I shit you not. There’s two of these things sitting in garages asking for princely sums of money. If you forgot (because I tend to post so infrequently) you can find the article HERE where I said you’d never see another of these again. Boy, was I wrong.
The 1970s through 1990s were a heydey of kit car manufacturing in the United States. It seemed like everybody and their brother was offering turn-key vehicles based on Chevrolet platforms. Looking back, I have to wonder if there was really enough demand in the market to support all of these companies?
The answer of course, is no. Save for a few, nearly all of the kit car manufacturers have gone out of business. Some companies such as Zimmer have survived (in one form or another) for decades, while others were just a blip on the radar. Such was the case with Archer Coachworks out of Valparaiso, Indiana.
First published in 1925, The Great Gatsby is considered by the American Literary Association to be among the 100 best American novels published during the last century; it is also F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most famous work. While the story line is a standard tale of unrequited love, it is Fitzgerald’s vivid, flowing descriptive imagery and rich character development that makes his work so timeless.
The novel’s setting of New York City during the “Roaring Twenties” calls to mind images of Art Deco skyscrapers and extreme opulence in fashion and design. This was also a high point for automotive design as Duesenberg, Bugatti, and Rolls-Royce offered ever more luxurious models.
This lavish elegance is what Gatsby Coachworks, Ltd. sought to recreate in the 1970s.
Based on the picture, you may be thinking “Oh boy, here comes another lame kit car!” But if you lump the Spartan II in with the Excalibur, Gazelle, Tiffany, Zimmer, or any other neo-classic automobile, you would have made a serious mistake.
You see, reproductions of old-timey cars are often built around cheap mass-market vehicles such as a Ford Pinto or a Volkswagen. While this arrangement makes a neoclassic car practical to own, it also places them at the low end of the performance spectrum.
The Spartan II is different. While its rounded headlamps and swooping front fenders may harken back to the early days of motoring, it’s a completely different story under the hood. That’s because the Spartan II is actually based on the Nissan 300ZX, a compact sports car from Japan! With its front-engine, rear drive layout and 2+2 seating configuration, the Spartan II is a bit sportier than you might expect.
I’ve always thought myself to be a bit of a third generation Camaro aficionado. This would be the 1982-92 run of cars that were the perfect combination of sport and style. What the first year models lacked in power, they made up for in good looks and great handling. Don’t believe me? Ask that car god you hipsters all pray to: Jeremy Clarkson.
By 1983, the Camaro came with the 190hp 305-cubic inch L69. It’s classic combination of a 4bbl carb, hot cam, a good set of heads, and a manual transmission brought the lowly, five-liter, Chevy mill out of malaise-era limbo. From then on, the Camaro just got more bad ass as each year passed.
1983 was also the year for this strange, Ferrari 308-looking, coach-bodied 3rd gen, called the Stiletto. As you can see from the craigslist ad (or click here for a screenshot) it’s obviously strange, different and well-kept. I don’t know if that translates to being rare in the sense of being valuable, but it certainly is something you’ll probably never see again. Strangely enough, I came across this simply searching for “camaro” under our local phoenix craigslist.
Although the previously mentioned 190hp L69 was the hottest engine at the time, I assume they chose to use the lesser 165hp LU5 crossfire because it looks cooler and was more “futuristic” in it’s time because of it’s dual throttle-body setup. I’m sure that eventually it will be an engine people remember fondly, but like other people approaching their thirties with a car-loving parent I was taught that “Crossfire” will always be synonymous with “Piece of Shit”.
At $25,000 they only want half as much as the 1LE that we saw the year before last at the Imperial Palace car museum. I’ll let you be the judge on whether that price is a bargain. Hopefully we cross paths with this ultra rare third gen at next year’s Barrett Jackson, which is just around the corner. Until then, enjoy the rest of these pictures from the craigslist ad.
My fellow editors spotted this car in a random driveway while we were cruising around one night. Since I had my camera and took a picture, I get to write about it. The car was not immediately recognizable and the guys spent several minutes speculating about what it might be.
As it turns out, this odd-looking vehicle is actually a very rare luxury car called a Custom Cloud, which was built on a 1970s Chevrolet Monte Carlo chassis. In a lot of ways, this car is similar to the Stutz Blackhawk, only with a more down-to-earth price.
