyers interest many years later like a classic car or something. I remember so many makes that disappeared many moons ago and now they are being offered again but many with nice improvements like suspensions etc.... Just like Larry's Sterling...