Author Archives: Trevor Freeman

About Trevor Freeman

Trevor is a real gearhead who loves everything from classic American muscle cars to high-performance exotics. When he's not reading about cars or taking photos at a car show, he's probably out cruising around. He is currently working on restoring a 1980 Chevrolet Monza hatchback.

2000 Chevrolet Corvette Avelate Z06 Custom Convertible

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The Chevrolet Corvette is sort of like a ’32 Ford or a ’49 Mercury in that it has become a canvas for others to customize. It is a starting point where people they feel they can improve. Some companies like Callaway and Lingenfelter have used this formula to great success. It is still a Corvette, but with a little more power and a little more style.

Others have tried to follow the same path, but have not found commercial success. One such company was Avelate, which was formed by former GM designer Don Johnson and Dean Arnold.
According to the website CorvSport.com: “The Avelate borrowed some design inspiration from the previous Corvette generations and incorporated all of them into the C5 model. Initially, the plan was to make 100 cars per year, but throughout its production run, only 25 examples were only built.”

The auction description says that this 2000 Chevrolet Corvette Avelate Z06 convertible is one of 27 builds produced between 2000 and 2002. It is finished in Copper Pearl with a black convertible top. The car has a 6-speed manual transmission. It was consigned to sell at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction in January 2024.

The car has the stock windshield and side glass, though it has a custom body including door skins, hood, trunk, and front and rear bumpers. Studying the car, I see a C3-styled front end and C1-style scallops on the doors.

This car has Avelate logo floor mats and retro-style Fuel Injection and Corvette badges on the fenders.
It’s got a lot of customizations that make it unique from the herd of production C5s, but do the cosmetic customizations make it any better than a regular Z06? Honestly…no, they do not.

That sentiment was reflected in the final hammer price of $29,700 which is exactly in line with the prices of a C5 Z06 on Bring A Trailer. Only super low mileage cars go for more, and this car had 31k miles at the time of auction.

The Avelate Corvette is a unique curiosity for the right buyer, and another notch in the belt of small production manufacturers who thought they could do better than the OEM.

SEMA 2023: 1968 Chevrolet Camaro ARDUOUS by Tyler Nelson

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Based on how many amazing cars are at the SEMA Show, you might think that restoring a classic car is easy. Just order the parts and put it together! But the truth is that when it comes to parts and labor, it costs a lot to get quality work. If you ask Tyler Nelson of Revision Rods & Rides, he might say that building a car is an arduous process.

His 1968 Chevrolet Camaro is nicknamed “Arduous,” which is defined as: involving or requiring strenuous effort; difficult and tiring. I think that is an accurate description of the work that goes into building a top-tier car for SEMA.

With any project, there are always unforseen problems and challenges. Parts don’t fit, dealing with back orders and shipping delays, things break during removal and installation, and introducing custom-made parts adds a whole world of new challenges. Such is the case with this 1968 Camaro. At his shop in Rapid City, South Dakota, this Camaro was completely taken apart and rebuilt using new parts and plenty of upgrades as well.

The Camaro’s original chassis has been replaced with an Art Morrison chassis with a fully independent rear suspension. Under the hood is a GM Performance LT376/535 crate engine producing 535 horsepower, coupled to a GM 8L90E 8-speed transmission. The engine is hidden beneath a custom made air intake and engine cover that were fabricated for this car, giving it that show car look when the custom built hood is open. Everything from the fender liners to the radiator support was custom made for this car, then painted to match the exterior body color, which is a custom mixed BASF Refinish blue with accent stripes.

The interior is completely custom with the dashboard, center console and door panels made out of aluminum and wrapped in two-tone Hydes leather. While I am not generally a fan of white seats, I think that the contrasting gray and white interior looks really sharp for this car.

The car also features tons of one-off machined parts. Look closely and you will see a hexagon pattern, which is repeated in the front grille, the brake reservoir cover, the machined AC vents, the hood cowl vents, the speaker grilles in the rear dash and even the inserts of the front bucket seats. Even the gauge cluster has a subtle 6-sided surround to it.

The drip rails have been shaved and the glass is flush mounted, giving the car a more modern look. It rides on Billet Specialties wheels.
The car was a Top 12 finalist in the Battle of the Builders at the 2023 SEMA Show, and a Top 3 finalist in the Hot Rod category. Arduous has received plenty of recognition including Meguiar’s Magnificent Masterpiece and GM IRON Builder of the Year finalist at the GoodGuys Heartland Nationals in 2024.

