When you first look at it, today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe FFR Daytona component car seems to be a hot mess. When you dig into it however, that mess tidies up nicely. Let’s see if its price cleans up just as well.
You know what? I don’t think there is anything that could put a smile on your face faster than yesterday’s fly yellow 1975 Triumph Spitfire. That’s a good thing too, seeing as that’s about the only fast thing that little Brit could do. I noted at the end of yesterday’s story that I myself—yes me!—would have bought the Spit at its $2,900 price, and fully 96 percent of you agreed with that assertion, gawarding the car one with of the greatest Nice Price margins this year.
Speaking of years, do you ever get confused about when certain things happened or even what year it is at present? I do that all the time, and I aver that it’s retro-styled component cars that are to blame.
Case in point, just look at this car, which is presented as a 1965 twin turbo Shelby Daytona Spyder GT. I… well, let’s just break that down, shall we?
First off, this car never existing in 1965, so there’s your first bit of chronological illogic. Carroll Shelby did campaign a special bodied Cobra dubbed the Daytona Coupe beginning in ‘65, but notice the second word in that car’s name.
That brings us to this car’s name: Shelby Daytona Spyder GT. No such beast existed in any form in any year until someone said to themselves that this is just what the world needs. They then chopped the roof off of Factory Five Racing’s very authentic looking version of the Pete Brock designed original. Are you confused yet?
Okay, so what we have here is a car that’s claimed to be a ’65, but according to the ad was actually built in just 2003. It’s one of 38 open-top cars—the first one apparently—and is based on one of FFR’s Cobra chassis. This is a homage to a car that never existed, but is an interesting pastiche of a number of cars that once did—all them great.
Powering the chimeric beast is a 3.8-litre Buick V6, late out of a Grand National. That’s also great. The engine has been heavily worked-over and is imbued with not one, but two turbos. Those give the mill a claimed 450 horsepower at 12 psi or a whopping 645 when you double up on the the boost. An aftermarket ECU controls the whole shebang.
A custom built 200R4 automatic backs up the massaged V6 and sends power to a Thunderbird IRS setup in back. Disc brakes sit at all four corners, and behind custom painted Compomotive alloy wheels. Everything rides on or is bolted to a 4-inch tube frame chassis.
The bodywork looks beautifully finished and wears Corvette candy apple red accessorized with pearl white center stripes. The whole nose tilts forward for engine access, just like yesterday’s Spitfire. In fact, you might notice that this car uses bonnet latches liberated from the little Triumph. The nose lights are all said to be LED, while out back the car reuses lamp clusters from the contemporary BMW Z4. Yes I know, you were trying to place those.
Inside there’s a pair of old-school Kirkey Racing buckets, each with their own four-point belt setups. Gauges galore fill the vinyl-wrapped dash and in what’s either the ultimate of dishonor or cheek, the three spoke wheel is centered with a cap containing both an image of a Cobra snake and the legend ‘Turbo 3.8.”
The car comes with wipers and lights so it would likely pass whatever safety test your state might have concocted to determine road worthiness. It does not however, have a top, side windows, nor any way to secure anything in it other than its fully-finished boot. This is definitely a fair-weather friend.
There’s 9,777 miles on the clock and the car comes with a clear title. It also has been around the auction circuit at least once, having been offered by Mecum back in 2016. At that time it had 7,900 miles. A full 1,877 miles later, it’s being FSBO’d on Craigslist, where it is being offered at a cool $35,000.
That’s a lot for a car with such a weird and questionable provenance, but it’s not all that much for a rich person’s plaything, which is exactly the role this car was built to play. The question of course, is whether it’s worth that to get playing.
What do you think, is this twin turbo Daytona Spyder worth the $35,000 asked for it? Or, does the car and the price have you questioning both time and space?
You decide!
Memphis, TN Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Louis C for the hookup!
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