Infamous Le Mans 1955 Austin-Healey 100S Prototype sold for $1.3 million

Motorsports has had plenty of dark days in its history, but few compare to the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans. That race saw Lance Macklin enter this Austin-Healey 100 S Prototype in the legendary European 24-hour race in his name. The vehicle packed a 140-horsepower inline four-cylinder engine with a massive cam and dual carbs, and while Macklin was able to keep the vehicle in decent standing throughout the first racing stint, he eventually found himself being lapped by the substantially quicker sports-prototype vehicles fromJaguar and Mercedes-Benz. As the Austin-Healey came barreling past the pits, a Jaguar D-Type slowed abruptly as it came in for fuel, forcing to Macklin to swerve out of the way. That’s when the Austin-Healey was struck from the rear by a Mercedes-Benz 300SLR on the rear quarter. The Mercedes-Benz catapulted into a retaining bank and disintegrated, spraying the crowd with flaming debris, including the vehicle’s engine. A total of 84 individuals died as a result of the crash, including Pierre Levegh, the driver of the 300SLR. A further 120 people sustained injuries of varying severity, and the crash prompted an international revision of safety precautions at race tracks. The Austin-Healey, meanwhile, spent a year in police impound before being repaired and sold to a private individual. It’s spent the last 42 years owned by a single individual, with many of those in storage.

Would you pay $8/hour to own a Ferrari?

Life is full of unattainables. Most of us will never hold the keys to an expansive beach-front property, lounge on our own personal yacht or park a Ferrari in the garage, and for good reason. The very exclusivity of those objects is part of their lure, but a new site looks to change all that. Jointli allows regular Joes and Janes to co-own property, vehicles, boats and more. The site’s tools allow users to chose potential co-owners in their area, sign agreements and manage time shares accordingly. So, how much would it conceivably cost to own, say, a Ferrari F430? According to Jointli, four people could conceivably wrangle one of the Italian exotics for as little as $8,000 per person, which works out to close to $8 per hour individually. Of course, Jonli’s math means that’s the cost after selling the vehicle after just one year of use. It also excludes any unfortunate dings or repairs that may arise as the result of four people who don’t know how to drive a Ferrari being tossed the keys. The whole scenario sounds great in a perfect world. Unfortunately, our planet is about as far from that bright center as you can get. 

Lexus and Mini offer the most satisfying buying experience

JD Power and Associates has released the results of the organization’s annual study on customer satisfaction with the vehicle buying process, and Mini has once again taken top honors among mass market brands. The study specifically looks at satisfaction among buyers and those who chose not to buy from a particular brand for a comprehensive slice of the automotive consumer masses. Among buyers, JD Power evaluated across four categories; working out the deal, salesperson, delivery process and dealership facility. Rejectors, however, evaluated ranked their experience across salesperson, fairness in price, facility, inventory and experience negotiating. Overall sales satisfaction actually increased over last year across the board, and JD Power believes this may be due to the fact that manufacturers are focusing improving their dealer experience now more than ever. That increase in satisfaction comes even as the actual buying process takes longer than in 2010. Buyers can now expect to spend an average of 11 more minutes in a dealer when it comes time to sign the loan agreement, thanks in part to more in-depth demonstrations of vehicle features. Lexus beat out the rest of the luxury brands to take first place in 2011, with Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz trailing close behind. Who took the bottom of both lists? Volvo landed dead last among luxury makes, whileJeep took the bottom spot among mass marked sellers. Hit the jump for the full press release as well as the rest of the automaker standings.

 

You Don’t Need a License Plate in Texas?

 

A one-sntence omission in new Texas license plate law could jeopardize provisions for enforcing regulations on missing and illegitimate plates. Texas State Rep. Joe Pickett (D-El Paso) asked state Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) to clarify if a missing line about a $200 fine for driving a car without license plates could make other parts of the law invalid, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The license plate bill was passed by the legislature in May and signed by Gov. Rick Perry (R) and takes effect on Jan. 1. “It was just a very huge, detailed bill that we’d already rewritten three, four, five times,” Pickett (D-El Paso) said Tuesday. “This wasn’t a first draft. We made so many corrections and changes, we thought we caught everything.” Texas has required vehicles to have two license plates, displayed on the front and back, since 1934. The misdemeanor offense can bring a fine of up to $200, though drivers who quickly correct the problem can pay a $10 fee instead. Pickett’s letter to Attorney General Greg Abbott, written with help from lawyers with the Department of Motor Vehicles, argued that the $200 penalty can be implied by the way the law was written. In addition, Texas law does not require the penalty to be included when the offense is clearly explained, Pickett wrote. The article reported that Abbott has six months to issue an opinion on the new law. Pickett said it would be tough for enforcement as there is no explicit mention of the fine in the law, but said he believes the fact the law makes such license plate-related problems illegal would continue to let the bill stand. Typos in legislation have caused issues for state governments elsewhere over the last year. These include a mistake in Hawaii that provided cancer research with one-and-a-half cents from all cigarettes sold in 2006 instead of one-and-a-half cents for each cigarette, a mistake reported to have cost $8 million. The Texas license plate law problem comes as Georgia lawmakers will be considering legislation next year that would require “In God We Trust” to be placed on state license plates. Currently Georgia drivers can purchase a sticker with the motto to place on their plates.

Man finds Tony Montana’s Van

Every car owner aspires to own the top-of-the-line model, one that comes with options the neighbors don’t have. Few wish for the extras a California man found in his used minivan. San Jose, Calif., psychologist Charles Preston found $500,000 worth of cocaine hidden in the door panels of his used Chrysler Town & Country 15 months after he bought the car, when his car was in the shop having its brakes examined. The vehicle, which Preston purchased for $14,000 from Thrifty Car Sales in Santa Clara, Calif., had defective windows. That’s because the cocaine was in the way. During the car’s time in the shop, a manager at San Jose’s DHT Collision & Service Center noticed something was wrong with the insulation in the window panel. It turned out to be the drugs wrapped in cellophane. The cops confiscated the drugs hidden in the window panels along with the packages found in the wheel wells. Police told him to get rid of the car, fast, in case the drug runners were still looking for it. He’s not driving it anymore. The owner of Thrifty Car Sales originally agreed to buy back the van for $4,000 less than Preston already paid, but ultimately decided to replace Preston’s vehicle with a drug-free ride.