This car was truly a labor of love for the clients, Mary & Clayton Graham who own this beautiful Camaro. It really was a treat seeing it in person at the SEMA Show. Congratulations on your well-deserved success! I can’t wait to see what comes next from the talented team at Revision Rods & Rides.

Barrett-Jackson Breaks Records, Doubles Down with Second Scottsdale Auction

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The doom and gloom of the pandemic is over. Everywhere I turn, I am hearing news stories about travel returning to pre-pandemic numbers. The most predicted economic recession in history seems, for now at least, to have been avoided, replaced instead by the “soft landing.” Supply chains are getting back to their new normal. Consumer confidence is high, and so is consumer spending.

But this isn’t an economics website, it’s a car blog. So what does this have to do with the collector car market? Well, strong consumer confidence may have played a big role in the recent Barrett-Jackson 2024 collector car auction in Scottsdale.

Barrett-Jackson broke several of their own records for most cars sold, overall sales, and sell-through rate.

Total Consignments: In recent years, the Scottsdale auction catalog has averaged 1,600 to 1,800 vehicles. For 2024, there were a total of 2,016 vehicles consigned to sell at the auction. The previous record was 1,907 vehicles sold at the 2023 Scottsdale auction.

Sell-Through Rate: The Scottsdale 2024 auction had a 100% sell-through rate, meaning that every one of those cars sold. There were no lots which did not receive any bids.

Total Sales: Barrett-Jackson recorded automobile sales of $200.9 million and an additional $6.7 million for automobilia, for a combined auction sales of $207.6 million. The previous record was $184.2 million combined sales at the 2023 Scottsdale auction.

World Record Sales: More than 190 lots set world record prices.

In fact, demand is so high that the company has announced a second Scottsdale auction event to take place in the fall, from October 10-13 at Westworld. The fact is, the four day auction is necessary because Barrett-Jackson is hitting the limit of cars they can consign to the January auction. The second auction is necessary to meet the needs of consignors and bidders alike.

We will be there to cover the action and excitement, so subscribe to Generation High Output to stay in the loop!

1968 Fiat Dino Coupe by Bertone

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I absolutely fell in love with this little Italian car at the 2024 Arizona Concours d’Elegance! The car is a 1968 Fiat Dino Coupe by Bertone.

Introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 1967, the Dino has a body by Bertone with a 2.0-liter V6 engine, the same as in the Ferrari 206 Dino. The all-aluminum engine was produced by Ferrari as a way to homologate the engine for racing in Formula 2. Power output is 158 hp at 7,200 rpm and torque is 120 ft-lbs at 6,000 rpm. The car has a 5-speed transmission with disc brakes all around. It is a Gran Tourer with a 2+2 seating configuration.

I love the body lines and proportions of the car, especially the quad round headlamps and the slightly recessed front grille. This is the first Fiat Dino I have ever seen, and it was a highlight of the event for me. The car is one of 3,670 coupes built between 1966 and 1969.

According to the catalog description, the car was sourced out of a Los Angeles eBay ad in 2019 in need of a complete makeover. The body was stripped to bare metal, the interior restored with wool carpets and black leather upholstery, and the engine and transmission restored. The Arizona Concours is its first outing since restoration.

I have to congratulate the owners and their mechanics and body guys on an incredible restoration. The car truly looks top-tier in every category.

So what is a Fiat Dino worth? A couple of examples of the Coupe have sold on Bring A Trailer in the $50,000 to $70,000 range, while the Spider models are more valuable, ranging from $95,000 to $140,000. Meanwhile, a 1967-74 Ferrari Dino – which has the same engine – would sell for an easy $300,000 to $600,000.

Interestingly, the Spider was designed by Pininfarina and the Coupe was designed by Bertone. The cars have different body lines as a result, and the Spider chassis is 11 inches shorter than the Coupe.

Though not the fastest or most expensive car at the Arizona Concours, it was definitely one of my favorites at the event.

