All Entries Tagged With: "This Week @ Coys"
This Week @ Coys: Exotic Dreams Revisited
Fuel for a young imagination.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via RapidCars.com
WHEN the eighties turned into the nineties, there were three 200+ mph supercars that diverted my attention from grammar school studies and fueled my passion for cars.
They rank as follows: Bugatti’s EB110, the McLaren F1, and the Jaguar XJ220.
Of the three, the Bugatti was my favorite for being a) Italian - molto bene! b) blending luxury with exotic performance and c) all-wheel drive.
IMHO back then, the true blue EB110 would’ve been the perfect choice for replacing the family Volvo in taking yours to and from school.
Indeed, yours was taking practical considerations into account.
The all-wheel drive would ensure that I’d make it to class on snow days; a selfless act of sacrificing liberation from school.
The EB110′s four turbochargers, performance shoes, and decisive lack of ground clearance didn’t factor in my assessment.
Time rolled on, our Volvo 740 (not-so-good in the snow) was replaced by a 940 (truly dismal polar performer) and then an 850 (damn near unstoppable), and history forgot the first and last of the super three to remember only the McLaren – a stripped down bullet that like the XJ220 wasn’t sold Stateside.
Back then, American emissions standards barred entry. And since then, we’ve all grown more practical and pragmatic. Or have we?
This Week @ Coys > The Strangest Ferrari Ever
By Gunnar Heinrich
IF you mated a Ford Pinto with a Ferrari 308GTS this is what you’d get – an it-thing-whadjamacallit.
UK auto auctioneer Coys of Kensington is offering a mint condition 330GT “Shooting Brake.”
Not too sure what a “Shooting Brake” stood for, the online dictionary explained that it’s a distinctly British term used to describe any two door coupe with a station wagon’s backend.
Right.
So, in this Ferrari’s case, the 330GT Shooting Brake was warmly received by some of the auto press of its day.
“The late Paul Frere, the noted Belgian racing driver and automotive journalist, road tested a 330 GT 2+2 late in 1966. He came away suitably impressed: ‘In handling, this car is exactly like all Ferraris which I have driven before … It is close to being as neutral as one could want… But the most impressive feature of the handling of the 330 is the solidness with which it changes direction, particularly in S-bends, where it tracks with about the same precision as a modern race car’.” Coys’ site said.
As always, Coys is mum on the price.
To check out more pictures of this rare Italian albatross, tap the link.
[Linked: Coys]
