Mecum Classic and Collector Car Auction 2023 Glendale, AZ – Full Tour Video

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We took a long walk around the grounds at the Mecum auction in Glendale, AZ this year and made sure to capture every one of the 2,000 vehicles in attendance on video. It was my first year attending a Mecum auction and it didn’t disappoint- the auction reportedly generated over $56 million in sales. The top seller of the event was a 1955 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing that went for $1,815,000. You can view the original listing Mecum’s site here.

While classic European cars aren’t really my thing, I can still certainly appreciate it for what it is. There were also some high-dollar classic Chevys sold as well, with a C3 Corvette and couple of Yenko Camaros all fetching over $300k. See if you can spot them in the video and be sure to leave a comment with a timestamp of your favorites from the show in the almost two hour full tour video we put together for the event.

All in all, it was a great showing and I am most definitely planning on returning for 2024!

SEMA 2022 – 1971 Cheyenne C-10

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Meticulously designed by Kevin Webb and assembled by Hot Rod & Custom Garage this 1971 C-10 is tribute to Kevin’s father. Already an award-winning truck this vehicle was entered in consideration for the 2022 SEMA “Battle of the Builders”.

Featuring a Vintage Air system, Dakota Digital dash cluster, CPP suspension and Ridler wheels what really drew me to this truck was the instantly recognizable TPI intake manifold sitting on top the small-block powered pickup.

As a Chevrolet fan nearing his 40’s, there was a time when I remember the TPI as the hot thing. Sure, shortly after there was the LT1, however it’s design was exotic by comparison. It’s non-traditional distributor location and reverse-cooling that required some creative welding skills that were beyond the everyman. The TPI could bolt to any SBC from the 265 to the 400 and would instantly modernize its appearance with it’s namesake tuned port runners and fuel injection system.

There are now so many options for fuel injection for the small block Chevy on the market. That’s also ignoring the fact that even seeing a tradition first generation small block Chevy is becoming more of a rarity these days. That makes this TPI setup in this custom built 1970s pickup truck a nostalgic charmer.

Full Walkthrough – Goodguys Spring Nationals 2023 (Video)

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Whether you were able to make it out to Scottsdale for the show this year or not, here is a chance view every car (and truck) in attendance on Friday, March 17th, 2023 on your own time. Enjoy the video and let us know what your favorites were from the event. Feel free to leave a comment with the timestamp of your ride if you were able to make it out!

SEMA 2022 – Lotus-Radford Type 62-2

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What’s been going on with Lotus for the last couple decades?

Okay, that might be a little bit of a loaded question. I’m a little too young to have been able to fully appreciate the era when the Esprit was a hot-ticket item so maybe I’m lacking a little too much context to have a grasp of Lotus’ place in the world at that time. All I have to go off of is the more recent weirdness coming from them since the time I’ve been aware of their offerings, and as time goes on, one thing is becoming clear to me:

Lotus is Unreal. I don’t mean that in a hyperbolic way, I mean Lotus has essentially followed in the footsteps of the PC game of the late 90s. Much like the Unreal franchise, Lotus certainly made a name for themselves early on in their existence with excellent quality releases and superior technological prowess. Over time, however; Unreal: The Game has become less relevant in the gaming space every year as Epic Games, their developer, (yes- the Fortnite company) has focused less effort on on Unreal, the game and much, much more on developing and advancing the Unreal Engine for licensing by other developers. This was a smart move, and these days you probably can’t go a full (non-camping in the wilderness) day without accidentally viewing or interacting with some form of media riding on the shoulders of Epic Games’ 3D game engine.

It’s not hard to notice a lot of parallels between that and what it seems like Lotus has been up to as of late. The Lotus models that stand out to me are actually pretty underwhelming compared to how many Lotus-adjacent vehicles exist. This isn’t news to anyone, but even the first Tesla model produced was a thinly-veiled electrified Lotus Elise. It doesn’t stop there, everyone from Hennessey, to Infiniti, to Rinspeed and even Vauxhall, among many others have toyed with a Lotus-based version of whatever they were working on at the time, and to me anyways, they all sort of overshadow what Lotus themselves have been putting out, which up until very recently resembled more of a Miata-meets-go-kart than a true high-end sports car. This leads us to the Radford Type 62-2 we spotted at SEMA 2022.