SEMA 2023: 1969 Dodge Charger TUSK by Ringbrothers

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One of the most prominent custom car builders at the SEMA Show are the Ringbrothers, Mike and Jim Ring from Wisconsin. They show up not once in a while, but every year consistently with multiple wild custom builds that take advantage of composite materials, 3D printing, CNC machining, and some truly unique design ideas. The Ringbrothers have captured numerous top awards including the overall winner at Battle of the Builders in 2022. For 2023, they returned to the SEMA Show with a completely resto-modded 1969 Dodge Charger nicknamed “TUSK.”

The car is a complete re-imagining of the classic Charger with modern materials and performance. It is not to be confused with the ’69 Charger “Defector” that the Ringbrothers built in 2020. The “TUSK” Charger has a beautiful black and gold paint scheme that really looks great. The paint is BASF’s Glasurit Waterborne and the color is GM WA8555 Black.

Under the hood is an all-aluminum supercharged 426 / 7.0L Hemi V8 “Hellephant” crate motor producing 1,000 horsepower and 950 lb-ft of torque. Just 100 units of this engine were produced as a crate motor. Coupled to that is a Bowler Performance TREMEC T-56 Magnum six-speed manual gearbox with the classic “pistol grip” shifter that the Charger is known for.

The original B-body chassis has been replaced by a Roadster Shop Fast Track chassis. This not only provides a lower stance, it completely strengthens and upgrades the car’s performance and handling to modern standards.

Other improvements include an independent rear suspension, Baer Brakes Extreme 6S six-piston calipers. The car rides on a set of Ringbrothers “TUSK” Edition HRE Wheels which measure 19×10.5 in the front and 20×13 in the rear. The wheels are wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires for maximum grip in the corners.


At this point, people have come to expect the very best work from the Ringbrothers. They say that more than 5,000 man hours of labor went into this car. From the sheet metal to the paint work to the engine bay and interior, “TUSK” is a full custom built car done to the very highest standard possible – as only they can do it.

2024 Arizona Concours to Feature ‘The Art of Automotive Design’

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About the Event

January is an exciting time in Arizona, when multiple collector car events converge during “Arizona Car Week.” Automotive enthusiasts gather in the desert to kick off the new year with the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction, RM Sotheby’s Arizona auction, and the Bonhams Scottsdale Auction. A signature event that should be at the top of every list is the 2024 Arizona Concours d’Elegance, which is scheduled for Sunday, January 21, 2024.

The Art of Automotive Design is the theme for the sixth edition of the Arizona
Concours, who partnered with Scottsdale Arts to present this exceptional show and competition, with vehicles carefully curated to impress and excite not only car lovers but anyone who appreciates the beauty of expressive design. Show vehicles are professionally judged with awards presented to class winners, and the coveted Best of Show award.

The acclaimed show and competition returns to the newly renovated Scottsdale Civic Center on January 21st, with 100 rarely seen dream cars and highly valued collector
vehicles dating back to the dawn of motoring, through the Art Deco era, and up to the
coveted super sports cars of more-recent years.

The Best of Show winner for the 2023 event, a stunning 1947 Talbot-Lago T26 Record
Cabriolet with a sweeping body designed by Giuseppe Figoni (shown above), exemplified the elegant automobiles that are seen at the Arizona Concours.

Ticket Information

General Admission tickets for the Arizona Concours are now available online at
ArizonaConcours.com. Single admission currently costs $100 after January 1, 2024.

There are also Concours Plus tickets that include additional features: admission to a
collector car lecture series to be held on Saturday, January 20 (subjects and special
guests to be announced), and early “Dawn Patrol” admission to the Concours starting
at 7 am. Concours Plus tickets currently are priced at $110, increasing to $125 on January 1, 2024.

Proceeds from the Arizona Concours benefit local artists and art programs through its partnership with Scottsdale Arts, one of Arizona’s largest arts nonprofits. Tickets for
the Concours also are available at ScottsdaleArts.org and the box office in the
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.

Previously held at the Arizona Biltmore Resort in Phoenix, the 2024 Concours will
mark its second year at The Scottsdale Civic Center, a vibrant landscaped space that
recently was extensively renovated.

Entrant Information

Owners and caretakers of special vehicles are invited to submit their cars for entry on
the ArizonaConcours.com website. Fifteen classes have been chosen for the 2024
Concours, and are listed on the website, with awards presented in each class, along
with special awards and Best of Show.

Sponsor Opportunities

Arizona Concours sponsorship opportunities also are explained on ArizonaConcours.com, showing the range of possibilities for becoming a supporting member of this popular and well-publicized event.