shelbymotorsports Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Well the day has finally come. Within the next hour for the first time a Shelby Dodge built by Shelby Automobiles in Whittier California will go across the auction block. The car is just not one of the regular limited production Shelby Dodges but a prototype that Carroll sold back in 1994 at the Newport Beach Shelby Attic Garage Sale. The car sold for $3,750 back then so what it will fetch today is anyones guess. From the auction prices I saw Tuesday & Wednesday my guess it will sell for more than $3750. Luckily I was able to use my friendship with Carroll to get an almost "Ron Pratte" inspection of the car including who the owner of the car is and what changes have occured since 1994. As usual lots of notes and pics were taken. Not much I want to disclose before the gavel falls but anyone bidding on the car just by the BJ description is going to be surprised on what they get if they win. Could be a good surprise or could be a bad surprise but lets just say the description is less than accurate. So again today marks the day that a little ol' turbo Shelby car makes its way into the big league and am already guessing that the BJ announcer will make plenty of mistakes when describing this one. Stay tuned. Will post more when the gavel falls. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Car went across the block at 12:30pm PST. When the bidding reached $6,500 I told them I was no longer interested. I hung up the phone when the bidding reached $8,500 The winning bid was............................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Hold on folks. Seems that there's a problem with winning bid. Waiting on a call back from BJ to see if the next highest bid will be the winning bid or if they will have to run the car across the block again. Seems the winning bidder thought he was bidding on a Ford * Steve *Thats a JOKE people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Car went across the block at 12:30pm PST. When the bidding reached $6,500 I told them I was no longer interested. I hung up the phone when the bidding reached $8,500 The winning bid was............................ I'm not finding it on the Barret Jackson page. What did it sell for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 I'm not finding it on the Barret Jackson page. What did it sell for? James I'm still awaiting the official word from bidder services on what happened and if the winning bid is going to stay. According to BJ it is not going to go across the block again so the "unoffical" winning bid is somewhere between $8,000-$8,500 all depends if the bid gets rolled back or not. When I get the call from BJ I'll post the official winning bid. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 Ok finally got a call back from BJ. The winning bid of $8,500 stands. Once again the 1989 CSX Prototype SOLD for $8,500 It will be interesting to find out who purchased the car. My guess is that they did not inspect the car before bidding that amount. Lets just say I'm glad I inspected the car before placing my bid. I'll post some pics soon including pics of the "prototype" head. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 Ok, ok. Haven't downloaded the pics to my pc yet so that I can upload them here but will get to that. Now for some details that shouldn't affect the sellers purchase as these details could be seen by anyone who looked at the car. First just like the other prototypes the vin plate, the fender tag and the door decal were removed so legally the car can not be titled/registered with its original vin number. I was able to get the vin # from one of the hidden vin places. The car has somewhat high miles for a prototype, over 58,xxx miles. A truly crappy paintjob with hundreds of paint chips, overspray and poor masking with very few parts removed before the color change. On a positive note it appears to be the original repaint by Shelby. The front airdam was put back on the car although they used metal screws to mount it instead of the correct plastic rivets. The Shelby dash plaque is missing but the engine plaque is still there. Missing some Shelby floormats. Both the Shelby emission and the Shelby vac decals are missing. Has a fair amount of UV damage. The typical damage on the side mirrors, door handles, door window weatherstripping from sitting outside. Lots of minor issue like chipped windshield, drivers door not aligned & rubbing body, shift knob emblem missing, dirty seats, etc. Spare tire well in the hatch area is full of water. How much damage has been done by the water I don't know as I quickly backed out of there because of the musty smell. Gatorbacks are worn and because of their age I wouldn't drive highway speeds on them. LeMans wheels look good and have the correct caps for a LeMans wheel. (A LeMans wheel cap is not the same as a CSX-T cap.) Signature on hood is scratched into the paint. Luckily it only went thru the top coat of paint and is not rusty. I'll try to get some pics posted later today. For now I'm not going to post or discuss the engine and/or the additional head in the hatch. I'll probably post further about the cars origins and how it started life but until I learn who the buyer is I'm going to keep some details under wraps for now. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted January 18, 2008 Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 Thanks for the update Steve. There is probably a few of us out here that would like to see the value of these cars continue to rise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 Thanks for the update Steve. There is probably a few of us out here that would like to see the value of these cars continue to rise. Yes at the very minimum this auction only helps the value of our cars although we have to consider this was not one of the 500 production cars which I'm quite confident wouldn't bring this price. Now for some pics..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 At this moment I'm not comfortable posting engine pics or the "protoype" head pics. I do have some other pics I'll post a little later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 Pics of the removed visible vin numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2008 What is the deal w/ the prototype head and not being street legal?? The not being street legal is because of the missing vin numbers and because there are no vin numbers there is no title. No title equals no plates. No plates equals not street legal. I'm holding back comment on the prototype head for now. It's quite possible people placed larger bids on the car because of the engine and/or extra head and since I do not know who purchased the car I don't want to publicly post info that they were unaware of. I'll post some interior pics tonight and get into a little bit of the cars history. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 A few interior pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 Ok now for a little info on this car. It started life as a 1988 Dodge Shadow ES with the Turbo I engine. It came from Chrysler painted white. Basically just the way the 1988 CSX-T cars started out. Just to be clear the vin shows this car was never one of the 1,000 1988 CSX-T production cars. At some point it became a 1989 prototype car and was painted exotic red. It had the 89 Shelby interior installed and the 1989 VNT drivetrain also was installed. The repaint is so poor that I'm confident it was not any type of show car or sales brochure car. I've compared my pics to the 1989 Shelby brochure and there are enough differences to back this up. So what was it? I'm not sure but a good guess it was a pre-production prototype for Chryslers final approval. I base this on it being so close to a production version right down to the extra 3rd brake light and the non-cassette radio. The LeMans wheels don't concern me as the Whittier plant had a habit of stealing parts from the proto cars that were "just sitting there" and my guess the fiberides were needed for something else. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other details so when they pop into the ol' head I'll post them. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadAssPerformance Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 Thanks for the pics and info Steve! Too bad you didn't win it! *patiently waits for the motor pics* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 Thanks for the pics and info Steve! Too bad you didn't win it! *patiently waits for the motor pics* I've discussed this with another Shelby Dodge elder and come to the conclusion that I'll post one or two motor pics and leave it up to everyone else to decide if they would have paid $8,500 for the car. I'll also leave it up to everyone else to decide if they feel the buyer got a "prototype" engine/head. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 Just an FYI on this car. The seller was also the buyer at the Newport Beach auction back in 1994. The seller of this car is also an employee of Barrett Jackson Auction Company. I will not post the sellers name unless I get his permission to do so. I do not know who bought the car. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1991CSX Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 Just an FYI on this car. The seller was also the buyer at the Newport Beach auction back in 1994. The seller of this car is also an employee of Barrett Jackson Auction Company. I will not post the sellers name unless I get his permission to do so. I do not know who bought the car. Steve Sorry if this seems dumb, but this thread is trying to be so secretive about the engine that I cannot even figure out what the deal is with it. It was up for auction, and available for inspection, so isn't it puclic knowledge? Why can't you share details about the engine without knowing who the buyer was? What am I missing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 What am I missing? Perhaps these pics will help fill in the blanks.................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1991CSX Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 That makes it more clear. Was it supposed to have something experimental? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSX-VNT #414 Posted January 19, 2008 Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 Not real sure just from taking a quick glance that I see anything different about it? I haven't sat there and stared at heads for a long time either though... So it could be one, or it could not be, I don't know. Maybe the triangular parts of it are different? What I do know is that this is still a really cool car. Too bad it's plaques are missing and everything of that nature. Hopefully someone within our community bought it, but I highly doubt anyone from our community would be there looking to do whatever it took to win it. Did the car run Steve? I don't know if part of the inspection process involves being able to start the car up or move it, etc., does it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 Did the car run Steve? I don't know if part of the inspection process involves being able to start the car up or move it, etc., does it? Yes the car started and I assume it went across the block under its own power. There is no real inspection process at BJ unless the owner is standing next to the car and is willing to open it up and answer questions. The owner of this car was not with it and it sat with the hood down and the doors locked all week. This is why I used my Shelby connection and a phone call was made and next thing I know we're being chauffered around with the keys to it for a full inspection. Once I saw the engine and spare head I had no reason to try and see if I could drive it. This is why I'm saying if the buyer bought the car uninspected I think that they might be surprised on what they bought as the car does not completely match the BJ 645.1 auction description. I'll post some pics of the 1994 auction description and I'm sure you'll see how a certain "P" word was mixed around in the current description. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 Here is the BJ 645.1 auction description: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2008 Here is the 1994 auction description: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnl Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 I don't know much but it seems to me that So Cal Larry's CSX, which he says is a prototype too, is a lot nicer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 I don't know much but it seems to me that So Cal Larry's CSX, which he says is a prototype too, is a lot nicer? John That other 89 CSX you're referring to is not a prototype. It is a regular production CSX that had some owner or dealer repairs/changes made to it sometime after it left Whittier. Its a little hard for his car to be a prototype when it was built several months after 1989 CSX production started. It is a clean car but those stickers, spoiler and radio are all aftermarket parts. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSX-VNT #414 Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 Steve On that lower left image it says on what looks to be a handwritten post-it that an experimental head was included along with a photo of Shelby signing the hood. Could it be that the seller kept that experiemental head and perhaps thought the stock replacement head was the experimental one, or in the worst case, said the stock one was hte experimental one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 Steve On that lower left image it says on what looks to be a handwritten post-it that an experimental head was included along with a photo of Shelby signing the hood. Could it be that the seller kept that experiemental head and perhaps thought the stock replacement head was the experimental one, or in the worst case, said the stock one was hte experimental one? Billy Back in 1994 when the Newport Beach auction took place Shelby really had no Dodge people with him and the folks he did have working for him wouldn't know a T-1 head from a T-II head. They were Ford guys or tire guys and just didn't have the knowledge of the Dodge cars. I've talked to another prototype car buyer and he too got a "prototype" head in the hatch of his CSX. His conclusion was the same as mine that it was nothing special. Our best guess is that they threw a spare cylinder head into the hatch to "fluff" the car up a little before the Newport Beach auction. To furthur expand on this, when I purchased the last of the Shelby Dodge inventory a few years after that auction there were about a dozen 8v heads included. Not one of them was any sort of prototype 8v head. If there were ever any prototype 8v heads made they certainly would have had a different part number cast into them. So far we haven't seen one. As you can see by the paperwork there are plenty of errors. Things like using the name Chrysler instead of Dodge, using the wrong year of 1987, the mis-spelling of Carrolls name, etc. What I'm trying to point out is that the people writing the descriptions had no clue what they were writing about so the info went uncorrected. Now will I put my life on the line saying 100% no way was there a 16v head in the hatch back in 1994? Nope sure won't but because of another CSX getting a 8v head and because of the heads I got I will stay with I doubt this car came with one. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted January 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 Just realized that when discussing the selling price we were using the gavel price and not the price the buyer is actually writing Barrett Jackson a check for. The gavel price was $8500 but the buyer will be writing BJ a check for $10,098 before he is handed the keys to the car. The additional $1598 is the BJ buyers fee and the AZ tax. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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