Sure, it may be based on the Exige, but the Radford looks a lot more super and a lot less 3/4 scale Great Value Porsche 918. The power has also been increased from 430 to 500hp which, let’s face it, is now the bare minimum to even get anyone’s attention these days. Although Lotus has always been all over the place with their services, performing suspension tuning for tons of other makes, running F1 teams, and even building road racing bicycles, I feel that given the proliferation of Lotus-based cars, and the sheer variety of offerings they have allowed to exist, I think it’s say to say that Lotus has settled into what they do best as of late. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Nobody besides a few hardcore fans may be playing Unreal Tournament anymore, but everyone and their cousin has seen a Star War or two made with the help of Unreal Engine without even realizing it. And that’s exactly how Lotus, and the Radford Type 62-2 feel to me.

1979 Puma GTE at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2023

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The 1970s saw a surge of interest in fiberglass kit cars built on a Volkswagen chassis. Cars such as the Bradley GT and Fiberfab were popular at the time.

The Puma GT is based on the chassis of a Volkswagen Brasilia chassis. The Brasilia was a 3-door economy hatchback, but here it has been reimagined as a 2-door, rear engine sports car.

This car is titled as a 1979 Puma GTE and features a 1600cc engine paired with a 4-speed manual transmission. The car has a leather interior, air conditioning, power windows, alarm system, and touchscreen audio system.

The Puma 1500 GT was first revealed at the 1970 Ibero-American Exhibition in Seville, Spain. Later that same year, the engine capacity increased to 1600cc and the car evolved to the 1600GTE.

The Puma GTE, the most famous sports car made in Brazil at the time, was produced with a fiberglass body and Volkswagen boxer engine from 1970 through 1980. This model was based on the Puma GT; the letter “E” added to the nomenclature means “export” or “Europe” according to other sources. This was the more successful Puma model with a higher-volume production.

I see a little bit of Porsche, Datsun, and other cars in the design and styling of the car.

This car sold for $23,650 at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2023 collector car auction. What do you think about the Puma GTE?

Honda Goldwing Turbo Phantom Reverse Trike

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Recently I attended the Hot Wheels Legends Car Show in Gilbert, Arizona on September 10, 2022. There were many cool vehicles to admire, but one that really stood out to me was this amazing reverse trike.

A reverse trike is a 3-wheeled vehicle with two wheels up front and one at the back. Though it has been around for a while, the idea really took off in 2015 with the introduction of the popular Polaris Slingshot.

This trike is the 80s version of the Slingshot. It’s based on a Honda Goldwing motorcycle, but converted to a 3-wheeler. Two passengers sit inside of a fully enclosed cockpit, which has a clamshell or canopy door that opens up like a fighter jet to climb inside.

The interior looks cramped, with two bucket seats wedged side to side. A radio is mounted to the overhead console, due to lack of space for it anywhere else. When the canopy opens, the dashboard and steering wheel tilt up with it. I spy some sort of digital gauge cluster sitting on top of the dashboard.

On the exterior, the fiberglass body shell has a vaguely Corvette-shaped front end with pop-up headlights. Two side mirrors protrude from the otherwise sleek looking body, which has a pointed front beak that looks like the rear of a 1963 Corvette.

A few websites were helpful in telling the history of this unique vehicle.

The vehicle was originally designed by Ron Will, a designer at General Motors, and his brother Lee. It was powered by a Honda Goldwing motorcycle which was attached to a tube chassis. The front suspension was sourced from a Volkswagen and the steering from an MG.

The vehicle debuted at the 1978 LA Auto Show, with a total of 3 units being built. However, the Turbo Phantom never went into production.

Today, the vehicle belongs to Ron Will, who lives in Fountain Hills, Arizona. Ron later left General Motors and went to work for Subaru, where helped design the original Subaru Outback.

The Turbo Phantom is a seriously cool, very 80s vehicle and I am grateful to the owner for bringing it out to the Hot Wheels Legends Tour. It was very cool to see this vehicle in person!